How to Fail without Falling

1. Fail like someone who cannot fall. 

You're going to have to fail a lot to get where God wants you to be.  

It's like missing a shot in basketball.  

Missing a lot of shots means that you're taking a lot of shots. 

If you're not missing shots, you're only shooting layups

Jeremiah 8:4 (NIV)

4 “Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘When people fall down, do they not get up?
    When someone turns away, do they not return?

Failure is no big deal.  If you have that fear, get that fear off of you!  

Psalm 37:23-24 (NIV)

23 The Lord makes firm the steps
    of the one who delights in him;
24 though he may stumble, he will not fall,

    for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

If you fail, your Father, God, is there to catch you.  

Please do not fear failure!   

Our Father, God, is committed to catching you.  

Taking Godly risks becomes a thrill because we know that God is near. 

2. Fuel up twice what you think that you'll need.  

When a car runs out of fuel,  it stops.  

When a human runs out of fuel, they crash.

  

Elijah had defeated the prophets of Baal, but then he faced Jezebel.  His fuel was low, so he crashed. 

1 Kings 19:5-7 (NIV)

5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 

6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”

A lie of the devil is to fuel yourself up is selfish.  

It's good stewardship!   

Here are some areas to fuel. 

   

The Spiritual - 

I need 10 chapters of the Bible a day.  

What do you need?  

The answer is between you and God.  

Fuel up whatever you need.  

Physical- 

I need to be in the gym 4 to 5 times a week.  

What do you need?

Emotional-  

God told me to spend a evening of time with my daughter.  

I told God that I didn't have enough time.

He told me to do it anyway.  

That night my daughter told me 

"Daddy the best part of being me is you."

That one statement recharged my emotional tank.  

   

When God tells you to do something, it's less about getting it done for Him. 

It's more about how it's going to fill you up!  

Refuse to allow a lack of fuel to keep you from doing God's will. 

3. Forget all of your fake names.  

The devil is a liar, and there is no truth in Him.  

When the devil calls you a failure, a loser, a liar, or alone, He's the one that lying! 

Get that fake I.D. out of your wallet!

That's the best thing you can do in this New Year. 

When you let someone call you by a fake name, you'll always live up to it.   

Jacob means heel grabber, but Jakob means liar and deceiver. 

Genesis 32:24-28  (NIV)

24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.

25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 

26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

Half my time as a pastor is getting rid of fake names.  

When we got saved, not only did we get saved, but we got a new name. 

Genesis 35:18 New International Version (NIV)

18 As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.

Rachel put a curse on her own baby at her death by naming him son of my sorrow.  

His father, Israel, replaced his name with a blessing by changing it to son of my right hand.

4. Fight more aggressively than ever.  

The devil is coming at you aggressively.  

We can't defeat him passively.  

We need to hate him.  

Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).  

We are to hate him not people.   

Proverbs 8:13  (NIV)

13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil;
    I hate pride and arrogance,
    evil behavior and perverse speech.

Romans 12:9 (NIV)

 ... Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

If we don't hate our enemy Satan, we will be tempted to tolerate Him.  

If we tolerate him, he causes havoc in our lives. 

What does fighting aggressively look like? 

  

A. We need to walk in authority.   

It is a state of control over someone or something.   

Luke 10:19 (NIV)

19 I (Jesus) have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.  

The activity of the devil is a move that God's called you and I to stand up and stop. 

2. Walk with some swagger.  

Pride is being impressed with your own power. 

Swagger is walking with God who is the source of all power.  

Didn't David do that with Goliath? (1 Samuel 17:45)

Romans 8:11  (NIV)

11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you.

1 John 4:4 New International Version (NIV)

4 ... the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 

   

The devil is deathly scared of you walking in who you are in Christ.  

I would never ever vote against you and God.

You and God were made to win. 

If you don't know Jesus, you can.   

You can go to heaven if you'd like.  

Revelation 3:20  (NIV)

20 Here I am! I (Jesus) stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Lord Jesus, come into my life. Forgive my past.  Take my future.  Be my Lord and Savior.  Amen! 

Preston Morrison, Gateway Church

http://gatewaypeople.com/ministries/life/events/session/2018/12/29/getting-there-isnt-guaranteed