Transcript – The Agony of Defeat
(Note that all transcripts were created from audio recordings, and therefore any mistakes are the transcriptionist's, not the speaker's.)
Filename -- The_Agony_of_Defeat_031122_transcript.htm
I need to ask myself, Am I walking HARD after God?
For years on Saturday afternoons there was a world called The Wide World of Sports, and those of us who were old enough remember that that show started every Saturday with a clip of a skier going down a ski jump, and Jim McKay would utter those famous words, "THE THRILL OF VICTORY, THE AGONY OF DEFEAT!"
And as he said those words, the agony of defeat, that jumper inexplicably went off that ski jump, tumbled head over heels about 10 times in a colossal fall, and for years he bore the title of embarrassment as the man that was "The Agony of Defeat."
But here’s the rest of the story.
That jumper didn’t go off that jump accidentally. You see, due to a delay, what had happened was that the jump had gotten icy. And as he got on the jump and started going down, he realized he was going too fast. And if he hadn’t gotten off that jump, he would have gone OVER the landing area and he would have landed on a spot where he could have died.
He INTENTIONALLY made a tough choice: "The path I’m on is a bad path." And he knew it would be hard and he knew it would be embarrassing and he knew it might even hurt some. But he got OFF that path. And it saved his life.
That’s what the Spirit of God says to you and me. Take a HARD look at the road you’re on. Maybe you need to get off. The Biblical word for that is “repentance.” And you Turn Around, and you follow HARD after God. And this is a good day to ask yourself if you are on the right way.
I’m going to close with a prayer and Psalm 139, give it to you as a great prayer today:
Search me O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
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