Heroes - Week 1: Simon Peter | Failure Isn't Final

Well, hey family, it's another beautiful month, and then we got another amazing series that is just right for you.

Have you ever looked at people in the Bible and wondered, wow, how did God use them?

They did some great things, they had great faith in God.

Truth of the matter is, we call them heroes of the faith, not because they're supernatural or they done everything right.

We call them heroes of the faith because they continue to trust God despite difficult circumstances.

And I believe you got a hero on the inside of you as well.

So this series this month, I guarantee you, it's gonna help you see that if God can use people that he used in the Bible that had all of their flaws, all of their complications, and God can do some great things through you as well.

So I'm excited for what God's gonna say today.

But I also want to tell you that we got some exciting things happening around here at Impact because this is open enrollment for Impact Christian Academy, our school.

So if you have a pre-K student all the way through 12th grade, we believe Impact Christian Academy is the right environment to help nurture your child, to grow them into the purpose that God has for their lives.

So if you want more information, go to ICAJAX.com and we'd love to have you on a tour or to take the exam to have your child be a part of this community.

Now let's take a listen to today's message.

Starting a new series today, and I want you to stay locked in with us for these next few weeks because this series we're titling it Heroes.

And I've done this series a few times.

We we tend to go back and pick different Bible characters because I think there's some lessons we can learn from some of these characters in the Bible.

And if you haven't figured it out yet, the Bible holds some of the most nail-biting, drama-philled stories you will ever read in your life.

In fact, uh, the original reality show didn't start with CBS or ABC, it started with the Bible.

You go back and read some of these characters in the Bible, some of the people God used in the Bible have some amazing stories, and God used them in some ways that allows you to know that if he can use them, he can definitely use you and me too.

And so I want to read some of uh the book of Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

We like to call it the Heaven Hall of Fame, but I want you to notice just a recurring phrase here in Hebrews chapter 11, starting at verse 2.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Verse 2 says, It was by their faith that people of ancient times won God's approval.

Verse 4 says, It was faith that made Abel offer to God a better sacrifice than Cain.

Verse 5 says, it was faith that kept Enoch from dying.

Verse 11, it was faith that made Abraham able to become a father, even though he was too old and Sarah herself could not have children.

Verse 23, it was faith that made the parents of Moses hide him for three months after he was born.

Verse 29, it was faith that made the Israelites able to cross the Red Sea as if they were on dry land.

Verse 30, it was faith that made the walls of Jericho, Jericho, fall down after the Israelites had marched around them for seven days.

It was faith that kept the prostitute Rahab from being killed.

Verse 32, should I go on?

There isn't enough time for me to talk about Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and David, Samuel, and all the prophets.

Through faith, they fought whole countries and won.

They did what was right and received what God had promised.

They shut the mouths of lions, they put out fierce fires, they escaped being killed by the sword.

What a record all of these have won by their what?

By their faith.

And then we we keep rolling over into chapter 12, verse 1.

It's the translators that put the chapters and verses there, but the writer of Hebrews is still talking about the same subject.

And he says in verse 1, do you see what this means?

All of these pioneers who blazed the way, all of these veterans who are cheering us on, it means we had better get on with it.

Strip down, strip down, start running, and never quit.

See, over and over throughout Hebrews chapter 11, we keep hearing this recurring phrase as the Bible talks about these folks we're calling heroes.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

It says they did all these things by their faith.

It was their faith.

These were not superhuman beings like Marvel characters or DC characters that can fly through the air or spin webs out of their hand.

They were regular, ordinary human beings, imperfect people who trusted a perfect God to keep his promises.

And because of that, God used them to do great exploits.

Because of that, God used them to set the world on fire and turn situations around for the good of his people.

And I want you to understand that because if we understand that God used them, then we can go back and look at their lives and learn some lessons from their lives.

In fact, the Bible says this in Romans chapter 15, verse 4.

Romans 15:4

It says, everything that was written in the past.

In other words, everything that was written in the scripture, Old Testament, and for us New Testament as well, it was written to do what?

I can't hear it.

It was written to do what?

Come on, it was written to do what?

Say this out loud, I need to learn today.

Come on, say it again.

Say, I need to learn today.

It was all written to teach us so that through the endurance that is taught in the scriptures and the encouragement that they provide, we might have hope.

So when we look at these stories and the heroes that live them, these things are a gift to us.

These are stories God has given us as a gift.

And over these next several weeks, we're going to take a look at some of the lives of these men and women.

And I'm asking the Holy Spirit to just speak to us through their lives.

I'm asking the Holy Spirit to instruct us, to encourage us, to inspire us, to correct us, to confirm some things in us so that we can see that if God moved in miraculous ways in their lives, and we believe God can move in some miraculous ways for us too.

I said, Amen.

And so today I want to start this off talking about a Bible character that many of us are familiar with.

His name is Simon Peter.

We just call him Peter or the Apostle Peter.

Now, I'm not going to assume that you even know who that is because last night I taught this, and we had a young man that was here for the very first time, and afterwards he said, I didn't know who that Peter guy was he was talking about.

You know, that's a good thing.

That means we're reaching some folks that don't know Jesus at all.

And so if you don't know, Peter was one of the 12 disciples that Jesus chose to come and be on his ministry team.

He walked with him, he he he saw the miracles that Jesus did.

He was there when Jesus was crucified.

He was one of the ones that they announced that Jesus was risen from the dead.

He was a part of Jesus' team.

And if many of us were that are familiar with who Peter is, if I were to ask you to come up and tell me what's what's the thing you know the most about Peter, most folks would say he walked on water.

Oh, yeah.

We talked about that in our last series that Peter actually walked on the water.

Some people might, if you really have gotten deep enough in scripture, you may come and tell us how on the day of Pentecost he stood up and preached a sermon and 3,000 people got saved at the end of his sermon.

But I believe if I were to ask Peter to come up and tell us the highlight of his life, the highlight of his ministry, he probably wouldn't talk about walking on the water, probably wouldn't talk about how many people got saved, he probably wouldn't talk about the books that he was able to write.

He'd probably start off telling us that even though I had some good accomplishments, I had some failures as well.

And I believe that Peter learned a lesson in his failures that many of us spent a lifetime trying to learn.

And that lesson is this failure does not have to have the last word, and it does not have to define your life.

You miss a good place to shout amen.

I believe one of the lessons that we're gonna learn from Peter is that failure does not have to have a last word.

And it does not have to define your life.

Now, I'm saying it doesn't have to because there's something we've got to do to determine if failure is gonna be the final word, or failure is just gonna be a comma that's in our story when God finally writes the final pages.

Now, the first time we find out about Peter, whose name his real name was Simon, his parents named him Simon.

First time we find out about him is over in Luke chapter 5, and he's in the middle of a failing situation.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

Luke 5, verse 1.

Luke 5:1

One day, as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God.

He noticed there were two empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen had left them and they were washing their nets.

He stepped into one of the boats, and Jesus asked Simon, the owner of that boat, to push it out onto the water.

So he sat in the boat, he taught the crowds from there, and when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish.

Simon said, Master, watch this.

We worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing.

So what Simon is saying is, look, Master, we've already been out there in these waters.

We've already tried to fish these waters.

There are no fish out there currently in these waters.

There's no reason for me to have to put this net back out again.

I just finished washing the net, and you're telling me to put this net back out here again.

Now you got to understand it is a frustrating thing as a fisherman to go out there fishing and don't catch anything.

It's happened to me many times.

Been out there in the water and the fish are winning.

I'm just baking.

I think they're out there laughing at me because I'm out there baking in the sun and they're enjoying the cool water.

But the difference is when I'm going out there fishing, I'm just fishing for recreation.

If I don't catch any fish on the water, I go to Publix and buy some to fry it up anyway.

But now Peter is not out here recreationally fishing, he's a professional fisherman.

Which means, watch this.

If he doesn't catch fish, his business suffers.

He's got employees.

If he doesn't catch fish, his payroll is suffering.

If he doesn't catch fish, his obligations are coming up and they're due.

So for Peter, it's more than just I didn't get a chance to catch some fish and take a picture with them on social media.

Peter is is his business is being hurt because he's out here working his behind off and he's got not getting any results.

But notice what he says here in Luke chapter 5, verse number 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

He says, But if you say so, I'll let down the nets again.

Let me really explain to you what's going on.

Peter said, Look, Jesus just preached this great sermon using his boat.

Masses of people got blessed because Peter let Jesus use his boat.

There's a whole nother sermon in that.

When you let Jesus use what you have, he always turns around and blesses you in return.

You do realize Peter could have said, Well, sir, you should have asked me that about 30 minutes ago before I finished washing my boat up.

But instead, he said, You want to use my boat?

He didn't say, Yeah, you can use my boat.

It'll be$42 an hour.

Give me 16 shekels, and you can know.

He said, If you want to use my boat, he pushed it back out in the water.

Let Jesus use his boat.

When you let God use what you have, he will always turn around and bless you as you head out.

So Jesus says to him, Now go out in the middle of the water, not right here by the shore.

Go out into the deep water, let down your net, and you're gonna catch some fish.

What Peter was really saying when he said, Master, we've been out here all night and we didn't catch a thing.

He was saying, That was a great sermon, Reverend.

I want to applaud you for that sermon, Reverend.

You did a good job of writing that sermon, Reverend.

You understand writing sermons and preaching to people well, but I'm a professional fisherman.

I've already been in these waters.

There are no fish to be caught in these waters.

I I fish with a net, and every fisherman knows if you're fishing with a net, you fish at night so the fish can't see the net.

And you're telling me here in broad daylight to go back out here again where I just was?

What he's really saying is, why don't you stick to preach and let me stick to the fishing business?

But he goes on in verse 5.

He says, But if you say so, some of us need to have one of those if you say so moments with God.

I know it doesn't make sense here, but if you say so, God, I know I don't want to forgive them, but if you say so, God, I didn't really want to take this job, but if you say so, God, if you say so, he said, if you say so, I'll let the nets down again.

And this time, watch says their nets were so full of fish, they began to tear.

They shouted for help and brought their partners in the other boat.

And soon, watch this, both of the boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

You know how many fish you have to have in a boat for a boat that is designed to catch fish to start sinking?

These are these are these are professional, professional fish.

They're not on a pleasure craft.

This boat is designed to catch and hold fish, and both other boats are starting to sink because they have that much fish in it.

Can I tell you that's what happens when you go ahead to the same place God told you to go back to again?

The difference is this time you're going with a word from God, not in your own strength.

But Peter's out here struggling.

He's in the middle of a failure when Jesus meets him.

He's had a whole night of fishing and had no productivity whatsoever.

So here's the first lesson that we learned from with Jesus.

With Jesus, your setback can become your setup.

Come on, Leslie, that's good.

I thought she was gonna shout in that second row.

Your setback becomes your setup with Jesus.

Think about it for a moment.

Peter's failure actually put him in the right place at the right time.

If he had caught a bunch of fish that night, he probably would have been off cleaning his fish.

He probably would have been off at the market selling his fish.

He wouldn't have been there at the seashore when Jesus needed to use his boat.

His failure actually set him up for God to do something great in his life, and it really became the setup for every other success he had in his life.

Come on, that's the kind of God we serve.

Come on, just because it doesn't look like it's working out right now doesn't mean that God can't turn that situation around.

I remember hearing the story of Walt Disney and he worked at a newspaper and he got fired by the newspaper because the editor said about Walt Disney that he lacked imagination.

Anybody been to Disney World?

The boy had some imagination.

But watch this, just because somebody else doesn't see your potential doesn't mean you don't have potential.

Come on, man.

Just because somebody else doesn't believe in your dream doesn't mean you don't have a dream on the inside of you.

That's why we gotta stop letting other people dictate whether or not God has or has not spoken.

Now the Bible does say in the multitude of counsel their safety, but that counsel needs to be wise people who actually hear from God.

And we gotta watch this.

Stop letting people who have no spiritual vision speak into what God has said into your life.

This man's failure became the very thing that God used as a launching pad for everything else God wanted to do in his life.

Luke chapter 5, verse 8.

Luke 5:8

When Simon Peter realized what had just happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, Oh Lord, please leave me.

I'm such a sinful man.

Jesus replied to Simon, Don't be afraid.

From now on, you'll be fishing for people.

And as soon as they landed, watch this, they left everything and followed Jesus.

This guy ends up being on the staff of Jesus.

We end up knowing him as the Apostle Peter.

We end up having books in the Bible that are written by him that we govern our lives by today because he had a bad fishing night and ended up in the right place at the right time.

I'm trying to tell you, everything that looks like a failure at the moment isn't always a failure.

In fact, I'll go so far as to say this: every time it didn't work out doesn't mean the devil always attacked it.

Sometimes there's a divine delay, there's a divine hellback, there's a divine tardiness because God's kind of trying to lead you in the right place at the right time because He got somebody else getting ready to show up to make a connection that's gonna change your life for the rest of your days.

Come on, shout like you believe that, man.

Listen to this.

Sometimes the very thing that hurts you the most in the moment is the thing that blesses you the most in the end.

You sitting around crying about that breakup he left you.

That wasn't him leaving you, that was God protecting you.

That was God being Alpha and Omega, knowing what your life was gonna be like in the future had you stuck with somebody who seemed to be right in the moment, but didn't have the capacity to be what you needed in the B and the end.

And if you'll just hold on and give God time, I'm trying to tell you, sweetheart, God is working on a masterpiece for you.

He's not getting something off the shelf that you can just deal with.

He's out there working on a masterpiece, somebody's personally crafted just for you, but you got to believe that just because it didn't work out with them doesn't mean that God doesn't have something great still lined up for your life.

Listen to this.

God is so powerful that He can take what the enemy meant to discourage you, what circumstances meant to delay you, and what you thought would define you as a failure, and turn around and use it as a very platform that launches you into your destiny.

That's why I want to look in the eye and I want to say this to you.

Listen to me.

Stop being ashamed of the failures of your past.

Some of you have this tendency to go back and whitewash your past, and I'm not saying we ought to brag and be proud of how much dirt we did in the past, but you also ought to not walk around with your head down.

See, see, part of the proof of how amazing God is when people can actually find out how you were, and then they can see how you are.

And one of the things I can't stand about church as a whole is that we've we've we've mentally trained people to come in and look like we have it together all the time.

If we all had it together, we wouldn't have needed Jesus.

We didn't have it together then, and if we're honest with ourselves, we don't always have it together now.

And as soon as we get to the place where we can be honest about our past and our present, then we can give God more to work with for our future.

There's some of you ladies that have had abortions, and you've lived your life in such shame, you lived your life in such secrecy.

And again, I'm not saying you ought to brag about it and boast about it, but you ought not let the devil beat you over the head and hold you in such embarrassment because the fact that you won't talk about it and be honest enough is keeping you from helping some other young lady who might be on the verge of making the same decision or might have made the same decision and may not be able to recover from her failure because nobody is able to tell her, I made the same bad decision, but this is what God can do to help you move forward.

I'm preaching better than you are saying, Amen.

And the thing, hear me out the thing that keeps us whitewashing our past is nothing but pride.

It's because it's because in your mind you convince yourself you're somebody.

And because you've convinced yourself you're somebody, you can't afford to let yourself ever look like you haven't always been somebody.

Truth of the matter is, every one of us shows up as nobody.

And if you take Jesus away, we are still nobody.

Watch this, he sees us beyond our next failure.

Jesus sees us, you heard that right, beyond our next failure.

And there's some human beings in your life that can finally get to the place where they pray enough, they fast enough, and then they're willing to let go of your last failure.

But I'm saying to you that Jesus loves us in spite of what he knows might be our next failure.

See, the thing about God is that God has never learned anything new about you.

Never been a day where God woke up and said, Whoa, I didn't.

The Bible says the number of hairs on your head are all numbered.

The ones that are fallen out, he still gotta count.

The ones that look black right now, but really, if you didn't wash that shampoo in there, they'd be gray.

God knows when you got your real hair on, and when you got some Indian woman's hair sewn on.

You know, when you got pack number 34 put in.

He doesn't know there's nothing new he's ever learned about you.

Next month, April, and I'll be married 33 years with 33 happy years.

Happy.

We're gonna be in Spain celebrating our anniversary next month, man.

But in 33 years, there's still stuff I'm learning about her.

I was like, girl, I ain't know that.

There's still there's still stuff she's learning about me.

God, God has never learned anything new about you.

Which means, watch this.

When he decided to love you, he decided to love you with perfect knowledge.

He decided to love you knowing the mistakes you have already made.

He decided to love you knowing mistakes you're going to make in the future that you don't even know about yet.

So he's already factored even the next failure into the equation.

Now that doesn't give us a right or license, just go ahead and have the mistake or the failure.

But what I'm saying is, if and when it happens, don't let the devil stop you in your tracks and think that somehow another God has changed his mind about you.

He still loves you despite that next failure.

Luke 22, verse 31.

Luke 22:31

Jesus said, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.

But I have pleaded in prayer for you.

We got to learn how to plead in prayer for our family members and friends.

See, Jesus didn't say I played, I prayed a cute little prayer for you.

I prayed a little two-minute prayer.

He said, I pleaded in prayer.

You know what it means, a pleading in prayer?

That means you just stay there in prayer.

Maybe you get up, you come back later on the next day, you come back the next week, you go right back to that place.

Hear me out.

When you're pleading in prayer, you don't let their behavior change your confession of what you're believing for.

The enemy, he specializes right in the middle of you pleading in prayer.

He stirs the person you're praying for to do something dumb.

Do something hurtful toward you because he's hoping he can get your heart disengaged.

When you're pleading in prayer for somebody and they seem to go the opposite direction, that's when you know you got the devil right where you need him.

Because he's trying one last time.

I don't even know why I'm over here, but remember when Jesus was casting the kid casting the devil out of different people?

There's this one kid who had an epileptic moment, and Jesus commanded the demon to leave him, and the Bible says this, and the devil threw him one more time.

Jesus, Son of the Living God, cast the devil out of him, yet he still had one more episode.

Why?

Because the devil's trying one last time to demonstrate that I had control of him.

Just because your family member seems to be dibbling and dabbling or going backwards, don't you stop praying?

That's a time when you go, Yeah, I got it right where I want him.

And you continue to stand.

Jesus said, I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, so that your faith would not fail.

Watch this.

He says, So when you have repented, and when you turn around and come back to me again, use your experience to strengthen your brothers.

Are you reading this?

Jesus is literally unfazed by the fact that Peter is about to drop the ball.

Meanwhile, Peter can't even see that he's headed for destruction.

Verse 33, Peter said, Lord, I'm ready to go to prison with you.

Man, I'll take a dime for you, Jesus.

I wish the Pope Hood would run up in here.

I'll go to jail for you, Jesus.

I'm ready to die for you.

I'll take a bullet for you, Jesus.

But Jesus said, Peter, let me tell you something.

Come here, boy.

He said, Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you're gonna deny three times you even know my name.

Mark 14, 31.

But Peter insist kept on insisting, even if I have to die with you, watch this, I'll never deny you.

So here's the problem.

The problem is Peter has started to believe the press clippings about himself.

See, his name was Simon when he was born.

Jesus gave him a nickname.

The nickname Jesus gave him was Peter.

The word the name Peter means a rock or a stone.

So Peter has started to convince himself, I'm the rock.

And I can imagine in his mind, he's like little Matthew, the little taxi left.

He might turn around and run, but I ain't running, I ain't going nowhere.

He has started to convince himself that he is strong enough to weather any challenges that come his way.

Jesus is saying, Satan is looking to devour you, and Peter is basically saying, Do you know who I am?

I'm the rock.

See, Peter's focus was on his commitment to never fail, but Jesus' focus was giving him the faith he needed to get back up.

See, life will teach you some lessons, man.

When you're in your 20s, you have a little arrogance about you, and especially you get into the word, and if you don't watch it, you can start looking down on other people, and I can't believe they messed up, and I can't believe.

But as you live enough life, you start to realize that you only you're only one step away.

Come on, you live long enough and you realize it ain't my good, it ain't my strong will that has kept me.

Come on, it's the goodness and the grace of the living God.

Eventually, Peter grows up and he comes back around and he writes this in 1 Peter 5.

He says, Humble yourself, therefore, under God's mighty hand so he can lift you up in due time.

He said, Be alert, pay attention, have a sober mind, because your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for somebody he can devour.

Listen to this, listen to this, look at me, look at me.

Don't ever be arrogant enough to look down on somebody else who failed and declare what you would never do.

Now the Bible commands us to be holy as I am holy.

Our goal should be holiness.

Our goal should be what we talked about, clear it of clear everything out of your pathway.

Don't let there be anything close.

If your right hand's offending, you cut it off.

Don't play around with it.

But if we if we see somebody else fail, we should not have this arrogant attitude that looks down on them as if we could never believe that they did something like that.

I was on social media this week, and you know, some of you probably, if you're on Facebook, man, seen these stories that one of the local news stations did about a local pastor in town having some tax problems, and and and and somebody on Facebook who and I looked and found out this was a friend of mine on Facebook.

I said was a friend.

Because when I looked at what he did, I I my unfriend ability is quick.

And what he did is he took this news story that a secular news station did about a local pastor, shared it on his page.

So that means people that didn't even know the story before now know it because you're willing to share it.

And it's one thing to share it, but then he had this long commentary about how this is why people need to do a better job of taking care of their business, and pastors need to make sure they understand they're held to a higher level of accountability.

I don't really know what went on.

I don't know what went on.

And it ain't my job to try to figure out the legal process will run its course.

But it's amazing that you know I heard this said years before the body of Christ is the only army that shoots and kills his own wounded.

What if you made a bad choice, a bad decision, or just wasn't paying attention to something, and your business got blasted like that?

See, it's in it's in difficult times you find out who's really with you.

When you stop being the flavor of the month and people don't have anything they can get from you, you get a chance then to find out who really will be in your corner.

I'm preaching better than you're saying, amen.

I don't know what went on.

I don't even need to know.

I, Ipronight text the two of them, and uh uh Bishop McKissick and Kimber.

We texted the two of them and said, hey, don't we don't know the details, don't need to know the details, but when the devil tries to tell you that everybody has turned their back on you, we just want you to know there are a couple people that are praying for you right now.

You know that that's how that's what we should do as a body of Christ.

We shouldn't hurt our our own when they're already down and wounded.

Who, whatever's gonna happen in that situation, God knows what's gonna happen.

But at the end of the day, we should still be the kind of people that stand and fight with our own.

I'm preaching better than you're saying, Amen.

Jesus prophesied that Peter was gonna fail and he did indeed fail.

Peter ended up in a bad headspace, not because he messed up, but because he did something he thought he would never be capable of.

You ever anybody ever been there before?

I know some of you have been good your whole life, you never messed up, but I believe if we could get Peter to come to the table right now, he would look at many of us, he'd say this, welcome to the club.

Not in an arrogant way, not in a flippant way.

I think he'd say, Welcome to the club.

Just know this.

Jesus has your future already prepared with your failure in mind.

In other words, I believe Peter would say this, God hasn't changed his mind about you.

Here's the third thing, last thing I want you to know about this, that we learn from his life right here is that Jesus specializes in restoration.

He's the master of restoration.

When everybody else writes you off, they're done dealing with you, they unfriend you, unlike you, cancel you.

Jesus specializes in restoring you.

He specializes in seeing you beyond your failure.

When we look at Peter's failure from Jesus' perspective, the night that Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter is there.

If you go back and read the story, let me tell you what happened.

When all the other disciples were taken off running, Peter drew his sword, and one of the guys that was coming toward Jesus, Peter tried to cut his head off.

He said, The Bible didn't say he tried to cut his head off.

I know the Bible says he cut him on the ear.

You think he was aiming for the boy's ear?

Come here.

Peter tried to cut his head off.

He ducked and he cut his ear off.

Why?

Peter's defending Jesus.

Eventually, yes, he does end up denying him three times, but my theory, I can't prove this, this is my theory.

I don't believe he denied him because he was afraid to stand up for him.

Why would he why would he be willing while soldiers are out here with swords?

He's willing to put his life on the line with soldiers, but then he's afraid to acknowledge him in the house of Caiaphas.

No, he followed him so he could know where he was going.

I believe Peter denied him because he's trying to avoid getting caught.

Because I think Peter was gonna go get a posse together, gonna go get some bros.

Come on, hey, we gotta go get Jesus.

I think he was gonna come back and do everything he had to do to try to get Jesus out of the situation.

But sometimes, watch this, even in your best attempts, you might still fail.

I'm just trying to tell you, it's good to know that when you got some people in your life that'll be with you thick and thin.

I got a few people like that, man.

David Blue and I know he'll jump in front of a moving train for us.

I do it.

Daryl Marshall, man.

He's been serving me for over 25 years.

Every time I pull up here, man, he's out there in a parking lot.

For a quarter of a century.

Out there waiting on me to get here.

Moving a cone so I can park my vehicle.

I'm saying, God will put some people in your life that are like Peter.

Peter wasn't leaving Jesus.

He denied that he knew him because he didn't want to get caught.

Because I believe he's going back to get some guys.

We got to come and get him out of here.

Luke chapter 22, verse 60, Peter answered and said, They asked him, Do you know him?

Luke 22:60

He said, Man, I don't know what you're talking about.

And at once, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.

And then the Lord turned around and looked straight at Peter.

Can you imagine that, man?

This is a guy that just he's been taking care of your family, been healing you guys.

He healed your mother-in-law, he's been feeding you.

And they ask you, Do you know who he is?

You say, No, I don't know who he is.

And the rooster crows, and the very thing he told you was gonna happen, that you swore you'd never let happen, it happens.

And the Bible says, while they're beating him, while they're plucking his beard out, while they're kicking him, he turns around, bloodied up, and he looks right at you.

And it'd be one thing if he looked at you with disgust and anger and disappointment.

You might even swell up a little bit on the inside, like, well, I tried, but I guarantee he didn't look at him that way.

He looked at him with what I like to call these liquid eyes of love.

He looked at him with this look that says, Hey, don't you don't you get down on yourself.

Don't don't you dare think that I feel any differently about you.

And that's the way he's looking at you right here today in this place.

He's looking at you with an understanding that I already knew this was gonna happen and I already have a plan to restore you right back.

He looked at Peter, and Peter remembered what the Lord had said before the rooster crows.

You're gonna say three times you don't know me.

And Peter went out and he wept bitterly.

This will be a tragic story if the credits rolled right there.

The thing about God is that he always specializes in restoration.

Jesus ends up being raised from the dead.

You know the story?

There's an angel sitting there when the women showed up at the tomb, and the angel said, I want you to go and tell, give a message to my disciples, but I want you to hear the message that the angel gave in Mark chapter 16.

Mark 16 · chapter mention

The angel said, Go tell his disciples.

Watch this, and Peter, that he's going before you into Galilee, and there you will see him, just like I said.

Wait, wait a minute.

Go tell his disciples and Peter.

But I thought Peter was a disciple.

He is, but he's not feeling like a disciple right now.

He's not feeling like he's worthy to still be on the list.

He's feeling like he messed up too bad.

The love of God sent him a special, priority, personalized message.

Tell the rest of them as a group that I'm going.

But make sure you point out to Peter, I want to see you there too.

And that's what Jesus is saying to you today, sending you a special message today.

No matter how far you think you've drifted, I want to see you there too.

See, he's saying, despite your failure, I still have plans for your future.

And some of us have spent years trying to bury our failures when Jesus wants to redeem those failures.

Because God never wastes pain, he never wastes disappointment, he never wastes a failure.

He'll take the worst thing that's ever happened in your life and still use it to help somebody else come out of their pain.

Romans 8 says, We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

See, somebody came in here today and you were convinced when you came in here you failed too much, you wandered too far, you've blown too many chances.

And if that's you, I got a message to you from Simon Peter.

Peter says this to you the love of God for you is greater than even your greatest failure.

Peter says, I'm living proof that failure does not have to be final.

Peter failed, and Judas failed.

Judas went out and took his life.

It was final.

Peter failed, but he got back up and did something amazing with the rest of his life.

The ball's in your court.

What you gonna do, man?

Stop licking your wounds.

Stop sitting in the back because you don't think you deserve to be in the front.

Stop walking around with your head down as if God didn't know that failure was gonna happen.

It's time to get up, let him restore you and rebuild you, and then build a solid fence around yourself so the devil doesn't have access to you like he had before.

Here's what I want you to do.

If you're battling in your mind with a failure, you're having the hardest time shaking it, I want you to have the courage to stand up right there at your seat, please.

Stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up.

Don't let pride keep you in your seat.

If you're struggling with a failure, stand up.

I'm not gonna ask you to tell us it's none of our business.

We're not the restorer.

He is.

If you're seated around one of these people who are standing right now, once you get up and make your way to them, don't you just lay your hands on them and look at them with those same liquid eyes of love that Jesus looked at Peter with.

And I want you to just take some time to pray over them.

Make sure we don't miss anybody.

Come on, get up and move around however much you have to.

Take time, let's pray over them.

Make sure they understand you're not by yourself.

I got a number of people right over here.

Come on, move around, please.

Move around.

Move around.

Move around.

Go ahead and pray over them.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we declare, speak over their lives.

Life and peace and health and strength.

Whatever the failure is, Lord God, remind them you are bigger than that slip up, bigger than that mess-up, bigger than that failed marriage, bigger than that moral failure, bigger than that disappointment, Lord.

Whatever it is that has them in this chokehold, we command the enemy to take your hands off of their minds, take your hands off of their emotions, take your hands off of their system, and we release them right now by the power of the living God.

Be healed in your heart, be healed in your mind, be healed in your emotions.

Receive the grace and the peace and the love of Almighty God.

Remind yourself, let the Holy Spirit stir up in your heart and understanding that God is still with you, God is still for you, God is still on your side, and He's gonna use that slip up, that failure as a launching path for every good thing he still wants to do in your life.

Your best days are ahead, your future is bright, and God is still with you in the middle of your storm.

We thank you for it, Father.

We believe you for it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Come on, lift your voice and give the Lord a shout.

Come on, lift your voice.

Come on, lift your voice.

Come on, lift your voice, lift the Lord.

Amen, amen.

I love Simon Peter.

So much to learn from him.

Matter of fact, be seated for just a second because there's some of you in here, you may feel like Peter.

I think Peter probably felt he was too far gone.

But I love that not only did Jesus send him the good news, Jesus sought him out personally.

And he went to Peter and he said, Do you love me?

three times.

And not only did he ask if you loved him, he commissioned him in his love.

And maybe today you don't know Jesus.

Maybe you've never had that experience, or maybe you knew Jesus at one point in your life, you were pursuing him, and you've just lived a life that has denied him.

But today that can all change because it comes with a simple yes, Lord.

You already know how I feel about you, Jesus.

Some of you really want to love God.

You've just been told wrong that there's a whole bunch of rules and regulations and things you've got to do to get it right.

But like in the beginning of the message, Jesus didn't come to a full boat, he came to an empty one.

And it's only when you empty yourself of yourself and you just say yes to Lord that He'll bless you, He'll invite you in.

And today I want to pray with you.

If that's you, I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, I'm not gonna ask you to stand up, but some of you know, like, no, I need to commit my life to Jesus.

I need to just say yes to his will, to his way.

I don't need to promise to stop doing anything.

He already knows all about you, he already knows what you've done, he knows what you're probably gonna do, he knows what you're doing right now, and still, he just wants to hear your yes.

And if you'll say yes with your heart, he will commission you with a life that will blow your mind.

But we have to say yes today.

And so if that's you, I want to pray with you.

And so I'm gonna ask in a second, I'm gonna ask everybody bow their heads.

And if you're the one of the people that want me to pray for you, all I'm gonna ask you to do is grab this white card in the seat pocket in front of you.

So say yes to Jesus.

I want you to grab that just because it's easier to see.

And then when I count to three, we'll have everybody raise their hand that wants the prayer.

You just slip your hand up, you can put it back.

Down if you don't feel comfortable leaving it up.

I just want you to have that moment with God.

If you're in our overflow room, instructions are the same for you.

If you're online, follow those instructions.

But this is the day where you can be rescued like Peter was so many times.

Because he's not the God of a second chance, he's the God of another chance.

So if that's you, bow your head right now.

Everybody in the room, bow your head.

Because there's a private moment between you and Jesus.

And on the count of three, if you want me to pray for you, just lift that white card up to say say yes to Jesus.

One, two, three.

Who am I praying for?

Thank you, thank you, thank you, wow, thank you, thank you.

Who else?

Thank you.

On the side over there, thank you.

I see you over there by the pillar.

Thank you.

Who in the overflow room?

Who online?

Who else we pray for?

Way in the back, thank you.

Wow, thank you.

So good, so good, so good.

This is your day.

This is your day.

We're gonna pray with you.

I want everybody to pray this out loud so nobody feels left alone or singled out.

Just say, Dear Jesus, save me.

I need you on my own.

I'm gonna mess it up.

Step into my boat.

I give my life to you today.

I trust what you've done.

Forgive me, cleanse me.

I love you, Jesus.

And I am right now born again in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Isn't that good?

Put your hands together, isn't that good?

Did you just make a decision for Jesus?

Welcome to the family.

We're so excited.

Trust me, we're clapping for you.

And we believe that you've made an important decision today.

We'd like to help you on your journey.

So if you'll follow the directions that are on screen, there is a free book you can download.

It's gonna take you five to ten minutes of your day for the next seven days.

But our pastors have put together some amazing resources that we believe will help you in the journey ahead.

If you don't want it, nobody's going to email you, text you, bother you, anything like that.

We just want to make sure you are successful in your walk with Jesus.

Now, let me tell you, one of the things you should consider is baptism.

And if you're in the Jacksonville area, we do baptism after our first weekend service every month, and you can just scan the QR code that's on the screen, sign up for that.

I'd love to be a part of that journey with you, or any of our ministers would.

If you don't live in town, we do believe you should find a Bible teaching church and at least go get baptized, even if you're still going to watch our service.

But download that book, it's free.

We're excited for your journey ahead, and we can't wait to be a part of that.

Now, this is a part of the service where we also demonstrate our generosity.

If you're just checking this out today, you don't feel any pressure to give.

But for those of you, this is your church, you know that we are generous is one of our core values.

And so you can give online or you can give through our app, which I really like.

You have the Apple Pay option right on our app.

Just go to your Google store or your Apple store, download the We Are Impact app.

It's also a great way to study notes that um come from the sermons that you watch on here.

And there's a lot of events on there as well.

But you can give through that app.

It's super easy, and we're just grateful that you partner with us week after week.

Well, we're so excited you joined us today.

Hope you have an amazing weekend, and we'll see you next time.