Learn How To Overcome Your Failures Through God's Mercy with

透過上帝的慈悲克服失敗的方法

- Rick Warren discusses how everyone experiences failures, using the contrasting reactions of Judas Iscariot and Peter to their failures to highlight the significance of accepting God's mercy. Judas succumbed to despair and ended his life, while Peter, despite denying Jesus, accepted God's mercy and became a foundational figure in the early Christian church.

- 瑞克·沃倫討論每個人都會經歷失敗，他利用猶大·伊斯加略和彼得對失敗的截然不同反應來強調接受上帝慈悲的重要性。猶大屈服於絕望並結束了自己的生命，而彼得儘管否認了耶穌，卻接受了上帝的慈悲，成為早期基督教會的基礎人物。

- Personal failure is often caused by overestimating one's strength, fear of others' opinions, and lack of self-examination. Warren emphasizes the need to face and process failure directly to overcome it, instead of avoiding it.

- 個人失敗通常是由於高估自己的力量、害怕他人的看法和缺乏自我檢視所致。沃倫強調需要直面並處理失敗以克服之，而非逃避。

- Peter's story serves as a reminder that failure, while painful, can lead to growth and redemption if one is willing to confront and learn from it. Warren notes that after his denial of Jesus, Peter was restored and played a crucial role in the spread of Christianity.

- 彼得的故事提醒我們，雖然失敗帶來痛苦，但如果願意面對並從中學習，就能導致成長和救贖。沃倫指出，在否認耶穌之後，彼得得到恢復，並在基督教的傳播中扮演了關鍵角色。

- The sermon stresses the importance of community support, particularly in small groups, as seen in the early Christian practice. This support system helps individuals navigate failures and challenges by providing encouragement and accountability.

- 這篇講道強調了社區支持的重要性，特別是在小組中，正如早期基督徒的做法。這種支持系統通過提供鼓勵和責任感幫助個體應對失敗和挑戰。

- Warren concludes by encouraging believers to see failures as opportunities for growth and to rely on God's mercy, which renews daily, allowing for transformation from failure to purposeful living aligned with God's plan.

- 沃倫最後鼓勵信徒將失敗視為成長的機會，並依賴上帝的慈悲，這種慈悲每日更新，使人從失敗中轉化為與上帝計劃一致的有目的生活。

(7) Learn How To Overcome Your Failures Through God's Mercy with Rick Warren - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qJovp3Zsec

Transcript:

(00:00) take out your message notes because we are an imperfect people and we live in an imperfect world we all experience failures in life and the night that Jesus Christ was arrested and before he went to the cross two of his best friends had massive failures massive failures Judas had the failure of betrayal and Peter had the failure of denial now they're actually the exact same sin they're both denied Christ but they are just different expressions of it and Judas rejected the mercy of God and later went out and killed

(00:43) himself took his life Peter accepted the mercy of God and later went out and became the leader of the church what I want us to do this weekend is look at God's mercy and your failures and I want us to learn some lessons from the life of Peter in this massive failure that he had and I want us to ask three questions first what causes personal failure in your life and we're going to look and actually see that three things that Peter had in his life are the three most common causes of failure in your life Financial failure

(01:17) business failure marriage failure relational failure and all the other areas of failure are caused primarily by three things there are many other ones but these are the three biggest ones and then we're going to look at not only what Peter did wrong but what he did right and how do you recover what does God want you to do when you've had a failure in your life and then most important of all we're going to look at how does Jesus respond to our failures and how he shows us Mercy so let's get right into it first what

(01:49) causes our personal failure three things that Peter did wrong um and the first thing if you write taking note is this we overestimate our strengths this is a big cause of failure in your life when you think that you're stronger than you really are you think you can handle more and you can think you can handle Temptation The Story begins in Matthew chapter 26.

(02:13) now they just had the Last Supper where Jesus said I'm going to be arrested I'm going to die but three days later I'm going to come back to life and I'll meet you in Galilee after that and in verse 31 of Matthew 26 Jesus says this to the disciples Jesus said tonight every one of you will desert me talking to the twelve it's his small group that's been with him for three and a half years every one of you will desert me for the scripture says that when the shepherd is killed the Sheep will be scattered

(02:47) but after I've been raised from the dead this is in three days I will go ahead of you to Galilee and I'll meet you there then Peter boasted but Lord even if everyone else fails you I will never deny you Jesus replied Peter the truth is that before this night is over and before the rooster crows at dawn you will deny knowing me three times Peter insisted but Lord I would never do that even if I have to die with you I will never deny knowing you and all the other disciples vowed the same thing they all made the same you

(03:33) may have never seen that but they all said we would never do this Lord Jesus said you're going to do it tonight he said when you know when they when they take me arrest me you're going to fall to pieces you can count on it now notice three times Peter says I'll never deny you I would never do that and I would never deny knowing you at all ever this is overestimating our strengths a lot of businesses fail from overestimating their strengths a lot of battles are lost because armies overestimated their strength

(04:10) a lot of people students flunk out of school because they overestimated their strengths a lot of spouses fall into affairs because they overestimated their strength I can handle this it's just a harmless little office flirt nothing's there's nothing going to happen from it I can handle this beware of thinking this could never happen to me now First Corinthians 10 verse 12 says this if you think I'm strong I could handle this I'd never fall for that Temptation then be careful for you could easily fall too the Bible

(04:47) says one of the reasons we have so many failures in our lives in our lives is because we think we're stronger than we really are he says don't be don't be naive don't be self-confident don't none of us are exempt given the right situation I am capable of any sin and so are you given the right situation you are capable of any sin and so am I and the Bible says the heart is deceitful and we we should stop kidding ourselves now I don't have time to go into this in detail but not only do we have failures

(05:18) in our life because we overestimate our our strengths but also we misuse our strengths you see you tend to guard your weaknesses you know what you're weak at you know what's your weekend so you go I got to stay away from that because I'm weak at that but you don't pay any attention to your strengths and when you don't pay attention to your strengths they become weaknesses too in fact write this down an unguarded strength is a double weakness an unguarded strength is a double weakness the very area you think man

(05:54) there's no way I'd mess up on that you're setting yourself up the Bible says for failure there's a sense of Pride there the very area you may have just had a major victory may be exactly where you stumble next you know sometimes it's after a big success that then you have the failure sometimes it's after you've been through a very strong spiritual crisis and you came out of it and he actually made it that you let your guard down Jesus was tempted in the desert immediately after his baptism which was

(06:26) a big experience Peter had his biggest failure denying Christ right after the Last Supper which was a very intimate important powerful experience so never presume that you know where temptation is going to come from we overestimate our strength second reason we we fail this one's even bigger We Fear the disapproval of others you may not realize it but this causes more problems in your life than almost anything else we fear the disapproval of other people every time you make a decision based on what other people

(07:05) would think you are sowing the seeds for failure in your life because when you when you worry about what Will other people think when you fear disapproval when you fear disapproval you go with the flow even when you know it's the wrong thing you go with the flow because you you know go along to get along and and you you uh Europe become a people pleaser and you become a coward and you make commitments that you can't possibly keep simply because you're trying to make everybody happy now we see this as the second reason

(07:36) Peter stumbled in his uh in his denials in Matthew chapter 26 58 and 69-70 the Bible says this after they had left the the Last Supper in the upper room Peter followed Jesus at a distance now there's a problem right there that's a major problem following Jesus at a distance but he followed Jesus at a distance to the courtyard of the high priest Palace and he went in and he sat down with the guards the Roman guards to see what was going to happen to Jesus he's being being arrested he's going to be tortured Peter

(08:09) wants to know what's going on as Peter was sitting in the courtyard a servant girl came up to him and said you yeah you know I recognize you you were with Jesus of Galilee weren't you but standing there in front of everyone now that's the operational phrase standing there in front of everyone Peter denied it I don't even know what you're talking about he said now think about this Jesus Peter has just spent three and a half years with Jesus Christ the son of God he's lived with him for three and a half years and

(08:43) the first time the rubber hits the road he's in the clinch he's in the crisis he denies I don't even know what you're talking about he's more worried about what other people think than he is about identifying with Christ how many times have you had the opportunity to admit you were a Christian at work or somewhere else and you said nothing because you were worried about what other people think and and this thing actually happens in our life all the time not just with witnessing about our faith but in so

(09:14) many areas you stumble and you have failures because you're thinking more about what somebody else thinks than about what God thinks he said I don't even know the person now Peter struggled with people pleasing his entire life I could give you many examples in his life one time Paul had to actually rebuke him and said hey Peter you know you're acting this way with this group over here and you act this way this group over here you're trying to please everybody you can't do that now before we go on let me just ask you

(09:40) some consider some questions personally are you following Jesus at a distance you say you know I want to be a follower of Jesus I just don't want to get too close to him I don't want to be a radical I don't want to be a nut case I don't want to be a fanatic I I want to follow Jesus at a distance that is a setup for failure it's it's trying to have a foot in both worlds it doesn't work that way the Bible tells us that Peter was just sitting around waiting for something to happen do you

(10:09) find yourself doing that sitting around waiting for something to happen that's a setup for failure in your life and then Peter was worried about what other people thought let me ask you this whose opinion matters to you more than God's whose opinion matters to you more than God and you're more than worried about what they think than doing the right thing or saying the right thing when you let anybody else be more important than God in your life they become your God and that's called an idol and that's a setup for failure

(10:47) more important even than that of who whose opinion matters to you more than God is this question have you ever asked yourself why the opinions of other people matter so much to you have you ever been asked yourself that why you cringe at any criticism why you hate it so much why it just turns your stomach in a knot if somebody disagrees with you have you ever asked yourself why am I such a coward when it comes to being different why do other people's opinion matter to me so very very much that I'll even do

(11:25) the wrong thing in order to please somebody maybe I don't even even like have you even asked yourself why that happens why it matters to you so much Socrates said the the unexamined life is not worth living I say the unexamined life is a setup for failure because the part of me that causes me the most trouble is the part of me that I don't know about and when I live in denial of an area of my life I don't know why I do what I do if I'm in the dark about why I do what I do I'm never going to grow out of it I'm

(12:04) going to be stuck in that rut the rest of my life and the same thing is true with you the part of you that that causes you the most problem are the parts of you you're afraid to look at the parts of you that you are in denial about the parts of you of why you activate and you maybe even never even asked why am I so controlled by the opinions of other people why is it that I can't handle the disapprove of anybody else it just makes me sick it upsets me I'll do almost anything to avoid somebody disapproving

(12:38) of me why does that matter so much until you figure that out you're going to keep stumbling and stumbling and falling and failing in that area now the answer is the reason why you're worried about the fear of disapproval is there's always a wound behind that a hidden wound is always behind the fear of the disapproval of other people there's something that triggers in your mind that fear and maybe it was a rejection in the past maybe it was an unmet need that you had growing up maybe it was some hurt maybe

(13:15) it was a trauma that happened in your life a pain or or an injury as I said some kind of unmet need but there's some pain and it's a deep pain and it's so deep it's hidden in you I call it Soul pain the worst kind of pain is soul pain that's the kind of pain you don't even know why you're in pain you don't even know why you do what you do that Soul pain is always related to your identity if you don't know who you are as a woman if you don't know who you are as a man you will be manipulated by the

(13:50) disapproval of other people the rest of your life and you'll find yourself backing down when people say are you a Christian wow yeah yeah you know and and and and you you won't stand up for what you believe and you won't do the thing that's right because you don't know who you are the Bible says in Proverbs 29 25 it is a dangerous trap to be concerned with what others think of you but if you trust the Lord you will be saved he said I I'm already a goner I've already fallen into the Trap

(14:23) if I'm more worried about what other people think than doing the right thing or What God Says is the right thing to do or say or think or feel Peter overestimated his strength I would never do this it'll never happen to me I can enhance Temptation I know what I'm doing I'm an adult I can I can watch these kind of things that it doesn't bother me who are you kidding I can go to these kind of places and it doesn't bother me who are you kidding I can listen to this kind of stuff and it doesn't bother me who are you kidding

(14:55) we all worry about air pollution but you ought to worry about mind pollution the stuff you allow in your brain garbage in garbage out when we think you're strong and you're not when you're worried about the approval of other people you're gonna you're gonna have failures in your life and then there's a third one that we see in Peter's life and this one's the biggest of all we fail one of the causes of personal failure is we speak without thinking hello this may be the most common cause of all

(15:29) failure in your life we put our mouth in motion before we put our mind and gear and we speak impulsively and we speak rashly and we speak in haste and we speak thoughtlessly and we don't pause to consider the damage of what we're about to say what it's going to do in the lives of other people or even in our own lives and we just speak impulsively and and the true reason is we don't think rationally we think emotionally most of the time when you talk you're not thinking about what you're talking

(16:05) about you're not thinking rational you're not thinking what's the unintended consequence of what I'm about to say you're never stopping say Lord do you want me to say this you're not asking God is this the right thing to say at the right time in the right way now you just say whatever you feel people say well I just say whatever I feel as if that's a mark of Courage no that's a mark of immaturity children do that they say whatever they feel adults need to learn to have a governor

(16:36) on their mouth and so when you feel Envy you speak in Envy and when you feel jealousy you speak in jealousy and when you feel insecure you say things that reveal your insecurity and when you're frustrated and when you're angry you say things and anger and when you're afraid you say things in fear not even thinking about the consequences the reason why we have so many failures in our life is because we speak without thinking we let our emotions get in gear and that's what happened here with Peter

(17:10) Peter's clearly nervous he's uptight he's fearful now just think the crisis that's going on Jesus Christ has been arrested he's back behind this wall being going through mock trials and being tortured and I Peter I'm on the other side of the wall out in the courtyard wondering what's going on and then all of a sudden a stranger comes up and says hey you're with that guy and he says no no no I'm not he's worried about what other people think and now his anger comes out and the

(17:40) Bible says this in verse 71 of Matthew 26. then Peter went out to the entrance of the courtyard and there another woman saw him and said to those standing there this man this guy pointing at Peter this man was with Jesus of Nazareth now again Peter denied it and this time he swore okay now he's cussing he swore an oath and said I don't even know the man okay but after a while it says the men who had been standing there evidently a bunch of people Milling around just bystanders The Men Who were standing

(18:20) there came over to Peter and said we know that you are one of them don't you hate being called one of them that's like the kiss of death at the office you're one of them we all want to be one of us we all want to be one of the In Crowd and one of the reasons why you never talk about your faith to anybody else is because you don't want to be one of them you want to be one of us one of the guys one of the boys one of the girls I said hey we know you're one of them again that's the fear of disapproval

(18:55) okay Peter's getting uptight here we know that you're one of them because you're Galilean accent gives you away now Jesus was From Galilee the 12 disciples in his small group were all From Galilee so the accent gave him away just like in America in the South people from the South have a Southern accent uh people from the north have a Northwest have a Northeastern accent people in the midwest a Midwestern accent only Californians speak English perfectly okay uh the Canadians speak where the Canadian accent okay uh you know the the

(19:32) Australians and the uh the Brits you know we are uh uh two three nations uh United by a common language which we don't even understand each other saying and uh and so he said we understand we know who you are you're one of them because you have the Galilean accent it gives you weight it says Peter the Bible says Peter lost his temper and started cursing and swearing and he shouted I don't know the man and immediately he heard the rooster crow now swearing is always a sign of frustration swearing is always a sign of of fear

(20:13) when you get afraid you go emotional and you're not thinking rational you're not thinking logical you're not thinking reasonable you're thinking emotional and when people swear it's because they've they've given up on their logic and they have to resort resort to emotion he's not thinking he's speaking without thinking the Bible says this causes so many problems in our lives James chapter 3 verse 5 and 6.

(20:38) the tongue is a small thing but what enormous damage it can do everybody agree with that yeah oh yeah if I want to give an example of today just today driving in the car to church okay you said the wrong thing and it lit it lit a fire okay the tongue is a small thing but what enormous damage it can do just as a tiny spark can burn up a great Forest your tongue your tiny little petite tongue is a flame of fire that part of your body this is God talking that part of your body is full of wickedness and it can poison everything else in

(21:23) your life and we all know that's true you've seen relationships poison you've seen deals poisoned you've seen future dreams poisoned all because of a misplaced word the Bible says it is set on fire your tongue is set on fire by hell itself and it can turn our whole lives into a blazing flame of Destruction and disaster so we have overestimate our strengths We Fear the disapproval of others and we speak without thinking Peter did all three and he had the biggest failure of his life and we do all three and we have

(22:00) failures in our life now that's what Peter did wrong what did he do right what did he do right Peter actually did three things right once he failed he actually did several things right and these are actually some of the steps to recovering from a financial failure a marriage failure a relational failure a career failure or any other failure in your life what do you do you do these three things number one first thing you do grieve you grieve you grieve the failure you don't minimize the failure you don't

(22:38) pretend it didn't happen you don't justify the failure you don't rationalize the failure you don't make excuses for the failure you grieve it you feel the pain you don't brush it off you don't downplay it you feel the pain and you don't rush to feel better now listen this is a principle of life I'm about to tell you to get past it you got to go through it that's true in so many areas but it's particularly true with failure to get past your failure that failure in your

(23:11) life you got to go through it you can't go around your failure you can't go over your failure you can't go under your failure you can't ignore your failure you need to grieve the failure you need to feel the pain now we don't like feeling bad but grief is a good thing grief is the way we get through the failure and grief is the way we learn the lessons so often we want to just when we fail we want to just forget it push it aside stuff our emotions and then immediately go to the next thing

(23:44) when you stuff your emotions when you swallow your emotions your stomach keeps score it's kind of like what if you took a can of Coke and you shook it up for a long time and then you put it in the freezer what's going to happen to it it's going to explode eventually it's going to come out sideways and this happens in your life when you don't deal with your emotions properly this is why sometimes six months after failure a marriage falls apart are six months after somebody gets laid off work there's another problem there's

(24:18) a physical health problem things like this because you've shaken up the can and you've got all these emotions feeling inside of Shame and regret and fear and and and insecurity and all the things that come with failure and you're not dealing with them and so you shake it up and he said we're just going to put this in the refrigerator try to forget about it and we're going to freeze it and it's going to explode and it's going to come out sideways in an affair or in wrong Behavior or an impulsivity

(24:44) or an addiction or all kinds of other things I have seen this thousands of times in people's lives you don't minimize it you don't rush to feel better to get past your failure you've got to go through the failure and you got to grieve in Matthew 26 75 when Peter heard the rooster crow he remembered that Jesus had said before the rooster crows you'll deny me three times then Jesus then Peter went outside and wept bitterly circled the wept bitterly that's grieving now imagine how disappointed Peter must

(25:24) have felt in himself he goes man I've just lived with the Son of God for three and a half years I watched him do Miracles I watched him heal people I watched him raise the dead I watched him teach like no one has ever taught I watched him offer mercy and forgiveness to me dozens and dozens and dozens of times I watched him never do anything wrong and yet the first time that I'm put to test about my commitment my faithfulness my my trust in Jesus I deny him three times in a row because I'm worried about what three Strangers

(25:56) think are you more worried about what Strangers think about your faith than God are you more embarrassed to let people know that you're a believer that's that fear and he's disappointed but but Peter I love the fact that he owns up to his failure he doesn't go well I had there's a good reason I did this you know they might have killed me or or he didn't no he just goes out and he Grieves and and he's humbled by this and he's regretful of it grief as I said is a good thing it is the key to Healing

(26:34) a lot of people want to take shortcuts when they have a failure they want to bypass a fair you want to just put it outside out of mind and go on and said yeah I had a failed business here I'm going to go start another one right now the next day yeah I just had a marriage fail but I don't turn around I'm going to find somebody immediately I got to find somebody else immediately and they rebound into another relationship and they never learned the lesson the problem is if you don't go through the

(26:57) grief you don't learn what God wants you to learn in that failure and then you take the same old you into the new marriage into the new job into the new goal into the new dream and nothing's changed because you didn't learn anything because you weren't willing to feel bad for just a little bit and you're afraid of negative feelings you're afraid of feeling bad it's okay to feel bad grief is the way we get through Transitions and losses and failures in life the greater the failure in your life the

(27:30) more time it's going to take the greater the loss in your time life the greater it's going to take you have to let God work in your heart and you have to let time work in your heart you cannot force healing you cannot Rush healing you cannot will it by sheer willpower I'm going to be different now you can't do it recovery is an act of God's mercy healing is an act of mercy and it comes slowly with time and recovery and growth comes in stages and all God wants you to do is just be honest I blew it

(28:08) to be humble the Bible says this in psalm 51. and by the way this is a from Psalm 51 is the prayer David wrote after he committed adultery the whole prayer is this prayer of confession in verse 17 he says the sacrifice God wants is a broken and contrite spirit and God will not reject a humble and repentant heart now he's saying God is looking for humility contriteness just just you're right God I I blew it and and when you come to God and say God I'm broken-hearted over this I had all my hopes penned on this but it

(28:48) didn't work it failed it failed the business failed the dream failed the relationship failed God it failed and I'm broken-hearted over it and I'm I'm a little bit more humble than I was I don't think I'm the captain of my soul anymore I don't think I'm the manager of the Universe I don't think I've got it all figured out I'm coming with a humble spirit and a contrite heart and a repentant attitude God goes that's the person who's going to recover so he does the first thing right it's

(29:17) simply by grieving now the Bible says there that when Peter heard the rooster crow he wept bitterly okay he ate Crow he he went out and he he said oh I I have really messed up and he felt the pain and you know what I imagine that every time for the rest of Peter's life when he heard a rooster crow what do you think it reminded him of every time he heard a rooster girl probably remind him my biggest failure in life it was a trigger a trigger and by the way you have triggers in your life and there's certain things that when you

(30:02) hear them or smell them or think them or listen to them or whatever you see them it triggers the memory of your failures now you can't stop the triggers sorry can't can't do that I I can't even tell you how to even stop those triggers but you can stop what they do to you and you you do have a choice you don't have a choice over your triggers there are some things that are going to happen in your life when that happens it reminds you of the painful failure in your life but your choice then is will I choose to

(30:35) focus on the mistake the failure the pain or am I going to choose to focus on God's forgiveness God's mercy and God's grace that's choice and that's what you can do and here's what's going to happen when you start changing your focus Satan is going to stop hassling you about this Satan knows your triggers and he wants to condemn you and here's what happens you see before you fail in some area or before you commit a sin Satan always minimizes the sin he minimizes it he goes this is no big deal

(31:14) go ahead and do it I mean everybody does this times have changed things are different we're in a different culture doesn't matter what God has said this is okay times have changed everybody does it go ahead it's no big deal he minimizes the sin the moment you commit that sin changes his strategy to the exact opposite and he starts maximizing it and he starts going are you kidding me that's the biggest sin I've ever heard of God will never use you you're never going to be blessed you're never going

(31:47) to have an answered prayer who do you think you are you may as well just Chuck it in you may just give up because you are used material you're wasted you're wrong uh you're you're in the dust Heap you're going to sit on the bench the rest of your life forget it it's over this is so big God could not possibly ever use you see how he switched he starts saying it's no big deal before you do it and then afterwards he goes it's the biggest deal in your life because he does not want you focused on

(32:15) the mercy of God he wants you focused on your pain you see when you don't understand who you are you don't have that that when you still have that Soul pain you don't know your identity you've given to these kind of fears over and over and over and Satan and other people can just whip you around and manipulate you with all kinds of memory triggers you need to say you know what every time that trigger brings the thought that that memory that painful mistake I'm just going to go yep it was wrong and

(32:52) then I'm gonna go thank God for his grace thank God for his Mercy thank God for his love thank God for his forgiveness and I I just oh thank you God I am a trophy of Grace now here's the interesting thing if Satan figures out that every time he uses that trigger you're going to praise God he's going to stop bugging you about it because he certainly doesn't want you all of a sudden it's not working anymore if he can pull a trigger and you get into depression he's going to keep pulling it but if he can pull a trigger

(33:24) and it causes you to praise God for his mercy and forgiveness and Grace Focus like he goes well I don't want you from doing that so he will stop God's mercy and God's grace is going to be there I'm a Child of God so even though I've just really messed up God's going to still love me he's not going to change that's the miracle of Mercy now the second thing Peter did right and it's going to sound funny to you but it's what it what it says right here in scripture let my small group support me

(33:53) and that's exactly what Peter did the very first thing Jesus did when he started his ministry is he formed a small group and he chose 12 people to be a part of that small group this is why we make such a big deal about small groups at Saddleback Church because Jesus did it and and for 300 years all Christianity was done in small groups they didn't have big gatherings like this all Christianity for 300 years was done in small groups so I let my small group support me now one of the things we're going to cover

(34:24) this afternoon that salt is how do you do that how do you let other people support you and how can you give support to other people what do you say what are you don't say and how do you handle difficulties in life but let me just show you some example of Peter getting support from his small group after his biggest failure uh Matthew excuse me Mark 16 verse 10 Easter morning you know that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary had gone up to the Tomb of Jesus and uh the angel said he's not here he's gone go tell the disciples and

(34:55) so it said Mary Magdalene went and found the disciples together grieving and weeping circle the word together I want you to listen very close when you go through a major failure in your life you must resist the urge to isolate yourself when you go through a major failure in life you must resist the urge to insulate yourself when you get laid off from work you don't want anybody to know about it when you have a bankruptcy you don't want anybody to know about it when you have a failure in your life you don't

(35:30) you want to keep it a secret that's the worst thing you could do you need you don't need to tell everybody that you need to tell a few people who love you who are going to pray for you and who will support you because when you share a problem in your life it's cut in half the burden is cutting out when you share joy in your small group it's doubled you were never meant to go through life on your own you were never meant to go through life by yourself we were better together we're meant for community and

(35:58) the basic unit of life is the small group Jesus formed this small group and where does Peter go instantly after he's had his biggest failure he didn't go hide in a cave he goes to a small group the disciples were together grieving and weeping now you need Godly support more than ever let me show you another example uh Easter night same night uh that was in the morning that night they're still together it says that evening the disciples were together again with the doors locked they're in a house

(36:32) their their house group they're in a home Church they're in a small group and a home with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders they're thinking hey they killed Jesus maybe they're going to kill us too maybe they're going to crucify us now this is Easter so Jesus the resident says suddenly Jesus appeared in the middle of the group and said peace be with you and the disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord I guess so now I've been in a small group for 35 years I've never had Jesus suddenly show up in

(37:05) the middle of the group okay not physically not physically but I will tell you this I've seen Jesus Jesus show up in my small group hundreds of times through the words And the emotions and the prayers of other people and I have sat in group after Group after group when somebody started talking and I knew God is talking to me right now he's talking directly to you Rick Warren and you better listen it may be their mouth and it may be a man and it may be a woman didn't really matter who it is but I'm talking to you right now and God's

(37:41) presence showed up in my life in the middle of that small group I have seen that happen over and over and over and if you've been in a small group for any length of time you know that God's presence Jesus often shows up in a small group in fact he promised where two or three are gathered in my name I will be there in the midst of them not physically but his presence is there his spirit is there his love is there his Mercy is there and he shows up in the middle of the group and if you're never in a group

(38:10) he's never going to show up you got to get in that situation where two or three are gathered in my name he says I'm there which with you the reason this is important when you have a failure is because in a crisis you don't think straight and the bigger the failure the bigger the loss in your life the more you don't think straight and you need other people around you have you thought about this have you considered this and they just kind of calm you down and they straighten you out and they're there to

(38:39) support you and they're there to be with you a third example of Peter and a small group John chapter 20 verse 26 says a week later remember I told you last week that when Jesus rose from the dead he stayed around Jerusalem for another 40 days he didn't just go right back to heaven and so a week later it says the disciples were together again meeting uh in a home they're they're having their weekly small group they're meeting every week in fact for the next 50 days after Peter's big failure and after the cross and the

(39:12) resurrection about all the disciples did was go to the small group they pretty much just hung out together kind of processing what in the world did we just go through the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus and they're going through this trauma together and they're coming to their small group over and over and over now I don't think I have to repeat to you the importance of a small group I've taught on you this many many times but let me just say this again the best time to build the support

(39:42) network in your life is before the crisis you're going to have some Rogue wins in your life you're going to have some major pain in the days ahead count on it this is Earth it's not heaven you're going to have losses you're going to have deaths you're going to have major illnesses you're going to have all kinds of problems that you don't even know about that I don't even know about the time to get your social support system that Network in place the time to build a small group is now

(40:15) not in the crisis it's a little late by then fortunately Peter had a small group he'd been in for three and a half years so when he had his biggest failure he had a place to go and say man did I screw up and they go yeah you did but we did too and so let's all encourage each other and so he had a place to go he grieved he led a small group support him third thing very important third thing to do when you have a fail in your life I cast myself on God's mercy cast myself on God's mercy now we know

(40:50) this and we know Peter did this because Peter wrote about it Peter wrote two books in the Bible the first book is called First Peter guess which one the second one's called and Peter yeah you're really bright today okay second Peter but in First Peter he starts the whole book talking about how God has showed him Mercy I mean in verse 1 and verse two he said hi it's Peter talking and he tells who he's writing to and so then the first thing he talks about in his book is God's mercy First Peter chapter 1 verse

(41:22) 3. because of his great Mercy he knew that God had shown him mercy God has given us a new life he goes I'm not the same old Peter I'm a new Peter I got a new life I'm not the old guy I'm a new guy now he has given us New Life by raising Christ Jesus Christ from the dead from death this fills us with a Living Hope now Peter has had a massive failure in his life but he's not going around in despair he's not going around in condemnation he's not going around in guilt he's not walking around in shame he's not walking

(41:57) around in regret he's not timid and going well God could never use me so he says I'm walking around in Hope my life is filled with hope in spite of my failure my life is filled with hope why because of the mercy of God and later in the same book he says this and he says it from personal experience first Peter 5 7 cast all your anxiety on him God because he cares for you he says that's what you do now why did Peter tell people to do that because that's what he did when he failed he just cast all his anxiety he cast

(42:34) himself on the mercy of God now I I went and I looked up this word cast in the original Greek and the original manuscripts of the Bible and the word cast there it doesn't mean kind of like fly fishing casting you know where you're just kind of flipping you know ten two and four you know kind of a you know you're you know doing back and forth back and forth that that's an easy cast Okay this kind of cast all your cares really is more like when you're carrying a giant boulder and that the boulder is so big you couldn't throw

(43:06) it three feet and basically you it just means Let It Go it means drop it and when he says cast your anxiety or other translations cast your cares on the Lord he means take them and drop them you just let it go you don't have to throw it you don't have to toss it you just go God I'm dropping it I'm dropping my fear I'm dropping my insecurity I'm dropping my guilt I'm dropping my shame because you are a loving and merciful god and I I'm just gonna drop it all on you I'm going

(43:41) to cast myself on the mercy of God what does it mean to cast yourself on the mercy of God well it means to pray something like this you say God there is no way I deserve your forgiveness I really blew it there's no way I deserve your mercy I I you know I've I've thumbed my nose to you I've ignored you so much of my life I've made dumb mistakes God there's no way I deserve your grace your mercy your kindness your love but God you are a kind God you are a loving God you are a merciful and forgiving God in

(44:21) fact you have said that you love to show Mercy so I'm I'm throwing myself on your mercy I need a fresh start I don't deserve it I couldn't earn it but you are a merciful god so I'm just gonna ask you to do what you love to do and show me mercy that's casting yourself on the mercy of God you see that's why it's the antidote to everything Satan says to you so much of the time Satan is whispering in your ear you're not good enough who Do You Think You Are you think God could ever use you why do

(45:02) you think God would answer your prayers after all the stuff you've done all those dumb stunts you've done why do you think God you're not good enough and as I said he's always maximized things said no way will God ever forgive you on that he does not want you focused on his Mercy but I tell you what the antidote to get rid of all of that talk in your mind and Satan's constantly giving you those negative thoughts and it's kind of like you know the the teacher on the Charlie Brown movies

(45:33) you know you can't hear but it's just there what is the antidote to that when you cast your care you lose your despair when you cast your care you lose your despair because then Jesus moves into action the moment you say God I'm throwing myself on your mercy what does Jesus do with our failures this is what I really want us to look at before Jesus even was arrested he told Peter in advance this was going to happen and Jesus actually told Peter four things in advance of his failure and here's what he said in Luke chapter 22

(46:19) 30 and 31 he said Simon Simon by the way you know Peter's name was actually Simon Peter so sometimes he's called Peter and sometimes he's called Simon now Peter actually means rock rock in Greek and it was Peter barjona which means he was the son of John the son of John so today Peter would have been called Rock Johnson okay okay so Peter barjona today in America would have been called uh the disciple Rock Johnson uh Simon or Peter barjona okay he says Simon Simon see the tenderness in God's voice Jesus says

(46:59) Satan has asked to sift you like wheat he says Satan wants to turn your crank Peter he wants to test you he wants to turn you inside out because he doesn't think you're going to come through I know you will but he doesn't think you will and so Satan wants to mess with you he's telling you this is going to happen you're going to get messed with you're going to be tempted but Jesus said I've prayed for you in advance he says I've already prayed for you that your faith should not fail

(47:27) so he says when not if when you have repented and turned back to me again that's the third thing he says strengthen and build your brothers in other words I want you to use your pain to help other people I want you to use your failure to build up other people to encourage other people to help them so what do we learn we learn five things that Jesus does with our failures write these down number one first he isn't shocked he isn't shocked by your failure Jesus goes Satan wants to sift you he predicted

(48:04) Peter's Temptation long before it happened and even said you're going to deny me he already knew it God is not ever surprised or caught off guard by anything you do good or bad he already knows everything in advance he already knows your weak spots as I said the message paraphrase of Matthew 26 he said you're all going to fall to pieces because of what happens to me he knew this was going to happen the Bible says in Psalm 103 verse 14 God certainly knows what we're made of he bears in mind that we are Dust In

(48:36) other words God knows we're not God we're not perfect we're human beings we mess up we screw up we we falter we fall we fumble we flub up he he knows our frame he knows we're not perfect and not only does he know everything about you and what's inside you he also knows every Temptation and every trick that Satan is going to throw at you so he's not surprised he's not shocked when you fail number two this one you will surprise you he prays for us he he prays for us Jesus told Peter before he had even

(49:10) failed Peter this is going to happen but I have already prayed for you that your faith will not fail and Jesus prayers are answered I've prayed for you that you will not fail in Hebrews chapter 7 it talks about this by the way do you know what Jesus Christ is doing right now in heaven do you know what Jesus Christ is doing in heaven right now the Bible says he's praying for you praying for you now when you pray for someone that's called intercession When you pray for someone you intercede for them and the Bible says that Jesus is

(49:54) interceding for you he's living to do that in heaven right now he's praying for you for your Temptations for the failures you've had and for the ones you're going to have in the tomorrow and the next day the Bible says this Hebrews 7 25. Jesus is able to save us completely from all of our failures because in heaven he lives to intercede on our behalf he always he's always talking to the father asking him to help us in heaven Jesus talking to father praying to the to the father back and forth he said wait a minute this is kind

(50:34) of weird here God is taught is talking to himself oh you never talk to yourself you talk to yourself all the time and you're made in God's image so if you talk to yourself anytime God can talk to himself when God talks to himself about you it's called prayer and the Bible says God is praying for you just like you said Peter I've already prayed for you before you even failed I've prayed that you'll you'll make it through this and he prays for us Jesus is praying for you that's the mercy of God number three

(51:10) third thing Jesus does when youth fail he believes in US he believes in Us in fact he expects us to recover and that's why he told Peter even before Peter's big failure he said so Peter when you have repented and turned back to me again circle the word when it's not if not it might happen he said when he go I know you're going to come back to me I I you're going to sin you're going to fail you're going to make a mistake but you're going to come back when you come back to me this is the mark of a True

(51:43) Believer look at this verse on the screen Proverbs 24 16. let's read this verse aloud together for even though a righteous man falls seven times he will rise again now leave that verse up there for a minute for you know what I love about this verse it says even the good guys screw up even righteous people fall they make mistakes okay sometimes good people make dumb decisions I mean sometimes good people take their lives doesn't mean they were evil that means they made a dumb decision in that moment sometimes we all make dumb decisions

(52:28) even though a righteous man falls seven times even good people even righteous people have failures and we fail repeatedly seven times I don't know if you'd figure this out yet but your biggest biggest weaknesses are habitual you don't just do them one time and then that's it you do them over and over and over and over and over and if it's a weakness of yours you're back there within an hour falling in the same area again and again and again Jesus says my Mercy isn't just for the big one-time mess-up

(53:03) my Mercy is for those every day everyday mess-ups that you do 20 times an hour and all of a sudden you take back control and you start worrying again and again and again and again and you're worrying and you're worrying and you're worrying and I told you don't worry but his Mercy will forgive nine thousand and ten thousand and one million times because God is a merciful god he's more willing to show Mercy than you're willing to ask for it he's not shocked he prays for us he believes in us we ref we fail repeatedly

(53:36) but God says I'm still going to believe in you now we see a good example of Peter I mean Jesus believing in Peter from a little phrase that you might miss that happened on Easter morning you remember a couple weeks ago at Easter we were talking about the fact that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went up to the tomb maybe they're taking flowers on Easter morning and the angel meets them and says he's not here he's gone he's like he promised he'll see you guys in in in in in Galilee now go tell the disciples and

(54:08) notice what the angel says on that Easter morning Mark 16 6-7 the angel said to to the women I know you were looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified but he's not here he's risen from the dead now go tell his disciples and tell Peter that he's going ahead of you to Galilee and he'll see you there just as he promised did you notice any redundancy in that verse he says go tell his disciples and tell Peter why did he add in Peter isn't Peter a disciple wouldn't he be included couldn't he just

(54:49) say hey go tell his disciples but Jesus knew how discouraged Peter would be from his failure Jesus knew how much he needed encouragement so he puts out an additional thing go tell my disciples oh and especially tell Peter when you fail God knows your name and he gives you a personal word of encouragement he says go tell my disciples oh and especially tell Peter I know how bad he feels about this I know he's taken at the hardest of all he's taken the hit he's feeling ashamed he's feeling regretful he's down in the

(55:31) dumps go tell my disciples and go tell Peter I'm alive I'm alive I kept my promise and he singles him out friends that is love and that leads us to the fourth thing that Jesus did number four when we fail he shows us Mercy when we're down he shows us his Mercy when we're down he doesn't beat us up he doesn't pile on he doesn't add to our guilt he doesn't add scorn and shame and a scolding he saves us and when you have failed he doesn't just come in and go let me tell you how

(56:09) bad you've done no he shows Mercy when we're down and there's a beautiful example of this it's tender it's a very tender example in John chapter 21. here's the story this is a couple weeks after the resurrection so it's about like now that we're two weeks after Easter so right about now two weeks after Easter you know I told you Jesus was around for 40 more days it says two weeks later uh Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee seven of the disciples were there

(56:44) and Simon Peter said they hadn't seen Jesus yet Simon Peter said I'm going fishing friends that's a statement of depression I'm going fishing okay Peter's going I I I haven't recovered from this drama it's only two weeks out since my biggest failure in life all I'm gonna do all I need to do is go back and do what I used to do before I started following Jesus three and a half years ago I was a professional fisherman I'm going to go back all thing I know how to do is go fishing I I'm I'm down I'm

(57:22) discouraged I'm not feeling good I'm going fishing anybody want to go with me and the other guys go sure we'll we'll go with you so Peter said I'm going fishing we'll come to they all said so they went out of the boat but even though they fished all night they caught nothing ever felt like that I've been looking for a job for how many months I fished all night I've caught nothing I've been looking to get married for so long I fished all night I've caught nothing I I've been waiting for this ship to

(57:55) come in I fished all night I've gotten this is called a failure these are professional fishermen if anybody should catch fish it's professional fishermen we fished all night we've caught nothing this is a failure they got another failure in their life now at dawn the disciples saw a man standing on the shore but they couldn't see that it was Jesus and he called out Jesus called out friends have you caught up any fish not a thing they reply at least they're honest about their failure then Jesus said throw out your net on

(58:31) the right side of the boat and you'll get plenty of fish so they did what Jesus said to do and they instantly caught so many fish they couldn't even draw in the net because it was so full of fish now you may have fished all night and caught nothing but you God can do more in five minutes in your life than you can do in 50 years of planning they had fished all night and caught nothing you've been planning this dream of yours for so long and it just has gone nowhere well it says when they did what Jesus

(59:07) said to do they caught more than they could possibly handle God can do more in your life in a few seconds if you'll just obey him then you can do on your own schemes and plans so they caught all these fish and it was just so full of fish then John one of the disciples said to Peter it's the Lord well duh okay okay all of a sudden we followed this guy's advice from Shore we we don't really know maybe he saw something we saw it so we throw it over and we catch all these fish and John goes it's it's the Lord

(59:43) now I love what happens next when Peter realized that he put on his tunic for he had stripped for work now get this Peter is fishing butt naked they've been fishing all night he's out with the guys he's not showing off or anything he's not working on a tan obviously because they're fishing at night he just doesn't want to get his clothes dirty have to take it into the laundromat so while they're out fishing he doesn't want to smell he takes his robe off he's laid it over in the side

(1:00:12) of the boat they're all standing there he's fishing naked John goes it's the Lord and it says when Peter realized that he put on his tunic for each trip for work jumped in the water and swam ashore leaving the others in the boat to pull the loaded net Shore for they were only out about 300 feet now when they got to shore they saw that Jesus was cooking fish and bread over a charcoal fire he's got a barbecue going on here okay now Jesus can cook I'd like to see that show on the Food Channel yeah

(1:00:54) chopped Jesus won again we like this meal better okay so Jesus he's got a little barbecue going on here at the at the side of the lake of Galilee he's cooking fish and bread over charcoal fire now Jesus says bring some of the fish that you just caught graciously not mentioning the fact that they would have never caught him without him that they had caught nothing on their own so Peter goes back aboard and dragged the net ashore and it was filled with a hundred and fifty three large fish and yet the net had not torn

(1:01:35) now that's another miracle because if you know anything about the Bible you know that they were constantly mending their Nets because they were always breaking in fact when Jesus met him three and a half years earlier they were out mending their Nets now Jesus says now come and have some breakfast Jesus said you deserve a break break today I've got these little fish McMuffins for you for breakfast fresh bread fresh fish with muffins little little special sauce on the side here okay come on we're gonna have

(1:02:09) breakfast Jesus said now they were sure it really was the Lord then Jesus served them Circle that phrase then Jesus served them he's being kind he's being loving he's been merciful he's cooked them breakfast then Jesus served them the bread and the fish now this was the third time that Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead and there were many other times after this and that's a beautiful tender story of the mercy of God let me ask you let me put it in context

(1:02:45) let's talk about you let's say you just went through your worst day of your life as Jesus is arrested tortured and murdered you've gone through the worst day of your life and your best friend deserts you doesn't show up and more than that denies you and pretends like they don't even know you two weeks later would you cook them a nice breakfast no you wouldn't that's Mercy that's Mercy he's shown how much he loves them even after their betrayal and denial he cooked some breakfast you wouldn't

(1:03:31) cook somebody who just betrayed you and I you probably spit in the food if you did well I'll get back at them that's Mercy you see God's mercy toward you is not dependent upon your performance the Bible says it like this Lamentations 3 22-23 the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases in other words it never stops it never ends a steadfast it's unchanging it's never exhausted God never gets tired of Loving You the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his Mercy mercies never come to an end God's never going

(1:04:11) to say okay I've had enough of your failures that's enough forgiveness 9 000 times not 9001. okay that's just one too many I've had enough his mercies never come to an end it says his mercies are new every morning you got the same old sins but he's got new Mercy for you every single morning and that says great is your faithfulness God is faithful to you in his mercy no matter what you do do you realize how faithful God's Mercy is to you let me show you one of the most amazing verses in the entire Bible look up here on the

(1:04:48) screen second Timothy 2 13. if we are unfaithful he God remains faithful for he cannot deny himself God cannot deny himself God cannot be unfaithful and even when you're Unfaithful he will be faithful you may give up on God he's never going to give up on you that's the mercy of God you may be unfaithful to God he's never going to be unfaithful to you now the last point is the greatest Miracle of mercy of it all and it is this he not only believes in US prays for us shows us Mercy when we're down

(1:05:43) doesn't get upset about it not shocked number five he uses our failures to build his church God actually uses our failures to build his church Jesus had told Peter Peter when you have turned back to me strengthen and build up your brothers he's talking about the Brothers and Sisters in Christ the family of God the church use your failure to strengthen and build up others here's the rest of that story there on the beach at Galilee verse 15 John 21.

(1:06:24) after breakfast Jesus asked Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of John do you love me more than these now this is echoing back a statement where at the Last Supper Peter said I love you more than all of these and I'm I would never never deny you everybody else away but I would never do that he said Simon do you love me more than these yes Lord you know I love you Peter replied then feed my Lambs Jesus said my flock that's the church the flock of God the church then feed my Lambs Jesus said then Jesus repeated the question

(1:07:13) Peter do you do you love me do you love me Peter said yes Lord yes Lord you you know you know I love you then take care of my sheep Jesus said I want you to care about my family the flock the body of Christ the church take care of my sheep then Jesus asked the same question one more time Peter do you love me now Peter was grieved that Jesus asked the question a third time so he said I could hear the exasperation in his voice Lord you you know I love you you you know everything and you know that I love you and Jesus replied

(1:08:17) then feed my sheep the way you show your love for God is by helping other people in the family of God why did Jesus ask this question three times do you love me he was giving Peter the opportunity to make up for three denials I will never deny you I will never deny you I will never deny you and he did one two three times and so he said do you love me do you love me do you love me yes Lord yes Lord yes Lord than feed my sheep now let's go back to the beginning both Judas and Peter friends of Jesus both of them committed the same sin they both

(1:09:03) denied Christ the exact same sin just different experiences they they turned their back on him in a time of need Judas became a traitor Peter became a teacher feed my sheep Judas became a traitor G Peter became a teacher what are you going to become from your failure what are you going to allow the failures in your life to make you traitor or a teacher it's your choice the fact is God is building his church on people who failed God has only used failed people because there aren't any non-failures in life and in Matthew 16 18 Jesus said this now

(1:09:53) I say to you that you are Peter and Upon This Rock I will build my church and the powers of Hell will not conquer now some of you know this is actually a play on word in the original Greek manuscripts because the word Peter is the word Petros and the word rock is the word Petra they're very different he said you are Peter Petros but you're going to be Petra The Rock on which I'm with my Mercy going to build on the faith your faith and on your failures Petros Peter literally means a stone it means a small rock it means a pebble

(1:10:40) so so Peter really was a pebble he was a stone that's his name Stone a rock as a pebble Petra means a giant rock a boulder it can mean a cliff a rock it could be a mountain of granite it's a Rock of Gibraltar Rock that's a Petra and Jesus is saying to this guy who's just had this enormous failure just a few days earlier yeah you've been unstable you've been foot and mouth you've been impulsive you've denied me you've been a little stoned but you're gonna be a Rocket Gibraltar

(1:11:21) because of my Mercy and the past is past and we're going to go on and I'm going to build my church on your failures God wants to build his church on your your failures he wants to use you the same way he used Peter so let me end with two questions number one what failure have you had that God wants to use in this church what failure have you had that God wants to use to build his church if you've had a failed business you should be helping businessmen because you know what it's like to have a failed this if you've had a bankruptcy

(1:12:07) you should be helping people who are going through bankruptcy if you've had a failed marriage you should be helping people save their marriages if you've had an abortion you should be helping women who are struggling with that decision right now if you've had a failure in any other area of your life if you've had an addiction you should be helping people who haven't have that addiction God wants to use your failures to build his church don't waste your failures last week we talked about not wasting

(1:12:43) your pain and I said you're going to have pain don't waste it if you've been abused use it to help people who've been abused if you've been raped or molested use it to help people have been raped or molested if you've been abandoned or betrayed help people have been abandoned or betrayed and on and on and on God wants to take your greatest failure and turn it into your greatest success God wants to take your greatest hurt and turn it into your greatest Ministry Chuck Colson went to prison and then founded prison

(1:13:16) fellowship an enormous Ministry that helps prisoners all around the world what failure Jesus God want to use in your life the second question are you going to respond to your failure like Judas or like Peter now that's your choice Judas had a breakdown Peter had a breakthrough Judas gave up Peter looked up Judas rejected the mercy of God Peter accepted the mercy of God Judas lived in condemnation Peter lived in Celebration of the mercy of God Judas ended up taking his life in despair Peter ended up living his life on

(1:14:11) purpose it's all your choice and just 50 days after Peter's biggest failure God chose him Peter that guy the screw-up the mess up the guy who denied Jesus in his deepest hour of pain he chose Peter to be the guy to preach on the day of Pentecost on the first day of the Christian church and 3 000 people were saved and baptized that is the mercy of God it and it wasn't like a year after the failure it's 50 days after he screwed up he's standing in front of everybody preaching on Pentecost at the birth of

(1:14:57) the Christian church that is the mercy of God that's powerheads would you pray this prayer God I I've had a lot of failures in my life unlike Peter I've overestimated my strength and I said I'd never do that but I did and I feared the disapproval of other people and I've been quiet and I've been a coward and I've denied you when I could have spoken up for you at work when I could have told other people about your love and I was more worried about their disapproval and I've fallen into that trap and Lord

(1:15:47) of course many many times I've spoken without thinking and my tongue has gotten me in a lot of trouble I want to do the right things that Peter did I don't want to brush it aside and rationalize my failures I want to grieve them and I'm coming to you saying Lord my heart's broken and I'm sorry and I have a contrite spirit and I'm I'm not I'm a little more humble Than I Used to Be and I'm I'm coming to you with the repentant heart saying I I'm sorry and forgive me for the times that I've

(1:16:28) isolated myself and tried to handle everything on my own and not want people to know about my pain help me to let my small group support me help me to build that social that's that that support network now to get in a small group now before the next Crisis comes and then most of all Lord I cast myself on your mercy and like that giant boulder I just let it go I just drop it and today I'm dropping my anxiety I'm dropping my insecurity I'm dropping my fears the regrets the shames and all of the things that Satan pulls

(1:17:14) that trigger on and whips me around with I cast myself in your mercy I don't deserve your forgiveness or your grace but you are a forgiving God and you love to show Mercy thank you that you're not shocked by my by my failures thank you that you're praying for me right now thank you Jesus that you believe in me that you know my name that you give me encouragement not discouragement thank you that you show me mercy and you fix me breakfast when I'm down thank you that your mercies never come to an end that they're new every morning

(1:18:03) not even tomorrow morning you'll have new Mercy for me you are a faithful God great is your faithfulness and I God wants you to use my failures to build your church I don't want to be a traitor I want to be a teacher and I want you to turn this little Stone into a Rock of Gibraltar and I humbly asked this in Jesus name amen hi I'm Jay cranda the online Pastor here at Saddleback Church we're so glad you joined us to watch this message today at Saddleback we believe that life is better together that's why we want you

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