Expanded Message Notes!

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1 OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF FAILURE Message #1279 Pastor Keith Stewart June 6-7, 2015 Expanded Message Notes What would you attempt for God if you knew you wouldn t fail? Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. - James Hollingworth 1. WE LEARN MORE FROM FAILURE THAN SUCCESS - Success always starts with failure I don t believe we learn by our triumphs. I think we learn by our mistakes. Goodness knows, it s not that you want to. But it s the stumblings that give us some clue as to what we re really driving for." - Chuck Jones, Animator of Bugs Bunny show Failure is actually more common than success, poverty is more prevalent than wealth, and disappointment more normal than arrival. - John Maxwell - The downside of success Success can blind you. Failure is a unifying theme of engineering. But most of what is taught to engineering students is based on successful designs and unsuccessful designs are virtually ignored. - Henry Petroski, Engineer and Historian One of the paradoxes of engineering is that successes don't teach you very much. A successful bridge teaches you that that bridge works. It does not teach you that the same bridge, built at a different location or made longer or taller, will also be successful. - Henry Petroski, Engineer and Historian Success can bind you. The Success Syndrome (The four A's) 1.) Arrogance 2.) Aloneness 3.) Adventure seeking

2 4.) Adultery - Steven Berglas, The Success Syndrome 2. DON T FEAR WHAT EVERYONE DOES Dear brothers, don't be too eager to tell others their faults, for we all make many mistakes... James 3.1 (Living Bible) There is no one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake. Ecclesiastes 7.20 (Good News) My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. - Abraham Lincoln There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew. - Thomas Edison I failed my way to success. - Thomas Edison Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. - Thomas Edison Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life. - Sophia Loren 3. FAILURE IS NOT FATAL Few of our own failures are fatal. - Tim Harford, Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure. If they fall it isn't fatal, for the Lord holds them with his hand. Psalm (Living Bible) We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. 2 Corinthian 4.9b Failure is not... Failure is... Failing to reach a goal Failing to set a goal Falling down refusing to get back up again Missing a high mark is someone with low aim Being embarrassed blaming someone else

3 Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. - Teddy Roosevelt When you let go of the image of being perfect, the fear of failure will let go of you. 4. RECOGNIZE THE BENEFITS A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in the experience. - Elbert Hubbard - To educate me A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. Proverbs (Living Bible) Turn failure into success: 1.) Honestly face defeat 2.) Exploit the failure 3.) Never use failure as an excuse for not trying again - Charles Kettering

4 Post-it notes Proctor & Gamble - Ivory Soap - To motivate me Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways. Proverbs (Good News) - To cultivate me We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us, they help...develop strength of character... Romans (Living Bible)

5 - To humble me...we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God. 2 Corinthians 10.5 (Good News) 5. FAILURE TEACHES ME TO RELAX IN GOD S GRACE There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4.18 There are three kinds of fear that a person can have. 1.) Surface fears 2.) Subconscious fears 3.) Soul fear It is not the fact of being loved unconditionally that s life-changing. It s the experience of allowing myself to be loved unconditionally. - David Benner, Surrender to Love When do you know you are loved unconditionally? When you re at your best and when you re at your worst?