And Peter

Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times, was probably full of guilt and shame. God didn't want Peter to be left out or to stay away.

Mark 16:6-7 - “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Luke 22:62 - “And he [Peter] went outside and wept bitterly.”

Failure is not fatal or defining

Failure is not the end and doesn't define us if we've accepted Jesus.

God called you in spite of your failures.

God knows everything about us, past, present, and future, and He loves us anyway.

1 John 3:20 – “If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”

Max Lucado – “You are never more saved or less saved than the moment you were first saved.”

God loves you in spite of your failures.

Jesus doesn't beat Peter up or put him down because of Peter's denial, he gently restores him. Neither the present nor the future... Nothing can separate us from God.

Romans 8:-38-39 – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God wants to use you in spite of your failures.

God wants a humble heart, a repentant spirit. God knows our mistakes, and He wants to use us for His Glory. He can take our mess and turn it into a beautiful message.

Luke 22:62 - “And he [Peter] went outside and wept bitterly.”

1 Peter 4:8 – “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”