The Storm Of Failure Series

Who is there among us who has not failed? I have failed. You have failed. We have all tasted the bitter dregs of failure. Every day you see people captured and crushed by some personal failure. There's the college student who was dreaming of becoming a medical doctor because he failed a course in comparative anatomy. Of course, he also failed to go to class, he failed to study, and he failed the course. That, of course, was the professor's fault, as he goes through life whining about what he didn't accomplish.

There are endless numbers of people who walked into a dark storm that never ended. There's the man or the woman captured in the storm of a broken home. The marriage that began with so much hope, with so much joy, with so much delight is now a dark fight. It's a war zone. Life has become an endless, bitter trail. Her husband is a heel and she has become the wicked witch of the west. There are thousands of Christians, who make a glorious start of the Christian life. You know they're going to get to Heaven if they don't run past it. But somewhere along the way, they got capsized by a wave, by a wind of adversity. Temptation took them over. Discouragement smashed them against the beach. They failed, and rather than get up, they gave up, and they quit trying.

Is this you? Are you sitting in some hog pen in the far country trying to be satisfied with the husk of a second-rate life? Stop it. In Jesus' name, get up. Get up and dust yourself off and go back to the Father's house! There is repentance and mercy. At your Father's house is a new beginning. "Though your sin be as scarlet: yet, they shall be white as snow". God the Father will wrap His arms around you. He will take the rags from you and give you a precious royal robe. He will give you a ring of authority and shoes of sonship, and say, "Welcome home". The storm will be over. But you have to go to the Father to get that done!

Hear this, the greatest tragedy in life is not to fall down, it's to stay down. It's to stay down. Proverbs 24:16 says, "The righteous man falls seven times: and yet, rises again". If you have fallen, get up, because Christ has conquered your storm. Start living again. Start loving again. Start believing again. Start achieving again. Listen to the voice of the Master. Your storm is over. Stop allowing your past to control your future. Don't be pushed by your problems, be led by your dreams. God is your Father. Nothing is impossible to you! Nothing is impossible to you! Nothing is impossible to you! When you believe that, you'll never be the same! Give the Lord praise for that!

Conquering the storm of failure is the key to your success. You must be prepared to fail before you will ever succeed. Here's the story of George Washington. It's a shame really, in America, that you can get a degree in history without taking American history. So, I tell this story because there's a generation that does not know American history. George Washington really didn't want to be President. But his gifts of leadership and his willingness to sacrifice to accomplish the American dream, birthed our nation.

Now let me take a little sidebar right here. America, right now, has a lot of people in the streets, who know absolutely nothing about our history. They do not appreciate America. They do not appreciate democracy. You are anarchists and hell raisers in the streets of America, who hate democracy, who hate freedom, and are trying to tear this country apart. Let me give you one encouraging word this morning, "Move"!

Yeah, I can get anointed on that pretty quick, so I better get back to George Washington. George Washington was fortunate to achieve failure, or he would have never been successful in winning the American Revolution. In 1754, as a young major in the Virginia Militia, Washington was ordered to lead 350 royal recruits through the wilderness to the French-occupied fort in Duquesne, which is present day Pittsburgh. Washington's Militia camped near a spot about 40 miles from where they were expected to arrive. And they built that fort and named it "Necessity". They advanced on the enemy until they found them. And 700 French soldiers with their Indian allies clashed with Washington and his men, dragging them all the way back to their fort, and then totally annihilating them.

In nine short hours, there were 30 dead men, 70 wounded, many deserted. The battle was over. Why? Because the French and the Indians fought a guerilla warfare. They got behind rocks and trees and fired over the walls of that pitiful little fort they built and wiped them out. George Washington learned a new method of warfare through failure. Completely defeated. He watched. He was forced to hand over his sword and signed a hastily drafted article of surrender by candlelight in a driving hailstorm.