There’s a moment every Ohio State football fan remembers. Late November. Fourth straight loss to Michigan. The season felt over. But then came the college football playoffs — and what looked like heartbreak became the setup for a national championship. Adam Skelley Skelly opened his sermon with that familiar wound and asked a pointed question: What if your failure isn’t the end of your story?
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
— Genesis 50:20
The Setback Is Not the Story
Romans 8:28 is one of the most quoted verses in scripture — and one of the most misapplied. It doesn’t promise that everything will go your way. It promises that God will work in all things — even the painful things — for the good of those who love Him. Even when the loss is real. Even when the wound is deep. Your failure doesn’t define you. God’s purpose does.
Joseph: From Pit to Palace
Genesis 37 gives us one of the Bible’s most dramatic underdog stories. Seventeen-year-old Joseph had a God-given dream of leadership and influence. His brothers responded by throwing him into a pit and selling him into slavery. From there, he was falsely accused and imprisoned. If anyone had reason to believe the story was over, it was Joseph.
“The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered… he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.”
— Genesis 39:2, 21
But God was working behind the scenes. Psalm 105:17-19 puts it bluntly: “He sent a man before them, Joseph, sold as a slave. Then he bruised his feet with shackles, his neck with irons — till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true.”
Joseph’s setback wasn’t punishment. It was preparation. Before the palace, there was a pit. Before the crown, there was a prison cell. And when Pharaoh finally called him out, Joseph was ready — not just gifted, but grounded.
David: The Pasture Before the Palace
When Samuel came to find the next king, Jesse paraded seven sons before him. David wasn’t among them. His own father thought he was unworthy of consideration. God told Samuel something critical:
“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature… for the Lord sees not as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
— 1 Samuel 16:7
David would eventually slay Goliath, lead a nation, and become a man after God’s own heart. But that didn’t happen overnight. Before the palace, there was a pasture. Before the crown, there was a cave. And before the celebration, there was a long season of hiding, running, and fearing for his life.
Ruth: From Widowhood to Lineage of Christ
Ruth’s story reads like a tragedy. Her husband died. She left her homeland. She had no status, no inheritance, no human hope. But through a series of divine appointments, she ended up in the field of Boaz — and eventually became part of the lineage of Jesus Christ Himself. Her setback wasn’t the end. It was the doorway to her destiny.
Gideon: Mighty Warrior with 300 Men
In Judges 6, the Israelites were being crushed by the Midianites — starving, hiding in caves, desperate. The Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon at a wine press where he was secretly threshing wheat, hiding from his enemies. His response: “Pardon me, my lord… My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family.”
“The Lord said to him, ‘I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.’” — Judges 6:16
Gideon gathered 32,000 men. God told him that was too many — and reduced the army twice, down to 300. Why? “I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel boast against me, my own strength has saved me.” God was setting up an underdog victory so that everyone would know it wasn’t human strategy — it was divine power. And with 300 men, Gideon defeated an army “thick as locusts.”
“We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
— Romans 5:3-5
Friday Isn’t the End
If you want to talk about the greatest underdog story in history, you have to talk about Jesus. There’s never been a moment that looked more like defeat than Good Friday. The crowd was gone. The disciples were scattered. Jesus — the miracle worker who calmed storms and raised the dead — was bleeding and dying on a Roman cross.
“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed… Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ And having said this, he breathed his last.”
— Luke 23:44-46
Friday ended in silence. Jesus was placed in a borrowed tomb. The stone was rolled in front. The seal was set. And Saturday was quiet — devastatingly quiet. The disciples were scattered. Their hopes were buried. It looked like the end.
But just because God was silent didn’t mean He was absent. What looked like the darkest moment of defeat was actually the setup for the greatest victory in history. The silence of Saturday wasn’t a void — it was the training ground for resurrection morning.
“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen!”
— Luke 24:5-6
“For if the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
— Romans 8:11
The Comeback Story: Peter
Peter was bold. Passionate. The disciple who said he’d never deny Jesus — and then denied Him three times in a courtyard. When the rooster crowed and Jesus turned and looked at him, Peter went out and wept bitterly. It was his lowest moment.
But the story didn’t end there. After the resurrection, Jesus met Peter on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Three times He asked: “Do you love me?” And three times Peter said yes. Jesus didn’t shame him. He restored him and recommissioned him:
“‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’… ‘Feed my sheep.’” — John 21:15-17
A few weeks later in Acts 2, Peter stood before a crowd and boldly preached the gospel. Three thousand people were saved that day. The same man who denied Jesus started the church. That’s grace. That’s the underdog story continuing to rewrite itself.
Your Michigan Moment Has a Purpose
Adam Skelley closed with this challenge: What’s your Michigan loss? The failure, the rejection, the silence that makes you feel like your story is over?
The Bible is full of people who got back in the game when it looked over:
- Moses — a murderer with a speech problem, used to lead a nation
- Rahab — a prostitute, part of the lineage of Jesus
- Jonah — ran from God, still preached one of the greatest revivals in the Old Testament
- Peter — denied Jesus, started the church
Every one of them had a Michigan moment. Every one of them got back up. Why does God love using underdogs? Because underdogs know they need Him. When the world sees something unlikely rise up, the question isn’t who did this? — it’s how did that happen? And the answer is because God was in it. “So that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:29)
“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
— Philippians 1:6
God knew your failures before He called you. And He called you anyway. Your setback might be the soil where your next season of fruit begins to grow. Don’t uproot yourself just because it feels dry. Stay rooted in the promises of God — because in due time, you will see what God has been doing all along. The setup.
You May Lose the Battle and Still Win the War
Ohio State lost to Michigan four years in a row. And then — with everything on the line — they got their second chance. They went on to win the 2025 National Championship. The story that looked like heartbreak became historic.
Some of you walked in here today feeling like your season is over. You’ve had your Michigan moments — losses, failures, regrets — and they haunt you. Maybe you’ve been telling yourself: God can’t use me. I blew it. It’s too late.
Here’s your invitation: surrender your setback. Trust again — not in your ability, but in God’s purpose. Stop believing that your failures disqualified you. Start believing that God still works in all things for good.
“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
— Romans 8:28
You may lose to your biggest rival. You may feel like all is lost. But God specializes in writing underdog stories — and yours isn’t finished yet.