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May 18, 2025

Breakfast on the Beach ...Oh Peter | Restored & Sent

Breakfast on the Beach ...Oh Peter | Restored & Sent

Passage: John 21:10-19

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Restored & Sent

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: breakfast on the beach, what did jesus say to peter after the resurrection, why did jesus ask peter three times, peter restoration story, how to recover from failure in faith, how jesus responds to our sin, second chances with god, grace after failure, restored identity in christ, john 21 explained, spiritual renewal after messing up, burnt hickory sermon may 2025, oh peter, restored & sent series

In this message, we conclude our series in the Gospel of John with a conversation between Jesus and Peter that redefines grace and restoration. After denying Jesus three times, Peter is met not with shame but with an invitation to return and follow. Jesus doesn’t just forgive Peter—He restores his purpose. This moment on the beach is for anyone who’s ever messed up, run away, or wondered if they’ve gone too far. Through honest reflection and radical grace, we see what it means to be made new again.

Well, good morning, Church and Happy Graduation Week, for those of you families that are, walking that crazy path right now. It is a big one for you guys and celebrate.

Well, look, if you got a copy of scripture today, take them out to for the last time, to the Gospel of John. Not like the last time forever, but the last time in this series, turn to John chapter 21, and we're actually going to land the playing today.

And actually, it's a little bit of a bittersweet moment for me personally, because I don't know if you know this or not, but I get the incredible opportunity to spend more time in this than any of you guys do. Because basically you pay me to read the Bible. And I get the blessing of having God press this into my soul, and then I get to give it to you every week. And it's incredible what God's been doing in my personal life of walking this journey with Jesus so far, listening to him invite us to come and see, and then watching him show us his power and his presence through all these incredible statements that define him and show us who he is. And then for these last couple of weeks, watching the post-resurrected Jesus, really and truly deal with his disciples in a way that he wants to deal with us, to set us free, to restore us, and then to send us. It's what we've been doing all the way from January, really looking in and through the lens of Jesus to see what Jesus wants to do in us.

Now, last week, I took us back to the main idea of this gospel. And actually, I want to read it over you again today because it sets the tone for today again. And it's really pulling everything that we have seen so far into this statement. In John 20, verse 30, it says this, Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. What does that mean? This is not all Jesus did. That's all that that means. Actually, John circles back around to this in the last couple of verses of the Chapter 21, but he's saying, Hey, what is in this book, you need to pay attention to it. Watch this, verse 31. But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

If there's one thing that I feel like I've said every week, and might just say no matter what book I'm ever preaching is this: God's desire that we believe, not just believe in our minds and our heart, but to have a belief that actually we walk it out with our feet. What does that mean? That means that it affects us, it shapes us, it moves us in a direction. And everywhere we go, we have the aroma of this belief of Jesus on us and actually through us. So for 20 weeks, we've pointed out that this is the goal. And then this week we get to even more so see that Jesus just wants to reach in and restore you and reach in and send you.

Now, last week, we got to one of my favorite appearances of Jesus in the Bible, this appearance at the Sea of Galilee. Jesus during the night, he walks over to the shore. He recognizes his disciples that are out on the sea. They've been out all night long fishing, and actually they catch nothing. This is a supernatural nothing, because Jesus wants to prove his point that his plan is better than their plan. And so Jesus redirects the fish away from them until the next morning where he is on the shore, and he calls out to these guys, they realize it's him. They throw their nets on the other side of the boat, and actually they catch all of these fish. The nets are about to break.

They get it into the boat, and then we know, because we see it in scripture that Peter jumps out of the boat. He swims to the shore and he falls at Jesus's feet. Now, that's where we were last week. But what I want us to see today is the second part of that breakfast. We kind of finished up last week with a breakfast on the beach, and today we're actually going to see what I would just call one of the most radical restorations, one of the most radical renewals of any person in the New Testament. And here's what I know about a good restoration. All of us love a good restoration story. The whole month of December is all about the Hallmark movies of that restaurant restored relationships, right? We all love that half of you. Last night, you spent your time scrolling the gram and watching something on HGTV that was being restored, right? Whether it was a backyard, whether it was a beach house, whether it was a house somewhere else. Why? Because we love restorations. For some of you, it's that 57 Chevy that's been sitting in the garage since 1986, right? That you're going to get to. For some of you, it is the idea of having your backyard makeover, or what I heard this week, the newest restoration trend for some of you getting that new set of teeth. All of those restorations, they're great. I love a good backyard renewal program, right?

But here's what's so amazing about today. Nothing is better than watching Jesus reach into a hurting life. Pull a person back up into an incredibly restored relationship with him. And nothing is better than watching Jesus remind us that he's not just here to do it for Peter, but he's here to do it for us. And actually, that's what the back half of John Chapter 21 is all about. It's all about Jesus. It's all about Peter, and it's all about the restoration that happens in his life. Listen to me, church this is available for you, and it's available for me if we will believe it's all about Peter.

Now, just in case you're new to this whole church deal, Peter is a disciple of Jesus. He's actually one of the inner core disciples, if you would. He's the leader of the pack. And I love Peter. I mean, first of all, you never have to wonder what Peter's thinking. Amen. He's going to say it automatically. Secondly, Peter would've been in leadership of any event at church, in any church that he would've been a part of. In other words, he would've been a life group leader. He would've been at that dinner this Wednesday, right? He would've served at VBS because that's what good Christians do, right? He would've gone to all the camps, all the mission trips. He would've been a generous person with his money. And the reality is this, Peter is a lot like a lot of us. He really does love the Lord, man. He does. He loves Jesus, but he just struggles a little bit. Anybody feeling that a little bit? I mean, he really does love him, really does want to serve him, but he just struggles. And the great part about Peter is that even though Jesus taught him how to trust and taught him how to love and taught him how to follow, even though all that happened, Peter still struggled. In fact, Jesus had the audacity one time in Peter's life to look at Peter and say, you are going to struggle. You remember what Peter said? He's like, nah, not going to do it. Right? He's like, no way that I'll struggle. He didn't believe it. But if you go back to Matthew 26, Luke 22, Mark 14, right? If you go back to any of those three, you'll see that prior to Jesus going to the cross, that Peter actually denies Jesus, this guy that loves the church, right? This guy that loves Jesus, he actually has this moment to where he turns his back on Jesus.

Now, here's the good part about that. The good part about Peter turning his back on Jesus is at that very moment, we can actually relate to Peter more than we can relate to any other disciple that we're seeing in that moment. Why? Because we all been there. We've all been there at some moment in our lives. We're walking against God's plan. It's true, some of us, this has been the theme of our lives. Now, for you, it may have been a really short moment for you, it may have been a really long season, but at some point in our lives, we can relate so great to Peter.

Now, I don't know why this happened in your life or even, really why it happened in Peter's life. Maybe it was because you just kind of had this moment of overconfidence, which that's kind of where Peter's came in, where you felt like you had it under control and you could do it on your own, and you kind of just washed Jesus out of the conversation. Maybe for you, it was like Peter, and you just kind of moved out of being prayerful and into prayerlessness in your life, and you continued to not put your requests before the Lord and spend time in scripture. Maybe for you, you were like Peter, and you fell into the wrong crowd. That's what happened on that night, that it happened to Peter, right? He was surrounded by pagan people. His boys weren't around him. Maybe for you, that's kind of what pushed you into the season of your life, or maybe like Peter, you just kind of fell into some old habits that kind of crept into your mind more and more. And then before you knew it, something happened and you ended up without even thinking about it, denying Jesus for you, it might not be with your words, it might just would've been with your lack of attention to Jesus. For you, it might not would've been something you spoke out loud, but it was just a place in your heart or a season of your life, or the silence that you have. Or for you, it might have actually been like Peter to where one day you were with some people and you actually made a comment that you never thought would come out of your mouth and it hit you. Now you're like, wow, Matt, this is pretty heavy today. Yeah, it is. It's pretty heavy. But I wanted to get the bad news out of the way that we are like Peter, because if I don't get the bad news out of the way, I can't get to the good news.

And here's what I want to say about Peter, and here's what I want to say about us. That it’s not where Jesus left Peter. Amen. It's not where Jesus left Peter, and it's not where Jesus wants to leave you. Amen. That's the power of the gospel. The bad news is, is that we have all struggled. Amen. We've all struggled. The good news is that's not where Jesus wants to leave you. Let me show you Jesus on this speech. Let me reread just some verses from last week to get us into this week. Here it is, John 21, verse 10.

It says this, Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have just caught. So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore, and it was full of large fish, 153 of them. But even with so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. Man, we looked at that last week. None of the disciples dared to ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and he took the bread and he gave it to him, and he did the same with the fish, and this was the third time that Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Now, I want you to stop right there, and I want you to think just for a minute, what do you think that Peter is thinking at this moment? All right. I want you to place yourself in the moment, all right? I want you to place yourself in the text. Don't read it as a flat text. I want you to ask yourself, what is it that Peter is thinking? I mean, after all, he denied Jesus, right? After all, he absolutely denied even knowing the man and actually had some choice language while doing it, right? He does. Now, what is Peter thinking? He's actually probably thinking the same thing that you would be thinking in this moment, right? You would be thinking the same thing as Peter is, and what is that? That is, I've denied him. I've ran away from him. I've disobeyed him. He sent me to the mountain, and I'm here at the lake and oh boy, Jesus has caught us. You ever been caught in something? That's exactly what Peter is thinking. He's thinking, I'm outed and I'm busted because of some failure in his life. Now, as you keep that in mind, I want you to pause the event right there, and I want you to think about your past for a minute. I want you to think about a moment in your life or a season of your life or a theme of your life where there has actually been something you have done in your life that is a failure or a sin or something that you have done against the cause of Jesus.

Did you know there's really only a couple of things that you can do with our past failures? Let me give them to you real fast just so that you'll have them in the hopper. There's only five things you can do with your past failures. Number one, you can write this down, is that you can just simply ignore them. You ever been in a situation where you know that you have sinned, but you felt like the best thing that you could do from that that failure is just try to ignore it. Because if you ignore it long enough, it'll go away. How's that one working out for you? Right? How's it working out? For some of us guys, we're like, well, it's working out pretty good. I'm pretty good at it, right? I can segment this mine over here.

Some of you ladies are like, no, you can't do that. You just can't. Listen. Simply ignoring a past failure will never, never, never deal with it. I can promise you this. It will come up at some time. It will come up, so that doesn't work. Let me tell you the second thing that we do with our past failures. Number two is we really just attempt to reason our way out of them. You say, man, what does that mean? That means that a lot of the times what we do when we have a past failure in our life is first we ignore it, but second, if that doesn't work, we try to actually redefine that failure as being something that's not as bad as we thought it was. You ever been in this mode where you try to redefine the truth a little bit, where you try to reshape the truth a little bit?

You try to play God for a minute and you redefine morality a little bit and reshaping it to be what it really wasn't. What do we do? We deny it was wrong in the first place. Ever been there before you were married? Amen. We do this all the time. I mean, listen, it never works because we're not God. The third thing that we do with our failures, number three, we just make excuses. We blame it on someone or something, and in my 27 years of dealing with people that are in this mode, I'm going to tell you the four things that we always blame it on. We always blame it on our circumstances, our environment, our upbringing, and our hardships. That's the four things that we blame. That's the four horses of the of the blame game apocalypse right there. The excuse apocalypse right there. We do. Now, listen, I'm not, I'm not downplaying those things, okay? They are big things in our lives, but the reality is, when it comes to sin and when it comes to failure, when it comes to denying God, there are things in our lives that affect us, but we make the decision. We have a free will in us that has a bent towards these things, and we can only blame them so long on other things to where God goes, Hey, listen. You're responsible for you. You're responsible. This tactic never resolves anything.

Here's the fourth one. This is where some of us live. If ignoring and reasoning and excusing isn't good enough, we just beat ourselves up over it. We beat ourselves up for a long time. We just beat ourselves over the head and we constantly remind ourselves of our past failures. And the reality is, it's like a movie that plays in our mind. Anytime something begins to rise up in us that has any semblance of joy, any semblance of future, any semblance of blessing in our lives, something in us clicks and all we do is we just continually beat ourselves up over where we used to be. It's like a video that just plays over and over and we never get past it. Let me tell you something, church, these four things are so common, but it's so sad because they will never move you towards being restored. They just won't do it. They're lies from the pit of hell that say that they will, but they never will. None of these work. But here's the cool thing.

There's the fifth option, and that is just to simply do this what Jesus wants us to do, and that's just to bring our failures to the feet of Jesus, to restore that. That's the message of the cross, is it not? It's not to excuse. It's not to reason our way out of. It's not to beat ourselves up over our past failures. The position Peter is in in his life right now is that he just needs Jesus to move in his life. In fact, I love what David says about being restored. He says this in Psalm 32, 1. He says, happy is the person whose sin is forgiven and whose wrongs are pardoned. John 10 10, we've used this almost every single week. This simply says, the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. Listen to me, the thief wants you in the first four categories. He knows if he's got you in those categories, in your hardships and in your failures, that you will never point your life to Jesus because it's all about you. But listen to this. The second part says this, Jesus says, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. Do you know what Jesus is offering right here? He's saying, listen, if you stop at the first four options, when you're in trouble, when you're in distress, when you're in this moment of failure, you will never get back to joy. You will never be led back into my presence. You will never feel my power in your life. But here's the good news. But if you will bring those things to the feet of Jesus, do you know what you're saying? That Jesus, can I just start over?

The bad news is that we all have failures. The good news is that we serve a God that doesn't leave us in our failures. We serve a God that simply wants us to jump out of the boat and swim to the shore and to fall at his feet if we bring them to Jesus, if we bring them to Jesus. I know it's so counterintuitive when we're in our sins to run to Jesus. Because most of us were taught that we should run away, but when we bring them to Jesus, he restores us and gives us life. For some reason, in our minds, stuck this angry God that has these clasped fists that just wants to send us away and send us to hell. But that is not scripture. Scripture says that we serve a God that just wants us to turn back to him so that he can restore us, and this is Peter's story.

So after they catch all the fish and after Peter falls at the feet of Jesus, let's watch his restoration. Here it goes. John, chapter 21, verse 15. It says this, when they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord. He said, you know that I love you. Jesus said, well then feed my lambs. Again Jesus said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He answered, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, well then take care of my sheep. The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter was hurt because Jesus had asked him for the third time, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things and you know that I love you. And Jesus said, well then feed my sheep.

Watch verse 18. It says, very truly, I tell you that when you were younger, you dressed yourself and you went where you wanted. But when you're old, you'll stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. Then Jesus said this, that indicate the kind of death in which Peter would glorify God. And then he said to him, Follow me. Now, this conversation is so rich, so rich, it's loving, but direct. It's hope giving and also future promising. And if we had time to kind of trace back towards the cross and watch Peter's events towards the cross, it would be even more powerful. But what I want you to see, most of all in this event that Jesus is actually, even though it seems like he's being a little bit weird, even though it seems like he's kind of pressing into the matter, that actually Jesus is being incredibly graceful to Peter right here, incredibly graceful.

Now, the other disciples are present. All right? I don't want you to miss that, but they aren’t saying anything. Why? Because sometimes it's just better to keep your mouth shut. Amen. They're not saying anything. They're like, I don't want to be a part of this conversation in the moment, but this event is really, really cool. Why? Well, number one, it's not Peter's first encounter with Jesus. Some people kind of mistake that. It's really not. In fact, in Luke 24 34 we're told that the Lord rose and then he appeared to Simon on the resurrection day in Luke in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day according to scriptures. And then he was seen by Cephas and then by the 12, in other words, both of these events happened. Jesus has been with Peter, this is probably the fourth or the fifth time, but now Jesus is actually showing us something pretty special right here.

Peter has denied Jesus publicly, and now Jesus is going to restore Peter publicly. That means that failure does not disqualify. That's what he's telling us in the event right here. I love when you look at it closer though what Jesus does to Peter. In fact, let's do it for just a minute. I want you to look back with me at 15 and look at the question that Jesus asks. Jesus says this in verse 15. He says, Simon, son of John, he says, do you love me more than these? Now look, this hurt Peter. You say, well, Matt, how do you know it hurt Peter? Well, first of all, Jesus actually uses Simon, son of John. Now, that doesn't mean anything if you're just reading this really quickly. But if you go back and really think about this, Simon son of John is not the new name that Peter has gotten from Jesus.

If you remember, Jesus changed his name to Peter, right? But here, Jesus is actually looking at Peter and he's calling him by his old name. Jesus is pointing out who Peter used to be. He's pointing him out in his life before Jesus, and he's pointing out this idea that one of Peter's biggest problems was his self-reliance and his self-sufficiency. And Jesus is reminding him what John 15 says, that without him we can do nothing. So Jesus pulls it back all the way to where Peter was before he met Jesus. Why did he do that? Here's why he did that. We can never truly repent of our sins until we realize who we were before Jesus. We can never really fall at the feet of Jesus until we realize how much we need Jesus. So Jesus pulls up on the shore and he's like, Hey, Peter, you remember who you used to be?

You're kind of creeping back into it for a minute. That's what he's saying right here. I also love this because of the question that Jesus asks right here. Jesus says, Hey, do you, Peter, look at the question, do you love me more than these? Now, these can mean a lot of different things. It can mean, first of all, Jesus could have been looking over here and going, Hey, do you love me more than this boat and these nets? Do you love me more than all these fish? Do you love me more than this vocation, Peter? Because the reality is, Peter was running back to becoming a fisherman right here. He was supposed to be at the mountain. He's back on the lake seeking his past vocation. So Jesus could have been challenging him going, Hey, do you love me more than these? That's one way to look at it.

The second way to look at it, and we're not really sure, because John didn't give us the whole account, right? He just gave us the highlights. He could have been looking at Peter going, Hey, do you love me more than these other disciples love me? You may say, well, Matt, that's a weird question to be asking. It's really not that weird of a question to be asking if you know how big of a role in the expansion of the gospel that Peter was going to have, and if you realize the conversation that Peter and Jesus had right before Jesus goes to the cross, it seems kind of weird till you realize that.

But right before Jesus goes to the cross, right before Peter blows it, listen to this verse I in Matthew 26 35, it says this, Peter replied, even if all fall away on account of you, I never will. Truly, I tell you, Jesus answered this very night before the rooster crows. You'll disown me three times. But Peter declared, even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. I love this moment where he goes, Hey, do you love me more than these? Because Peter basically says, Hey, there's the possibility prior to the cross, there's the possibility that these guys are going to deny you, but I would never do that because I'll die for you. Now, we know that he actually ends up doing that, but Jesus is now looking at him going, Hey, you still love me more than these guys do. Why? Because he's pressing into Peter's pride and he's pressing into Peter trying to do this on his own. He's pressing into Peter's soul. And also watch how many times that Jesus asks him the question three, right? Why three?

Peter denies Jesus three times. Remember in John 13:38, Jesus says, you'll lay your life down for my sake. Jesus says, most surely I tell you, the rooster shall not crow till you deny me three times. Jesus actually reaches back to who Peter used to be. He calls him by his old name. He reminds him of a conversation that I wouldn't do this, although he did do this. And then he presses in and all allows through these three questions that we're seeing right here, Peter, the opportunity to confirm his love three different times. Man, I love this.

Why? Because all Jesus is doing is he's pressing into Peter's soul to ask him, Hey, do you really love me? Church? I'm going to tell you, there's no bigger question on this planet that Jesus asks us. Other than that. Here's what Jesus knows. If he has our love, he has our will. If he has our will, he has our life. If he has our life, he has our actions. And if he has our actions, he has a servant of the king on this planet. It all starts with love. It all starts with love. In fact, Proverbs 4 23 says, above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. So what does Jesus say to Peter? He looks at Peter and he's like, Hey Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Now, notice Peter's reaction. Look what he says. He goes, yes, yes, Lord, I love you.

Now, if we're not careful, we miss what's happening in this conversation. Let me see if I can explain it and give you the two minute version. All right? Here's what I want to teach you for a second. The word love in the Bible is such a misconstrued word in the English language. We in English use the word love for pretty much anything, all right? It can mean a sixth grader talking on the phone with another sixth grader, or it can mean a true actual love. Here's what I mean by this. I can say, Melissa Petty, I love you. I can say that with all of my heart on this end, but also on this end, I can say I love Cheetos. All right? I can say that you, you feel where I'm stepping here, but in the Greek language, this doesn't happen when you're speaking Greek, it only happens when we translate it into English.

In the Greek language, there is two primary words for love. There is agape over here, which is actually what Jesus asks in the first two questions. He goes, Hey, Peter, do you agape me? Do you love me sacrificially with all your heart, with all your being? Will you give me your all? That's what Jesus is asking him, those first two questions. But here's the problem with it. When Peter answers the question, he replies back with the Cheeto love. All right? He replies back with the actual love that is philo. So where we get our word, Philadelphia or friendship. So Jesus looks at Peter in these first two questions. He goes, Hey, do you super duper all with you, all of you love me sacrificially? And then Peter replies with, yeah, I'm kind of fond of you. Now, we don't see that in English, but that's actually what's happening.

On the third question, Jesus stoops down to Peter's level and changes the question. He says, do you in the first one, he goes, Hey, do you agape me in the second question, do you agape me? But in the third question, Jesus goes, Hey, are you even fond of me? You know what Jesus is doing right here? He's just chipping away at Peter's pride. He's chipping away at who Peter is. And finally, Peter gets the point. And finally Peter looks at Jesus in verse 17. Look at it. It says this. The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you or are you even fond of me? That's the word for love there. And Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know, all things seen a little bit of attitude change, and you know that I love you.

So Jesus said, feed my sheep. But I want you to look at the honesty in Peter's response here, because I think this is actually where Peter gets it. This is where he actually goes, Hey, Jesus, you know all of me. You know all of my heart. You know all things. And I want to be honest with you, Jesus, I am yours. Listen, if we're going to ask Jesus to restore us, Peter shows us here the first move that we need to make, write this principle down, and it's this. That restoration begins with an honest evaluation of your heart before Jesus. That's what Jesus does here. He breaks him down. He moves him to his past. He brings him to the present. He shows him where he fails. And finally, Peter sees, oh my goodness, all that I can do is give all of me to all of you.

Can I tell you one thing that we're just absolutely horrible at? It's self-evaluation. Listen, I'm really good at pointing out your faults. That's my job, right? When it comes down to me, we're all terrible at it, but this is actually what's happening right here. Many times we fake things so well, we fool ourselves to thinking we're in a good position. But Jesus just simply wants to come before him with an open heart, with an open soul, with an open mind, and simply say, I've blown it. Will you heal me? This is what the church is for. The church is a mirror into our soul. It's a support group that comes around us. It's a group that points out scripture that says Jesus loves you. And that's exactly what happens on the beach right here.

But what does Jesus do? What does he do? Does Jesus reject his honesty? No. Jesus deals with it. Does Jesus move on to John and kind of flush Peter and never do anything with him? No, he doesn't. He has a job for Peter, and he loves Peter, and actually he shows us the second principle. I just want to point out here, and that's that Jesus can take all of your failures and he can actually give you a future purpose. And somebody needs to hear that this morning. Amen. You've been dealing with some heavy stuff, and you have felt like your life has been disqualified because of a season of your life. But I'm telling you right here that your failures are not final in the hands of Jesus. They're not final. What does Jesus want you to do? He just wants you to fall at his feet. He just wants you to surrender to him. And I love what Peter gets from Jesus.

Jesus looks into Peter's heart right here, and he says, Hey, listen, you are going to be my tool. Look at verse 18. It says this very truly. Jesus says, I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and you went where you wanted to go. But when you're old, when you're old, he says, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you don't want to go. What's this referring to? This is referring to the fact that that Peter is going to preach the gospel. He's going to be a mountain of a man for the gospel, but eventually one day he's going to be arrested for the gospel. He is going to be put into shackles. Other people are going to deal with him, and his hands are going to be spread out onto a cross one day.

We know this through history, but he doesn't want to be crucified how Jesus was. He asks to be crucified upside down, and we know that he is for generations to come to be the man that not only is restored, but he begins to take the gospel across the region and he has reached to the world. This is a little glimpse into what Peter's life's going to look like. In fact, he says it in verse 19. He says, Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death in which Peter would glorify God. Now, this looks really morbid, right? You're like, man, that's not a great comment. But to Peter, it was, you know why? Because he thought he was done. But Jesus is standing him back up and he's putting him back on a track, and he's saying, Peter, I got big things in store for you. You're not disqualified. You're not a failure. There's new life for you. And in fact, Peter's failure actually becomes the fulcrum for how effective he really is. So write this last principle down, and that's that our former failures in the hands of Jesus are some of the greatest tools that God uses for the kingdom of God. Have you ever realized that? Have you ever realized that your former failures placed into the hands of Jesus and fully redeemed are the greatest tools you have in your belt to be used? And this is an amazing moment for Peter where Jesus redeems him and he points him in a direction to be his. You know what happens to Peter after this? Peter takes on the mantle of the head of this ragtag group of disciples. Peter preaches at Pentecost where thousands come forward. He begins to take the gospel to Cornelius and all of the Gentiles. He actually oversaw the spread of the gospel north and to Syria and into Antioch. He addresses the Council of Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15. To set them straight. Doctrinally in the whole book of Acts in a lot of ways is Peter's message to who Jesus is. And this is what I want to just see this morning. This is where I want to land this this morning. I want you to see that if Peter can get a second chance from Jesus, that so can you.

If Jesus can take a broken-down running, denying fishermen and restore him on the shore of the sea of Galilee, then he can take whatever has happened in your life if you submit it to him, if you believe in him, if you receive his grace, his forgiveness, and you repent that Jesus can restore you no matter what has happened in your past. He can make you whole. But the question this morning is this. Will you take it? Will you take it? Or will you stay in the boat and not realize it's Jesus on the shore?

And just keep doing what you're doing? I got news for you. Excuses aren't going to work. Reasoning is not going to work. Running is not going to work. Ignoring is not going to work. But I'm going to tell you this, when Jesus gets a hold of whatever it is and you give it to him, he not only squashes it, but he sets you in motion to give you life. In fact, second Corinthians five 17 says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come. So here's the invitation this morning. Do you need to give your life to Jesus? I don't know what's in your past. It doesn't even matter. As Jesus says, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus says, the wages of those sin deserve death. So whatever it is, it all ends up in the same place. But it doesn't end there. Because the rest of the gospel says, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Oh, what I have given to sit on the shore and watch this happen. But you know what? It can happen for you.

 

Follow Along with the Message


Breakfast on the Beach ...Oh PETER

 May 18, 2025
John 20:30–31

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name

John 21:10–14

10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.


common options for past failures:

1. Simply .

2. Attempt to your way out.

3. Make .

4. Beat up.

5. Bring them to Jesus to .

Psalm 32:1

“Happy is the person whose sin is forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned”

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 21:15–19

15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs. 16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Luke 24:34

“The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

1 Corinthians 15:5

He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve”

John 21:15

“Simon son of John, do you love me more than these"

Matthew 26:33–35

33 Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” 34 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” 35 But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”

John 13:38

“Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times"

Proverbs 4:23

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

John 21:17

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”

PRINCIPLE: Restoration begins with an evaluation of your heart before Jesus.

PRINCIPLE: Jesus can take all your and give you a future purpose.

PRINCIPLE: Our former failures in the hands of Jesus are some of the greatest God uses to reach others for the Kingdom of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17
“If anyone is in Christ He is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come.”
John 21:19
Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Additional Notes

 

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