God’s Promises to You When You are Afraid of Failing
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Intro
We are continuing the Series, God’s Incredible Promises. There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible that God makes.
Today, I want to talk about God’s Promises to you when you are afraid of failing. Now you may not htink this is a big deal, so let me give you a little test.
Do you ever worry about what people think about you?
Do you ever worry about your ability to go after your dream or the desires in your heart? … but you thought “i’m not sure I could do that or not?
Do you ever worry that people will lose interest in you? Maybe even people close to you?
Do you ever worry that people won’t think that you are smart or competent? So you hide so people won’t find out.
Do you ever worry about disappointing people whose opinions you value?
Have you ever told anyone beforehand that you might not succeed in something to lower their expectations?
Do you get headaches, stomach aches or other physical symptoms while preparing for something you think is important?
Do you ever become distracted by things that prevent you from completing your preparation which aren’t really as urgent or important as your tasks?
Do you ever put things off to the last minute and then run out of time when you have to prepare for something.
All nine of these are symptoms of the fear of failure. No matter how successful you are in some areas, there are other areas that you are scared to death about and you fail at. As a matter of fact, you fail more than you succeed. We all do. Nobody is good at everything. You might be good at some things, but you are not good at more than you are good at. We just don’t want people to know that.
Write this down…
The fear of failure will paralyze your potential.
The fear of failure will paralyze your potential.
It will keep you from becoming all that God wants you to be. It will kill your dreams if you let it. It will rob you of happiness if you let it. It will keep you from succeeding if you let it. Many single people let the fear of failure keep them from marriage… or often even asking someone out. I could go on and on.
So today I want to talk about God’s promises for the fear of failure.
Jesus told a story… a parable about the fear of failure. It’s called the parable of the talents. We actually get our word talent from this story. When I say talent, you think musical talent, athletic talent, and so on…
In the Bible days the word talent was actually a measurement of gold. A talent of gold was equal to the normal weight of a person. So you are talking about a lot of money then and today. One talent is worth over a million dollars. So Jesus tells us the story about a fear of failure to show us how to handle it.
A business owner was going to leave on a long journey, so he called his three servants together and he entrusted his wealth to them. To one servant, he gave five talents of money. That's a lot of money, maybe $5 million or more. To another, he gave two talents of money. And to a third servant, he gave one talent of money. That's still a million bucks. And he did this each according to his own ability, and then he, the master went on a journey.
Now, the servant who was entrusted with five talents went at once and used his money to gain back five more talents. In other words, he doubled his money. He made 100 percent on his investment. Pretty good, pretty good investment. He had five, now he's got 10. In the same way, the servant who was given, entrusted two talents put his talents of money to work and he gained two more. Again, he gets 100 percent return on his money, doubles his money. But the servant who had been given just the one talent did nothing. He did nothing. He went out and he dug a hole in the ground and he buried his master's money to keep it safe.
Now, after a long time, the master of those three servants returned and he asked each servant to give an account of what they had done with the money they had been entrusted with. Now, the man who had received five talents brought the other five that he had gained and he said, "Master," he said, "You entrusted me with five talents and see, I've gained five more for you here." His master replied, "Well done. Well done, you good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things, so now I'm going to put you in charge of many greater things."
Now, you know this is a parable and Jesus is talking about, he's invested in you and he's asking you when you get ready to come to heaven, "What did you do with what I gave you?" My job as your pastor is to prepare you for the day when God says, "What did you do with what I gave you? What I entrusted you, what I loaned to you, the talent that I loaned to you?" In the story, he said, "I've doubled it." And he says, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. Now I'm going to put you in charge of more, greater responsibility. Come and share your master's happiness." That's what I want God to say to you when you get to heaven.
Now, then the man who had received two talents gave his account. "Master," he said, "You entrusted me with two talents, and I've gained for you two more." And his master said, "Well done to you, good and faithful servant. You also have been faithful with a few things. So now I'll put you in charge of many larger things. Come and share your master's happiness."
But look at your outlines and see what the servant said…
25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ 26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ 28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.
I was afraid I would lose your money so I hid it. Circle afraid. This was the fear of failure. He was afraid of losing it so he did nothing with it.
Some of you have buried the talents that God have given you and you're not using them. You are not using them for the Lord. Look at the Master’s reaction to the man not using the talent he left him with.
Okay everybody, look up here just a minute. I don’t want you stand before God someday and God say to you, "You did nothing with what I gave you. You did nothing with the talent I gave you. You just used it on yourself. You didn't make a difference in the world. You didn't make the world a better place. You didn't serve anybody else. You just served yourself. You did nothing with what I gave you."
My job is to make sure that doesn’t happen to any of us.
So the guy gives back the talent, and God says Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of gold. Now, this is a principle of the universe that God has established. Whatever you use well in life, God will give you more of it. If you use your time well, God will give you more time. If you use your money well, God will give you more money. If you use your energy well, God will give you more energy. If you use the talent that he's put in you, he will give you more talent.
On the other hand, if you don’t use it you will lose it. Talent that sits on the shelf rots. God will take it (whatever it is - talent, money…) and give it to the one who is gong to be faithful with it. We have to get rid of the fear of failure.
Here is the point of the story. You never please God by playing it safe.
You never please God by playing it safe.
You never please God by playing it safe.
If you don’t ever take any risk, you don’t have any faith and if you don’t have faith, then you are being unfaithful. IOW, If you're not taking any risks in your life for the benefit of other people, for the glory of God, you're not taking any risks, then you don't need any faith. And if you don't have any faith, then at that point you are being unfaithful.
God told that servant that he was wicked. That servant had no faith and we can’t please God without faith. God made you and me to make a difference not just to live for ourselves. It’s important for you and I to get rid of the fear of failure.
How Can I Neutralize the Fear of Failure?
How Can I Neutralize the Fear of Failure?
We're going to look at four things you need to remember, four truths to remember and then four action steps to take on how to reduce the fear of failure in your life. This is a good week for you to have come to church… turn to the person next to you and tell them you are glad they came to church… Now turn to the one you didn’t pick and them them that you look like you could use a little church my friend…
4 Truths to Remember & 4 Steps to Take
4 Truths to Remember & 4 Steps to Take
1. Remember everybody fails in many ways.
1. Remember everybody fails in many ways.
That will reduce your fears. When you realize that you are not the only one… that everyone fails in many different ways, it makes you feel better. We are all flawed. If at first you don’t succeed, you are human. All of us fail in different ways.
2 We all stumble in many ways…
How many of you have ever stumbled? Stumbled in public right in front of people? at a graduation? walking down the aisle at a wedding? walking down a sidewalk? We all have.
What happens when we see that? We wince (after we laugh). We all sympathize wen someone stumbles because we all have done it and we know how humiliating it is. We have all stumbled in some way so we can identify with them.
20 There is no one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake.
We all stumble. We all fail. In Baseball, if you get a hit 3 out of every 9 times, you are a superstar. In Basketball, if you score 50% of the time you shoot, you are a superstar like MJ, Lebron…
The bible says that we all fail in some ways at some times, so it’s not a big deal. We overemphasize failing.
2. Remember no failure is final unless I give up.
2. Remember no failure is final unless I give up.
It’s not over until you quit. Failure won’t kill you and it’s not final unless you give up. If you choose to give up, that’s on you.
Failure is not a big deal, but the fear of failure is a big deal. It’s worse than failure. Why is that? Because the fear of failure will keep you from ever trying to accomplish anything important. You won’t even try. When you fear it, you won’t try it so you fail because you didn’t try… it’s kind of self fulling prophecy.
16 The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again…
This verse says that even the good guys stumble and fall. What makes them godly is that they keep getting back up. They don’t stay down. They have resilience.
Solomon is saying that if you want to be the man of God or the woman of God that God want’s you to be, you need to be resilient because we all will fail in many ways. It’s the ungodly that try something once and give up.
Everyone fails … even the famous people you have heard of.
George Washington, first president of the United States, lost two-thirds of all the battles he fought against the British and the American Revolution. In the first part of the war, he lost almost every battle. But he eventually won the war because even though he was outmanned, he would not give up.
Napoleon graduated 42nd in his class, a class of 43 people. Not exactly a brilliant guy, okay? But then he went on and conquered Europe.
Albert Einstein did not learn to speak. He didn't say a single word until he was over four years old. Any parent who has a child who doesn't say his first words until four years old, you think something's wrong with this child. They're probably stunted in their intellectual ability.
Einstein did so poorly in school, all of his professors, all of his teachers said he'd be a failure. In fact, he failed at math. And he did so poorly in school, at age 16 he failed to pass the entrance exam for the Swiss Polytechnic School. When he finally did get accepted into a college, he struggled so much that he nearly dropped out, and then he reinvented science and math.
Babe Ruth hit 831 home runs in baseball, but he struck out 1330 times. For years, Babe Ruth led the League in strikeouts, not just home runs.
The Bible says failure is not final, but a righteous man keeps getting up.
9 And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up.
If you keep going and don’t let failure be final, you never know what kind of good things might happen.
Check out this guy. At age seven, this man, this little boy, at age seven, his family was forced out of their home and he had to go to work to help support the family. At seven years of age, he went to work. At age nine, he's still a shy little boy, his mother died. At age 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to law school, but his education wasn't good enough.
Age 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a small store. Three years later, his partner died, leaving him a huge debt which took years to repay. At age 28, after dating a young woman for four solid years, he asked her to marry him and she said no. In his 30s, he ran for public office, and he lost. Couple years later, he ran again, and he lost again.
At 37 years of age, on his third attempt to run for office, he's finally elected to Congress. But two years later when he ran for reelection, he lost again and he had a nervous breakdown as a result. At 41, in an unhappy marriage, his four-year-old son died. At 42, he ran to be elected as the land officer, and he lost.
At 45, he ran for the Senate in the United States, and he lost it again. A few years later, he ran for vice presidency, and he lost again. At 49 years of age, he ran for the Senate and lost again. And then at 51, he was elected president of United States, his name was Abraham Lincoln.
What if Lincoln had said, "I'm just going to give up on the first time I run for office." He lost like eight or nine times before he finally was elected President of the United States and saved the union and saved the history of America. You don't know what's in store for you. Those failures might be your set up for a comeback.
3. Remember failure is the path to success if I am humble and willing to learn from it.
3. Remember failure is the path to success if I am humble and willing to learn from it.
There is no other path to success except through failure. Failure is the door to success. No one has success without some failures along the way. Failure will happen so it’s something we have to learn from.
13 A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance.
When you refuse to admit your mistakes, you will not be successful. But if we will admit our mistakes and learn from our mistakes, we will get another chance. Stop calling it failure and start calling it education.
Failure educates us.
It shows us what doesn’t work. If you are going to learn what works you will have to learn what doesn’t work. Thomas Edison tried over 1000 different elements before he discovered Tungsten for the light bulb.
Failure develops our skills. How do you ride a bike? By trying over and over again until you stop falling and ride.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was probably one of the greatest writers in American history. He wrote that book, The Scarlet Letter, and many other books you've probably had to read in a school. Great American writer. He failed as a customs clerk. He was fired from his job, and he came home totally discouraged, totally depressed, and he says to his young wife, "Honey, I am a total failure in life, and I can't even support us. And I just lost my job as a custom clerk."
I mean, how bad was that? I'm nothing, and he just felt like a total failure. But his wife was brilliant and loving, and she took him by the hand, and she led him over and sat him down at the kitchen table. And she put a piece of paper in front of him and got an inkwell, and an ink pen and said, "Look, you've always wanted to write. Now you've got time to do it."
And it's because of his wife that we have all of Nathaniel Hawthorne's great novels. Somebody said, "I believe in you. I believe you could do this." Who do you need to say that to? To your husband, to your wife, to a friend, to a child, to a parent, somebody that you love and they're all down because they failed at something. It just means they're not in the right place.
Colonel Sanders was a total failure at everything he did until in like 84 years of age, he figured out how to cook chicken under pressure and that was finger licking good. And now it's all known all around the world. He didn't become a success till he was like in 80s.
Failure makes you a little bit more humble and gracious towards others. When you have gone through difficult times, you will give others some slack because you know what it feels like.
When you have been through hard time, it makes you thankful for grace and more gracious towards others.
Look what Paul said,
11 These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were.
We are just as capable of messing up as the people in the Bible.
4. Remember that no matter what happens, God promises to use it for good in my life.
4. Remember that no matter what happens, God promises to use it for good in my life.
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
This is a promise for believers who love Jesus. He promises that no matter what you are going through, he will use it for your good. God is not obligated to work things for your good when you are running in the opposite direction from him.
But if you are doing your best to love and serve and follow the Lord then, even when you make dumb mistakes, He will use it for your good. Say you start a business, but it fails. God will use that for your good. He will bring good out of everything for those who love him.
That right there should lower your fear level.
11 And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart.
While you are interested in what you do, God is interested in what you are becomming. Are you becoming a man or woman that God wants you to become?
Four Steps to Take
Four Steps to Take
1. Refuse to compare myself to other people.
1. Refuse to compare myself to other people.
This might be the root of the fear of failure. When we compare ourselves to others, we always get into trouble.
In today's world, we have made comparing an indoor sport and we compare everything. And the number one cause of comparison today is social media because you look online, well, they just had a beautiful meal, I better have a beautiful meal. And they just bought some new clothes, I better buy some new clothes.
And they don't ever show when they've got diarrhea and there’s a mess and their clothes aren't done over here. And they're showing their so-called perfect life, which is a total lie, but everybody's trying to top each other in social media, my dog's cuter than your dog…
On top of that, parents try to compete through their kids. You see bumper stickers that say, my kid was student of the month and whatever school. I want to see one that says my kid was inmate of the month or my kid beat up the student of the month.
It’s gotten ridiculous. If you go to a soccer game or a playground football game, you would think it’s professional sports… I have seen dads berate their child on the sideline… and moms leave. Kids are supposed have fun… Lighten up.
The Bible warns against comparisons and says that each of us are unique. No one else has ever been created exactly like you. You can compare submarines and tangerines because the sound similar, but they are totally different. You are as different from someone else as a tangerine is from a submarine. When you get to heaven, God isn’t going to ask, why weren’t you more like…? God mad you to be you. So stop comparing yourself to others.
Two things happen when you compare.
One, you find someone doing better than you and you envy them.
Or two, you find someone not doing as well as you and you get a little prideful. Both are bad.
Look what Paul said,
4 Let everyone be sure that he is doing his very best, for then he will have the personal satisfaction of work well done and won’t need to compare himself with someone else.
When you do your best, you can have pride in that you did your best. Someone else might have done it better, but you did your best. You can judge your own actions, but never compare yourself to other people.
Look what else Paul said,
12 We wouldn’t put ourselves in the same class with or compare ourselves to those who are bold enough to make their own recommendations. Certainly, when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves to themselves, they show how foolish they are.
Do you realize that anytime you compare your job to somebody else's job you're acting foolish? Anytime you compare your kids or your appearance or your salary or your talent to somebody else, you're acting foolish. Fools do that.
God says don’t compare yourself to anyone.
2. Redefine the meaning of Failure.
2. Redefine the meaning of Failure.
If you want to get rid of the fear of failure, give it a new meaning. Redefine failure for your life, not for everybody else's life, but for your life. Think of failure in a new way.
Think about failure this way…
Failure is not missing a goal, failure is not having a goal.
Failure is not missing a goal, failure is not having a goal.
If you don't have a goal for your life, you are failing in that area because you're just coasting through life.
Failure is not being unable to do something. Failure is being unwilling to try. You just, you do your best, you try. And if you're trying and you're doing your best, you're doing it in faith and love, then you're a success. Someone once said, It's not failure but low aim that is the crime."
Failure is not being unable to do something, failure is being unwilling to try.
Failure is not being unable to do something, failure is being unwilling to try.
I would rather attempt to do something great with my life and fail than attempt to do nothing with my life and succeed. Too many people are not attempting to do anything but coast. We need to do the best we can with what we have for the Lord.
6 And it is impossible to please God without faith…
Faith means I am going to try. I will set a goal and go for it. If you do that, you are a success no matter the outcome.
You redefine failure and and realize life is a marathon.
29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.”
If you have faith you will keep moving forward.
This life is a marathon. It's not a 50-yard dash. And in a marathon, only one person wins. There might be 20,000 people running. People do not run a marathon to get first place because only one person got to get a first place. They run a marathon to finish. Just say, “I did it. I did it.” Life is not a 50-yard dash. You're not going to be number one in most things in life, neither am I. There's not going to be number one.
What really matters is did you finish the race or did you cop out and quit too soon and coast the latter part of your life, or did you run hard and fast for Jesus Christ till the day he took you home? That's the question. The question is not will you be number one? The question is did you finish the race God put you in?
3. Refocus on God’s Love for me and others
3. Refocus on God’s Love for me and others
Both of these are important. I refocus on God’s love for me first, and then I focus my love for other people.
Love is an antidote to fear. Faith isn’t the opposite of fear, Love is. When love comes in your front door of your heart, fear goes out the back door. You can’t be full of love and fear at the same time.
Why would people run into a burning building to rescue little children? Not because of faith, but because of LOVE. A mom will risk her life to protect her children. A dad will put his life at risk to protect his family. They don’t do that out of faith, but out of love. Love chases fear away. A soldier doesn’t fight in a war because he hates the enemy, he fights because he loves what he left at home.
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
God’s perfect love drives away fear. So when you start feeling fear rise up in you, you've got a project, you've got something you've got to do that's making you a little nervous, you're worrying, “Am I going to be able to do this or not?” You need to pause and at that moment start going, “God, you really love me.” And you start focusing on how much God loves you. Say it aloud. God, you really love me. You're on my side. You want me to succeed in this. I'm doing it, it's not like you want me to fail.
God doesn't want you to fail. He wants you to succeed at what you're doing in life. God, you love me. There is no fear in love.
When you're loving, you're not focused on you. You're focused on what other people need. And the more loving you are, the less fearful you are. So if you make love your motivation for everything you do, you're not going to be afraid to do it
Perfect love casts out all fear
7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!
Love never fails… it lasts forever. Whatever you do, do it out of love. If we really learn to love like God wants us to, it doesn’t matter what else happens, we will be successful.
4. Replace my fear with faith in Jesus.
4. Replace my fear with faith in Jesus.
If you take the fear out of your heart, it leaves a vacuum. You can't leave a vacuum in your heart, so you have to replace the fear with something else. I replaced my fear with faith in Jesus. Listen to these…
13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
My faith is not in my own power, but it’s in the power of God so I don’t have to be afriad because God will always give me the power to do what he is asking.
Look at this promise.
10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
Take that one to the bank. He will be with you and He will strengthen you and help you. He will give you the strength to do whatever he calls you to do. God doesn’t’ lie.
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
How many of you have had God give you this verse? You have a right to a sound mind.
You may feel like a failure, but you are not… as long as you get back up. Don’t let fear hold you back. Trust God and do what he wants with love. Do it in love and in faith, and you are a success no matter what.
Prayer -
Dear God, we're all just normal people and we've all got habits and hang-ups and hurts and we all have our secret fears and our anxieties and our insecurities, but the good thing is we know where to bring them, to you.
You are the healer of our minds, and our hearts, and so many other areas of our lives. We want to be dominated by love so we will not be dominated by fear.
Forgive us for not attempting great things for you and expecting great things from you. We don't want to be the guy who goes and buries the talent in the ground.
You have made a deposit in every person's life here and you didn't intend them to just use it on themselves. Help us to step out in faith because of love and become the people you want us to be and do the things you want us to do.
If you've never invited Christ into your life, say: Jesus come into my life right now. I'm turning it over to you. You're the manager. You're the boss. From here on out, I want to go your plan, not my plan. Please save me, Jesus. I humbly ask this in your name. Amen
