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What Happens When We Fail? Part 2

5/15/2013

"15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep." John 21:15-17

What happens when we fail the Lord? Simple answer: he starts off where we have failed and shows us mercy.

Peter had previously denied knowing Jesus and back pedaled on his promise to die for Him. When Jesus asked him, Peter do you love me – in the Greek, He asked Peter twice, “Peter, do you love me enough to die for me?” But instead of recommitting himself to loving Jesus to die for him, both times Peter responded, “yes, you know I love you like a brother.” Finally, Jesus asked, “Do you love me like a brother” to which Peter “grieved” and reaffirmed his brotherly affection for Christ. Perhaps Peter was sorrowful, having remembered his previous failures. Perhaps, Peter was hesitant to make promises to the Lord again having learned from his failures the first time. Or maybe he was simply remorseful to relive his mistake in his mind over and over again. No matter what, Jesus was not done with Peter and He is never done with us! Hallelujah!

What Happens When We Fail? Part 1

5/12/2013

17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. John 21:17

This week’s blogosphere will focus on answering a common question in the Christian life; what happens if we fail the Lord? In today’s Bible reading, the Lord had asked Simon Peter questions about the fervency of his love for Him; this came about as a result of Peter’s sin of denying the Lord. Even though Peter had made promises to Jesus not to forsake Him and even die for Him (Mark 14:31), when the Roman guards captured Jesus – Peter abandoned Jesus and told a group of inquiring women that he did not even know who Jesus was. (John 18)

Taste that the Lord is Good

5/5/2013

If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2:3

In some marathons, some runners choose to race carrying a full back pack; while that may not stop someone from finishing the race, it could slow them down from obtaining the goal. While there is something to be said of endurance training , in the Christian life – we need to be sure we are not running the race with our backpack of sin. Otherwise, it could slow us down or even stop us all together.

A Love that Reaches Out to Those Who Cannot or Will Not Love

5/2/2013

"3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints"
Colossians 1:3-4

Can you rejoice at the love that God has placed in your heart for all your neighbors? Love is not something we can properly do unless God is in our life.

Faith Like a Chair

5/1/2013

"12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins" Colossians 1:12-14

Why is there only one way of salvation through faith, and one way to receive the forgiveness of sins? How is it like sitting in a chair? Read on.

Our text today says that Christians have received the forgiveness of sin. Why doesn’t the Lord allow those who have done good works to get into heaven? Very often, we know people are still relying on their works if someone asks them why God should let them into heaven, and they say, “I’ve been good; I’ve never done bad things like Hitler or Stalin. I’ve never told big lies or stolen anything of importance, so God has to let me in. Right?”

Faith, Light, and Life!

4/30/2013

"3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints"
Colossians 1:3-4

Todays' scriptures point out that we can rejoice in our faith not because we believe in anything, but because we believe in Christ!

Everybody wants to have faith in something or someone who is bigger than themselves, even if it is the ideal person they wish to be. Atheists and agnostics are forced to have faith in themselves or in humanity as a whole. There is an innate desire inside all of us to believe in something.

Rejoicing of God’s goodness, even in bad times.

4/28/2013

"... the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:21b

God has given Christians grace so we can rejoice when life gets tough. I could spend a long time telling you about, no doubt. But there are also good times and how you handle the bad times and how you handle the good times is dependent on the type of attitude that you have. There are some people that are just "hunky dory" and smiling and everything’s going right as long as everything is going right. But as soon as something bad happens, they get real grumpy and they start blaming everybody. That’s not the way God wants us to be.

Serving those who cannot serve you.

4/23/2013

"So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink." 1 Kings 17:10

1 Kings 17 teaches us that we are tested in many ways to increase our faith. The prophet of God, Elijah, had no resources for food or water. While the raven fed him for a little while, the water supply completely dried up. God said, “9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath.” (v. 9)

Lord, you want me to do what?

4/21/2013

"And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there" 1 Kings 17:4

There was once a prophet of God who was asked to believe some pretty weird things; the Lord asked Elijah to speak out about the ungodly life style of some of the rulers of the day. In so doing, the Lord used Elijah to prophesy about a drought in Israel. As a result, God told Elijah that He would take care of Him even though there would be no food or water. Elijah was sent to a brook to wait on the Lord, and there – he was told (1 Kings 17:3) that he would drink from the nearby brook and be fed by birds (ravens) who would come by every so often to feed him! Would you wait at a brook and wait for food from the mouth of birds? It would take faith.

Bitterness - A root that must be plucked out

4/20/2013

"Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled" Hebrews 12:15

Today’s scripture passage reminds us that when we fail to live in God’s grace, we may allow a root of bitterness to establish itself in our lives. This bitterness could be toward others, toward God, or toward the seeming judgment or punishment God may allow to come our way. Perhaps the circumstances in life did not go the way we wanted; we avoid people or situations because the hurt feelings come back to tell us the others are completely wrong. We fail to forgive others. If we allow that hurt to take root in our lives, it will affect not only ourselves but it will spread like a cancer to our friends and family.

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