1 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:04,560 Well, we're going to talk about failure today. 2 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:07,520 This semester came out a little bit different than we planned. 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:09,800 We lost one chapel for snow day. 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:11,760 You all got credit, so that worked out pretty good. 5 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,800 Everybody didn't have any snow, and that was nice. 6 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:22,320 And then the chapel before spring break, you know, we just stopped 7 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,760 what we were doing to focus on our grief together over the death 8 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:30,900 of Natalie Black and talk about heaven and talk about death 9 00:00:30,980 --> 00:00:33,540 and hard topics that need to be talked about. 10 00:00:33,700 --> 00:00:38,860 So we had four topics left for the semester in this series, and 11 00:00:38,860 --> 00:00:40,500 we're only going to have time for two of them. 12 00:00:40,900 --> 00:00:43,300 So today I'm going to talk about failure. 13 00:00:43,460 --> 00:00:46,260 How do we hear God in times of failure? 14 00:00:46,500 --> 00:00:50,900 And then next week, how do we hear God in confusion when you don't 15 00:00:50,900 --> 00:00:54,040 know what to do, when you don't understand what the purpose 16 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,800 of life is, when you don't have to make that decision about 17 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:57,760 what's the priority? 18 00:00:57,840 --> 00:00:59,200 How do you figure that out? 19 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:03,040 We're going to talk about that next week in our final chapel of 20 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:03,680 the semester. 21 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:09,600 So that's kind of where we're going to finish up this today, though. 22 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,640 We're going to talk about listening for God in failure. 23 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,400 Now, the scripture says we have all sinned and fallen short 24 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:17,440 of the glory of God. 25 00:01:18,230 --> 00:01:19,830 So everybody has failed. 26 00:01:20,470 --> 00:01:23,550 You can call it sin, you can call it failure, call it mistake, 27 00:01:23,550 --> 00:01:26,630 you can put whatever term you're comfortable with there, but 28 00:01:26,630 --> 00:01:27,830 they all are the same thing. 29 00:01:28,630 --> 00:01:31,230 So we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 30 00:01:31,230 --> 00:01:32,470 We've all failed. 31 00:01:32,470 --> 00:01:35,190 And so when you fail, you got three options. 32 00:01:35,510 --> 00:01:39,750 The first is you can beat yourself up and commit to trying 33 00:01:39,830 --> 00:01:42,790 harder and struggle through the Christian life. 34 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:46,360 And there's a lot of people who do that, and that's as good as 35 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:46,760 it gets. 36 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,360 For them, the Christian life is just a battle. 37 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:50,160 It's a struggle. 38 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:51,600 It's an everyday thing. 39 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,160 It's just kind of grinding it away. 40 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,000 The second option you have when you fail or you sin is that 41 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:00,800 you can normalize the guilt. 42 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:07,520 You can desensitize yourself to the guilt so that you don't feel 43 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:08,400 it as much. 44 00:02:09,049 --> 00:02:11,369 And in the process, you can block out God. 45 00:02:11,929 --> 00:02:15,049 And that's an option, and a lot of people take that option. 46 00:02:15,769 --> 00:02:21,529 But the third option is the way we should go, and that's to listen 47 00:02:21,609 --> 00:02:25,289 and let God speak during times of failure. 48 00:02:26,009 --> 00:02:27,049 How do we do that? 49 00:02:27,049 --> 00:02:28,569 That's what we're going to talk about today. 50 00:02:29,129 --> 00:02:31,569 So let me pray for us and help God. 51 00:02:31,569 --> 00:02:35,009 Ask God to speak to us during these next few minutes. 52 00:02:35,009 --> 00:02:38,890 As we look, how do we hear God during failure? 53 00:02:39,770 --> 00:02:40,650 Let's pray together. 54 00:02:43,770 --> 00:02:45,690 God, you do speak during failure. 55 00:02:46,170 --> 00:02:49,130 But so often we don't hear it because failure hurts. 56 00:02:49,690 --> 00:02:53,050 It hurts us and hurts people around us. 57 00:02:55,130 --> 00:02:57,850 You didn't expect we were going to be perfect because all your 58 00:02:57,850 --> 00:02:59,690 people have failed at times. 59 00:03:00,410 --> 00:03:03,690 But you did expect us to follow and so help us to know. 60 00:03:03,930 --> 00:03:06,680 In those times of failure, how do we better follow? 61 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:12,000 You teach us to learn from these critical times so that, like 62 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:16,320 those heroes of faith we heard about this morning, by faith we will 63 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:20,440 honor your in spite of failure. 64 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:22,520 In youn name we ask it. 65 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:23,240 Amen. 66 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:27,440 Well, what is failure? 67 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:29,960 Let's define it to begin with or sin, what is it? 68 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:35,430 If you missed the last second shot and you lost a game, is that 69 00:03:35,430 --> 00:03:35,990 failure? 70 00:03:36,230 --> 00:03:37,750 No, that's a disappointment. 71 00:03:37,830 --> 00:03:38,710 Big disappointment. 72 00:03:38,710 --> 00:03:39,750 But it's not failure. 73 00:03:40,550 --> 00:03:44,190 If you get rejected for a job that you really want and prepared 74 00:03:44,190 --> 00:03:45,350 for, is that failure? 75 00:03:46,230 --> 00:03:47,030 Probably not. 76 00:03:48,150 --> 00:03:53,390 If you blow a class because you didn't put in the effort and 77 00:03:53,390 --> 00:03:56,790 you didn't try, is that failure? 78 00:03:57,590 --> 00:04:02,200 Probably because either you or your family put money in to make 79 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,080 that possible and you had an opportunity most people in the world 80 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:06,720 don't have to get an education. 81 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,120 And I know donors put in money to make it possible for you to get 82 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:10,640 that education. 83 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:12,800 And you let everybody down. 84 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,280 If you live in ways that don't honor God, is that failure? 85 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:18,720 Definitely. 86 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:21,280 Definitely, that's failure. 87 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:27,440 Now, in the Bible, there's a long list of sins and those are wise 88 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:27,920 counsel. 89 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:28,840 You need to read that. 90 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:30,120 Some of this stuff's kind of. 91 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:32,400 You can't believe people live that way. 92 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:33,760 Yeah, there are people who live that way. 93 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:38,360 And so a lot of these sins are kind of detailed out in the Bible 94 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:39,960 and they're wise counsel. 95 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:43,960 But there are two measures for failure or sin that are better than 96 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:45,360 those that I want to recommend to you. 97 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:47,880 Because you're never going to remember everything on the list. 98 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:48,600 Was that on the list? 99 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:49,120 Can I do that? 100 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:49,880 Can I not do that? 101 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:51,160 No, it doesn't work that way. 102 00:04:51,730 --> 00:04:53,050 Here's two measures that are better. 103 00:04:53,050 --> 00:04:57,650 The first one is very positive and that is a positive objective 104 00:04:57,650 --> 00:04:59,730 about the measure of success. 105 00:05:00,290 --> 00:05:03,330 Because against success you can measure failure. 106 00:05:03,490 --> 00:05:04,970 And it's the fruits of the Spirit. 107 00:05:04,970 --> 00:05:08,210 The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. 108 00:05:09,090 --> 00:05:12,810 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 109 00:05:12,810 --> 00:05:14,770 gentleness, and self control. 110 00:05:15,730 --> 00:05:19,750 There is no law against these things. 111 00:05:21,110 --> 00:05:25,350 The fruits of the Spirit are how we should live, how we demonstrate 112 00:05:25,350 --> 00:05:28,950 that God lives in our lives and the Holy Spirit is filling our 113 00:05:28,950 --> 00:05:29,270 lives. 114 00:05:29,510 --> 00:05:32,230 And when we don't measure up to that. 115 00:05:32,230 --> 00:05:35,670 Or we do things that run counter to these fruits of the Spirit. 116 00:05:35,670 --> 00:05:36,390 That's failure. 117 00:05:38,870 --> 00:05:42,710 But look at the key phrase, the Holy Spirit produces it. 118 00:05:42,790 --> 00:05:47,470 It's not by your grit, it's not by your determination, it's not 119 00:05:47,470 --> 00:05:50,910 by your trying to keep the rules that you live like that. 120 00:05:50,910 --> 00:05:55,590 It's when the Holy Spirit is invited to live in your life and 121 00:05:55,590 --> 00:05:56,190 take control. 122 00:05:57,710 --> 00:06:00,590 So ask God for the Holy Spirit. 123 00:06:00,590 --> 00:06:03,990 Now, you remember God is in three forms, the Trinity. 124 00:06:03,990 --> 00:06:07,470 It's a hard concept, but there is God the Creator that we think 125 00:06:07,470 --> 00:06:09,350 about of earth. 126 00:06:09,350 --> 00:06:12,670 And then there's Christ who came to earth. 127 00:06:12,670 --> 00:06:19,720 Jesus, who was the resurrected Christ and is God incarnate in person 128 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:20,280 form. 129 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:22,160 And then there is the Holy Spirit. 130 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:26,320 Remember, Jesus said, I have to leave so the Holy Spirit can come. 131 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:26,680 Why? 132 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:29,239 Because God can't be in two places. 133 00:06:29,239 --> 00:06:32,320 There are two parts of him, three parts of him and the other 134 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:33,080 part need to come. 135 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:33,600 The Holy Spirit. 136 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:37,280 And the Holy Spirit is with us just as much Jesus was with those 137 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:38,680 disciples during those days. 138 00:06:39,010 --> 00:06:45,490 And it's the Holy Spirit that overrides our sinful nature and allows 139 00:06:45,490 --> 00:06:47,490 these fruits of the Spirit to grow in us. 140 00:06:47,810 --> 00:06:52,210 But there's a second way to measure our failure. 141 00:06:52,530 --> 00:06:57,250 And it's a verse from James that I just love that really captures 142 00:06:57,250 --> 00:06:57,810 it well. 143 00:06:58,530 --> 00:06:59,970 James says it this way. 144 00:07:00,610 --> 00:07:05,900 It is a sin to know what you ought to do, then not do it. 145 00:07:07,900 --> 00:07:08,940 Pretty straightforward. 146 00:07:09,580 --> 00:07:13,060 It's a sin if you know what you ought to do, but you don't do 147 00:07:13,060 --> 00:07:15,180 it because you chose not to. 148 00:07:18,140 --> 00:07:19,100 That's failure. 149 00:07:20,060 --> 00:07:24,700 Imagine relationship with the person you love the most. 150 00:07:24,700 --> 00:07:28,340 Your family, if you're married, your spouse, that person 151 00:07:28,340 --> 00:07:29,260 you love the most. 152 00:07:29,740 --> 00:07:35,150 What if in that relationship you purposefully did what they didn't 153 00:07:35,150 --> 00:07:38,870 want you to do and you knew ahead of time it would hurt them 154 00:07:38,870 --> 00:07:42,710 to do it, but you did it anyway, even though you knew it hurt 155 00:07:42,710 --> 00:07:43,510 the relationship. 156 00:07:45,110 --> 00:07:46,470 That's what God is saying. 157 00:07:46,870 --> 00:07:48,790 It's a relationship with God. 158 00:07:49,030 --> 00:07:52,070 It's not keeping a list of sins out of your life. 159 00:07:52,710 --> 00:07:54,310 It's about a relationship. 160 00:07:54,550 --> 00:08:00,190 And when we sin knowing what we ought to do and then not do it, 161 00:08:00,430 --> 00:08:02,350 that is breaking that relationship. 162 00:08:02,510 --> 00:08:07,630 It's a standard of sin, is to remove that from our life so we can 163 00:08:07,630 --> 00:08:08,910 grow in Christ. 164 00:08:10,030 --> 00:08:15,630 And so we need to find this measure, this positive of the fruits 165 00:08:15,630 --> 00:08:19,670 of the Spirit and measure that also against what we know we ought 166 00:08:19,670 --> 00:08:21,550 to do and don't do it. 167 00:08:21,710 --> 00:08:24,670 And in that we will find that place for growth. 168 00:08:25,130 --> 00:08:31,570 And by the way, it says, you know, sin, it's a sin to know what 169 00:08:31,570 --> 00:08:32,130 you ought to do. 170 00:08:32,130 --> 00:08:33,850 Well, everybody's perspective is a little different. 171 00:08:34,810 --> 00:08:36,650 So what? 172 00:08:36,650 --> 00:08:39,290 Failures to you may not be failure to somebody else. 173 00:08:40,250 --> 00:08:43,410 So let's stop putting all our energy into trying to define everybody 174 00:08:43,410 --> 00:08:47,090 else's sins and failures, because we all got enough of our 175 00:08:47,090 --> 00:08:48,570 own to worry about. 176 00:08:49,370 --> 00:08:51,450 And when we do, God will speak to us better. 177 00:08:52,210 --> 00:08:53,410 So we start there. 178 00:08:53,490 --> 00:08:59,250 At that point, well, we all failed, and we'll all fail again. 179 00:09:00,050 --> 00:09:02,050 Failure is one thing we have in common. 180 00:09:02,530 --> 00:09:03,890 We have all failed. 181 00:09:04,450 --> 00:09:08,570 And the good news is, the farther you grow in Christ, the deeper 182 00:09:08,570 --> 00:09:11,490 you grow in relationship with Christ. 183 00:09:11,730 --> 00:09:17,090 The failure times become less and less and you have fewer and fewer 184 00:09:17,090 --> 00:09:17,410 of them. 185 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:23,560 But even when we fail, we have a distorted view of failure. 186 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:25,560 And that's why we don't hear from God. 187 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:30,280 We have a distorted view of how we see failure versus how God 188 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:30,920 sees failure. 189 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:32,840 I love this quote from Max Lucado. 190 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,760 He said, God sees our mistakes differently than we do. 191 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,640 We see our mistakes as a reason to give up. 192 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:45,620 God sees them as a reason to turn to him. 193 00:09:48,740 --> 00:09:50,260 Don't give up in failure. 194 00:09:50,900 --> 00:09:52,980 That's when you need God the very most. 195 00:09:53,540 --> 00:09:56,980 And if you have failed and you're facing failure in your life, 196 00:09:56,980 --> 00:10:00,420 maybe you messed up over spring break, maybe you did. 197 00:10:01,460 --> 00:10:02,260 That's okay. 198 00:10:02,900 --> 00:10:03,780 God loves you. 199 00:10:03,780 --> 00:10:08,940 And we're going to list at six ways in which we can grow back in 200 00:10:08,940 --> 00:10:12,300 our relationship with God and use failure to grow closer to him. 201 00:10:12,620 --> 00:10:13,820 So the first is this. 202 00:10:13,900 --> 00:10:16,220 Listen for God and block out the world. 203 00:10:17,660 --> 00:10:23,380 Failure of the world's standards may be success in God's 204 00:10:23,380 --> 00:10:23,900 standards. 205 00:10:26,460 --> 00:10:31,540 What the world holds as success is often failure in the eyes 206 00:10:31,540 --> 00:10:32,060 of God. 207 00:10:32,620 --> 00:10:36,220 And unfortunately, we live in a world that bombards us with triggers 208 00:10:36,300 --> 00:10:40,900 for judging our personal value against an idealized standard of 209 00:10:40,900 --> 00:10:45,380 how rich and wonderful and full and fun life ought to be. 210 00:10:46,100 --> 00:10:48,660 And people around us put up this image. 211 00:10:49,380 --> 00:10:50,900 You hear it, you see it. 212 00:10:51,300 --> 00:10:55,300 It's in social media, it's on TikTok, it's on Instagram, it's on 213 00:10:55,939 --> 00:10:57,380 all the places where you look. 214 00:10:57,460 --> 00:11:02,580 And people put up this image that they live this idealized life. 215 00:11:03,860 --> 00:11:07,420 And when you look at that, you can feel like a failure even when 216 00:11:07,420 --> 00:11:07,940 you're not. 217 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:09,360 You know what? 218 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:11,480 I deal with it too, a little differently. 219 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,360 I remember when I was early in my college presidency, a long time 220 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:18,080 ago, there was a great book that came out, said, keep your armor 221 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:18,640 on straight. 222 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:23,959 It was a year in the life of a university president, so very president 223 00:11:23,959 --> 00:11:28,800 of an American University in D.C. and this guy wrote kind of what 224 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:29,680 he did every day. 225 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:31,480 And it was an amazing book. 226 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:34,930 And here I was, a young president trying to figure out this 227 00:11:34,930 --> 00:11:35,970 job and how to do it. 228 00:11:35,970 --> 00:11:40,330 And I read that book and I thought, I will never ever measure 229 00:11:40,330 --> 00:11:41,370 up to that. 230 00:11:42,090 --> 00:11:45,210 He was having breakfast meetings at 5:30 in the morning, 231 00:11:45,370 --> 00:11:47,850 followed by his second breakfast meeting at 8:00', clock, 232 00:11:47,930 --> 00:11:51,290 followed by huge donor events, speaking at big events, going to 233 00:11:51,290 --> 00:11:55,290 the Kennedy center, being engaged with politicians in Washington 234 00:11:55,770 --> 00:11:58,730 while in the faculty, with great speeches, all this kind of 235 00:11:58,730 --> 00:11:58,970 stuff. 236 00:11:58,970 --> 00:12:01,030 It went on and on and on and. 237 00:12:01,180 --> 00:12:06,580 And he projected this image of how amazing he was to keep his armor 238 00:12:06,580 --> 00:12:07,900 on all the time. 239 00:12:09,500 --> 00:12:10,700 There was only one problem. 240 00:12:11,660 --> 00:12:14,300 Eighteen months after the book came out, he was arrested. 241 00:12:15,340 --> 00:12:19,540 He was arrested because he was spending his night, about midnight 242 00:12:19,540 --> 00:12:22,740 every night in his office making lewd phone calls to people 243 00:12:22,740 --> 00:12:29,990 all over Washington D.C. his armor wasn't on straight. 244 00:12:30,230 --> 00:12:31,110 It was fake. 245 00:12:32,070 --> 00:12:35,470 And the people you watch who think they got it all together, they're 246 00:12:35,470 --> 00:12:36,150 fake too. 247 00:12:36,950 --> 00:12:37,750 They don't. 248 00:12:39,510 --> 00:12:42,310 The standard is the fruits of the spirit. 249 00:12:42,790 --> 00:12:46,550 The standard is knowing what we ought to do and do it. 250 00:12:47,110 --> 00:12:51,350 Not some perception of what the world gives us for success. 251 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:54,560 It's often just fake. 252 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:57,120 Well, the second thing is. 253 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:00,800 There we go. 254 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:05,360 Know that God will not be silent when we fail. 255 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,920 There's a tendency to think and we assume that when we fail, 256 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:12,640 God doesn't want anything to do with us. 257 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:14,080 We just messed up. 258 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,240 We knew what we ought to do and we didn't do it. 259 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:18,560 And we hurt the relationship. 260 00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:21,020 And so God, we're trying to get away from God. 261 00:13:21,020 --> 00:13:22,420 We're not trying to run to God. 262 00:13:23,220 --> 00:13:26,500 But God will not be silent when we fail. 263 00:13:26,500 --> 00:13:28,820 God spoke to Elijah at his lowest moment. 264 00:13:28,820 --> 00:13:29,660 Remember the first chapter? 265 00:13:29,660 --> 00:13:30,660 We talked to Elijah. 266 00:13:30,660 --> 00:13:33,660 He ran away, finally hid in the bush, in the cave, and the whole 267 00:13:33,660 --> 00:13:33,860 thing. 268 00:13:33,860 --> 00:13:38,020 God came and found him there and spoke to him in that quiet, still 269 00:13:38,340 --> 00:13:38,820 voice. 270 00:13:39,540 --> 00:13:42,900 God spoke to Peter after his greatest failure. 271 00:13:43,380 --> 00:13:50,020 Peter, the night before Jesus was arrested, stood up the strongest 272 00:13:50,020 --> 00:13:53,900 leader of the disciples, the guy who was always in charge when 273 00:13:53,900 --> 00:13:59,980 Jesus was in charge, and said, I will never betray you, I will never 274 00:14:00,140 --> 00:14:01,020 deny you. 275 00:14:01,260 --> 00:14:03,420 I will always stand for you. 276 00:14:04,780 --> 00:14:08,700 And within 12 hours, he denied Christ three times. 277 00:14:09,580 --> 00:14:12,860 One because a little girl saw him at a campfire and said, aren't 278 00:14:12,860 --> 00:14:13,940 you one of their followers? 279 00:14:14,340 --> 00:14:15,300 He said, not me. 280 00:14:15,300 --> 00:14:16,580 I don't have anything to do with them. 281 00:14:18,740 --> 00:14:19,860 Miserable failure. 282 00:14:19,860 --> 00:14:23,100 And God spoke to him during that time. 283 00:14:23,100 --> 00:14:23,860 Jesus did. 284 00:14:23,940 --> 00:14:26,900 God spoke to Jonah when he tried to run from him. 285 00:14:27,860 --> 00:14:33,420 God will speak to us and not be silent in our failure. 286 00:14:33,420 --> 00:14:33,780 Why? 287 00:14:34,660 --> 00:14:37,940 Because remember, I'VE told you this many times, I'll tell you 288 00:14:37,940 --> 00:14:38,820 it many times more. 289 00:14:38,820 --> 00:14:42,260 There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. 290 00:14:43,060 --> 00:14:45,860 There's nothing you can do to make God love you less. 291 00:14:46,500 --> 00:14:52,380 Your failure doesn't change anything from God's perspective other 292 00:14:52,380 --> 00:14:56,940 than he wants you to do better because he knows you can be better. 293 00:14:56,940 --> 00:14:58,180 He made you to be better. 294 00:14:58,499 --> 00:15:03,180 He doesn't love us less, but he's ready to make us stronger out 295 00:15:03,180 --> 00:15:04,500 of our times of failure. 296 00:15:04,980 --> 00:15:07,540 So God will not be silent during these times. 297 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:11,000 Thirdly, take responsibility for your failure. 298 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:17,240 The root of all failure, the root of all sin is selfishness. 299 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:19,480 It all comes down to selfishness. 300 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:21,000 You can cut it any way you want. 301 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:22,480 Get the list of sins in the Bible. 302 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:24,120 It all comes down to selfishness. 303 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:29,320 Doing what you know you ought to not do and you do it anyway comes 304 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:33,200 down to selfishness where the fruits of the spirit are completely 305 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:33,970 unselfish. 306 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:40,800 Selfish people though, blame others for their faults and so when 307 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:44,600 they fail, their initial reaction is to blame somebody else. 308 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:45,760 It wasn't my fault. 309 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:48,760 Blame the circumstances, blame this, blame that. 310 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:54,120 But your toughest times is when you can make your biggest gains 311 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:55,960 if you take responsibility. 312 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:01,750 And if you don't, the cycle of the failure will just continue. 313 00:16:02,630 --> 00:16:05,910 But it starts with taking responsibility. 314 00:16:07,350 --> 00:16:11,510 Well, King David story we have been detailed more than about anybody 315 00:16:11,510 --> 00:16:12,310 else in the Bible. 316 00:16:12,870 --> 00:16:17,590 From the time he was a shepherd and killed Goliath all the 317 00:16:17,590 --> 00:16:20,550 way through becoming king and all the great things he did. 318 00:16:20,550 --> 00:16:25,030 And then his horrible fall where he got into adultery, he got 319 00:16:25,030 --> 00:16:29,830 into cover ups, he got into murder to try to hide his sins. 320 00:16:31,910 --> 00:16:34,870 David did some really, really bad stuff. 321 00:16:35,990 --> 00:16:39,270 But David finally took responsibility. 322 00:16:39,830 --> 00:16:43,590 It didn't come overnight, it took some time, but he took responsibility. 323 00:16:43,669 --> 00:16:49,110 And he records that taking responsibility in Psalm 51:1 Most 324 00:16:49,110 --> 00:16:51,190 beautiful passages of the Bible. 325 00:16:51,510 --> 00:16:55,990 David says, have mercy on me, O God, because of your great compassion. 326 00:16:55,990 --> 00:17:01,550 Blot out the stains of my sin, wash me clean from my guilt, purify 327 00:17:01,550 --> 00:17:05,470 me from my sin, for I recognize my rebellion. 328 00:17:05,470 --> 00:17:07,710 It haunts me day and night. 329 00:17:08,750 --> 00:17:10,389 Against you and you alone. 330 00:17:10,389 --> 00:17:11,310 I've sinned. 331 00:17:11,790 --> 00:17:14,030 I've done what's evil in your sight. 332 00:17:14,830 --> 00:17:19,790 You have proved right in what you say and your judgment against 333 00:17:19,790 --> 00:17:24,480 me just David took complete responsibility for it. 334 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:28,360 He repented for it, he admitted it and he asked forgiveness. 335 00:17:28,360 --> 00:17:30,520 And there were no excuses. 336 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:34,840 None he could have said, I'm under tremendous pressure of being 337 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:35,240 king. 338 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:39,120 I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it, but I got reasons has happened. 339 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:45,040 No, there were no excuses in this confession and repentance and 340 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:45,880 then he goes on. 341 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:49,880 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean. 342 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:52,440 Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow. 343 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,800 Create and be a clean heart, O God. 344 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:59,320 Do not banish me from your presence and don't take your holy 345 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:00,240 spirit from me. 346 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:07,120 Restore to me the joy of my salvation and make me willing to 347 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:07,920 obey you. 348 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:10,480 David took responsibility. 349 00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:12,160 He repented. 350 00:18:12,690 --> 00:18:13,730 He confessed. 351 00:18:13,970 --> 00:18:16,770 He was restored, and he was transformed. 352 00:18:16,850 --> 00:18:19,890 And there were no excuses given. 353 00:18:20,610 --> 00:18:23,090 There was no covering up the sin. 354 00:18:24,210 --> 00:18:25,010 And that. 355 00:18:25,410 --> 00:18:30,530 That right there is why we don't hear from God in failure. 356 00:18:31,730 --> 00:18:35,610 Because we're so busy making up the excuses, placing the blame 357 00:18:35,610 --> 00:18:38,850 on somebody else, and trying to cover up what we did. 358 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:44,760 When we just admit it and confess it to God, then he can speak 359 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:50,720 into our lives and help us to grow in significant ways out of our 360 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:51,680 times of failure. 361 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:55,920 Well, then that brings us to the fourth part of this. 362 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,120 Don't let failure define you. 363 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:04,000 God doesn't define you by your failure, so why should you? 364 00:19:05,210 --> 00:19:09,650 But too often, many people feel defined by their failures, by 365 00:19:09,650 --> 00:19:15,130 their sins instead of their failures and sins. 366 00:19:15,530 --> 00:19:19,770 God recounted the heroes of faith in the scripture, saying, it 367 00:19:19,770 --> 00:19:21,930 was by faith they did these things. 368 00:19:22,890 --> 00:19:24,410 By faith, they made it happen. 369 00:19:24,970 --> 00:19:27,970 Everybody on that list we heard this morning, everybody on 370 00:19:27,970 --> 00:19:29,610 that list had failures. 371 00:19:30,580 --> 00:19:35,380 But it was despite their failures they became heroes of faith, 372 00:19:36,100 --> 00:19:37,380 every single one of them. 373 00:19:37,780 --> 00:19:43,780 Abraham was deceptive, and Noah was a drunk, and Moses got angry. 374 00:19:44,500 --> 00:19:45,780 Jacob was a cheater. 375 00:19:46,980 --> 00:19:48,420 David was a murderer. 376 00:19:49,380 --> 00:19:50,820 Gideon made idols. 377 00:19:51,940 --> 00:19:54,020 Samson was a womanizer. 378 00:19:54,580 --> 00:19:57,700 The Bible is filled with people who have failed. 379 00:19:59,130 --> 00:19:59,850 Filled with them. 380 00:20:00,810 --> 00:20:02,970 Peter, we just talked about, denied Christ. 381 00:20:03,210 --> 00:20:06,970 Paul, who wrote so much the New Testament, persecuted Christians 382 00:20:06,970 --> 00:20:08,570 before he became one. 383 00:20:09,770 --> 00:20:14,170 They are not heroes of faith in the Bible because they never failed. 384 00:20:14,490 --> 00:20:19,530 They're heroes of faith because by faith, God did great things 385 00:20:19,530 --> 00:20:20,250 in their lives. 386 00:20:20,970 --> 00:20:25,260 It was their faith, not their failures, that define them. 387 00:20:25,980 --> 00:20:31,100 And so don't let failures define you and your life. 388 00:20:31,660 --> 00:20:33,420 Define it by your faith. 389 00:20:35,580 --> 00:20:41,420 For us, when we fail, we have a memory. 390 00:20:42,220 --> 00:20:43,660 We often have consequences. 391 00:20:44,940 --> 00:20:47,300 Sometimes the bigger the failure, the more the consequences. 392 00:20:47,300 --> 00:20:50,870 And sometimes you don't clean that stuff up for a long, long time. 393 00:20:51,830 --> 00:20:57,030 That's why David said, it haunts me day and night, the consequences, 394 00:20:57,030 --> 00:20:58,230 the failure, the. 395 00:20:58,310 --> 00:21:00,310 The memory of it haunts me day and night. 396 00:21:00,310 --> 00:21:04,310 But with God, he cleans it up and he forgets. 397 00:21:04,870 --> 00:21:07,470 David said, create a clean heart in me, O God. 398 00:21:07,470 --> 00:21:08,110 It was gone. 399 00:21:08,110 --> 00:21:08,870 It was clean. 400 00:21:09,110 --> 00:21:12,990 So don't let failure define you, because that's not how God defines 401 00:21:12,990 --> 00:21:13,350 you. 402 00:21:13,830 --> 00:21:18,400 God uses damaged people because if God didn't use damaged 403 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:20,160 people, there wouldn't be anybody to use. 404 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:26,880 And there's no excuse for why you won't let God use you just because 405 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:33,000 you're damaged, because everybody else is too careful to 406 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:34,480 not let failure define you. 407 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:41,520 The fifth part of this is, accept the grace of God's gift. 408 00:21:42,890 --> 00:21:44,810 Accept the grace of God's gift. 409 00:21:45,530 --> 00:21:52,050 God forgives us, and that comes pretty easily when we confess 410 00:21:52,050 --> 00:21:52,410 it. 411 00:21:53,130 --> 00:21:54,970 But the hard part is forgiving ourselves. 412 00:21:56,490 --> 00:21:59,290 So you have to let the grace wash you clean. 413 00:21:59,770 --> 00:22:02,050 It's the image that David used to be. 414 00:22:02,050 --> 00:22:02,730 Washed clean. 415 00:22:02,730 --> 00:22:04,130 Let the grace wash you clean. 416 00:22:04,130 --> 00:22:05,450 See, grace is like water. 417 00:22:06,810 --> 00:22:08,250 Think of grace as water. 418 00:22:08,250 --> 00:22:13,390 It flows downward and it gathers at the lowest point. 419 00:22:14,510 --> 00:22:18,590 Grace goes deep into our lives, to our most hidden secrets, 420 00:22:19,070 --> 00:22:25,310 to our regrets, to our fears, to our dark sins. 421 00:22:27,150 --> 00:22:29,150 Grace gathers right there. 422 00:22:30,350 --> 00:22:31,230 But you know what? 423 00:22:32,350 --> 00:22:34,030 That's where sewage goes, too. 424 00:22:34,670 --> 00:22:39,240 To the lowest point, to the lowest point. 425 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:47,160 And in the filth and muck of our sewage of life, God's grace comes 426 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:48,920 in and takes over. 427 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:56,880 Accept God's gift of grace, and in that gift, God will cleanse 428 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:01,640 and make us new, as he did for David and he wrote about. 429 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:06,200 Well, then the last part is, ask God to help you grow in your 430 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:06,760 failures. 431 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:12,160 In your failures, you can grow the very most if you'll listen to 432 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:12,520 God. 433 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:17,560 Or you can begin a downward path where failure becomes a pattern 434 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:22,160 of life and you become used to it and the guilt doesn't bother you 435 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:26,760 as much over time, and your life essentially gets wasted. 436 00:23:27,570 --> 00:23:31,170 If we will listen to God, in times of failures, it's the hardest 437 00:23:31,170 --> 00:23:31,770 time to listen. 438 00:23:31,770 --> 00:23:33,570 But it's the time we need to listen most. 439 00:23:33,650 --> 00:23:36,210 Don't let the shame keep you from going to God. 440 00:23:36,850 --> 00:23:39,770 You know when you fail, when you really mess up, Maybe you did 441 00:23:39,770 --> 00:23:41,970 over spring break, you want to hide. 442 00:23:42,930 --> 00:23:44,890 Maybe you go, man, I did that. 443 00:23:44,890 --> 00:23:45,850 And I shouldn't have done that. 444 00:23:45,850 --> 00:23:46,690 I knew better than that. 445 00:23:46,690 --> 00:23:48,370 But nobody knows. 446 00:23:48,450 --> 00:23:50,090 Oh, I'm so thankful. 447 00:23:50,090 --> 00:23:50,850 Nobody knows. 448 00:23:51,010 --> 00:23:52,450 Well, God knows. 449 00:23:53,260 --> 00:23:54,300 You can keep it from him. 450 00:23:54,860 --> 00:23:55,740 God knows. 451 00:23:56,540 --> 00:23:59,300 Don't let the shame keep you from God, because God's already part 452 00:23:59,300 --> 00:23:59,780 of the shame. 453 00:23:59,780 --> 00:24:02,460 He's in there with you where the grace flows. 454 00:24:02,700 --> 00:24:06,060 Learn to listen in the quiet aloneness of fail. 455 00:24:06,540 --> 00:24:07,180 Failure. 456 00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:11,940 When we fail, even though there's noise all around us and all 457 00:24:11,940 --> 00:24:14,580 the friends are around us and all the chatters going on, there 458 00:24:14,580 --> 00:24:19,100 is an aloneness that happens because the failure has our focus. 459 00:24:20,130 --> 00:24:24,050 And in the quietness of that aloneness, learn to listen to God 460 00:24:24,530 --> 00:24:28,050 and then trust in the refining fire of God. 461 00:24:28,290 --> 00:24:29,490 Yeah, it's painful. 462 00:24:29,890 --> 00:24:30,450 Yeah. 463 00:24:30,450 --> 00:24:34,690 The heat gets turned up, but that's how things get made better. 464 00:24:35,650 --> 00:24:38,490 David used this phrase in Psalm 51. 465 00:24:38,490 --> 00:24:40,730 He says, Purify me from my sin. 466 00:24:40,730 --> 00:24:42,970 Now, everybody in ancient times would have known exactly what 467 00:24:42,970 --> 00:24:43,570 that was. 468 00:24:43,650 --> 00:24:47,200 Purity from the sins would have been the refining, like they 469 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:47,960 did with gold. 470 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:51,680 They would get gold, and then they would put it in the hottest 471 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:55,080 fire possible to burn off all the bad stuff. 472 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:56,120 So it was pure. 473 00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:58,520 And that's what David was talking about. 474 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:03,560 Trust in the refining fire of God to purify me from my sin. 475 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,040 Ask God to help you grow through your failures. 476 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,440 If you focus on the failure, you will continue to suffer. 477 00:25:13,820 --> 00:25:17,500 If you focus on the lesson, you'll continue to grow. 478 00:25:18,700 --> 00:25:22,380 So that's a choice, and it's pretty straightforward. 479 00:25:23,980 --> 00:25:31,980 Well, your failures will become your most significant points 480 00:25:31,980 --> 00:25:34,220 of life if you listen for God. 481 00:25:35,820 --> 00:25:39,660 And your failures will become your most significant points in life 482 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:41,920 if you don't listen for God. 483 00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:47,480 But God is ready to speak to us in our failures, and he promises 484 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:52,000 that because he loves us that much, that's what our benediction 485 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:52,280 says. 486 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:53,440 Say it with me, will you? 487 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:58,160 No eye has seen, no ear is heard, no mind is conceived. 488 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:02,960 But God has prepared for those who love him, even those who fail. 489 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:04,000 God bless.