Peter’s Recovery

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary

Short Summary
The discourse uses the example of Peter’s failures and redemption to illustrate how to recover from failure through confession, forsaking wrongdoing, and receiving mercy. It emphasizes Jesus’ gentle leadership in preparing, encouraging, and restoring Peter by giving him meaningful work, highlighting the importance of humility, perseverance, and helping others grow in faith. The message encourages believers to embrace their weaknesses, keep getting up after setbacks, and support others in their spiritual journeys.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Discourse on “How to Recover from Failure” Using Peter as an Example

Introduction to Failure and Recovery
– The speaker opens by relating common experiences of failure: academic, physical, and moral/character failures.
– Personal anecdote: failed at cross-country tryouts, illustrating humility and kindness of others in failure.
– Emphasizes that everyone experiences failure; this talk is for anyone who has failed or might fail.
– Focus on the Apostle Peter as a case study for failure and, critically, recovery.
– Two main lessons:
1. How to recover when we fail.
2. Jesus’ example of leadership in helping others grow.

Biblical Principle on Recovery: Confess + Forsake = Mercy
– Key verse: Proverbs 28:13 – “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
– Confession means:
– Recognizing and acknowledging wrongdoing.
– Praying to Heavenly Father or seeking forgiveness from those wronged.
– Not merely feeling sorry for being caught, but sincere repentance.
– Forsaking means:
– Taking concrete action to avoid repeating the sin/failure.
– Implementing strategies to change behavior, words, or thoughts.
– Examples from Scripture:
– Old Testament guilt offerings and restitution (e.g., returning stolen goods plus compensation).
– David’s sin with Bathsheba and Uriah: initially tried to conceal but found mercy after confession.
– New Testament promise: 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Character and Background of Peter
– Peter: bold, passionate, impulsive, loyal yet fearful, teachable with uncommon faith.
– Background: Simon from Bethsaida, fisherman, married, lived in Capernaum.
– Called by Jesus to be a “fisher of men” after miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5).
– Witnessed Jesus’ ministry firsthand.

Peter’s Failure at the Last Supper and Gethsemane
– Jesus washes Peter’s feet (John 13:6), teaching humility and service; Peter initially resists but then embraces it.
– Jesus predicts Peter’s denial (Luke 22:33-34): Peter vows loyalty, but Jesus foretells denial three times before the rooster crows.
– Peter’s failure:
– Falls asleep in Gethsemane when asked to pray/watch.
– Cuts off Malchus’s ear trying to defend Jesus; Jesus heals the man, teaching control and mercy.
– Peter follows Jesus to the high priest’s courtyard but denies knowing Him three times when confronted.
– At the rooster’s crow and Jesus’ look, Peter weeps bitterly, ashamed of failure.
– Key reasons for failure: fear and misplaced confidence in self rather than in the Lord.

Jesus’ Encouragement Before and After Peter’s Failure
– Luke 22:32: Jesus prays for Peter, asking that his faith not fail, and promises restoration: “When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
– Mark 16:7: After Resurrection, angels instruct women to tell disciples Peter will see Jesus in Galilee, giving Peter hope.
– John 20: Peter runs to the empty tomb, boldly entering, illustrating love and eagerness despite past failure.

Peter’s Restoration by Jesus (John 21:15-17)
– Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him, mirroring Peter’s three denials.
– First two times, Jesus uses the Greek word *agapeo* (selfless, sacrificial love); Peter replies with *phileo* (affectionate, brotherly love), showing humility and honesty about his limitations.
– Third time, Jesus uses *phileo*, and Peter affirms his love.
– After each question, Jesus gives Peter a task:
1. “Feed my lambs” – care for the young/new believers.
2. “Tend my sheep” – shepherd and guide the church members.
3. “Feed my sheep” – nurture mature believers.
– Jesus gives Peter a future-focused commission, restoring his role and responsibility.
– Jesus foretells Peter’s martyrdom that would glorify God (John 21:18-19), encouraging him to stay faithful.
– Final invitation: “Follow me,” bookending Jesus’ original call to Peter.

Lessons from the Restoration Conversation
– Jesus’ gentleness and patience in restoration.
– Importance of humility and honesty in acknowledging failure.
– Restoration involves both confession and active responsibility.
– Peter’s response: boldness in preaching, enduring persecution, and leadership in the early church.
– Recovery equation revisited: Confession (Peter’s honest acknowledgment) plus forsaking (Peter’s active ministry) equals mercy.

Application: Growth Through Failure and Leadership
– Growth often happens outside comfort zones; Peter was pushed beyond his limits.
– Jesus prepared Peter by:
– Warning him of the coming trial.
– Praying for him.
– Promising restoration and purpose after failure.
– Failure is inevitable but not final; recovery requires getting up repeatedly (Proverbs 24:16: “For the righteous man falls seven times and rises again”).
– Leaders must be willing to allow others to try, fail, and grow.
– Encouragement and hope are essential in helping others recover and grow.
– Jesus modeled leadership by trusting Peter again, giving him work and hope.

Practical Encouragement for Listeners
– Don’t give up because of past failures.
– Ask what work God has set before you.
– Approach tasks with zeal and courage like Peter.
– Help others grow by offering encouragement, opportunities, and second chances.
– Be teachable and honest about failures.
– Embrace God’s ongoing work in your life (Philippians 1:6): “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Closing Exhortation
– Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
– Glory to God now and forever.

—

Key Bible Verses Referenced:
– Proverbs 28:13 – Confess and forsake sins to obtain mercy.
– 1 John 1:9 – Promise of forgiveness and cleansing upon confession.
– John 13:6-17 – Jesus washing Peter’s feet and teaching humility.
– Luke 22:32-34 – Jesus’ prayer for Peter and prediction of denial.
– Mark 16:7 – Resurrection announcement including specific mention of Peter.
– John 20:3-6 – Peter running to the empty tomb.
– John 21:15-19 – Jesus restores Peter with threefold question and commission.
– Proverbs 24:16 – The righteous man falls seven times and rises again.
– Philippians 1:6 – God completes the good work begun in believers.

—

This discourse uses Peter’s journey of failure, repentance, restoration, and leadership as a profound biblical example encouraging believers to recover from their own failures through confession, forsaking sin, and embracing the work God calls them to, while also modeling Jesus’ patient leadership in nurturing growth in others.

Transcript

Good morning, brethren.

Have you ever failed?

Maybe it was a failing grade on a test or a school assignment. How about a physical test? You know, I had a tryout for cross country the one time and we’re supposed to run a mile and after about two laps around the track, the coach mercifully came over and said, why don’t you stop about there?

That was pretty humbling. I know he was just trying to be kind. He was one of our kind. Kindest coaches I ever had. How about failure in our character?

I can raise my hand to all three of these, and if you’ve had failures, and you might have some in the future, good. Then this talk is for you and me.

For this talk, we’re going to focus on Peter. Peter will serve as our example of failure and more importantly, recovery.

After this talk, if you only walk away with one thing, the goal is that you walk away with this. How to Recover when We Fail we also think there’s an incredible secondary lesson in this story and is Jesus example of leadership? How to help another person grow? We’ll touch on that later on in the talk.

How to Recover from Failure I love this verse that I’m about to share with you because at a time when I needed helped me. It says in Proverbs 28:13 whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. I like this verse because it could be turned into a formula. Confess, forsake equals mercy. Confession means recognizing that we have done wrong and acknowledging it.

Acknowledging it in prayer to our Heavenly Father, or if there is someone we have wronged, acknowledging our sin, our failure, our transgression, and asking forgiveness.

Let us be clear that this is not feeling sorry for being caught. No, this is recognizing that we have done something wrong and desiring to do what is right, and forsaking is forsaking what we have done wrong means taking action in our lives to not repeat that failure. What strategies do we need to put in place to not fail in that way? Again, what positive steps can we take to move away from those actions, words or thoughts that brought us to that failure or that transgression, that sin?

This may seem overly simple, this formula, but guess what? This is a principle found throughout the Scriptures. Here are some quick examples. In the Law, there were guilt offerings for when one had sin as a way to confess and repair what had been done wrong and helped the individual forsake what they had done. If you had willfully stolen something, you were supposed to give it back and then with percentages on top of that to recompense the other person.

Do you think that was incentive to not do that again? I think so. If you went through that experience, David would be a great example of trying to conceal a transgression and not receiving mercy until he went through these steps. We remember that with his sin with Uriah and Bathsheba, and we have a promise in the New Testament in 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We have a promise in the New Testament of how this, that this will help us in our forgiveness.

Well what does this have to do with Peter? I think he serves as another example in the scriptures of this principle in action. Peter is bold, courageous, quick to speak up, impulsive, emotional, passionate, loyal, fearful, teachable and possessed an uncommon faith. Peter’s background, well we know it. He was born as Simon in the Galilean town of Bethsaida.

He was a fisherman by profession, worked in partnership with Andrew, his brother James and John. Peter was married, he lived in Capernaum, and all of this was Peter’s life at the time when he came to know Jesus, and do you remember that calling of him from Jesus? He had started to know about him.

He’d had some encounters with him. But Jesus had come to his boat and had him row out when he was preaching, and then after that he said oh I’m going to row out. Why don’t you row out a little further. Why don’t we go catch some fish?

Peter said well master, we’ll do it but we didn’t catch anything last night. Why don’t you cast it right over there? There were so many fish that came into that net that was bursting. There’s two boats almost sank trying to pull that net back in. He looked at Peter and said peter, come follow me and I’ll make you a fisher of men.

So that was Peter’s start and then he witnessed all these incredible stories that we hold so dear in Jesus ministry. Well we’re going to fast forward and we’re going to move all the way to the night of the Last Supper, and first story there that we’re going to touch on is when Jesus washed Peter’s feet, and we’re, you know, if you remember this is in John 13:6, Peter, it says he said he came to Simon Peter who said to him, lord do you wash my feet? You know here Jesus has already been washing the other apostles feet and he gets to Peter, he says, no, no, don’t wash me.

You know, this is, and he says, if I don’t wash, you don’t have any part of me, and then, you know, shows. This is kind of over Peter’s head, wasn’t it? Peter’s like, wash all of me, right?

He’s like, still not getting it. He said, no, if I don’t do this, you don’t have any part in me. I need to do this. I love Jesus. Example.

Jesus gives the example before telling him what it means, and so he gets down and he washes Peter’s feet, and he says, you know, so we have some example, some lessons for us there in John 13, 14, 15, he says, if I, then your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet. You also ought to wash another’s feet, for I’ve given you example that you also should do just as I have done to you. Here’s some lessons.

Serve one another. Be humble, right? Look at Jesus. Example. Down on the knees, washing dirty feet.

Be bathed, covered by Jesus righteousness. Are we being washed by his word and pride of place or earthly ambition? This is. We have to watch out for this. I have to watch out for this.

What were they talking about just before this? Who was going to have the chief place in Jesus’s earthly kingdom? So I want you to put yourself in the mindset of the apostles at this moment. They didn’t witness an incredible week.

Jesus enters triumphantly. People are laying down their clothes, palm branches. He’s able to withstand all questioning by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, they’re stumbled by that. The Pharisees and Sadducees are stumbled. They have no answer in response to him.

By the end of the week, they see all this, as you know, in their minds. The kingdom must be just right around the corner. Am I going to be on his right hand or his left hand? How is this going to work out? Even though he keeps telling them, no, it’s not going to work out that way.

He tells them, that night, I’m going to have to die. I’m going to suffer. I’m going to be taken prisoner.

Well, in Luke 22, 33 and 34, Peter said to him, lord, I’m ready to go with you both to prison and to death, and Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me. So what was Peter’s experiences? I was getting lined up for that very night right here. They’re ready for the kingdom to Be established.

Peter was about to be sifted by Satan. He fell asleep in Gethsemane. When he was asked to watch and pray. He cut off the ear of Malchus. Right?

And Jesus said, do we have, you know, before they left the last supper, do we have enough? Do we have. Do we have swords? No, we got two of them. Good, get out there.

Peter sees a chance to defend Jesus and right Malchus ear right off, and what does Jesus do? Heals Malchus.

Peter must have been surprised. I thought I was doing what I was supposed to be. So all of a sudden, everything that he had been expecting that evening got turned upside down.

Some other quick lessons for us. Prayerful watchfulness. Right? That’s what Jesus was asking for help with in Gethsemane. Do we have confidence in the Lord and not confidence in ourselves?

So we’re thinking, don’t worry, I got this, Lord. That was Peter’s challenge, right that night. How about knowing our own weaknesses? Knowing our weakness of, hey, maybe I’m going to put self confidence in place of being confident in the Lord or maybe other things that we have in our life. Are we aware when we’re going into a trial that we’re about to face that it’s going to test some of our weaknesses?

Have we identified those in our life?

Well, Jesus was at the garden. He was captured, and he was taken before multiple trials, and that night he was taken before the trials, before the high priests, and everybody scattered except Peter tried to follow along.

He did. He made it to the courtyard outside of the room where Jesus was being tried, and sometimes we’re really harsh on Peter’s denial. We sort of judge Peter like he denied Christ. Everybody else, maybe with the exception of John, had fled.

And Peter was trying to follow through on what he told the Lord he would do.

First, the woman came up to him and said, this man was with him. Woman, I don’t know him.

You also are one of them. Another man, accused man. I am not. Some more time passed. Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean man.

I don’t know what you are talking about.

Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.

Can you imagine that scene in your mind? In my mind he’s out there in the courtyard trying to stay warm by the fire, desperately trying to stay there, camouflaged from the rest of the society there, and the Lord, I see him like in an archway, right into another room or a building, and he just looks out right as the rooster crows and Looks right at Peter. How would that have made you feel?

Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him. Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times, and he went out, went outside and wept bitterly.

You know, I’m sure Peter felt ashamed that he had failed.

That here he had, he was said he would do this, he would stand by the Lord no matter what, and he didn’t have the strength. Why was that? I think it was because Peter had fear. He feared what was going to come was next.

He had the desire in his heart, but fear, because of his fear, he wasn’t able to do it.

Well, there’s some important things that happened before this, and let’s talk about the encouragement that Peter was given in advance, and we find this in Luke 22:32, 33, and it says, simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you.

Think of the power in just that statement, that the Lord in advance knew something was going to happen to Peter and he prayed for him. Do you think that the Lord is praying for us, asking the Heavenly Father to give us strength? And this is what he prayed for him. He said that your faith may not fail. He didn’t say that Peter wouldn’t fail, but that Peter’s faith wouldn’t fail.

That’s the first thing. The second thing was, and when you have turned again, I love this, when you’ve turned again, it’s almost Jesus saying, peter, I know, I know it’s not going to work out this first time. I know you’re going to fall down. But when you get back up, strengthen your brothers. He gives them a work to do.

All of this he did in advance to encourage Peter. Before Peter even fell into this challenge. Keep in mind he’s doing all of this while he himself is preparing to lay down his life as a sacrifice for all of mankind.

What incredible care and love and leadership he had for Peter while he himself was going through the greatest trial any man ever faced. This wasn’t the only encouragement that was given to Peter. I like this. In Mark 16:7, you know Jesus. This is now Jesus has been raised and resurrected.

And the women had gone there first on the, on that Sunday morning and they had gone to look for the grave, and when they got there, there were the two angels, and the angels said, he’s not here. He has risen. But go tell the disciples.

And Peter, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him as he said unto you, special word was sent through the angels, through the women, to go to the disciples, and Peter, I love that Peter was pointed out specifically. I think that would have given Peter some hope, and what was his response?

Peter runs to the grave. We see this in John 20, right? Peter and John are running to the grave, and Peter and the other side disciples started for the tomb. Both were running.

Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. You know, John got there first. He ran. He outran Peter. He got there, but he stopped at the door.

I kind of, you know, somebody brought this up. I think Brother Brendan Getchell brought this up to me in a couple Boaz conventions. To me, I identified with that. It’s like analysis, paralysis at the door. Do I go through?

Do I not? Do I stop? What’s going on? There’s bedcloths here. The Lord isn’t here.

Why is the stone rolled back? Right? All these things, and what does Peter do right in. Doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t stop.

That’s love in action to me. I need to learn from that. That’s boldness. You know, I had experience earlier this year where I was literally at a doorway and I paused because I got a little anxious about what was on the other side of going through that door. I had to pray about it.

I got to learn from Peter to just jump right in and go right through the door.

Okay, let’s get to Peter’s restoration. This is a picture of the Sea of Galilee, and we could imagine, you know, after Jesus appeared to the disciples on the first, on that resurrection, morning and day, he appeared again when Thomas was there, right? Thomas could feel the room, but he told them to go to Galilee, and he didn’t appear for a while after that.

So eventually they did go to Galilee. But when they returned there, you know, they got there and Peter said, hey, I’m going to go fishing.

And he went fishing. They didn’t catch any. They didn’t catch any fish all night, and as they’re coming back to shore, then a stranger appears on the shore and tells them, cast out their nets. Have he caught anything?

No, haven’t caught anything. Cast out your nets. Pulled in, and they have a huge hall of fish. 153 to be exact, and John is in the boat, too, and recognizes first, this must be Jesus.

And when he tells Peter that, what does Peter do? He wraps his cloak around him and dives right in. That’s like Peter at the door again. Right, right in.

I love this story. I love that, you know, John’s in there. It does record how far away they were from the shore. I always think that’s a little humorous. Like we were a hundred yards away and we still had to row the rest of the way.

But Peter, don’t worry, you jumped out. You know, I wonder if they sort of teased him about that later on. But Peter jumped. Why did Peter jump out? He loved Jesus.

He wanted to be with Jesus.

So they sit down for a breakfast of fish, and afterwards we read in John 21, 15, 16, and 17 about how Jesus recovered Peter.

First, in verse 15, when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon, peter, simon, son of John, do you love me more than these. What are the. What it was Jesus referring to? I think maybe the fishing boats, the nets, the work, the worldly work that he was doing.

And Peter responded, yes, Lord, you know that I love you, and Jesus said to him, feed my lambs, and then in the 16th verse, he says Jesus said to him a second time, simon, son of John, do you love me?

And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you, and Jesus said to him, tend my sheep, and in the 17th verse, Jesus says to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep quickly. At the high level, how many times did Jesus, or how many times did Peter deny Jesus? Three times. How many times does Jesus ask Peter that he loves him?

Three times. I think that’s a clear correspondence in terms of recovering Peter. I think at the highest level, right, we hit three denials, three recoveries here in terms of asking if he loves him. Let’s look at 18 and 19, because I think it’s really incredible, the promises there. In 1818, right after this, it says, truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted.

But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you did not want to go. This he said to show by what kind of death he was, to glorify God. Could you imagine that after you had just been recovered, Jesus says to you, your death’s going to glorify God.

He was building Peter back up. He was giving him hope. I was thinking of the disciples, the apostles. I can think of only one other case, and that’s the Apostle Paul, who knew that a crown was set for him at the end of his life when he says that in second Tim, at the end of two Timothy here, Peter saying of being told, your death is going to glorify God, you think that spurred him into action.

And then right after that, Jesus says, and after saying this, he said to him, follow me.

What I love about the 21st chapter of John is that it serves as two bookends. First, you have the bookend to Peter’s denial of Jesus and Jesus recovering Peter 3 and 3. Right? But you also have what happened at the very beginning of when Peter decided to follow Jesus. The fishing boat, the night of no fishing.

And Jesus saying, come, follow me, and now here at the end, he again extends that invitation to Peter saying, come, follow me. Let’s dive a little bit deeper into Jesus questions, because if we look into English, we’re going to miss some things. I think a lot of us are aware that there’s differences here in what Jesus said, and when he asked questions of Peter and Peter’s response.

But I want to go through them because I think there’s some valuable lessons for us.

So the second column over, it talks about Jesus questions, and the first two times that Jesus asked Peter if he loves him, he uses the word agapeo, the verb of agape. He says, do you love me? And to me, I love brother Stephan’s definitions yesterday. I’m going to define it for myself because it helps me sometimes just to say it out loud.

A selfless love, a sacrificing love. I think of it as a love that wants the best for someone else and, and seeks nothing in return. Sometimes it requires that sacrifice on our behalf. It might even hurt, right?

We might have to give something up.

So Jesus was asking, do you agape me? Do you agape me? And what was Peter’s response every time?

Yes, Lord, I feel love you.

Well, what’s the definition of filial love? Again, yesterday, I loved yesterday’s presentation in the morning. I called it an affectionate love, a duty love of personal attachment and devotion. Peter loved Jesus, so why the difference? Why did Jesus ask the first two times, do you agape me?

Wasn’t Jesus setting the standard of where he expected Peter to be? And Peter in his humility, said, yes, Lord, I love you. But he’s recognizing, I filial love you. I have this deep affection for you. But Lord, I couldn’t do it.

When the moment happened, I couldn’t. I wasn’t there yet. I failed because of fear in me. I fell short. I’m sorry.

Yes, I love you deeply. But I wasn’t there yet. I wasn’t. To the self sacrificing portion. Yet again, when Jesus asked it, are you able to self sacrifice for me?

Peter’s saying humbly, lord, I’m not there yet. Finally Jesus says, do you filial even filial, right? Is he saying, do you even feel you’ll love me? And this is where Peter gets a little worked up. He says, of course I feel you love you.

I ran to the grave, I jumped into the water. I wanted to be with you, Lord. So I think there’s incredible lessons here for us. One, look how gentle Jesus recovery of Peter is. He doesn’t look at Peter and said, peter, you failed me three times.

Please apologize.

Said he asked him, do you love me?

Look at Peter’s response. Do we have the humbleness and the purity of heart? I was thinking about the discourse again, or theme discourse, right. It’s about having purity of heart, and Peter is able to respond and say, I’m not there yet, Lord, I’m not there yet.

I’m not there yet.

That’s the difference in the love portion. The last portion is important too. Jesus gives instructions after every time he asks a question. First time he says, feed my lambs, and in the Greek that’s bosco arnion.

It is, we think, that’s feeding, giving the truth to lambs, the young in the church, the newly consecrated, the young learning the truth. So he gives. As he restores Peter, he’s giving him a responsibility, something to go do again on the next time he says something a little different. Tender shepherd, my sheep. Okay, those Greek words are different as well, but this is more like guide, lead my sheep.

Well, what’s his response? What’s he telling Peter? I want you to help lead in the church. I want you to help guide in the church, and finally he says, it’s like the final portion of the restoration, giving Peter full responsibility back as an elder, as an apostle in the church, saying, feed my sheep.

Feed those that are mature in the church as well. Maybe an inference we could say is maybe those weaker in the church, maybe some of the sheep should be able at that point to feed themselves. So you need to help feed them as well. But the point is feeding the sheep so it’s both the young and the mature he’s supposed to feed and he’s supposed to guide and lead them. In each case, when he’s recovering him, he’s giving him a task or work to go do.

Well, how did Peter respond? He responded beautifully. Peter boldly stood up and preached at Pentecost. He continued to preach and was eventually jailed on different occasions. Scourged for his preaching, he spread the truth to the Gentiles.

Now remember our equation for recovery from failure. Confess plus forsake equals mercy.

So when we were talking about the words that Peter spoke back to Jesus, I think that was his confession. Lord, I wasn’t able to reach that self sacrificing level. What about the forsaking peace? What actions did Peter take to forsake the denial of Jesus?

When he was given the opportunity again by Jesus to feed the lambs, to tend the sheep, to feed the sheep, and Jesus again extends the hand and says, follow me. How did Peter respond? He went right to work.

Peter’s response was his act of forsaking his denial of Jesus. Do you think he ever denied Jesus again?

Peter was restored and took the positive steps forward to never fail in this way again. How was that accomplished? Jesus gave him work to do. Jesus trusted Peter with some of the most important work of the early church. There’s a lesson in there for us in restoring someone Jesus saw as necessary to give them a task, a work to perform, to trust them.

I think that should lead us to ask, what is the work the Lord has for us?

What is the work the Lord has put in front of you? What is the work that the Lord has put in front of me? Do I have the zeal and the hunger that Peter had?

I like this image, Paul seven times stand up eight.

That’s a biblical principle. Proverbs 24:16. For righteous man falls seven times and rises up again. Boy, have I needed that.

You’re falling on your face, gone back up and fallen right down on your face again. I have.

What’s the point of this scripture getting back up. Brethren, don’t give up. Keep getting up. Follow Peter’s example. When we get up, keep moving forward.

Think about how much Jesus loved Peter. He prayed for him, he trusted him. Even when he failed, he was rooting him on. Do you think Jesus is desiring the same for everyone that has consecrated their life to serve our Heavenly Father? Absolutely.

How do we know that? Philippians 1:6. 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.

We’re promised that that work will continue on. We have to keep getting up and being faithful. So how did Peter go from denying the Lord to boldly preaching and being a pillar of the church?

Well, it’s a question of how we grow and this is the part where I think it’s the secondary lesson that’s here, and it’s Jesus’s incredible example of how to grow another person, and so I take it a little bit from a leadership side, and I thought, okay, well, does everybody have an opportunity for leadership? I think there’s different opportunities, right?

It might be at work, in your family, at home, if you’re raising, raising children, if being an example to, to your family, to grandchildren, if you’re volunteering, if you’re asked to do something in the ecclesia and to lead out on that. Guess what? Sometimes people come along and to help you with that work, right?

And do you think everybody that comes along to help on the specific work you got set in front of you is just like ready made to complete everything perfectly the first time? I’ll tell you what, for my work life, that is not the case.

We get really comfortable when we’re working inside our comfort zone, right? That’s where we feel real comfortable. So I’m going to use the example like if we’re in our house, right? We’re in our house. We know where everything is for the most part.

If something’s not working, right, we generally know maybe I think I know who to call. I know how this is going to work. I know how that works. I feel comfortable here. I can operate in this world.

Then let’s say you go to another country, you’re invited into somebody else’s home. The language is different. You don’t know how this thing works. How’s that work? Oh, I don’t know.

Oh, that broke. I don’t know what to do now. Outside your comfort zone.

So when we’re outside our comfort zone, that’s where we have the opportunity to grow, and look at Peter’s example. He’d been following Jesus, and at that night of Last Supper, he got pushed way outside his comfort zone, right? Feeling pretty comfortable. Look, I see Jesus performing the miracles.

He’s able to withstand everything that the Pharisees and the Sadducees said, great, we’re on the right track here. Peter was inside his comfort zone and then all of a sudden everything flipped on him, right? So how was Peter able to grow through that experience? Why did he get set outside his comfort zone?

There’s one way that Jesus knew he would be able to grow Peter, how did he do that? Did he just send him out there and say, best wishes, Peter, hope it goes well for you? Nope. He said before he even put him outside of there, hey, you’re going to go through a tough experience. Peter, you’re not really ready for this.

Satan’s going to test you, right? He gives him full warning of what’s going to happen and then he gives him some hope, right? I’m praying for you. Your faith’s not going to fail you, and you’re going to turn again. You’re going to fall down, but you’re going to get back up.

And when you do, I gotta work for you.

That’s what he armed Peter with before you even put him outside that circle, and then when Peter got there, guess what? He failed.

So it’s okay when we step outside our comfort zone, and it’s okay if we fail the first time or the second time, we gotta keep getting up because that’s where we’re gonna grow, is outside of that comfort zone, and if we’re a leader and we have a responsibility to a group to help them grow, guess what? We’re going to have to put them outside their comfort zone, and what I find over and over again with people, as many times, they rise to the occasion to meet what’s been said in front of them. I’ve had other leaders say, I don’t know, we really can’t have this project fail, right?

That happens at work sometimes.

Are you open to failure? It’s going to happen whether you’re planning for it or not.

We all know this. Nothing’s going to work out perfectly. We’re going to have to be prepared for failure. So what we have to be prepared for is how do we recover somebody when they fall down? And that’s what I love about Jesus.

Example in this is preparing Peter for what he was going to face, giving him hope, and then when Peter had fallen down, guess what? He didn’t say, good luck. Peter getting up.

No, he came and told him. He said, I love you. Do you love you? Do you love me back? How gentle was he with Peter and his reproof?

Oh, man, I need to learn that lesson. It’s so easy to say, why didn’t you do this thing this way the first time?

Versus saying, hey, let’s give you, let’s give you an opportunity to show me how you can. Let’s, let’s work on how you can change that. Let’s work how you can fix that. Let me give you a work to do. Let me inspire some hope in you.

Let me give some future things for you to shoot for.

So when we look at this, I think about what Jesus did. He gave him trust, right? He trusted in Peter again. He gave him hope. He gave him encouragement.

He put the hand out to say, come, follow me. Come on, let’s go, try again. You know what? Peter got really comfortable again because we saw it. What was his actions after this?

He kept going. He was bold. He used that boldness in the right way. He got up and preached. He got up.

He withstood all of these different challenges and trials that he had. It wasn’t just because Peter had some excellent. Just was excellent in character. It was because Jesus was there to help lead him and he was able to be teachable. So are we when we get back up from failure, are we able to be teachable?

Were you able to be honest apart saying, yeah, I messed up. What can I learn from this? How can I not do it again?

Well, we’re going to close with our lessons, how to recover from failure. We talked about it. We’re going to say it again. Confess plus forsake equals mercy.

Got to take the first step to recognize. We’ve got to take this first step to recognize when we mess up, and we got to acknowledge it and we’ve got to own it. We got to apologize, ask forgiveness, and then we got to forsake what we’ve done. We’ve got to change our path, right?

We just keep saying we’re sorry, keep doing the same thing again. It’s not going to work out. We got to change our path. That’s hard, okay? I’m not saying that’s easy, that’s hard.

But we’ve got to take those positive steps.

Don’t give up, brethren. Don’t give up in your walk. Don’t give up on the tough things you’ve had in front of you. Don’t give up because of failures in the past.

Your Lord and Master wants you to succeed. He’s rooting you on. Keep going.

Ask, what work have you been asked to do? What has the Lord put in front of you and me to do? How can we go about doing this with Peter’s zeal and courage?

And then how can you help grow others?

What is it that you can help with? Folks, if they’ve had a challenge, they’ve fallen down, is there encouragement you can give? Is there hope that you can give? If you’re seeing brothers or sisters that can grow in their work for the Lord, is there opportunity that you’re able to give them? What happens if they fail at it the first time?

Are you willing to give them another opportunity again?

How can you help grow others so that they follow the Lord as well?

Brethren, we leave you with this.

This is Peter’s final words to us. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be the glory now and to the day of eternity, Amen.

Click Here for the PDF transcript.