April 5, 2025 • 26 mins
At times, we all make mistakes. However, do you let those mistakes define who you are, or do you keep moving forward?
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe, you'll be learning to not let your failures define you. Mark will be talking about the story of Peter's failure, and you'll see that God doesn't see you as you are, but as who you are through His Son.
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:00):
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. We're learning
to not let our failures define us.
S2 (00:06):
Just because you've had failures in life doesn't mean that
you're destined to fail at life. Your failure does not
define your future. When God has the power to redeem
your story and change it for his honor and his
glory in this place.
S1 (00:36):
Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe, senior pastor
of New Life Community Church and president of Moody Bible
Institute in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Well, we're all familiar
with failure at times in all of our lives. We
make mistakes. But do you let these mistakes define who
you are or do you keep moving forward? Today, as
we talk about the story of Peter's failure, we'll see
(00:58):
that God doesn't see you as you were, but as
who you are through his son. And as we look
at the failure of one of Jesus closest friends, we'll
discover that the testing of our faith and failures along
the way don't have to define our destiny. Our message
is called the Last Supper. Here's our Bible teacher, Mark job.
S2 (01:17):
There were 12 disciples. They were close to Jesus. They
had shared their stories and life with him for almost
three years. But yet some of them, they were still
to be tested. Peter, we know him very well, but
(01:39):
some of you may not know the story of his
failure that well in your Bibles. If you turn there,
there's a passage found in Luke chapter 22. It tells
us the story of the Last Supper. Well, right after
(02:00):
he tells us about the Last Supper, and he talks
to the disciples about that. Jesus is going to not
eat with them until the kingdom of God comes. While
he's still sitting at the table, while he's still with
his disciples, Jesus turns to Simon. We call him Simon Peter,
(02:23):
and Jesus says to him in verse 31, Simon, Simon,
Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.
But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith
may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen
your brothers. Now I want you to I want to
(02:43):
tell you a little bit about Simon, and I want
you to just focus a little bit on Simon, because
it's interesting that at this last supper at this table,
that Jesus, while he was still sitting at the table,
he talked to Simon about his failure. Come on. We
all know about failure. In fact, if there were some
(03:06):
sort of background check that we could do. Oh, I'm
not talking about the police background check. Some of you
would get nervous already, pastor. Background check. You know, I
have some chapters in my life I'm not too happy about.
But no, I'm talking about a more thorough background check.
I'm talking about a background check that examines your thoughts.
(03:28):
A background check that really looks at your heart. A
background check that goes all the way since you were
a little kid and just really studies your story. And
in every story in this auditorium, there are moments of failure.
There are moments where we have not measured up to
the expectations of other people. There are moments where we
(03:50):
had choices to make and we made the wrong choice.
There are moments that everybody in this auditorium were ashamed of.
Dark moments. Times where we wish we could. Well, we
wish we could go back and change what we did.
But there's no turning back. It's moments of failure. Moments
(04:11):
that we were tested. But I'm here to tell you
that the great thing about the story of the gospel
and the great thing about the table here, as we
focus on Peter, is that God is a master. Oh,
God is an expert at taking our moments of failure
and turning them into opportunities for success and transformation. And
(04:36):
I believe that there's some people in this auditorium that
you walked in here. And because you've had moments of failure,
maybe it was a divorce. Maybe it was an abortion.
Maybe you got fired from your job. Maybe you did
something that landed you on probation. Maybe you had an
addiction problem, and it got you into a lot of trouble.
(05:00):
And some of us have moments of failures in our life,
and we focus so much on those moments of failure
that those moments of failure become the story, the narrative
of our life. We start wrapping our story and our
identity around our failure. And when we think of ourselves,
we think of ourselves in terms of that failure. If
(05:24):
you're struggling with that today, I just want to remind
you that there's been a lot of people, all of us,
at one time or another, we've just blown it. We've failed.
We haven't measured up. Even some of the people that
you may consider a success today. I was thinking I
was reading recently about a fellow that you may know.
(05:44):
He was a ballplayer, and a baseball season has just
kicked in recently. And I have one of my sons,
my 15 year old. He's just a sports fanatic. So
every time I get in the car, the radio is
turned on the sports channel. No, but, you know, there
was a fellow that you may know his name. He
(06:05):
was a ball player. He set the major league record
for strikeouts. If you look at his career, he had
strikeouts 1316 times. He struck out. You say? Wow, he
must have been a bad player. The same ballplayer set
a record for five consecutive strikeouts in a World Series
(06:28):
game when it counted the most. Five times he was
struck out by a pitcher. The holder of both of
those records, those failure records is the great slugger Babe Ruth.
You see, because although Babe Ruth struck out, although he
had a lot of failures, he also had a lot
(06:50):
of successes. And just because you've had failures in life
doesn't mean that you're destined to fail at life. Your
failure does not define your future. When God has the
power to redeem your story and change it for his
honor and his glory in this place. And I'm really
(07:11):
happy to tell, you know, I'm super excited to tell
you that some of you are in this auditorium and
you feel like your story cannot be rewritten, and some
of you have walked in here feeling very unworthy to
come into a place of worship because you have failure
in your background. But I want to tell you that God, well,
(07:31):
he's an expert at taking us where we're at, even
in our failed condition, and turning that around for the good.
So I want you to consider a couple things about
the story of Peter that are really, really important for
you to remember. Failure doesn't have to be final, but
you have to keep in mind a couple things about this.
Number one, if you're taking notes, jot this down. There
(07:54):
is a continual spiritual struggle for your life and your destiny.
Notice that Jesus turned while he was sitting at the table.
He turned to Peter, who he called Simon. Simon, Peter.
His name was Simon. And Jesus actually changed his name
to Peter. I love that about Jesus, by the way,
(08:15):
because Jesus doesn't just see you as you are, he
sees you as who you will become. He saw Peter,
whose name was Simon. Peter had the well. He had
the reputation and the personality to be very impulsive. He's
the guy that jumped out of the boat and then
started sinking. He's the guy that Jesus had to say.
(08:38):
Get thee behind me, Satan. He's the guy that pulled
out his sword and chopped off someone's ear. And Jesus
had to paste the ear back. Only Jesus. He's one
of those impulsive guys that that acts and then thinks
about it later. He speaks. And then he's thinking, what
did I just say? Some people say that Peter had
(08:59):
the mouth, the shape of a foot because he always
put his foot in his mouth. Ahead of time. He
was one of those impulsive personalities that some people would say,
this guy is super unstable. He's up and he's down.
He's high and he's low, he's excited and he's depressed.
And even though he seemed like a very up and
(09:21):
down personality, someone that was very inconsistent, someone that just
could not be counted on and wasn't responsible. When Jesus
met him, he said, your name is Simon, but I'm
going to change your name. And your name from now
on is going to be the Rock. He had the
(09:44):
name the Rock before. The rock had the name the Rock.
So and I'm not sure what Peter was built like,
but I don't think it was based on Peter's muscles
that Jesus called him the Rock. Oh yeah, we we
say Peter, but Peter comes from Petra, which means rock.
Jesus looked at Peter and said, I know who you are.
I know who you've been. I know what your personality is,
(10:06):
but I'm speaking into future. I'm speaking into your destiny.
What I see you in you, Peter, is what other
people don't see. I see a rock, a strong, stable,
firm individual. And I'm going to use you for my
honor and glory. Peter, the rock Jesus knew before Peter
(10:32):
would struggle and be tested. Jesus knew that Peter would fail,
but he also knew that he would restore Peter. You
think that your failure has caught God by surprise? It hasn't.
You think that God didn't know that you would blow
it in a time where you shouldn't? But but it
(10:54):
hasn't caught God by surprise. Jesus looked at Simon and
he said, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.
Now for us here in Chicago, that means nothing, because
we're like, sift. What? Like what? I mean, I go
down to Jewel and buy a loaf of bread. I mean,
(11:14):
I know nothing about sifting. But let me just tell
you what Jesus was saying when he said. Satan has
asked to sift you like wheat. First of all, I
want you to notice that there is a spiritual battle
between good and evil. I believe that every person here.
There's a battle for your destiny and a battle for
your soul, and a battle for your spiritual, for your
(11:35):
spiritual future. Some of you have felt it even trying
to come to church today. When you take steps forward,
you feel like. I feel like I'm in a battle here,
a struggle zone. I believe that battle is very real.
And Jesus told Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you.
(11:56):
I believe that the enemy wants to get us before
God can use us. I believe the enemy wants to
try to take our lives before our destiny can be fulfilled.
I believe that God has a purpose and a plan
for every individual in this auditorium. Yet the enemy wants
to thwart and stop and paralyze the plan that God
has for us. I believe that God knows what he
(12:18):
wants to do with your life, and the enemy is
afraid of what God can do to a life that's
fully committed and dedicated to him. And so he wants
to stop it in advance.
S1 (12:34):
You're listening to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe and
a lesson in Luke 22 titled The Last Supper. And
if you'd like to replay or share this message, visit
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(12:56):
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(13:17):
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Bold Steps Radio to become part of our online family. Well,
let's return to Mark's message now the Last Supper. He
has a few more points he'd like to make.
S2 (13:34):
The enemy wants you to fall through the crack. So
that you end up in the pile of what is
wasted and thrown away, and not in the pile of
what's used. The enemy has a purpose and a plan
to throw you away, so that your gifts and your
talents and your calling will go to waste. So it'll
(13:56):
be just trashed. Thrown away with the rest of the garbage.
The enemy wants to take your life and make it meaningless.
The enemy wants to take your destiny and ruin it.
He wants to throw you out with the rest of
the garbage. God has a purpose and a plan for you,
but the enemy is trying to thwart that purpose and
that plan. And that's what he told Simon. Simon, the
(14:16):
enemy wants to do this. But I've prayed for you, Simon,
that your faith may not fail. The second thing I
want you to remember is this your faith will be
shaken and your resolve will be tested to the limit.
He said the enemy has has sought to sift you
(14:39):
like wheat. And I want you to understand that, that
the enemy is going to try to sift you. The
enemy is trying to, uh, he's trying to make your
your life go to waste and end up in the
garbage pile. How does he how does he do that?
I believe he does that by distracting us. By making
(14:59):
us feel like I failed. I'm not worthy. I can't
do anything. I might as well just follow my own.
I've tried to follow God. It's not working out. He
makes us feel like we're trash. And he makes us
feel like we can never recover from the failures of
our life. Are you tracking with me? As the voices
(15:23):
in your head are talking about what you failed at.
God is speaking into who you're going to be and
what you're going to do. He's calling you a rock
when you're living like a reed. Number three, the testing
of your faith can either destroy you or refine you.
(15:44):
Jesus said, But Simon, I've prayed for you, Simon, that
your faith may not fail. I love what Winston Churchill said.
He said success is not final. Failure is not fatal.
It is the courage to continue that really counts. I
(16:05):
look at Peter. God had to do some things in
Peter's life and he used his failure to refine him.
I want you to hear me very well. You can
bounce back from your failure and become a person that
God is able to use. Or you can stay in
your failure and waste the rest of your life. It's
(16:27):
really a choice that you make. I think of Peter
for a moment, and I think the things that God
had to change in his life. Number one, Peter was self-centered.
Right when they were at the table, at the Lord's table,
guess what they were doing at the Last Supper? You
said worshiping Jesus? No. Saying, Lord, lay your hands on
(16:50):
me and speak into my future and bless me. No
no no no no. You know what they were doing
the disciples were doing at the table before they had communion.
They were arguing about who was the greatest. They were
arguing about who was going to be the greatest in
the kingdom. He was self-centered. Secondly, Peter was proud. Jesus
(17:15):
told Peter, Peter. Satan wants to sift you out. And
you know what Peter said when Jesus said, Satan has
asked to sift you out? He didn't say, oh Lord,
help me, oh Lord, I am weak. You know what
Peter said? He said to Jesus, but he replied, Lord,
(17:36):
I'm ready to go with you to prison or to death.
Peter was basically, no, it's not going to happen to me.
He was proud. He was self-centered. He was proud. And
then finally, the biggest test came. Judas went to Jesus,
(17:58):
and he kissed him. The kiss of betrayal. The guards
came and they arrested Jesus. They took Jesus off to
be to to go to court. And they would beat
him and they would tie him up. And Peter was
watching from a distance. The Bible says, and Scripture tells
(18:21):
us that someone came up to Peter as he was
warming himself in the fire and said, hey, aren't you
one of those disciples? Didn't I see you with? Jesus? Said, no, no, no, no,
not me. You must be thinking of someone else. My
face is pretty common. And then someone else came and said, hey, hey,
your accent is from Galilee area. Aren't you one of
(18:42):
those that I thought I saw you close to? Jesus. Hey,
what are you talking about? Don't accuse me of being
with that man. He's a criminal, not me. And then
a third time, a servant girl came up and said,
I know you. You're one of the disciples of that
Jesus that they just arrested. And this time Peter swore.
(19:04):
I don't know what word he used, but he used
a couple four letter words. Who we talking about? Peter
the Apostle. Saint Peter. Saint Peter is swearing to deny
the fact that he even knows Jesus. And as soon
(19:25):
as he had used a couple four letter words and
denied the fact that he knew Jesus, he could see
Jesus at a distance. And this is a moment that
needs to be engraved in your mind. The Bible says
that as soon as he denied Jesus. I'm not that man. Uh, yeah.
(19:45):
You're the Galilean. He's. I don't know what you're talking about.
As soon as he denied Jesus for the third time.
He heard a rooster crow. Listen. The Lord turned and
looked straight at Peter. Immediately Peter knows I failed. Just
(20:16):
like Jesus predicted. And immediately the Bible says, suddenly he
was full of remorse and repentance. In verse 30 verse
62 says, And he went outside, and he wept bitterly.
(20:37):
Have you ever failed someone so deeply, so powerfully? You
know it, and it hits you, and you just weep
bitterly because you know you've blown it. He could have
walked away and said, I knew I would never make
a good disciple. It's all over. We would have never
(20:58):
Had first and second Peter in the Bible. He would
have never become the first strong leader of the early church,
one of the one of the strongest leaders that were there.
You see, if he would have stayed down, if he
would have bought the lies, if he would have listened
to the accusation, he would have walked away and never
(21:20):
gone back to Jesus. But instead he wept bitterly. And
I think he remembered the words that Jesus spoke into him.
When you come back, when you return, strengthen the brethren. Oh,
I love that. When you return, strengthen the brethren. Hey,
(21:42):
when you return, let God use the failure in your
life to bring strength to other people. When you return,
let God do something good out of your story when
you come back. Don't waste your failure because your failure
has a purpose. God has a purpose in your failure.
God wants to use it.
S1 (22:10):
Mark, in your message, you mentioned that we shouldn't let
our failures define our destiny. Such a great passage of
Scripture because let's face it, we all feel like we
have a tendency to fail like Peter did at times,
don't we?
S3 (22:21):
You know, Peter is such a relatable character. Yeah, I
think we can relate with Peter's impulsiveness, his fear, and
a leader that many people would have discounted because his
rejection of Jesus. Um, when when he was tested. But
(22:42):
I love the fact that God gives him a second chance.
S1 (22:45):
He doesn't write him off.
S3 (22:46):
No, he doesn't. And he doesn't just say, well, you
failed me once and I'm not going to use you again.
Peter went on to be one of the most compelling,
powerful figures because his failure was not final. And I
hope that some of you hear that message. Someone needs
to hear that message today, that listen, your failure is
not final. Yeah.
S1 (23:07):
Well, say just a word about where we're headed next time.
The seven phrases of Jesus as your message.
S3 (23:12):
Yeah. When Jesus was on the cross, he uttered seven
distinct phrases, each one of them power packed with insight
in his final moments. And so we're parceling those out
and taking a deeper look at them.
S1 (23:26):
Well, I'm looking forward to that message next time. Thank you, Mark,
and wherever you're listening from right now, let me remind
you that you can revisit this message or share it
with someone you know by simply visiting our website at
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(23:47):
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next time on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Bold
Steps Weekend is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry
of Moody Bible Institute.
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. We're learning
to not let our failures define us.
S2 (00:06):
Just because you've had failures in life doesn't mean that
you're destined to fail at life. Your failure does not
define your future. When God has the power to redeem
your story and change it for his honor and his
glory in this place.
S1 (00:36):
Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe, senior pastor
of New Life Community Church and president of Moody Bible
Institute in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Well, we're all familiar
with failure at times in all of our lives. We
make mistakes. But do you let these mistakes define who
you are or do you keep moving forward? Today, as
we talk about the story of Peter's failure, we'll see
(00:58):
that God doesn't see you as you were, but as
who you are through his son. And as we look
at the failure of one of Jesus closest friends, we'll
discover that the testing of our faith and failures along
the way don't have to define our destiny. Our message
is called the Last Supper. Here's our Bible teacher, Mark job.
S2 (01:17):
There were 12 disciples. They were close to Jesus. They
had shared their stories and life with him for almost
three years. But yet some of them, they were still
to be tested. Peter, we know him very well, but
(01:39):
some of you may not know the story of his
failure that well in your Bibles. If you turn there,
there's a passage found in Luke chapter 22. It tells
us the story of the Last Supper. Well, right after
(02:00):
he tells us about the Last Supper, and he talks
to the disciples about that. Jesus is going to not
eat with them until the kingdom of God comes. While
he's still sitting at the table, while he's still with
his disciples, Jesus turns to Simon. We call him Simon Peter,
(02:23):
and Jesus says to him in verse 31, Simon, Simon,
Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.
But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith
may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen
your brothers. Now I want you to I want to
(02:43):
tell you a little bit about Simon, and I want
you to just focus a little bit on Simon, because
it's interesting that at this last supper at this table,
that Jesus, while he was still sitting at the table,
he talked to Simon about his failure. Come on. We
all know about failure. In fact, if there were some
(03:06):
sort of background check that we could do. Oh, I'm
not talking about the police background check. Some of you
would get nervous already, pastor. Background check. You know, I
have some chapters in my life I'm not too happy about.
But no, I'm talking about a more thorough background check.
I'm talking about a background check that examines your thoughts.
(03:28):
A background check that really looks at your heart. A
background check that goes all the way since you were
a little kid and just really studies your story. And
in every story in this auditorium, there are moments of failure.
There are moments where we have not measured up to
the expectations of other people. There are moments where we
(03:50):
had choices to make and we made the wrong choice.
There are moments that everybody in this auditorium were ashamed of.
Dark moments. Times where we wish we could. Well, we
wish we could go back and change what we did.
But there's no turning back. It's moments of failure. Moments
(04:11):
that we were tested. But I'm here to tell you
that the great thing about the story of the gospel
and the great thing about the table here, as we
focus on Peter, is that God is a master. Oh,
God is an expert at taking our moments of failure
and turning them into opportunities for success and transformation. And
(04:36):
I believe that there's some people in this auditorium that
you walked in here. And because you've had moments of failure,
maybe it was a divorce. Maybe it was an abortion.
Maybe you got fired from your job. Maybe you did
something that landed you on probation. Maybe you had an
addiction problem, and it got you into a lot of trouble.
(05:00):
And some of us have moments of failures in our life,
and we focus so much on those moments of failure
that those moments of failure become the story, the narrative
of our life. We start wrapping our story and our
identity around our failure. And when we think of ourselves,
we think of ourselves in terms of that failure. If
(05:24):
you're struggling with that today, I just want to remind
you that there's been a lot of people, all of us,
at one time or another, we've just blown it. We've failed.
We haven't measured up. Even some of the people that
you may consider a success today. I was thinking I
was reading recently about a fellow that you may know.
(05:44):
He was a ballplayer, and a baseball season has just
kicked in recently. And I have one of my sons,
my 15 year old. He's just a sports fanatic. So
every time I get in the car, the radio is
turned on the sports channel. No, but, you know, there
was a fellow that you may know his name. He
(06:05):
was a ball player. He set the major league record
for strikeouts. If you look at his career, he had
strikeouts 1316 times. He struck out. You say? Wow, he
must have been a bad player. The same ballplayer set
a record for five consecutive strikeouts in a World Series
(06:28):
game when it counted the most. Five times he was
struck out by a pitcher. The holder of both of
those records, those failure records is the great slugger Babe Ruth.
You see, because although Babe Ruth struck out, although he
had a lot of failures, he also had a lot
(06:50):
of successes. And just because you've had failures in life
doesn't mean that you're destined to fail at life. Your
failure does not define your future. When God has the
power to redeem your story and change it for his
honor and his glory in this place. And I'm really
(07:11):
happy to tell, you know, I'm super excited to tell
you that some of you are in this auditorium and
you feel like your story cannot be rewritten, and some
of you have walked in here feeling very unworthy to
come into a place of worship because you have failure
in your background. But I want to tell you that God, well,
(07:31):
he's an expert at taking us where we're at, even
in our failed condition, and turning that around for the good.
So I want you to consider a couple things about
the story of Peter that are really, really important for
you to remember. Failure doesn't have to be final, but
you have to keep in mind a couple things about this.
Number one, if you're taking notes, jot this down. There
(07:54):
is a continual spiritual struggle for your life and your destiny.
Notice that Jesus turned while he was sitting at the table.
He turned to Peter, who he called Simon. Simon, Peter.
His name was Simon. And Jesus actually changed his name
to Peter. I love that about Jesus, by the way,
(08:15):
because Jesus doesn't just see you as you are, he
sees you as who you will become. He saw Peter,
whose name was Simon. Peter had the well. He had
the reputation and the personality to be very impulsive. He's
the guy that jumped out of the boat and then
started sinking. He's the guy that Jesus had to say.
(08:38):
Get thee behind me, Satan. He's the guy that pulled
out his sword and chopped off someone's ear. And Jesus
had to paste the ear back. Only Jesus. He's one
of those impulsive guys that that acts and then thinks
about it later. He speaks. And then he's thinking, what
did I just say? Some people say that Peter had
(08:59):
the mouth, the shape of a foot because he always
put his foot in his mouth. Ahead of time. He
was one of those impulsive personalities that some people would say,
this guy is super unstable. He's up and he's down.
He's high and he's low, he's excited and he's depressed.
And even though he seemed like a very up and
(09:21):
down personality, someone that was very inconsistent, someone that just
could not be counted on and wasn't responsible. When Jesus
met him, he said, your name is Simon, but I'm
going to change your name. And your name from now
on is going to be the Rock. He had the
(09:44):
name the Rock before. The rock had the name the Rock.
So and I'm not sure what Peter was built like,
but I don't think it was based on Peter's muscles
that Jesus called him the Rock. Oh yeah, we we
say Peter, but Peter comes from Petra, which means rock.
Jesus looked at Peter and said, I know who you are.
I know who you've been. I know what your personality is,
(10:06):
but I'm speaking into future. I'm speaking into your destiny.
What I see you in you, Peter, is what other
people don't see. I see a rock, a strong, stable,
firm individual. And I'm going to use you for my
honor and glory. Peter, the rock Jesus knew before Peter
(10:32):
would struggle and be tested. Jesus knew that Peter would fail,
but he also knew that he would restore Peter. You
think that your failure has caught God by surprise? It hasn't.
You think that God didn't know that you would blow
it in a time where you shouldn't? But but it
(10:54):
hasn't caught God by surprise. Jesus looked at Simon and
he said, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.
Now for us here in Chicago, that means nothing, because
we're like, sift. What? Like what? I mean, I go
down to Jewel and buy a loaf of bread. I mean,
(11:14):
I know nothing about sifting. But let me just tell
you what Jesus was saying when he said. Satan has
asked to sift you like wheat. First of all, I
want you to notice that there is a spiritual battle
between good and evil. I believe that every person here.
There's a battle for your destiny and a battle for
your soul, and a battle for your spiritual, for your
(11:35):
spiritual future. Some of you have felt it even trying
to come to church today. When you take steps forward,
you feel like. I feel like I'm in a battle here,
a struggle zone. I believe that battle is very real.
And Jesus told Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you.
(11:56):
I believe that the enemy wants to get us before
God can use us. I believe the enemy wants to
try to take our lives before our destiny can be fulfilled.
I believe that God has a purpose and a plan
for every individual in this auditorium. Yet the enemy wants
to thwart and stop and paralyze the plan that God
has for us. I believe that God knows what he
(12:18):
wants to do with your life, and the enemy is
afraid of what God can do to a life that's
fully committed and dedicated to him. And so he wants
to stop it in advance.
S1 (12:34):
You're listening to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe and
a lesson in Luke 22 titled The Last Supper. And
if you'd like to replay or share this message, visit
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(12:56):
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(13:17):
with us on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. Just search for
Bold Steps Radio to become part of our online family. Well,
let's return to Mark's message now the Last Supper. He
has a few more points he'd like to make.
S2 (13:34):
The enemy wants you to fall through the crack. So
that you end up in the pile of what is
wasted and thrown away, and not in the pile of
what's used. The enemy has a purpose and a plan
to throw you away, so that your gifts and your
talents and your calling will go to waste. So it'll
(13:56):
be just trashed. Thrown away with the rest of the garbage.
The enemy wants to take your life and make it meaningless.
The enemy wants to take your destiny and ruin it.
He wants to throw you out with the rest of
the garbage. God has a purpose and a plan for you,
but the enemy is trying to thwart that purpose and
that plan. And that's what he told Simon. Simon, the
(14:16):
enemy wants to do this. But I've prayed for you, Simon,
that your faith may not fail. The second thing I
want you to remember is this your faith will be
shaken and your resolve will be tested to the limit.
He said the enemy has has sought to sift you
(14:39):
like wheat. And I want you to understand that, that
the enemy is going to try to sift you. The
enemy is trying to, uh, he's trying to make your
your life go to waste and end up in the
garbage pile. How does he how does he do that?
I believe he does that by distracting us. By making
(14:59):
us feel like I failed. I'm not worthy. I can't
do anything. I might as well just follow my own.
I've tried to follow God. It's not working out. He
makes us feel like we're trash. And he makes us
feel like we can never recover from the failures of
our life. Are you tracking with me? As the voices
(15:23):
in your head are talking about what you failed at.
God is speaking into who you're going to be and
what you're going to do. He's calling you a rock
when you're living like a reed. Number three, the testing
of your faith can either destroy you or refine you.
(15:44):
Jesus said, But Simon, I've prayed for you, Simon, that
your faith may not fail. I love what Winston Churchill said.
He said success is not final. Failure is not fatal.
It is the courage to continue that really counts. I
(16:05):
look at Peter. God had to do some things in
Peter's life and he used his failure to refine him.
I want you to hear me very well. You can
bounce back from your failure and become a person that
God is able to use. Or you can stay in
your failure and waste the rest of your life. It's
(16:27):
really a choice that you make. I think of Peter
for a moment, and I think the things that God
had to change in his life. Number one, Peter was self-centered.
Right when they were at the table, at the Lord's table,
guess what they were doing at the Last Supper? You
said worshiping Jesus? No. Saying, Lord, lay your hands on
(16:50):
me and speak into my future and bless me. No
no no no no. You know what they were doing
the disciples were doing at the table before they had communion.
They were arguing about who was the greatest. They were
arguing about who was going to be the greatest in
the kingdom. He was self-centered. Secondly, Peter was proud. Jesus
(17:15):
told Peter, Peter. Satan wants to sift you out. And
you know what Peter said when Jesus said, Satan has
asked to sift you out? He didn't say, oh Lord,
help me, oh Lord, I am weak. You know what
Peter said? He said to Jesus, but he replied, Lord,
(17:36):
I'm ready to go with you to prison or to death.
Peter was basically, no, it's not going to happen to me.
He was proud. He was self-centered. He was proud. And
then finally, the biggest test came. Judas went to Jesus,
(17:58):
and he kissed him. The kiss of betrayal. The guards
came and they arrested Jesus. They took Jesus off to
be to to go to court. And they would beat
him and they would tie him up. And Peter was
watching from a distance. The Bible says, and Scripture tells
(18:21):
us that someone came up to Peter as he was
warming himself in the fire and said, hey, aren't you
one of those disciples? Didn't I see you with? Jesus? Said, no, no, no, no,
not me. You must be thinking of someone else. My
face is pretty common. And then someone else came and said, hey, hey,
your accent is from Galilee area. Aren't you one of
(18:42):
those that I thought I saw you close to? Jesus. Hey,
what are you talking about? Don't accuse me of being
with that man. He's a criminal, not me. And then
a third time, a servant girl came up and said,
I know you. You're one of the disciples of that
Jesus that they just arrested. And this time Peter swore.
(19:04):
I don't know what word he used, but he used
a couple four letter words. Who we talking about? Peter
the Apostle. Saint Peter. Saint Peter is swearing to deny
the fact that he even knows Jesus. And as soon
(19:25):
as he had used a couple four letter words and
denied the fact that he knew Jesus, he could see
Jesus at a distance. And this is a moment that
needs to be engraved in your mind. The Bible says
that as soon as he denied Jesus. I'm not that man. Uh, yeah.
(19:45):
You're the Galilean. He's. I don't know what you're talking about.
As soon as he denied Jesus for the third time.
He heard a rooster crow. Listen. The Lord turned and
looked straight at Peter. Immediately Peter knows I failed. Just
(20:16):
like Jesus predicted. And immediately the Bible says, suddenly he
was full of remorse and repentance. In verse 30 verse
62 says, And he went outside, and he wept bitterly.
(20:37):
Have you ever failed someone so deeply, so powerfully? You
know it, and it hits you, and you just weep
bitterly because you know you've blown it. He could have
walked away and said, I knew I would never make
a good disciple. It's all over. We would have never
(20:58):
Had first and second Peter in the Bible. He would
have never become the first strong leader of the early church,
one of the one of the strongest leaders that were there.
You see, if he would have stayed down, if he
would have bought the lies, if he would have listened
to the accusation, he would have walked away and never
(21:20):
gone back to Jesus. But instead he wept bitterly. And
I think he remembered the words that Jesus spoke into him.
When you come back, when you return, strengthen the brethren. Oh,
I love that. When you return, strengthen the brethren. Hey,
(21:42):
when you return, let God use the failure in your
life to bring strength to other people. When you return,
let God do something good out of your story when
you come back. Don't waste your failure because your failure
has a purpose. God has a purpose in your failure.
God wants to use it.
S1 (22:10):
Mark, in your message, you mentioned that we shouldn't let
our failures define our destiny. Such a great passage of
Scripture because let's face it, we all feel like we
have a tendency to fail like Peter did at times,
don't we?
S3 (22:21):
You know, Peter is such a relatable character. Yeah, I
think we can relate with Peter's impulsiveness, his fear, and
a leader that many people would have discounted because his
rejection of Jesus. Um, when when he was tested. But
(22:42):
I love the fact that God gives him a second chance.
S1 (22:45):
He doesn't write him off.
S3 (22:46):
No, he doesn't. And he doesn't just say, well, you
failed me once and I'm not going to use you again.
Peter went on to be one of the most compelling,
powerful figures because his failure was not final. And I
hope that some of you hear that message. Someone needs
to hear that message today, that listen, your failure is
not final. Yeah.
S1 (23:07):
Well, say just a word about where we're headed next time.
The seven phrases of Jesus as your message.
S3 (23:12):
Yeah. When Jesus was on the cross, he uttered seven
distinct phrases, each one of them power packed with insight
in his final moments. And so we're parceling those out
and taking a deeper look at them.
S1 (23:26):
Well, I'm looking forward to that message next time. Thank you, Mark,
and wherever you're listening from right now, let me remind
you that you can revisit this message or share it
with someone you know by simply visiting our website at
Bold Steps. Org and have you subscribed to Mark's YouTube
channel yet? This is a great way to get his
latest video, teachings and insights right to your phone or
(23:47):
smart device. Just search for Bold Steps Radio on YouTube
and click the subscribe button to find encouraging content that
will help you apply biblical truth to your everyday life.
And during this month, we want to make sure you
know about our current bold step gift. In today's fast
paced world, genuine connection often takes a back seat to convenience.
(24:07):
After all, sending a text is a lot easier than
sitting for coffee. But doctor Heather Holloman's book The Six
Conversations shows us there's a better way. Through real world
guidance and biblical wisdom, this book will transform how you
approach every interaction, helping you build the meaningful relationships we
were designed to have. This bold step gift offers proven
(24:28):
strategies to help you move beyond small. Talk to conversations
that truly matter. So reach out today and get your
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Just call 800. D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639 or give online
(24:49):
at boldsystems.org. Now you can also send your gift through
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820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten and today,
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(25:12):
when your gift is $30 or more each month, we'll
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a 50% discount on all items at the Moody Publishers
online store. Signing up is simple and easy. When you
visit Bold Steps. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Join us again next
(25:33):
weekend as we discover the uniqueness of the seven words
Jesus spoke on the cross, and the powerful hope they
gave to all who have been redeemed. The message is
part of our Easter series and you can hear it
next time on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Bold
Steps Weekend is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry
of Moody Bible Institute.
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