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Faith after failure can feel very different from faith before failure, because now you know what it feels like to disappoint yourself.

That is one reason Peter’s story matters so much.

He was not someone who did not care about Jesus. He cared deeply. He simply discovered that fear could overpower confidence when the pressure became real.

After denying Jesus, Peter had every reason to believe he had destroyed something he could never repair.

Then Jesus came back into his life.

Instead of leaving Peter trapped in shame, Jesus gave him a future. He addressed Peter personally, restored his purpose, and showed him that failure did not have to become permanent identity.

You may need the same distinction in your own life.

There are things we should regret because they teach us. There are things we should change because they were wrong. But there comes a point when continuing to punish yourself stops producing growth.

You cannot undo yesterday.

You can decide who you are going to become because of it.

Jesus can take a person who has been humbled by failure and teach that person to walk with more wisdom, dependence, compassion, and strength.

That is not empty positivity. Peter’s life shows us what restoration can look like when someone allows Christ to work after the fall.

If you are tired of replaying what happened and wondering whether you can move forward, spend a few minutes with this message.

The past can teach you without owning you.

Your friend,
Douglas Vandergraph

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Transcript
00:01you know sometimes we can make life harder on ourselves because we think one bad decision means everything is ruined
00:09it does not
00:12you can make a mistake without becoming a mistake peter is an excellent example of that he loved jesus he
00:21meant what he said he really believed he would stand by him no matter what happened
00:28then jesus was arrested the pressure changed everything peter got scared and when people started asking if he was one
00:40of jesus's followers he denied knowing him three times now that had to hurt not just because he failed but
00:50because he had failed at the exact thing he was sure he would never do maybe you know what that
00:57feels like
00:58you tell yourself you're done with something then you go back to it you promise yourself you'll handle something differently
01:07then you do the same thing again you think you're stronger than a situation and then you find out you're
01:15not
01:16that kind of failure can get in your head i mean it can and then you start thinking maybe this
01:24is just who you are maybe you will never change maybe you've ruined your chance but that is not where
01:32jesus left peter
01:34after the resurrection jesus met him again on the beach of all places and he did not humiliate him he
01:44did not keep throwing his failure back in his face
01:47he restored him he gave peter something to do he moved him forward and that's the part i want you
01:57to remember
01:59peter peter failed but he was not finished and neither are you you may have something in your life you
02:07wish you could go back and change
02:09i completely understand that i have a few of those as well but you cannot go backward you can only
02:18decide what to do next
02:20you can learn from it you can own your part you can ask god to forgive you
02:26you can make things right where you can and then then my friend you can get back up
02:35getting back up does not mean acting like nothing happened it means you stop letting what happened control
02:43everything that happens next now peter could have spent the rest of his life thinking about the night he denied
02:52jesus christ instead he let jesus restore him later that same peter stood in public and preached about christ
03:04think about that for one second the man who once said i do not know him became a man who
03:14openly told people
03:16who jesus was that's what grace can do my friend it does not erase the past it changes what the
03:26past gets to mean
03:28and sometimes failure teaches you something success never could it shows you where you were too confident
03:38it shows you where you were depending too much on yourself it shows you what still needs work
03:45and if you're willing to face that honestly god can use it so if you're beating yourself up over
03:54something right now i want you to ask yourself whether you have already learned the lesson but are still
04:01carrying the punishment those are not the same thing you see jesus did not tell peter to stay ashamed
04:09forever he told him to move forward and maybe you need to do the same thing you're not required to
04:18stay in the worst mode of your worst moment of your life just because it happened you can get back
04:25up
04:26you can try again you can rebuild you can become wiser because of what happened without letting it make
04:35you bitter and you can let jesus shape you through it that is really what faith looks like sometimes
04:44not pretending you will never fail not pretending you will never get scared not pretending you will always
04:52get it right sometimes faith is simply trusting that god can still work with you after you got it wrong
05:02peter found that out maybe you need to hear it too because my friend your story is not over
05:11you are still here and jesus well jesus is still working on you so learn what you need to learn
05:21leave behind what you need to leave behind and get back up
05:31my name is douglas vandergraaf and i believe in jesus christ god bless every single one of you
05:40every single one and everyone you love
05:48bye
05:51bye
05:51bye
05:51You
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Douglas Vandergraph
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How to get back on your feet....

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