HOW TO AVOID FAILURE PART 6
Text- Joshua 7:1-26
Introduction
This morning is our theme day when our church emphasizes our motto for this year and the goals we have set for ourselves.
On our theme days I have been preaching from the Book of Joshua and emphasizing different aspects of our mission from God.
Today our text is in the seventh chapter and the title of my message is, “How To Avoid Failure.”
Before we look at this chapter I would like to remind you of what happened in chapter six.
There you will recall we learned how God gave Israel great victory over the city of Jericho which was a great and fortified city.
After marching around the city for seven days, seven times a day, the people shouted and blew their trumpets and the great walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
Everything in the city was to be dedicated to God. No one was supposed to take anything for themselves.
The first word in the first verse of Joshua chapter seven is the word “but.” That word shows us that right after Israel experienced a great victory at Jericho something different happened. When they came to the city of Ai, instead of experiencing victory, they experienced failure.
Failure oftentimes follows victory. When you experience great victories in your life, that’s when you need to be the most cautious. That’s because, that’s when we’re the most vulnerable.
When you are at your highest point in your career, failure often follows. When you have experienced your greatest victory in some kind of sport, failure often follows.
In 1990, Oral Hershiser known as the “Bull Dog” was at the pinnacle of his career as the starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. In fact, he had broken Don Drysdale’s record for strikeouts.
He was considered the best pitcher in baseball and to top it off he led the Dodgers to win the World Series that year and eventually became the Most Valuable Player in the series.
One year later, Oral was laying on an operating table undergoing surgery on his pitching arm and has never pitched the same since.
This same thing can be true of our spiritual life as well. One day you can be experiencing great victory in your walk with the Lord and then the next day you are experiencing great failure.
Charles Kettering an inventor once said, “If we fail, we should do it intelligently.” He said, “Once you’ve failed, analyze the problem and find out why...”
Israel experienced great failure in the city of Ai after they had experienced great victory at Jericho.
This passage will help us to learn how to avoid failure. Let’s look at three reasons why we sometimes experience failure and also four ways not to be a failure.