Last Words | Week 6

anybody that lives life with me knows that one of my,

biggest weaknesses, I like to call it a strength sometimes, but one of the things that gets me in trouble the most is I'm, like, hyper hyper competitive. K? Like, I'm the guy when they're like, hey, let's play for fun. I'm like, I have fun when I win, so let's let's play to win, and then we'll have fun. And I'm like, I just the whole concept of like, hey. Yeah. But we had a really good time. It wasn't that fun. I'm like, no. We were terrible. Like, we weren't even close to being competitive. Like, what was fun about that? Like, that was that was miserable. And so I just know for me, like, church co ed softball is out. Like, I just I can't do it. Like, I just and the guy that's he's like, is that the pastor cussing at the new people? Like, what is he what's he doing? Like and I'm like, hey. Don't judge me. It's a process. Okay? You know? Like,

when I literally, when I was a high school pastor back in California, I I had to stop. Like, you know, you played games before service and all that stuff. I literally had to stop playing them because I would want to, like, punch kids in the face and not lead them to Jesus because they had no jumper. And I'm like, dude, forget the gospel. You need to understand how to shoot the basketball. Okay? Like, you're terrible. Like, what's wrong with you? And my kids, like, my my my poor kids, man. I got a nine year old and a six year old, and it doesn't matter what game we play. Like, that whole thing when you're playing a game and you're like, just let them win like it's, you know, it's to build character. I fundamentally

can't do it like I'm playing candy lane and I'm like blue and I'm slamming cards like winning and I'm like this doesn't matter this means nothing and my kids are like why does dad always have to win at everything and I'm like because life doesn't just give you things you got to earn it okay It's a life lesson. Suck it up. They're like, dad, it's just tic tac toe. And I'm like, I know. But if you go in the middle in the corner, it's always a Cats game. How do you not know that by now? It's not my fault. You're terrible. My wife's like, what's wrong with you? And I'm I just I I if honestly, as much as I joke about it, if there was a pill that I could take to turn it off, I probably would because there's a lot of times that I show up and I know this is fun. We're gonna have fun. We're just we're playing for fun. And then I'm like, dude, you suck. What are you doing? Like, what's wrong? They're like, stop. Like, I just I can't turn it off. And the reason that I'm telling you that is because when I was in high school, again,

I'm a golfer. K? Golf is my sport, and I I I I don't try to make an argument that golfers are at some type of, like, pinnacle of physical

attributes. Right? Like, John Daly is the poster child of golfers. And if you don't know who John Daly is, he's a really overweight guy that drinks obsessively and smokes, like, three packs cigarettes on the golf course, and he can play at a really high level. And so you don't you don't have to be a physical specimen to play golf. And the funny part is they actually there was an article that talked about why Tiger Woods wasn't playing really well, and they were saying that it was because he got too buff and he was spending too much time in the gym. And I was like, that's what I'm talking about. K? Like, the sport where they're like, yeah. Work out less. Do that. And I'm like, we get to drive on carts,

and the lady comes around and brings us food and drinks while we play. Like, that's my kind of sport. Right? And so the funny part was in high school, all of my buddies that I hung out with were all soccer players, and soccer is like the antithesis of golf. Like, soccer is like all of the activities, and you basically run a marathon, and you kick a little ball. And they're like, this is the greatest game ever. And I'm like, the great I don't get how you watch soccer. And people say the same thing about golf. Like, I'm cheering and screaming, and golf is the greatest, but I know most people are like, I just fall asleep to this. That's soccer for me. Because I'm like, forget the ninety minute game. Just give me the three second highlight clip of the one goal that took place in the ninety minutes. And I'm like, what do you mean? What do you mean it's a tie? Like a tie? How do you how do you end a game in a tie? Like, this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Why are we watching this? And so me and my buddies in high school were having this conversation about what sport is the hardest. I'm telling you, I think still to this day that golf is without a doubt the hardest sport to learn because the problem is even if you're naturally athletic, there are some things you have to know about a basic golf swing that is gonna make it possible for you to actually hit a golf ball. But if

you can run like my grandma can, you can play soccer. Okay? Like, pretty much pretty much anybody that can go more than a light jog, you can play soccer. And obviously, I know it's really hard and you've gotta be good and all that stuff, but I'm telling my buddies in high school, like, there's no way that soccer's harder than golf. Golf is without a doubt the hardest. And I was like, look, I haven't played golf. I haven't played soccer since I was like 10 years old, but I bet you right now, I could go out and try out for our team and make it.

They And were like, dude, we're like number two in the state, and you think you can just walk on without having played in ten years and make it? I'm like, dude, it's basically running. Like, it's not that hard. And the moment I said it, I was like, I don't really think I can do this, but who knows? Like, that's this is what I I constantly get myself in trouble. And so they're like, tryouts are in two weeks. You gotta try out and see if you can make the team. And I was like, what did I do to myself? But I was like, alright, whatever. I go in and get all the gear. And by gear, I mean, like, little things that kick you in the shin. It doesn't hurt. Then cleats.

And I go out, and the first day of soccer tryouts, worst day of my life, they're like, hey, here we're gonna go, we're gonna start the soccer tryouts. And I'm like, let's do some ball drills or some headers or whatever. They're like, no, we're gonna run three miles. I was like,

do after running three miles? Like no, we're gonna run three three miles, miles and then then we're we're gonna gonna practice. Practice. And And I'm I'm like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Like, I'm gonna be exhausted. Why? But it's like you gotta be in shape. Gotta make sure you're in shape. And so I'm like, whatever. And mind you, all of my friends are like star soccer players, they don't even have to try out. They're just automatically on the team. So I go out and I start running three miles. I haven't ran a mile in like a decade, and I've gotta run three, and I'm dying, and I'm like halfway through. And I look up, and right above our track and field in high school was our our our parking lot. And as I come around this corner, I can see my buddies pulling up, and they're literally setting up lawn chairs and pulling out carne

style of fries and cheeseburgers. And they're like, go get them, buddy. You're killing it, Daniel. I'm like, I hate you guys. This is terrible. And so I run the three miles and barely survive. And then I go and I play soccer, and I'm just I'm really bad. Like, I don't even try to fake that I'm good. But there was, like, this one header I got where I did the, neck thing and, put it in the goal. And it was it was pretty cool. And so I was, obviously, I'm probably gonna make the team. And long story short

long story short, we get to the end of the practice and the coach starts reading off the people that are gonna come back the next day and my name's not on the list. And so I was like, hey, you know, he's probably fast tracking me. He saw the header thing that I did and he's like, dude, we're not gonna waste your time with the rest of these tryouts. Like, just come, you know, and we'll we'll put a starting team on and do do all kinds of awesome stuff. And so I go up to him, like, hey, coach. You don't read my name. Does that mean that, like, I'm just automatically on the team? And he's like, no. It means you should stick to golf. Like, it's

like, you're just not in the cards for you, man. Like, you're not very good. And I was like, alright.

And truthfully, I was kind of relieved because I didn't really want to play soccer. Like, I was more doing this because I'm so prideful that I can't ever admit when I'm wrong. So it's a real treat for my wife to be married to. But I just

absolutely fail, fall flat on my face. The problem was I had talked so much smack about how easy soccer was and how unathletic all my friends were. My initial reaction was, man, what am I gonna do? How am I gonna face my buddies?

What am I gonna go say to them? And so I was like, hey, we've had a good run, and a year from now, we're gonna go to college and separate anyways. Like, we should just separate now. Like, I'll just find new friends. Like, it's fine. Like, we can go our own ways, and we can it's been a good run, and we'll see each other, like, the ten year reunion and stuff. But I was like, I'm not facing them. I'm not gonna go up and tell them. And eventually, I just go, and they're like, so how'd it go, man? And I was like, yeah. I got cut. And they're like, of course you got cut. Like, this is one of the hardest teams to make in the entire state, and you're so arrogant. You thought you could just walk out and make it. They're like, we made you walk through this process just so you could come down a couple notches. And I was like, you guys are awesome. Thank you so much. And I just carried my hat, lowered my head, and walked away. And here's the reason that I tell you any of that this morning, because I believe that just like the the silly illustration of me getting cut from the soccer team, I think failure is an inevitable part of our process

in life.

That I think failure is an inevitable part of our human experience on this side of heaven, and the question is, what do you do when you fail? The question is, what do you do when you fall short? And I think almost more importantly is, what does Jesus do when we fail?

What is God's response to us when we have moments of weakness? And obviously, the soccer trials is a silly example, but I know that sitting in this room are people who have made real mistakes.

And failure is part of our experience, and I would say, I would venture to say that the defining thing that will define whether or not you are able to finish this life well, that you are able to complete the mission that God has for you on this side of heaven, will be what your response is when you fall short, because failure is inevitable.

Failure is going to be part of our story. And as John wraps up the entire book of John, we looked last week of his final prayer.

The next part of the book of John is gonna go into Jesus' crucifixion and his resurrection from death, one of the most important events in the entire history of the world takes place in John chapter 20 that we'll look at next week for Easter. But the funny part is that's not how the book of John ends.

The book of John, you would think would end, the final stamp would be Jesus conquering death, but that's not it. The final stamp, the final chapter of the book of John, the final message to you and I to read forever is about Jesus' response to Peter in his moment of his greatest failure.

Because Peter falls on his face and falls flat in a way that hopefully none of us ever will. And Jesus is going to address his response in John 21. He's gonna go and meet Peter in his moment of greatest weakness, a really famous story where Peter denies Jesus three times.

Peter has a chance to stand for Jesus, and three times he denies him. And in John 21, it's recorded what Jesus' response is to him. And I think for us, the only thing I hope you get out of this this morning is really our big idea that we're gonna work from, and it's that even in our failure, Jesus is faithful.

What you need to understand is failure is something that is going to be part of our experience, but if you believe that it is up to you to live right and to do all of the right things for God to use you, you are going to set yourself up for absolute failure.

Because we are humans that live in a broken and fallen world, and our flesh is strong, and it will pull us into things that we wish we didn't fall into. And we need to know that in those moments, we serve a God who is faithful, and he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. Amen? Amen. So John 18, I'm gonna read real quick to kinda set the scene to get us to John 21. So if you're you're there,

you can hang out with me. So John 18 verse 15 is where we'll start.

K. John 17 last week was where Jesus prayed with all of his disciples. He then goes to the Garden Of Gethsemane, and he's in this final moments of his life, and he's praying to God, let this cup pass, but he says, not your will, my will be done. Other way around, KAI said, not your will, but my will be done. Not my will, but your will be done. And he's having this final moment where he says he's so full of anguish that his heart feels like he's gonna die. And then Judas comes up and betrays him, and they cart Jesus off. He gets arrested, and they take him to Caiaphas' house, the high priest of the time. And Jesus had told the disciples that this was all going to happen, and he told them to go somewhere else. He did not tell them to follow him, but Peter and John are gonna follow Jesus,

and that's where we pick up reading in John 18 verse 15. It says, Simon Peter followed Jesus as did another of the disciples. The other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, so he was allowed to enter the high priest's courtyard with Jesus.

Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciples who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate,

and she let Peter in. The woman asked Peter, you're not one of that man's disciples, are you? No. He said, I am not. Verse 18, because it was cold, the household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire. If you have a pen, highlight underline circle charcoal fire. It'll make sense in a second. It says, they stood around it warming themselves, and Peter stood with them warming

himself. Okay? Jump down to verse 25. It says, meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again,

you're not one of his disciples, are you? And he denied it saying, no, I am not. But one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of a man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, didn't I see you there in the olive grove with Jesus? Again, Peter denied it and immediately, a rooster crowed.

So here's the scene. Here's what's happening. Jesus is carted off and Peter and John follow. And remember, just hours before,

Jesus is telling the disciples, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna go to the cross. Peter's like, man, no, you're Don't don't be talking about any of that stuff. Like, you're not gonna die. And he's like, you don't understand. I'm gonna die. I have to go to the cross, and all of you are gonna deny me. And Peter says, I would never deny you.

There's no way. No way, no how would I ever deny you. I'm your guy. I will always stand for you. And Jesus looks at me and goes, Peter, I promised you before the rooster crows tonight, will deny me three times. And here's the thing that you have to understand about shame.

When we make mistakes, when we head down these paths, it will lead us to places that we never thought were possible. It will take us to places that we never thought we would go. And Peter, merely hours away

from telling Jesus face to face that I would never deny you, he's gonna be given a chance to actually take a stand for God, and he's gonna fall flat on his face.

Jesus gets taken inside, and if you read the rest of the scriptures, he starts getting smacked around by these priests, and they're accusing him of all of this stuff. And Peter's outside watching all of this happen. Then somebody goes, hey man, don't I know you? Aren't you one of his disciples? And he goes, I'm not.

Then two more times they ask him, no, no, no, I'm pretty sure you were that guy. Weren't you that guy? You stabbed the dude in the ear.

How do you stab somebody in the ear? I've never seen that before. Like, you went to cut him and you just chopped his earlobe off. Like, that was you, man. That was so weird. Like, how do you like, how do you stab somebody in the ear? Like, that would be the worst place to get stabbed if I could pick somewhere that was, like, gonna hurt but not be terrible. The ear would be terrible. And that's what Peter does. He says, I'm gonna kill this guy. And he cuts his ear off. Like, it doesn't make any sense. But that's that's what happens. This guy's like, isn't that you? Wasn't that you three times. And Peter's like, no. No. It wasn't me.

And he's sitting around a fire with people in a scene that he never should be. And then all of a sudden, if he sits there long enough, he begins to become a product of his environment. And here's the process

to failure that we're gonna talk about really briefly that I think this passage shows us that I don't think that failure is something that we just wake up and we step into overnight. I think that our greatest moments of failure, our greatest mistakes come one small step

at a time. And I believe that the process that Peter walked through is really similar to the process that you and I will walk through on our way to moments of epic failure. Because you have to be really careful when what you begin to experience following God looks different than what you expected it to look like.

Because if you thought following Jesus was gonna be easy and it was gonna be simple and you were just gonna give your life to him, he's gonna forgive you for all your sins, and you were just gonna live this easy life, and he was never gonna challenge you, and you were never gonna be pushed, and you're never gonna have to face places of uncomfortability,

the truth and the reality of following Jesus will become very different.

Because in this life, the Bible says we're going to know suffering. We're going to have to deny ourselves. We're gonna have to, like scripture says, beat our body into submission because it's gonna want us to go one way, but we're gonna try and do the opposite and deny our flesh and live by the spirit. And if what you experience following God looks different than what you expect, what will begin to be implanted in your heart is the same thing that was implanted in Peter's.

And it'll be this little seed called doubt. And when what you experience is different than what you expect, you begin to go, maybe I didn't know what I was signing up for, or maybe this Jesus guy isn't who I thought that he was.

Peter is watching the guy that he put his entire faith and all of his hope in. He's watching that guy who's supposed to be ushering in a new kingdom, who's supposed to be creating a new kingdom for them to rule in, which meant that they were gonna overthrow the Roman government. But now all of a sudden, he's arrested.

He's being slapped around in a room by the guys that he thought that he was going to overthrow. And Peter starts to do the very logical thing, and he goes, maybe I was wrong. Maybe this whole Jesus thing is crazy.

And if you read this same account in the Gospel of Mark, it gives us a detail that is just so important for us to understand. It says that John and Peter, they followed Jesus, but they began to do it at a distance.

The problem with doubt, when it's undealt with, when we have things that we wonder about, but we never talk about, we never bring it up and process it, eventually what doubt will do to us is it will make us begin to follow Jesus from a distance. You won't run from God right away.

You'll just begin to kind of take a step back. You'll go through the motions, you'll still go to church, you'll still do the things, but all of a sudden, you'll start to seem like it just seems like you're not getting out of church what you used to get out of You'll sit down to do your quiet times or to read your scripture and all of a sudden, it's just, you're just kind of going through the motions. Then you're kind of just, you're just doing

and playing church and you're kind of doing all of the Christian things, but you're not really getting what you used to get out of it because Jesus has become more of a concept of something that you know you're supposed to follow and not the God of

your life, not the master that you've submitted your life to, and I think it's a really subtle step when we begin to follow Jesus from a distance. We begin to just kind of go through the motions, and I'm telling you, if that's you, you are just a few small steps away from doing exactly what Peter did.

When we follow Jesus from a distance, you can only do it for so long before you'll eventually deny him.

You might not do it like he did. You might not publicly declare when somebody asks you, hey, are you a Christian? You're like, nope, I don't know him. I'm not I'm not a believer. It might be that. It might be in an office setting and somebody's like, aren't you a Christian? You're like, no, I I I you know, that was something that I used to do. It's not really who I am anymore. But I think a lot of times denying Jesus is really subtle.

I think what we begin to do is we really begin to deny his authority in our lives. We begin to deny what scripture tells us to do. We begin to deny his his power and his presence in our lives, we begin to go, man, maybe I should just do this my own way.

I know it says that I need to die to my flesh, but I just feel these things so strongly. Maybe I should just step into this. Maybe I should just follow these things. Maybe I should just go down these roads, and maybe I was wrong the whole time.

And you will begin to deny the authority of God in your life, and I'm telling you, if that's you, you are raising all of the red flags that the only inevitable path you will head down is the path of total destruction and defeat.

Because the problem is just like Jesus came in this life and came to this world for us to have life and life abundantly, it tells us that there's an enemy that is out to kill, steal, and destroy you. And he wants you to do the exact same thing that Peter did and to give in to your moments of weakness

and begin to allow the voices of people around you to matter more than what the opinion of God is for you.

And Peter, just hours after telling Jesus he would never deny him, finds himself in a scene, and all of a sudden, what these people think of him matters more to him than what God thinks of him. And he goes, no, I don't know God. And he does it three times, and the Bible says a rooster crows.

And the moment the rooster crows, if you go read this account in the Gospel of Mark, it says he makes eye contact with Jesus face to face. He looks at him and says that Peter begins to cry, and then he leaves. That's the inevitable conclusion

of where our lives will end if we continue to walk down the path that's headed towards failure because the enemy wants us to feel like we have been completely disqualified because of what we have done or not done. He wants you to believe

that the things that you are feeling are true and real and you should step into them, but it's a bait and switch because the moment you do, you are overwhelmed with this feeling called shame. And Peter is flashing back to the moment where he's sitting with Jesus and he said, He told me I would do this.

He knew I was gonna fail. He predicted this, and yet I still fell into it. And the problem is when that happens to us, when we fail, you will have a propensity to go and hide and run and leave just like Peter did.

And here's the thing that honestly I think the majority of us do. I think when we fail, when we've had moments of failure in our lives, I think most of us, we don't head down these paths of just utter destruction that are really dark. I think sometimes that happens.

And I think honestly, sometimes the paths of destruction are God's grace that lets us get to the end of ourselves so that he can rebuild us, but I think the danger that a lot of us find ourselves in is we don't head down these really dark paths, we do what Peter does, and we just go and we get really busy, and we go and we get a good job, and we go and we start working, and we just pour ourselves into here, and this becomes our life, and this becomes our place of worth and value and significance. And we go, I'll pour myself into here, and what we do is we just keep ourselves really busy.

And if you just keep yourself busy enough, you won't ever have to look at the moments of failure. And I think most of America sits in a position where we pinball back and forth between busyness and distraction. And we know as long as we're busy or distracted, we won't have to ever look at the pain that's here

and that's real, and we just go, it's not necessarily bad things that we're giving ourselves to. It's just not the Gods things. And here's the subtle thing that the enemy will convince you of.

He might not tell you to go and live this crazy wild life, but he will convince you that you no longer need to live the destiny that God has placed on your life, and you should just go get a job. Peter immediately went back to what he knew. It's crazy to me how fast we go back to what's comfortable when we fail.

It's crazy how we can live these lives of faith, then all of a sudden, a few moments after failure, we find ourselves doing the exact same thing that we were doing before we ever met Jesus. Why? It's because it's what we've known. And when you fail, what you've known will just become your default.

And we don't see Peter again for a while because he just goes back and he starts fishing again. He starts becoming a fisherman. And it's not unless you read the Gospel of Mark that you see how Jesus got his attention again.

Because after Jesus goes to the cross and dies and comes back to life, the two Marys, Jesus' mom and Mary Magdalene, they go to the grave one day to go find Peter or to go find Jesus, but he's not there. There's an angel sitting in the tomb, and the angel tells

the two Marys, hey, you need to get the disciples. Jesus wants to meet with the disciples in Galilee, so go get the disciples and Peter. It says this really bizarre statement. It says, go get the disciples and Peter, which tells us everything we need to know of what Peter was doing after he failed.

Peter was living life by himself.

He had left and had relegated himself to just being who he used to be, and he must have chopped up those years to following Jesus as just some crazy time in his life. But now he knew that because the economy that we live in tells us the worth and value is something that you have to earn. And if you want anything in this life, you have to work for it. And the problem when that is our mentality with the way that we approach God

is when you fail, you will believe that God is done with you. You will believe that you are disqualified and you should just go back to who you used to be. But Jesus says, I wanna meet him. I wanna sit and talk to him. And that's where we pick up in John 21.

Verse one in John 21 says, later Jesus appeared again to the disciples besides the Sea Of Galilee, and this is how it happened. Several of the disciples were there, Simon, Peter, Thomas, nicknamed the twin, Nathaniel from Canaan Of Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.

Simon Peter said, I'm going fishing. And they said, we'll come too, they all said. So they went out into the boat, but they caught nothing all night. Verse four says, at dawn, Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn't see who he was. We called out, fellows, have you caught any fish? No, They replied.

Here's what happens. They go and Peter's doing what Peter does and Peter's a fisherman. It's what he's been his whole life. So he just goes back and he starts fishing. And the crazy part about the story is six of the other disciples go with him.

And here's what you have to know about failure. You cannot be convinced of the lie that when you fail and when you make mistakes, it's just your life you're ruining. Nobody else will be impacted by this but you. It's just not true.

All of us in this room have influence. All of us in this room are leaders. Your influence might be a little pack of kids that follows you around everywhere you go because you're a stay at home mom. Your influence might be the people that you work with or the people that you're in school with or the people on your sports team or your influence might be the company that you run, but all of us have influence.

And here's what you have to know when it comes to our moments of our greatest weakness and our failure. It will affect and take down more people than just us. Peter, in his moments of failure, takes six of the disciples with him, and they just start fishing.

He goes, man, I'm just gonna go do what I know. And six of other disciples are like, yeah, we don't know what's happening either. We'll just go with you. And they fish all night and they catch nothing. You know one of the easiest ways for you to know if you potentially are running from God?

Is God will use one of the greatest weapons in his arsenal to get our attention, and it's called frustration.

If you've ever felt like you are just spinning your wheels, but you're going nowhere,

you feel like you're just kind of pedaling on a stationary bike, doesn't matter how hard you try, it just seems like you can't get ahead. It doesn't matter what you do. Nothing goes your way. Nothing is working. It just seems like everything around you is imploding no matter what you do. I'm telling you, one of the greatest ways that God will get our attention is he will let us get to the end of ourselves and feel really frustrated.

And if you find yourself in positions of frustration, you should look up and go, okay, God, what am I doing wrong? Because often frustration is one of the greatest tools that God has to get us to stop looking here and begin to look up. To go, okay, maybe what I'm doing is not working. God, what do you want me to do?

He does it with the disciples. He lets professional fishermen fish all night, and they catch nothing. And then the crazy part is Jesus stands on the shore and he yells out to the guys and goes, hey, guys, have you caught anything?

And if you read in the King James version, it actually says, hey, children, do you have any fish? And they respond, no, we don't have any fish. It's like, I know you don't have any fish. And so he yells back and he goes, try the other side of the boat.

Try the other side of the boat? Like, it's only seven feet over here. Just just try the other side. What do you do for a living? I'm a carpenter. We're professional fishermen, k? We'll we'll handle the fishing. You build the houses. Like, let's stick in your lane, bro. Just try the other side. No

clue who this guy is. They don't know who he is. And some random guy from the shore is yelling, hey. Do you have any fish? And he says, no. And he says, try the other side. And for whatever reason, the disciples decide to listen and they pick up the nets, they throw them on the other side, and they begin to catch

all kinds of fish. And if you're sitting here like, man, I think I've heard this story before. I feel like this is something that is somewhere else in scripture. It's because it is. This is the second time that Jesus has done this miracle. This is the second time that Peter has been fishing all night, catching nothing,

frustrated beyond all get out. And then he brings his boat to the shore, and Jesus steps up and he goes, hey, man, let's try again. And he goes out and he throws his nets down and catches nothing. And Jesus goes, try the other side. And then all of a sudden, he catches so many fish, he doesn't know what to do with them all. And the first time that that happened,

Peter's response to Jesus is he falls on his knees and he begins to cry out to God and he says, I'm a sinful person. I'm a terror you're the messiah. You're the savior of the world. Get away from me because I'm wicked and I'm horrible. And this was the moment that Jesus called Peter to be his disciple. He took him from being a fisherman of fish and made him a person that was gonna be a fisherman

of people. He says, Peter, you're gonna be my disciple and so in John 21, it's like, what is Jesus doing? Well, Jesus is actually resetting the entire scene for Peter to remind him of the calling that's on his life. He recreates. He goes through this crazy length to recreate the scene of Peter's calling to remind him,

I chose you while you were still a far ways off. I picked you and I chose you in spite of you. You

can't believe the lie that I will choose you in spite of you, but now it's your own power and your own ability that will carry you through. One of the greatest lies that we believe in the church is that it's grace that gets us in the door,

but then it's our willpower and our ability that leads us to completion. And what you have to understand is it's grace that gets you in, and it's grace that will get you through. You cannot believe that you and I will be able to, at some point, pick up the ropes and begin to do this ourself. We will continually

have to rely on the desperation of grace because that's who Jesus is. And in this moment, Peter is gonna do a very Peter thing and kinda freak out, and it's awesome.

So it says verse four, at dawn, Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn't see who he was, and he called out, hey, kids. Do you have any fish? No, they replied. And he said, throw your net on the right hand side of the boat, you'll get some. So they did, and they couldn't haul in all the the net because there were so many fish in it. Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, I love that because John is writing this, and John's referring to himself. He's like, the really buff, really good looking disciple that Jesus loved. He was there with Peter. It's like, dude, it's you, John. Just say, I said to Peter, like, get over yourself.

Truthfully, think that's why God didn't let me write a gospel because I would have done the same thing. He said to Peter, it's the Lord. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic, for he had stripped to work, jumped in the water, headed to shore. Jesus

begins to reveal to them that it's him. And Peter is like, he grabs, he's like, hold on, I'm gonna swim to you, but let me put my heavy jacket on first, and then I'll swim to you. It's like, you take your jacket off, and then you jump into the water, Peter. Like he's, Peter's not a guy who common sense is high, but passion is there. So that's how god uses him. Right? And so verse eight says, the other disciples stayed in the boat and they pulled the net to the shore for they were only about a 100 yards from the shore. And when they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them, fish cooking over a charcoal fire. Highlight, circle, underline charcoal fire and some bread.

Verse 10 says, bring some of the fish that you've caught, Jesus said. So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were a 153 large fish, yet the net hadn't torn. I think it's funny that the Bible records 153. Like, Jesus shows up just

conquering death, they're like, hold on real fast. One, two, three, four, five, six. John, make sure you put 153. It's like, what? Like, it's just bizarre stuff that's in here. So verse 12, it says, now come and have some breakfast, Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, who are you? They knew that it was the Lord. Then Jesus served them bread and the fish. This was the third time that Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.

Peter is fishing, and just like the moment when the rooster crows, he's immediately brought back to that moment where Jesus predicted his failure. And he's sitting in the boat, takes the nets, throws them to the other side, and all of a sudden he catches all of these fish and it clicks. This is Jesus.

That random dude that's yelling at us to move the nets, it's God. He's here. And I think he's mad. I think he wants to address what I did.

So he puts his jacket on and starts swimming to the shore. And what Jesus does in this moment tells us everything we need to know about the heart and the character and the nature of God and how he responds to you and I when we fail. Because I always believed that God was up in heaven and he was mad.

And when he looked at me, especially in my failures, that he was gonna try to throw lightning bolts at me unless I said a bunch of hail Marys and our fathers and did all of the things that I had to do to repent,

but God inherently was looking at me with a scowl, disappointed in who I was because he had given me a shot, he had given me an opportunity, and I just let him down. And yet, that's not how Jesus responds to Peter.

Peter's the guy that's supposed to lead the church, to be the guy that goes first, the guy that's supposed to be the one that preaches at Pentecost and do all this incredible stuff and he fails.

And Jesus goes and he recreates the scene of his calling to remind him of who he is and why he called him and how he called him in the first place. And then what does he do? He cooks him breakfast. The

God of the universe, the God that just conquered death comes to me. Peter in his moment of greatest weakness and what does he do? He cooks fish for breakfast and it's like, besides, that's kinda gross. Like, who eats fish for breakfast? But Jesus

is making him breakfast. And here's why that matters, because you don't eat breakfast with people that you don't like. You don't share a meal with somebody that you're angry with, especially in this culture. Inviting somebody to have a meal with you was an olive branch at reconciliation, and Jesus

is sitting there on the shore, and he creates a charcoal fire.

And the charcoal fire already has fish on it, even though the disciples hadn't yet dragged the fish in, and it tells us that Jesus really doesn't need us that much. If he wants fish, man, he'll get fish. He doesn't need us to go and catch We

get to be a part of his plan and his will in spite of us. He doesn't need us. He can send a bunch of angels to complete the work on heaven, but one of the most compounding

things for us to wrap our mind around is God uses broken people like you and I who continue to fail to accomplish his will, and it is one of the most incredible things to be invited into. But you better not believe the lie that Jesus couldn't do it without you because he could make fish happen without any fishermen.

And then he sets a charcoal fire, and here's why it's so important for us to see that. Why had you underline it in John 18? If you go and do a word search and search fire in the Bible, there's like millions of fires all over the place in the Bible. Right? It's just fires everywhere.

But there's only two charcoal fires in the entire Bible. Only two times that you'll see a charcoal fire happen. One is in John 18 when when Peter is warming himself around a fire with Jesus's enemies being in a place that he should not be, failing in the worst way that he's ever failed.

The second time that we see a charcoal fire is in John 21 when Jesus begins to restore Peter. Jesus is not just recreating the scene of Peter's call, He's also recreating the scene of Peter's fall because he goes, yes, I use you. Yes, I love you. Yes, you're mine. Yes, I called you. But Peter, we have to deal with this.

We have to address this.

And I think oftentimes we just hope that God will just go, hey man, pick it back up and get back on the path, but don't ever address our failures. And here's why Jesus had to address this with Peter and why he wants to address your moments of weakness with you. Not because he's mad at you, not because he wants to rub your nose in it, but he knows that if you don't do this, if you don't look at the hard things, if you don't go back to the places of your failure, for the rest of your life, it doesn't matter how much progress you make, you will always have a rooster crow in your heart. And every time that one thing happens, it will immediately bring you back to the moment of your greatest failure, and it doesn't matter how far you go. The enemy will always have a foothold in your heart to go. This this might be who you think you are, but I know what you've really done.

Because what you have to understand is Jesus does not just dismiss

our shortcomings, just dismiss our sin. He deals with them. And in John nineteen and twenty, he went to the cross and dealt with them for the final time. And he's there to tell Peter, we have to address this.

And I don't know what it is for you. I don't know what the rooster call in your heart is, but I believe that all of us have something that when it happens, if we have shame that we have not dealt with, if we have hurt that we have not addressed,

it will consistently bring us back to that point of going, man, I'm just not good enough. And what I wanna tell you is that Jesus wants to address those moments of your weakness, but he wants to address it just like he does with Peter. Here's what he does to Peter.

Verse 15 says, after breakfast, Jesus said to Simon, Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord Peter replied, you know that I love you. Then feed my lambs, Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Yes, Lord. Peter said, you know that I love you. Then take care of my sheep, Jesus said. A third time, he asked him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt that Jesus asked him the question a third time. He said, Lord, you know everything about me. You know that I love you. Jesus said, then feed my sheep.

Verse 18 says, I tell you the truth. When you were young, you were able to do as you liked. You dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don't want to go. Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him a final time, follow

me. How does Jesus address Peter's moment of greatest failure? He asks him three times, Peter, do you love me?

And Peter goes, yes, of course, I love you. And Jesus says, then feed my sheep. What is he saying? He's saying, then get back to the mission. Get back on track. And I used to read the story, I thought that what Jesus was doing is he was publicly making an example of Peter in front of the other disciples.

He goes, do you love me? Because really, it seems like a couple nights ago when you had the chance to say that you liked me and even knew me, you didn't do that. And you claim to love me, but that's not what he's doing here. He's drawing out of Peter what he knows is inside of Peter. He's getting Peter to do

what he knows is in him. He goes, Peter, I know that you love me, but we have to address your failure. You denied me three times until three times publicly.

I want everybody and all of the disciples, I want history to record that three times you stood and professed your love and your faith in me because you denied me three times, but you are going to say in front of everybody three times that you love me. And then Jesus tells him, get back to the mission.

Get back on track. Feed my sheep. Take care of my sheep. Feed my sheep. Follow me. And that gives us so much insight into what it means to pick back up after we failed. Jesus doesn't change the plan. He doesn't make it less scary. I know that sometimes following god gets really scary and you're like, what? I have to trust you in these areas. I have to trust you here. I have to trust you in my career and I have to trust you in all this stuff. And sometimes the things that we see that get so big and scary are the reasons that we go and we do things that make us feel shameful. So we come back to God and we go, okay, now what's the plan? He's like, plan's still the same. We're still doing the same thing. You still gotta trust me. It's not gonna be any easier, but now you know who I am, and I am faithful even when you fail. The game plan is still the same. Still go be my disciples. Be the hope bearers to the world. Be the salt and the light of this earth. Game plan hasn't changed. You need to be the one to change.

And I think oftentimes why we find ourselves in these holding patterns is because we want Jesus to just dismiss our shortcomings and make the game plan less difficult, but it's not what he does. He says it's still the same.

It's still the same thing. Go out into the world and to be my hope. Be the ones that go and carry this message forward. And here's the thing that you have to know. Failure is going to be part of our stories for the rest of our lives until we're in heaven.

The reason that I know that to be true is because this moment, if you talk about an incredible moment when Jesus restores Peter publicly in front of all of the disciples,

and then the final statement that he makes here, he says, You used to do what you wanted to. You used to dress yourself, but when you get old, your arms are stretched out. He basically is predicting to Peter, you are going to be faithful for the rest of your life. You are gonna continue to follow me so much so that eventually, they're gonna crucify you like they crucified me, and you're gonna die a death that will glorify me. And you would think this would be like this crowning moment where Peter would, like, elevate out, but he doesn't. Go read the next verse. He goes, well, what about that guy?

Like, man, what and Jesus is like, no, bud. Focus here. Like, we're not talking about your brother. Like, stay here with me. And I don't know about you, but, man, that makes me feel so much better about myself. Because there's gonna be moments that I just do great.

And sometimes, immediately after I do really well, I'm just gonna completely swing and miss. But Jesus is faithful, and he's with me on the mountaintops as much as he is in the valleys. And you and I have to realize that in this life, we're gonna know failure. We're gonna know suffering. We're gonna make mistakes.

But Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and he will be tomorrow. What he's asking you to do is, are you willing to look past your moments of failure, or are you going to allow shame to convince you that you just need to run and hide, and get out of the game?

To wrap all this up, to kinda land this plane, here here's what I'm saying. I don't know if you ever heard of this, like, the story behind Johnny Cash and his testimony, but Johnny Cash has an incredible story. When his when his career started to take off,

he got super, super addicted to drugs. And he believed that because of all of the things that he had screwed up, that the world was better off without him. And if you go and read his autobiography, he's actually got an entire chapter that is that is dedicated to just all of the cars that he totaled. It's incredible.

And he believed that because he was such a screw up that everybody would be better off without him, and he came to the same conclusion that we will often come to if we don't let Jesus deal with our moments of weakness. And he believed that the world would be better without him, and so he took a flashlight. He went to these caves that he knew, and he knew that he could crawl back into these caves for hours.

And he would take a flashlight that had enough battery to get him to the back of a cave, and when the flashlight died, he would just lay down and die himself. And it's exactly what he does. Because shame will convince you every time that you should just crawl into a hole and die,

that you should just go and be by yourself, and you should just end your life. And Johnny Cash crawls to the back of his cave, his flashlight dies, and he said that he just laid down and he waited to die. And then all of a sudden, he said he was overwhelmed with the most incredible

presence that he'd ever felt. And he said, God told him, you might have left me, but I've never left you. You might be done with you, but I'm not done with you yet.

And he said he felt this peace overwhelm him, and he said, okay, I'll do this. He said, God, this is incredible, but I'm three hours into a dark cave and I have no light, I have no way to get out. Like, I don't know what to do. And God told him the same thing that I wanna tell you this morning. He said, just start

moving. Start crawling.

Move, put, just put one hand in front of the other and just keep going. And I know you can't see, but in the moments where you can't see, just walk by faith. And just start clawing and reach over and make sure you don't fall off of a cliff, but just keep moving and just keep going. And Johnny Cassidy did everything that he could to just keep moving and to just keep going. And eventually, he saw a light, he just started moving towards this light. And he thought it was gonna kill him. He thought he was gonna die. He thought the process was gonna take him out.

But he said eventually, he got out of the cave, and magically standing outside of this cave was two of his friends. And they had food and they had water, and they said, God told us to come here and that you needed help. And they drove him and they checked him into rehab and he gave his life to the Lord, and he went on to do all of these incredible things for Jesus. He went on Billy Graham crusades, and he wrote all kinds of songs like Walk the Line that glorify

God for all that he is. But the truth is, is Johnny Cash had a moment where he could have just died in that cave, and I believe that we have the same dilemma presented to us. Because shame undealt with is an emotion that will convince us to do things that is crazy.

It will convince us to just go and hide in the back of a cave and die. But I felt like God told me this morning to tell you God's not done with you yet.

You might have given up on him, but he has not given up on you yet. The good news of the gospel, the reason that we're gonna kill ourselves doing 10 services next week is because the

good news of what Jesus did on the cross means that for you and I, that our best days are always ahead of us no matter what we've done. And if you're here this morning, I don't know what it is. I don't know what things your eyes have seen or your hands have touched that have made you feel like God has done with you, but I'm telling you he's not, but you have to be willing to go there. You have to be willing to let him deal with those parts because your past

will be the thing that the enemy continues to remind you of to keep you from stepping into your destiny. But if you let God deal with it, if you bring it to him and let him heal you,

it can become the greatest weapon that you have to fight against the dark one and to bring more people into the kingdom of God because your testimony will become your weapon, but you have to be willing to go there. Amen? Father, we thank you so much for who you are.

God, I thank you for every person that's here. And Lord, I pray that if there are people here today who maybe they they aren't sitting here on the other side of failure, feeling like they're ashamed,

but Lord, there's some of those those red flags coming up in their life. There's some of those things that they're beginning to do. They're beginning to doubt and follow you from a distance and believe that maybe this isn't real. God, pray that you would give them the boldness to just admit where they are and to stop the progression of of of shame right now. And then God, for people that are here

who have made mistakes, who have fallen short. God, I pray that they would understand that the God of the universe is sitting here waiting for them at the shore, ready to just have a meal with them, to make breakfast for them,

to sit and remind them of who they are, to recreate the scenario of their calling, to remind them of the destiny that's on their life.

And God, I pray for everybody that's here that we would walk out of here knowing that he who began a good work in us, he will bring it to completion. You are faithful to complete it. God, we remember that even when we fail, you are faithful, that our failure is not fatal and we are not defined by it. We are defined by who you say that we are. So Jesus, we love you. We trust you. It's in your name that everybody said, amen.