Secret Confessions of a Pastor - Confessions from the Pew
Given the choice I think every one of us would rather be considered a winner than a loser. All of us would rather have our friends think of us as a success than a failure. In fact, being called a failure is one of the ultimate insults in our culture. So, last month when we asked you to send us your ananymous confessions, it came as no surprise when many of you said you feel like a failure.
Listen online: Confessions from the Pew
Sermons Note
Four statements that make up my philosophy on failure:
1) We all fail and in many ways.
- Failing is not unique to you, so don’t take it too personally.
- The danger comes when we come to believe that because we have failed we are failures.
- Many of the people we consider the greatest successes failed many times in their lives.
2) Failure is often times an ingredient in the stew of success.
- Most people who are successful don’t view failure as an enemy to success but a lesson to be learned.
- Proverbs 24:16 Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again.
- The difference between people who are successful and those who are not is not that successful people don’t fall but that they get up one more time than they fall.
3) With God no failure has to be final.
- Romans 8:28 …in all things God works for the good of those who love him…
4) The price for failing to face the fear of failure is regret.
- If you give in to the fear of failure and don’t take risks you will not live up to your full potential and instead you will live with regret.
- The two words that keep us from taking risks to live to our full potential are, “What if…”
The ultimate regret would be to fail to receive the grace of God and spend eternity separated from God. We have all failed, but the Bible tells us that Jesus died on the cross as payment for our moral failures. You can allow Jesus to pay the penalty for your moral failures (sin) by praying to God, admiting you have failed morally, believing that Jesus died for your failures, and choosing to make God the leader of your life.
Next Steps
- Take the time to reflect on where fear of failure is keeping you in the fail-safe zone.
- Pray and ask God for wisdom as to how to overcome that fear and what steps to take forward.
- Take smart, Spirit-led risks.
- If you have not received Jesus, acknowledge you have failed morally, believe Jesus death pays the penalty for your failures, and ask God into your heart as the leader of your life.
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