Beyond Failure
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever just completely failed at something?
Have you ever just completely failed at something?
blew that first date
messed up a recipe
Sports
TAYLOR WORKOUT FAILURE
FAILING SUCKS DOESN’T IT?
THERE’S LOTS OF REASONS WHY WE FAIL AT THINGS
I DIDN’T DO ENOUGH
BECAUSE I WASN’T OKAY WITH MY CURRENT LIMITS
BECAUSE I SET OUT TO DO SOMETHING GOD DIDN’T WANT ME TO DO (GRACE)
WHEN IT COMES TO FOLLOWING JESUS FAILURE IS NEVER FINAL
JESUS SHOWED THIS TO PEOPLE OVER AND OVER AGAIN
PETER
THE WOMAN AT THE WELL
WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTRY
ZACCHEUS
EVEN THE FACT THAT JESUS CAME AND DIED FOR US
INTRO PAUL / SAUL
WROTE ALMOST 2/3 of the NT
STARTED CLOSE TO 20 CHURCHES
PAUL WAS A PHARASEE
PERSECUTED THE CHURCH
STEPHEN IS PREACHING ABOUT JESUS ONE DAY AND WE ARE INTRODUCED TO SAUL WHOS NAME IS LATER CHANGED TO PAUL
57 They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him.
58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
60 He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep.
1 Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.
2 Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.
3 Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.
NOW NO ONE IS SEEING THIS STORY FOR THE FIRST TIME AND THINKING “SAUL IS GOING TO BE THIS AMAZING GUY WHO WRITE 2/3 THE NT AND STARTS 20 CHURCHES
And this was a crazy time for the church and for people following Jesus. This was a very normal thing to happen at this time. AND SAUL WAS LEADING THE WAY
NOW I KNOW THAT PROBABLY NO ONE IN THIS ROOM HAS BEEN PERSECUTING THE CHURCH AND CARRYING OUT DEATH ORDERS
BUT WE CAN ALL RELATE WITH PAUL IN THIS WAY:
WE’VE ALL DONE THINGS THAT WE ARE NOT PROUD OF. WE’VE ALL HAD FAILURES. WHETHER BIG OR SMALL
FAILURE CAN BE A PERIOD OR A COMMA
FAILURE ISN’T FINAL. BUT IT ALSO SHOULDN’T BE A LIFESTYLE CHOICE
When you follow Jesus failure is never final there is always grace. There is always seconds chances. But failure shouldn’t be your lifestyle choice.
20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more
21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?
2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
A lot of us make Grace cheap. I can keep failing. I can keep sinning. I can keep doing the wrong things because God will always forgive me. And while that is true we make God’s grace cheap.
WHY DID I FAIL?
I DIDN’T DO ENOUGH
BECAUSE I WASN’T OKAY WITH MY CURRENT LIMITS
BECAUSE I SET OUT TO DO SOMETHING GOD DIDN’T WANT ME TO DO (GRACE)
WE DON’T OFTEN SEE FAILURE AS GRACE. But sometimes God will allow us to fail now because failure later would have been worse. We set out a direction God never wanted us to go. To do something God never wanted us to do and he forces us into what WE would call failure to keep us from something worse.
FAILURE CAN EITHER MAKE YOU OR BREAK YOU
WORKING OUT TO FAILURE
FAILURE DOES NOT ALWAYS EQUAL THAT WE DID SOMETHING WRONG
SOMETIMES GOD IS TRYING TO SAVE US FROM SOMETHING OR TEACH US SOMETHING THAT WE COULDN’T LEARN OTHERWISE
1 Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest
2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
3 As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him.
4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied.
6 “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
CAN YOU IMAGINE IF AT THIS MOMENT PAUL DECIDED THAT BECAUSE OF HIS PAST FAILURES THAT HE SHOULDN’T DO WHAT GOD TOLD HIM TO DO?
FAILURE MAY HAVE KEPT YOU FROM WHAT GOD HAD FOR YOU IN THE PAST BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO KEEP YOU FROM WHAT GOD HAS FOR YOU IN THE FUTURE
You haven’t ever been consistent in God’s word. You’ve failed at that start today
You’ve been stuck in that sin. You’ve failed. Move forward today and don’t look back
Things didn’t work out in your life the way you wanted. You’ve seen your life as failure after failure. Seek God and move forward today
You have things in your past you’re not proud of. Everyone does. Stop letting failure hold you back from your future and what God has for you.
HOW DO I NOT LET FAILURE HOLD ME BACK?
SEE YOURSELF HOW GOD SEES YOU
Child trying to walk
NEVER STOP MOVING FORWARD
The first thing that usually stops when people fail is their relationship with God
Get up. Move forward. Born on purpose for a purpose.
KNOW THAT GOD CAN USE YOUR FAILURES
This doesn’t mean we keep causing our own failures. But God can use your past to help others.
Galatians 1:13–16 (CSB)
13 For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it.
14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.
15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased
16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles...
PRAYER TIME AT THE NEW BUILDING — MICHELINA — IF BUILDING DOESN’T WORK OUT. HELP US TO SEE THAT IT’S NOT FAILURE IT JUST MEANS THERE’S SOMETHING BETTER FOR US.