There are many and varied ways to fail in the Christian life. What will failure look like and what happens when we fail?

<p>There are many and varied ways to fail in the Christian life. What will failure look like and what happens when we fail?</p>

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Pikeville SDA Church

Delighting in the Almighty

Michael Dant

1. The Great Cosmic Equation

2. How Can I Enjoy God?

3. Enjoying God to the Fullest

4. The Root of the Problem

5. Drowning in the Will of the Almighty

6. My Story

7. How to Die and Do It Right

8. Black, White, Gray and Vinegar

14. What Happens When I Fail?

11. Self After Surrender

9.The Joy of Dying

12. How Does a Christian Sin?

13. How Am I (really) Doing Spiritually?

10. Staying Dead

And on February 15, 1992, Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to 15 life sentences for killing 17 people.

And he didn't just kill them, He did unspeakable things to them.

Jeffrey Dahmer is a failure by any standard.

The lowest of the low, demon possessed, sin hardened, devoid of any kind of love.

And my friends, he is exactly what you and I would be without the Holy Spirit.

You and I would be as much or worse of failures as Jeffrey Dahmer if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit, working on our lives.

Every good and perfect gift, the Bible says, is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Did you realize that by nature you are failures?

There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Paul tells us.

All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold and bonded to sin.

The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so." My friends, the Bible teaches clearly that by nature you and I are sinners, failures, by nature.

And If it were not for the Holy Spirit, we would be Jeffrey Dahmers or worse.

The good news is that recognizing that we are failures is very liberating because God knows that we are failures and he loves us anyway.

God knows that we are failures even better than we do and he loves us anyway.

God knows that we are failures and in his perfect wisdom he knows how to overcome our failures.

The Bible says God has shut up all in disobedience, so that he may show mercy to all.

God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God knows we're failures and he died for us anyway.

And most Christians believe that God holds the universe in his hands.

But sometimes it is harder to believe that that same God loves us, loves me, even me.

That God would even deign to lift a finger to help me.

Too insignificant, too sinful, too hopeless for God to care about.

You know, the devil doesn't care how much we believe in God and how much we believe in his power, as long as we don't believe that he wants to use that power for us, that he loves us and is willing to help us.

As long as we don't have faith in God's desire, his longing to bless us, the devil doesn't care how much we believe in God or how much faith we have in him.

When we are converted, God does not remove our old nature immediately.

We have a long ways to go, a long climb ahead of us.

But Peter tells us that God can make us a partaker of the divine nature.

We can become partakers of the divine nature.

In other words, God is going to take away a little bit of our nature and give us a little bit of his nature, and he's going to keep doing that until we have divine natures and not sinful ones.

So, during that process we're going to fall.

What happens to God when I fail and what happens to me when I fail?

We have to understand what happens to God when I fail and what happens to me when I fail?

To help us understand this, let's look at 3 possible scenarios that encompass all failures in this world.

Every failure in any 1 of us will fall into 1 of these 3 categories.

We sin because we're unsurrendered to God.

The second 1 is we're surrendered to God, but we commit an unintentional sin.

And the third 1 is we're surrendered to God and we commit an intentional sin.

Every failure known to man falls into 1 of those 3 categories.

So let's look at those 3 categories very quickly.

You know, the unsurrendered person should not be surprised when they fail, when they sin.

Without the power of the Holy Spirit, how can we possibly have victory over sin?

The Bible says, submit to God, resist the devil, and the devil will flee from you.

But without the submission, do they really expect the devil to flee from them?

Well, I did most of my life, didn't work.

But yeah, they shouldn't be surprised that they're gonna fail it.

When I was in Jerusalem a few years back, they were putting in a new tram system right there by the old city.

There was no gasoline engines or that kind of thing.

But where did that tram get its power from?

If it didn't have an engine of its own, where did it get the power?

It was kind of hilly there around Jerusalem.

It's a very slender arm that it reaches up and it connects with the power lines, right?

Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.

For apart from me, you can do nothing." My friends, when we are disconnected, even by the smallest gap from that power line above us, we're going to be powerless.

We're going to be powerless, and we should expect that.

Unless we are totally surrendered to Jesus and connected fully with him, we're not gonna have power.

We're gonna fail, that should be no surprise.

We're surrendered, truly surrendered to Jesus, wholly surrendered to him, but we commit an unintentional sin.

In other words, we make a mistake, or we have a shortcoming, or a character flaw.

Unintentional failure, my friends, is common, even among wholly surrendered Christians.

We saw that in the How Does a Christian Sin presentation.

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Series

Delighting in the Almighty

14. What Happens When I Fail?

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Attachments

Other Teachings in Series

1. The Great Cosmic Equation

37m

2. How Can I Enjoy God?

26m

3. Enjoying God to the Fullest

28m

4. The Root of the Problem

36m

5. Drowning in the Will of the Almighty

42m

6. My Story

39m

7. How to Die and Do It Right

31m

8. Black, White, Gray and Vinegar

31m

14. What Happens When I Fail?

31m

11. Self After Surrender

23m

9.The Joy of Dying

37m

12. How Does a Christian Sin?

41m

13. How Am I (really) Doing Spiritually?

29m

10. Staying Dead

28m

Sound Doctrine