Failing Forward // God's Not Done WITH ME - Pastor Bryan Carter

father we thank you we thank you lord for the reminder that you are not done we thank you for the reminder that you are not through we thank you for the reminder that you are still working that even when we can't trace your hand we can trust your heart we thank you lord that you're still moving because you're still guiding that you're still directing that you're still healing that you're still moving that you're still forgiving that you're still making ways out of no ways lord we thank you we thank you we thank you we thank you but you're not done blessing us you're not done healing us you're not done protecting us you're not done guiding us you're not done comforting us lord we thank your to thank you today for all that you have done that you are doing and that which you will do we give you glory today lord in jesus name amen amen amen amen amen amen somebody ought to praise god right where you are today you ought to praise god wherever you are at home wherever you are you ought to give god just a shout to glory today you ought to give god a hallelujah in your praise today you ought to just thank god for all he saw you through last week and all that you are anticipating for the next week somebody today ought to give god praise it might just be you but you still ought to give him praise and tell him thank you god for your faithfulness and your work in my life you've got a reason to praise him you've got a reason to tell him thank you you've got a reason to give him glory we bless your name today hallelujah god hallelujah god holland hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah we bless your name today god we we bless your name today we bless your name on today listen family we are so incredibly thankful to be able to see you and connect with you online we are thankful for the privilege to start the week with you listen we just believe there's no better way to start the week than to start the week in worship something happens when you and i come together whether in person or digitally something happens when we connect together as we worship god together and serve together and study his word together we're thankful for our guest today miss christy tillman who blessed us today and we are thankful for you we're thankful for you we are our family and we thank god for the privilege to be together friends um uh we have been in a season really from the start of the year a series called god's not done and uh for the month of january we have been hanging out in this whole idea that god's not done and then you know what god was just so moving in the season together that we ex decided to extend it so we're gonna stay in this series for the next few weeks again because we just believe somebody still needs to be reminded that we still need to receive the encouragement from god to trust god for what he's doing in your life in my life in our church in our nation we got to be reminded of his truth and so i'm excited to kind of jump into that matter of fact really the theme of this next season is god is not done with me god has not done with me and there are several key pictures in scripture where we find people in their own personal moments where god gives them a reminder i can't wait to jump into the series but before we do that let me remind you of what happened on last sunday we ended the first part of the series by by blessing some people in the life of our church they had written in prayers at the end of last year and as we began to pray about this series our team began to read stories of people that were going through difficult times and challenging times and we said hey why not be an encouragement to someone and let them know see you can say god's not done but sometimes you got to show somebody that god's not done and so i want you to watch this quick video as it recaps the amazing way that we were able to bless others on last week let's watch [Music] hello concord family my name is darnell hartford jr upon completing my associates degree in december of 2020 my prayer to god for the new year was that i continued my academic journey with positivity focus and determination i was blessed with a ten thousand dollar grant from my concord church family to continue my studies at university of north texas dallas campus i would first of all like to thank god my family and friends and my concord church family for reminding me that god is not done see you guys you guys are doing all right we're good but we just wanted you guys to know that uh we got your prayer requests that you turned in in december we will have a special gift for you guys as y'all kind of walk through this season we want to let you know that uh that we're gonna bless you guys with uh with five months of uh free rent and pay your mortgage so from we take her five months five months five months amen man thank you pastor clark thank you all so much theresa is my special guest today she's been working with us for almost a year now all online this is her first time ever to the church and so we just want you to know listen we love you we praise god for you she turned in a prayer request and we we're just trusting god that he will answer her prayer [Applause] my faithfulness within god has blessed me to get this far because when i was commuting back and forth for two jobs it was a long thing for me [Music] we just believe this that god has a way of meeting us in the midst of our moment so kind thank you uh we're we believe in being a generous church and we're thankful for once again the generosity that was displayed on last week as we continue to seek to honor god and encourage others as we walk through this season friends we're going to jump into god's word today what an amazing week we had last week and today i want to talk from this subject failing forward failing forward i want to i want to visit that section for just a moment as um as we get started if you have your bibles turn to matthew chapter 26 and we're going to get there in just a moment all right matthew 26. failing forward there he was sitting in the courtroom as he said in that courtroom before the judge he thought to himself how in the world did i end up in this place he had made a series of poor decisions with his marriage that ended up with him and his wife sitting there in divorce court and now in this very moment he watched as his very life began to fall apart he watched as he had to deal with separation from his children he watched as he had to deal with separation of his possessions and he watched as now the relationship that he had invested so much in had now fallen apart mainly because of his own decisions and actions his decisions and actions to neglect his marriage and to neglect his wife and to step out of being faithful in a relationship caused him to be at this point in this courtroom and he sat there and said to himself how in the world did i end up here he said i i felt like a failure i don't know about you but each of us have had moments where we too have felt like failures perhaps it was the moment when you said something that you know you shouldn't have said and you wish you could pull it back but it was too late perhaps it was the moment when you got called into hr and you realized you were being demoted or even released perhaps it was the moment when you looked at your relationship and realized that the reason the relationship was where it was was that it just it failed and you were heartbroken over it perhaps it happened that each of us have had moments or scenes or situations where you regret it or you were disappointed or you were heartbroken or you were hurt by the outcome that was different than you expected failure is a hard word to say it's an even harder word to be able to process friends the truth of the matter is that many of us can relate to the reality of what it means to fail at something to fail as we lead an organization to fail in our relationship or family or to fail financially or to fail in goals that we were trying to accomplish but the truth of the matter is if we've been there or we might be there we are not alone today based on god's truth of god's word i want to i want to encourage someone that's ever been at a point of failure in their life that's ever missed the mark that's ever missed their goal that's ever found themselves saying to themselves how in the world did i end up here you're not the first one ever to get there matter of fact there in today's text in matthew chapter 26 we meet one of jesus's disciples that puts us face to face with failure when it shows up in our lives i want to read a few verses for you that kind of unpacked peter's story who was a follower of jesus christ it's there in matthew chapter 26 around verse 69 and it says these words now peter was sitting out in the courtyard a servant came to him you also were with jesus of galilee she said but he denied it before them all i don't know what you're talking about he said then he went out to the gateway where another servant girl saw him and said to the people this fellow was with jesus of nazareth he denied it again with the oath i i don't know the man verse 73 after a little while while standing there he went up to peter and said surely you are one of them your accent gives you away then he began to call down curses and he swore to them i don't know the man immediately a rooster crow and then peter remembered the word jesus had spoken before the rooster crows he will disown me three times and he went outside and he wept bitterly here we meet peter one of jesus's followers peter was there when jesus would heal people peter was there when jesus would do his teachings and peter was there when jesus would do his miracles peter was there when jesus would walk on the water and matter of fact peter would ask him could he walk with him so peter had seen so much of jesus life but in this moment in today's text all that peter had done in the past all the success all of the victories all the things he had signed on this moment peter failed peter failed because in a moment now that jesus has been arrested unless jesus is now preparing for trial peter the text says it's following a far ways off and as peter is following people keep coming up to him and one girl comes says listen you are with jesus peter says i don't even know that man another person comes and says no no you were with jesus he said no i don't know what to do and he gets the third time he says no i don't even know him leave me alone and peter fails in that moment the text says he begins to weep bitterly about what he's gone through have you ever failed have you ever had that moment that moment where you were shocked at what you did that moment where you were surprised when it became found out that's a moment that we will have and peter is in that moment but you can imagine how does peter recover from this moment have you ever noticed that when we have failure it's in those moments that sometimes we can begin to believe and ask the question is god done with me that's what failure does when when stuff doesn't turn out like we thought it would when we when it happens publicly peter in front of everybody when when things didn't turn out when when things didn't pan out when when all that we invested it's in those moments where you can begin to ask yourself the question is god done with me i mean is this how my life will be summed up will i always be known by my failure will my failure shape my life will my failure be the be the identity and the way in which people view me i mean if you're going to ever if we're going to recover and learn how to fail forward we got to ask the question how in the world did peter get here in the first place i mean how how did peter what what caused peter to get here in the first place to help us understand that you got to go back earlier in the same text when you get back to matthew 26 i want you to understand that one of the reasons that peter ended up here is that i want you to read this text i want you to see this matthew 26 31 then jesus told them this very night you will all fall away on the count of me for as written i will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered but after i have risen i will go ahead of you into galilee look at the verse verse peter peter pops up peter replied even if all fall away on account of you i never will truly i tell you jesus answer this very night before the rooster crows you will disown me three times verse 35 but peter declared even if i have to die with you i will never disown you and all the other disciples said the same the reason that peter ends up in this place is one word he was overconfident he was over confident there is something in us that makes us think we are better than we are there there is something in us that causes us to think that we are different or above other people look at what peter jesus says to peter i'm going to get arrested tonight and when the shepherd is struck all of the followers will will spread out peter says jesus y'all know what you're talking about peter says jesus they might everybody else will but that's not my story peter is so overconfident peter is so prideful peter is so full of peter that peter thinks he is more than he really is friends it is this area over confidence that is often linked to failure when you and i begin to think that we are better than we are more than we are above things or beyond things this is when we get in trouble friends it is the very secret that caused the titanic to ship to sink many years ago it was called the unsinkable ship the builder said this ship can never sink no this is this is the ship that will sell forever but then when it encountered an iceberg they all that they thought they were when it sank reveal that they were overconfident overconfidence causes people to risk more than they ever should risk it causes people to step out of relation it causes people to do things on their job to try to prove they're better than they are it's over confidence there is something in each of us that sometimes makes us think we are bigger and more than we are this is exactly what caused peter to be in this place peter's overconfident peter is prideful the scripture said this way pride always proceeds to fall is there any errors in your life where you're overconfident any places in your life where you're beginning to believe that you are better than you really are any places in your life where you're believing to to begin to believe that you are more are entitled to more or this is what corinthians says this it says this way he who thinks he is standing firm be confident be careful least you fall i want to make sure you get that because it's first corinthians 10 and 20. if you think you're standing firm be careful because that's when we often fall when we begin to believe and we're better than we actually are see what you need instead of being overconfident is you need to be confident in christ you need to have confidence in christ and know that what you accomplish what you do where you are is not a consequence of how gifted you are how talented you are how attractive you are how much you've accomplished your degrees or whatever no but you must always remember anything that you attain in life is only a consequence of the fact that you are connected to a christ and because you are connected to a christ you have been redeemed you have been sanctified you have been healed you have been forgiven you have been set free you have been made new in christ so whether you accomplish it or not you are still significant and valuable because your value is not attached to your performance or your status or your title or your date or whomever your confidence is in christ and when it's in christ it keeps you from falling because when you are in christ you're not worried about impressing people or proving somebody wrong or making a name for yourself or justifying yourself because you're in christ you can attempt things but you still are secure in your christ and in your identity he says i want you to remain confident in christ so peter how does peter recover from this he he has to first of all be reminded of how he got there but let me give you five quick principles five quick ideas that i want you to kind of kind of kind of think through that are that are in the passage as we begin to try to reflect on how do you and i recover when we fail in life here's the first one we're going to recover if we're going to fail forward number one we got a faith i got to face my failure i gotta i gotta face my failure yeah if i'm gonna recover if i'm gonna be restored i've gotta face my failure i gotta face it i gotta face it what what what peter did right there in matthew 26 around verse 75 the text says that when peter remembered what jesus says he he went outside he wept and he was he was he was distraught over what had happened peter faced this failure you can never recover from failure you can never fail forward until we face the moment that we are in that's what peter does peter is there in that moment and peter is heartbroken and peter is disappointed and peter cries and peter is hurt and peter is disappointed and peter is embarrassed and peter is struggling until a person is willing to own the moment then they can never grow through the moment just to tell why that person is there blaming everybody and saying they did it and trying to justify their behavior and trying to try to put it off on somebody else no until a person is willing to face their moment and say you know what this is what i did even if it wasn't all and tell a person willing to own theirs they could never get until a person says i blew it i messed up i shouldn't have done it i i i blew it it was my fault here's what here's what second corinthians 7 and 10 says godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret but worldly sorrow brings death as long as i'm trying to rationalize it and explain it i'll never get anywhere but when i face it when i face it when i'm when i'm honest when i am real this is what happens in the when david a key character in the scriptures when when david is in that moment when david is in that moment and he he is there and he confesses his sin and there he he writes when he has had a an affair with bathsheba the scriptures say in psalm 51 he writes a prayer where he expresses her heartbreaking ears and he he repents back to god this is the moment until a person faces their failure a pace person can never find the healing and the hope and the in the restoration that's needed in all of our lives i gotta face it you've been to the airport before right and there at the airport they have an area called baggage claim and that that area there at the airport called baggage claim is is where the bags come down of the passengers that were on the previous flight and the bags are there and the bags go around and around and the job of the passenger is to look for their bags and when they find their backs reach down grab their blacks and claim their backs friends you can never find healing if you just stand at the baggage claim and watch your badge keep going round and round and round and say oh that was their fault and that was his fault and if he hadn't done that until you're willing to reach down and say no i did it yep i said it yep that was me yep that's my fault until you claim the hurt and the pain and the actions that you did god cannot heal you he wants to heal you he wants to restore you but it happens only when you face your my failure not only must i face my failure here's another one failure is an event but it is not my identity i want you to catch this failure is an event but it is not my identity failure failure is an event it's it's an event it's it's it's it's part of the story it's it's part here it is failures and event peter denied christ three times peter denied that he knew christ peter failed and he fell miserably he he missed it and guess what we failed we failed in our relationships and we we fail sometimes as parents and we fail sometimes as men and we fail sometimes as women we fail sometimes as leaders and as bosses and as employees we fail sometimes in our spiritual walk we fail and sometimes our goals and listen it happens sometimes it happens we fail we miss it we messed up we blew it people get in trouble though sometimes when we make the mistake of thinking that the fact that we failed was not an event but that the fact that we fail makes us a failure no no no no no just because i fail doesn't make me a failure no that that the failure was one event but it is not who i am no no no i'm not a failure no it was just a moment i i missed up i i missed a mark listen failure is just a a a a moment in time matter of fact here it is your life is made up of many chapters your life is a book with chapter one two three four chapter after chapter every life every year of your life is a chapter in the book and you might have one chapter where you fail but that doesn't tell your whole story that tells one day one moment one situation but that's not who you are failure is an event and it's not your identity what the enemy wants to do is to make you feel like you'll never recover the enemy tries to make you think this is the sum total of your life but you've got to remind yourself peter has to remind himself this may have happened in matthew 26 but this is not the totality of who i am no no no god is still working god is still moving it may have happened it was an event it may have happened in your life but that does not sum up who you are you are so much more than that it's a chapter in your long long story don't you let the enemy make you beat yourself up make you feel shame and guilt and make you stay there much longer than god has called you out of this is not who you are it's one moment in a long story there was picking up my son from school i picked him up from school he was in the first or second grade at the time he was he was he was he was a little fella just getting his educational career started and as he was getting home from class on this particularly i picked him up from the after school program after he had finished all of his coursework for the day when he got in the car he was incredibly sad i asked him about his day i asked him what he had gone through and he was upset he was nearly in tears about what had happened that day and he said these words this is the worst week of my life over his words that his little 55 year old six-year-old self these were his words this is the worst week of my life i lost my homework i got in trouble because i lost my homework then i got in trouble at home at the same time this is the worst week of my life and i i was empathetic i was sympathetic i i consoled him i encouraged him but then i thought to myself listen i if this is the worst week of his life in his six-year-old self i thought to myself listen if he keeps living he's going to be all right if he keeps living he's going to look back on this day and he might not even remember that this was the worst week of his life listen friend we can find some moments of failure in our lives and they can be bad and they can be dark and they can be difficult but if you keep on living and you keep on serving and you keep on walking and you keep on trusting you will discover that even sometimes the worst weeks the worst moments the worse months the worst seasons that when god gets through with those moments you will look back and begin to say lord thank you for your faithfulness in my life your faithfulness and my season and your faithfulness in my situation failure is an event but it is not who you are it's not who you are it's not who you are it's not it's not it's not who you are here it is here it is here it is failure failure failure failure number three failure isn't final failure failure failure isn't final failure doesn't have to be final yeah there are some decisions that we can make that can be final but but but failure doesn't doesn't doesn't have to be final yeah it doesn't have to be final this this looks like a final moment for peter i mean jesus is head of the trial he's about to be put through a fixed trial he's about to be crucified it looks like this could be peter's final moment after all peter's done after all peter's accomplice after all that peter has done peter is the leading voice of the disciples he's he's there and it looks like this might be peter's final moments final story that he would go out as a denier of jesus christ it looks like it could be the final moment of peter's life it looks like that peter's final moment will be shaped his his legacy his destiny his his hope his future could be shaped by this moment but here's what the text says what i decided to do was i started looking for peter's name and i searched it for the rest of the bible i said okay let's see this peter's story in here and when i started looking i i looked through the rest of the new testament and i found out that peter's name keeps showing up peter's name shows up in mark 16-7 when when when when when the when jesus has risen and mary is there and jesus says go tell disciples and go tell peter that i've risen from the dead peters peter's name shows up in luke 24 and 12 when when they found out that jesus had risen peter was one of the ones that ran to the empty tomb to see where jesus used to lay i kept on reading and i found out that peter showed up again in john chapter 20 when peter was there when when the when when when jesus showed up and visited the disciples i found out again that peter showed up again in john chapter 21 when peter is fishing on a fishing trip and jesus shows up and interrupts their fishing trip i kept on reading i found out that he shows up in acts chapter 1 acts chapter 2 acts chapter 3 acts chapter 4 acts chapter 5 acts chapter 8 acts chapter 9 acts chapter 10 acts chapter 11 acts chapter 12 and acts chapter 15. i kept on reading i found out that not only does peter show up but i found out that peter got his own book in the new testament and i began to realize friends that sometimes this was not the finality of his morning that failure does not have to be final but peter's story continues on hallelujah somebody i know somebody this morning that's been acquainted with failure and you thought that failure would define you but if peter's story keeps on moving guess what your story keeps on moving but that moment that scene that situation does not have to define who you are no but your story is still being written as long as you've got breath in your body and strengthening your lungs your story is still being written god is still writing chapters god is still turning pages god is still doing a new work god is still changing things your story is not finished because failure does not have to be final here he is peter peter peter says failure doesn't have to be final i've got a couple more here it is failure can be transformational failure failure failure can be transformational here it is here it is here it is failure can grant you one of life's greatest gifts hear me friend hear me hear me failure failure can can can can bring you one of life's greatest gifts failure failure failure failure failure can give you it can grant you one of life's greatest gifts are you ready here it is failure brings gifts here it is it can give you the gift of brokenness brokenness brokenness brokenness brokenness yeah we love far too often to talk about being blessed and lord bless me here and lord bless me there but we don't talk enough about brokenness brokenness brokenness because because peter was overconfident and because peter sometimes was the first to speak and the freedom was a leader and sometimes sometimes sometimes as as people we have to go through a season of brokenness what brokenness does is it empties us of us what brokenness does is it reminds us of our of our own our own inadequacies it reminds us of our own weaknesses it reminds us of our own issues and struggles and frailties it reminds us of our own depravity brokenness is when you and i come face to face with our own limitations brokenness is when we failed and we got to sit in it and we can't do nothing about it so we failed and we ain't got no answers and we can't get the loved one out of jail and we can't get our son or daughter out of the situation we we can't we can't change the workplace situation but we can't change the relationship or we can't change where we are brokenness brokenness is when you begin to realize you're human like everybody else you got issues like everybody else you struggle like everybody else you make mistakes like everybody else you get sick like everybody else brokenness it's been said that god cannot use someone significantly until they have used someone greatly until they have been hurt significantly it means that sometimes you got to go through some stuff i mean sometimes you got to fail sometimes you got to fall flat on your face and sometimes it happens publicly and you got to live through that thing and you got to watch god transform you you got to watch god humble you you got to watch god heal you in the midst of that i failed so many times in my life it's hard to keep track of so many moments in my life where i failed as a leader and i made decisions and did things that i wish i could have where rethought felt in my words where i've said things and i i wish i could bring them back or times as a father at times as a husband or times as a man where i have missed the mark and i've fallen on my face and i've tried to figure out lord what do i do now and there are these moments that all of us got to face moments where we all are trying to struggle through this thing but let me tell you something until you are broken you can never be who god has called you to be if you go through your failure and you depend you blame them on everybody else or you go through your failure and you pretend it didn't really hurt or you go through your failure and you pretend like that thing didn't mess you up you won't get there but when you are laying on your face and all you got are tears to eat and tears to drink and when you begin to realize that i don't want to be in this moment and i don't want to go here and i don't want to ever feel this pain again and i don't want to ever have to go through this again and when you get there then you get the gift you get the gift of brokenness so that god can now use you you see the reason let me tell you this jesus wasn't shocked by peter's failure i mean jesus had already predicted it was going to happen and god is not shocked by your failure because he knows we're broken he knows we're falling but what god did and what peter needed jesus knew where peter was going and he said if i don't break him now if he doesn't fail now he will never achieve where i want to take him and what i want to do with him friend the story is this that that peter will become a leader in the new testament church but in order for him to get there he got to go through this now if he doesn't go through this now he will never get where god wants to take him come here friend listen you will never get where god wants you to go until you go through some broken moments deal with some losses deal with some elves deal with some struggles you want to be the boss but you can't be the boss until you learn how to live with loss it's then when you live with losses when you deal with struggles when you catch the males that you then are able to say god i'ma trust you through all of this he it will transform you if you let it here it is friend i'm done in this last one here it is failure failure failure failure can be fuel for the future failure failure failure failure failure failure can be fuel for the future i'm done i'm done i'm on my way but but failure have kept you too long failure can be fuel for the future listen listen listen listen i told you that that story wasn't finished but if you turn the pages of your bible you'll turn to john chapter 21. i'm not going to read all of it but but john 21 15 through the end of the book and what you'll discover here i love how the how the text subtitles it the reinstatement of john do you see that that out of just preach to somebody today the reinstatement john jesus reinstates peter is my bible subtitle and and and when you look there you see it you see it you see you see jesus talking to peter and saying peter do you love my sheep matter of fact he asked them this three times do you love my sheep peter says yes do you love them peter says yes three times he denied christ and three times jesus gives him a new assignment and jesus reinstates peter now back into his role back into position and jesus restores him and he puts him back in his role and back in his position he affirms him oh glory thank you jesus that jesus is the one who restores us listen listen listen he doesn't throw you away when you make mistakes he doesn't discard you because you've been through a divorce he doesn't throw you away because you you lost your business he didn't throw us away because we failed in relation he doesn't throw us away but look at what the scripture says peter is restored there is peter look at peter look at him look at him looking at jesus and jesus looking at him look at peter looking at jesus jesus looking at him and he restores him he begins to reinstate peter and says peter i've got some work for you to do peter i got an assignment for you to do peter it's time for you to go back to work peter was out fishing when he had left that profession he says no i gotta work for you it it's it's failure will will fuel your future it'll teach you i'm not going back there it'll teach you no i'm not i'm making i'm making it's a new season in my life it'll it'll fuel you it reveals some stuff it uh it'll it'll it'll fuel your future um his his name is alvin smith and um five years ago he six seven years ago he was one of the leading players in the nfl and had an amazing career he was number seven overall draft pick expected to be incredibly successful got drafted by the san francisco 49ers and there he was as he was drafted by the san francisco 49ers he had an incredible career incredible successful time and then he made a series of bad decisions struggled with some drugs substance abuse got got put out the league he was out of the league for five years for five years he was struggling to find himself had it all and he lost it completely a couple years ago a year or so ago he began to try to own up to some of the stuff he was dealing with he said he had to come to reality that he had to be responsible for his life that god had given him these talents and gifts and he didn't want to waste him so he was able to get some help guiding the rehab center begin to put his life back together again and then begin to work out again and got signed by the dallas cowboys at the beginning of last season he ended up after five years away came back in the league got his life back together said i'm a new man now i'm more mature i'm more focused than i ever have been and ended up leading the league leading the team in sacks he he was able to get his life back together because here's what i believe i believe god can do something in your life in my life that you and i are never too far we've never felt too much that god can't restore us that we are never too far that we are never out of reach that god cannot grab a hold of you and turn your failure into something significant that that's the god that we serve listen friends i it reminds me of that of that of what happens so often around in our lives that that that that that in my neighborhood once a week they put out these little green tubs and these little green tubs neighbors put in there uh old bottles and and old paper an old cardboard amazon box they put them in that little bin and then somebody comes by picks those up and they they put them inside the recycling truck and then when they take those old discarded messed up worthless useless pieces and then they take them to a recycling plant and when they get done they produce new stuff new new bottles and new paper and new products all discarded stuff that no one thought would be of any value but when they get done they can turn those things around and produce something great and new out of them god would you take my failures god would you take our failures god would you take our broken pieces and would you rework it would you send it to your recycling plant and would you use your holy spirit use your fruit your church use your word and use your spirit to recycle my failures recycle our mistakes recycle our angers recycle our pridefulness and lord use us despite us this is peter's story the truth of the truth of the scripture is this i got some peter in me you got some peter in you but just because we've had failures just because we've had mistakes doesn't mean god's done with us doesn't mean that god is finished with us that means that god can't do anything with us but it could mean that god trusts us enough to let us go through these trials to go through these seasons to go through these difficulties because god wants to do something on the other side that only he can take credit for god's doing the work in your life god doing the work in my life and he's going to do it but you got to trust him you got to rely on him you may have went through the breakup but that breakup doesn't define you god is doing something god is working god is moving god's not done god god's not done god's god's not done can i ask them to it god's not done with me you ought to fill up the chat right now god's not done with me come on god's not done with me god's not done with me come on god's not done with me come on it's your story god's not done with me come on god's not done with me come on god's not done with me god god's not done with me god's not done god's not done with me it was a week ago and i was at um i got invited to dallas theological seminary which is uh one of the seminaries in our city our nation and uh they invited me a few months ago to come and speak for three days in chapel they wanted me to meet with their professors and spend some time with them faculty and staff i had got to have lunch with the president and this is where i went to school seminary yet and so i was there teaching for three days and uh but here's what happened i was sitting there and and the lord reminded me my undergrad years were not the best i didn't make the best grades and so i i couldn't even when even when i got into seminary i had to um i had to um my grades weren't good enough to get me in and so i had to take the gre all right take cre and then when they let me in i got in on probation i couldn't get in didn't have the grades to get in to the jar got enough score they said we're going to let you in or we're going to let you in on probation we're going to see if you can make it you're going to see if you can take it so here it is my failures my struggles my past i didn't have didn't have didn't have wasn't qualified couldn't get in didn't have enough was struggling just just got in got got a foot in the door because because i didn't my my past didn't have a record to get me into where i'd struggle there and i looked up and i was sitting there doing chapel and i said to myself god can use your failures god can use your brokenness god can use your mistakes and god can use all your issues and he can do in your life more than you could ever do by yourself so despite here this young man that had to get it on probation didn't have the grace struggle to get in and then by god's grace here we are years later and they are inviting you back to speak for three days want to meet with you connecting with you and i said to myself don't you ever let your failures make you doubt what god can do in your struggles don't you ever let your failures make you think that they ought to define you don't you ever let your failures make they think that they are the end of your story don't you ever let your failures make you think that god cannot recycle your failures i said he'll recycle him he'll recycle him to give you some humility he'll recycle them to give you some strength and some grace listen i just want you to know i love you so much family i pray god's word encourages you i pray god's word strengthens you i pray you go back and read all these passages and let god's word soak in your heart and soak in your mind and help you as we walk through this together lin i want to pray with you because somebody today the enemy has tried to use your failures to make you think that you can't get past him or to make you think it's the sum can i pray with you right now come on come on come on just just begin to buy your head right now come on lord we come to you right now lord i pray for the peters that are in the room i pray for those in the life that have missed it i pray for those in this room right now that know what it's like to mr mark to know what it's like to ask the question how did i end up here and i pray right now in the name of jesus lord that you will meet him that you will meet her that you will meet them that you will meet them in the midst of that moment and i pray right now lord that you would encourage their hearts i pray right now lord that you remind them that you're not done with them i pray right now lord that you remind them that the story is not complete i pray right now that you remind them that the book is still being written i pray right now in the name of jesus that you will strengthen them strengthen her strengthen him and tell them lord to keep on running for you lord we give it to you right now in the name of jesus we give it to you right now in the name of jesus and the people of god somebody said amen somebody give him glory right where you are in your house you ought to give him glory if you believe he's gonna restore you you ought to give him glory if you can look back and say lord thank you that you're not done with me thank you that you've allowed me to fail forward come on somebody today needs a relationship with jesus christ listen i want to talk to you right now if you don't know jesus christ if you don't have a relationship with him if you've never given your life to him listen you can't do this on your own maybe you're overconfident you think you got it all under control listen if you don't have a relationship with jesus you can't make it through this thing you can't you can't you can't i don't care how strong you are how smart you are how connected you are how much money you got listen you need jesus in your life the bible says he came to die for our sins so you can have life today and i want to invite you if you've never accepted today is your moment click that button go on our website click connect accept christ come on accept him today you need a church family join our church today listen take that step because you need each other in this journey listen we're thankful for you and i pray you make that decision today come on do it right now right now right now right now do it do it do it do it

Channel: Concord Church

Views: 759

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: bible, we grow people, gospel, praise, dallas, concord worship, music, serve, word, church, message, family, concord dallas, worship, concord church, grow, concord, faith, texas

Id: bw-e-CWusqc

Length: 49min 58sec (2998 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 02 2021