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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Peter Chung

Lessons on Failure

Holy Father, our Father God in heaven, Father we thank you that you know the recesses of our heart, the motives and intentions, and you see everything bare and transparent of the conditions of my heart.

And Father you know how broken I am, You know the struggles that I have.

And so, Father, in spite of this broken vessel, may I be a blessing, not a curse to your people.

I ask that you use me as a wounded healer today in a mighty way to fill me with your Holy Spirit, that the people of God here be blessed.

And there's an individual here under the sound of my voice that is struggling here today, that has feelings of inadequacy.

May this message encourage them and fill their hearts.

We ask that you do something special here today.

And so the closest thing to siblings I have are cousins.

And there is 1 cousin that I'm particularly close to.

Looks like I think we have a similar chin.

And he has always been like an older brother to me.

He's also was the, you know, for Asian people, academics is our professional sports, right?

And he was that 1 member of the family that was perfect at everything, was the top of his class.

And In our culture, there's that inbred competition, like, why don't you be like Kyung-won?

Your auntie gave a letter, and he's like the top of his class, and he has all these awards, and all you do is watch cartoons.

And so he was like the standard bearer that I should emulate to, because he was number 1 in everything.

His father was a doctor, a Chinese medicine doctor in a small town in the southern provinces of South Korea.

He's a very nice man and every time we visited there when I was young he would tour us around throughout his busy schedule and 1 day I just remember clear as day my mom was weeping.

She's more of a smile person, not a weeping person.

And we found out that my uncle, Kyung-won's dad, passed away suddenly.

And so my aunt, as a single mother, raising my other cousin, the older sister, and Kyung Won, was struggling, and Kyung Won was the hope of the family for financial security.

And his dream was to be, like his dad, a Chinese herbal medicine doctor.

And so he took a test, that national test, and we expected all of them to pass no problem.

And I remember he wrote a letter to me about how much the whole family was weeping and devastated because he was the entire hope for that family.

You know, The real world is very unforgiving with failure.

But how does God desire for us to deal with failure?

Notice what the Bible says in Proverbs 24, verse 16.

For a just man falleth 7 times and rises up again, but the wicked shall fall unto mischief.

So God says that a just man may fall 7 times, will rise up again.

God desires us to rise up when we commit a bad choice or even sin because when we fall we can recognize our need for God and the Bible says humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.

You know, we live in a time and as conservative Adventists, and rightly so, we look at the judgment, we look at the investigative judgment, we look at a time when there's not going to be a mediator because probation closes and that every sin must be victorious.

And we lock onto this and then in the here and now, we may have sinned and we may be discouraged and then we give up.

But the judgment falls 7 times and rises up again.

So Why does God permit us to go through failure and trials?

Notice the Bible says in Romans chapter 5, verse 3 through 5, the Bible says this, not only so, but we glory in tribulations, also knowing that tribulation worketh, what?

And patience, experience, and experience, hope.

Here are the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commands of God and the faith of Jesus.

So if you failed in something at school, if you failed at something at your job, if you failed in a performance level situation, have hope, because it develops patience.

And if you want to be ready for Jesus to come, the essential quality you need is patience.

Because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4 through 7, love beareth all things, hopeth all things, and endureth all things.

And so when we say we want to be ready for Jesus to come, God prepares you each and every day.

Through the trials, through the setbacks, through the disappointments.

And so don't lose hope when things don't go your way.

And the Bible says, and the hope make it not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us.

Now the question is, in giving us the Holy Spirit, what does the Holy Spirit give us?

Notice the Bible says in Galatians 5.22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.

I am convinced that how we respond to our failures is a barometer of how much we're ready for Christ to come.

And God, our God, is very forgiving when we make a mistake.

Now, in the Bible, there's someone that failed miserably that I share the same name with.

Notice the Bible says in Matthew chapter 26, verse 75, Here is the Apostle Peter.

Here is Peter that said when Jesus told the disciples that he was going to have his crisis hour at Calvary, that he will die humiliated by the Roman Empire through code.

Here he was telling him that he will suffer when he comes to Jerusalem, that Peter said, I will ride and die with you Jesus.

Notice the Bible says in Matthew 26 verse 75, the Bible says this, and Peter, remember the word of Jesus, which said unto him before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

When that crisis came, he failed 3 times, denied 3 times.

The same Peter that said, I'm ready for you, Jesus.

And so, You know there are people out there, I saw on YouTube maybe, and I hear in certain sermons, well I'm ready for the Sunday Law.

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Lessons on Failure

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