Michael Todd - Fresh Failure (Faith After Failure)
Today, I have a word that is about to change everything. Now, when I say that, some of y’all might be like, «No, because that other word was the one.» Okay, cool, but «he that hath an ear, let him hear.» I thought about what would be the most impactful message I could share with somebody after the amazing Easter we had, where over 1,024 people got a fresh start. And more than just those people, there are others who have been living a stale life—a life with no motion, no actual momentum—that actually said, «You know what? God is doing something in me.» You felt your faith; you felt your baby jump; you felt something, and you’re like, «You know what? I want to live a fresh life.» I asked myself what I would tell them if I could sit with them one-on-one, and I began to list out a few things.
Number one, I would tell you that Jesus loves you. Number two, I would tell you that you’re going to make it. Yes, like, I don’t know who needs to hear this right now, but if I were just sitting across from you at a coffee shop, I would tell you, «You’re going to make it.» If the enemy was going to kill you, he would have done it back then. Look at your neighbor, prophesy to them, and say, «You’re going to make it.» Look at the other neighbor you didn’t like as much the first time and tell them, «You’re going to make it too.» Come on, in the chat, tell them, «You’re going to make it too.»
So, I tell you Jesus loves you; then I would tell you you’re going to make it. I wrestled with the third one because, as a pastor who loves to encourage people and preach faith, I always like to end things on a high note. But the more I get into pastoring, something that wouldn’t have made it on my list as the third thing has become clear. I’ve walked with enough people to see that people would rather know the truth than be told lies that feel good. Am I in a room with people who want the truth? Okay, we keep it humble, open, and transparent here. If I were just sitting with you at a coffee shop, looking into your eyes, Pastor Mike and you, I would tell you to get familiar with failure.
Now, I know—aren’t you the crazy faith guy? I’m completely the crazy faith guy. Aren’t you that God guy who believes God can do immeasurably more? Yes, I’m that guy too. But what I’ve found in this Christian journey is that if you are not calibrated with failure, it’ll stop your faith. If you don’t have a healthy relationship and manage your expectations around failure, it will paralyze you and crystallize you in a season of disappointment. I am here to help shake somebody out of that moment because many of you have been in a place where God is speaking to you, telling you what to do, opening up doors, but you won’t move because you’re afraid to fail.
«I can’t start the company because what if I fail?» «I can’t say that because what if I don’t sound right?» «I can’t do that,» and failure has you paralyzed at the point of your purpose. If you do not have a healthy relationship with failure, it will hinder your ability to step out in faith. Okay, I’m about to preach heavily today, so I need you to take notes and probably run this back two or three times because there are people about to do—I sense it so strongly—things that were unheard of for anybody in your family. God is about to open doors in your life that will never shut for generations. I feel this thing—God is going to allow you to walk in revelation that will change the minds of people you will never meet. But the enemy would love to stop you at the point of the fear of your next failure. It hasn’t even happened yet! It’s controlling your present because of the possibility of your future.
Wow! Come on, the title of today’s sermon is fresh failure. If you’re going to walk in faith, I need you to know that there may be a time when you have a fresh failure. Failure is a part of walking in faith. We talk about all of these stories like they just happened, like a fairy tale, like a Disney movie, and we edit out all the parts that seem like failures. So true! Noah built the ark; his whole family got on there, and two of every animal just happened to get on the boat. That was a failure! If you met up with Noah 42 days after starting the ark, would you have even known where to find a giraffe?
Think about it—did anybody find an iguana? What if you never built anything before? If you had snapshot Noah’s life at a certain point, you would have called it a failure. But he was acquainted with people walking by every day, saying, «He’s stupid! That doesn’t make any sense.» Did y’all see Noah out there building that ark? It was a failure until the day after it started raining. And if Noah and his family did not have a healthy relationship with failure, it would have stopped them in the middle of their faith journey.
Okay, okay, I’m trying to move, but I have to talk to the religious people who would say, «No, no, no! I don’t ever fail.» Shut up! What we are presenting to people is a gospel that will disappoint them and eventually allow them to deconstruct. If everything is pie in the sky and everything works out all the time in every moment, no, we can believe and be real about the situation. Oh gosh, I’m not going to lie to you—you may not be a millionaire; you may not get six-pack abs; you may never preach on this stage. Some of y’all think, «God gave me a vision that I was going to be at Transformation Church.» I was going to be on the stage, and Pastor Mike was going to call me, and we were going to sing Yahweh together.
That may happen, but if I keep selling you something that is not congruent with the biblical model of how God refines, sanctifies, and transforms people, it seems like failure may be a tool in God’s hands. There are certain things you may learn in a mess-up that you don’t learn in a victory. There are lessons that come from things not working out completely that prepare you for when they do work out. Do you understand what I’m saying? If you do not develop a healthy relationship with failure, you will remain paralyzed at the point where your faith needs to kick in.
So, I wanted my first point to be something really truthful: it’s futile to act like you never fail. If you’re one of those believers who, to get saved, had to admit, «I’m a failure; I can’t do this without you, God,» then why do you judge people who do? Church people are the worst at kicking their fallen heroes. The same people you went to the conference to see—if they mess up under pressure, we just boom—their worth disappears. The Bible clearly says, «Those of you who are spiritual, restore those who fall in gentleness.» I need you to remember that you have the same capacity to experience failure. But for some reason, when we come to God as failures, we seem to think that failing is no longer part of the equation.
Today, I want to give you the ability to reframe, refocus, and renew your mind about failure. Okay, let’s go together. Many people’s ability to walk in faith is being hindered by the illusion of failure in the future. Write it down: many people’s ability to walk in faith presently is being hindered by the illusion of failure in the future. If you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you do tomorrow? I’m talking heavy today. If you knew that you couldn’t fail, what would you do? I want you to really answer that question.
Would you actually write the business plan if you knew that what you wrote could actually happen? Would you actually move to the city God told you to, knowing nobody and without what you need? What if you somehow knew this was going to work out? Sir, somehow, with God on my side and with this little bit of faith that I have—the size of a mustard seed—with this little bit of faith, God, and the Word, I can move mountains. And most people will not do the thing they know God has confirmed for them 52 times over 10 years, and they’re still sitting here like, «Lord, what about this apartment you gave me?» He said, «I’ll give you another one.»
Are you holding on to all this for that house? Are you holding on to all this for that status? «I just don’t want to go home for Thanksgiving; my family is ruthless.» They would roast me if I told them that I actually left medical school to follow God in this other venture. Okay, come on! If God is for you, not if your family is for you. I know this is heavy, but many times you will have to take a faith step in the face of people you love disagreeing with what God has called you to do.
I’m just going to tell you the truth. You want everyone to agree with you, and they won’t because God didn’t speak to them. If you’re waiting for confirmation from someone who doesn’t pray, I do not understand how you’re wanting someone who lacks a relationship with God to confirm to you that God told you to do something.
«Well, they have so much wisdom,» but they’ve been disobedient for years. Money does not equal wisdom, and there’s a guru in this space, but God’s hand is not on them. This is what I’m telling you: Saul was still in position as king when God had taken His hand off of him. He said, «He won’t listen to me; He won’t obey me; I’m not talking to him anymore.» If you do not take your eyes off of people who have been successful but aren’t being spoken to by God the way He speaks to you, you’ll find yourself in the wrong place. Hear what I’m saying!
You have to be okay walking in this tension. «This relationship may not make it because they don’t believe what God has called me to do.» That’s okay! Or maybe this relationship will have to be suspended at a level of intimacy because everything doesn’t have to be cut off. Sometimes, they just don’t need as much access, but I’m so done with you—unfollow? No, you’re being dramatic! Stop! Maybe in a different season, we will have the emotional awareness to actually do something with that, but at this moment, I can’t come to you when I’m still deciding for myself if I’ll obey God because your two cents of doubt is going to take me over, and I’ll be in the deficit.
Does everybody understand what I’m saying? So, many people’s ability to walk in faith is being hindered by the illusion of failure in the future. But on the flip side, many people’s ability to walk in faith is being hindered by the impact of failures in the past. It’s both ends. Some of us are scared because we don’t know what’s going to happen, and some are scared because we know what happened last time—because last time I stepped out in faith.
Today, I want to talk to both groups soberly, having walked on both sides of that pendulum—having to live in the tension of things that I’ve done working out really well and things that worked out poorly. And then God saying, «Alright, get back on the horse again; let’s try it.» I’m like, «Lord, wasn’t last time enough?» No! we walked by last time wasn’t enough. Until you come and meet me, I will always put a faith project in front of you.
My God, did y’all hear what I just said? Until we go and meet our Savior, there will be a faith project in front of you personally! Yes! If you keep ignoring that faith project, what you’re doing is delaying your fruit. I want fruit, but you cannot have fruit without faith, and you cannot have faith without building a measure of failure. Come on!
Alright, maybe we don’t just need a healthy relationship with failure; maybe we need a holy relationship with failure. That word «holy» means set apart. When I fail, I’m looking at it like God. What are you trying to do in me? How are you setting me apart by this thing not working the way I intended for it to work? What are you trying to carve out of me? What are you trying to carve me into? What are you trying to scrape off the sides of my heart or my soul? What are you trying to redirect in my language? How are you trying to use this moment that seems like a failure right now to set me apart? I found a guy who’s an Olympic failure in the Bible. He has the gold, silver, and bronze medal in failing. His name is Peter.
Many times we look at Peter’s life, and we don’t fully realize—this is what I realize—how close Peter was to Judas. Everybody dogs Judas for betraying Jesus, but Peter was kind of at the same caliber. I can prove it to you in the Bible. I’m going to walk through this. The difference between Judas and Peter is that when Judas betrayed Jesus, that was the end of his story. He didn’t get past the failure; he let those little coins be the end of the story. But Peter, just a few chapters later, does the exact same thing for no money. He didn’t even get paid for it.
A little girl was like, «Don’t you know Jesus?» He was saying, «I don’t know Jesus; I don’t know Jesus.» They were like, «I bet you better not say it again!» He denied Him. And why do we not dog Peter? Nobody says, «Don’t dog Peter.» Why? Because Peter did not let his failure be the end. He kept pursuing Jesus after the failure. I don’t know who needs to hear this right now, but you do not fail if you keep pursuing Jesus after the failure. Today, I want to encourage you to do the same thing by looking at his life. Many of us, again, are paralyzed, and we’re going to go down in history with, «I thought God was going to do it,» and God’s standing there like, «I’m trying to.»
When I found Peter in John 21, verse 3, it says, «Simon Peter said, 'I’m going fishing.'» I love context in the Bible because we just read these things as if they are really calm and peaceful. But Jesus has just died; everybody’s scared. The disciples are freaking out, and he’s sitting there with the guilt and shame on him that he denied Jesus three times and never got to tell Him «I’m sorry.» I think he was stressed, and the disciples were like, «What are we doing today?» He was like, «I’m going fishing.» You know how sometimes you do things just to get away? «I’m going for a drive.» What other things do you do when you get to that point? Someone said, «I go to drink.» «Stop! Hold on, wait a minute! Come back!» «Okay, I’mma smoke some weed.» «Huh? Wait, hold on, wait!» «I’m going shopping!»
Someone’s like, «There you go.» All of them are real. The reason I’m saying those things is that all of us have something that we do when we get overwhelmed. I think this is where we find Peter, and this gives a better context. He says, «I’m going fishing,» and then his friends were like, «Okay, well we’ll come too.» It says they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night. This is another failure. If this is your profession, and you are a fisherman, you fish in these waters all the time. You know when to go out, you know where the fish are, you know where the schools go, and you know the sun and the tide and all this other stuff. So you set out at the right time on purpose with the right people who know how to do what you do. You did it for a long time, all night, and you caught not a shrimp. I mean, I went fishing, but at least let me catch a crab or a shrimp. The Bible says they caught nothing all night. That would have been considered another failure.
They’re sitting in that failure. In verse 4, at dawn, Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who He was. He called out, «Fellows!» I don’t know why he uses «fellows» like he has a British accent right there. «Have you caught any fish?» Jesus is being petty here because He knows they haven’t caught anything. «Why are you asking me if we caught any fish? You know this business didn’t work. God, you know this relationship didn’t work. You know this last church I went through didn’t work. You know my finances are not working with me right now. You know this, Lord.» But sometimes when God asks a question, it’s never to find out an answer; it’s for you to locate where you are. If He knows everything, He’s not trying to figure out if you caught fish. He knew you didn’t catch any fish. He’s trying to set the stage for a miracle through your self-awareness. So if you didn’t think you were broken, God may ask you, «Are you tired of being broken?» If your answer is, «I ain’t broken,» He’ll be like, «Cool. Until you recognize you need Me, I’ll let you sit in that.»
I’m telling you, all throughout the Bible, in the garden, when He asked Adam and Eve, «Where are you?» You think He lost them? It’s only two of them on the whole planet. Right? He didn’t lose them. Absolutely not. He was trying to give them an opportunity to locate themselves. This is part of what we have to do as believers: be self-aware enough to be able to say, «Where am I really at? Am I acting like my life is good? Am I acting like I’m okay, but I really feel empty? Am I acting like I have a strong relationship with God, but it’s just quotes from somebody else’s page that I read and repost?» I’m going to get back to the verse. «Fellows, have you caught any fish?» No, they didn’t even explain, «No.» Then He said, «Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some.»
Hold on. I’m in the middle of a failure, and somebody—I don’t know because the Bible says they didn’t know it was Jesus—yells out an instruction that, honestly, if I’m not thinking about it correctly, insults my intelligence. «You caught anything? No? Do something different. Throw the net on the right side.» Have you ever seen the mechanics that just seem like they have it figured out? That’s what I’m feeling in my mind. «Throw that on the right side, and you’ll catch some.» Now, watch this. The fact is Peter’s in a season of layered failures. Wow! Has anybody ever been in that season before? Where are the real people? I said, has anybody ever been in a season of layered failures? Is someone saying, «I’m in it right now?» Come on, let’s be honest. Okay, is anybody in a season of layered failures right now? Okay, I just need to make sure I’m at the right church.
The thing is, the failure is not going to define us because we’re about to learn what to do with this failure. Peter is in the midst of a layered failure. The guy he left everything to follow, Jesus, is dead. He’s running for his life, okay? He denies Jesus three times and doesn’t get to say «sorry,» so he’s dealing with the guilt, the shame, and the frustration of that. Now he’s done the one thing he thinks he knows how to do and catches nothing. My God, for most of us, that would be enough to jump off the boat and drown ourselves. Let’s be honest. «Hey, y’all, it’s been a good run. Don’t tell anybody, Mom. I’m out of here.» But look what Peter has the faith to do. Yes, in the midst of failure, he says, «Hey, y’all, pull up the net. What are we doing?» Y’all heard that voice that had no clarity. We don’t know who it is, but we sense that there’s something in the words that he said—"Throw it on the other side.» We don’t ever throw it on the other side. We haven’t caught anything doing it on this side. What do you have to lose? Throw it on the other side.
Well, okay. He throws it on the other side. That was the moment that showed Peter had a healthy relationship with failure because it didn’t make him freeze. If the failure makes you freeze, it has control over you. If the failure makes you so frustrated you don’t obey God, some of us might say, «I ain’t doing this!» You would have ripped the net and thought, «Forget this net!» But it didn’t make him freeze; it didn’t make him so frustrated he didn’t obey God, and it didn’t make him—watch this—fold. Most of us would have folded under that. He still had the faith to believe a word and throw it on the other side. Will you look to your neighbor and say, «Throw it on the other side?» Come on, just one more time. Look at them dead in their face and say, «Throw it on the other side.»
Okay, so this is all I’m going to do today. I’m going to teach you how to get familiar with failure. Write this down: how to get familiar with failure. Okay, number one: factor it in. That’s great. Factor failure in. You do it with your budget. I got this little contingency just in case something comes up, just in case I have too many Crispy Kreme donuts. How do you factor in a couple of dollars and not factor in for failure? The church has taught us to not think that anything is ever going to go wrong. Today, I’m telling you, when it comes to failure, factor it in. I’m going to give you an example. Is Ava here? Bring Ava and bring the bike. Just bring it up here real quick. Okay, I’m a father with three girls and one boy. One of the things that I’m tasked with is teaching my children how to ride bikes. You could just put it right there. What’s up, baby girl? You’re cute. I love you.
All right, you feel good? Give me five. Okay, when we go out on the concrete street, hold on, just stay right there. When we go out on the concrete street, the first thing I tell my daughter is not, «Hey, A, when you go out here, don’t fall.» I try to say no, no, don’t just try not to fall. Because we are taught that when we get on bikes and do things, we do it perfectly the first time, every time, all the time. Do you get what I’m saying? Yeah, that baby is scared. She said, «Yeah, I would be a bad father if I didn’t come to her like I actually did and say, 'Baby, when you get on your bike, you’re going to fall.'» Okay?
Now, when you fall, I want you, if you’re close to grass, to turn that thing into the grass and fall into the grass. Okay, if you’re not in the grass, throw the bike away and roll. This is the conversation I had with her because I wanted her to factor in failure. Because if we did not factor it in, she would be surprised and maybe even quit trying due to the pain; not just the impact but the unexpected nature of the impact. So when we start going, «Come on, A, let’s go,» when we start going, I tell her, «All right, A, yep, you got it; you’re doing a great job, baby. All right, pick it up, just go a little faster.» Okay? And then we’re going, and I say, «Look, A, I tell her because we start going around hills and corners and all that stuff,» and she actually fell. You remember last week when we were riding the bike and you fell? Yeah, yeah. What did you do after you fell? You got back up.
Now watch, she said, «I got back up.» Why? Because number one, her father was right there with her. Number two, the reason she got back up is that I managed her expectations and told her there was going to be a fall. And number three, the reason she got back up is because, watch this, she knows that the only way to have a future on this bike is to keep getting on the thing that she could potentially fall on. Oh God, if I could get y’all to understand this! Some of the Christians are like, «What? She has training wheels on.» Even with all the prayers, and all the Bible studies, and all the different things, this baby still fell with training wheels! So stop treating people poorly when you feel like they have everything they need to stay up. This is a church that will help people understand that you can get back up after a fall, even if you prayed, even if you did the right thing.
Oh God, where’s the church at right now? Hear me, my daughter is more confident today on this bike. The fact that she would come up here and do this example in front of everybody is a testament to all the times that she felt comfortable falling with her father. She fell with her father enough times in private that she’s okay in front of hundreds of thousands of people potentially falling again in public. This is what the Bible means when it says a righteous man, okay let me give it to you: Proverbs 24:16, «For a righteous man falls seven times,» yeah, but it says he gets back up again. Can y’all give it up for Ava helping me with this example? You want to ride off, baby? You want to ride off? No?
Okay, you don’t want to ride off. Okay, just ride over to the side right there. Give it up for Ava as she rides off. Okay, never mind; get off the bike. Get off the bike. I just saw the ramp. I saw the ramp. I saw her going down the ramp. Whole service over! What do you do with failure? Somebody say «factor it in.» Factor it in! Say «factor it in.» Factor it in! Factoring in faith does not mean factoring in failure. It does not mean you lack faith. It means you have faith. If I’m going to try this, there is a possibility. That’s why when I wrote in «Crazy Faith,» there’s a chapter that talks about 51% faith. I don’t have to be 100% sure something’s going to work out; I just need to be 1% over 50. I need to know God is with me, just 1% over everything that we’ve done. I ain’t never been 100% sure. I ain’t never been 75% sure. Sometimes, I’m not even 55% sure. Sometimes it’s just 1%.
And if you’re waiting to be 100% sure, when people say, «I knew it was God,» you’re a liar! It proves to be God! It proves to be so! So this notion that everything has to be right before I do what God says is why you will never ever do what God told you to do. You need to factor in failure. So when I say failure, you say «factor it in.» Failure, factor it in! Failure, factor it in! Failure, factor it in! Factor it in! Great! Because if you factor it in, the fall doesn’t make you quit riding. Okay? Second thing that—oh my God, I got to tell you the story. Before we started this church and had a second campus, God gave me that big old thing, that list, that crazy faith, the Spirit Bank Event Center will be Transformation Church. We tried to get this church, but it wasn’t available; somebody else had it under contract. And I was like, «God, what are you doing?» He said, «I’m about to make a testimony that you can’t take any credit for.»
So I said, «What do I do right now?» He said, «Work the faith that you have.» So the faith that I had was to go look for buildings. We started looking for buildings, we found a pastor and a church that’s going down at 61st and Peoria, and we felt like we could partner with them and help bring life and fresh and newness and help by the building and all this other stuff. We did all of this! Had two prayer services at this church, told everybody we were moving to 61st and Peoria. Second location, Northside, Peoria! We called it the hood; we changed the hood into holy! I mean, we did the whole thing. I’m telling you, we were on 61! Y’all know anybody living in Tulsa knows what 61 is. We were right there, and I worked my faith muscle so heavily for this building that could only fit 200 people in it. Jesus! 200! Yeah!
And I’m casting vision, having meetings, meeting with bankers, doing all this stuff, and then God says, «You’ll never have a meeting there.» Wow! «Hold on! I got plans! We got renderings! We going to fix stuff! No, I’m telling you, I’ve done all of the things: write the vision down, make it plain, put a sign out there, pray around!» I mean, anointing driveways, doing everything! Y’all know what I’m saying? Praying oil, just rocking oil, just dripping oil down the street. And the Holy Spirit said, «You’ll never have church there.» Why? He said, «Because my ways are not your ways. My plans are not your plans. I needed to work the muscle of faith for what I’m about to do.» I was like, «What are you about to do?»
Literally, weeks later, this building opens up! The language that me and Tammy had to know to even acquire this building was found in the faith step to get that little building! You don’t even understand the relationships, the bankers! It was so easy to walk into this season! It was so much—so much more money, so much more responsibility, but so much less work! Because we took on the season that God put in front of us, and what could have seemed like a failure, my God, we factored it in! Yeah, yeah! To the tune of two years after we bought the building, we gave it to another church! You missed what I said! Almost a million-dollar investment! We were like, «You don’t got to pay us! You don’t got to—my God!» But wherever you found us in that picture, you might have called it a failure.
How do you deal with failure? You factor it in! Two, how do you deal with failure? You frame it! Right? Because we framed the failure that God’s up to something. He’s doing something with this. He’s changing my life; he’s preparing me for something. We framed it right! It changed the way it came into our view. Pass me that frame real quick; just hand this to me. Okay? Thank you! I just want you to see this real quick. Cameraman, I want you to follow my frame. Okay? Like where I’m at right now, I’m framed in the picture. Okay? If I do this, follow the frame and then zoom in just a little bit. Yeah, what I’m framing right now is not the thing I want you to actually look at! No, don’t frame me in it! Put it on the frame, 'cause this is what we look at daily. «Well, God, I just don’t know if you’re doing anything!» «Well, God, I just don’t see anything in this!» «God, I just don’t know if you really, really pictured what’s going to happen!»
And God’s saying, «You need to frame it right! You need to put the focus back on the right thing! Wherever you frame it—come on down! Come on down!» Wherever you frame it—come on down! Come on down, computer robot! Come on! It’s like, «Where is it? What am I looking at for real?» Until you take and pick up the frame and say, «I’m going to focus on the thing that I can control! This looks like a failure but with God, is there really anything that’s a failure? God, I’m going to actually trust you! I’m actually going to put you in the center of this frame! I’m actually going to put what you did for me and the sacrifice and all the failures that people thought were failures, and you turned it around.
Think about Lazarus! When they thought he was dead, and you said, 'I’m about to resurrect this thing.' It looked like a complete failure! Think about all of the things in the Word that were framed wrong! Good! What do I do with failure? Great! I frame it right! Yeah! And some of y’all have been calling seasons the worst seasons of your life! „I’ve just been in the worst season of my life!“ No! You’ve been in a season that’s training you for the best season of your life! Frame it right! That’s what the scripture means in James 1:2 when it says, „Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind, when failure of any kind, when opposition of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.“
Why would I do that? For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow! It’s the only way it can grow! My God! You’re talking about wanting fruit? Some things only grow in adversity! They don’t want me to tell you the truth, but there are things that are in me today that could not have come if everything was smooth sailing! There is a fortitude, a gangster—"I don’t care what nobody says, as long as God called me!» There’s a fortitude! There’s a confidence that if adversity had not come, my faith would not have had the opportunity to grow! And what you’re running from is making me! Some people run from it, and other people run to it!
If God is telling you this is a season where I’m going to test your faith, you’re not in a bad season! The Bible says your reaction should be great joy! Yes, this sucks, but I’m about to be something I ain’t never seen before! Come on, you can be, «This hurts,» but there’s a healing on the other side of this that ain’t nobody going to be able to take credit for! «This seems wrong!» But the worship I’m going to give God in the middle of this says count it as an opportunity for great joy! Y’all see how backwards the church is? We can’t even celebrate what the Word says! It’s like, «Hold on! That’s not what I wrote down in my prayer journal! This ain’t what my Bible plan says!»
But being somebody who has walked through adversity, God who has walked through things not working out how you thought it was. After that, I knew I was a believer! Some of y’all’s faith has not been authenticated yet! Yes, sir! Yes, sir! Some of y’all don’t even really believe what you say you believe, 'cause it’s not real until after it walks through some fire! The difference between a lot of jewelry people have on and real gold, and real platinum, and real silver, is not exposed when you wear it; it’s exposed when it’s put under fire! And if your faith hasn’t experienced any fire, my question is, is it even real? All right? Is it even real? That’s why when people get on and start commenting and doing all the different things, I’d be like, «Oh, their faith ain’t even real!»
The Bible tells us in several places, «This ain’t the way to actually show the love of Christ. This ain’t the way to lovingly confront your brother or sister!» A post! This ain’t—do y’all get what I’m saying? So there are certain things that aren’t even worth arguing about! There are certain things that I’m going to protect my pastor! Save your typing fingers and focus on what God’s called you to do! Because the truth of the matter is if you’re arguing and being petty with people whose faith is not tested yet, it’s called a distraction! And the enemy would love for you to get off of what he’s called you to do! Yeah! Yeah! In the name of God, protect something that’s already protected! Okay? Do—do! Y’all hear what I’m saying to you?
Stop fighting with things that don’t need to be fought over, sir, because if we frame it right, yeah, all the things that have happened to me over the past five years—I didn’t ask for this church to blow up; I swear, that has never been my prayer. My prayer was, «God, whatever you want—this is your church.» Because He did it, it came with stuff I hate. They don’t want me to be real; there are some aspects of this that I absolutely despise. However, I cannot, for one second, deny the call He’s put on my life. There are uncomfortable things about this. I just need to frame it right. I met a couple last night in the airport, getting off the plane at 11:00, with tears in their eyes, yes, sir, because they came to Easter last week. They started reading «Damaged But Not Destroyed» and God did some real, deep work in their relationship. They booked a flight from Atlanta to Tulsa, got in at the same time we did, saw us, and my man immediately started crying; his wife started crying and they said, «We just knew we were supposed to be in the house this week because God has done such a work in transforming our lives.»
Listen, what I’m saying is they are sitting on the second row right now. I’m not trying to embarrass them, but I love you, Jose and Jazzy; I love you, and we love you. Now, listen, instead of comments framing the work we do, I put that story in a frame. You missed it. So, anything anybody says, I just remember Jose and Jazzy—that everything else could be going on, but whatever I choose to frame is where I will focus. Whatever you are framing right now is taking your focus. Do y’all hear what I’m saying to you?
So whatever the failure is, frame it right. How do I frame it right, Pastor Mike? You have to remember that failure is an opportunity to become something different. Michael Jordan is arguably the best player who has ever played basketball, and I want you to hear something he said about his journey to success. Check this out: «I missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed.»
His failure and his healthy relationship with it are why he succeeds. I just want to frame for us that maybe the worst thing in your life, in God’s hands, could become the best thing He ever uses to propel you into your future. Guys, I just don’t want you to give up because you failed. I’m on my third marriage; we probably need some education and therapy. Come on, let’s be real. But don’t say, «I’ll never get married.» Hold on, wait! You should be super wise now after three; you should really be a sensei! Many people don’t stop to think about what the failure actually produced.
This is why my third point about dealing with failure is to find the fruit. Anytime you fail, find the fruit. Why did this happen? Why did this not happen? What did I learn from that? What could I have done differently? That’s good, yeah. What red flags did I completely ignore? Oh, come on, we don’t want to be self-aware. I knew he was a liar and a cheater when I met him and I ignored that because he was fine. Come on, let’s be real. I started a job and didn’t ask what the requirements were. I was just happy to be getting paid that much! They actually expected me to work for that check; I’m stressed, losing hair, my lips are chapped every day. Do y’all get what I’m saying? Find the fruit! Most people, because they want to move to success so fast, will not evaluate a failure. The thing about professional sports that makes these athletes so intentionally good is that they are required to study all game film, even the ones they lost.
When’s the last time you studied your last bad decision? When’s the last time you evaluated, «I let that friend go, and that was actually my pride»? That was something that could have been resolved with a conversation, but my pride wouldn’t let me have it because I saw their little subliminal post. That post wasn’t even about you, but because your heart is offended, you made it about you and you took away a relationship that God was going to use to sharpen you in a different season. He literally put it there, but because of your offense, you didn’t even evaluate it. You’ve run through three or four best friends, and God’s holding back the others because He’s saying, «I can’t let you keep harming these people.»
My cutoff game is strong; yes, you are going to be alone because you are being evil to people. Do y’all hear what I’m saying? Because we won’t evaluate it well, we won’t listen to our children when they say, «Mom and Dad, you really did provide for us, but I was missing something emotionally.» No, we got you everything, okay? But just evaluate for a second, right? That’s good. Maybe the courage they had to even say something could deepen your relationship in a way that could heal stuff from 30 years ago. But if you won’t even evaluate, you won’t find the fruit in it. Is this helping anybody? Y’all, I just don’t want to play you as we go through this Christian journey that everything’s going to be peaches and cream and rainbows. No! Sometimes it’s, «I’m sick of this, sir! When is this going to work?» and I’ve messed up willingly several times because I don’t want to act like it’s just happening to you.
Some of us get on the failure train and you stay on it, yes sir, and it’s called self-sabotage. There are some of us that are so afraid of what could actually go right in our lives—oh God—that we jump into a mindset of self-doubt. You know you’re not supposed to call him. You know you’re not supposed to be with her. «Well, Lord, if you don’t want me to…» You know where my heart is, so if you don’t want me to do this, Lord, don’t let him answer the phone. First ring—boom! But he’s not going to force your hand; He’s going to give your heart an opportunity to make a choice. That’s why I say it like this: failure is a concept we’ve made up. I literally looked up the definition, and it said, «lack of succeeding.»
So this means your definition of success is very important to identify if you failed or not. Yes, sir, that’s good. What is failure? Lack of succeeding! Well, if succeeding is having a bunch of money and people who know you, then failure looks different for you. If succeeding for you is being able to go on trips whenever you want and able to spend money, then depending on what success looks like will help you figure out if you’re failing or not. Well, if we bring it into biblical standards, what is succeeding? That’s good. Through my research and time in study—through allowing the Holy Spirit to show me through scripture and in my life—what is succeeding? Here’s my definition of succeeding: obeying God. Because the outcome doesn’t always feel like succeeding! By world standards, come on, let’s be honest! What did you do?
I obeyed God. Great! I did what He asked me to do. I tried to keep the Bible as the roadmap for my life. I forgave people I wanted to fight. Yes, I prayed for people who I know spoke negatively about me. I tried to speak life when it felt like everything was dying around me. I just obeyed You, God, and whatever that got me, thank You, Jesus. But many times it didn’t get what I thought it was going to get me. If I’m not honest with you about that, you will be defining your life by disappointments when God is saying to you, «This life is about obeying Me.» Because I had plans for you before you were in your mother’s womb. I had plans for you. I knew stuff about you that you didn’t know about yourself, and what I have up ahead is so crazy—but it’s not what you think. If you hold what you think in such high regard, you will be disappointed because that will fail. But My plan for you will never fail!
Somebody say, «He never fails!» He never fails. We’ve been in a studio; we wrote a song called «He Never Fails.» Y’all, it is a bop and a half! I’ve been playing it over and over because my life has not looked like what I thought. But the failure I’ve been contemplating is not a failure in God’s book. Why? Because it’s not over! So, watch this: there are only two ways to fail. We’re about to go home, but I need you to hear me say this because this is going to guide the rest of your life. There are only two ways to fail: not knowing God and quitting. Those are the only two: not knowing God and quitting. Most people in this room know God, but you quit. There are people who haven’t quit; they’re grinding, hustling. «I’m going to 10x this thing! I’m going to do it! I’m going to make it! I’m going to make a billion!»
You won’t quit, but you don’t know God! Failing comes from either believing Romans 8 or not believing it. We know that all things, including failures, work together for the good of them that love God and to those who are called according to His purpose. Amen? So what do I do with failure? Very simple: I factor it in. What do I do with failure? I frame it right. What do I do with failure? I find the fruit. And, what do I do with failure? I fix my focus on Jesus. With failure, you always have the opportunity to fix your eyes on the failure or fix your eyes on Jesus. Do y’all know what Peter does after this moment where he’s failed so many times? He fails all of these times, and then they throw the net on the other side. All the fish are literally overtaking them; there’s an overflow of fish! The Bible tells us it’s 153 big fish—it literally gives us a number: 153! Where were they at all night?
Now I want you to think about this: could this have been planned? This is so good! Could this not have been part of the plan? That I needed it to not work out, my God, so that you could find where the source is? They have an encounter with failure, but they move past the failure in faith, catch 153 fish, and guess what Peter does? He says, «Is that Jesus?» and he recognizes it’s the Savior because of the miracle! The only one that could turn a failure into overflow. I feel this! The only one that could take the worst night and turn it into the best day; the only one that could roll this moment of grief into the greatest day of my business, God! Look what He does: He doesn’t say, «Thanks, Jesus; appreciate you.» He literally says, «Oh, I’ve got to go! I’ve got to get to Him!» He literally says he was in his undergarment and he puts on his robe again. I love this because he’s about to see his Savior. He literally says, «I don’t want to come to Him any kind of way,» so he puts on his robe.
But watch this—then dives into the water! He puts on what is considered dignified and then gets undignified to get to Him. Ooh, wait! He literally puts on what is traditional and then gets it soaking wet because he said, «It’s going to take too long with them handling the blessing. I don’t even want to stay around for the blessing; I’ve got to get to the Blesser!» So, he fixes his eyes on Jesus, does a Michael Phelps dive into the ocean, and swims all the way to see Jesus face to face. Where Jesus, watch this, has made them breakfast! Jesus didn’t really need the fish—He was already preparing a meal for them! But it’s where Peter had His eyes fixed. The other disciples don’t get to enjoy the meal until they actually come in. Peter gets to enjoy what Jesus has already prepared for him because when the blessing comes, he didn’t say, «Whoa, 153 fish! My business is blowing up! God is good!»
He’s not trying to capture the moment; he’s trying to get to Christ. If you’re in the middle of failure, fix your eyes on Jesus. Hebrews 12:2 says, «Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith.» Remember, this is all about you not losing faith. It says, «For the joy set before him, he endured the cross.» He went through a moment that felt like failure, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the Father on the throne of God. Failure isn’t final for the believer; it’s part of your future. I just want to encourage people: don’t put a period where God has put a comma. There’s power in this word, and so much power in that word. I was a drug addict, and God radically saved me.
Now, I’m an advocate for people who struggle with addiction. Cross over the line of failure; break the veil of failure. You know how you do that best? Everybody, listen to me because this is the last one. What do you do with failure? You flaunt the failure. This is where most Christians get stuck: «Well, I don’t want to give glory and praise to the wrong thing.» I mean, that was the past. I don’t want to condemn anybody for what they are doing anyway. You bring God glory when you tell what you’ve been through. Do you know how many kids don’t know what their parents have gone through? They are running right into that same wall, and you all think you’re saving them because you’re not talking about sex and you’re not talking about promiscuity.
Okay, good. Now, talk about the tendencies that run in your generational line. You just want them to fall. Yeah, talk about the seeds of greed and why you don’t give and why you don’t commit to a church. Come on, y’all. Let’s talk about it. Don’t let them run into the same walls without any conversation. I found that when you flaunt it, it brings… And I’m not saying glorify the sin, right? I’m saying let the sin be the prerequisite to explaining how good your Savior has been. You all know my testimony because I flaunted it. I was a liar. What’s the next one? A manipulator. I was addicted to… I’m telling you, your testimony, my testimony, is in your mouth more than yours is. You think you’re doing God a favor by acting all clean, but there are people, my God, who will never come to Christ until they know they won’t be alone when they step over this line.
I need some people who have been bought with a price to know that if it weren’t for the blood of Jesus, it’s only His grace and only His mercy that we stand here today. I need you to know it was only Him. Somebody say, «It was only Him.» Hallelujah! When you flaunt your failure in Christ, it changes how people see God. Peter was one failure, but y’all know another failure that wrote a lot of the Bible. Oh, you all read your Bible? 1 Timothy 1:15 says, «Here’s a word you can take.» Listen to this; this is powerful Bible. «Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.» I’m proof. Another way to say it could be, «I’m public sinner number one.» Do you know how much you’re flaunting when you give your rapper name as public sinner number one? That’s his rapper name.
«Hey, this is Paul, AKA public sinner number one.» This is the rapper name of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy, and now God shows me off. God flaunts you when you are not afraid of failure. He says it’s evidence of His endless patience to those who are right on the edge of trusting Him forever. Oh my God! Deep honor and bright glory to the King of all time, one God, immortal, invisible, ever and always. Maybe failure isn’t final; maybe it’s part of your future.
Today, I want to pray for every person who is in the middle of layered failure and is trying to figure out, «Can I make it out of this?» The answer is yes! And for everyone who may have failure up ahead this week, next year, or ten years from now, whoever you are, the Bible tells us a righteous man falls or fails seven times. The power is in getting back up. I feel like there have been too many people who have fallen, but your fall was seven years ago, and you’ve just made it a habit to stay in the fall, stay in the fail. When you stay in the fail, guilt and shame and condemnation abound.
Now, even if you have faith to do it, nobody’s going to listen to your whack song now. Come on! Nobody’s… I mean, you missed your opportunity to be in youth ministry. You’re 52; how are you going to be in youth ministry now? Then you start letting the realities of things make you step back from what God said. But today I’m asking everybody in this room and watching online to reframe your failure. If God be for you, then the marriage, the loss of business, the mistake you made does not have to define the rest of your life. The whole Bible is about God redeeming things that seem like failures and turning them into beautiful stories for His glory. Today, I’m here to shake you and lovingly invite you out of your failure and into a future that only God could get glory for. Could you lift your hands all over this building? I want to pray for every person.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I’ve obeyed you, and I thank you that today you will allow us to get a fresh perspective on what failure is. Let us know that the only way we fail is if we don’t know you and we quit. Today, Father, we’re making a decision to succeed by obeying whatever you say to do. For all of us, that’s different things, but today I’m thanking you for the resolve in everyone that hears this, whether they’re watching it live or on rebroadcast around the world, and for those who were sent this, God, I’m thanking you for a resolve that failing with you never ends in failure. Thank you, Father, that you are a God that resurrects things. Thank you that you are a Father kind enough to show us the factors in things we don’t expect. Father, thank you for teaching me through so many hard situations how to stand with you and stand for you. I’m thanking you for this church enduring so that their faith becomes something pure. God, I’m asking you to mature us, that we wouldn’t always be searching for your hand, but you would give us your heart. God, I thank you that every person in this room under the sound of my voice would have a holy relationship with failure; that it will no longer freeze us or frustrate us to the point of stopping and no longer make us fold. We will finish what you’ve called us to do, no matter the obstacles we have to face. Holy Spirit, be our guide; lead us into all truth. Direct us around the things Father that are not meant for us, and then direct us through the things we have to go through. We will not be afraid to walk with you because failure is not the end. You proved it on the cross. We trust you, we believe you, and we thank you.
I feel led to say this; I want to be very personal right now. I have one son diagnosed with autism. The enemy has tried to corrupt my wife’s and my faith by making something outside of our control look like a failure. It doesn’t matter about a building. I’ll give all this back. Y’all can go to somebody else’s church if my son could have what I consider the typical function of a child. I’ll go work for Amazon for the rest of my life! The enemy tried to make me stop; he tried to make what seemed like a failure. «You can’t go out there and talk about faith; you can’t encourage people with what you’re dealing with.» I told the devil, «I will never stop doing what God has called me to do, even in the face of a perceived failure.» Now listen, the hope I have is it’s not over. God has given me words about my son, and we all witnessed him as clear as day last week, telling everybody, «Happy Easter!» They said it would never happen. Even the victories, sometimes the enemy tries to remind you: «Okay, he can say 'Happy Easter, ' but can he do this? Can he do that?»
I’m telling you, I’m in the middle of it. I’m not trying to act like I have this thing figured out. What I’m trying to say is there’s a healthy tension between walking in faith and not being paralyzed by what seems like a failure. We as believers need to step beyond whatever we think is going to happen and whatever even happened in the past that hurt us, and we’ve got to move in what the Bible calls now faith. Somebody say now. Now, right now, what is He asking you to do? Now, what is He commanding you to do? Now, what is He saying? Dust your shoulders off! When I think about the disciples being sent out two by two, I remember He told them, «If you go into a town and they don’t accept your message, just dust your shoulders off.»
He built in the possibility of failure for them. He told them, «Every place you go, do this!» They’re not going to accept you everywhere. You’re going to fail in some places, but don’t stay there. Dust your shoulders off! Come on, somebody; prophetically, come on! I feel that thing. I feel that Jay-Z spirit coming on me! Some of you, the most prophetic thing you’re going to do this week is say, «I failed at that. That’s all right.» Yes, sir! I was a liar. Yep, I did miss that opportunity. But God, I thank you! If you’re in this room and you need the power and strength to dust your shoulders off, I want to introduce you to Jesus. He’s the only one that gives me the strength to stand here today. He’s the only one, with all my issues and all my faults and all my mess-ups, who says, «Hey, I’ll claim you if the world won’t.»
If your family won’t, I will! He’s transformed my life. If you’re in this room and you’ve never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, or if you’ve been walking without Him for years, you knew Him when you were younger or in a different season, but you need to make a fresh commitment today, on the count of three, just raise your hands. Online, in the room, in the children’s area, wherever you are in the hallway; today is the day of salvation. One, you’re making the greatest decision of your life. I feel the Holy Spirit in this place. Two, I’m proud of you! But more than that, your eternity is secure. Your name is going to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Three, just lift your hands all over this place! I see you, my brother; I see you. I see you. I see you, sister. I see you. Wow! All the way over there! Come on! Glory to Transformation Church! Let’s give God praise! I see you, my brother. I see you. A whole row! Listen, you can put your hands down. More than I see you, God sees you. At Transformation Church, we’re family; nobody prays alone. So we’re all going to pray this prayer together. Just lift your hands and say:
God, thank you for seeing me in my failures and sending your son today. I give you my life. I believe you lived. I believe you died and rose again with all power just for me. Change me. Renew me. Transform me. I’m yours. In Jesus' name, amen.