Thursday, November 8, 2012

Handling Failure


What constitutes as failure?
God-
Sin
Failing God is not when our plans or efforts don’t succeed. Failing God is when we don’t obey.
Ourselves-
Disobedience
Deuteronomy 30: 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
Betraying our Conscience
Romans 14:23 But whoever has doubt stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from a conviction,[h] and everything that is not from a conviction is sin.
Perverting What God Gives Us
Romans 1: 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Others
Causing to stumble
1 corinthians 10:  32 Do not cause anyone to stumble,whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33 even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
Failing to love
1 Corinthians 13: 1 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Representing Christ Poorly
Romans 2:24 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.
What steps do we take after failure?
God-
Hebrews 4:14-16
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Proverbs 24:16 - "Even if good people fall seven times, they will get back up. But when trouble strikes the wicked, that's the end of them."
Psalm 40:2-3 - "and pulled me from a lonely pit full of mud and mire.  You let me stand on a rock with my feet firm, and you gave me a new song, a song of praise to you. Many will see this, and they will honor and trust you, the LORD God."

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Jeremiah 8:4-5 - "The LORD said: People of Jerusalem, when you stumble and fall, you get back up, and if you take a wrong road, you turn around and go back. So why do you refuse to come back to me? Why do you hold so tightly to your false gods?"
Repentance
Hebrews 10: 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,

Luke 13:3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Luke 13:5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Acts 3: 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Ourselves-
Believe God’s Truth, Trust In His Promises, Living In Obedience
Get Rid Of Things That Cause You To Fail
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
Matthew 18:8
If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.
Others-
Make Amends
Matthew 5: 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.Luke 19:But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Seek Forgiveness
Luke 17:3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister[ sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
Confess
James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
What steps do we avoid?
Blaming others
Genesis 3: 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Pretending it didn’t happen/Covering it up
2 Samuel  11:6-27
Thinking there won’t be consequences
2 Samuel 12: 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” 13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for[a] the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
Thinking we are beyond redemption
"Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning;Great is Your faithfulness."
Lamentations 3:22-23

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