1. FROM FAILURE TO
ACTION
John 18, 21 & Acts 4
OCTOBER 28, 2012
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
USA

2. Cathy Jeffcoats

3. As Cathy Jeffcoats
mentioned in her
CaringBridge page she is
gaining her strength
back and taking several
short walks each day.

4. *She enjoys hearing
from you whether it is a
note or card in the mail or
on the CaringBridge
page.
*It is most uplifting to her.

5. Sunday, November 4 th
5:00-5:50 p.m.
Fellowship Hall East

6. *Several classes and
individuals have signed
up to compete for the title
of the best chef!
*There will be a trophy for
1st, 2nd and 3rd place
winners!

7. Date Night for Parents
Friday, November 9th
5:30 - 9:30 p.m.
For Infants - 6th grade
Cost is $10.00 per child.
Call Connie Foreman at
(601) 949-1995

8. or email Connie at:
cforeman@fbcj.org
DEADLINE to
register is
Sunday, November 4th!

9. There will be no One
Great Lunch Break or
Men's Stories this Monday
or Tuesday due to the
Mississippi Baptist
Convention being held
here at the FBCJ.

10. Begin now praying for
World Mission Week,
November 7-11.
There will be an Adult
Sunday School Rally for
Young Married and
Median Adults on Nov 11

11. at both the 9:00 and 10:30
Sunday School hours.
*Breakfast foods will be
provided.
*You will hear testimonies
from three missionary
couples.

12. The lessons this month
deal with the question:
Is there life after failure?

13. On October 7th, in John 4
we studied how Jesus
moved the Samaritan
woman at the well from
failure to her salvation and
then how that resulted in
salvation for others .

15. *On October 14th we saw
Abraham getting
impatient with God and
failing to wait on Him.

17. *Today we will study that
tender passage of how
Jesus restored Peter after
he had failed Christ so
miserably by denying
Him three times.

19. *All of these people had
life after their failures
because God worked in
their lives to move them
beyond those failures.

20. Focal Passages:
Do You Deny Christ?
(John 18:15-18, 25b-27)
Do You Really Love
Christ? (John 21:15-19)
Do You Stand Up for
Christ? (Acts 4:13, 18-20)

21. Many of us have good
intentions to do the right
thing, but we falter when
the time comes.

24. *Jesus forgives, restores,
and desires to use us.
*Like Peter, we can learn
to rely on God’s power
and boldly serve Him.

25. We can be restored to
usefulness in God’s
service regardless of
previous failure.

26. *All of us can relate to
starting out with good
intentions to take a step
for Christ, but then we
retreat.
*Failure makes us think
we’ve been shelved from

27. the Lord’s service.
*Peter’s experience with
failure shows us what the
Lord has in mind for us
when we let Him down.
*He loves us and wants to
restore us so we can serve.

28. Do You Deny Christ?
John 18:15-18, 25b-27
15 “Meanwhile, Simon
Peter was following
Jesus, as was another
disciple. That disciple
was an acquaintance of

29. the high priest; so he
went with Jesus into the
high priest’s courtyard.
16 But Peter remained
standing outside by the
door. So the other
disciple, the one known

30. to the high priest, went
out and spoke to the girl
who was the doorkeeper
and brought Peter in.
17 Then the slave girl
who was the doorkeeper
said to Peter, “You aren’t

31. one of this man’s
disciples too, are you?”
“I am not!” he said.
18 Now the slaves and
the temple police had
made a charcoal fire,
because it was cold.

32. They were standing there
warming themselves, and
Peter was standing with
them, warming himself.
25b They said to him,
“You aren’t one of His
disciples too, are you?”

33. He denied it and said, “I
am not!”
26 One of the high
priest’s slaves, a relative
of the man whose ear
Peter had cut off, said,
“Didn’t I see you with

34. Him in the garden?”
27 Peter then denied it
again. Immediately a
rooster crowed.”
John 18:15-18, 25b-27

36. *Peter is the most
frequently mentioned
disciple in the Gospels.
*He was born in Bethsaida
which had many Gentiles
and this may have
prepared him for his later

37. involvement in the
church’s outreach to the
Gentiles.
*Peter was a spokesman
for and the leader of the
disciples.

38. *He is only one of two
people who have walked
on water and that passage
in Matthew 14 provides a
portrait of the sincere
struggle of every believer:
impetuous, attempting

39. great things, diving in but
then doubting, groping,
sinking – faith inundated.
*He represented the other
disciples when he
confessed that Jesus was
“the Christ, the Son of the

40. living God!”
*As we heard from Jim
Shaddix last week, that
was the correct answer
but it was not yet a
complete faith.

41. Dr. Jim Shaddix

42. *At that point, it was a
cross-less gospel and was
therefore, no Gospel at all.
*When Jesus responded to
Peter’s confession by
speaking with His
disciples for the first time

43. about the necessity of His
death, Peter rebuked Him.
*Peter wanted to see Jesus
as a conquering,
victorious Messiah in
accordance with the
Jewish messianic

44. expectation of his day.
*Peter neither could
fathom nor stomach a
suffering, dying Messiah.
*He could not trust the
words of Jesus and for
such, he received Jesus’

45. sternest rebuke, “Get
behind me, Satan! For you
are not on the side of God,
but of men” (Mark 8:33).
*The same can be said for
the incident at the
transfiguration.

47. *Peter was the one to
suggest that three tents be
provided so they could
bask in the heavenly
splendor forever (Mark 9),
thus attempting to bypass
the crucifixion again and

48. go straight to the
resurrection glory.
*In Mark 14, when they
were on their way to
Gethsemane, Jesus
predicted that all the
disciples would fall away

49. and that is when Peter
said, “Even though they
all fall away, I will not”.
*It was then that Jesus
predicted Peter’s denial to
which Peter vehemently
protested, “I will not deny

50. You”.
*Peter did take a stand for
Christ in the Garden
when he drew his sword
and cut off the ear of the
high priest’s servant (John
18:10-11).

52. *What a stark contrast is
presented shortly thereafter
when this valiant warrior
who shortly before was
ready to singly take on an
armed host now shrinks
before the

53. idle babbling of a servant
girl and denies his Master
(Mark 14:69).

55. *Today’s passage,
John 21:15-19, gives us the
fullest description of
Peter’s rehabilitation.

56. *Here we are told how
Jesus drew from Peter a
threefold affirmation of
his love and directed him
three times to “feed My
sheep”.

57. *Not only does this serve
to redeem Peter from his
threefold denial, it also
prepares for his pastoral
role of shepherding the
young Christian church.

58. *In this passage, Peter is
depicted in more than a
representative role for the
disciples and is given a
degree of preeminence
and leadership among
them.

59. *Along with James and
John, Peter belonged to
that “inner circle” of three
whom Jesus took along to
participate in such
significant events as the
raising of Jairus’ daughter,

60. the transfiguration, and
the agony of Gethsemane.
*In my opinion, those who
seek to be closest to the
Lord here on earth will be
rewarded with being
closest to Him in Heaven.

61. *In the lists of disciples
Peter is always named
first and Matthew adds
that Peter was protos, a
Greek work which implies
first in prominence as well
as in order(Matthew 10:2).

62. *In the sermon last week,
Peter was singled out for
special words from Jesus
when He designated
Peter’s confession as the
rock upon which He
would build His church.

63. *Peter was also given the
keys of admittance to
Heaven, which is closely
connected with the
authority to bind and to
loose.

64. *It is so encouraging to
note that Jesus told Peter
at the Last Supper that
“when you have turned
again, strengthen your
brethren” (Luke 22:31-32).

65. *The ultimate fulfillment
of Jesus’ restoring Peter to
usefulness occurs after the
resurrection when Peter
becomes the leader of the
young church.

66. *The first twelve chapters
of the book of Acts
unmistakably depict Peter
in this role.
*He directed the
replacement of Judas, he
preached the sermon

67. which led to the
conversion of 3,000 souls,
he directed the judgment
of Ananias and Sapphira,
and it was Peter who put
the stamp of approval on
Philip’s Samaritan mission.

68. *Then, there is a clear shift
in Peter’s role from church
leader/administrator to
missionary.
*Acts 12:1-6 describes
Peter’s imprisonment and
miraculous escape from

69. the grip of Herod
Agrippa.

70. *After escaping, Peter said
farewell to the Jerusalem
congregation, turned the
leadership over to James
(the half brother of Jesus)
and departed “to another
place”.

71. *Peter appeared again only
once, at the Jerusalem
Council, and even then he
spoke as a missionary.

72. *After that, the NT
consistently depicts Peter
in the role of missionary:
that is what being an
apostle implies – one to
whom the risen Lord had
appeared and given a

73. special commission for
missionary witness.
*Paul confronted Peter for
“insincerity” because
Peter had been enjoying
fellowship with the
Gentile Christians but

74. withdrew when James put
pressure on him.
*Paul and Peter had
shared the same accepting
attitude toward Gentiles
and it was this
withdrawal that made

75. Peter appear so
inconsistent.

76. *In 1 Peter 5:1-5, Peter
exhorts the elders of the
churches to serve as good
shepherds under the
Great Shepherd because
that is what Peter had
become in carrying out his

77. Master’s charge, “feed my
sheep”.
*When Peter calls himself
a witness (martus) of the
sufferings of Christ in
1 Peter 5:1, he is
referring to his own

78. impending death since
our English word
“martyr” comes from that
same Greek word
“martus”.

79. By the end of his life,
Peter understood that the
Gospel has to include the
cross.

80. He requested to be
crucified upside down
because he did not feel
worthy to be crucified in
the same manner as his
Lord.

82. Dr. Polhill is professor of
NT interpretation at
Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary in
Louisville, Kentucky.

83. Do You Really Love
Christ?
John 21:15-19
15 “When they had eaten
breakfast, Jesus asked
Simon Peter, “Simon, son
of John, do you love Me

84. more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said to
Him, “You know that I
love You.”
“Feed My lambs,” He
told him.

85. 16 A second time He
asked him, “Simon, son
of John, do you love
Me?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said to
Him, “You know that I
love You.”

86. “Shepherd My sheep,”
He told him.
17 He asked him the
third time, “Simon, son
of John, do you love
Me?”

87. Peter was grieved that He
asked him the third time,
“Do you love Me?” He
said, “Lord, You know
everything! You know
that I love You.”

88. “Feed My sheep,” Jesus
said.
18 “I assure you: When
you were young, you
would tie your belt and
walk wherever you
wanted. But when you

89. grow old, you will stretch
out your hands and
someone else will tie you
and carry you where you
don’t want to go.”
19 He said this to signify
by what kind of death he

90. would glorify God. After
saying this, He told him,
“Follow Me!”
John 21:15-19

92. After His crucifixion and
resurrection, Jesus
appeared to some of His
disciples who had gone
fishing on the Sea of
Galilee, and He prepared
breakfast for them.

93. There He initiated a
conversation with Peter
that reflected His love for
His disciple who had
failed (18:28–21:14).

95. *On the night of Jesus’
arrest, Peter answered
three questions by
denying Him 3 times.
*Now in the conversation
after breakfast, Jesus also
asked him 3 questions.

96. *Each of them had to do
with Peter’s love for Jesus.
*Also, they emphasized
Jesus’ love for Peter and
His willingness to restore
him.

97. The issue that Jesus raised
with Peter involved love
and the way He wanted
the failed disciple to
express it in the future.

98. *What did Jesus have in
mind when He mentioned
these in His question to
Peter?

99. If He pointed to the fish in
the net, He was asking
Peter if he loved Him
enough to leave his nets
and serve full-time in
kingdom service.

101. Jesus could have been
asking Peter whether he
loved Him more than the
other disciples who had
gone fishing with him did
(21:2).

103. *The question got to the
priority of Peter’s
devotion to Christ.

104. Peter recognized that
Jesus knew what was in
his heart. For that reason,
Peter didn’t try to deceive
Jesus or keep anything
from Him.

105. *He told Jesus the
absolute truth about his
love for Him.
*Jesus responded to
Peter’s answer by calling
him to ministry.

106. *Peter had been a
fisherman all of his life.
*Now Jesus directed him
to be a shepherd.
*In his role as a shepherd,
Peter wouldn’t tend to his
own sheep.

107. *Instead, he would be
feeding the Lord’s lambs.
*In other words, Christ
commissioned Peter to
devote himself exclusively
to ministering to people
who would belong to Him.

108. *Simon Peter could both
soar to great heights and
sink to great depths; he
could either hit a home
run or strike out.
*When Jesus had first
called Peter to be His

109. disciple, He had given
him a miraculous haul of
fish (Luke 5:1-10) and
then called him to be a
fisher of men.
*Now, three years later,
Jesus gave him another

110. miraculous haul of fish
(John 21:4-6, 10-11).
*Peter knew from this
miracle that Jesus was the
One along the shoreline
and he jumped out of the
boat in his eagerness to

111. see Jesus again (John 21:7-
8, 12).
*Jesus asked Peter three
times if he loved Him
(one for each denial) and
each time He addressed
him as “Simon, son of

112. John” instead of “Peter”,
the name Jesus Himself
had given Peter after his
affirmation of Jesus’
divinity.
*Jesus was offering Peter a
second chance to live like

113. the Peter whose faith was
like a rock.
*The first two times Jesus
used the word agapao
and Peter replied with
phileo.

114. *On the third question,
they both used the word
phileo.

115. *When Jesus told Peter to
“feed My lambs” or “tend
My sheep” He was using
four different words.
*The three commands
alternate four words – two
different words regarding

116. the task to be done and
two different words
regarding those to whom
the ministry was to be
performed.

118. *The two words regarding
the ministry Peter was to
have are boske (feed in vv.
15-17) and poimaine (tend
or shepherd in v. 16).
*The ministry was to be
performed for Jesus’ arnia

119. (lambs in v 15) and for
His probata (sheep in vv.
16-17).
*In v 15 He said “feed My
lambs” and after the third
question, “feed My
sheep” in v 17.

120. *Feed = providing the
flock with spiritual
nourishment.
*Jesus instructed Peter to
provide spiritual
sustenance for both the
young lambs in v 15 and

121. the older sheep in v 17.
*Jesus second command
was “tend my sheep”
which includes feeding,
guiding, protecting and
caring for them.

122. In an interesting play on
words in the book of
Revelation, the Lamb of
God will Himself become
the Great Shepherd (Rev
7:17).

123. Peter took Jesus’
command to heart to be
an under-shepherd
because in 1 Peter 5:2-4 he
urged his fellow elders to
shepherd the flock of God
lovingly until the Chief

124. Shepherd returned.
Steve Lemke is provost at
NOBTS.

126. *Jesus’ response to Peter’s
reply made His
commission to His failed
disciple perfectly clear.
*From that moment on,
Peter would devote
himself to ministry.

127. *Peter didn’t need to see
himself as a disciple who
failed to live up to his
commitment to Christ.
*Now he could see
himself as a restored
disciple who had a

128. renewed call from his
Lord to minister to people
who would belong to
Him.

129. Like Peter, we can rest
assured that when we
return to Christ after
having failed Him, we can
expect Him to respond to
us with love and
willingness to restore us.

130. *When we falter as
believers, we cannot allow
ourselves to conclude
we’re useless to Him now.
*Because He loves us, the
Lord wants to work in our
hearts to restore us.

131. *In response to Him, we
do well to do what He’s
calling us to do.
*We display our love for
Him by living out what
we believe about Him.

132. *In due time, others
would take control of his
life and bring it to an end.
*At the same time, Jesus
assured Peter that God
would be glorified in the
way he would die.

133. *Then Jesus commanded
Peter to follow Him.
*Following Jesus into the
future would exhibit
Peter’s love for Him.

134. Despite any fears Peter
could have had that he
might have disqualified
himself from Jesus’
service, Jesus still had
plans for Peter.

135. If you have failed Jesus
but stand ready to
earnestly, sincerely affirm
your love for Him, He
stands ready to use you,
too.

136. Do You Stand Up for
Christ?
Acts 4:13, 18-20
13 When they observed
the boldness of Peter and
John and realized that
they were uneducated

137. and untrained men, they
were amazed and
recognized that they had
been with Jesus.
18 So they called for
them and ordered them
not to preach or teach at

138. all in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John
answered them,
“Whether it’s right in the
sight of God for us to
listen to you rather than
to God, you decide;

139. 20 for we are unable to
stop speaking about what
we have seen and heard.”

140. At the festival called
Pentecost, the Holy Spirit
came, and Peter
proclaimed a dynamic
Christ-centered message
in His power.

141. As a result of the Spirit’s
work through Peter’s
message, 3000 people
were saved (Acts 1:4–
2:42).

143. *Soon afterward, Peter
preached again, and
many more people
received Christ.
*The religious leaders
tried to put a stop to
Peter’s preaching.

144. *They arrested him and
John and threw them into
jail.
*After spending the night
there, the religious leaders
called the two disciples to
appear before them and

145. explain why they
preached about Christ
(4:1-12).

146. Peter spoke up with such
boldness about Jesus the
religious leaders reacted
with astonishment to
Peter’s defense of his
message (v. 13).

147. *Obviously, Peter’s
boldness had surprised
them.
*His courageous
proclamation about Christ
in the presence of the
religious leaders stood in

148. stark contrast to his
denials of Christ on the
night of His arrest.
*Then he had behaved
like a coward, denying he
even knew Jesus.

149. Now he stood up for Jesus
and caught his accusers
off guard with his
confidence.

150. *Peter’s life was different
because of Jesus.
*When Jesus confronted
Peter in love at breakfast
with a desire to restore
him, things began to
change for the faltering

151. disciple.
*He became a loyal
apostle who would never
again deny Jesus.
*He personified
fearlessness in the face of
opposition.

152. When the Holy Spirit
came, He empowered
Peter to preach with
confidence the message of
salvation through Christ
the Lord, whom he loved
with his whole heart.

153. *The dynamic change in
Peter’s life serves as an
encouraging example to
us.
*When we find ourselves
defeated by our failures to
live out our convictions

154. about Christ, we don’t
have to settle for being
sidelined.
*Neither should our
failures force us into the
shadows of shyness when
it comes to letting others

155. see Christ in us.
*Like Peter, we can go
from timidity to boldness
when we turn to the Lord
for help.
*We can trust Him to
strengthen us with His

156. presence so we can serve
Him with confidence.
*And like Peter and John,
people will see our
boldness and recognize
that we have been with
Jesus.

157. The Holy Spirit who had
empowered them to
preach made them bold as
they took their stand for
Christ in the presence of
the religious leaders.

158. *Notice in particular the
kind of information Peter
and John would declare in
their message about Jesus.
*They did not intend to
speak about Him using
second-hand information.

159. *Instead, they would
preach Christ based
simply on their personal
encounters with Him.
*They would share
without restraint what
they had seen and heard

160. for themselves.
*In doing so, they would
give first-hand, vibrant
testimony of Christ.
*Incidentally, that’s the
kind of information Jesus
wanted them to share

161. when He instructed them
to bear witness of Him
once the Holy Spirit came
(Acts 1:6-8).

162. Acts 1:6-8
6 “So when they had
come together, they asked
Him, “Lord, are You
restoring the kingdom to
Israel at this time?”

163. 7 He said to them, “It is
not for you to know times
or periods that the Father
has set by His own
authority.
8 But you will receive
power when the Holy

164. Spirit has come on you,
and you will be My
witnesses in Jerusalem, in
all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the
earth.”
Acts 1:6-8

166. *Boldness in proclaiming
Christ continues to be the
order of our day.
*No matter how badly we
may have failed Jesus in
the past, we can count on
His Spirit to enable us to

167. take our stand for Him
now.
*Of course, taking a stand
for Him means speaking
up for Him and bearing
witness of His presence
and power.

168. *However, it also means
living according to His
ways even when it’s not
popular.
*Likewise, we take a stand
for Him when we make
decisions that please Him

169. in our families,
friendships, and
other relationships.
*In the same way, we
stand up for Him when we
reflect His character in our
interactions with others.

170. *If you consider yourself
useless to Christ because
you failed Him in the
past, think again.
*Peter shows that the
Lord loves us and wants
to restore us to usefulness.

171. *He’s more than willing to
help us go from failure to
action for His glory.
*Perhaps He’s nudging
you right now about a
conversation with Him
that could change your life.

172. Truths of This Lesson
• We may surprise
ourselves with our
timidity and our failure to
take advantage of
opportunities to stand up
for Christ.

173. • When we fail, we can
live in the assurance that
Jesus knows how to
restore us by helping us
focus on love for Him and
willingness to follow
Him.

174. • Christ’s working in us
through His Spirit can
transform us from being
timid to being confident
and courageous as we
serve Him.

175. • No matter how badly
we have failed, Jesus
stands ready to love us
back into usefulness in
His service.

176. Next week:
Pray with dependency on
God to transform lives.
Acts 4