Transcription
So I, I give my thanks to Brother Tony for inviting me to just kind of speak a little bit. And I went for two weeks thinking I had a word from the Lord, and every time I tried to put it together, it was like God read my notes, said, "Nah, nah."
About three in the morning the other morning, He woke me up and said, "This is what I want you to say." And so I direct your attention to two portions of Scripture: Acts chapter 9, and then from First Timothy chapter 1.
Acts chapter 9. And I'll try my best. I got instruction from Sister Arnold to be nice. So, so I have to be nice. I was going, I was going to be nice anyway, but I just, anyway.
"Saw yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went into the high priest, desired him letters to Damascus to go to synagogues, that he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, bring them bound on to Jerusalem."
"As he journeyed, came near to Damascus, suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth, and he heard a voice saying unto him, 'Saul, Saul, why persecutest me?'"
"He said, 'Who art thou?' Said the Lord, 'I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. Is it hard for thee to kick against the pricks?'"
"He, trembling and being astonished, said unto Him, 'Lord, what would you have me do?' He said, 'Well, arise, going to the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.'"
Now I want to read another rendition of this from First Timothy chapter 1, beginning with verse 11.
"According to the glorious gospel of the Blessed God which was committed to my trust. And I thank Jesus Christ our Lord, who hath enabled me, that He counted me faithful."
Look at someone and say, "Not worthy, faithful. Not able, faithful. Not skilled, faithful." Said the Lord, "Counted me faithful and putting me into the ministry."
"Who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of the Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."
"And this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting."
I, I was given a message about three, four months ago, and I preached it at Brother Varnum's church. And, and if you've ever been to Brother Varnum's church, it's like an explosion looking to happen. And I put it away and waited for some day. It was going to be in, like, three o'clock in the morning, the Lord just brought it to me and said, "Now is the time to bring this."
So I want, I want to talk to you on the subject, "The Wonderful Ministry of Mistakes." Now, all of yous that don't have any mistakes, you have no idea what I'm talking about. Any of you that think you don't make mistakes, you have no idea what I'm talking about. But I feel like the Lord has got a great word of encouragement for this church tonight. Lord, bless the preaching. Help me to be a good guy. Help me to behave. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.
It was those of you that are movie people. Sophia Loren, in one of her books, wrote a very interesting statement. And she said, "Mistakes are the price we pay for a full life." And I add to our statement, "Providing we learn from it." Any fool can make a mistake, but a wise person learns from it. You got to stay with me because, because I got some stuff I need to say.
It was those of you that are football people. Vince Lombardi made a great statement. I like reading people's statements. I don't agree with their lives, but I like their statements. And Vince Lombardi made a great statement. He said, "The issue is not whether you're going to get knocked down. The issue is whether you're going to get back up." It's, it's called resilience.
Now, and in the, in the Jeff Arnold book, it just says this: "I'm gonna get a lickin', but keep tickin'." And I'm not afraid of mistakes. Some people are afraid of mistakes. Now, most of us hate mistakes. We don't like mistakes. They are embarrassing, they're hurtful, they're degrading, they're humiliating, they're demeaning. And yet, they're God's choosing of a catalyst to take us to the miraculous.
Because mistakes come into our lives so that we can discover things. Consider all the mistakes that Mr. Edison made, and thank God we got some lights. Think of all the mistakes and the failures that the Wright brothers went through, and now we got airplanes and travel. Think of how many times you and I have made mistakes, secular or spiritual. And if you are wise enough, you didn't let the mistake destroy you.
I'm gonna tell you something right now. Ho ho, Christmastime, you're ready? The adversary wants to maul you and maim you over your mistakes. But your Ally wants to use your mistakes to take you into a dimension that you could not get there without making a mistake. Now, I'm not gonna be long, like I usually am, because I'm nervous right now. Having preached so long, I don't remember quite how to do it. But just stay with me for just a second.
You got, you got here. Your adversary wants to mock you and maim you, so that every time you try to reach for a new level, a new place in God, he's in his lying way, will just bring up and said, "Yeah, but you did that, and you got involved with that, and you failed there, and you flunked there." But you understand, he's the greatest mistake maker the world's ever known. So I wouldn't listen to his opinion, because God can transform your mistakes and give you a miracle and give you a new dimension and bring you out of darkness into His life.
Mistakes should not maim you. Mistakes should not become a prison house that holds you hostage. I'm not going any further till I get some response from people who make mistakes. Please be seated.
Mistakes can be educational. They can be informative. They can be revelatory. Remember, it was the mistake that Adam made that brought to Adam a revelation about God. He never knew. He had no idea God was that long-suffering and that merciful and that forgiving and that gracious and that at kind. You know what released all that? Mistake he made. I wish I could get a witness right now. Is there anybody in the house besides me that you've made a real dumb blunder? You failed? You made a mistake? And all of a sudden, you woke up and God didn't write you off? And God didn't throw you out? And God didn't put you up for adoption? I know we're saved by grace, but I'ma tell you, there is a thing called great grace, and great grace usually comes after great mistakes. There are people who experience dimensions in God that nobody else experiences because of mistakes.
Now, I'm gonna say this as kindly as I can. I got sister looking at me right now. You may have made a mistake, but you're not one. You may have failed, but you are not a failure. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. You may be down, but down is not your destiny. You're fixing to get back up. You're fixing to experience a resurrection. You're fixing to come out of it. I feel good. I, I feel good. I do. I feel good. Don't you?
Mistakes are God's way of ministering to us things about Him we don't know except when we read and talk. You see, we believe a lot of stuff, us holy rollers, that we never experience. We've got doctrinal things that we believe nobody can shake us, but we don't experience them. We got aspects of God that we talk about, but we don't experience. But you just let a crisis come, you let a mistake happen, you let a failure take place, and that mistake will open a doorway of discovery, and you'll find something in God you did not ever find by experience before.
Now, I'm not saying we need to go make mistakes so we can discover God, or that we have to fail to discover God. I'm just telling you, there are dimensions and aspects in God that you don't get any other way. All right.
And now, I'm sorry, Patty. I gotta get rude for just a minute. Some of you folks, you have made enough mistakes, you ought to be the best Fraser's in this house. If anybody on a worship with abandonment, it ought to be those of us who have made a mess sometimes, who have fallen flat on our face, had said things we shouldn't have said, did things we shouldn't have done, felt things and thought things that shouldn't have happened. And from that, God did not give up on us.
I'll be finished in five minutes, okay? Now, I'm a little awkward right now because the Reverend asked me to do two things tonight: burn the barn down and preach a message for because of the times. Well, I've got one for the because of the times. I'm just not preaching there anymore, so I'll have to waste it on you. I priests lots of messages for the General Conference, they never let me preach it, so I just gave it to you. I'm telling you, I have a word for the whole Pentecostal movement. Your failure is not final. Your mistake is not final.
I heard the Prophet say, "Rejoice not against me, O my enemy, for when I fall, I shall arise. And when I sit in the darkness, the Lord shall be my life." I'm coming out of this.
I like to use this illustration. Oho, and I saw the comb here. Baby, that's one of the smiles as babies as I ever seen. I like that little kid. He thinks I'm nice. I like that kid. How many of you raise children? Would you put your hands up? Put them down. How many of you have ever done with the rest of us who have raised children? That when you are raising a child, and they get ready to walk, they're down more than they're up. But their downtime does not do for them what it does for Pentecostals. When that child falls down and bumps his head or its knee, and tears running down his face, man, you get ready to try to straighten that child. And that child's got a determination and a drive inside them. "I got to walk now."
Their walking is not so romantic. I'd rather have a bunch of Pentecostals walking kind of weird than sit and kind of steal. I wish I could get somebody to tell. When your child started walking, didn't you do this? If they fell down, you didn't curse them out. You didn't rail on them. You didn't criticize them. You just picked them up, kissed their boo-boos, and said, "Come on, try it again. Hit it." But I got news for you. We serve a God that says, "When you fall down, get yourself back up. Try it again. Walk again. Do not let your failure become final."
I appreciate the few of you that say, "Hello." Thank you very much. I appreciate that. I just, I just, I got to say something. It's very important. I didn't hear this on the tape. I didn't get this off the internet. The Lord just dealt with me. It's what He said: "Tell my people that in every one of their mistakes is a hidden door of discovery. Your mistakes become a portal of possibility. Your, your mistakes can become a catalyst from God to get you to do better, to reevaluate yourself, to determine that I'm gonna, I'm gonna just do more than I did before. Let me try it again."
If you're not careful, we will let our mistakes become a prison house. And God wants our mistakes for it to become a pathway. He doesn't want us to be shut down.
Uh-huh. I'm preaching the whole UPC right now. You ready? I need to tell this whole movement something because I've never heard it said in all the years I've been here. God will never define you by your mistake. That's that dirty, damnable spirit of the elder brother. It's the elder brother that defines people by their mistakes. But the Father never defined the returning boy by his mistake. Don't join the devil's side and define people when they fail and define people when they make a mistake. In my live in UPC, am I on television now? You got to hear me now. That seem that doesn't do much for you because apparently you don't make mistakes. But, but I was, I was preaching the probably the largest meeting in this whole Pentecostal movement. I did it for 31 years. And two or three years ago, while I was preaching, I made a terrible mistake. I said something I shouldn't have said. Now, I think what I said was right, but I said it in the wrong way, and it offended people and upset people. And since then, I'm unemployed.
Wait a minute. Because in our movement, we define people by mistakes. But when I came home, and in the bedroom, pouring my heart out, asking God, "What did I do? Did I get sidetracked? What happened?" And the Holy Ghost poked me, said, "Son, I will never define you by your worst moment." He said, "I'll leave that to your people. They enjoy that." Now, they usually pay me and hire me because I hear from God. I will tell you right now, I do. And when the Lord dealt with me about my own failure, my own mistake, He warned me, said, "Son, beware. Your movement is filled with preachers, leaders, and politicians who are filled with the elder brother spirit. Don't let that spirit work in you. You've received grace, you've received mercy, you've received forgiveness."
If I ever heard the voice of the Lord, I heard it last night when I was praying. Here's what I wrote it on my notes. He said, "Tell my people, mistakes and failures do have consequences, but they're not supposed to control your future."
I'm going to stop my sermon right now because I can't see you people right now. I need, I'm just going to put in a commercial. If any of you have ever made a dumb move, said the wrong thing, made a mistake, failed terribly, and you experienced grace and mercy, I want you to stand up and shout. We're not here because we're spiritual. We're here because God is merciful. That's what Paul said. "I made a terrible mistake, but I received mercy."
No, hold it. Don't stop now. Aren't we? I wish somebody shouted, "I'm into grace! I'm into mercy! I'm into the patience of God! I'm into the long-suffering of God! Even had not been for God who was on my side, ain't no telling what I would have become!" Can I preach a few minutes? Feel a few more minutes? I guess I'm not gonna, I guess I'm not gonna preach because the times. Okay.
You got to watch out because we have a tendency to allow our mistakes to maim us. Now, I'm trying to say this without being too pastoral. I know where most of the skeletons are in this whole building. I've dealt with all kinds of problems and situations. And I'm here to tell you right now, I know the people that are in this building that you have been mercifully spared, though you've made some childhood mistakes. I'm not going any further. I would say again, hell wants to maim you, and heaven wants to make you. Hell wants to chain you, heaven wants to conform you. God is not saying you didn't make the mistake, and I didn't make the mistake. He just said, "I am not going to define you by your mistake."
So Paul is making a caribou blunder in Acts 9, attacking the Christian Church, persecuting them. And God stops him in his mistake. And the Bible said he fell to the earth. That's a great statement. It's in the book of Job. Watch what it says: "And when men have been falling down or cast down." I think it's Job 20:29. Something like that. 20:29 said, "When men are cast down." This is a revelation to me. This to me said, "Then thou shalt say, 'There is lifting up.'"
Now, it's not a revelation to you because you're, it's just a wonderful man. But it was to me because I kept writing those notes, and finally the Holy Ghost said, "You're writing it wrong." And I said, "No, I got it right here." When men are cast down, thou shalt say, "There is lifting up." He said, "No, you're writing it wrong." And I went back and I looked at it again. JC, I said, "I'm writing it right." You said, "Why do you keep putting 'a' in the sentence? It's not there." I said, "What's the big deal?" He said, "Real easy. If it's 'a', it means one time." He said, "If I leave out the 'a' and say, 'There is lifting up,' it's continuous." Did you hear me, Rob? It's continuous. It's continual. When there is a calling down, a casting down, there is lifting up. And God shall save the humble person. And the humble person is the person that says, "I've sinned. I blew it. I made a mistake. I said what I shouldn't have said. I did what I should..."
Oh, God. Try it again. You ready, Dolly? Now, if he don't say anything, just reach over and slap him, and I'll be there in just a minute. You ready? Said, "I, I've made a mistake, but I'm not a mistake. I have failed, but I'm not a failure." See, our whole drive is to discover the door that is hidden inside your failures and inside your mistakes. Because inside of both of them is a portal that means an entrance, an opening into something that we would never know anything about had not God allowed us to have the mistake.
Now, maybe, maybe from the lack of response, mistakes don't bother you. They bother me. They bother me. They bother me. Whether I'm working on one of my old cars bothers me. Whether I'm, I'm trying to fix the wiring and almost electrocute myself, or I put something on wrong, it bothers me. Mistakes bother me because mistakes feel, make you feel like you're stupid. And the only thing worse than that is when you make a mistake in a spiritual realm, and those people make sure you are stupid.
I'm just trying to decide whether I want to go home or go home. Just, you got to bear with me just for a second. Abraham made a horrendous mistake. He lied two different times about his wife. You ready for this? I got a lot of money in my pocket. I probably have nine dollars. I'll give that nine dollars if any one of you scriptorians will show me when he lied twice that the Lord ever brought it up. You didn't get it yet? You serve a God that when you make a mistake, He says, "Oh, by the way, I'll never bring it up. I will rub your face in it. I won't make fun of you. I won't hold you hostage. I won't stop your promotion because you made a mistake."
Now, I'm not putting a premium on, let's make mistakes. But I'm here to tell you that I have made up my mind, by the grace and mercy of God, that even though I make mistakes, I go on. I move on. I apologize where I need to. I repent where I need to. Somebody said, "I don't make mistakes." Those of you to say you don't make mistakes, you are a mistake. I've never had one time when God has convicted me about something I've said, done, watched it, whatever. He never turned around and said, "Hey, listen, by the way..." He didn't do that. I've told you, conviction is the voice of love. Conviction doesn't condemn. Conviction tries to correct and help. And so He turns around and uses that mistake aspect as a catalyst to take us beyond.
You know, I can't. You know, everybody in this church, except maybe the Tonys, know that outside of Jesus, my favorite person in all the Bible is Elijah. Everybody knows that. Elijah's my man. I just love Elijah. But he lied, makes a terrible mistake. He outruns the chariot 19.2 miles. He ends a three-and-a-half-year drought with 63 words of prayer and brings forth water down, brings fire down, and makes Ahab look like a jerk. And then he outruns the chariot. And then that old bag Jezebel sends him a note, says, "Hi, I'm gonna kill you about this time tomorrow. Love, Jez." And he abandoned ship and takes off 90-plus miles across a wilderness desert, leaves his only encouragement behind, and goes to Mount Horeb because he knows that's where God meets people. Up there.
Now, he goes into the cave. This is what blows my mind. And in all the conversation that God had with Elijah, He never brought up his failure. He leaves that to his people. He leaves that to the political office people. I'm gonna tell you, you want to guard yourself before this life's over against the spirit of the elder brother. Because when that prodigal son came home, it was the elder brother that damned and condemned and mocked him and tried to hold him hostage and said, "You made this mistake. You, you messed with these loose women. You lost, and Harold, and she shamed our house." What's the old man running down the hill? He runs down, hugs him, kisses him, puts the new robe on, the ring, the slippers, and never mentions the mistake.
Listen, I'm telling you, you get revelation from the other side of a mistake. This boy got one of the greatest revelations he ever had after the mistake, after the failure. The Father shows up and shows such grace and love and mercy and patience and kindness that he discovered something about the Father he never knew. "I never knew how much he really loved me. I never knew how much I meant to him." And that's what happens when you and I realize we made a mistake. When we, when we move in that direction, you're going to find out you mean more to God than you ever thought you meant. You're loved by a love that will not let you go. Am I talking good yet? Am I talking good yet?
Any reason why you're sitting? Jacob lies. And Jacob sees his father. And Jacob was a scam artist. And God beats him. In Genesis 28, said, "I think I'll bless you." He didn't know God would ever do that for him. You're not candid yet. There's revelation after mistakes. There's revelation after failure.
When Simon Peter lied and denied that he ever knew the Lord Jesus, and he ran out in the night, and he wept bitterly. Fine. Well, we always know that story where he met him on the beach, John 21. But there's something that we don't know. The Bible said when those guys from Emmaus came back, and Luke 24, he said, "They told me," said, "The Lord has met with Simon." There was a secret meeting that was recorded but not explained. Don't I wish to God I knew what was said there. He's got his head down. He's embarrassed. He's humiliated. He's ashamed of himself. And God never brought up the mistake. And God didn't walk over, excuse me, Rev, to Simon Peter and say, "I can't trust you. Give me back the keys." When God gives you a gift, and God gives you a calling, it is not given up and discipline just because you've made a bad choice and because you made a mistake. That devil is a liar. I said the devil is a liar. Don't let your mistake hold you hostage. Don't let your failure hold you hostage. There is a door of discovery in your mistake. There is a portal of possibility in your mistake. And you've got to find it. It's almost like the Lord looks at us when we make our mistakes and says, "Well, in spite of your being stupid, I'm going to use you anyway."
Am I preaching good yet? I'm a little nervous here. I'm just, I don't know whether I'm helping you or not. What do you got to read for me? Right. I'm 38. Yeah. What's this one? This is a good one. I like it. For MD. Oh, wait. This is the one that when we go, we're all going to start shouting, okay? Are you ready? Now, you don't have to leave your chair. Some of you shouting could just go, "Woo!" That was it. We know God's in the house. If you do that, "Woo!" Go ahead.
"For in the O Lord, do I hope. Yea, thou wilt hear, O my God." What's this? "I hear me, lest otherwise that should rejoice over me." Right. Watch this. "When my foot slip." That's Lord, I need you to hear me. "Not if, but when my foot slips." "When I make a wrong decision. When I go in the wrong direction. When I say something I shouldn't say or do something I shouldn't have. Lord, when my foot slips, hear me and help me and come to my rescue. Don't let my mistake maul me. Don't let my mistake mark me." That's not usable. All these people have made these mistakes. God still used them in spite of their mistakes. Don't let the devil tell you you can't be used. Don't let the devil steal your future because you made a mistake.
I don't know whether you get what I'm trying to tie into this thing. Have you finished reading that? No, sir. "They magnify themselves against me." Yeah. "For I am ready to halt." Whoa, whoa. I watched it. This is a man, yet the God's own heart. He said, "I'm in such bad spiritual condition, and my emotions are erupted, and they've exploded." Watch. They said, "I'm ready to stop." I wish I had somebody in here be honest. They don't say there's some times that I'm ready to stop. There's some times I'm ready to throw the towel. But God, who is rich in mercy, but God, who delighteth in mercy, but God, who loves us more than we can imagine, will let us stop. He sent some encouragement. He sends the scripture. He lets you feel His presence. You hear a sermon. God touches you. Now, maybe that didn't do for you what it did for me. He says, "But I'm about ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare mine iniquity." Oh, stop. Hold it. Hold it. Here we go. I'm trying to get to you already. Frank, you're a charge. That whole section back there, you make sure you bring him to the altar here in five minutes. You ready?
Watch what he said. "I will declare my iniquity." Come on. It's time. It's Pentecostal lip-lock stuff to stop. Life and death is in the power of the tongue. If you got something you need to confess, you don't need to tell anybody else. You just need to open your mouth and tell the Lord. Says, "I will confess my iniquity. I will admit that I did something wrong." Why? Because from admission comes remission. Come from declaration comes restoration. There's nothing wrong with us saying, "You know what? I didn't handle that real good. I, I, I wish I hadn't said that like I did. I wish I hadn't done..." Michael, is that? Is that? Oh, yes. Yeah. Okay. Because I'm hiding behind that beard, I can't tell any movement. There you, that was a yes. Okay. So, so you do a lot of bad things, right? Well, you should see Wendy. I'm not talking about magnifying mistakes. Watch. When you make a mistake, and I make a mistake, and we fail, remember those two issues are designed by God to magnify His mercy, His grace, His kindness, His long-suffering, His goodness. The devil wants to magnify the mistake. God wants to magnify Himself. Well, here go. We made some mistakes. Then you're ready. I'm still here. I'm still here. I'm still preaching. I'm still praying. I'm still fasting. I'm still loving God. I'm still trying to do what's right. I'm trying to be an honest, God-fearing man. Yeah, I've made mistakes, but I will not let my mistakes define me.
I'm almost done. I'm almost done. What else you got to read? You got some other stuff to read? "Forsake me not, O Lord my God; be not far from me." "Make haste to help me, O Lord of my salvation." "O my good one." What else did I give you? Hurting 101, 31. Okay. For all you folks that are super glued in your seat, here's your chance to break loose right now. Ready?
"Psalms 133 and for: If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" Hold it. If the Lord keeps track, if the Lord kept tally, if the Lord, ah, if the Lord kept going, if the Lord would mark iniquity, who could stand? Nobody could. Watch this next verse. Read. "But there is forgiveness with thee." "But there is forgiveness with thee." Because God is greater than your mistake. And God is greater than your failure. And God is greater than your own choice. So we could not stand. But God, there's forgiveness with You. There's great mercy with You. There's great grace with You. So my mistake doesn't become my prison house.
I'm almost done. I'm gonna give you any more scripture. "Let Israel hope in the Lord." Yeah. "For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there's plenty as Redemption." Do you understand the difference between grace and mercy? I saved you for years in Bible school. Gers, they don't know it. I know it. They don't know it. Grace gives you what you don't deserve. Mercy holds back what you do. So we need grace, and we need mercy.
In the book of Proverbs, I think it's about chapter 16, watch what it says: "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged." Not truth and mercy, because truth is too powerful. Truth will blow you away. Truth would destroy us. So before the truth shows up, here comes mercy. It comes. Once you experience mercy, you can handle the truth. That's why this church, we need to preach the truth, but we need to preach mercy, so the truth doesn't destroy anybody. "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged." And by then, that fear the Lord shall they depart from evil. You're never going to fear the Lord until you start experiencing mercy.
Now, I'm sorry to belabor this. I'm almost done. Okay. I'm old. I'm almost done. You ready? For those of you that have ever received mercy, ever, I'd like you to act up.
Hey, girl. I know you're visiting with us, but we've had a whole church praying for you. We've been before the throne of God for you. You have, you have received mercy. You have received mercy. You burst. Now, everything ain't finished, but you just think what kind of hell and chaos it would have been if all this would have happened when you were back there. God sent that hurricane to bring you here. Oh, yes, He did. He let all that happen so you could be here. So these troubles and these problems, God could show you mercy. Why? Because He loves you more than you love yourself. I'm loved by a love that will not let me go. And I'm not going to insult the mercy of God. I'm gonna be thankful for the mercy of God. Where it had not been for the Lord's mercy, where would we be?
You may see to give me five minutes and I'm done. Give me five minutes. I'm just, I'm struggling here. I am. I guess I'm not supposed to preach it because the times. I thought this was because of the times, but I guess it's not. Okay, fine. Do you know how many people in this movement are held hostage by their mistakes that the adversary brings up? You got to hear it, Bob. God will not bring up your mistakes. Now, God will deal you in conviction and chastise you and correct you, but He's not gonna bring up. When David committed adultery and murdered her husband, now I'm not talking to you about that, you're okay. But watch. You're gonna be hard-pressed to find one scripture where God ever went back to David and said, "Hey, regarding the sex affair you had, and regarding this thing where you bumped off your husband, I'm a little ticked off about that." He never brings that up. You know why? Because if you live in fear of God exposing your mistakes, you can't get comfortable. Man, when he lies, he went into that cave. He was blown away by the discovery. The door that he went through that God didn't bring up his running away, that God didn't bring up his fear. He just said to him, "What you doing here?" He lied and he started that stuff. Well, I've been zealous for the Lord, and they've killed all your prophets, and I don't, you didn't answer my question. What are you doing here? Well, you see, I'm zealous for the Lord, and they've killed your prophets. And typical, he must have been a Pentecostal preacher because all he did was this. Now watch. Now see, if he had been, if he had been in UPC, he would have lost his license. He would have been nailed to the wall and said, "You can't preach no more 'cause you made a mistake." But God didn't bring up his mistake.
Now, I'm not minimizing mistakes. There's consequence to mistakes. But I'm turning around that God, Tyron, said, "Okay, I need to put you back to work. I want you to go anoint this guy. I want you to anoint that guy. And I want you to anoint that guy. You got work to do." He went for those 17 years. God didn't stop him being a prophet. And God is not stopping you being what you're supposed to be for God, just because you made a mistake.
I lost you. Apparently, you don't fail as much as I do. You know, it's very hard to misdirect a parked car. And too many of us are just parked. Say, "Well, how do you make all the mistakes?" I'm glad you asked. I tried all you sweet darlings and are playing it safe. Oh, I never have no failures. I don't make any mistakes, right? And you don't accomplish anything either. Better to fail trying than not to try at all. Am I right?
I'm almost done. What else you got? Alex 145. Oh, look out. Look out. I'm fixing to go for a run right about now. "The Lord is gracious." Wait a minute. Anybody know what that word means? I've taught you for 20 years what the word gracious means in the Hebrew. Here's what it means. You could write this now, Robert. Take it somewhere and tell him God showed it to you. You ready? Gracious means disposed to show favors. It's almost like God says, "I can't help myself. I just want to bless you. I just want to hug you. I just want to restore you. I just want to help you. I just want you to come out of the movie grub."
"The Lord is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger and of great mercy." And of great mercy. "The Lord is good to all." And He's turned the mercies are over all. Wait a minute. I want to debate all the theologians in this house now. What part of "all" are you going to dissect and say it has nothing to do with people that have failed? Let me give you the Hebrew explanation and the Greek translation of the word "all." Oh. Now you're not getting it. See, some of your people sitting here now, and you haven't fallen at the scene, and you haven't had an affair, and you haven't done stuff, you know, you just laughing about it. But what about the people here that are wounded? What about the people here that wish to God that had never happened? I got a word for you from the Lord. He is good to all. He's good. He will not bring up your mistake. He will not bring up your failure. He will not bring up your wrong decision.
"Keeper, keeper. Enoch. I'm almost closed." Doors 14. "Lord upholdeth all that fall." Stop. What part of "all" are you struggling with right now, Matt? Now, I don't want to hurt your feelings, Wendy, because I don't work here anymore, so you can't fire me. But, but, but I'm gonna tell you, when they just said that, "He upholds all that fall," I thought for sure you would jump up and start dancing around, Michael, 'cause you've seen how many times he falls flat on his face. And you could've danced in front of him, said, "You're gonna get up. You're gonna get up." He upholds all that fall. Oh, I feel like running a little bit.
Well, I feel excited. You don't know. I can do. I said, "You don't know like I know." When they make a mistake, but I am not a mistake. You may fail, but you are not a failure. You can stand with me. I don't, I don't need to go any further. You got anything else you want to read? "The Lord of hell did all that fall and raised up all those that be bowed down." Wait. He raised up all that fall. That's where we started. Saul went down for the count, and God raised him up and made him the apostle to the Gentiles. And said, "Your mistakes are not greater than my grace." Don't you get it? For the people that fall, I forgive. For the people that make mistakes, I show mercy. For the people who act in disgrace, I give more grace. I don't write anybody off. Church people do that. I think I got a divided house on my hand right now. I just can't seem to get you on the page with me. Maybe this means something to me. It doesn't mean to you.
When I was just a boy, fifteen years old, driving a Vespa scooter, delivering papers, Frank, you could relate to this. And not you being stupid, me being stupid. And in my stupidity, I pulled out in front of a car. And when that car hit me, I looked, and that headlight was right here. That lady in the car hit me, knocked me sideways. And I had my head against that headlight. And she, she dragged me from here to that wall because she was hysterical, and she hit the gas instead of brakes. And one, and one, she finally swung out of the way. That Vespa scooter flipped over in the air, hit the ground. When it hit the ground, I was up so fast. Shaboom! And I looked at my scooter, and it was all twisted and bent, and I couldn't drive it. And the only thing I was afraid of was George Arnold. And I was right, because when I headed home, George raised Cain with me and gave me a traffic lesson and told me how to jerk I was, and why didn't watch the traffic, and blah, blah, blah. I'm thanking God I'm alive. I thank God that I'm not crippled. I don't think you didn't get a jet. See, if my early dad wasn't real good with mercy, but my heavenly Dad is real good with mercy. Yes, I was wrong. Yes, I made a mistake. But when people make mistakes, they don't need you to preach them into condemnation. Well, it's good that you're not paying me. It's good that you're not paying me. You know, finish reading. Talk. Come on.
"The Lord is not unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him; He also will hear their cry and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love Him: but all the wicked will He destroy."
Okay, now this is my Christmas gift to you. I wanted to give you something that would help you and would make you realize that your mistakes are not going to be defined by God, and your failures are not final. Consequences, yes. Damnation, condemnation? Not hardly.
Now, if, if you would do me a favor, if you would, you don't have to, and I'm not gonna call you up when you go home. Fine. But if you would leave your pew and just kind of parade up here for a second, and, and with your own way of doing it, you would, you would reach out to God and say, "I know I've made a lot of mistakes, and I know I've failed more times than I'd like to remember. But You have not dealt with me according to my iniquity, nor rewarded me according to my sins. But there's a Father pitieth His children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." How about rose? Was it worth coming? It was okay, 'cause I know, I know you. I'm one of your favorite preachers, and I'm one of my favorite preachers too.
If you will reach past your mistake and past your failure, you, like the prodigal, are going to discover some things about God that you believed, but you had never experienced before. You've been saved by grace, but there's gonna be great grace coming. There's gonna be great mercy coming. Why don't you, why don't you just lift your voice to the Lord for just a minute and just ask God, "Thank You, Lord, that You don't define us by our mistakes. You don't label us by our wrong choices. You know, You don't put labels on us."
God wants to magnify His mercy on the other side of our mistakes. He that comes to God must believe that God is, and He's a rewarder. Come on. Just, just another two minutes. Just another two minutes. God knows where all the skeletons are in this church. God knows where all the past failures and mistakes are in this church. Come on. It's time to get free. Christmas time. He's free. He's not going to define me by my mistake. Ah, not gonna let my mistake take control of my future.