Not Defined by Your Worst Mistake by Nathan Grace First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN) Kind: sermon Scripture: John 20:24-25 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/nathan-grace--not-defined-by-your-worst-mistake Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ so glad to be in a place where folks know how to worship the same true living god that we've experienced and i'm here tonight to tell you that he is the same god that i've experienced and i feel the power and the liberty in the holy ghost tonight amen real quick i'm going to read from the book of john chapter 20 verse number 24 and 25 it says but thomas one of the twelve called didymus was not with them when jesus came and the other disciples therefore said unto him we have seen the lord but he said unto them except i shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side i will not believe but i'm glad that the story didn't end there hallelujah and thomas is known throughout time for the one thing he did wrong he's known as doubting thomas there's another man known we talked about football tonight well brother carpenter mission football but thomas is known throughout time for being doubt and thomas and there's another man in the football circles in college football named roy regals anybody ever heard of roy regals well he's known throughout time as for the one thing that he did wrong and he played for the university of berkeley california from 1927 to 1929 and in the 1929 rose bowl he was running toward the sidelines when he picked up a fumble from georgia tech and roy regal started running and he turned towards the tech's goal line and somebody shoved him and he lost his bearings he didn't know the direction he was supposed to be going and in pivoting to get away he turned in beginning running the wrong way he ran 65 yards the wrong way and ended up down on his own one yard line and his teammate benny lom stopped him and he was then tackled by a georgia tech player his mistake is often cited as the worst blunder in all of college football and he's known today as wrong way regals and for some time this overshadowed all the other achievements that he had made in his career but i'm here to tell you today the wrong way regals didn't stop there we find that since that time he earned his first his first team all american honors and he served as team captain for the bears in 1929 he was later inducted into the rose bowl hall of fame but he could have stayed as wrong way regals there's someone here tonight that you've allowed circumstances in your life to cloud your view of what god wants to do and i believe here tonight that we sang the song earlier hell lost another one i am free i am free for the sins of my past i am free from the mistakes that i have made i refuse to be defined by the mistakes that are in my past yes i may have got disoriented yes i may have hit it the wrong way but i'm turned around today and i'm gonna walk in the right direction you don't have to be defined by your worst mistake you can go on to greater things tonight and so today i call upon the church today to remember that jesus christ is looking for some people who will turn that worst mistake around in thomas he was known as doubting thomas but there came a day when jesus came back in front of him and he said oh lord my god oh lord he recognized him for who he was and i'm thankful that i know jesus christ as my lord and savior why don't you give the lord a handcuff and praise because he turned you around i am not the same