MOVING FROM INITIAL SETBACKS TO GREAT VICTORIES

And today's message is titled moving from initial setbacks to Great victories. Your past will not hold you back. The events of your past will not hinder your glorious destiny.

Moving from initial setbacks to Great victories. Mark 5:25-34.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, in his teachings and preaching in ministry, consistently used parables, shared stories, and also he made references to events of his time to emphasize certain realities of life and spiritual truth unto the people he ministered to. Every time there is a global or continental sporting event, especially football, the best of many nations are gathered together for a period of uh, two, three weeks to a month or a month and a week, so between three and five weeks. And at the end of it all, one team emerges as a winner. But there is always a lot of drama, and these sporting events always serve as another platform for the activation and confirmation of certain scriptural realities, such as Ecclesiastes chapter 9:1.

Now, the African continent came together for about 3 weeks, and the journey ended with Ivory Coast, the host nation, defeating Nigeria to win the trophy. Now, there's a lesson I want us to take note of from the victory of Ivory Coast. Now, it will interest you that Ivory Coast lost two of their three group matches, two out of three. They lost two out of three. So, it's not about what, how things have happened to you so far in life, that doesn't determine your ultimate story. It doesn't determine your ultimate story. It's a journey. Turn to your neighbor and say, neighbor, watch and see. God has a plan for your life. He has a plan for your life.

They lost two out of three group matches. That was enough to send them out of the competition. But somehow, somehow, they managed to still be among the third place teams, and then when all results had come in, fortunately for them, fortunately for them, it was guaranteed for the first two teams to go to the next round, but it wasn't guaranteed for all of the third place teams. It was going to depend whether or not they will make it to the next round. Whether or not they will be out of the competition at that stage would depend on the results from other teams in other groups that also emerged as third in third position. And that was how, fortunately for them, they were among the best third place teams and they were able to scale through to the next round. Someone here has already scaled through to the next round of life.

Now, it will interest you to know that this same team, somebody say this same thing, this same thing, this same thing that was defeated, defeated again, not once, defeated twice. This same thing that was almost out, completely out. This same thing, surprisingly, surprisingly, surprisingly, because a time will come when some people are talking about your life, and some of them will say, we, we need to be careful the way we judge things and the way we judge people, because uh, they, they would have almost judged you and concluded about you based on your down moment. Just like Ivory Coast was defeated, not even once, twice, and at a point in time, everything looked so bleak. But somehow, somehow, they were able to move forward. And then they will begin to reflect on how things have turned around over time, that surprisingly, you that went down at a time, you that suffered very significant setbacks at a time, is today the point of public celebration? It said, when God turned around the captivity of Zion, Psalm 126:1 and 2. They were as those that dreamed. He said, for the nations are saying, people are going to talk about you positively in the days ahead. For the nations shall say, God, God has done great things for them. Great things that will be part of the public discussion about your fortunes in the days ahead. Great things.

So, this same nation advanced to the next round, to the quarterfinals, to the semifinals. And each of these stages were, are very, very dramatic. Very, very dramatic victories that at a point in time, it looked as if they had lost the quarterfinal. It looked as if they had lost the semifinal. But somehow, they came back and they won. You will come back and win. You will survive that setback and excel in life. Life, in the name of Jesus. So, they eventually got to the final. [Music] Somehow, Nigeria scored first, but Ivory Coast came from behind, they equalized, and eventually won. And not only did they win that match, they won the championship, they won the tournament, they lifted up the trophy in victory. God is going to move you from initial setbacks to Great victories in life. Can that woman say powerful amen? Can that brother say powerful amen? Can that family here today say powerful amen?

Take note of patterns in life. This same team could not initially qualify for the next round because they were not first or second in their group of four teams. They were just fortunate to have qualified. They were just fortunate to have qualified for the second round. And that brings us to an interesting observation from the testimonies of some best graduating students from in the university. Every year, some of the best graduating students, when seeking admission into the university, could not score the minimum cut-off mark. They could not score the minimum cut-off mark for the course that they eventually gained admission for and ended up becoming the best graduating student from that university in that same course. In the same course where they ended up with the first class, some of them broke records of other students that had also excelled, and some had even made the same first class, but they got a better score in their own time. But this same, this same best graduating students could not score the minimum cut-off mark to gain admission into the university. So, there was a time when they were on standby. The first batch for admitted for students that have gained admission was out, and it would have hundreds of names, but their name was nowhere to be found on that list. Life is not about your name being on the first list. Is somebody listening here? Life is not about your name being on the first list.

The Holy Scripture is very clear. He said, better is the end of a thing. Better is the end of a thing. Every year, there will be drama. Every year, there will be major upsets. Every year, there will be surprise victories. Every year, there will be pleasant surprises. And some of these pleasant surprises are going to happen for you or a very loved one in the journey of life. So, some of them were not even able to score the minimum cut-off mark. Some of them did not even have their papers, enough credit, and so they had to sit a second time before they eventually got admission. But the moment they came into the university, things started changing for good. The nation of Ivory Coast was just fortunate to make it to the next round. The other teams that qualified for the next round made it by superior points they scored in the group matches. The nation of Ivory Coast almost lost out along the way, but a slim opportunity, by a slim opportunity that they had, they were able to take it up and eventually emerged as the overall champions. And one of the takeaways from these experiences of Ivory Coast is that as you move forward in your journey of life, don't play with a second chance. Don't play with that opportunity, last minute opportunity that God and life would sometimes offer you. Don't play with it. Don't play with it.

Also, never give up on yourself. Never give up on your chances. Always believe that something can still happen until God says it is over. Remember that great achievers are very determined people. They have a fighting spirit and they don't give up easily. They don't just give up because of initial failure. Determined people are those who recognize that many success of victory stories came after an initial experience of failure or defeat. So, always remember that successful people and great achievers are not necessarily those who have had a life free of initial failure, defeat, or setbacks. Rather, they are people who have had the ability to move beyond their initial mistakes, move beyond their initial failure, move beyond their the initial defeat, move beyond initial setbacks, move beyond initial losses, and still go forward to achieve their goal. So, it's a recurring pattern in life, and I have been studying this for years, and especially at the global level, you see this pattern playing out. And the same lessons that we ought to learn from them, they would always play out every four years when the best teams in the world come together for the World Cup. Any time the World Cup comes up, there would always be major upsets. There would always be shocking victories. There would always be pleasant surprises. People can write you off, but only two people matter: God and yourself. As long as God has not written you off, as long as you have not also used your own hands to write off yourself, everything that God has lined up in your potential destiny is intact, waiting for fulfillment. As you press forward, tell, help me tell your neighbor this morning, say, neighbor, you can't stop me. Stop. I am moving forward to fulfill my purpose. I'm moving forward to achieve my breakthroughs.

Now, listen and take note of these. Some of these patterns we've observed. Some of the best teams in the world would surprisingly not make it to the final competition. What just ended in Ivory Coast had most of the best teams in Africa, but not, not all the best teams in Africa. That is one of the patterns of life. Some of the very best would surprisingly, for one reason or the other, not make it. Also, some of the best players in the world would surprisingly not make the final list of selected players for their country's team. This is one very critical aspect of the observations. Sometimes it could be due to injury. Sometimes it could be due to indiscipline, because there are things that are beyond your control, and that is where prayer, divine intervention, divine covering comes in. But there are certain things that can also hinder you and hinder your potentials that are within your control. Control things like indiscipline, wrong attitude, lack of self-control. So, some of the best players in the world have not made it to the World Cup, even though their country or nation qualified, due to indiscipline, wrong attitude, or personality clash with a team coach or team manager. And that's a lesson for us in life, even in ministry, even in our spiritual life, we can miss it if we allow certain factors to begin to play out around us and bring about personality clashes with people that we ought never to have such clashes with. So, we must always be very sensitive to these things and curb it at the very beginning.

Another observation is that the best team, the very best team, does not always win the trophy. For those of you who are conversant with football, you would certainly submit that Ivory Coast was certainly not the very best team of, of the tournament, but they won the trophy. Such is life. Some of the very best players do not always excel during the championship. Surprisingly, they do so well, but when it matters most, when the prime competition comes up, surprisingly, something just goes wrong, and they are not in their best form, and they fail to excel when it matters most. But I pray that when it matters most in life, that is when your very best will manifest in the name of [Applause] Jesus. It is not good enough to shine during choir rehearsal and then during the main presentation, something goes wrong there. The rehearsal is just meant to prepare you for the main presentation. So, when it matters most, the grace of God, angelic support, divine favor, divine help will back you up to put out the best in the name of Jesus.

And that takes us to the next observation, and that is, some of the best players would always make very costly mistakes that they never made in the past. Very costly mistakes that they never made in the past. For instance, you see the best penalty kick specialist in a team will surprisingly miss his penalty kick, leading to the defeat of his team. Some of the best goalkeepers would surprisingly concede very cheap goals, very cheap goals, very cheap goals. A very good player will unfortunately score an own goal against his team, leading to the defeat or exit of his team from the competition. Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 11. Ecclesiastes chapter 9:11, New Living Translation. It says, "I have observed something else under the sun: The fastest runner doesn't always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn't always win the battle." It has just happened again in Africa. The wise sometimes go hungry, the skillful are not necessarily wealthy, and those who are educated don't always lead successful lives. Ordinarily, when the fitting is in place, there is supposed to be a predictable outcome, a predictable result. But the scriptures are making us understand that these things are not guaranteed. Potential does not always become reality. Great potentials do not always translate to reality. Bright prospects do not always turn out successful. I don't know what is happening in your own situation now, but there is no guarantee that if you had taken a taken up a job somewhere else, that everything would have turned out the way you assume it would have turned out. There are some battles you are not faced with where you are now, and those battles would have been thick and overwhelming in the environment of that job you think would have been a better option. The same thing applies to relationship. It applies to relationship. In fact, until you marry a woman and she's now bearing your name and has moved into your house, you have not yet seen who that woman is. You may be correct 90% correct, 95%, but if she has not yet married you, there are things that have never happened that will begin to happen after she marries you. Help me turn to the woman by your side and ask, is that true? High probability does not always become possible. And the example I gave concerning a woman and a wife applies otherwise. Don't ever think that that a particular man would have been a better husband. Whatever is good about him is true and is correct, but there are some other things that would have played out if you are married to him that you cannot see as long as you are not yet married to him.

So, some lessons we take from these global championships and the, and the scriptures that we have made reference to. One, there would always be shocking results and major upsets in the journey of life. There would always be shocking results and major upsets in the journey of life. Some of the best teams will surprisingly crash out in the early stages of the tournament. So, the organization that offers you the best package may not necessarily be the best for you in life. May not necessarily give. Another 10, 20 years, we've seen many formidable organizations go down, and those that were assumed to be weaker now became the major players. Praise you the Lord.

A second major lesson as we're closing it up. The second major lesson is that two major character defects, the wrong attitude and lack of self-control, will always hinder many people. Two major character defects, the wrong attitude and lack of self-control, would always hinder many people from attaining the best that they could have achieved in life. The wrong attitude, lack of self-control, the character defect of bad attitude and lack of self-control has always stopped many world-class stars from being selected by their coaches. We've seen some players being sent home, superstars being sent home during a tournament by the national team coach. Lack of self-control and the wrong attitude can hinder even the most talented people from the best opportunities and promotion, and promotion that could easily have come their way. So, for you to become the best you could be in life, for your potential victories in life to be guaranteed, there is need for humility, there is need for self-control, there is need for personal discipline, there is need for the right attitude towards people, especially certain people. Especially certain people. Sometimes your lack of self-control, your personal attitude can cost your organization a major breakthrough from another organization.

The third lesson: Costly mistakes. Costly mistakes. Now, in the process of life, people will make very costly mistakes that will cost them potential success, potential victory, and major achievements that were almost done. You would always notice in these tournaments that people must and would always make some costly mistakes. Some will score an own goal, some will lose penalties, some will cause avoidable penalties. In Matthew chapter 26, Matthew 26, we see how Peter made the mistake of denying his master Jesus. He made the mistake of denying his master Jesus three times. But same night, however, Peter made his costly mistake before his public ministry began. One of the patterns we have noticed in life is that God can sometimes allow you to make some minor mistakes earlier in life, and your regrets from that minor mistake would strengthen you against making that same mistake for the rest of your life. So, sometimes God would deliberately allow certain things to happen in order to prevent something more grievous and at a more conspicuous time in the days ahead. Sometimes unintended costly mistakes are actually caused by spiritual manipulation. Sometimes, sometimes could be due to curses, could be due to spells, could be due to spiritual manipulations. Numbers chapter 22, verse 6. This happens every day. There are people that are casting spells to make you do the wrong thing in order for them to ultimately have an edge over you or displace you out of the way.

And that brings us to point number four: The need for grace and prayers. The need for grace and prayers. We are going to discover that in the journey of life, in addition to your special abilities, skills, expertise, outstanding qualities, an intensive preparation, all these things are key to excelling in life. But in addition to them, there is need to always pray for God's help, pray for God's covering, pray for God's covering, pray for God's covering. There is need to always pray for God's help in order to avoid costly mistakes. There is need to always pray for God's help in order to overcome every secret plot, tricks, attacks, and manipulations of your opponents. In Proverbs 16:3, Good News Translation, it says, "Ask the Lord to bless your plans and you will be successful in carrying them out." Help me turn to your neighbor and say, neighbor, neighbor, ask the Lord to bless your plans and you will be successful in carrying them out.