FORGIVEN FAILURES

Matthew 26:69-75 (KJV)

⁶⁹ Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.

⁷⁰ But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.

⁷¹ And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.

⁷² And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.

⁷³ And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.

⁷⁴ Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.

⁷⁵ And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

FORGIVEN FAILURES

This setting of scripture is one of the most pitiful accounts that we read in the New Testament.

This account is written about one of the twelve disciples whose name was Peter. Jesus Christ Himself had chosen this man Peter to be His follower. Peter had already bragged to Jesus Christ that Jesus could count on Him. Peter said, “I will never deny you, I will never turn from you.”

But in this setting of scripture that I have used for my text, we see that Peter did deny the Lord; he denied the fact that he had ever been with the Lord. Yes Peter cursed and lied to everyone around him at that moment.

There is no doubt in my mind that there are people reading this manuscript that in spite of all of your best efforts; in spite of your good well meaning intentions you have failed God some time in your life. I am talking about failing Him since you started walking with Him. And now you suffer so because of your failure.

At this moment, you can reminisce and remember the past times with the Lord. You can remember the joy, peace and happiness that you once experienced. You experienced all of this while you walked close to the Lord Jesus Christ, but you have failed Him, and this is where you are right now, living in failure.

When we consider the man named Moses in the Old Testament, most of us would never consider him a failure.

Think with me:

Consider with me a man in the Bible named Jacob. Now Jacob is listed as being among the greats, the Bible records it like this, “We serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Just who was this man Jacob? He was a prayer warrior, the intercessor that prevailed with God. Jacob was the man that in a vision saw angels of the Lord ascending and descending on a stairway to heaven. Jacob was the man that recognized that the presence of the Lord had been in this place. He is the one that God spoke to personally in a dream. Jacob was the younger son that had received his fathers blessing instead of the elder son receiving it.
By viewing all of this we could hardly call Jacob a failure, especially from the worlds standard today.
But Jacob was a man of many failures and God did not cover them up or hide his failures from our view. In fact God allows us to view Jacobs life from every angle.
First we see Jacob as he kneels down before his blind father, and in an act of total deception, that exceeds even the deceptions of the world, Jacob steals the birthright and the blessing that was meant to be for his older brother. This is certainly an act of deception, making Jacob a failure.
In an act of deception, Jacob was given Leah as his wife but he was in love with her sister Rachel. I can only imagine how hard this must have been on Leah, Jacob did not understand his responsibility as a husband therefore he was a failure in his own home.

Yes this man Jacob was caught up in deception after deception. He was unfaithful, cunning and crafty and even proven to be involved in thievery, yet Jesus Christ declared;

Matthew 22:32 (a) (KJV)

³² I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?

The Bible does not hide the fact that Jacob was a failure, but it also declares him to be faithful.

At the stretching forth of a rod, Moses caused the plaques to touch the whole nation of Egypt even causing death to come to the first born of every household in Egypt.

At the stretching forth of that same rod, the Red Sea divided and the children of Israel crossed over on dry ground.

On the other side of the Red Sea, with every Israelite safe and out of harms way, Moses stretched forth that same rod and the waters rolled back into place and drowned the armies of Pharaoh.

This man Moses is the one that had to cover his face, because of the glory of God that glowed from it when He had been in the Mountain with God.

It was at the feet of Moses the whole nation of Israel bowed, seeking his leadership, guidance and his advice.

Moses is the man that heard God speak from a burning bush.

The same man that has a supernatural encounter on Mount Horeb; the same man that talked face to face with God; the same man that brought water from the rock; the same man that turned bitter water into sweet water.

Moses, if he were working among us today, we would be thought of as an anointed prophet. We would have him speak at every major Christian function. Christian people would travel many miles to go hear him. He would be classed as someone gifted and was somebody special to God. Surely, nothing special could happen in our midst without him being present.

We could hardly class Moses as a failure. Not until we get behind the scene and we get beyond all this glory that we have heaped upon him. When you and I really delve into the personal life of Moses it is then when we begin to look close that we see failure after failure in the life of Moses.

Think with me, “How would you like to start your walk with God as a known Murderer?” “How would you liked to have the clear call of God to be soured by forty years alone on the backside of a desert hiding from the courts of Justice in Egypt?” This man Moses while living as a grandson of Pharaoh murdered an Egyptian and buried him in the sand, because he was beating on an Israelite. How could we ever believe that God could have ever used this man Moses, with such weaknesses and failures?

At one time this man Moses was so filled with fear and unbelief. It was during this time that Moses gave God so many excuses as to why he could not be used to deliver the children of Israel out of the land of bondage. He said God, “I am slow of speech, send someone else.” Moses is the man that angered the Lord and murmured and complained long before the children of Israel ever murmured and complained as they escaped from Egypt.

But in spite of all of His failures the bible records this, Hebrews 3:5 (KJV)

⁵ And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

In His Word God is very clear that we understand and realize that Moses is to be remembered as faithful. In spite of his past failures Moses testimony is remembered as that of being faithful.
Let us consider another man in the scriptures named David. David is known as a patriarch. In the scripture we find this is the man that said that he, “would not walk with the ungodly; he would not stand with sinners; nor would he sit with the scornful.”
This is the man that said, “I delight in the law of the Lord.”
This is the man that preached righteousness to the whole congregation. He sang openly Psalms and praises. He danced before the arc of the Covenant. He is the one that said, “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” “Praise the Lord continually at all times.”
David was the giant slayer. He was the man that led the armies of Israel from one victory to another victory. David had provoked the respect from tens of thousands and the man that all Israel sang praises to and talked of his mighty exploits.
David was the King that the Bible states his seed would Reign forever. It is even written that Jesus Christ was the son of David. No it would be hard for us to call David a Failure.
Let me remind you, the Bible does not blush over David’s failures. Neither does the Bible try to hide or cover David’s failures. The bible does not even erase the fact that David had many failures. By all the standards of society even today, David’s failures were shocking to say the least.
David was the King that sent Joab into battle leading his army of Israelites while he (David) sun bathed on his roof top and let lust cause him to sin with his neighbors wife. Nathan the prophet went and spoke to David with the Words from the Lord: 2 Samuel 12:9-14 (KJV)

⁹ Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

¹⁰ Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

¹¹ Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.

¹² For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

¹³ And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

¹⁴ Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

Remember the prophet was speaking to the same man that wrote that he delighted in the laws of God. In this setting Nathan was telling David, you have despised the laws of the Lord because you have murdered an innocent man committed adultery with his wife and she bares your child that will die because you have despised the laws of God.

If you can only imagine how shocking this must have been: Just picture David, the King of Israel who had become a mighty warrior. A man after God’s on heart standing by the casket of his dead illegitimate son, embraced in the arms of the wife he had stolen from one of his soldiers that he had had killed on the front lines of battle, while the king was home sun bathing on his roof top and committing adultery with this man’s wife.

Can you imagine with me how the enemies of God were making fun of God as they laughed and mocked this man that had stood for such righteousness, this man that had written so many beautiful Psalms of praise to the Lord. How they openly must have rejoiced when this man openly failed God. Yes, we can all see that David was such a failure.

The bible does not cover any of the facts that David failed God, but openly speaks of his failures.

The Bible vividly says, “Jesus Christ was born of the household of David.”

Jesus was called by so many, “The son of David.”

The Bible speaks of David, “A man after God’s own heart.” “The Captain over God’s people.”

How could God use such people as, the deceitful, scheming, lying Jacob?

The murderous, intimidated, murmuring Moses…

The lustful, conniving, murdering David…

The denying, cursing, coward Peter…

Pray tell me, why did God use such men? For us to ever understand the why to this question, we must take a closer look at the lives of these men.

Thru much study and viewing of these men’s lives you will see that each one of them learned to face their failures. They did not deny they had failed. They did not run and hide from their failures. They did not try to cover up the fact that they had failed. Neither did they gloat over their failures either. But they learned to live above their failures.

Yes, Brothers and Sisters, these men learned to face their own failures, shortcomings, weaknesses, and sins. And above all they learned to give all the glory to God for their getting up again.

Let me help someone right now. There are too many people in this day and age that struggle with their past. Because of this there are even some that are reading this manuscript that are totally haunted by personal past failures.

Over the tenure of my ministry, especially as a pastor, I have had so many people tell me, “Bro Bankens I really do want to live for God, but I am afraid to come and pray and turn it all over to the Lord, because I do not think I can make it.” Then they begin to tell me of their weaknesses and of their past failures and they say, “I am just too weak to survive.” “I just do not have enough power within myself to overcome, because I am such a failure already, why should I even try?”

Then to top it all off Bro Bankens, I know the people of the local church, will never let me get by without them reminding me of my past even though Jesus Christ has forgiven me.

Let me get something across to all of you here in this service, “If you are one that thinks these kinds of thought, I have some good news for you: If anyone from the local churches wants to bring up your past failures…you are closer to God than they are…they are trying to get the spotlight off of themselves and they are not wanting to admit that they are having a difficult time themselves getting beyond personal failures in their own life. The kinds of people that will continually bring up your past, need help because they want everyone to think they are perfect and have never admitted to God or anyone else that they need forgiveness themselves and by living like they are they are at odds with God and everyone else.

James 5:16 (my wording)

16 Admit to one another that you have faults and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest sincere prayers of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results.

1 John 1:8-10 (my wording)

8 If we say we have no sin we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept truth.

9 But if we confess our sins to Him, we can depend on Him to forgive us and cleanse us from every wrong.

10 If we claim we have never sinned, we are lying and calling God a liar also, and His Spirit is not in us.

 I believe God is trying to reveal this truth to someone in this place right now. Jesus Christ desires to be your savior and friend right now. Some of you are thinking, “How do I become a man or woman of God with all of the failures of my life?

First of all you must face your own failures and shake of the fear of failing again. Never be afraid to own up to your failures. I can promise you this one thing, “The individual that has never failed, has never done anything nor have they really ever tried to do anything.”

An individual that is accomplishing much for the Lord has made many mistakes and has faced many failures in their time.

Saints of God never be afraid to face failure. Fear of failure always causes a person to run away and to hide themselves from the presence and the work of God.

After Adam and Eve had sinned and failed God, by partaking of the fruit from the forbidden tree the Bible shows what they did about their failure.

Genesis 3:8 (KJV)

⁸ And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

They did just like most people still do today, when we fail, we run off and hide from the presence of God, when it is a proven fact we need to run to Him and confess our failures and sins and He will be faithful and just and forgive us.

In the text that I used for this manuscript Peter was a FAILURE in every sense of the word. He had failed Jesus Christ during Christ arrest and false trial. Peter tried to get away from it all when He realized all that he had done and the Bible says, “and went out and wept bitterly.”

Every one of these great men that I have presented to you in this message, tried to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord because they feared their own Failures.

Why, do you think these great men ran from the presence of the Lord?

(My Opinion) I do not believe it was because these men loved God less. In fact, I do not believe they ever lost their love for the Lord at all, but these men were struggling with their own personal failures.

In this text, we see the great Apostle Peter I do not believe he ever lost his love for Jesus Christ. In fact I honestly believe as he stood on that hillside weeping his love for Jesus was as strong and real as it had ever been, because he wept real bitter tears of sorrow. But Peter was struggling with the pain of his own failures.

As I view all of these men I have talked about, they understood and realized they had failed. Fear and grief overwhelmed them and they ran from the presence of God to escape their own failures.

Some of you that read this manuscript are in that same type of fix. You have failed God, some of you many times, but you have never stopped loving Him. But you are battling your own personal fears of failure and you are trying to hide by escaping the presence of God, because you cannot face your own failure.

Satan and his devils, demons, imps, hang around you like a vulture or a wolf on the prowl, and they constantly make plays against your personality.

Satan works on you or has his devils work on you until at some point they find the weak link. Remember a chain is only as strong as its weakest link and you and I as human beings are only as strong as our weakest point or link. Each one of you must figure out for your self what your weak point is? Cover this weak point of your life with much prayer and fasting. Fill your spirit with the Word of God, by reading scriptures often and hearing good preaching often. Have other saints of God pray for you laying hands on you often for strength and courage.

Identify for yourselves the weak link or weak point of our own life and get yourselves under subjection to God and the man of God in your life. Become accountable to someone beside your self. Get fortified in the blood of Jesus so that your weak link will not break.

Saints of God we must realize Satan is a master at ruining lives. He is a master at breaking and devastating people. You and I are only as strong as our weakest point and Satan will work on that weak point until we break.

Then when we are broken in failure, no matter how large or small our failure is, Satan then plants fear in our heart. He continually reminds us that we are no good. He constantly tells us God can no longer love us and we are of no value to God any longer. Satan tells us the only way thru this is to run off and hide and get ourselves out of the presence of God. Most often because of the overwhelming guilt that we feel we listen to Satan and we run in fear and we hide ourselves from the presence of God.

Let me remind you Satan will always remind you of your past, telling you that you are a misfit and a failure. He will tell you that God cannot use you because He is a perfect and holy God; that that He cannot use you because you have flaws, you are unclean and imperfect. He will tell you that you do not have what it takes to live for God and that you are never going to make it. What is amazing to me is people listen to his lies and give up on God, leave God’s presence, stop going to church and just quite.

We as Christian’s often fall into a terrible trap. When we first repent and receive the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, we are on fire, full of life and vigor. We come to church with a shout, swinging from the chandeliers, bouncing off the walls and running the aisles, we are on cloud nine. We hear the best singing and preaching that can be heard. We testify with anointing everywhere we go with no fear or shame. We begin to testify with an anointing and people stop and listen people get converted by our witness. It is then that we realize God wants to use us. We begin to set our new goals with personal priorities. We now visualize ourselves preaching to thousands at a time, we loose the zeal of being used in our small congregation God needs us to turn the world upside down. We visualize laying hands on multitudes and them recovering. We then begin to set our sights on reaching a supernatural height that is above anything we are now involved in.

Oh we still come to church faithfully, we are still faithful in our praise and worship. We still support the local church with out tithes and offerings, but we now have a new criterion we have a ministry to fulfill and we cannot be held back by this small church setting, why we have a call of God our life and we need to stretch our self beyond this small local church setting.

We step out and begin to teach Bible Studies to other people and suddenly people are pulling on us to preach and we begin to step out from under the protection of our local church and our local pastor, we are climbing to new heights in God. We get better and better and are climbing higher and higher all the time.

We now feel so good about ourselves because in our own eyes we are becoming such a success. We think we have qualified ourselves now step by step. In our own eyes we are Holy, Godly, Flawless, Powerful and have a supernatural anointing upon our life. But just about the time we think we have it made, we make a stupid mistake, and we are knocked all the way back down to the bottom, because of our own failure.

We are now living in total delusion and confused. We are now embarrassed, bruised, hurting and do not know what we are to do. We understand we have blown it we have messed up completely and we are now a failure.

We then crawl off into some corner away from everyone, hide our face, and lick our wounds. We are depressed and crying to our self. We are literally shedding many tears because we have messed up, we have failed, it is over for me now, I am finished, and we run away from everyone and hide.

We are now filled with condemnation and Satan just heaps more and more condemnation upon us, telling us we are washed up and finished. Other saints of God often help Satan by adding to our pain and hurt while we are down.

We now run from the presence of God and try to hide. We stop attending church on a regular bases and when we do we will not participate and we are unmoved. In this condition we no longer enjoy the preaching. We make all kinds of excuses as to the reasons we are no longer involved or participating with the local church. It is tough we get mad or angry with God and blame Him for our failures.

Saints of God this is exactly where Satan wants each and every one of us. Because as long as we are missing church and avoiding the presence of God, making excuses and licking our wounds, we are really of no value to the work of God, the church or the kingdom and we are no longer a threat to Satan.

I remember when I was a teenager I went with my Pastor, Bro Lonnie Marcus on visitation. We stopped at this home and invited a couple to church. The man was the owner of an industrial sandblast painting construction company. He was a very crude acting individual, but I could see by his demeanor that he really was a tough individual. As we began to visit with them this rough individual began to mellow and he could quote scripture. Bro Marcus began to get the man to open up and talk. We found out the man was a backslidden Pentecostal preacher. He had evangelized for several years and had been pastor to about three local church congregations in and around the Lafayette, Louisiana area years before. He began to share some the hurts and pains he had encountered while in the ministry and how he finally just gave up and walked away. He told us I am just a failure with no value to God and there is no reason for me to even try. Bro Marcus said, “My brother, you might have failed, but you are not a failure, you have just got to get up and deal with your self and let God move again in your life. I watched as tears began to flow down that mans cheeks and the power of the Holy Ghost fell in that little living room and God renewed that couple. They came back to church and God allowed the man to minister some again over the last few years of his life. That man and his wife have since passed away, but both were doing a work for the Kingdom. They had gotten beyond their failures.

Instead of you and I crawling into some corner and hiding when we slip and when we fail. We ought to come out of our corner telling Satan, “I am going to make you wish that you had never dealt with me.” “Satan I am going to make you wish you had never tangled with me or even so much as heard my name.” “Satan you are going to wish you had never messed with me and tripped me up and tried to make me fail.”

“Yes, Satan, I did make a mistake, I did fail, but guess what, I am still going to church, I am still going to praise and worship the Lord.” “Satan I am going to lift my hands to honor God, I am still going to worship Jesus Christ as my Lord, Master, Savior, King and God.” No matter how far down I have fallen Satan, No matter what anyone else thinks, I am going to lift Jesus up, because He is my only hope and the answer to all that I have need of.

Some of you need to shake your self right now, and leave your failures behind. You need to get back into the work of God. You need to start living for God with all your soul and might. You need to stand up right now make you an altar repenting and giving Satan a black eye. Satan is a liar and the father of all lies. Satan has come to kill, steal and to destroy. Satan is an accuser of the brethren. Satan is tricky, crafty, cunning and is a deceiver.

Let me give it to you straight, Satan is a looser, a no body, a first class jerk, and he is the failure of all failures.

Let me give you a picture of this failure:

From the Holy Mount of God; to the air above; down into this earth; down into the bottomless pit; down into the lake, which burns with fire and brimstone; Yes Satan is on his way to hell even as I speak.

But we that are a part of the Bride of Christ are on our way up, “we will meet the Lord in the air.”

Satan could not live for God when there was no devil to tempt him. The next time Satan reminds you of past failure, just remind him of his failures and remind him that you might have failed but you have since been forgiven.

Every man from the Bible that I have mentioned in this manuscript had problems and failures in their life. They were each devastated by their failure and they tried to hide themselves from the presence of God. They each felt like they had missed the will of God and could never be used by God again.

Exodus 2:14 (KJV)

¹⁴ And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

Exodus 2:15 (KJV)

¹⁵ Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

Everyone here at this moment has been tempted and yes we have failed. But we must understand that God has always provided us a way to escape these temptations that Come against us, yet when we fail we must get up again and continue living for God and doing His will.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (AMP)

¹³ No temptation [regardless of its source] has overtaken or enticed you that is not common to human experience [nor is any temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [to His word—He is compassionate and trustworthy], and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability [to resist], but along with the temptation He [has in the past and is now and] will [always] provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy].

We must always remember that before we fail, we face temptation and we must realize that temptation and failure is not unique to us.
Now I am not condoning just out and out blatant sin, nor am I condoning open rebellion of a saint of God. But I am trying my best to rescue someone before Satan totally does a number on you and you give up and quit.
Moses fled Egypt and went to the backside of the desert and dwelt in the land of Midian and he sat down by a well.
Picture this with me a perfect scene of failure: Moses sitting by a well on the backside of nowhere, I can see it as he is crying to himself. “I am a failure, it is all over, I am of no value, I am washed up.” “I thought I had a purpose; I thought I had a future. But look at me now, I had to run for my life, I am on the backside of this desert in hiding in fear of my life.”
Saints of God it took Moses forty years on the backside of this desert before God could drive the fear of failure out of his heart.
In spite of his failures Moses learned to believe in God. Moses learned to trust God, Moses learned to lean on God and Moses learned to follow God. 
I have realized in my own life how much I need God. How much I depend on God. I have learned that God must love me so much to have put up with my weaknesses and my failures. I have told God in prayer so many times; “God as much as you are God and as much I am a man that is how much I need and depend on you.”
I of all people understand failure:
Work related failure, Business failure, Family Failure and Spiritual Failure. I have literally been a dud in all areas most of my life.
At the young age of seventeen years I felt my call to preach. I let people, even preachers get in my way and in that endeavor I became a failure.
I went to work in the industry in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. In 1974 I was the youngest man to be on the Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers Union local 555 Negotiating Committee and helped negotiate our contract with Conoco in the Lake Charles Refinery. I had so many anger issues wrapped up inside of me by this time that I was hard to deal with.
In 1976 went into Equipment Sales and Rental Business with my brothers. We scratched for about a year and a half, then we separated the businesses and by the end of 1978 I really began to have financial trouble. I was now a failure in so many aspects of my life. I realized at this point I would never be any use to the work of God again because I had people and preachers telling me I was a failure, that I had no hope. Folks this is a bad place to find yourself in, the spot of a failure.
It was during this time that I found my way back to God. My family and I attended Apostolic Temple Pentecostal Church in Lake Charles, Louisiana on the second Sunday night of 1978. I was broke, disgusted and a big failure. But Pastor M. D. Treece, His wife Sister Betty Treece accepted my family and me. They really did not know my situation but they let me find my way back to the foot of the cross. In 1980 I began to teach a Bible Study in Mossville, Louisiana it was an all black group that I grew to love so much. It was in this setting that God was getting me prepared for the next phase of my journey of life. After 8 ½ years in the Bible study in Mossville that I again was having so many problems and God opened the door for me to evangelize. I was forty years old when I accepted my call to preach. I spent the next twelve years on the road as a traveling evangelist, with the Louisiana District UPCI. In 1999 the door opened for me to pastor a small church in Rome, Georgia. My wife and I stayed there five years. In 2004 God let me know it was time for me to leave Rome, Georgia and we were called to New Chapel UPC where we have spent the past 11 ½ years in the will of God and as of this writing we are still at New Chapel UPC.

 After 20-30 years as a failure I was 40 years old at the bottom of the barrel and God got my attention. Apprehensively I began to lay aside my past failures and God has since used me in a mighty way to fulfill His will. It has not all been easy, but it has been with God’s anointing upon it.

Let me help us all, “We see the mistakes of others, we begin to mark them and label them. If we are not careful we never give them the right to change and be all that God wants them to be. When they do try to change and overcome we do not let them lay down the stigma of their failures. We often continue to suppress them downward, all the while God is trying to lift them up and trying to get them in position so that He can use them.

David understood and knew he had failed and sinned. Psalm 139:7-12 (KJV)

⁷ Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

⁸ If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

⁹ If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

¹⁰ Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

¹¹ If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

¹² Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

David also knew that he was going to pay a price for his failure and he wrote,

Psalm 5:6-7 (NLT)

⁶ Oh, that I had wings like a dove; then I would fly away and rest!
⁷ I would fly far away to the quiet of the wilderness.

Saints of God there is no place for any of us to hide from the presence of God. Especially we that have been baptized in His name and filled with His Holy Spirit. Even when we fail we cannot get away from God. For this I am so thankful, because God loves us so much that He is not willing that any of us perish, especially in our failures.

I am of the opinion that once you have known God in His fullness, when you sin and become a failure you will never hide from Him. I believe that God will Haunt you like a jealous lover, in nine of ten different settings in the Old Testament it is recorded like this,

Deuteronomy 6:15 (a) (KJV)

¹⁵ (For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you)

No one that has ever known the Lord can just run and hide because He will haunt you. Now I do believe that you can choose to stay where you are and be lost. But I also have a hope that He is ever reaching for those that have failed Him and that is the hope that I have for many that have failed Him. Do we not understand how much our Savior really does love us and no matter what we have done He still loves us and when we turn back to Him He will forgive us and use us for His glory.
When society turns its back on you. When your friends no longer come around. When your family kicks you out. Jesus will come to where you are. He will place His arms of love around you. He will sooth your pain and sorrows. He will pick you up again and claim you for His own again.
If you are one that is living in failure, you can reach for the Lord and understand He really does still love you and has been reaching for you all this time. There is nowhere that you can run and hide from the presence of the Lord. Why don’t you do yourself a favor now, surrender to Jesus. Become what He wants you to become and simply serve Him with all of your heart.
If any of these men in the Bible that I used in this manuscript would not have turned around at the bidding of God there would be no record of them in the Holy Scriptures.
We see Jacob returning after he had a wrestling match with the angel of the Lord and was changed and walked with a limp. But was later reunited with his brother and His name was changed to Israel, even though He had been a failure.
Moses rose up and went back to Egypt, forgetting his past failures and with the rod of God in his hand led the Children of Israel out of Egypt.
We see David after so many failures in life, going into the House of God and laying hold of the Horns of the Altar and becoming a mighty man of faith, the Bible says, “A man after God’s own heart.”
Then the man we see in our text is Peter. Even though he denied the Lord three times and even denying that He had ever been with Him. Peter forgetting his past failures stood up on the Day of Pentecost and preached the message of salvation to the Jews that were in Jerusalem. Peter became a man of faith and power and opened the door of salvation for our generation on the Day of Pentecost.
Now I have said all that I have said to get to this point. It has always been after failure that men of the bible did their greatest work for God.
Saints of God it is not really how one start’s that counts the most in living for God. I know that we all want much of our life to make sense in living for God and we do want to accomplish much for His Kingdom while we can. But if we have failed and gotten up again and are living with all our might for Him what really counts is how we end.
I do not care who you are. I am really not concerned about your failure. But I am telling you please get yourself up again and get involved with God, because the greatest days are still ahead of us.
I am 67 years old at this writing and have been in the United Pentecostal Church all of my life. I notice an unfortunate trend among Christians still to this day. Today we throw out the David’s and harbor the Saul’s.
I have watched us all of my life and can honestly say I have personally been a victim of this myself. An individual makes a mistake, they fail they even sin. They come down to our altars and repent and turn their life back over to God. God accepts them back but often we as saints of God refuse to forget their failure, we never let them live it down. Before long so many of them give up and become eternal failures. All the while we Christian’s harbor and give refuge to those that have the spirit of Saul. We place them in leadership positions. We let them teach and indoctrinate our children and teens. We let them participate in music and singing. We let them handle the church monies and finances. All the while they are rebellious, wicked, evil and full of spirits.
Saints I ask us, which do we think God is going to use? An individual that has made mistakes, sinned and failed, but comes to God repenting, “Forgive me Lord for I am a sinner, a failure, I am not worthy to even be called your child.” Or the individual that is like the Pharisee in living for God. These are the ones that scheme and plot their way in the church, controlling and manipulating the people of God. I am talking about people that are not concerned about the salvation of souls as they destroy the lives of others by publicly ostracizing them to everyone else for the past sin and failures. These evil people have the spirit of Saul and they judge everyone else, even after God has forgiven them. You and I know that God will use the David’s or the repentant failure.
There is going to be a rude awakening one of these days. So many people that attend church and but have the spirit of Saul are going to be shocked when they miss the rapture and have to stand before the judgment seat of the Lord at the Great White Throne Judgment and have to give an account of all this evil that they have done in the name of Christianity.
I am not trying to make room for sin in the church with all that I have stated. But where’s our mercy, love and compassion. I will tell you this truth, “He who cannot forgive, will be judged with the same measure of Judgment and will find himself in trouble with God.”

If you cannot forgive others, you are burning the bridge over which you yourself can escape and it will be only a matter of time that you yourself will need mercy, but because you gave no mercy there will be none there for you.”

Let me remind each and every one of you, “If God forgives someone, you had best forgive them also it does not matter what they have done. When God forgives we had best embrace them, love them and help them. We had best not treat them as though they have leprosy or some dreaded disease. If we do not treat them as a brother or sister in Christ we are in trouble.
After forty years of failure and fear. Moses stands at the Red Sea as the leader of the Children of God. He is fulfilling the will of God even after his failure.
Standing on the banks of the Red Sea with no way to escape. Pharaoh and his army are coming rapidly towards them. The children of Israel that Moses is leading are crying out in fear, and some even in open opposition. But Moses the man who once lived in failure stood with dignity, in fact I would say this was one of Moses finest hours as he stood with power and authority and spoke to the children of Israel.

Exodus 14:13 (KJV)

¹³ And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

I challenge you do not give up because you have failed and even sinned. Give yourself to Jesus, and come to Him just as you are. Jesus can mold you and make you into what He wants you to be. Your greatest hour is yet to come.
Where did Moses get his strength? Where did his courage come from? Moses had learned to talk with God about everything as a very close and dear friend.

Exodus 33:11 (a) (KJV)

¹¹ And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend…

Listen to me, it does not matter how deep in sin you have found yourself, or how bad your failure is, you must keep yourself going back to God, over and over. Talk to God face to face as a friend. Have an intimate relationship with Him.
Why was David called the man after God’s own heart? David had stolen another man’s wife. He had a man murdered to cover his sin. But in spite of his failures David loved God above all else. David had a repentant heart and never tried to cover and hide his sin from God. David had an open communication with God. David kept a teachable spirit. David refused to rebel against the judgments of God and He accepted everything that God did with dignity.

Psalm 25:1-7 (KJV)

¹ Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

² O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

³ Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

⁴ Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.

⁵ Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

⁶ Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.

⁷ Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.

Psalm 25:11 (KJV)

¹¹ For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.

Psalm 25:20-21 (KJV)

²⁰ O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.

²¹ Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.

“for I wait on thee.” – wait – “KAW VAW” – a primitive root twisted together.
“KAW VEH” – a cord twisted together or a binding rope – to sevens ones self with the Lord – to interweave like fabric…to draw closer so as to make one stronger.
David waited on the Lord like a table server at a restaurant – waiter or waitress – desire to please.
You and I are to also wait on the Lord and in doing so He will be pleased and we will be strengthened.

Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)

³¹ But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Some of you will never be the same again. You cannot be, because you have come face to face with your failures. You feel the mercy and the grace of God like you have never felt it before.
For the first time some of you feel hope and you realize that Satan has totally lied to you. Yes you have failed you have flubbed up and maybe even sinned. But you have felt the presence of God as He is drawing you back to Himself. I beg you please do not let this end for you at this point, but make you and altar somewhere and begin to repent and let Him restore you and strengthen you where you are right now.
We started this journey with some of you as failures. You knew you were a failure. But you are so tired of the old load you have been carrying and you are ready to let God lift that load now. Let Him change you and you can be changed now to a forgiven failure to be used of God in these last days to rescue other failures.