Pastor Phil <><<
June 23, 2013 - Sheepfold Ministries
Pastor Phil Roland
FAILURE is not final
EXODUS 14:5-14 - Esp. v.14
"Failure is an inevitable part of life. It does not mean that we are defeated forever, or that we should give up. Giving up is easy, Getting back up is hard." Pastor Phil <><<
14 The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." NKJV
14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (NIV)
How Moses dealt with failure:
I. REFUSED TO LISTEN TO NEGATIVE VOICES - Verses 11,12
11 Then they said to Moses, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, 'Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?' For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness."
A. Moses heard the Whiners and Grumbling
1. Moaning above the sound of Pharaoh's pursuing Army
2. Complaining above the Horses and Chariots
B. We still have the "Anti-Leadership Crowd" today
1. Pity Party Melt Downers - "Why me?"
2. "Debbie Downers" from SNL -
"Our graves will be in the wilderness"
"We'd be better off serving the Egyptians"
3. Nit-Pickers - Fault Finders
4. "Shamers and Blamers - The Hostility Crowd
"Moses, this is all your fault!"
"You told us we were gonna' be free!"
"Look at the mess you've gotten us into!"
5. The Runners - Run Away and Hide Crowd
6. The "I Told You So" people
"I just knew we couldn't do it!"
B. Moses was no Doormat - He didn't "cave in" to criticism
1. People Pleasers are like Doormats for others
2. Fear the Rejection of Others, esp. their Negative Opinions
3. Today's Politicians - Pleasers of Mankind - Reactive People
"Moses, have been seeing the polls lately? More than 90% of the
people do not believe in your leadership." "You're going down!
You're on a roller coaster ride down to unpopularity!"
4. Moses' Identity was given him by the Lord - 3 Identities:
a. Egyptian Royalty -Adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter
b. Midianite Son-in-Law and Shepherd
FAILURE IS NOT FINAL, Cont. p.2
c. Israel's Great Deliverer
B. How did Moses block out the negative voices?
1. Bill Cosby has a clue
“I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is
trying to please everyone.”
2. Moses KNEW the voice of God he'd heard it before
3. God called him from the burning bush of Mt. Horeb - Ex. 3:4
4. Moses KNEW and BELIEVED in what God called him to do
a. God keeps His Promises - Numbers 23:19
"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that
He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He
spoken, and will He not make it good?"
b. God promised Moses He would be with him - Ex. 3:12
"So He said, "I will certainly be with you. . . ."
5. Moses intentionally saw himself as God saw him
a. Too easy to see ourselves through the eyes of others
b. Too easy to listen to the Nay Sayers
6. Moses was more intent on Healing and Obeying God
"But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to
obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29
How Moses dealt with failure:
II. REFUSED TO WALK IN FEAR - Verse 13a
"And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. . ."
A. Thomas Alva Edison said, "Many of life's failures are people who
did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
B. Moses was not afraid of Pharaoh's Army
1. He was afraid of Failing God
2. If you Hear and Obey God, you will not Fail - Ps. 111:10
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good
understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever."
C. Turn your back on Fear, it's not an option: use the 3-R's
1. Recognize Fear when it knocks at your door
(Chills, knot in your stomach,
2. Refuse Fear when your can name it
(Say it out loud, "I refuse to walk in fear!")
3. Replace Fear with Faith
D. Fear of Failure is one of 4 Primal Fears - 2 Timothy 1:7
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a
sound mind."
1. Afraid of Failure? - Philippians 4:13
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
2. Afraid of Financial Failure? - Philippians 4:19
"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in
glory by Christ Jesus."
FAILURE IS NOT FINAL, Cont. p.3
How Moses dealt with failure:
III. BUILT HOPE IN GOD'S PEOPLE - Verse 13b
". . .Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever."
A. Moses encourages God's people to Hope in God - Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts
of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
1. He encouraged God's people to Hope in God
2. Hope is the enemy of Fear
B. Hope is Believing the Impossible - Isaiah 41:11-13
"Behold, all those who were incensed against you Shall be ashamed and
disgraced; They shall be as nothing, And those who strive with you shall
perish. 12 You shall seek them and not find them-- Those who contended
with you. Those who war against you Shall be as nothing, As a nonexistent
thing. 13 For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you,
'Fear not, I will help you.'"
1. Hope is believing in God's Possibilities
2. Hoping in God Denies External Realities
3. Our Hope is in the Promises of God
C. God Rewarded their Hope with Blessing - Hebrews 11:29
"By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the
Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned."
How Moses dealt with failure:
IV. EXHORTED OTHERS TO HAVE FAITH IN GOD - Ex. 14:14
"The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."
A. Exhorted Others to Faith in the Face of Failure - 2 Cor. 12:9
"And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made
perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
B. The Israelites saw themselves on the Edge of Disaster
C. Actually it was the Open Door to God's Salvation
D. God uses human weakness to Display His Strength
1. Joni Eareckson Tada Quote:
"The weaker we feel, the harder we lean on God
The harder we lean on God, the stronger we grow."
2. Evie and Pelle Tornquist-Karlsson Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9oDvaOLIqE
FAILURE IS NOT FINAL
Exodus 14:5-14 (NKJV)
5 Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"
6 So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him.
7 Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them.
8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness.
9 So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon.
10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.
11 Then they said to Moses, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?
12 Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, 'Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?' For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness."
13 And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.
14 The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."
DON'T QUIT
Author Unknown
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.
FAMOUS FAILURES
The famous failures below are now well known and their names are synonymous with success, but it wasn’t always this way. At one point the idea of these people reaching the heights they have reached would have seemed absurd – totally impossible – and yet they did it. Many of them didn’t just fail, they failed in spectacular fashion. So don’t give up on your
own dreams – you may just be a famous failure in the making!
Abraham Lincoln - Former US president Abraham Lincoln first went into politics at the age of 23 when he campaigned for a seat in the Illinois General Assembly and failed. He then opened a general store which failed after only a few months.
Michael Jordan - The most famous name in basketball was actually cut from his high school basketball team.
John Wayne - Before his successful acting career he was rejected from the United States Naval Academy.
Steven Spielberg - This household name dropped out of high school and applied to attend film school three times but was unsuccessful due to his C grade average.
Beethoven - His music teacher once told him that he was a hopeless composer.
Harry S. Truman - This former US President was rejected by the US Military & Naval Academies due to his poor eyesight. At one point he was a clerk in a newspaper mailroom, and also an usher in a movie theater.
Babe Ruth - This baseball legend struck out 1,330 times.
Henry Ford - The Ford Motor Co was Henry Ford’s third business, the first two didn’t work out.
Winston Churchill - This former British Prime Minister did poorly in school and had a speech impediment in his early years.
Marilyn Monroe - Marilyn Monroe spent much of her younger years in foster homes. One of her first jobs, during the second world war, was inspecting parachutes.
Walt Disney - He was fired by the editor of a newspaper for lacking in ideas.
Soichiro Honda - The founder of Honda was turned down for an engineering job by Toyota after World War Two.
Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita - These two were the founders of Sony, but one of their first products was an electric rice cooker. They only sold 100 or so of these cookers because they tended to burn rice rather than cook it.
Charles Darwin - His father told him he would amount to nothing and would be a disgrace to himself and his family.
Albert Einstein - He learned to speak at a late age and performed poorly in school.
Thomas Edison - As a boy he was told by his teacher that he was too stupid to learn anything.
John Grisham - This best selling novelist’s first novel was rejected by sixteen agents and twelve publishing houses.
Isaac Newton - He failed at running the family farm and did poorly in school.
http://presentoutlook.com/famous-failures/
FAT BOY CHRONICLES
Pastor Quote:
Failure is an inevitable part of life.
It does not mean that we are defeated forever, or that we should give up.
Giving up is easy, Getting back up is hard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFjq3jj4e90
On May 14, 1607, a group of roughly 100 members of a joint venture called the Virginia Company founded the first permanent English settlement in North America on the banks of the James River. Famine, disease and conflict with local Native American tribes in the first two years brought Jamestown to the brink of failure before the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies in 1610. Tobacco became Virginia's first profitable export, and a period of peace followed the marriage of colonist John Rolfe to Pocahontas, the daughter of an Algonquian chief. During the 1620s, Jamestown expanded from the area around the original James Fort into a New Town built to the east; it remained the capital of the Virginia colony until 1699.
http://www.watertown.k12.ma.us/cunniff/americanhistorycentral/04encountersintheamericas/Success_at_Jam.html
Zephaniah 3:17 (NKJV)
17 The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
Psalm 43:5 (NKJV)
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
Psalm 33:20
20 We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
Psalm 62:5
5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
― Winston Churchill
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”
― Robert F. Kennedy
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.
Unknown.
gorgeous
