Zion Church | The Pathway To Success PT 12 | Pastor Keith Battle

Jan 25, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Good Success Is Tribal and Lifts Others Up

True success in the kingdom of God is never meant to begin and end with you. While God desires to bless you personally, His ultimate intention is for your prosperity to spill over into the lives of those you are called to help. You are blessed to be a blessing, creating pathways, wisdom, and opportunities for others to rise alongside you. When your vision only includes your own advancement, it falls short of the divine dream God has for your life. Good success finds its full measure when it helps other people take possession of the promises God has for them. [05:32]

I’m giving you every place where you set foot, exactly as I promised Moses.
Joshua 1:3 (Contemporary English Bible)

Reflection: Look at your current goals or vision board; who are the specific people or communities that would be lifted up if you achieved those dreams?

Day 2: Accepting the Responsibility of Being the One

There is a unique assignment on your life that requires you to stop acting like the masses and embrace your specific calling. You may be the one in your family, your circle, or your community whom God has chosen to break cycles and lead the way. Often, the fear of offending others or attracting critics causes you to shrink back into a false sense of humility. However, being "the one" is not about being boastful; it is about having the courage to respond when God calls your name. You must be tough enough to stand in your purpose even when it disturbs the status quo. [14:18]

But be brave and strong because you are the one who will help this people take possession of the land which I pledged to give to their ancestors.
Joshua 1:6 (Contemporary English Bible)

Reflection: In what area of your life have you been "shrinking" to avoid making others uncomfortable, and how might God be inviting you to stand tall in that space this week?

Day 3: Overcoming Shame to Respond to God's Call

It is difficult to hear the voice of God when you are blinded by your own flaws or living under the weight of shame. Like Isaiah, you may feel unworthy because of your past mistakes or current struggles, but God’s grace is sufficient to remove your guilt. Once the coal touches your lips and your sins are forgiven, your spiritual ears are opened to hear the Lord asking who will go for Him. Your behavior is not what qualifies you for His service; it is your availability and your willingness to say, "Here am I." Do not let the enemy’s accusations keep you from the assignment that is bigger than your mistakes. [20:13]

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me."
Isaiah 6:8 (ESV)

Reflection: Is there a past failure or a current "flaw" that you’ve been using as an excuse to stay silent? What would it look like to trust God’s forgiveness more than your own guilt today?

Day 4: Committing to the Hard Work of Finishing Well

The pathway to success does not have an exit labeled "lazy," as good success requires a tenacious commitment to hard work. While rest is essential for your health and availability, you must also be willing to engage in the mental and physical labor your calling demands. Success is found not just in starting a project, but in the discipline required to see it through to completion. When you leave things unfinished or act unreliably, you limit the level to which you can be trusted and elevated. Glory is brought to the Father when you complete the specific work He has given you to do. [31:33]

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
John 17:4 (ESV)

Reflection: Think of a project or a commitment you’ve left "half-done" recently. What is one practical step you can take this week to move that task toward the finish line?

Day 5: Expecting Success Wherever God Leads You

God desires to give you success wherever you go, whether that is in your local community or on an international stage. You must break out of the limitations of your mind and stop restricting your vision to only what is familiar or nearby. If God leads you to a new place or a new industry, you should enter that space with the expectation that something there belongs to you. Your gifts are not just for a local audience; they carry the potential for global impact and national reach. Trust that the same God who calls you will also provide the favor and strength needed to thrive in new territories. [09:08]

Be very brave and strong as you carefully obey all of the instructions that Moses, my servant, commanded you. Don’t deviate even a bit from it either to the right or the left. Then you will have success wherever you go.
Joshua 1:7 (Contemporary English Bible)

Reflection: If you truly believed there were no geographical or social limits on God's favor, what "big idea" or "new territory" would you finally give yourself permission to pursue?

Sermon Summary

Joshua 1:8 becomes the anchor for a clear, unapologetic call to “good success” defined by Scripture rather than cultural metrics. Good success here is both personal and communal: God blesses individuals so their prosperity spills over into the lives of those they are called to lift. Success is not merely a private trophy; it is vocationally oriented toward creating opportunities, income, wisdom, and pathways for others. Obedience to God’s Word—meditating on it day and night and following Moses’ instructions—serves as the practical engine that produces consistent success wherever God sends a person.

The sermon insists that God’s favor does not bypass the individual; rather, God blesses so the blessed can bless others. That dual motion requires courage to accept the role of “the one” in one’s family, church, or industry: a posture that is not boastful but responsible and resolute. Many hide behind false humility, guilt, or fear of offense; the text exposes those as crippling excuses and urges listeners to step out of anonymity and act with the authority and responsibility God has assigned.

Good success also demands disciplined labor. Joshua’s story is recounted not as a tidy triumph but as years of war, leadership, land distribution, meetings, and detail work—hard work that resulted in finished, trustworthy outcomes. Talk without finish breeds poverty; finishing well on time proves reliability and unlocks elevation. Rest is acknowledged as necessary so availability and longevity are preserved, but work—both sprint and marathon—remains nonnegotiable.

Finally, forgiveness and empowerment through Christ remove the paralysis of shame and provide supernatural strength for difficult labor. Availability and surrender, not innate exceptionality, are what make one usable by God. The trajectory laid out calls for people to receive forgiveness, embrace their calling as “the one,” commit to hard, disciplined work, and use their success to expand God’s provision to others.

Key Takeaways

1. Success is both personal and tribal God’s blessing is designed to overflow: personal prosperity is entrusted so others can be raised. Good success always asks, Who will benefit because of you? A vision that stops at self is a scheme; a God-given vision enlarges a community and creates tangible openings for others to step into what God intends for them. [03:54]
2. Obedience to God's Word daily Meditating on and obeying Scripture night and day shapes decisions, character, and outcomes. Familiarity with God’s instructions—not selective devotion—aligns one’s pathways with divine promise and produces consistent success wherever God leads. Obedience is practical faith, not mere sentiment. [01:37]
3. Embrace being the one Some are called to stand out because others depend on them; being “the one” carries responsibility, not pride. Stepping into that role requires courage to resist false humility, to stop hiding, and to accept that God sometimes uses a single available life to shift entire communities. Availability matters more than perfection. [12:05]
4. Hard work, finish, and rest Diligence produces fruit; talk without execution yields poverty. Success requires both sprint-like bursts and marathon perseverance, plus disciplined rest to sustain availability and reliability. Finishing well and on time proves trustworthiness and unlocks greater spheres of influence. [24:47]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:13] - Series shoes and opening
[01:37] - Joshua 1:8: memorize and meditate
[03:05] - Requirements for good success
[03:54] - Good success: personal and tribal
[06:10] - Blessing to bless others
[07:24] - Obey Moses: success everywhere
[12:05] - You are the one: call to stand
[14:18] - Hiding, fear, and false humility
[24:47] - Hard work is required
[30:13] - Finish well; be trustworthy
[35:24] - Christ empowers difficult labor
[36:17] - Invitation: forgiveness and response
[39:46] - Availability and surrender emphasized
[41:39] - Prayer, proclamation, and benediction

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading

Joshua 1:6-8 (ESV)
6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Observation questions

According to Joshua 1:8, what are the specific actions God commands Joshua to take regarding the "Book of the Law"? What are the two results promised if he obeys?
In Joshua 1:6, God tells Joshua he will "help this people take possession of the land." What does this verse suggest about the primary purpose of Joshua's personal success and leadership?
The sermon highlights the phrase "success wherever you go" from verse 7. [08:43] What is the one condition given in this verse for experiencing that kind of consistent, location-independent success?

Interpretation questions

The phrase "good success" implies there might be other kinds of success. How does the idea that success must be "tribal"—meaning it blesses and lifts up other people—help us distinguish between godly success and a worldly "scheme"? [04:20]
The sermon points out that Saul, who was "head and shoulders above everybody," had to do "extra work of hiding himself." [23:31] What are some modern-day ways people "hide in the stuff" or shrink back from the call God has on their lives? What is the difference between true humility and hiding out of fear? [14:18]
Guilt and shame can make it hard to hear from God, just as Isaiah couldn't hear God's question until his guilt was removed. [19:47] How does fully accepting our forgiveness in Christ free us from the paralysis of our past mistakes and empower us to boldly say, "Here am I. Send me"?

Application questions

Meditating on God's Word "day and night" is the engine for good success. [01:37] What does a daily rhythm of engaging with Scripture look like for you right now? What is one practical change you could make to be more consistent in not just reading the Word, but observing "to do according to all that is written in it"?
God told Joshua, "you are the one who will help this people." [06:45] It's easy to feel unqualified or to hide behind others. In what area of your life—your family, your workplace, your community, or this church—might God be calling you to stop acting "like the many" and embrace being "the one" He can use to make a difference?
We are reminded that "work brings profit, talk brings poverty." [29:15] Think about a project, goal, or calling you've been talking about for a while. What is one concrete step of "hard work" you can take this week to move from just talking to actually doing?
Finishing well and on time builds trust and opens doors for elevation. [30:55] Are there any unfinished projects or commitments in your life that are hindering your progress or damaging your reliability? What would it take to bring one of those things to completion this month?
A vision that stops with you is a "scheme," but a God-given vision enlarges a community. [04:20] Who are the people God has placed in your life that your success is meant to lift up? How can you be more intentional this week about creating an opportunity, sharing wisdom, or forming a pathway for one of them?
The call to hard work can feel overwhelming, but Christ gives us supernatural strength for "difficult work." [35:24] Where do you most need His strength right now? How can this group pray for you to receive the power of Christ to accomplish the hard things He's called you to do?

Sermon Clips

31s

#SuccessIsTribal

“There are things I'm gonna say tonight that are critical to what god considers good success. Because god's standard for success is not always the same as the standard in the world. So the first point I'm gonna make in fact, I think it's important that we first bring definition and distinction between good success and other types of success, and that goes to my first point. And that is the fact that when you're talking about good success, good success is not just personal in nature, it is tribal in nature.”

72s

#WorkOverTalk

“Why am I bringing that up? Because you're not gonna be successful without working hard. You have to work hard. Give me Proverbs fourteen twenty three. Proverbs fourteen twenty three says, work brings profit, talk brings poverty. Think about that for a minute. You know what I mean? If talk brings poverty, talk really is cheap. You know why talk is cheap? Because you ain't gotta do nothing when you talk. Talk I call this talk is cheap with people who go to Starbucks and they go sit down and for breakfast and they always talk in business, but they ain't never making no money or doing nothing. He said, yeah, child. We could do this, and we got this. And the data is there. The data is right there, girl. Brother, the the man, the the the stuff is right there. All we gotta do is is Gemini, that thing, and GP chat. We got all the material. And then they they hug and they leave the restaurant, and they haven't moved the needle one inch. But talk for two hours. Talk is cheap. And people feel good psychologically after they've talked about something or they told other people what they're gonna do or what can be done. But talk leads to poverty.”

33s

#WorkWithRest

“You can't be successful because good success means you gotta accept that. Let me hurry up and get to my last point because because because we run out of time. This is the second thing I wanna say. When it comes to good success when it comes to good success, it's also gonna require hard work. Now I'm gonna add to that parenthetically that that's not without rest. You do have to rest because if you don't rest, you won't be available. Insufficient rest makes you vulnerable to stuff, and then you're not available. But it does require hard work.”

43s

#FinishWhatYouStart

“Yeah. That's that's what it leads to. You gotta do something. And Joshua what I love about Joshua is he didn't just talk and he finished. He didn't just start the work. He finished. The reason why a lot of people aren't successful because you don't finish. You don't finish. You don't finish, and then you don't finish on time. Even even if you do finish something and you leave a lot of stuff unfinished, when you when you do finish it, you don't finish on time. And what that makes you is it makes you unreliable. We don't we don't have to soften it up or dress it up. You're under you watch this. You cannot be elevated if you cannot be trusted. Amen.”

66s

#StepOutOfHiding

“You're going down. What I'm trying to say is, how can you be this tall? Let me ask y'all something. Do any of you who are here put the camera on them. Do any of you online but yes or no in the chat. Do any of you have a difficult time seeing pastor Shimon Smalls? No. What a name. His height makes him easy to see. How can you be that tall on your coronation and nobody see you? That means he had to do extra work of hiding himself. In order for him to hide his stuff, he's got to stoop down and bend down and duck down. And I'm tired of some of y'all shrieking down, lowering down, being small, reducing your vision, reducing who you are so that nobody knows who you are. But I come to put the spotlight on you today. I come to put the spot light on you today. You are the one. You are the one. You got to come out of hiding. You're not humble. You're hiding. You're not humble. You're hiding.”

63s

#SuccessWhereverYouGo

“If he sends you to Dallas, expect success in Dallas. If he sends you to New York, expect success in New York. If God sends you to Idaho, to Wyoming, it doesn't matter. If he sent me there, there is something that belongs to me there. There's an audience there that I'm anointed to help. There's a product that I have. Your inventory will work internationally. That's what I'm trying to say to somebody, and everybody doesn't get that because you just land over Larry and you just you just Southeast Susie. But if you get your mind if you ever break out of your mind, if you ever break out of the limitations of your mind, that there's no geographical limit on what God can do in your life, that anywhere he takes you, he will blow you up. Are you understanding what I'm saying? You can't be limited like that. Somebody that knows what I'm talking about, just thank God for the things you haven't even seen yet. I'm not hearing my Let me just go on back to this. Amen. Preach, pastor. Wherever you go, I ain't gonna get stuck there.”

25s

#AssignedToUplift

“There are some things I'm gonna give your descendants, Abraham. And Joshua, I want you to know that you are the one part of your assignment is is to help them get to it. So watch this. So so so so so God is saying to Joshua, I need you to understand that part of your assignment is to uplift others. That's why what I can't get past is those four words in that verse, which says you are the one.”

59s

#OwnYourOneness

“What does that mean? The reason why you can't walk in your oneness is because you're so busy trying to not offend anybody. You don't act like you're the one. You act like you're the many, But one is exclusive, and one comes with responsibility. And the reason why you're not doing is because you're scared. You try to make it seem like you're humble, but you ain't humble. You're scared. You're not humble, you don't wanna ruffle any feathers. You're not humble, you just don't wanna offend anybody. You're not humble, you just don't want haters. You're not humble, you just don't like people being jealous of you. But you gotta be tough enough with haters hating on you and jealous people jealous of you and envious people envious of you. And people don't like that you shake up the status quo and that you disturb processes and that you come to make a difference. You got to stand on that anyway. Why? Because you're the one.”

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