Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”
Our Bible verse for today: “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it.” Matthew 16:18 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Great men and women of God are not defeated by failure.”
There is some debate among Bible scholars regarding exactly what Jesus meant in Matthew 16:18 when He said, “and on this rock I will build My church.” Some believe that here Jesus identified Peter as the leader upon which He would launch the new Christian faith. Others believe that Jesus was actually referring to the example of faith Peter had just demonstrated in verse 17. If that was case then it was upon faith like Peter’s that the new church would be built.
Either way, there’s no arguing the fact that Peter went on to become an important leader in the new faith and a towering figure in Biblical history. That’s pretty remarkable considering how miserably and how often Peter failed.
One of the reasons Peter is such a beloved Biblical figure is because he is so much like us. Peter was always messing up. He was constantly saying things he shouldn’t have said, doing things impulsively, and failing when he should have been succeeding. Yup, pretty much like me.
Read Peter’s story through the Gospels and the book of Acts and you will find him speaking when he should have been silent (MT 16:23); being silent when he should have been speaking (JN 18:17); sleeping when he should have been praying (LK 22:46); lying (LK 22:57); being a hypocrite (Gal 2:12); just to cite a few examples.
But what’s truly fascinating about Peter’s life is the character development that occurred as a result of his mistakes and failures. Even though he failed miserably on numerous occasions, and even though he was publically rebuked and corrected numerous times by both Jesus and Paul, Peter never let his failures defeat him. He always hung in there, he always worked through it, he corrected his behavior, and he kept going.
There’s an important lesson in Peter’s example for us. From time to time we will all fail, sometimes in spectacular and embarrassing ways. But failure can become the smelting furnace in which God refines us, removing the impurities and flaws from our heart and soul, and forging steel into our character.
That’s what happened to Peter and that’s the primary reason he went on to become the man he ultimately was. He never gave up. He had a humble enough spirit to acknowledge his failures and to accept correction. Then he changed his ways and moved on with life as a better, stronger, and more spiritually mature man.
But here’s another important point – Peter did not deny his failures. He didn’t attempt to excuse or rationalize or blame others. He accepted responsibility for what he had done, he was remorseful about it, and he was willing to be corrected.
Great men and women of God aren’t defeated by their failures. Instead they learn from them and use them as a catalyst to become better and stronger. I encourage you to accept your failures and disappointments in life as an opportunity to learn and grow. If you do that, then your failures become stepping stones that lead you to success.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 