Don't Let Your Failure Define You
Tony Schachle
Don't Let Your Failure Define You • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 20 viewsWe all fail from time to time. We fail to do what is right. We fail to control our emotions. We fail to follow through with commitments. We fail to overcome temptation. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. However, just because we fail from time to time does not mean we are a failure. We only become a failure when we refuse to get back up after we fall and keep going. In this message today we are going to explore what God’s Word says about our failures and His power to pick us up when we fall. Don’t Let Your Failure Define You!
Notes
Transcript
TITLE
TITLE
Don’t Let Your Failure Define You
SCRIPTURE
SCRIPTURE
16 For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Phil Mickelson | 2006 US Open at Winged Foot in New York | 72nd Hole Meltdown
Phil stepped onto the tee box at the par-4 18th hole on Sunday at the final round of the US Open with a one-shot lead over Geoff Ogilvy.
He needed a par to win his first US Open. At worst he could bogey and still force a playoff with Ogilvy.
His drive went so far left of the fairway that it got caught up in the trees next to a hospitality tent.
Instead of playing it safe and just chipping the ball back out into the fairway, Phil aimed for the green and hit a tree. The ball only advanced 25 yards.
He hit his third shot into the green side bunker with what is called a “fried-egg” lie. Meaning the ball was buried in a crater.
Since it was a par-4, he had to hole his fourth shot from the bunker in order to win. Instead he hit it too hard and it rolled off the other side of the green into the rough.
He had to now chip in this shot from the rough in order to tie with Ogilvy and force and playoff. Instead the shot rolled 6-ft past the hole.
He ended up tied for 2nd.
That is called “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”
Phil has never won the US Open. He has finished in 2nd place a total of 6 times.
Phil Mickelson has failed many times to win the US Open, but I don’t know anyone who would say that Phil Mickelson is a failure at golf.
He has made nearly $100 million playing golf over the course of his career, not including endorsement deals.
He has won 57 tournaments with 6 of those being majors and 3 of those major victories at the Masters tournament.
Don’t Let Your Failure Define You
SERMON
SERMON
Failure is not only possible, it is inevitable.
Failure is defined as “a lack of success or the inability to meet an expectation.”
The question is whose expectation are you trying to meet: God’s, your own, or someone else?
The truth is that you are not always going to live up to God’s, your own, or someone else’s expectations. At some point you are going to fail.
We fail to do the right thing.
We fail to control our emotions.
We fail to follow through with commitments.
We fail to overcome temptation.
The Bible tells us that we all fail God at some point:
10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The Bible also warns us not to think we are incapable of failure:
12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
Perfection is not attainable, but striving for perfection is beneficial
Vince Lombardi | “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is working in us every day to bring us closer to God’s glory:
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Don’t Let Your Failure Define You
Just because you fail doesn’t make you a failure. We only become a failure when we refuse to get back up and keep moving forward.
16 For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.
Seven times illustrates that no matter how many times the righteous fall, it is temporary. They will rise again. The wicked are overcome by their failure and do not rise again.
“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead-end street.” - Anonymous
King David’s Failures
King David’s Repentance
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
“Failure is part of the redemptive method of teaching God uses to mature us into His people with purposeful assignments to enlarge Kingdom influence.” - Joseph Mattera
We will fail God, but God will never fail us.
26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
God can work everything out for our good and His glory despite our failures:
“Often we assume that God is unable to work in spite of our weakness, mistakes, and sins. We forget that God is a specialist; he is well able to work our failures into his plans.” - Erwin W. Lutzer
CLOSING
CLOSING
“The person who succeeds is not the one who holds back, fearing failure, nor the one who never fails … but rather the one who moves on in spite of failure.” - Chuck Swindoll
