1. I have chosen to speak on a subject of failure, I know a lot about - through
experience.
2. Part of any training course to pilot an
airplane includes “How to recover from a stall or spin.” (= crash)
3. Most people live w. a sense of failure, even
the apparent successes. (Divorce, wayward child, job, ministry)
4. I have chosen the story of Peter because
of the spiritual implications of his sin and his recovery.
5. God is a good God. If he was able to
recover from his failure and if he could I can too. (Rom. 2:11)
Several lessons from
Peter’s failure and recovery that I can apply in my own life.
1 -
Recognize That God Was Not Taken by Surprise When I Failed.
(1) Jesus predicted Peters moral lapse. (Lk.
22:31-32)
(2) He also gave him a warning and direction.
(3) You are loved on both sides of your
experience. (Gods love in unconditional!!! Jn. 3:16)
2 -
Realize That I Am Not the Only One Who Has This Problem.
(1) Peter did commit individual sin but not
alone.
(2) The other disciples were guilty too!
(Story recorded for our benefit)
(3) “Satan” was involved. (Lk.
22:31) -- [i.e. Job.]
(4) He might shake us and sift us but he
cannot remove us from the love of God. (Rom. 8:38-39)
(5) Satan wants you to feel alone, but you
are not!
1 Cor. 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is
common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what
you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that
you can stand up under it. (NIV)
3 -
Learn to Accept Personal Responsibility for Real” Failure. (Lk. 22:61-62)
(1) The real source of moral failure is SELF.
(Lk. 22:33)
(2) One way to avoid failure is to call it a
mistake. (It usually is NOT = LIE!
(3) We are big on rights and small on
responsibilities!
(4) Sin is not excusable or unavoidable.
(PARADOX)
4 -
Decide Whether Your Failure Is Going To Be Temporary or Final.
(1) What did Jesus think the end result of
Peter’s failure would be? (Lk. 22:32)
(2) Did Jesus! prayer fail? NO!!!!
(3) Jesus and the Holy Spirit are interceding
for ME too! (You)
Rom 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our
weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself
intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches
our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the
saints in accordance with God’s will.
(4) Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemns? Christ
Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand
of God and is also interceding for us.
(5) Failure is an event, never a person.
·
Notice
the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, “I have
failed three times,” and what happens when he says, “I am a
failure.” - S. I. Hayakawa
(6) That does not mean that there will not be
consequences for my actions.
1 Cor. 3:15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he
himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
“Sooner of later,
we all sit at the banquet table of consequences”. RL Stevenson
5 -
Believe That God Can Use My Lapse for Good. (Rom. 8:28)
You must
have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures.
- Charles Noble
(1) God is sovereign, and only God can do the
work of God! (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
(2) Peter’s lapse didn’t
ultimately impair his ministry, it imparted and empowered it!!!
(3) It is at the point of absolute failure,
we quit trying to live the Christian life in the power of the flesh.
(4) God doesn’t waste our pain.
Consequences may be painful but they can also be profitable.
Ps 37:23 If the LORD delights in a mans way, he makes
his steps firm; 24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds
him with his hand. 25 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the
righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. (NIV)
Ps 145:14 The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts
up all who are bowed down. (NIV)
Pr 24:15 Do not lie in wait like an outlaw against a
righteous mans house, do not raid his dwelling-place; 16 for though a righteous
man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by
calamity. (NIV)
Beautiful verses- 1 Cor. 15:3 For what I received I passed on to
you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. (NIV)
Not understanding Gods power to restore and use those who fail
will result in more mlaps around Mt. Sinai”.
·
Learn
to expect failure. “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you
learn to do it well”. Zig Ziglar
Did
you hear about the guy who is both a taxidermist and a veterinarian? He has a
sign on his door: “Either way, you get your dog back.” Beth L.
Mack, Reader’s Digest, May 1996, p. 67.
·
Suggestions
for dealing with failure:
·
Honestly
face defeat.
·
Exploit
the failure; dont waste it. Learn all you can from it; every bitter experience
can teach us something.
·
Never
use failure as an excuse for not trying again.
• Avoid Two Extremes:
1- Overwhelmed by a sense
of quilt and failure that will cause you to give up.
2- Fatalism, can’t
help it, there is no use in trying. = A casual acceptance and resignation.
You may not be able
to reclaim the loss, undo the damage, or reverse the consequences, but you can
make a new start wiser, more sensitive, renewed by the Holy Spirit, and more
determined to do right.
·
Look
into Jesus! eyes and be convicted like Peter, then learn to put your trust in
God not yourself.
·
Don’t
live in the past! “…forgetting the past…I press
on…” (Phil. 3:13-14)
These things only apply to believers!!
If you are not in Christ you MUST be saved!!!! mYou MUST
be born-again”.
One ballplayer set the major league
record for strikeouts with 1316. The same player set a record for five
consecutive strikeouts in a World Series game. The holder of both records was
the great slugger Babe Ruth
Email openarms@openarmsbaptist.com Web Site openarmsbaptist.com