The Gospel Of Mark | Jesus Goes Public: Failing Forward | Alan Platt

[Music] hello everyone and welcome to calvary chapel online my name is shara and it is my pleasure to be here with you all this weekend special shout out to anyone joining us for the first time we are so glad you are here go ahead and give a shout out in the chat let us know where you are joining us from and we would love to stay connected with you text the word new to 31352 so we can stay in touch if you're watching and you have children we have great online content that's available all throughout the week go ahead click on the link specific to that age group and stay engaged guys we have a special treat for you this weekend coolest accent that you'll hear his name is alan platt and he will be taking us through mark 14 as we continue our study in the book of mark so go ahead you know what time it is grab your bibles get your device with your bible app and we are gonna dig in to the word together but before that let's get up wherever you are and let's worship our lord together enjoy guys hey good morning what's up everyone we got we got some excited people over here we're excited to be with you let's stand to our feet welcome to our online community as well we're going to start by singing of god's faithfulness through jesus as he is our cornerstone he's worthy to build our lives upon so as we sing let's go there together [Music] see my hope is built on nothing less [Music] i dare not trust the sweetest frame but holy trust in jesus [Music] let's sing that again my hope is built my hope [Music] i is not trust the sweetest friend but holy trust in jesus [Music] [Music] is [Music] when darkness seems to hide his face [Music] [Music] my [Music] is [Music] is [Music] through the storm [Music] he shall come with trump [Music] dressed in his righteousness alone this is good [Music] [Music] call news your voice [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] i hear the savior's thy strength he indeed is more a child of weakness watching pray finding me [Music] he washed it white [Music] thank you [Music] thank you jesus [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] and when before the throne [Music] my lips shall still repeat [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] day [Music] [Music] oh praise the lord is [Music] jesus [Music] saying you are here you are here [Music] [Music] i worship you you are here and you're working in this [Music] [Music] my god [Music] [Music] that is [Music] you are here you're healing every heart [Music] a [Music] oh [Music] god is who you are [Music] [Music] [Music] i know that is who you are [Music] the scripture speaks of god's faithfulness to deliver and redeem even when there seems like there is no way when when everything seems hopeless and god speaks through the prophet isaiah in isaiah chapter 43 i'd love to read it says forget the former things do not dwell on the past see i am doing a new thing now it springs up do you not perceive it i am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland and and how many of us need a way in the wilderness and a stream in the wasteland especially especially this season that we're living in and uh this song in particular hits home for me especially this next part we're about to sing and as i've been thinking of this weekend thinking of this song it brought me right back to 2016 when my wife and i welcomed our daughter into the world and named her haven ray and i remember that night the doctor said drop your kid off the nursery you need to get some sleep trust me so we listen to him and a couple hours later at three a.m doctor's knocking on the door comes right in lights full blast on and begins to proceed to tell us we had to take your daughter the nicu she her heart rate is not stable uh her there's liquid in her lungs she's not keeping food down and immediately i'm just like the only word i had was god help help that's the only word i could think of and for the next week watching my daughter hooked up to all these instruments and by the grace of god we were able to leave the hospital daughter is okay she's healed and we thought we were in the clear [Music] i thought we were in the clear and then we get home and that started a nine-month process of my wife struggling through postpartum depression nights of insomnia having to carry her from the bed to the couch just to a simple task of drinking water opening up the curtains just drink water and um i i sing this song and it means something to me because what god did through that season is god actually used my wife's story after that nine months to heal her not only my my daughter but to heal her and she was she's been able to walk through i think four or five girls at this point through struggling through the same thing struggling through the same depression and so i don't know what your story is i don't know if you're even it's hard for you to even hear that story of victory it's hard for you because you're walking and you're still in the valley and you would say i'm still in the midst of the struggle right now but these next words we're about to sing even when i don't see it even when i don't feel it i know that you're working god may that be our prayer collectively so that we as a church can see he is the waymaker he never changes he never fails so let's sing this together filled with faith and filled with confidence let's sing this even when i don't see it you're working even when i don't see it you're working even when i don't feel it you're working you never stop never stop working and never stop never stop working even when i don't see it you're working even when i don't feel it's working never stop never stop working you'll never stop [Music] you never stop you never stop working even when i don't see it [Music] [Music] either way [Music] either way [Music] that is who you are [Music] is [Music] who you are [Music] is [Music] that is who you are [Music] [Music] come on can we thank him again one more time even when we don't see it he is working for our good for his glory let's pray together heavenly father we say thank you we say thank you that even in the midst of the struggle even in the midst of the trial we know that you're still working and oftentimes we can't feel it oftentimes we can't see it and oftentimes we have more doubts and more questions than we do faith but even even there you meet us right where we're at because you're a kind father you're not standing angry and judgmental far off you are standing near to us with love and compassion in your eyes we say thank you because we don't deserve it while we were still sinners christ you came for us you laid on the cross you died for us we today have victory so we can say you are a waymaker you're a miracle worker you're a promise keeper and even when everything around us in our world tells us the exact opposite we will say you are a waymaker we believe you we trust you today spend time with us lord challenge us convict us change us help us to look different than the way we came in and we profess even with our mouths right now only you can do it and so lord have your way we love you it's in jesus name everyone said amen hey thanks for singing with us go and have a seat [Music] hey everyone i'm kelly and i'm isabelle we hope you're more in love with jesus today than ever before and we've got some unique ways to help you to continue to grow in your relationship with him first this is a fun announcement since it's such a great way for you to explore all god is doing here at calvary the new edition of seasons magazine is here seasons magazine is inspiring and equipping people to live a life of purpose on purpose you'll read incredible stories about what it means to live a missional gospel-centered life so pick up a copy at your campus and let god use it to inspire you in your walk with him and others you know the bible tells us to love god with all our heart soul strength and mind right so who's ready to learn well that's what fall classes are all about fall classes are designed to help you get to know jesus on a deeper level and learn valuable and practical ways to experience the life that god created you for classes will be offered both online and in person starting on september 8th so go to calgaryftl.org classes to explore all the options and sign up now to renew your mind speaking of education consider this the majority of south florida's next generation spends 40 hours a week at our public schools so what if you could partner with those schools and walk with these kids as they grow up in these challenging times you could help lead a faith-based club be a mentor teach a social and emotional wellness class or adopt a school in prayer to get in the story just text education to 31352 or visit calgaryftl.org education hey that's all for this video but there's tons more waiting for you at calvaryftl.org and don't forget in seasons magazine [Music] [Music] welcome calvary chapel we are so glad you are here my name is doug i'm one of the pastors here and uh thank you if it's your first time we want to say man we are so honored you're here and if you're joining us online glad you are here hey our lead pastor doug souter is out of town this weekend he's taking his youngest to college so you can pray for them we do have a guest speaker who i think you guys are going to love but before i introduce him uh just a few things uh we want to celebrate some things today and one of the things that we want to celebrate is baptism this weekend we had our first baptism publicly on the beach in the last year and over 200 of you got baptized yesterday which is amazing and if you're one of those 200 would you please just stand we want to celebrate you as you've taken this next step with jesus great job awesome so proud of you so proud of you i want to mention that uh out of that 200 over 40 percent were kids and youth and uh we love the next generation here at this church and so excited again about those that are taking their next step with jesus i want to share two quick stories because i just still can't believe this but uh there's a gentleman that i met yesterday at the beach and he had heard about our baptism he lives in orlando and he drove yesterday morning almost four hours from orlando to come and get baptized at the beach yesterday which was amazing and i've got an even crazier story uh i heard about a gentleman that's in uh one of our online small groups and um their entire small group online small group decided that they were gonna come down to the beach yesterday and get baptized but here's the deal this gentleman lives in california and he flew across the entire country to come and get baptized yesterday at the beach with calvary chapel so what an amazing amazing story god is on the move and so much to celebrate speaking of celebration this weekend is volunteer weekend and we have a lot to celebrate for all of our volunteers some of you guys don't know but it takes over a thousand volunteers to do the ministry that we do here locally and across the globe and if you're one of those volunteers that have served in the last year would you please just stand we want to celebrate you we want to say thank you maybe if you've served in any capacity across any of our campuses we want to say thank you we love you we honor you and we could not do this without you so many of you greet at the door hold babies work with our youth help during the week in our office or maybe with our facilities we want to say thank you we also want to give you an opportunity for those of you that have not joined the team to join the team and uh you know jesus was asked this question he was asked hey who's the greatest and jesus responded with this the greatest is those that serve and we want to invite you to step into your greatness that god has for you in reflecting the goodness of god and serving our world and here at our campus and and across all of our campuses really we've got tables set up and even in our connection point and you can stop by and find out when the next orientation is to sign up for that and if you're watching online by the way uh you can text the word serve to 31350 and we will send you the link we've even got opportunities to serve online and so we're excited about that we finally want to say thank you for your generosity you know we're following so many tragic things that are happening around our world and one of those tragic things uh of course is the was the earthquake in haiti and uh our hearts hurt with uh haiti and and we have been praying for haiti but um we we don't want to only pray we want to do and we want to do something that's going to meet the need there and because of the generosity of our church you guys we're able to send two large shipping containers over there with lots of necessities that people absolutely need to just survive we've got food going over there we've got tarps going over there we've got solar lanterns that are going over there we've got all these supplies because literally our brothers and sisters over there are in need and we need to help them and so if you're in the room and you say man i want to be a part of that too uh you can you can go to our website and click on the the give tab and just scroll down and and and go to the relief and restoration fund and give to that if you're a part of our church and you've got the push bay app you can give on that as well and again go to the relief and restoration section and we will make sure that your generosity goes with the need that so many of our brothers and sisters have desperately right now in haiti we also finally want to introduce our guest speaker this is someone that is so near and dear to our heart here at calvary he has been a mentor to our lead pastor doug he's been a mentor to me and so many leaders around the world he's got a global ministry and he serves so well he is an amazing communicator of the scriptures and to top it off he's got an incredible cool accent and so will you warmly welcome with me pastor alan platt [Applause] well hello to you calvary chapel it is a joy a real delight every time i have the privilege of being with you and uh always so grateful for this church fulfilling its calling you are a blessing not just to the people who come here you're a blessing to this whole community in so many ways and not only this community but also across the world you know we head up a ministry called city changes where we invest in leaders all across the world and calvary chapel is one of our partners and every time we go anywhere in the world you're going with us and so thank you thank you for your commitment and your engagement in the kingdom of god i um i recognize that you know as we uh just before i share the word with you uh we're so aware of so much crisis so much challenge all across the world you've just heard haiti being referenced we're aware of afghanistan lebanon and even in our own community you know if we think about the covert numbers that are rising and we don't want it to be that way there's a moment that we want to create where we're going to pray together and i want to invite you would you be so kind as to stand with me as we come before the throne of god and just for a moment just bring just the people um so many of god's people in these environments before god we have the privilege of enjoying just a regular normal experience here and so many other people are in crisis or in moments of extreme trauma could we just bring them before god in this moment let's pray together father our hearts are burdened in this moment for so many of your people and so many people in the world that right now are experiencing all kinds of challenge crisis trauma and so we bring nations before you today lord we bring haiti before you we pray for the people in that land as as it is devastated right now and they're trying to make sense we can't even imagine what what people are going through we bring afghanistan before you lord we we pray that in the midst of the chaos and the uncertainty and and all the things that are transpiring that the grace of god would would be evident in those circumstances we pray lord for lebanon we pray for every nation that is ravished by confusion and chaos in this moment lord we we bring this world before you and we pray the grace of god to be manifest we pray even for every individual that is here this morning or online and and being part of this moment in the spirit we we pray lord that where there is confusion and disappointment and and challenges we we speak life we speak life over every family that's battling with covert and and we ask lord that your grace would intervene that we would become aware that you are working in our circumstance so lord we we bring our hearts before you as we intercede and we thank you that we can ask and pray all of this in the name of our lord jesus christ and all god's people say amen amen god bless you please be seated i have the privilege of uh leading our study in mark chapter 14 from verse 43 to verse 72 today this is the story where jesus is captured and now led away to be crucified but in this story in this portion of scripture we see it's the story of two of the disciples having very distinct moments of failure actually not just these two disciples we we recognize all the disciples were included in this reference because verse 50 says then they all forsook him and fled and in essence it's it's all of them experiencing something of a moment of failure the theme of this passage really is failure it's the way the disciples were looking at jesus they didn't know what was going on they don't they didn't understand they were thinking that he would be this miracle worker and and manifest himself as establishing the kingdom of israel and now suddenly he's been captured and he's led away and and they feel he's failed them at the same time jesus knows the disciples have failed him and so as i was reflecting on this portion of scripture recognizing that it's it's really talking about failure i couldn't help but think why when they thought of allocating this portion of scripture to someone past the doug had me in mind anyway we see these two disciples very distinctly the stories about them the first one is judas who betrays jesus and the second one is peter who denies jesus and we see that both of them experience this deep moment of failure and of disappointment in their own choices and lives and we see how this moment of failure actually goes on to define the rest of their lives for the one it ends in disaster for the other there is restoration and it becomes a building block for his future and so let's look at these two disciples as it is reflected in this portion of scripture and we start reading at verse 43 and immediately while he was still speaking judas one of the twelve with a great multitude with swords and clubs came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders now his betrayer had given them a signal this is judas saying whomever i kiss he is the one sees him and lead him away safely it's just unimaginable isn't it that that somebody that had journeyed with jesus that had been a disciple would even consider betraying jesus you know if i i'm trying to put myself in into the mind frame of jesus what was he and somehow i think you know up to that moment judas had only seen jesus as the miracle worker how how jesus was was able in every moment of challenge to do something spectacular and and i think in judas's mind he was thinking these people will never be able to hold on to jesus he's the miracle worker he's going to do something amazing and in that moment we see that jesus does not miraculously escape and so verse 45 says as soon as he had come immediately he went up to jesus and he said to him rabbi rabbi and he kissed him [Music] and then they laid their hands on him and took him now it's in this moment that judas becomes aware that they're actually going to crucify jesus and he recognizes this this moment of deep regret and failure in his own life but he doesn't know how to handle this he doesn't know how to process this this crisis moment in his life and we see how it ultimately leads to him choosing to take his own life it becomes a tragedy you know it's true that in in many cases in many people's lives when there is a moment of deep failure of deep disappointment that disappointment so affects people's lives that the trajectory of their life the rest of their life is deeply negatively affected by that moment this however is different in peter's life where peter denies jesus and we catch up with peter from verse 66 now as peter was below in the courtyard one of the servant girls of the high priest came and when she saw peter warming himself she looked at him and said you also were with jesus of nazareth but he denied it saying i neither know nor understand what you are saying and he went out on the porch and a rooster crowed and the servant girl saw him again and began to say to those who stood by this is one of them but he denied it again a little later those who stood by said to peter again surely you are one of them for you are a galilean and your speech shows it they're saying to peter hey we know that you are part of this crowd because we can hear it in your accent man an accent i i tell you what i am trying to become american i'm giving it my best shot i remember years ago when i first came to the us many years ago i i wound up in new york and i remember i had to go to a store because i wanted to buy batteries so i walked into the store and i couldn't find it so i i went to the lady that was helping that i said excuse me do you stock batteries she looked at me and she said what i said um i i i'm looking for batteries and she couldn't figure out what i was looking for so she calls one of her friends that's working at the store and says can you figure out what this guy wants and i'm like this shouldn't be so difficult i i said ma'am i'm i'm looking for batteries ah the lady says batteries that's what i said [Laughter] it's amazing accents right and um you know there's a story about accents in the bible that's very very significant it's found in judges chapter 12. uh it's about the ephraimites the tribe of ephraim they decide they're going to fight against the people of gilead and uh so they go over to attack them but then they're beaten and they have to retreat and as they retreat the people of gilead are now waiting for them as they cross the river jordan and then as they cross this river jordan they stop each one and say say this word shibboleth but the people of ephraim they had an accent they would say sibylet and because they couldn't pronounce shiboleth the bible says 42 000 ephromites died so here's the principle fix your accent [Laughter] all right back to peter right peter is now in trouble he he realizes you know these guys have caught him out because of his accent and now we read on verse 71 he then began to curse and swear so accent wasn't his only problem he says i do not know this man of whom you speak the second a second time the rooster crowed and then peter called to mind the word that jesus had spoken to him before the rooster crows twice you will deny me three times and he went and he thought about it and he wept you see as peter was reflecting on his moment of failure there came this sense of of brokenness of of recognizing that he had he had made such a mistake but it's in that attitude of recognition that we see when jesus is raised from the dead jesus meets peter on the beach and he engages with him in a dialogue and it's so fascinating because three times jesus allows peter to confess that he really loves him and jesus leads him and says do you love me peter and every time peter confesses his love for christ it's as if it's addressing this moment of disaster this moment of denial this moment of walking away and jesus leads him into restoration you see god wants us to experience no matter how deep our failure is to come to a place of restoration that which judas didn't experience did how differently these two men responded to failure judas fails backwards it devastates his life but peter fails forward it becomes a building block to his future so in essence if i had to give a title to this uh communication today i want to talk to you about failing forward the reality is we're all going to fail the bible is full of references of people initially failing being redeemed restored and repositioned in god's purpose and god's plan but what sets people apart is how they perceive and see the possibilities within that moment of failure i want you to look at two english words the words reactive and creative you know these two words are spelt with exactly the same letters the reality is the same energy is in both of these concepts the one moves in a negative direction and the other one in a positive direction and so how do you move from being reactive to becoming creative well here's the thing you move the sea it's how you see see [Laughter] it's how you look at it it's how you perceive it's what you anticipate in the midst of your crisis and so the big question is when when you experience failure when you are disappointed in yourself when you make mistakes when when you've really messed it up the question is are you going to fail backwards or are you going to fail forwards you have to learn that god desires you to fail forward and that you recognize that in that moment it's god's desire that you will triumph over evil because god is with you and and greater is he that is in you than that which is in the world scripture is full of references where we recognize incredible people that have become references of life to us who had deep failures david just this amazing individual who's king and and and has this the sense of of appreciation for god's presence and we see how deeply he fails with adultery and murder and how god restores moses who in a moment of anger murders an egyptian and how god restores him and says you are the one that will lead my people from egypt abraham becomes impatient and sire's ishmael and and god says but i'm still going to bless you you're going to become the father of the son of promise and how how in every moment there is this repositioning i like the story about elijah elijah is this incredible prophet of god that that calls down fire from heaven and and and addresses the ball priesthood and he's not afraid he stands up against them but then he gets message that one woman said she's gonna take his life and he goes into an emotional crisis he has a whole breakdown go figure i love this the way that james in in the amplified version is related when it speaks about elijah in verse 5 or 17 the amplified translation says elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have with feelings affections and a constitution like ours but he prayed earnestly for it not to rain and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months this incredible nana god but he was a human like us had the same feelings a constitution like us you see the key is to recognize that we are on this journey with god and and that in our moments of failure god is there with us and he wants to redeem it he wants to lead us to recognize that we're not going to give up we we choose not to give up regardless of our failures i love the stories of of men and women of greatness that uh we just read their story and recognize all the challenges they had to navigate and they never gave up i want to reflect on one such a story um and it's somebody that that all of you will know of but it's someone that lived in the 1800s in 1832 he lost his job and so he decided to go into politics and he was defeated in that same year uh for state legislature and then he went back into business and went bankrupt and a year later failed in business in in 33. then he went back to politics and he was elected to state legislature in in 34 and um but then he had a crisis a personal crisis his wife his sweetheart of so many years died in 35. and so as a result of that and all the pressures of life he has a nervous breakdown in 36. he he tries to position himself in the political arena but he's defeated for speaker in 38. he's defeated for the nomination of congress in 43 then he's elected to congress in 46 but he can't hold on to it because he doesn't get a re-nomination in 48. he's defeated for u.s senate in 54 again defeated for u.s senate in 58 and then in 1960 abraham lincoln is appointed the president of the united states and he changes history isn't that amazing i mean when we think about abraham lincoln we just think about this incredible human being this incredible person that was able to navigate so many challenges of his time and set this nation up in its uh trajectory of victory but we do not realize there were so many moments in his life where he could have given up i i often am amazed when i just listened to contemporary leaders and people of influence and achievers and just listen to their story and how all of them always have the story about challenge and rejection and not being able to make it i mean you just think the list is really endless but walt disney michael jordan steven spielberg colonel sanders oh thank god colonel sanders didn't give up [Laughter] i mean this list you know what's interesting babe ruth legend he struck out 1332 times but we remember him for the fact that he also hit 714 home runs and we celebrate the home runs not the failures come on give it up for babe [Applause] if we can understand that the journey of life is about us failing and getting up failing and getting up and becoming stronger and and continuing you know this is how you start life you might not remember it but but when you started out to try to walk do you know how many times you fell down when you first tried to swim you nearly drowned your first time on a bicycle your first time trying to drive a car what does that mean the whole cycle of life is you engage you struggle you but you start to win and overcome you see when we talk about failing forward we're not talking about a license for you to keep on failing at the same things listen there is no education in the second kick of a mule if that that bad boy gave you a kick don't go and stand behind it again it's just a principle that's good to know life is tough but we put it into perspective and we recognize that we learn from it you know in order to fail forward the three basic things that i'd like to share with you that i think could be helpful for you to understand to fail forward number one is don't ever see failure as final it's not over no matter what the failure is it's not over don't see it as final don't go and build a monument to the failure see it as a moment see it for what it is because if you build a monument it will govern your life the second thing about failing is is don't allow failure to determine how you will respond that failure does not dictate the way you will engage you see here's a the principle if if somebody comes up to you and spits on you and you fly off the handle and you just want to you know address that person and people pull you away and say what are you doing you say well that person made me angry listen that person never made you angry that person made you wet you chose to become angry let me tell you this is such an important principle to understand it's about the locus of control the moment you say that person made me you're saying they control they determine they dictate how i live my life listen being a christ follower the bible says the holy spirit is now in your life and the fruit of the spirit can now govern your life and you can now choose how you will respond it's the power of being a christ follower thirdly and this is extremely important don't see failure as defining you as a failure the fact that you have failed does not mean that is your identity your identity is not failure yes you have failed you have messed up but that's not defining who you is you see the problem with failure is it becomes an identity issue and it's within this context that we as christ followers can start to recognize that something has happened in our lives that repositions our identity i i so appreciate this this section in the middle of these two failures in in the portion of scripture that we've read jesus is now on trial and the high priest is challenging him and here in verse 61 and 62 the bible says and again the high priest asked him are you the messiah the son of the blessed one and jesus stands there and says i am [Laughter] i am it's as if jesus you know just settles his identity listen to me if you are in the throes of having to navigate disappointment and failure in your own life don't allow that to define who you are you are defined by jesus christ because you are now in christ and listen if i am says i am then i am that's who you are why is it so important because identity precedes activity the way you perceive yourself determines how you live and so it's crucial for us to discover this glorious reference of being in christ so in preparation of this i just was reflecting on the in christ concepts it's probably the most important concept you can ever discover as a christ follower the in christ what does it mean to be in christ and so in ephesians 1 paul writes this incredible chapter it's actually one long sentence but verse 4 verse the reference is in him with him together with him in christ it's over and over in every verse a reference to who we are in christ now this is so important because remember we were in adam adam brought us into a lower level of life that was our identity we we struggled with a reference of who we really are but christ came to redeem us and reposition us now just listen to this list as i've quickly just um drafted it out of ephesians chapter one the difference of the old man in adam and the new man in christ um the bible speaks about the fact that we are blessed now if you're blessed you're not cursed and this is what the bible says you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in christ you are chosen not disqualified you are chosen in him you are adopted no longer are you lost you are adopted in jesus christ you are accepted in the beloved god smile is upon your life you are no longer unloved you are party to a revelation to insight to understanding no longer living blind and in darkness you now have purpose in your life you are no longer aimless you now share in glory and you are no longer worthless you now can trust because you no longer are doubtful you have an inheritance you are no longer someone that lives as hopeless as you were in adam you are in christ [Applause] peter recognized this when you go read one peter you will see how he reflects to the church this understanding of the fact that there was a moment in my life where i was not able to function because i had denied him but he redeemed me repositioned me and i'm now living in a new life i've told this story before and maybe you could have even heard me share this story but i think it's so appropriate to end with this story it's a true story about an eagle that was in a zoo for 12 years in a cage in pretoria south africa and then the authorities decided they're going to set this eagle free and so they had this whole project where they were going to cart this eagle all the way to the region which would be the natural habitat for these eagles and so as they arrived there with this massive cage um some of our friends were there and and they related the story to me they said you know um it was so amazing because everybody was in anticipation that they were gonna open up this cage and the eagle was gonna fly out free and so they had this countdown and and then they opened up the gate and the eagles sat that eagle was going nowhere you see because for for 12 years the cage had become the defining reference for that eagle and so they knew they had to get the eagle out of the cage and so they went in they started chasing the eagles shooing it out and they said it was funny because the eagle kind of hopped down on the ground and then hopped hopped hopped out of the cage and about a few yards the eagle sat now the eagle was out of the cage the problem however was that the cage was still in the mind of the eagle how easy that happens that your circumstances your reference your failure can become the defining reference of your life and so they recognize they need to get this eagle to fly because if it doesn't fly it's going to die and so they they said it was it was funny because people started shouting at the bird some were whistling at the bird he said one guy even went to explain to the bird why it's important to fly another guy ran in front of the bird showing the bird you know it's possible to fly no avail there the bird just set and so they were running out of ideas and options and they say the most amazing thing happened the next moment they say one of the three eagles of the region started circling above them they say and then that free eagle gave a cry and when that eagle gave the cry it was as if there was an immediate connection immediate resonance with this eagle on the ground because this eagle looked up and in that cry recognized something of its creative purpose they say they don't know how to explain it but the next moment this eagle recognized it was not made for a cage it was made to fly because it started running flapping its wings and it flew up into freedom when i heard that story i said lord that's what what happens is to us when we hear god's word when we hear god's opinion when we hear what god says over our lives in the midst of crisis in the midst of failure god wants to speak and speak to you and redeem you and restore you and reposition you and bring you into a spacious place and so today as we end the service i want to pray for people that are battling failure and you need to fail forward you need you need to move on you need to experience the grace of god in spite of your experience in spite of your disappointment you need to move on but you need to choose you need to move the sea you need to reposition and choose to fail forward otherwise you're going to fail backward and it's it's a vortex it's going to suck you into a devastation a trajectory that ultimately just consumes your life and so if you are here or online and you're listening to this word and you say yes you're speaking to me i need to find release in my life i i want to give it to god today i want to include you in this prayer that i'm going to pray right now and if you want to be included we just raise your hand and say lord here i am here i am i choose life today i choose release today so let's pray together father we thank you we are so privileged that we can have a moment to recognize that you are in the business of redemption of restoration of repositioning and i thank you for everybody that's reaching out right now lord thank you that that they will be partakers of of release of deliverance of of a sense of repositioning in their lives that they would embrace life we thank you and we glorify you in the midst of this knowing lord that you are leading them to a great and wonderful testimony of grace we thank you in jesus name and god's people say amen amen amen amen hallelujah [Applause] well before we end the service you might have come to this service and and and been sitting listening to this word experiencing the worship just experiencing god and and recognizing that you're far from god and that you need jesus christ in your life and that you don't want to leave this place before you've committed your life to jesus christ and i now want to invite you if if you want to do that would you stand up and come forward and come stand in front here because we're going to trust god for transformation in people's lives god bless you god bless bless you hallelujah [Music] this is a moment [Music] god bless [Music] thank you jesus thank you jesus [Music] [Music] hallelujah hallelujah praise the lord welcome welcome thank you [Applause] the bible teaches us that if we confess jesus with our mouth and believe in our heart that he is lord we will be saved and today is this great moment in your life where there's a repositioning where god's gonna change the trajectory of your life because you publicly want to declare that jesus is lord of your life and so i'm going to invite you to pray with me would you repeat this prayer lord jesus i declare that you are lord thank you for changing my life thank you for taking away my sin thank you for making me new i receive your life thank you that you take away my guilt you take away my shame and i believe that i'm a new creation in christ i receive you lord jesus i pray this in your name amen and amen and hold on guys this is this is the biggest decision you can ever make in your life this is this is a turning point and um we're so thrilled that you have made this decision but we we we recognize this is such a big decision such a incredible moment in your life and and i just want to share a few thoughts with you as you now step into a new journey and so to do that i'm inviting you would you just go with me to a room over there that gentleman over there is going to lead you i'm going to meet you there in a minute and we're just going to share with you on how you can really journey with jesus and become what god intended you to be so grace to you let's give them a hand as they go in that direction thank you god bless you [Music] stand to our feet we'll sing these alerts even when i don't see it you're working [Music] never [Music] [Music] never [Music] you'll never stop stop working you never is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is who you are [Music] thank you jesus that is who he is we love you church if you're joining us online we'll see you next week thanks for being here and to those of us in the room hey if you need prayer thank you so much for joining us on calvary chapel online i know not hope but i know the holy spirit spoke to each and every one of you and have some nugget for you to take throughout the week if you haven't already please go ahead and share your takeaways in the chat and then join us on wednesday as we dig deeper grab your family members your small group i'm gonna grab my daughter and we're gonna dig deeper into mark on wednesday night at 6 30. so join us then otherwise have a great week [Music] oh [Music] bye [Music] me [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] tell [Music] me me [Music] me [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale

Views: 886

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: b8-4QdTXRrk

Length: 82min 26sec (4946 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 22 2021