Bible Message/Preaching : Failure Management
Mt 14:27-31 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." 28And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." 29So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" 31And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
Robert Robinson wandered from the faith to pursue the pleasures of this world. While riding on a stagecoach during this time, a lady read out to him
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love .
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.
He admitted that he was the poor, unhappy man who composed that hymn many years ago.
Can we mention some 'failures' from the Scriptures?
- Moses: 40 years hiding in the desert & when God called him, he said "send someone else please"!
- Elijah: was in a depression – a burn out!
- David: considered a man after His own heart, fell into adultery and then murdered the woman’s husband to cover it up
- Jacob: became a crook who lied to his own father, stole his blessing and lived a life full of deceit and ended up wasting 20 precious years of his life.
- Samson: was captured and blinded by the Philistines because of Delilah ...
What is failure?
Failure – Failure is not an event/situation, but judgement about an event!
How do we arrive at such a situation?
- Lack of wisdom: Samson , she had told him to know the secret is "to bind and afflict"
- Lack of faith: Elijah
- Losing focus from God: Peter, drowning
- Devils' attack: Peter denying Jesus
- Fruit of rebellion: Prodigal son, David
"How do I keep going when I know I am justly reaping what I sowed? What happens if I become physically sick because of my sin (Psalm 32:3–5) -> 'my bones grew old, the Lord's hand was heavy on me'
How do we respond to it?
We all have had those feelings. Embarrassment. We think, “How could I have done that? I know better than this. I should have learned by now.” Deep inside we behave defensive with thought that we are better than the wrong we committed. Either that we have not really repented, or, more likely, we are mourning over your lost righteousness. That is nothing but pride. And pride is the sin that so easily runs rampant in the human heart.
When Adam and Eve sinned, their first reaction was to run for cover. ? Pride keeps them captive!
Don’t let the fear of man hinder what God has in store for you. Fear keeps people from trusting & obeying God.
Our attitude should be I took on a hard challenge & I've grown through it – not a failure, but learning experience! Growth involves risks and risk involves fear!
Take action -> ASK the Lord!
Do we see them as failures?
NO! They are in the hall of fame of the heroes of faith!!
How do God work through failures?
Beauty for ashes! -> God's Business!
Enemy isn’t really as concerned about our sin as he is our response to it - to discourage us to the point at which we lose all hope and even the desire to try any more. “the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night . . .” (Rev 12:10). The potter is never disappointed when his pot became marred. He knew his craft well. He simply took the piece off the wheel, kneaded the clay again and started over. The bottom line is that our faith would not fail. Even when all emotions and feelings dry up, hang on by faith, knowing that His love toward you is constant, as sure as the rising sun.
Sin has its price to pay – pain, shame.... But, God remains forever able to fulfil His perfect plan for us. -> the first choice of Plan A. His ways are above ours. Far above! His original purposes for us are not lost. Never doubt the ability of the divine Master Potter to beautifully refashion flawed pieces. He’s been doing it since the beginning of time. God knows what He’s about. however, if we fight the potter, the result will be different.
God calls Himself "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:15). Toward the end of Jacob’s journey, God changed his name, which means "deceiver", to Israel, meaning "Prince of God". God who makes failures into princes of God.
The thief on the cross confessed that he failed miserably and admitted he deserved the horrible death he was dying. It is never too late.
David ran to the cave of Adullam from Saul and men who are distressed, discouraged or are in debts came to him and he became their leader! They made a community in Ziklag, but when it was sacked, the men wanted to stone David, but he strengthened himself in the Lord! But when he got opportunity to harm Saul, he did not, he'd learned that its better to be in the cave if it pleases the Lord rather than displeasing Him and be king on the throne!
God’s desire is that through our failure we will allow Him to make us into useful vessels that far surpass the beauty we had before.
When Elijah ran to the cave in the mountain after eating the cake the angel made for him and the Lord was passing by. The question was “what are you doing “here” not 'there' ? The Lord was with him!
Samson was captured and blinded by the Philistines, his mission was to destroy the Philistines, but messed-up by his indulgence with Delilah, from the Valley of Sorek, which separated them. But the Lord made the reworked vessel better than the former one . … after his failure he killed more Philistines at his death than he did in his 20 years of leading Israel (Judges 16:30).
John Mark: Through his brokenness when not allowed to join Paul the 2nd mission trip since he deserted him in the first trip made him into a better person by God's will. (Act 15:36-38) He finally wrote the gospel of Mark.
"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31–32). Being compassionate -> Our failure helps us see that we are no different from any other human being.
Failure is one of God’s best tools to transform our prideful hearts into a heart like His.
When sifted, chaff can be removed! —the chaff of pride, self-confidence and self-righteousness.
God made us to be depended on Him, we cannot make it on our own! when our self-confidence is finally destroyed and is replaced with dependence upon God that we have victory. Can we bend our necks from our pride and put on Christ’s yoke? We'll be humbler and less self-righteous and won’t consider yourself better than anyone else.
Just as sunlight . . . cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as a clean one. (2 Cor 3:18)
Victory happens when we surrender!
David finally who told Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD” (2 Samuel 12:13), to Jacob who finally admitted both his name and his character was Jacob, the deceiver (Genesis 32:27), to the thief on the cross who affirmed that he deserved his judgment (Luke 23:41).
God’s free gift of righteousness. Sanctification, we fail, repent, & grow, is a growth process.
We must believe His restoration is more important than our reputation.
When our own performance standards are so high, we have little patience for others. But constantly faced with our own mistakes, we learn to afford others the same grace we so badly needed. We can be especially critical about matters with which we don’t struggle, the areas of our own strength. Like the man who was forgiven a great sum yet was unwilling to show mercy to a fellow servant who by comparison owed only a few pennies. Matthew 18:23–34).
Big failure Peter - He almost drown during water walk , denied Jesus, went back to fishing!
Peter's denial: He said, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death" (Luke 22:33),
Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter (Luke 22:54–61
"he went outside and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:62).
Later went for fishing! Then Jesus restored him completely.
God’s gift, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8) is the solution to our failures!
He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted,... .Isaiah 61:1–3
He is preparing us for eternity! We're made for eternity! Can you believe God has something much greater in mind than simply your reputation among the people you are with this very day?
The only righteousness worthy of displaying is the righteousness of Jesus that we have through His powerful and precious blood.
I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, Phi 3:8-9. Let us leave our rags behind -> even our good deeds are like rags for the Lord!
No one is immune to failure. The Bible warns us in 1 Cor 10:12, "If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!" Some of us are clever and are able to hide our problems, but we are still much the same on the inside.
Pay attention! Although God’s grace abounds to us—His ways far above our understanding - and He is able to transform our failure, don’t trample under foot the Son of God and treat His blood as an unholy thing by deliberately sinning (Heb 10:26–29).
The best is yet to come. Hope helps us to move forward!
Meditation:
- Am I pursuing the right dream?
- Am I operating because the Lord asked or because of my need?
- Am I willing to remain in a cave if it means pleasing the Lord?
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