How To Succeed In the Game of Life

how many of you have ever heard someone compare life to a game anyone life is often compared to a game we've all heard people do that we've heard people say things like life is like a game you have winners and you have losers or maybe you've heard people make this comment about life life is like a game if you don't learn to play it the right way then you'll end up playing it the hard way ever heard anyone say something like that yeah and it's true life is like a game but the sad part is most people are never told what the objective is what the rules are nor are they given any instructions on how to play this game they simply begin to go and they start moving around the board as they go through the various stages of life trying desperately to learn the rules as they go along hoping that eventually they'll figure out what the objective is and how to win but very few people ever figure it out so when they get to the end of their life they don't know whether they've won or they've lost or whether they were successful in the things that really mattered or if they were a failure and that includes christians it's sad to say but it's true but that's why this series is so important especially if you're a parent or a grandparent because in this series i'm going to explain what the objective is you see there's an objective in this game called life and you need to know what it is and i'm also going to explain the rules of the game because if you don't play this game the right way you'll end up playing it the hard way and people that's a fact and last but not least i'm going to give you some instructions on how to play the game now i prefer to call them tips tips are helpful hints inside information that gives you an advantage over the other players in life so as we go along i'm going to give you some tips to make this game of life easier on you remember if you don't play the game of life the right way you'll end up playing it the hard way to be honest with you i've got some family members that have a crappy life but they have no one to blame but themselves they chose not to play the game the right way so now they're playing it the hard way and maybe that's you maybe you look at your life and you think man my life is so difficult let me tell you why your life is so difficult it's because you chose not to learn how to play it the right way therefore you're playing it the hard way so by the time we're through with this series you should be able to ascertain where you are in the game of life where you need to go and what you need to do to succeed and to end up a winner when this game of life is over one day you're going to die and there's only two destinations heaven or hell now let me just clarify something before i go on you can make it to heaven and still have a very difficult time here on this earth simply because you didn't play by the rules and you disregarded god's tips listen to me life is really not that hard once someone explains to you the objective of the game the rules and then they give you some tips on how to make this game of life easier and of course to someone i'm talking about is god because god is the one who created this game that we call life so he's the one who's determined the objective of the game and he's the one who's set the rules and out of the goodness of his heart he's given us some tips in order to make this life easier on us now let me be totally honest with you god has given everyone and that includes you and me a free will so we can ignore the objective of the game and we can even make up our own objective and we can play by our own set of rules and we can ignore god's instructions but as i've said two or three times previously if you don't learn to play this game the right way then you'll end up playing it the hard way no ifs ands or buts but that's not the worst thing the worst thing is that you'll end up a loser at the end of your life when the game is over you'll end up in hell and let me tell you that's the worst thing we all want to have a great life we all want to have this wonderful life but you see you've got this free will so you can change the objective of the game god gives us his objective but we can say no i don't want that objective i want to be a millionaire i want to be rich i want to be famous and you can set out to have this great life here on this earth and when the time your life is over when the game is over you can end up in hell you are the ultimate loser in this game so let's talk about the objective of this game that we call life because if you want to win in the game of life you've got to know what the objective is you see every game has an objective that's what makes it fun the objective of monopoly is to drive all the other players into bankruptcy by creating a monopoly in real estate people that's why they call it monopoly some of you are going oh i never really knew what the objective of the game is except to burn time no it has an objective the objective in the game of chess is to checkmate your opponent's king the objective in the game of checkers is to capture all of your opponents and we always call them checkers but they're really pieces and if neither player accomplishes this then the game ends up in a draw or a tie the objective of football is to outscore your opponents by advancing the football into the end zone for as many touchdowns as possible while holding your opponent to as few touchdowns as possible now there's other ways of scoring but touchdowns are the prime objective that way you don't have these low scoring games that are so boring like yesterday right the objective of the basketball is to outscore your opponent by shooting the ball through a hoop for a basket while holding your opponent to as few baskets as possible and whoever scores the most points wins but my point is this every game has an objective and the game of life is no exception it has an objective just like every other game so what's the objective because it's so important to know in fact i won't even start a game until i first know what the objective is and then and only then do i want to know what the rules are now maybe it's just me but it really irritates me when i'm trying to learn a new game and people start telling me the rules of the game before they first tell me the objective people that drives me crazy i want to know the objective first and then after you tell me what the objective of the game is then you can start telling me the rules but whatever you do first tell me what the objective of this game is and the reason i'm like that is because if i don't know what the objective is the rules really don't seem to make much sense let me give an example to illustrate what i'm talking about in football which is the greatest game of all time right let's be honest soccer is the communist plot to overthrow capitalists yeah sorry rocky sorry drew but if you want to just look at the downfall of america notice that it corresponds with us starting to play soccer the more popular soccer has become the worse america i'm just teasing kind of but anyways in football the offensive players cannot hold the decency players that's one of the rules of the game and if you do hold the defensive player and you get caught doing it you're penalized and the ball is moved backwards 10 yards from the spot of the foul well why do i care if the ball has moved backwards for 10 yards so what but once you tell me that the objective of the game is to advance the ball into the opponent's end zone then all of a sudden that rule makes sense and i realize that it's bad for the ball to go backwards because the whole purpose of the game is to advance the ball forward into the end zone now i understand why you don't want to break that rule because if you do it's taking you further away from your objective now it's not first and ten it's first and twenty do you see what i'm saying but if i don't know what the objective is what do the rules mean big deal and it's the same way people in the game of life if i don't know what the objective is the rules really don't make much sense not only that i could get all the way to the end of my life and still not know whether i've won or lost because i really didn't know what i was supposed to do i didn't know what the objective was so in this game called life what is the objective in other words what's the purpose of the game what are we supposed to do are we supposed to make more money than everyone else around us is that what life is about is that the objective are we trying to have more fun than everyone else hedonism is that the meaning or purpose of life is the objective to acquire more material possessions than anyone else is that what life is all about let me tell you man has wrestled with this question since the beginning of time philosophers have tried to answer these questions this question for thousands of years in fact king solomon spent his whole life how would you like to devote your whole life searching for this one answer that's what he did and in his old age god finally gave him the answer to that question god told him what the purpose of life is he gave them gave him the objective to this game called life in fact in the bible we're not only told what this objective is but we're also told what the rules are and we're given instructions or what i like to call tips on how to make this life easier on us so what is the purpose of life in other words what is our objective what are we supposed to do with our life well turn with me if you would to the book of ecclesiastes chapter 12. we're going to find out we're going to read verses 9 and 10 and you need to understand solomon spent his whole life searching for the meaning of life so in the book of ecclesiastes all this book is about is what is the meaning of life what is the purpose in life what is our purpose here on this earth and so this whole book is about his search for the meaning of life and the 12th chapter is the last chapter it's the end of his life and what he found so we're going to find the answer in ecclesiastes chapter 2 12 we're going to read verses 19 and we're going to jump down and read verses 13 and 14. let's start with verses 9 and 10. keep this in mind the teacher who is the teacher solomon the teacher was considered wise the wisest man that ever lived and he taught the people everything he knew he listened carefully to many proverbs studying and classifying them in his search for the meaning of life the teacher sought to find just the right words to express truths clearly you know i'm always amazed at people who wonder what i do all week most people think that i play golf all week long and then i get up on sunday mornings and speak for 30 minutes and i get up on wednesday or i get up wednesday nights and i speak for 30 45 minutes and that's all i do and i really don't have to prepare for speaking because i went to bible college i learned all these truths and i get up on sunday mornings i think well you know what i think i'll speak on this no i understand what solomon was saying notice in verse 10 the teacher sought to find just the right words to express these truths clearly you know it takes me a long time to think how do i state these principles this biblical principle in just the right way so people will understand it and how do i segue how do i make a transition from this point to this point and how do i lay this out in a logical sequence so everyone can follow me and understand what i'm saying and i wrestle with this and i study this to try and say these truths as clearly as possible so that when i finish everyone goes i got that i understand solomon now let's go back and read these verses again because i just kind of went off on my own little tangent i don't know why but notice what it says keep this in mind solomon was considered wise and he taught to people everything he knew he listened careful carefully to many proverbs stir studying and classifying them in his search for the meaning of life the teacher sought to find just the right words to express these truths clearly now let's read verses in 13 and 14. here now is his final conclusion oh boy he spent his whole life searching for the meaning of life and here it is here's his final conclusion about the meaning of life what our purpose on this earth is fear god and obey his commands for this is everyone's duty and that means objective that word duty doesn't just mean responsibilities in fact if you look it up in the hebrew it literally means this is your goal this is your aim this is your purpose for this is everyone's goal aim purpose objective god will judge us for everything we do including every secret thing whether good or bad so according to solomon the wisest man who ever lived the objective in this game called life is to fear god and to obey his commands but what in the world does that mean fear god that's just what i expected from you pastor allen something spiritual that i can't understand what does it mean to fear god well underline that word fear fear is translated from the hebrew word yahweh and it literally means to give someone the glory and honor they deserve so to fear god is to give god the glory and honor that he deserves so according to solomon our purpose in life our objective in life is twofold number one we're to bring glory and honor to god by using our gifts talents and abilities for him and number two we are to obey his word with a pure heart people that's our purpose in life that's our objective and we're going to be judged as to whether we've done that or not in fact everything we do according to solomon is going to be judged even the things we think no one has ever seen those things we did in secret now what solomon taught is confirmed over and over again and other parts of the bible yeah that's right now if this was the only place where this was mentioned i would question if this is legitimate if i was reading through the book of ecclesiastes and i come to solomon's final conclusion this is the meaning of life to fear god by using our gifts talents abilities for him and to obey god's word i might question it if this is the only place that it's mentioned in the bible but it's not the bible states over and over again that our purpose in life is to bring glory and honor to god by using our gifts talents and abilities for him and by obeying his word with a pure heart now let me give you a few scriptures to verify that what i'm saying to you is true because i can make that comment you know yeah well you know he said that i don't have any scriptures to verify what he said whether it's true or not so let me give you a few scriptures turn with me if you would in the book of first peter chapter 4 verses 10 through 11. notice what it says god has given each of you every one of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts use them well to serve one another do you have the gift of speaking then speak as though god himself was speaking through you do you have the gift of helping others do it with all the strength and energy that god supplies now notice this then everything you do will bring glory and honor to god through jesus christ all glory honor and power and it should be belongs to him i just copied this out of one of the translations but in the original greek all glory honor and power belongs to god forever and ever amen and we're to let the world know that all glory and honor belongs to him that's my purpose in life to let the world know that all glory and honor and power belongs to him people that's our objective in life to bring glory and honor to god by using our gifts talents and abilities for him now that's one let's keep going i can give you many but i'm only going to give you two more turn with me if you would in the book of romans chapter 14 verses 7 through 8. for we don't live for ourselves listen the objective of life is not for you we don't live for ourselves heck we don't even die for ourselves i don't know if heck's in the original greek but i put it in there if we live it's to honor the lord and if we die it's to honor the lord so whether we live or we die we belong to the lord and it's our job to honor him now look at first corinthians chapter 10 verse number 31 so whether you eat or drink in other words when you play and have a good time or whatever you do in life do it all for the glory of god why because that's our objective in life that's our purpose that's our reason for being here on this earth we're also supposed to do something else because the objective of man is twofold the first one is to glorify god to bring glory and honor to him with our gifts talents and abilities but the second objective is to obey his word with a pure heart look at james chapter 1 verse 22 but don't just listen to god's word you must do what it says otherwise you are only fooling yourselves and you can just go through all the bible and you can just start underlying everywhere we're supposed to give glory and honor to god and everything that we do and you go wow let's just repeat it over and over again and we're supposed to obey his commands if a man says that he loves god and keeps not his commands he's a liar the truth is not in him yeah all through the bible all through the new testament this is our objective here on this earth so as you can see the bible states over and over again that the objective of life is to bring glory and honor to god by using our gifts talents and abilities for him and by obeying his word with a pure heart people that's what life is all about it's not about making lots of money or accumulating lots of material possessions i love the way jesus said he told us that life consists not in the abundance of material things that we obtain life's not about how many toys you have how big of a house you have how great of a car or expensive a car you have what kind of clothes you are now nothing's wrong with those things and that's wonderful and if you follow god's tips you can really succeed in this life and have those things and it is not against what god wants you to do but you need to understand that is not the objective you've changed the objective and you've made the objective something else you've played by your own set of rules and let me just tell you something if you do that you don't play the game the right way you will play it the hard way that's what the bible teaches so the objective of life is all about bringing glory and honor to god by using our gifts timeless abilities and by obeying his word which brings up an interesting point and the point is this every person's purpose in life is the same yet it's different depending on the individual did you hear that let me say that again every person's purpose in life is the same yet it's different depending on the individual now let me explain what i mean by that everyone's purpose in life is the same in the sense of everyone has the same purpose the same objective we're all supposed to bring glory and honor to god by using our gifts talents and abilities for him and we're all supposed to obey his word with the pure heart so in that sense we all have the same purpose we all have the same objective but at the same time every person's purpose in life is different in the sense that we all have different gifts talents and abilities so my purpose in life is different than your purpose in life now i'm still striving to do the very same thing that you are but i'm striving to do it in a different way because i have different gifts talents and abilities than you in other words i'm going to be doing different things to bring god glory and honor because my gifts talents and abilities are different than your gifts talents and abilities so basically my life my purpose in life is the same as yours yet it's different because i have different gifts talents abilities does that make sense everyone with that good so those are the two objectives in life or in other words our purpose in life that's why we're here now to be honest with you the first objective is trickier than the second one yeah the second objective just comes down to reading the bible going to church learning what the word says and doing what it says it might be tough but if you try to figure out what god wants you to do in his word at least you know what to do it might be tough actually doing it but you know what to do not only that the holy spirit lives inside of you so when you get at work and you get upset and you just let out all these cuss words immediately you feel guilty and if you don't something's wrong and the reason is because you know what the word of god says and the holy spirit quickens us but the first objective is a little trickier because the first objective can only be fulfilled if you know what your gifts talents and abilities are think about it the first objective in life is to bring glory and honor to god by using your gifts talents and abilities for him but if you don't know what your gifts talents and abilities are how can you do that you can't and that's why you hear people make the comment out of frustration especially when they're in their young adulthood that stage of life when you should be choosing a career they get frustrated and they say i don't know what i'm supposed to do with my life they want me to declare a major my parents want me to get a job but i don't want i don't know what i'm supposed to do or sometimes you'll hear people say this i wish god would just tell me what he wants me to do with my life how many of you ever said that yeah you're just frustrated 60 years old you still don't know what you're supposed to do well if you've ever made those comments what you're really saying is one of two things you're either saying i don't know what my gifts talents and abilities are or you're saying i don't know what type of career actually uses the kinds of gifts talents abilities that i have but it's usually the first one most people don't know what their gifts talents and abilities are so they have no idea what they should be doing so let me give you a tip if you're taking notes i would write this down especially if you're a parent or a grandparent if you're young in life i'd be writing this down people i'm giving you what everyone wants to know good gosh pull out a pen and a piece of paper and write this down now this is a tip it's not a rule there's a difference between tips and rules rules if you break there's a penalty tips are to give you an advantage so this is a tip not a rule here it is it's an important tip if you want to excel in the game of life you have to discover embrace and develop your gifts talents and abilities as early in life as possible let me say that again because i want you to think about this if you want to excel in the game of life i mean if you want to win i'm competitive people i'm not here to compete good lord i hate people who are here to compete i'm here to win you can compete all you want i came to win if i don't win i'm not happy if you want to excel in the game of life you have to discover you have to embrace some people don't like the gifts thousand meals have but you've got to discover and embrace and then you have to develop your gifts talents ability as early in life as possible the longer it takes to discover the longer it takes to embrace the longer it takes to develop the further behind you are in the game of life listen to me those who can do this not only have a head start in life but they also get more fun joy and fulfillment out of their life out of the game why because they're doing something that they were created to do and they're good at it and to top it off they're getting paid for it i'm going to tell you a little secret i hope you don't hold it against me i would do what i'm doing right here even if you didn't pay me but you have to pay me because if you don't i don't have time to express these to ponder how to express these truths as clearly as possible because i have to earn my living doing something else but i want you to understand something i would do what i'm doing now because the joy the fulfillment the peace that comes from using my gifts timeless abilities to bring god glory and honor i cannot tell you how great it is let me give an example i'm going to use my kids i'm to that stage in life where lisa and i are empty nesters it's hard when the kids come back mikey and aaron are going to be doing three rotations down here december january and february they asked if they could live in our house i'm thinking yes it would be fine why because we're family and nothing is more important than family we work together we help each other we make personal sacrifices for the good of the family yes you can but i love my kids my daughter macy just turned 25 in july and just three weeks ago she started her career difference between a career and a job but she started her career and she loves it but the reason she loves it is because she's not only using her god-given talents gifts talents and abilities but she feels like she's doing what she was created to do and to top it off she's making more money than her mother does she's making more money than i made up until about six years ago and she just turned 25. now let me just tell you this the money's just icing on the cake you don't pick a job based on money now money is important i'm not saying money is not important in fact solomon said that money is the answer to everything now that's a hyperbole that's an exaggeration in order to make a point and the point that he was making is that almost every problem in life can be solved with money almost not every problem almost you know what i'm talking about refrigerator goes out you got plenty of money just replace it you don't have plenty of money you're up the creek your car quits working you got plenty of money to get fixed no big deal your rent avis you'll get it fixed you're keep going or maybe you're trading and get a new one plenty of money no problem you don't you're up the creek so solomon said money is the answer to everything that's a hyperbole because he tells us later on just a few verses down that it can't ransom your life it can't buy you eternal life it can't give you happiness in relationships there's a lot of things money can't do so money is the icing on the cake but you don't pick a job based on the money money is not nearly as important as the joy and fulfillment that my daughter receives from doing what she feels she was called to do that she was created to do you see macy chose a career based on her gifts talents and abilities and that also fit her personality she's phlegmatic her predominant motivational gift which is mercy her love language which is quality time and her work style her work style is people-oriented unstructured so almost every night she calls us and we have to hear how great her job is let me tell you what a joy it is to hear your child at such a young age doing something that she loves to do and she's a betty i'm making a difference she has swallowed her she's living she's living she's working in an assisted living facility she's working with older people she gets to watch them eat and it dribble out but she's dead i'm making a difference because i have to do the swallow test and then i have to help them she's working with stroke victims or people who've had traumatic brain injuries and parts of the brain are not working so she's having to train them do therapy to help other parts of the brain compensate for that so they can learn to speak again so they can learn to do certain things again she's working with one dementia patient that has the early signs that her son can come visit her but an hour later she's saying when's my son gonna come see me and she's just the other day when the lady came up to me and said i don't know anyone in this facility but i know you because she's helping her to keep a journal and it's always by her so that if she can't remember she's what is this and she pulls it out and she reads it kind of like the notebook remember the movie but we get to hear her say that now parents listen to me if you're taking notes you write this down you young parents you say what am i supposed to do with my children i'm giving you things that you haven't heard before so write this down it's your job to help your kids discover embrace you might have a son and you love football and you want them to play football so bad but they're not gifted they have no talent in that area and no ability and you're still trying to turn them into a foot and it's not your job to do that's your job to help them discover embrace and develop their gifts town stability abilities as early in life as possible because if they know early in life they're going to get a head start i'm going to talk about my other daughter next week she won't start her career till she's 32 but she's known since she was in grade school what she was supposed to do but it just takes that long imagine if she didn't learn until she was in her 30s what she was supposed to do she wouldn't be starting her career into her upper 50s parents it's your job now let me go further if you're taking notes write this down it's also your job to help your children discover what their motivational gifts are what type of personality they have their love language and their work style because the more they know about themselves the easier it's going to be to choose a career but not only that to get along with others do you guys mind if i get off on a tangent let me do this because you really need to understand why it's so important i'm telling you to do these things i want you to know how this tip will make your life easier my primary motivational gift is teaching when i took the test i scored 100 in teaching my next predominant motivational gift is 97 and it was in prophecy now that's the motivational gift of prophecy not the manifestation get to prophecy there's a difference but between the motivational gifts and the manifestational gifts there's also a difference between the ministry gifts so there's three types of gifts but i want you to understand in the motivational gifts my predominant motivational gift is teaching 100. the next one is prophecy 97. my love language is words of affirmation and physical touch i've got good news for you gary chapman who wrote the love languages is coming to our church next year yeah but my love language is words of affirmation and physical touch i have a cleric sanguine personality now you guys understand why i'm so snarky people i scored a 97 in prophecy in the motivational gifts that means everything's black and white there are no gray areas i have a cleric personality that's why it seems like i spanked you and lisa hugs you my work style is task oriented unstructured doesn't mean that i'm unorganized not at all it simply means that i don't like doing the same things the same way over and over again i cannot work a factory job i need to be doing different things you said well how can you do you do the same thing every week you need to understand i'm teaching on different things so every time it's just a new subject i get to come in and study this and learn this and work on this and it's new every week lisa's primary motivational gift is serving imagine that her love language is acts of service and gift giving she has a melancholy personality and her work style is task oriented structured now besides both of us being task oriented we're polar opposites polar opposites i'm telling you you can't get any more different than what lisa and i are but the reason lisa and i are so compatible is because we know how each other ticks and why we tick that way but early in our marriage it wasn't that way we had problems early on in our marriage why because i didn't understand what my motivational gift was i didn't understand the type of personality i had or she had i didn't understand my work style we were polar opposites i kept telling her because of my love language how much i love her and how beautiful she is and she would think inside would you quit telling me that and start showing that to me by doing some type of act of service get off your butt and quit talking is what she was saying i'd come home and she'd be making a cake and i'd get all excited until i found out she wasn't making it for me she was making it for someone else but what i didn't realize was she is a server that's what she does her primary love language is acts of service if she wants to show someone how much she cares she's going to do it for them i don't have a serving gift in my body or serving bone in my body is what i meant to say wow when you serve you bet you i serve because god commanded me to do it now listen to me the more we learned about ourselves and each other the more compatible we became you see god intended for opposites to attract because where i'm weak she's strong and where i'm strong she's weak and we make it up the word helpmate actually means to complete to fulfill you get married to be fulfilled to complete if you marry someone just like you let me tell you something it's a competition then but opposites attract and once you begin to understand yourself and you understand others it's so much easier to get along let me tell you she helps me so much because i'm so strong in the motivational get to prophecy and teaching and because i'm so strong in that choleric personality she has to tell me you can't say that now before it irritated me before i understood all of this because i'd say don't tell me what to say i'll say what i want to say cleric personality but once i found out these things she's trying to help me she said if you say that so she's always worried about what's going to come out of my mouth but she helps me now listen to me if you have marriage problems it's not that you're not compatible i'm telling you the worst thing in the world is we got divorced because we're incompatible well that's why you got married what attracted you to your spouses they aren't like you it's boring to marry someone just like you you're a boring person the reason you aren't compatible is because you don't understand each other and some of you don't even understand yourself you don't even know why you get frustrated with your spouse but if you learn why they do what they do all of a sudden it makes sense and boy you just start working together and let me tell you i can't imagine living without lisa we have the best marriage and she keeps me out of trouble now listen to me parents it's your job to help your kids discover embrace and develop your child's gifts talents and abilities as early in life as possible it's also your job to help them discover what their motivational gifts are why do you discover that if you've been coming to church all these years you know i see there's that cleric personality gotta spank them what type of personality they are their love language and their work style so that they can be successful in their career and they can also be successful in their marriage because when they understand themselves they can say well this is what irritates me about other people but i have to understand this is the way i am and this is the way they are you know i can get around people it doesn't take me long to in a sense know really what their personality type is doesn't take me long to discover their motivational gifts doesn't take me long to be able to discover their love language i can just watch them and do that and pretty soon i know this is the way i deal with them because this is the way they tick and why they tick that way now some of you going well yeah that sounds real good but i haven't heard any scripture yet well next week we're going to continue on this when i give you rule number one but it is scriptural and it's based on proverbs 22 6. train up a child in the way that they should go in the road they will not depart from it most of us don't even know what that verse means we think we do i bring them up in church when they get old and they've gone out and so the wild oats they'll come back to church that's not what that verse means you have to understand what that hebrew word is for way it's your job to trade them in the way according to their gifts house abilities according to their motivational gift their personality type their work style their love language that's your job and if you do that you prepare them for success and they have an easy time in the game of life

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

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Keywords: pastor allen nolan, allen nolan cornerstone, allen nolan bible study, allen nolan explained, allen nolan sermon, cornerstone church allen nolan, cornerstone pastor allen nolan, allen nolan, with pastor allen nolan, cornerstone fellowship, cornerstone tahlequah, success, how to succeed

Id: g3CuUmOordk

Length: 41min 28sec (2488 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021