Setbacks not Failures | Elder Terence Atkinson

You're listening to a message to go from acts Church.

We hope this message will light up your day today.

I want to share with your word that's titled Setbacks

not failures. Setbacks not failures. So very often we may

face setbacks, but we have to be clear that just

because we experience a setback doesn't mean that we are failing.

And this is a very important distinction between a failure

and a setback, because a setback can spur us on

to do more. A failure can stop us in our tracks. Anyway,

let's see what the Word of God has to say

and will glean some truths from it. With your bibles,

turn with me to Second Samuel, Versus six, Sorry not

Versus six, Chapter six, Versus three two five, Okay there, yeah, okay,

reading from Versus three, and here we go. So they

set the ark of God on a new car and

brought it out of the house of Amita Dab. Now

after four this is the fourth time, after three times

of sharing this word, I finally got his name right. Okay,

So where were we? Yes, out of the house of

Amedda Dab which was on the hill. Pay attention to

that the Bible never says anything without a specific meaning.

The house was on a hill, and uzza ohio, the

sons of Amida Dab, I'm getting better. This drove the

new cart and they brought it out of the house

of Amida Dab, which was on the hill accompanying the

Ark of God. And our hero went before the Our

hero went before the ark sounds like ohio, but actually

sounds a very Japanese name, a heel a hell. Okay.

The house was on a hill, The Ark of the

Covenant was on a hill. And twice it was said

that the house was on a hill. Do you know

that when we are experiencing great things from God, sometimes

our spirits, our lives be on a hill. It feels

pretty good to be up there. Great things are happening. Wow,

it's so wonderful. It's so lovely to have good things happening. Right,

But how many of us know that in order to

move from one glory to the next, sometimes we have

to come down from that hill. The thing is Scripture

says we move from glory to glory. So I asked

the Lord Lord, it doesn't seem right. How come things

don't go as plan? How come you know, things start

to take a southern turn. They turn south when we

should be going north. Well, it's like this. You can

never reach a higher plane if you're satisfied on the

hell you're at. If we were so happy climbing hills,

when anybody climbed mountain, a balloona no one will I'm

so happy with the hill. You've climbed hills before. Were

you happy with the hill? You wanted to climb a mountain,

isn't it there? You go ask him. Once you have

conquered the hill, you don't want the hill anymore. You

want to conquer a mountain. So I gotta tell you

that when you come down from the hill, and I'll

explain it in a little while, when you come down

from that hill, it doesn't mean you're leaving that blessing behind.

It doesn't mean you're leaving that great things that are

happening behind. It simply means that on this journey to

your next victory, you will face challenges. Hey, guys, you

shared with your uncle, you shared with your aunt, you

shared with your mother, you shared with your father, and

nothing seems to happen. Oh, the Bible says, go ye

into the world and preach the gospel does the Bible

say go into the world and save it. No, because

who has saved us, Jesus already has unt it. He

died for our saints, so that we that believe in him,

we are already saved. But what is the subscription? Say

preach the gospel. But it does tell us one thing.

You know, make disciples. So you can't do anything about

whether someone receives the Lord or not. But you can

do something about it once they have given their life

to Jesus. Because whether a person believes or not is

something between God and that person. The Bible says, it's

the Holy Spirit that convicts. Your job is to tell.

But can you convict? You're not the Holy Spirit. I'm

not the Holy Spirit. Hey, somebody told me about Jesus

had to me four years. You know, you think I

accepted straight away? I fought the guy affort my sister,

No way, you're wrong because I believed in a nominal

Christian faith that does not believe that you need to

accept Jesus Christ as Lord. And say so, I thought

I was a Christian. What baptized when I was born?

And we all know that what is baptism. Baptism is

a declaration between all of mankind that you have chosen

to follow Jesus. Well, I can make that decision. When

I'm a baby, I cannot make any decision except I

want my mama. I want my daddy, that's all. Or

I want food. I cannot even clean myself. Somebody else

gotta clean me. So they set the ark of the

con on a new cart, brought it out of the

house of amid Dad which was on a hill, and

Houseiah and Ahio, the sons of amid Dab, drove the

new car. So they brought it out of the house

of Amida Amiadab which was on a hill, accompanying the

Ark of God, and Ahil went before the ark. So

always remember, hey, it's okay. If you are really flying

high and then suddenly you're not flying high anymore, Praise

the Lord. You're in for a new challenge that's going

to take you to a higher place. That's what scripture

says when it means it takes you from glory to glory.

But in between the two glories, there is challenge. There

is challenge. Before Jesus started his ministry, is already the

son of God. He was already the son of God

before he started his music. But what was the first

thing he had to do before he could get to

that hill. He had to go into the wilderness. He

had to be tempted. He had to fast for the

days and nights. There was a challenge before the acclamation.

So in verse five, it says, then David, verse five,

reading without my glasses. Then David and all the house

of Israel played music before the Lord, on all kinds

of instruments, of firwood, of harps, on string instruments and tambourines,

on systems, non symbols. Hey, how many of you when

you have read how many of us have read this

verse before and issue heads? I read this potion of scripture. Okay, good,

it's good to read the Old Testament. Okay, you read

the Old Testament, you'll understand a lot about what's happening

in New Testament right now. The issue is this, how

many of us Spain we have ready thought that they

were worshiping. I thought that they were worshiping. I thought, wow,

so nice they worship with string instruments, and they were celebrating.

I want us to know that celebration doesn't mean that

we are worshiping. You know that there are so many

people who listen to gospel music in this world today

but are not worshiping the Lord. They just like the music,

they just like the feeling. Hey, you know, America's got talent.

One or two people from Africa, young guys came up

and they sang gospel songs. And when they sang gospel songs,

the whole crowd went wild, really went wild. Most of

the crowd were not worshiping the Lord. They just enjoyed

the music. They just enjoyed the singing, They just enjoyed

the instrumentation, they enjoyed the energy, but they were not worshiping.

And this is very important to understand because disaster was

about to take place. You see, when we are making

any kind of movement before the Lord, if worship is

not in us hearts, we're in dangerous territory. We are

in dangerous territory because you see, it is the worship

of God that takes us forward. It's the worship of

God that protects us. It's the worship of God that

covers us. And when we don't have that covering, what

protection do we have a good feeling? A good feeling

will not last. And you're about to see the inscripture.

Feelings are not enough. They are nothing more than Chicha

on the ceiling. Oh you got that joke, Praise the

Lord feeling, Yeah, that's the one all all of us

in some of us remember that. How many of you

even know that song? Feelings? You don't know that song?

That song? That song was so famous, man, feeling nothing.

I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand it. So anyway,

so you know, worship is not necessarily celebration is not

necessarily worship. I'm getting somewhere now. When they came to

Nachon's threshing floor, these names. Every time I read this name,

it reminds me of Nacho's at least something I like.

So I won't forget Nachon's name because it's close to

something I like. And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor,

Uza put out his hand on the ark of God

and took all of it for The Oxen stumbled, Hey,

in your journey down the hill, it's not going to

be smooth. Remember I said, there'll be challenges. How do

I know there'll be challenges because the Oxen stumble they're

coming down the hill there's gonna be rocky ground. It's

gonna cause you to stumble. How many of you know

that stumble doesn't necessarily mean fall, It can mean fall.

How many of us? How many of us fall every

time we stumble when we walk? And you know, the

one thing you notice when people stumble is they will

always look back at the thing that stumble them. Right

not you go, then you continue walking. Sometimes your own

shoes stumble you because the grip is so good, you know,

and you look back. Why you look back? So your

own shoe there? Because I did this so many times

last week. My own shoes stumbled me because the rubber

is pretty good. And then I was walking on that

kind of floor, so it was grabbing and stumble and

I'm looking back at the floor.

Will be times you stumble. Worship keeps you steady.

And now Usa put his hand out on the ark

of God and took hold of it for the oxen stumble.

Then the angle of the Love was of the loud.

The anger of the Lord was aroused against Uza, and

God struck him for his error, and he died there

before the Ark of God. To understand the ark of

the Covenant, you have to read Exodus. I think it's

thirteen onwards where God instructed them to build the Aye.

What was the ark? The ark was a representation of

that glory of God here on earth, and it was

placed in the tent of the meeting. Now, for those

of you know or don't know, there was a cloud,

And this is what the Lord spoke to me this

morning and gave me a little bit more understanding. There

was a pillar of cloud by day and fire by

night that led the children of Israel as they moved

away from Egypt. But when the Ark of the Covenant

was built and put into the tent of the meeting,

that pillar would rest on the tent. Why a representation

of that awesome power of God, wonderful, holy, so pure?

Do you know that we were not meant to hold

that awesome power of God without a glorified body. How

do we know this? Moses said, God, may I see you.

God said, you can't take it. Man, I'm paraphrasing, there's

no way you can handle the sight of my glory.

But never mind, this is what I'll do. Go and

hide in that rock in between the two rocks, and

as I passed by, I'll let you see me, what

is it? He closed Moses' eyes so Moses couldn't see him,

and he passed by. Then he let Moses see the

back of his glory, and then Moses started to glow.

You gotta understand there is one time that we will

be able to behold the glory of God, and that

is only when we expire from this earth and our

body is a glorified meaning that now we are able

to take the sight of God because he allows it.

In this particular case, Uzza has the oxen stumbled, put

out his hand and touched the ark and he died.

If you read Exode, If you read Exodus, if you

read and God said, nobody shall touch the ark, because

if they touch the ark, they will die. So how

many of you thought this was pretty harsh? I mean,

when you're ready, come on, be honest. I don't want

to see the hand like this, clearly, all right, because

God is going to give us an answer, all right.

How many of us, and I'm included, thought this was

very harsh because the guy was preventing the arc from falling.

Can I see a show of hands? As in all

the places that I have shared, this is the same.

Because I'm the same I thought, Hey, God, what's the

matter with you? Sorry? The guy was trying to prevent

the ark from falling, and you killed him. And the

Lord gave me this answer on my morning walks. This

is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings,

who set every star in its place, who put the

Sun ninety three million miles away from Earth. Who causes

this Earth to spin on its axis at a degree

of twenty three point five degrees for a minute degree

of all of us would die, so perfect for the

growth of life twenty three point five degrees. Who causes

that molten iron in the center of the Earth to

spin in order to create a magnetic field that prevents

cosmic rays coming from the Sun to bounce off these

electromagnetic rays so we don't get fried to a crisp.

This great God who created the heavens and the Earth.

If you read and which I do, if you read signs,

you will know that do you know in the universe

some planets are made entirely out of diamond? One planet diamond?

Do you know that there are planets made of gold?

Do you know that there's their planets bigger than the

Sun whose composure or made up of a material lighter

than what's that that that sugar thing that spins and

you eat in carnivals cotton candy bigger than the sun,

with material less than the density of cotton candy. Did

you know this great God who set everything in its

place so that you and I can live? Twelve hours

of sun, twelve hours of darkness? Tides coming in, tides

going up, tides coming in tides going. Uh, this great

God is not able to prevent the ark from falling.

How many of us are so bold to think we

can lend God a hand? Oh? I lend God a hand?

Will God? Who made your hand? Does he need you

to lend him a hand? He's given us tasks to do.

That's different. But if we put out a hand on

the art, what are we telling God you are not

able to do it? Let me do it for you. Oh,

God takes offense. If ever you and I need to

touch God. Let us touch God in faith. But let

not the hand that touches God touch him in doubt. Oh,

because when you touch him in doubt, you know what

you do. You kindle his anger. That's inscription. Don't get

angry with me. And as I'm walking in. When the

Lord told me that, I got excited and afraid all

at the same time. And then I understood, Lord, it's true.

It's true. You've set everything in its place. You caused

the donkey to speak, You made the sun stand in

its place for twenty four hours so that Joshua could

defeat the enemy. You're not able to keep that arc

from falling. God knows what he's saying. Okay, if the

ark fell supernaturally, angels would have come and lifted it on.

I mean, did they so soon? Forget this God that

parted the Red Sea. Guys, in our journey to see success,

let not our failures define us define us. All right,

it's a setback. This was a setback, and David became angry.

Oh my, David became angry at the Lord's outbreak. I mean,

David didn't get it, you know, just like you and me. God,

you're being a bit harsh. When we were being or

thinking like that. God, you're a bit harsh, We were

exactly like David. So don't get upset if we didn't

see it the first time. Because David, whom the Bible says,

Bible says was a man after God's own heart didn't

get it, and David was the anger of the Lord. Okay,

the next one, the next slight. And David became angry

because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzza, and he called

the name of that place peers Usa. To this day,

peers Usa probably means the anger of the Lord visited

against Uza, something to that. In fact, I didn't research

it because not important. What's important is Usar died and

David was angry, and David gave this place a name

out of that anger. He could have said, Huzza, who

forgot who this great god was? He could have named

it that, but no, so David became angry. How many

of us become angry at God? Things don't go away? Right?

I know of people who are so angry with God

till this day and who are on strike. Do you

want to come to church? Do you want to pray?

Still believe in God, but angry with him? So they're

trying to show him face. That's like the end trying

to show face to the elephant. I said this the elephants,

the tale on the elephants have fall on the end.

The end is crushed you and I want to be

angry with God? Can we even stand up to him,

the God who created us? And some people think, oh,

they are wrestling with God until God touches their tie,

and and after that they will get their answer. Scripture

talks about Jacob wrestling with the Lord. I don't see

anybody else in Sae to pure wrestling with a lot,

because after people learn how foolish Jacob was, nobody else

wanted to wrestle with God. Come on, guys, this is it.

We can't afford to be angry with God when things

don't go away. Have you ever felt that we were

doing the right thing and that there was no progress?

So you're sharing and there's no progress. You're witnessing there's

no progress. You're working hard and there's no progress. You've

you know, so then there's no progress. Have you ever

felt that others were to blame? Ah, this fellow is

speaking against me, that fella speaking against me. You know,

you know I should have got but I didn't get this.

This fell as at four? And then have you felt

that we have failed? It's a sad thing to feel

that we fail. And when we do fail, or when

we think we fail, and when we consider all these

things what happens? Do we get angry? How many of

us get angry at someone? Truthfully, we do? Isn't it

when things don't go so well? Maybe in an office

place we get angry at someone. It's quite natural to

get angry. It's quite natural to get afraid. Oh, I

better not touch whoa like this? Are? I better not

touch the arc? Like this? I better not touch the arc? Hey,

did you know that there were two poles in the ark?

If we had touched the polar, he'd be okay. But

he didn't touch the pole. You know, he touched the arc.

So does it make us afraid? The seeming failure? I

say seeming because we're getting somewhere? Does it make us afraid? Hey, guys,

don't stop just because you fail. Don't stop because something

doesn't go your way. Don't stop do without the plan,

do without ourselves. How many of us have you heard

this statement? Paralysis of analysis? You analyze and analyze, and

you analyze so much you paralyze yourself. You know I

said this, Praise God for someone like Peter. Peter very

often did not analyze anything, so he went hid in.

But YOUNA know something? That guy experienced some things that

all the other careful ones never experience. I mean, did

Peter stop to analyze nobody walks on water? I know

he's Jesus. Lord, Jesus can do it. I'm not Jesus,

but just Jesus, you let me walk? Jesus, Come, did

you say, are you sure? If it's Usa? Are you sure? Lord?

No one can walk on water? You sure? Peter didn't

say that. The moment Jesus said come, he got on

the boat and he walked. He at least walked. I

don't know how much he walked. He walked a few

steps lard and after that his sight got the better

of him and he sank after that. But you know what,

Jesus came in saved him. Hey, praise the Lord. Like

he experienced Jesus saving him. Did the rest experience Jesus

saving him saving them? No, because they didn't walk on water,

so they couldn't experience how the Lord can save them.

But Peter did. Oh who am I? You are the

son of the living God? Wow, Simon, But flesh and

blood is not revealed to you, but my father in

heaven wonderful, you see. Not really analyzing just comes straight

out on the tip of your tongue. Then the very

next instance, get deep behind me, Satan. In almost the

same paragraph, he denied Jesus three times. But you wanna

know something, when they saw Jesus. When he saw Jesus

on the beach, did he wait? He jumped into the

water and swam towards Jesus. You think he was paralyzed. No, Jesus,

I'm dead. Then he sat down with Jesus. How many

of the disciples were restored by Jesus as far as

I know, Peter personally personal touch. Hey, it's okay if

you make mistakes. You make personal mistakes with God, you

know what he can restore you personally, one on one.

Don't get paralyzed by fear. Don't allow anything to stop you,

because always remember you're on a journey. I want you

to know that whatever is right will always be right,

whether you're experiencing it at the time or not. The

Ark of the Lord remained at the house of orbit

Edom the guitar three months, and the Lord blessed olbert

Edom and all his household. You know what tells me.

It tells me that it was God's purpose to get

the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. So now David

is afraid, right, I don't want to touch it. I'm

angry with the Lord. I'm not going to touch it.

Do you think God is pushed? Because the Bible tells

me ober Idom enjoyed blessings from the Lord. You see,

God's not pushed. His purpose will never be thwarted, meaning

that his purpose was to bless and be a blessing

to Jerusalem wherever his presence was manifested. Okay, so now

David's anger and fear caused him not to move. Does

that stop God? It did not, and ober Adam continued

to be blessed of the Lord. Now I was told

to King David. It was left at three months. He

was told to King David, saying, the Lord has blessed

the house of Overdidam and all that belongs to him

because of the ark of God. You know, I took

three months no internet. The first time I preached his

messenger was forty eight minutes after trumpet shot. Within forty

eight minutes. I know he is thousands of miles in

a different place, but that time, really there was no internet.

I do not know how long it took for messages

to travel, but Eventually the message got to David's say, hey,

the guy is being blessed. You know, guy is being blessed.

Then David comes to his senses and he says, no, no,

that's my blessing. There's supposed to be the blessing for Jerusalem.

So now David got over his anger pretty quickly. Common sense,

not common sense, but real godly sense came into his heart,

and he went and brought up the Ark of Covenant

from the House of Oberdiden to the city of David

with gladness. There was a difference between the second time

and the first time. Remember I said, in the first

time there was a lot of celebration, not necessarily worship.

Look and see the difference between then and now. And

so it was when those bearing the Ark of the

Lord had gone six paces that he sacrificed oxen and

fettered sheep. You see, now there was a conscious decision

to remain in worship throughout the journey. There was sacrifice

throughout the journey. Here I have no I didn't research this,

so I don't know. Okay, I do not know what

was the distance between the House of orbit Dam and Jerusalem.

But I'll tell you this a kilometer is about a

kilometer has about seven thousand, five hundred steps. Akay, seven thousand,

five hundred steps one kilometer. How do I know when

I walk every day? I got the watch and it

tells me. So how a monitor? Okay? So now seven

thousand and five hundred divided by six paces, all right,

is roughly uh seven seven six roughly about one thousand,

one two hundred something like that. One thousand, two hundred

times in one kilometer they stop and they sacrifice times

by the number of kilometers. Man, there was a lot

of sheep. There was a lot of sacrifice, But that

was a lot of worship. You see, you want to

go from one hill to the next. You want to move,

You want to see God bless you. You want your

failure not to remain a failure. There has to be

a conscious decision to keep in worship. Why every six

steps he was so careful. He did not want to

make a mistake. That probably this time when he took

six steps while they were worshiping, somebody's in front of

the road, cleaning it, flattening it, straightening it, make sure

nobody stumbles. It's true. Think about it. The first time,

no care no effort, no planning, but now very carefully. Hey, guys,

we want to see God bless us. Let us steps

be careful. Let us steps be fraught with worship, drowning

in praise, glorifying God. So what was different? This time?

There was careful sacrifice every six paces sheep, an auction, oxen, action, oxen,

There was worship offering. You want to know that this

time David set aside his kingly garments. You read David

set aside his kingly garments, and he put on a

linen effort, just girded with a with You know why

this time David was personally involved in the move, very

very personally involved. When you are setting aside your kingly

garments and you're putting on a linen effort, you are

setting aside yourself. You're putting away your pride. You're putting

away your accolades. You're putting away why you think you're

so great. You're putting away all those things that maybe

the world defines you by, but have no meaning before

the sight of God. You come to God just ready

to be between you, me, you God and me worship.

I don't care what people think. I don't care what people. See,

it's just between you and me. God, I'm going to

worship you. And lastly there was generosity. You know, God's

blessings are never meant for us to enjoy on our own.

God's blessings are always meant to be shared. You read

the scripture, Okay, I think it is towards the end.

So David in the household brought the ark of the

Lord with shouting and with the sound of trumpet, and

David offered burn offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

That's verse seventeen. And then David had finished offering burn

offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the

name of the Lord in verse nineteen. Then he distributed

among all people, among the whole multitude of miserable men

and women, so everyone a loaf of bread, a piece

of meat, and a cake or reisin. So all the

people departed, everyone to his house. David got it right

this time. So we want to see God turn our

seeming failures into success. Number one. Realize that that no

failure is a failure complete. It is just a setback.

A reset is needed. We need to understand what God

wants us to do and to do it rightly. So

setbacks are not a failure, but the opportunities to get

things done right, whether it be sharing with your neighbor,

whether it be sharing with a family member, whether it

be discussing how to get somebody is saved. The fear

of failure is the main reason we do not tell

people about Christ. Do you know that? The fear of

somebody saying no, I don't want to hear you know

how I get over that fear now, especially if somebody

is not well or somebody is all I tell people

if you need help, call me, I will come. Do

I have the answers? No, I don't, but I do

have a desire that they will see Jesus. They will

meet him as a Lord and savior. And I do

have this. They must know, so if they tell me no,

it's okay. My skin is thick. I live. I live.

You know. I told you that the one friend you

know a good friend, and I told the friend. The

reason I'm telling you this to you now, I should

have done it a long time ago. But I'm telling

you too now because one day, when you do meet Jesus,

I don't want you to say Terrence never told me so,

Now that I've told you, it's your business. I met

another man recently. You know what I told the man.

I said, you are a person who is very high

up in business. So when you meet people, you don't

want people to tell you stories. You want people to

be straight with you. So I'm going to be straight

with you. I've prayed and I'm having in my heart

that you should have forgiveness in your first time I'm

meeting the person. So what's the worst he can do?

Get angry, chase me out of thouse. Okay, I live,

I live. It's okay. But if it changes him, he lived,

and I walk out with a smile on my face.

So don't allow any setback to become a failure for you.

Just know this, it's an opportunity to get things right.

So with that, I hope that you've been blessed by

today's word, simple word. You know a little bit of

understanding where God is concerned. Let God be God. We

don't be God. If you have to touch the Lord,

touch him in faith and nod in doubt. If we

have failed, Let's not get paralyzed by fear or by anger.

Let's try to find out what was missing the first time.

Around and then we said it right and see God work.

Then we will go from glory to glory, from hill

to hell, and hill to mountain.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you. God bless