God Has The Power...

This past week our children have learned about God’s mighty power and they heard 4 different stories from the Bible that showed them:
God has the power to provide, 
God has the power to comfort, 
God has the power to heal, 
God has the power to forgive,
God has the power to love.  

As I thought about those 5 things and those five stories, I wondered if there was one story in the Bible that would show us how God provides all these things, and this is what I found.  This is a story of Jesus having the power to provide comfort, healing, forgiveness and love all in one powerful setting and it is found in Luke 5:17-26.

The story begins by telling us that the power of God was with Jesus so all that happens here is because of God’s power.  In this one setting we see that God has the power to provide but it’s not just healing, if we look deeper we can see comfort, forgiveness and love.

The comfort Jesus provides is to the friends who have worked hard to bring this paralyzed man to Jesus.  They not only carried him from his home and fought the crowds to get to the house, but when they couldn’t get in, they climbed up on the roof and probably with their bare hands start pulling away the dirt, clay, stones and grass in order to make a whole large enough to lower their friend to Jesus.  They are so concerned about their friend and so worried that if they can’t get him to Jesus that he might never get better that they go to extraordinary lengths even in the face of opposition.

At least we have to assume there was opposition.  The owner of the home must have been beside himself when he saw dirt and debris coming down from the ceiling and when a whole opened up and the people felt dirt falling on their heads they must have started yelling at these men to stop digging, but they didn’t.  Their concern and love for their friend pushed them forward and they didn’t stop until the whole was opened large enough for them to lower their friend to Jesus.
Once the man was at Jesus feet, it says Jesus saw their faith.  Jesus saw the faith and love and concern of the friends who were now looking down at Jesus with hope in their eyes.  With the power of God, Jesus reaches out to heal the man and when he does he provides comfort to his friends.  Jesus shows us that God has the power to comfort.  And God still does.

God reaches out to comfort us in many ways.  Sometimes it is a spirit of peace that washes over us during difficult times.  Sometimes the comfort comes from the assurance of God’s word when we read that God will never leave us nor forsake us or when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death – God is still with us.  Most of the time, however, the comfort God gives to us comes from the people God places in our lives.  Before Jesus comforts these friends, they brought comfort to their friend.  What a comfort it must have been for the paralyzed man to know that he had such good friends who would help him.  What a comfort it must have been as they picked him up and ran with him to Jesus.  What a comfort it must have been when the way seemed blocked that they found a way to get him to Jesus.  They gave him comfort before Jesus comforted them, and that is often how God comforts us, through the people God has placed in our lives.

In times of need, concern or stress, friends comfort us through prayers, words of hope and encouragement, acts of kindness and sometimes just their presence.  When I was in High School, my grandparents were visiting and one evening my grandfather had a heart attack and the ambulance came and got him and then my parents took my grandmother to the hospital and my sister and I were left in a very quiet house.  I’m not sure how they ever found out, but it wasn’t very long before our youth leaders from the church were at our house and they stayed for hours just hanging out with us.  Their presence was the power of God to comfort.  The Bible says that we comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.  (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

God has the power to comfort us and when God does comfort us we then have the power to comfort others.  Now what comforts these friends is that through Jesus God has the power to heal.  Jesus tells the man to get up and walk and he takes up his mat and walks out of the home to the wonder and amazement of the people.  Through Jesus, we see that God has the power to heal and God healed many people in the Bible.  God healed people from leprosy, blindness, bleeding, fevers and paralysis but through Jesus God didn’t heal every one and the difficult truth we often have to come to terms with today is that while God has the power to heal, healing doesn’t come to everyone.

People still die and children still get sick and struggle with cancer.  Diabetes and strokes and diseases like malaria and ebola still claim people’s lives around the world and so while we do believe God has the power to heal, we know that God does not reach out to physically touch and heal every person, but we still need to ask God to reach out and touch and heal every person.  When we ask God to heal, we are acknowledging God has the power and God has the desire to bring wholeness and strength to our lives and our turning to God with faith and trust is always a good thing.  Asking God to heal honors God and we need to ask in faith and then be content with God’s will – no matter what that might be.

It is important for us to ask God to heal those who are sick and in need.  We need to keep praying for people to regain strength and experience the touch and power of God and every time we do pray for healing we are saying to the world that we believe God has the power to heal and God has the desire to heal.  I invite you this week to life up those who need to be healed and ask God to heal them.

What is important about this story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man is that before he healed him physically, Jesus healed him spiritually.  Jesus looked at the man and first said, Friend, you sins are forgiven.  Now this was pretty controversial because only God has the power to forgive and here was Jesus saying that he was forgiving someone their sins so in essence he was saying that he had the power of God or that he was God in the flesh.  While many people objected to Jesus saying this and thought he was a fool, the proof that he did have the power of God to forgive sin was that he then healed the man physically.  When this man gets up and walks it is not just proof that God has the power to heal but that God has the power to forgive and God still has the power to forgive and God is here today to forgive us.

You may not be here looking for forgiveness or think you need forgiveness, but God is here to forgive.  Think about this paralyzed man, he was not there seeking forgiveness – he wanted to walk.  His friends didn’t bring him to Jesus because he was a sinner, they brought him because they wanted their friend to be able to walk.  No one was thinking about sin and forgiveness, but Jesus was.  Jesus was always thinking about forgiveness because he knew that it was forgiveness that brings deeper and longer lasting healing and he knew that it was forgiveness that restores relationships and forgiveness that sets us right with God.  What is needed in all our lives is the power of God to forgive.

We all need God’s forgiveness because we have all sinned against God and we have all fallen short of how God wants us to live.  We don’t think, say and do all those things that honor God and reflect the love and grace of Jesus Christ, and so we need God’s forgiveness, but we also need the grace of God to help us forgive one another.  Relationships are difficult and messy and we hurt and offend others often, at times without even knowing it, and so we need to always be willing to extend grace and mercy to one another.  We need to ask for forgiveness and then extend forgiveness to others.  We need to ask for grace and then offer grace to others and the more we can do that, the more we honor God and the more we find ourselves healthy and strong in spirit and mind and body.  Living in grace and at peace with others makes us physically strong and healthy and so forgiveness is important and we see from Jesus that God has the power to forgive.

Think again about this scene.  Jesus is standing there with a paralyzed man on a mat in front of him, commotion all around him and these men poking their heads through a whole in the roof above him and without being asked for anything Jesus extends forgiveness and then healing.  Why does Jesus do this?  Why does Jesus provide comfort, healing and forgiveness to those in need?  It’s not because he has the power to do it, it is because he has the desire to do it.  It is because he loves them and through Jesus God has the power to love us forever.

It is the love of God that moves Jesus to provide comfort for the friends and forgiveness and healing to the paralyzed man.  It is the love of God that moves Jesus to show the crowds the power of God so that they leave amazed and awed and saying to themselves, we have seen remarkable things today.  It is God’s love that provides all this and it is still the power of God’s love for us that provides us with all that we need.  

Whatever it is that we need today, God is here to provide.  If it is comfort, healing, forgiveness or just the reminder that we are loved, God is here to provide.  The one message we try to communicate to the children through VBS is that each and every one of them are loved by God.  The one message we try and communicate every week we come together is that each and every one of us is loved by God.  We may not feel loved, we may not feel worthy of being loved, we may have never experienced unconditional love, we may struggle with the entire concept of love but none of that can keep God from loving us.  And God does love us deeply and it is God’s love that restores hope, saves marriages, strengthens families, brings light to the darkness, direction to the lost and life to the dying.

God has the power to love us forever and we know this because God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  When the paralyzed man walked away, he walked into the power of a new life and eternal life.  That kind of life is available for us today because God has the power to provide.
Next Steps
God Has The Power To…

1.  In one story we see that God has the power to comfort, heal, forgive and love.  Read this story in Luke 5:17-26

2. What other Bible stories can you name that show God’s power to
• Provide
• Comfort
• Heal
• Forgive
• Love

3.  Where and when have you experienced God’s comfort?  How did God comfort you?  Who in your life today needs to be comforted?  How can you comfort them with the comfort you have received from God.  (see 2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

4. How do you need the power of God to heal you?  Ask God for that healing touch today.  Who else do you know that needs God’s power to heal?  Pray for them this week.
When we ask God to heal, we are saying that God has the ____________ to heal and the ___________ to heal.

5. God forgives all.  Share with God all the things for which you need to be forgiven and then read Psalm 103:8-14.
The forgiveness of God moves us to seek forgiveness from others.  To whom do you need to ask for forgiveness?  To whom do you need to offer forgiveness?

6. God’s love is strong, personal and eternal.  Recite John 3:16 each day this week.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The Life of Moses ~ Overcoming Our World

As we stand here today at the base camp of Mt. Everest, I want us to think about another group of people who gathered at their own base camp about 3,000 miles away in a very different part of the world.  Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt, across the Red Sea and to the base of Mt. Sinai which is in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.

Mt. Sinai

In many ways, Mt. Sinai was to be the high moment of the trip for Moses and the people – no pun intended.  When God called Moses at the burning bush to lead God’s people out of slavery in Egypt he told him that He would bring the people back to that mountain where they could worship Him, and it is believed that Mt Sinai, also known as Mt Horeb, was that location.  So three months after the people had fled Egypt and escaped through the Red Sea by the hand and power of God, they came to the base of Mt. Sinai and this is where we pick up the story of Moses.  Exodus 19:3-8.

It is in this exchange between God, Moses and the people that we find the key to overcoming this world – it is being faithful to the word of God.  It was God who helped the people overcome the power of Egypt, it was God who brought them to victory and God is saying here that he will continue to bless them and help them overcome the world if they will be faithful to living with and for Him.  But remember, the people gathered at the camp that day had spent their entire lives living as slaves in Egypt.  For generations they had been separated from God and the teaching of God and so they had no idea what it meant to live for God or be faithful to God.  All they knew was how the people of Egypt lived or how the people of other tribes and nations lived.  They had nothing to teach them what living for God or being faithful to God was going to look like, so God started a process of giving instructions to His people.

Over the course of the next few days, Moses prepared the people to receive God’s word and then Moses went up to the top of Mt. Sinai and wrote down God’s word and came back down the mountain with the 10 Commandments.  The 10 Commandments were just the beginning of God’s word (or the law) that was given to the people to help them understand what it looked like to live for God.  The 10 Commandments taught them that living for God meant worshipping God, honoring God and following God’s example in our lives through work and rest and by honoring our family and living in community in such a way that everyone was cared for and valued.  The 10 Commandments however, was just the beginning because God gave more instructions about what worship should look like, what relationships in marriage and in families should look like and how to live in community with one another.  Much of the rest of the book of Exodus and most of Leviticus lays out this word of God and the reason God shares all of this is because He wanted His people to look different than the rest of the world.  God wanted His people to be a kingdom of priests or a holy nation that would show the rest of the world what it looked like to live in relationship with God.

When he gave his word to the people, God also said that if they followed His word then they would not only be a reflection of God here, but that they would overcome the power of this world.  By following God’s word the people would continue to be victorious and not only experience God’s blessing but be a blessing to others. Jesus said the same thing.  In John 16:33 Jesus said, In the world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.  Now remember that Jesus was the word of God in the flesh.  Jesus fully lived out the word of God perfectly in this world and so in Jesus we see that it is the word of God that overcomes this world.

So it is our living out of God’s word that helps us overcome the evil and destructive powers that we see and experience in this world, but being faithful to the word of God doesn’t mean that we overcome that evil for all time.  Problems, trouble and evil will continue to be part of our world and unfortunately part of our lives until the very end of time, but we can find peace and power to overcome these problems by turning to God and following the word he has given us.  We have witnessed a great example of this just recently.

When a gunman walks into a church bible study and kills 9 people with the hopes of inciting more racial unrest and violence, we clearly see the power of evil at work in this world and that incident could have set off more violence and division and destruction, but it didn’t and the reason it didn’t was because those who lost loved ones overcame the temptation to turn to the violence of this world as a response and instead turned to and lived out the word of God.  By offering words of forgiveness to the shooter, the evil of Charleston and the potential for greater unrest and division was destroyed and in its place came peace and unity.  This world and the powers and forces of evil in this world were overcome by people embracing, trusting in and living out the word of God.  We overcome this world by following the word of God and examples of this can be found all around us.

Let’s just look at the 10 Commandments.  When we remember the Sabbath and take time to rest we not only find physical, emotional and spiritual health and strength, but we overcome the evil of this world.  Taking time to not work helps us overcome the messages of the world which tell us that we have to work 24/7 if we are going to  be successful in life or the false idea that somehow our lives are defined by what we do instead of who we are.  When we honor our parents and do not commit adultery we are strengthening the bonds of family and overcoming the forces of this world that are trying to tear about the relationships of family that are the most fundamental and formative in our lives.  When we respect our neighbors so that we aren’t lusting after all they have and lying about who they are and even taking what is theirs we are overcoming the forces of this world that tell us that life is all about us and we can have it all.

Whether it is in forgiving others, honoring God or our family or our neighbors, believing in and living out God’s word really does help us overcome the forces and power of evil that we see around us, but let me be clear and say that I am suggesting that we go back to trying to follow every one of the 600+ laws we find in the Old Testament.  While Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law, he came to remind us that it is the spirit and intent of the law that we need to embrace and that is what Jesus tried to show us through his life and teaching.  While the word of God in the OT is important for us learn from, what we need to follow is the teaching and example of Jesus because he was that word that helps us overcome this world.
Look at 1 John 5:1-5.  We overcome this world by loving God and obeying His commands or by following God’s word.  We overcome this world by believing in Jesus as the Christ and the only Son of God, but this faith in Jesus isn’t information that we agree to in our minds, it is a way of life we agree to live out in our lives.  Believing in Jesus means following him, living the way Jesus lived and embrace his lifestyle of sacrifice and service.

It is hard with all that we see going on in the world today and the depth and power of evil that we see to remember that the power of God really is greater the world and that the love of God really is stronger than the forces of evil.  It’s hard to see how faith in Jesus overcomes the world when Isis is beheading Christians or how love can overcome the deep divisions we see politically, economically, racially and spiritually in our own nation.  It is difficult to see how God’s way wins in the end, but it does - every time – and the symbol of this is the cross.

The cross of Jesus was to be the final blow and the end of the story for Jesus and the way of God.  Once Jesus was dead, that was going to be the ultimate victory of the world over God and when Jesus died, it looked as if the power of this world had overcome the goodness of God and if that was the end of the story, that would be true, but it was not the end of the story.  The resurrection of Jesus makes clear that all the power and forces of this world will be defeated and that they will be defeated by the love of God and the power of God’s word – which is Jesus.  The resurrection of Jesus who was the word of God in the flesh tells us that God’s word overcomes this world.

There is no power or force in this world that can stand against the power of God.  We heard this last week as we talked about overcoming our failures, but listen again to what Paul says about overcoming this world in Romans 8:37-39.  So we overcome all powers and forces of evil by the love of God that is seen in Jesus Christ – the word of God in the flesh.

If it is embracing and living out God’s word that helps us overcome the world, then it is important for us to read God’s word and to understand what it looks like to live out God’s word by looking at the life of Jesus.  Once we understand what it looks like to live out God’s word – we then need to do it.  Obedience to the word of God has always been part of our relationship with God and this obedience isn’t something we do once, it is a way of life.  To help us learn how to do this I have included 5 different sections of God’s word for us to read and think about living out in the days and weeks to come.

The first passage is from the life of Moses and it is The 10 Commandments which are timeless but I would encourage us to read on in Exodus and look at some of the other laws and learn from them how God still wants us to live today.  The second passage is The Wisdom of Solomon from the book of Proverbs which really can be used as rules for holy living.  The more we embrace and find ways to live out the instructions found in this book, the more we find power and strength to live faithfully today.  The third passage is the core of Jesus teaching in this world found in The Sermon on the Mount.  It wasn’t Mt. Everest or even Mt. Sinai, in fact it was just a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee but the teaching of Jesus on that mountain does show us what our lives are to look like today.

The fourth passage is from the book of Ephesians and talks about Rules for Relationships today and what they need to look like and then the final passage comes from John’s first letter and it is a reminder that Living in Love needs to be part of all that we do.  It also reminds us that the love of God in Jesus overcame sin and death in the resurrection and that it is the same love of God that helps us overcome the world.

Scripture references for all these teachings are included on the next steps and can be used over and over again as places to turn when we need to find power and strength in God’s word to help us overcome this world.



Next Steps
Overcoming the World

1. The high point on Moses journey with the people of Israel into the Promised Land was to be the worship of God at Mt. Sinai.  Read Exodus 19 and 20.
• What was God promising his people?
• What were the people promising God?

2.  In what ways did the word of God given in the 10 Commandments and the law help the people of Israel overcome the world and become a “holy nation”?

3. In what ways can the word of God today help us become a holy people that can overcome the world around us?

4. The word of God teaches us how to live in such a way that we find power and strength to overcome the forces of the world around us.  Read the following passages and reflect on how to live out this word of God in our world today:
• Exodus 20-23 –10 Commandments and God’s law
• Proverbs 10-24 – Wisdom of Solomon
• Matthew 5-7 – Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
• Ephesians 5:21-6:20 – Rules for Relationships
• 1 John 3-5 – Living in Love

5. Moses continued to overcome all things and lead God’s people to the very edge of the Promised Land.  To finish the story of Moses’ remarkable life, read Deuteronomy 29-34

The Life of Moses ~ Overcoming Our Failure

On the 4th of July we celebrate the founding of our nation and remember some of the strong leaders who helped form it.  There was Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and of course the man known as the father of our nation, George Washington.  While Washington was a successful general and politician, he also failed many times and in many areas of his life.  He failed in romance, being rejected twice by the same woman.  He failed in politics and was only able to get votes when he ran for office in VA in 1758 because he provided people with rum, wine, brandy and beer, and he failed as a military leader.

At the beginning of his military career, Washington was put in command of a force and told to hold ground on the frontier against the French.  He built a fort in a creek bottom but it was a poor location that he was soon surrounded by the French who not only forced him into surrendering but also into signing a false confession saying his forces had assassinated a French official.  After this failure, Washington was demoted and relieved of his command.  We don’t remember a lot of this history because these failures did not define Washington; he overcame them and moved forward.

Our nation is full of people who overcame failure to become great.

Thomas Edison failed in his many attempts at the light bulb and the phonograph.

Abraham Lincoln failed in many of his early attempts in business and politics.

Henry Ford’s first automobiles failed.

Walt Disney’s first cartoon production went bankrupt.

Stephen King had his first book rejected 30 times.

In 1985 Steve Jobs was fired from his own company, Apple.

Oprah Winfrey was fired from a TV reporting job and told she was not suitable for television.

Of course the reason we know these people is because they overcame their failure and the same is true of Moses.

This summer we have been learning from Moses how to overcome many things in life and while we see a lot of success in Moses life, Moses also failed in some pretty significant ways and those failures could have defined his life and defeated him completely, but they didn’t.  In overcoming his failures Moses continued on in faith to lead God’s people to the Promised Land.  Overcoming failure is possible and if we can learn how to do this, not only will we be able to continue on in faith but we will be able find the fullness and power of life that God has for us.

Moses first experienced failure as a young man and we see this in Exodus 2:11-15.  Moses always had a heart to help his people.  When he saw a Hebrew slave being mistreated he stepped in to do something about it.  He fought for the man’s dignity and freedom.  He was doing the right thing, but he was getting in front of God and relying on his own wisdom, strength and power.  God was going to set the people free, but it wasn’t going to be through Moses’ strength or power, but God’s strength and power.

When Moses realizes that he has failed, he does what many of us think about doing in the face of failure – he gives up.  He runs away.  Have you ever dreamed of doing this?  We fail at work and just want to quit and go find another job.  We fail in our marriage and immediately begin to think about running away instead of facing the circumstances and working on reconciliation.  We fail in school and instead of working harder or getting help we figure that it’s no use and we drop out or find an easier course or major.  Too often we look at our failure as fatal – the death or the end of the road and so we might as well call it quits and run away.

If this was how Moses faced all of his failures, we wouldn’t be talking about him today, but it wasn’t.  Moses learned something from this situation that shaped his life and helped him overcome future failure.  The second failure for Moses came after the people of Israel had been critical because they ended up in a place where there was no water.  While Moses was able to overcome the criticism of the people by turning to God and remaining humble, Moses wasn’t perfect and so after one period of intense criticism he did turn to God, but he failed to be humble.
Numbers 20:1-13.

This is a difficult passage because the failure of Moses seems pretty slight.  Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses struck it, twice.  This was an act of frustration against the people because they continued to be so difficult, but Moses failed to follow God’s instruction and we see from Moses words and actions a little bit of pride beginning to show through.  Look at what Moses said here.  With Aaron at his side, Moses said, must we bring you water out of this rock?  Moses is either talking about himself and Aaron or himself and God, either way, he is lifting up his own strength and power.  Moses’ pride and ego are beginning to take over and God has been clear from the beginning that this was not about the strength, wisdom and power of Moses or any human being, this was all about the power of God.

While water came forth from the rock and God provided for the people, God also pointed out to Moses his failure and the consequence that comes because of it and in defeat and failure Moses could have done what he did as a young man and run away.  Moses could have given up on God and on himself and just walked away from the whole mess – but he didn’t.  Moses overcame his failure and continued on and what helped Moses overcome his failure was knowing that God forgave him so he could forgive himself and God’s forgiveness brings a second chance.

Overcoming our failure happens when we accept God’s forgiveness and allow God’s grace to give us another chance.  Moses had learned this before.  Moses experienced forgiveness when God called him in the burning bush.  Moses had failed and ran away but by choosing Moses to lead God’s people, God forgave Moses and gave him a second chance.  Overcoming failure all starts with forgiveness – God’s forgiveness.

When we fail God, when we fail others, when we make a mess of our lives and think things are beyond repair, God forgives.  The Bible is pretty clear about this.

In Isaiah 43 God says, I blot out your transgressions… and remember your sins no more.

Psalm 103:12 says, as far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us.

Ephesians 4:32 says, forgive each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

1 John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

God forgives us.  There is no failure so great and no sin so strong that we cannot be forgiven if we confess our sin and accept God’s love and grace.  In Romans, it talks about how there is no sin and no failure and nothing that we can do that can separate us from God’s love, Romans 8:35-39.  So if we ask God to forgive us, he will and our failures no longer define us and our sin no longer controls our lives.  God’s forgiveness also opens the door for us to forgive ourselves and forgiving ourselves is necessary if we are going to overcome our failures and move on.

For many people, forgiving themselves is more difficult than forgiving others, but if we stop and think about it, not being willing to forgive ourselves really is just a form of pride or ego.  Think of it this way, if we aren’t willing to forgive ourselves it’s as if we are saying that are better sinners than anyone else.  Our sin is different, our sin is worse; our sin is somehow special and therefore can’t be forgiven. Really?  Are we that special?  Are we really that different than other people?  Is our sin really worse than others?  Once again we need to get our ego out of the way and remind ourselves that we are no different than those around us and if they can be forgiven, then so can we.  God forgives us which means we can forgive ourselves.

Now forgiveness, even of ourselves, does not mean we forget, in fact, I hope in some way we don’t forget our failures but learn from them instead.  Moses learned from his failure and instead of running away this time, he stayed.  Moses accepted God’s forgiveness and continued to lead God’s people.  He overcame his failure, accepted the consequences of it and continued to walk with God and lead God’s people.  Overcoming our failure doesn’t mean ignoring it or forgetting it, it means learning from it and not allowing that failure to define our future.  The Apostle Paul knew failure in his life too, but he said this in Philippians 3:12-14.

Paul didn’t allow his past to shape him, he put it behind him, learned from it and pressed on.  Moses didn’t allow his past to shape him, he put it behind him and learned from it and pressed on.  Accepting God’s forgiveness allows us to forgive ourselves which means learning from our mistakes and sin and moving on with God.

There is one final thing that overcoming our failure helps us do and that is to help others when they fail.  King David was another man who failed miserably in his life when he had an affair with Bathsheba, but David accepted God’s grace, forgave himself and continued to press on as the king of Israel.  As David dealt with his failure he wrote this – Psalm 51:7-13.

David knew that by overcoming his failure he would be able to help others overcome theirs and this is true for all of us.  We are able to help others overcome their mistakes and sin by sharing with them how we have accepted God’s grace and moved forward in our life.  Some of the most powerful words spoken by family members in SC came from a man who said this to the shooter, I forgive you and my family forgives you, but we would like for you to take this opportunity to repent. Give your life to the one who matters the most, Christ.  Here is a man helping someone to overcome his failure.  He is not saying that forgiveness means he will be set free in this world, no, there are consequences and there is justice, but even in this horrible situation, forgiveness can be achieved if we will give ourselves to the one who matters most, Jesus Christ.

Overcoming our failure is possible if we are willing to give ourselves to God and acknowledge our failure, accept God’s grace and use God’s forgiveness to help us forgive ourselves and move forward.  Every person used by God in the Bible had to do this.  They all failed, but it was those who overcame their failure that God was able to use and lead them into the fullness of life.  Overcoming our failure, no matter what it is, is possible and it can start today by giving ourselves fully to God.


Next Steps
Overcoming Failure

1. Compare the story of Moses’ first failure in Exodus 2:11-15 with Moses’ second failure in Numbers 20:1-13.
• What lesson has Moses learned about failure?
• What other observations can you make about dealing with failure?


2. What failure in life is leading you to think about running way or giving up?  Why?  What makes it seem so final?


3.  Accepting God’s forgiveness is key to overcoming our failure.  Read these statements on forgiveness and claim them for your own heart and life.  How can these words help address the failure named in #2?
• Psalm 103:6-18
• Ephesians 4:32
• 1 John 1:9
• Romans 8:35-39


4. Forgiveness leads to a second (or third) chance.  In what area of life can you step out in faith and try again?  


5. Overcoming our own failure can help us be an example for others.  This week, use King David’s prayer in Psalm 51 as a prayer seeking the fullness of repentance, forgiveness and new life.  (King David was another man who overcame his failure by accepting God’s forgiveness and giving himself another chance)