We are continuing this morning in this important series on Stages of Life. I look forward each week to this service because I believe that there are people here close to success on one of these stages and I’m praying that seeing the Biblical characters succeed will be the guidance and inspiration you need for your own success.
Today, we are looking at the challenge of being in your 30’s. As a child, you need security, as a teen, you need identity, in your
20’s you graduate from college and try 
to put education, gifts, and vocation together,
and in your 30’s you have to integrate the importance of failure.
John Maxwell says, ‘The major difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure’. One of the most valuable classes that I think any college could offer is Failure and Recovery 101. The chance of success in everything you do for your entire life is virtually zero. Think of the leading stores in Jackson Heights that were here 50 years ago and are not here now. They failed. Major companies fail so that you can also get caught in the failure of others. How many jobs did Pan American and TWA lose when they failed?
Most of us desperately hope that we will never experience failure. But if you get to age 40 and have never had one significant failure, you’ve got to get out of bed more.
We are going to look today at the disciples after the crucifixion of Christ. They took the risk, they hoped for the liberation of Israel, and they faced failure on a Friday 2000 years ago. We’re going back to their story this morning to see why it didn’t all end there. And if this is a Life Stage that you have not been able to conquer, then I pray that grace from God will surround and empower you this morning as we look together at the Life Stage of the 30s – Failure and Recovery.
The disciples had no idea that following Jesus would lead them to the cross, as it says in verse 49 But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. John Maxwell, says ‘When people ask, "If failure were not possible, what would you attempt?" I always want to say that's the wrong assumption. Failure will happen—the question is, if you respond correctly, what can you accomplish?’
I hope that you see that failure is a necessary part of a normal life. And if you never
experience failure, I would be intrigued and wonder why you have never had that needed 
challenge. John Maxwell again says, ‘If you're not failing, it means you've got the bar too low. If at first you do succeed, try something harder’ I have been helped so much by his book ‘Failing Forward.’
I want to suggest four ways to deal with failure because you have to do more than simply accept the failure, you have to recover from it. Among the recovery, you need to LIFT yourself up to the next stage. LIFT stands for accepting God’s love at the moment of failure, Ignoring yesterday, get support from a Friend, and look for the lesson that this Teaches.
I’m not going to comment on LIFT in that order. I’m starting with Ignore yesterday. We hate failure because it makes us feel guilty. Imagine yourself as one of the disciples. They lived with Jesus three years and possibly knew him longer than that. When he got arrested, don’t you think that they felt guilty that they had not protected him more? Don’t you think that they wondered if they had been more aggressive at the trial and crucifixion, maybe they could have saved him? If you have failed at something important, it’s a hard thing. You may have failed at something in a way that hurt your family financially. You may have failed at something that made a problem for co workers. You may have failed in judgment and affected your health. I’m not saying that failure is fun. But being human involves failure.
And if you hold these feelings of guilt close to you, God does not want that, you will not meet your dreams, and your happiness is over. A terrible thing that I see is people where I can see their potential and they are never going to realize their potential because they don’t recover from failure. Ignore yesterday. Drop the guilt. You made a mistake.
When I went to the high school graduation ceremonies two months ago, I heard so much about potential. I could see the vibrancy of youth and the high expectation for the years and careers ahead. If we could look forward 20 years, half of them will lose all of that. Some of those potential artists are going to be saying instead ‘you want fries with that burger?’ Some of those teachers and researchers are going to stay in entry level jobs and rotate them. Some are going to hurry into bad marriages to cover up their troubles. Potential is only part. Gifts are only part. You have to deal with failure and learn to Ignore Yesterday.
L is for the Love of God. You need to ask God to start right now with a new sense of assurance. You are the child of God. When you fail, you have the resources and love of heaven for recovery. How could you not be able to get back up again? If you are thinking of failure this morning in your own life, then I encourage you to reach out to God. Its interesting that the women internalized failure less than the men in the crucifixion account. They were able to go back to the tomb first. And so they got to meet the angel and rushed back, filled anew with the love of God. God’s love is there for you and me.
Love of God, Ignore Yesterday. Faithful Friend. You need a friend to support you
and give you feedback as you recover from failure. I’m not talking just about a cheerleader. I’m talking about a friend who can tell you when your attitude needs 
more faith and energy. Its OK to sorrow for a night, but the Bible tells us that joy cometh in
the morning. Sometimes we won’t accept the joy and we need a friend at that point to be honest with us and tell us to get rid of our personal rain cloud.
Love of God, Ignore Yesterday. Faithful Friend. And finally, what does this all Teach you? Maxwell says, ‘When you fall, take advantage of being down and pick something up off the floor, because you usually don't have a chance to look that closely.’ The truth is that in failure, you need to look for one key teaching and way to change. A lot of people retreat when they need instead to change.
Each week, when I prepare one of these messages, I’m tempted to say that this is the hardest stage of life. The truth is that all of these stages of life are extremely critical and none of them easy. What until you hear next week and for the 40 somethings!
The point is that through the grace of God, you keep meeting the generational challenge. This all is shaping your character, making you beautiful in the sight of the Savior, getting you ready for life in the Blessed Kingdom. And if you are dealing with failure in your life right now, then LIFT yourself out of it. Take the Love of God, Ignore Yesterday, get a Faithful Friend, and Teach yourself to change.
