Fail-osophy 101 // The Upside of Down // Read

Polls have shown time and time again that the fear of failure is one of the most common and crippling threats we face. And we do face it...all of us. We’ve all encountered failure before, whether personally or professionally. Ways that we’ve not quite lived up to our expectations. Ways that we we’ve let ourselves down...or let God down. Failure is an awful feeling—but it doesn’t have to be. God wants us to see the truth, that there is an upside to every down. For every cross, there’s an empty grave! We don’t have to fear failure. We can embrace it. So the question is: “Will we choose to see that truth and allow it to reinvent the way we see failure?”

We’ve all taken classes at the School of Hard Knocks. Life has a way of knocking us down a peg or two...or ten. We fail and we fail often. And one of the worst aspects about that failure is how final it feels. Like this letdown is going to mark you for life. So how do we handle it when failure leaves us hopeless? By clinging to the foundational truth that our failure isn’t fatal. Our failings don’t surprise or scare God. In fact, God knew and has already made a way through.

Man, it's so good to be here with you guys worshipping today, as we get ready to start this brand new teaching series here at Cornerstone called The upside of down now if you were with us the last series, we were talking horror movies. So whenever you heard the upside of down, you may be thought that we were continuing that talking about Stranger Things right, the upside-down that we're going to Hawkins in this series, that's not the case. But we are dealing with something scary. We're dealing with failure today and in the upcoming two weeks, we're talking about failure, how we can handle failure, how we can learn from failure, how we can even befriend failure in our life. So if you're someone who has experienced failure in a way or you are currently in the midst of failure, this series is for you. And I want to personally ask you to go ahead and carve out the next two weeks for this if that means joining us online. If that means coming to one of our Saturday services. That means coming to get on Sunday morning, but make sure you hear the next two weeks as well as we continue this series I really, really think that God's word wants to speak to something about failure in our lives. And so I hope that you'll be with us as we do that. Now. One of the things I love here at Cornerstone is we talk about real things like we talk about stuff that really affects us in our day-to-day life and how Scripture speaks to that. That's why in the last series we talked about horror movie moments in our life whenever things don't go well whenever we find ourselves in a tough situation, how we can handle those. And we're continuing that with this series talking about failure. These kinds of series, the kind of series that we do here at Cornerstone these are what I call all skates. They involve all of us, right? Like this isn't just for kids isn't just for adults. Failure affects everybody. Let me just see anybody in this room ever experienced failure? anybody? Anybody? A few? A few hands a few anybody online? Yeah. Everybody. Like there's, there's nobody that is immune to failure. Failure affects every single one of us today. I've been thinking of these three weeks is like a lesson on failure. And so today, you already heard it in the pre this is Fail-osophy 101. See what I did there, um, I'm a dad. So I had to do a little dad joke play on words. We're in philosophy one on one. And that is one of the core tenants of this lesson about failure is realizing everybody does it. Like everybody fails. Everybody messes up at some point, there is no one who is immune from that. Even people who seem to be the pinnacle fail. Even the people who seem to be the cream of the crop fail. I want to give you the tale of three times. We're going to talk about just three people who seem to be like, Man, they just they're winners. They just have it all together. Tom Brady, Tom Brady quarterback, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This dude is incredible, right? Probably the greatest quarterback who's ever lived. And it would be hard to imagine there was a period of his life a good chunk of the life of his professional career where people were just dogging him. You can don't believe me, go online, check out YouTube. You can type in Tom Brady. Washed up compilation. You can see video after video of commentators and analysts saying this dude's washed up like Father Time has caught up to him he needs to hang up the cleats. It's over for Tom Brady because he won his three Super Bowls then he lost to the New York Giants didn't go to another Super Bowl there for a while his stats weren't the same as they used to be and people are like this guy's finished. He's gone on to win like three more since then. But there was a period of time where people thought not only is he done for but also there are clips of people saying this dude needs to hang it up before this is what we remember him for. He needs to hang it up before what we remember about Tom Brady. Aren't those championships against the Rams against the Eagles? No, no, no. What we're gonna remember you for is that you hung on too long. You play it a little too past your prime date. Tom Brady. Incredible. experienced failure. Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise. Love Tom Cruise. It's a little crazy, but I love Tom Cruise. Right? The some of the greatest movies this dude's been in. I mean, he was Maverick, right? He's got the whole Mission Impossible series. And he had a period of time during the 2000 10s where he put out a few clunkers in a row. This dude normally he's one of the last two movie stars that people go to the movie just because he's in it. You don't even have to hear the plot. You're like Tom Cruise. I'm in right. But he had some box office bombs there and it all culminated with the mummy has anyone in the room or online ever seen the mummy with Tom Cruise? I see that one hand that two hands hallelujah. There are a few people who have seen this movie. That's exactly the issue with this movie. No one saw it bombed. People said it was terrible got terrible reviews. It didn't make its money back at the box office. And here's how bad it was. You know how we have the MCU the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there was supposed to be a universal monster universe based on the mummy. Frankenstein Dracula, The Wolf Man, this thing was supposed to be a thing. It was on the cover of Rolling Stone. They had actors lined up the movies all slated out. The Mummy underperformed so badly at the box office. They canceled it. They just canceled the entire thing like yep, never mind. We're not going to move forward with this. It was that bad. So someone as huge and as successful as Tom Cruise failed. The last one, this is our third time, Tom Edison. You may know him as Thomas Edison, but for the purpose of shoehorning him into the three times I have to call him Tom today, I got to make it work. Somehow. Tom medicine right. Famously, this dude had 1000 Plus attempts before he reached the right combination to create the filament to power the incandescent light bulb. Think about that 1000 plus tries before he found the right combination, I gotta tell you, I imagine oil-like lamps, salesmen, and candle makers weren't shaking in their boots, as Thomas Edison was working on his lightbulb like this dude's never gonna figure this out. It's just failure after failure after failure, he's never going to come up with something more efficient than what we have. And I say all of that I tell you the story of the three times to tell you this. Everybody fails. And I want you to know that because it's easy for us to say that and kind of be like, yeah, no, I get it, everyone fails. But you don't really believe it sometimes. Because that person you follow on Instagram who seems to have everything together, they always hit the goals that they set out there. They don't seem to be struggling for money or struggling in their career. It's easy to see those people and think Man, they never that it's constantly up into the right for them. Things are constantly working out for them. And I want you to know, and I have to remind myself of this, even those people, even your brother, even your sister, even your co-worker, they fail to nobody is immune. We are all familiar with failure. We fail on our diets. Can I get an amen on that one, we fail, and God good luck and Godspeed. If you're on a diet right now, because we're gearing up for the holidays, and I'll be praying for you. I'll be praying for you to stay strong, come Thanksgiving. But man, we found our diets, we fail on staying out of debt. That's a huge one. I know so many people who have battled to get themselves out of medical debt or credit card debt. And they just, they save and they save and they save and they get to that place. And they're so excited. And then the bottom falls out again. Another sickness and other illness, something goes wrong with the car and suddenly they're back in it again. And it just feels like oh my goodness, am I ever going to get out of this? Or is it going to be one failure to another and just managing that the rest of my life? This is one that I feel hits home with me. Failure with being intentional with your kids. Right? That's a hard one. Like I'll have moments where it feels so good. I'm like, Okay, starting off the week on Monday, we're gonna make sure we reread together and we pray together and I don't ever raise my voice and I'm just perfect. And I'm like a great dad. And I'm super intentional. And I'll do that for a while. And then the intentionality starts to wear off and I realized that we haven't read or we haven't talked or we haven't we just kind of lived and you just feel bad because you're like, man, that happens a lot. It just keeps happening. It just feels in the same way with debt. It feels like Man, am I just gonna keep cycling back between on-off intentional, unintentional, intentional, unintentional, this was just destined to be my life just continual failure and fighting against it. Maybe you're failing to change habits in your life stuff that you knew you should have changed and you still have not done it. Failure is familiar. And not only is it familiar, again, but I also can't speak for you, right? I can't speak for you. But this is one thing I really love about you guys. You guys get to be like my free counseling appointment every week, like every weekend. I don't know if this hits with you or not. But I just get to kind of like vent and tell you where I'm at. So it's like, hey, here you go. Take it, take it if it connects with you or not, but I know for me, not speaking for you. But I know for me failure isn't just familiar. It is final. It just feels so final. Like all these things. When you mess up on a diet. It feels like oh, this is just I'm probably never going to get this weight off. It's just gonna be this consistent cycle back and forth, back and forth of me. Trying and then failing, trying and then failing. I'm never going to get out of debt. I'm constantly going to what's going to be the next thing after I get out of this debt. Then what's going to happen? Then what's gonna go wrong in my house, then what's gonna go wrong with the car then? Who's gonna get sick and we're dragged back into it. You just feel like it's this continual cycle and it feels so final feels like that's where you're going to be. That's where you're going to be stuck. And with that in mind, it's one of the things I love so much about scripture, because scripture is so raw, and it's so real. And it doesn't sugarcoat anything. In fact, scholars say that's one of the reasons we can take the Scripture, the Bible, and we can know that so much of it. It just, it's locked in faith. This is even people who don't believe in Scripture saying, yeah, there's stuff in here that like, we have a hard time saying isn't true, because there's a thing we call the criterion of embarrassment, which means like, people wouldn't put embarrassing things in here. They would try to make the disciples if they were making this up, they tried to make themselves look really good and heroic. And, and they wouldn't try to put stuff in there. But it's not in there. Like the disciple's record. Yeah, we were afraid. Yeah, we doubted Yeah, we were scared. And I love that about the Bible because I can relate to that. I can relate to failure. Like, whenever I read about Daniel in the lion's den, I'm like, yeah, that's, I can't relate to that. I can't relate to that level of faith. But I can relate to someone like Peter, we talked about Peter a little bit last week, we're going to bring them into this week's sermon to Peter is a man who had very high highs and very low lows when it came to his following of Jesus, this guy was at the mountaintop in some moments and in the valley and others and sometimes within the same chapter. Right? I'm like that I couldn't relate to that. I can relate to being so gung ho and believing something so strong, and then the next moment be like, Is this actually going to happen? Is this really real? And so I can relate to Peter and Peter. He did. He had some failures, and his ministry had some great moments in his ministry, but there was one failure in particular that stands out among all of the rest that is recorded in Mark, chapter 14. That's where we're going to be looking at today. Mark, chapter 14, takes place just after Jesus's arrest. Jesus has been arrested by the chief priests and elders and they are taking him to try him for blasphemy against God. And as he is being taken away as he's being tried. Peter is following at a distance. And this is where we pick up in Mark chapter 14, starting in verse 66. Scripture says, While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priests came by when she saw Peter warming himself by the fire, she looked closely at him. You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus, she said, But Peter denied it. I don't know or understand what you're talking about, he said, and he went out into the entryway. When the servant girl saw him there, she said, again, to all of those standing around. Hey, this fellow, he's one of them. Again, Peter denied it. After a little while, though, standing near said to Peter, surely you're one of them, for you are a Galilean. Peter began to call down curses, and he swore to them. I don't know this man that you're talking about. Immediately, the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him earlier before the rooster crows twice, you will disown me three times. And at that Peter broke down and wept.

Do you imagine that moment? If you're Peter, you imagine that moment feeling that that that failure, that agony that you would let Jesus down at the moment when he needed you the most. I have to imagine not just the failure and how agonizing that must have been, but again, how Final This must have felt. You see, Peter and the disciples, missed what Jesus was talking about a lot. Like they just went right over their head. Jesus was trying to tell them, hey, look, this is what's going to happen. We're going to Jerusalem and I know there's going to be confrontation I know I'm going to be killed. I'm, I'm projecting I know all this is going to happen and the disciples would miss it. But at this moment, when Jesus is arrested, and he hears the charges, he knows this isn't just like, oh, maybe that'll happen. He knows this is gonna happen. He knows Jesus is marching towards his death. So this is probably Peters's last chance to really stand up for him. In Peters's eyes, this is probably if this is my last chance to prove I'm loyal to Jesus is my last chance to prove that I love him that I would give my life for him. This is my last opportunity. And he blew it. Imagine how Final that must have felt? How crippling that must have felt like this is going to mark him. I read that I read Mark 14 and I feel for Peter and you should too. Because you've been that person.

Maybe you're not a follower of Jesus. Maybe you just have people that you've let down. And that sounds very familiar. Where you're like, Hey, I've been there. I've been there. I have let people down. I have failed and it hurts. And it hurts feels like I've denied Jesus to and again, I don't want to project This on to you, I can only say where I'm at and where I'm coming from. One of the things about failure not only is it final not only is it familiar one thing about failure, it feels like it can become a fingerprint for me. You guys, anyone's phone. I know. Now we got the face ID but there's a period of time when phones had the fingerprint sensor, right Is anyone still got one of the phones with the fingerprint sensor, the whole point of that is supposed to be your fingerprint is unique, right? That's why you can use it as a lock for your phone because only you are supposed to be able to open it because your fingerprint is unique. And there is a fear that I have. And there's a fear that people have that failure in our life can become our fingerprint, it can become the thing that we're known by the thing that defines us that whenever people see us, they see our failure that whenever people see you they see oh, you're your Tom's you're the one who dropped out of college. All right. Oh, you're the one who tried to start that business, and it failed. Oh, you're the one that your siblings are awesome. And you're that one that still lives at home? And you feel like a man is this? Is this my fingerprint? Is this how people see me? Is this how people see me is how people see me the Oh, I did things wrong. I'm the one who's divorced twice. And that's how people see me. They see me by those things. And that's how they labeled me and that's how they named me. And that's how they define me. We have a fear that failure will become our fingerprint. Honestly, it's kind of like we have a fear of becoming like Blockbuster. You see, I remember blockbuster when it was a party. I remember blockbuster whenever you went to Blockbuster. And it was a whole night man you go in see what's new hope that they have it. You know, if they don't wait around by the return to see if it comes in. I remember blockbuster being a whole experience. It'd been so much fun. And me and Jessica, whenever we were dating, we would go and get a movie, then go get pizza. And it was a whole date night, right? Like we love blockbusters. And so whenever I think about blockbuster, I think about memories. I think about memories. There's a whole generation coming up. All they know about blockbuster is it's a meme. It's a punch line. It's a joke, right? There's a picture that still circulates online every now and then of a tweet from the blockbuster account, saying millions of people are leaving Netflix every day, tweet, why you're leaving and hashtag buy by Netflix. And people post it every now and then to be like, Yeah, this is a freezing cold tank like they know Netflix is here and stronger than ever. You're gone. And now you're a punch line. People laugh whatever they think of blockbuster you use as an example of how not to do things. And there is a feel fear that we have that I have that that's exactly what failure will be like in our life, that we will be known as a punch line to people will be known as that kid as that person is that divorcee is that employee that's a fear that we have that fear well, that failure will become our fingerprint, how we failed in that business, how we failed in that marriage, how we failed at school, how we failed Jesus. And so if that is you, and chances are that's been you at some point, or it will be you at some point, I'm just trying to be as honest as I can be with you. Life. Being a Christian following Jesus does not mean an easy life. It just doesn't it doesn't mean everything works out for you that was never promised in Scripture. 11 of 12 Jesus's followers were killed for their faith in Jesus. So any idea that following him, it's just Oh, everything becomes so easy. That's not the case. Failure will find you. It will. But the good thing is there is an upside to down. That's the good news that there is an upside-down that we don't have to fear failure in the same way that other people do. There is an upside to down and it starts with this. It starts with realizing that that failure that you didn't see coming because we never see it coming right. You don't set out to do something expecting to fail. I have yet to marry a couple who expected to get divorced. I've yet to see someone by the peloton expecting it to become a coat hanger in the future. I don't haven't seen that happen yet. No one, no one sets out with failure as their focus that just doesn't happen. People set out expecting to succeed expecting to hit their goal. And then failure finds them in the midst of it. And here's the thing, that failure that surprised you. That failure that shocked you that seemed to rock your world that failure that you didn't see coming is the failure that God knew about when he called your name. He already knew about it. He already knew it was coming and it didn't stop him from loving you and from calling your name just like Peter. Peter denies Jesus they did this. It didn't surprise Jesus. It didn't shock Jesus. It didn't take him off guard Jesus was clutching his pearls going oh, I couldn't believe it. Not you, Peter like No, from anyone else, but you that didn't happen. It didn't surprise Jesus. Listen. So we just read from Mark chapter 14, verses 66 through 72. Listen to just about 40 verses earlier, the conversation between Jesus and his disciples. That's the exact same chapter, Mark chapter 14, starting in verse 27, Jesus tells His followers, you will all fall away, Jesus told them, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. Verse 29, Peter declares, Even if all fall away, I will not truly I tell you, Jesus answered today, yes, tonight before the rooster crows twice, you yourself will disown even knowing me three times. But Peter insisted emphatically no. Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.

See, Jesus knew. This didn't blindside him this didn't surprise him. This didn't shock him, Jesus knew this would happen. And he still called Peter. He's still eating with him. He still did live with him. He still equipped Peter, he still loved Peter, he did all of that, despite the fact knowing Peter would fail. And the same is true for you. And the same is true for me. God was not surprised by the way that you failed him. He wasn't surprised by that thing that you did that you feel like oh, I let God down. I like that. That didn't surprise him. It didn't shock him. It didn't throw him off and go, Well, I did have a plan for your life. But now, I don't know what I'm gonna do me the Holy Spirit and Jesus, rather talk this thing out and figure out what we're going to do with you. Now. That's not happening. That's not happening. God knew about your faith failure, and he still called you. That's because God knows there is an end of the story that you don't see. So he still calls you. He still calls you. And the fact of the matter is a failure in our life. Whether it is final, or whether it is fleeting, gets to be our choice. It's up to us. It's up to us if we're going to allow failure to be it and be That's all she wrote. And it's the end of our story, or will it be fleeting? will it just be part of our story? That is our choice is up to us. And the bad news about that is a lot of us are terrible storytellers. We tell ourselves all the wrong stories, don't we? Oh, my goodness. I mean, that's, it's honestly, it's one of the biggest reasons we fight with each other because we're telling each other stories about the other person about our situation. And we're telling the wrong story. We're terrible, terrible storytellers. We get mixed up all the time. And we really get it mixed up. Whenever it comes to failure. Routinely, we see failure as the conclusion of our story. Well, that's the end of that chapter. That's the end of that book. That's the end of that movie. It's done. It's over. credits roll. That's it. And God is saying, you think that's a conclusion. Um,

that's a climax. Like, the story is ramping up, and you're deciding to cut it off and say, That's it. Man, you drew a terrible storyteller. You're a terrible storyteller, I am trying to do something in your life. Yes, even in the midst of that failure. If you cut it off right there and try to put a conclusion where I'm putting a climax, you're going to miss some good stuff, you're going to miss the things that I want to do in your life and through your life. That's why God still calls our name, even though he knows our failure because he knows what's on the other side of that failure. We don't. But he knows. Peter had no idea was on the other side of his failure. But Jesus knew. God knows what's on the other side. That's why God still calls us because he knows that our failure does not have to be the end, he knows that we need to know that. We need to know that we need to internalize that truth and stop putting conclusions where God is putting a climax. With that divorce. Don't put a conclusion where God puts a climax with a disagreement with death with a divided with dysfunction in your life. Stop putting conclusion stop saying this the end of that story when God is saying no, no, no, I'm building up to something. I'm doing something. Allow me to write the story. It's not over. So with that in mind, no matter where you've been, no matter what you've done, and not just where you've been, and what you've done, no matter where you currently are, no matter what you're currently doing. It's not over. God is still calling your name. He's still calling your name and your failure doesn't have to be final. It's your choice. If it's final or fleeting. That means if failure gets to be my fingerprint or not if it gets to be the thing that I am known by or not. That's up to me. Like, think about that the failures in your life do not get to name you or define you unless you give them permission to, you got to sign the slip. Like there's no failure in your life that gets to become the thing that you are known for unless you allow it to be that way. Because that choice is up to us failure doesn't get to become my fingerprint without my permission. And can I just say that's exactly what the enemy wants? Like, that's exactly the story he wants you to tell. When you put that conclusion in the middle of your story. He's beautiful, awesome, that's exactly how I would write it, too. I'm so glad you decided to end the story, right there. Let's stop getting an agreement with our enemy. Let's stop it. Let's stop getting an agreement with our enemy. And realize that the failures in our story are not the end. God still calls our name, our failure never has to be the end. I love this so much. We're just gonna skip ahead to chapters in the book of Mark. So Jesus was arrested, Jesus was tried, Peter denied even knowing him three times Jesus was executed. And then three days later, this is where we pick up in Mark chapter 16, verse one, when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices so that they could go to anoint Jesus's body. Very early, on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb, and they asked each other, who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb. But when they looked up, they saw that the stone which was very large of enrolled away, as they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. Don't be alarmed, he said, you're looking for Jesus, the Nazarene who was crucified, He has risen. He is not here, see the place where they laid him. And then here it is, verse seven, this is our key verse. But go tell his disciples, and Peter, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. And there you will see him just as he told you.

I love that. I love that. Jesus didn't have to do that. He could have just said, Hey, go tell my disciples, this is where I'm going. This is where I'll meet him. He could have just said that. Jesus made an explicit point to call out Peter by name. The same Peter, who denied knowing Jesus by name. I've never even heard of that guy before. I've never even heard of that name. Who are you talking about? Jesus, I don't even understand what you're talking about here. At this moment. Jesus is saying, even in the midst of your failure, even in the midst of you denying my name, I'm still calling your name. I'm still letting you know that I love you. And I want you and I want you to have the best future you can possibly have Jesus still called Peters's name, not just before Peters's failure, but after it. Anyone can talk a big game beforehand. We can all talk about how hypothetically we would handle situations until we're actually in it. Right? All of us are perfect. Oh, I know how I'd handle that. Oh, I know exactly what I would do. Oh, I wouldn't overreact. Oh, no, I'd be so gracious and loving. And then we're in it. And we're like the complete opposite here. Jesus knew beforehand, Peter, you're gonna disown me, I'm still gonna love you saw it happen. And then after it was over, I said, Hey, exactly what I said is exactly what I'm going to do. I still love you. Even though I saw you deny me even though I saw you show zero love and loyalty to me at that moment, I still love you so much that I went to the cross for you at that moment. And I'm welcoming you back in, you're going to have the same dinner everybody else has tonight. I'm not giving you less, you're gonna have the same love for me the same trust from me that everybody else has. That's the kind of God that we serve. That's who Jesus is. He's a God who does not define us by our failure. And that is so core to understanding what we're talking about in this series, The upside of down because if you don't believe that a failure isn't the end. Like if you can't get on board with that, then yeah, failure. It just That's it. Right? There is no upside down, then there's just down. There's just agony. There's just depression. There's just that didn't work out. There's just I have nowhere to turn. I don't know what I'm going to do. Without them. I don't know what I'm going to do without this job. That's all that is there then. If you truly believe that failure is final, and maybe that's why you're here today. Maybe that's why you're watching online. Today. Because you've been there you've thought failure is finding you are here because God wants you to know that is not the truth. That with him but with God. Nothing is ever over to not put a conclusion where God wants to put a climax. So the question is for us, the question is for us, will we bounce back? Will we bounce back? Or will we choose to see our failure as the end of our story? Because you Peter isn't the only name that's thrown around in this story of Jesus and His rest. His crucifixion. Do you know who else played a pretty big part that night? Judas, two men with stories that were eerily similar, both close to Jesus, both let him down in gigantic ways, but one betrayed him, one denied him. But were one sawn ending 100

Judas saw that was the end of his story. I have betrayed Jesus, I have let him down in such a massive way, there is nothing beyond this moment for me, there is nothing here for me. And he killed himself. He committed suicide, he took his own life because he believed this is the conclusion I'm going to be known by this failure, I'm going to be known as the person who betrayed Jesus and handed him over to be executed. Can you even begin to imagine the testimony of Judas wouldn't have killed himself? Can you even begin to imagine what it would have been like for Sunday morning for him to encounter the risen Jesus? And that testimony that would have been, he had no idea what the story would play out to be like he thought his failure was the end. And so he cut his life short. And sure enough, how do we know Judas today? We know him by his failure. That's exactly how we know. Because he decided to end his story to put his conclusion where God was saying, this is a climax, Judas, you have no idea what I'm trying to do with your story, you have no idea what's on the other side of this if you can just see it through. If you can just endure if you can understand there can be an upside to down even the greatest down that's ever been committed, betraying the Son of God, there's even an upside to that I can work even that for good. But Judas couldn't see it. Peter, on the other hand, endured. Peter, on the other hand, was able to get through to the other side. And he got to see how the story played out. Listen to this, this is just in closing here in our last minutes together. This is from the book of Acts, what I'm about to read takes place about 45 to 50 days after Jesus's resurrection. So Jesus has been resurrected, about 40 to 45 days later, Jesus's disciples are gathering together in Jerusalem, they feel the Holy Spirit, come in their presence. And then Peter starts to address the crowd that is there on the streets in Jerusalem. And this is what he says, Keep in mind, this is the same exact man who 45 days earlier, was scared of a child saying, Hey, you were with Jesus, a servant girl, saying, Hey, you were Jesus, and it scared him, scared him. He said, I don't know who you're even talking about and called curses down upon here, that same man who was afraid to be known by Jesus name, 45 days later in the same city, where Jesus was killed, preaches a sermon that contains these following words. fellow Israelites listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man credited by God to you by miracles, signs, and wonders which God did among you through him. As you yourselves know, this man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge and you, with the help of wicked men put Him to death by nailing him on a cross. But God has raised Him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Brothers, Repent and be baptized, every single one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the Holy Spirit. Do you think for a second, that Peter saw this part of his story on that Thursday night when he betrayed Jesus? Do you think Peter had any idea that this would be in his future? Three, Scripture tells us 3000 People were added to the church that day 3000 He couldn't have even imagined that being in his story. On that night when he denied Jesus multiple times, you hear the rooster crowd, he breaks down and he's weeping on Friday when he sees Jesus die the most agonizing death you could die. Nine hours suffocating to death on a cross as nails have pierced his hands. He's been flogged as he sees all this stuff. Do you think he could have even remotely pictured that one day this would be happening? Absolutely not? Absolutely not.

Because the failure can seem and look so final. But with God, every good Friday has a Resurrection Sunday, if we can just believe, right if we can just believe that it can actually happen. And that's the thing. God has made a way for us to get through that failure to get through that moment and that way is Jesus. That way is Jesus Because on the surface level when you look at failure in your life, it really just looks like failure. That's why we have faith to believe. Now, this is part of a bigger story, part of a bigger narrative that God is telling. And this will not be the end, and won't be the end, I believe. And I'm trusting Jesus through the midst of this, that on the other side, there's part of my story that I can't even begin to imagine how incredible it's going to be. But I'm having faith and I am trusting that this failure is not the end of my story. And that is how it is with God. Failure never gets to be the end of the story with him ever. Failure never gets the final word unless we choose for it to get the final word. But we, man, if we put our trust in Jesus, we trust him to truly be the way to get us from failure to success, from death to life. Everything changes, everything changes. Now, here's what I'll say. There are some of us who just don't believe that, right? Right there. I mean, some of us just don't believe that no failure is final like this. Is it like this is it? Maybe you're someone you've never put your trust in Jesus. And so failure is final for you like it's just, it is right? Sure. Maybe there are some lessons that you feel like you can learn from failure. And oh, yeah, I'll put this into practice. But really no failure is a failure. There's no, there's no grander story that's happening here. There's no grander story. There's no grander narrative. It's just now I just failed. And I guess I just got to figure out how to make it best the next time around, hopefully, right? I mean, tell you that, that's That's no way to live. That's no way to live. You miss it. You miss what God could be doing with your life on such a grander scale. And on top of that, do you think it all relies on you? Again, I can't speak for anybody else. I can only speak for myself, I do not want the success of my life, both in the present and in the internal to rely on me. And my hard work, and my will. And will man I just I hustle. Good for you. How far will that get you? failure comes for everybody. Tom Brady, I can remember watching an interview with him even in the midst of his success before he even had a failure, even at the height of it saying is this it? Like I've been to the mountaintop, I've won the Super Bowl three times now. And there's still part of me that goes, it's this really it as someone who has achieved the absolute pinnacle of his career, and he's still wondered that. Right? Someone who hadn't really tasted a ton of failure, and he still wondered that. For those of us who are having a failure in our life, man, I want to let you know, even the person who seems to have none is going you know what, I'm still missing something here. I'm still missing something. Because I know there's supposed to be a grander narrative. And I'm just not playing my part in it. And if that is you, I want to pray for you today. I want to pray for you today, if you will, let's bow our heads together. And let's pray heavenly father, we are so thankful for the greater story that you are writing in the world.

How crazy for us to think it's just us. No, no, you've, you've been telling this story since the dawn of creation, and you're telling it now today, and we get to play a part in it, how incredible that is that you take everything, every aspect of the story, even the failures, and you can work them for good. Even the failures don't get to be the end of the story, even Good Friday, which looked like the end of Jesus's story just became the climax and just the initiator for the amazing things that he was going to do after he rose again. So God helps us to believe the same thing in our own story, that our failures are not the end. And then if we trust in you, there can be an upside to down. God, I pray this moment for anyone in the house today, anyone watching online, who doesn't know that truth, who's not experienced yet that you truly are the upside of down that you truly are the way to move from failure to fulfilling future it only comes through you. God, I ask anyone who isn't there yet today that at this moment, you would be warming their heart and drawing them to you that they would feel their need for you in such a real tangible way. And God that they would pray today Heavenly Father, I know that I have failed. I know I can't be perfect. None of us can. And so what I asked today God is that you would forgive me of my failures, forgive me of my sin. And help me to start telling a new story from this day forward a story that is not marked by failure, but as marked by your faithfulness. I'm going to trust in that I'm going to trust in your faithfulness. And so as I take every step from this day forward, every face that I experience. I know it won't be the end because you called my name and you are faithful and you are faithful to the end. And I thank you for that. God, I asked that everyone who was praying that prayer today that they would experience your faithfulness in such a real tangible way today and this week that they would feel the difference that you make in their heart and their life. And God, I pray for all of us as we leave this place that we would be able to see with your eyes that we would be able to see as you see so that we can see failure for exactly what it is not a conclusion, but always, always, always a climax and the greatest story that you're telling. We love you, Father, we pray all of this in your name.