"Risking Failure"
Fear, He Is a Liar • Sermon • Submitted
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· 16 viewsSetting the theme for the year. Given the significant events which occured throughout 2020, it is not surprising we are dealing with a multitude of fears. The Bible has in excess of 500 passages dealing with the topic of fear. We will spend 2021 in intense Bible study around one phrase, common throughout the Bible - "Do not fear." In this first series, we will examine how so very often, our fears are anxieties about what MIGHT happen - not what will happen
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Transcript
Failure is not final, five profiles:
Failure is not final, five profiles:
King David’s…sins
King David’s…sins
Here's the principle so failure doesn't get the last word: When we have sinned, we must recognize it and repent. God’s forgiveness doesn’t save us from the consequences of our conduct, but if we’ve abandoned the behavior and are willing to accept the consequences, God will still use us.
Elijah’s breakdown
Elijah’s breakdown
Principle: Burnout is only permanent if you allow it to be. Don’t listen to everything that you’re tempted to believe when you’re exhausted. Take time to care for yourself physically, spiritually, and emotionally—and then get back in the game.
John Mark’s desertion
John Mark’s desertion
Principle: We all develop gradually. Failure isn’t always a sign that we can’t cut it. Sometimes we’re trying to operate at a level that we’re not mature enough to handle. We can always outgrow those kinds of failings, provided we don’t give up.
Paul’s horrible resume
Paul’s horrible resume
Principle: For those who put their trust in Christ later in life, there are bound to be reasons you feel unqualified for service. But the gospel is so powerful that our transformation becomes a profound testimony to God’s goodness and grace.
Peter’s denials
Peter’s denials
Principle: Failure doesn’t disqualify you, even if you’ve been following Jesus for some time.
Sermon in a cup.
Sermon in a cup.
If God has promised… TAKE COURAGE.
If God has promised… TAKE COURAGE.
But keep mindful of the difference between God’s promises and your own wants.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.”
So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.
And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;
from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;
from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;
from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;
from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;
from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu;
from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi;
from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh), Gaddi the son of Susi;
from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli;
from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael;
from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi;
from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
Principle #1 - This is not like Santa’s list.
Principle #1 - This is not like Santa’s list.
At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.
And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”
But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”
So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height.
And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
Principle #2 - Fear, he is a liar, but uses a little bit of truth.
Principle #2 - Fear, he is a liar, but uses a little bit of truth.
Principle #3 - Faith, trust in God, is rare.
Principle #3 - Faith, trust in God, is rare.
Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.
And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.
And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes
and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.
Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”
Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.
And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?
I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
Principle #4 - Fear is an infectious disease.
Principle #4 - Fear is an infectious disease.
Principle #5 - Majority opinion does not have a good track record in the Bible.
Principle #5 - Majority opinion does not have a good track record in the Bible.
Principle #6 - Get it straight whom you should fear.
Principle #6 - Get it straight whom you should fear.
But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them,
and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say,
‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’
And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying,
‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’
Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”
Principle #7 - Beware God’s wrath.
Principle #7 - Beware God’s wrath.
Principle #8 - In cases of stupidity, appeal to God’s grace.
Principle #8 - In cases of stupidity, appeal to God’s grace.
Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word.
But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord,
none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice,
shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.
But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.
Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
“How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me.
Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you:
your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me,
not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.
But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.
According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’
I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”
And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land—
the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the Lord.
Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.
Principle #9 - Even in grace, there are consequences.
Principle #9 - Even in grace, there are consequences.
Principle #10 - Faith is more than mere belief.
Principle #10 - Faith is more than mere belief.