John 21:1-25 - The Restoration of the King

We’ve seen Jesus do some amazing things like turning water into wine, multiplying bread and fish, giving sight to a man who was born blind, raising a man from the dead after he had been dead for three days.

We even saw how Jesus was arrested and killed, and after three days he rose from the dead, too.

But we’ve also seen some spectacular failures in some of the people Jesus interacted with.

The religious leaders went so far as to break God’s Law in order to get rid of Jesus,

Jesus’ own brothers mocked him,

Nathanael was skeptical of anything good coming out of Nazareth where Jesus was from,

Thomas was fatalistic and doubted Jesus’ resurrection power,

Judas helped himself to the group’s money and then betrayed Jesus to the religious leaders,

and Peter was so scared after Jesus got arrested that he shamefully denied association with him three times.

The backdrop for this last chapter of John’s gospel is Peter’s past failure, his denial of Jesus that John recorded back in chapter 18.

That failure made Peter want to quit, to give up, to go back to fishing even though he loved Jesus so much.

Have you ever failed at something so bad that it made you want to quit?

Maybe a relationship, or a job, or even something as trivial as a board game or video game.

God knows that we usually want to quit when we fail, so he showed us in John 21 how he restored one of the greatest spiritual failures back to gospel ministry.

We’re going to see three aspects of the continuing mission of Jesus that we are called to pursue in spite of our failures just like Peter was.

After Peter failed by denying Jesus three times, he was restored to gospel ministry by Jesus himself.

That ministry, continuing Jesus’ mission, is accomplished and continued by: 1) relying on Jesus’ provision, 2) loving him by caring for each other, and 3) pursuing the truth of his Word.

So, let’s read verses 1-14 to see the first aspect of Jesus’ continuing mission, restoration to ministry that relies on Jesus’ provision.

John 21:1-14 says this:

John 21:1–3 ESV

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

John 21:4–6 ESV

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.

John 21:7–8 ESV

That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

John 21:9–11 ESV

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.

John 21:12–14 ESV

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

So, here we can all identify with Peter…

In spite of your failures Jesus calls you to Rely on His Provision (1-14)

This final chapter of John’s gospel account begins with a third appearance of Jesus to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, aka the Sea of Galilee.

But it wasn’t to all of his disciples.

He only appeared here to seven of the eleven remaining disciples.

Seven of them including a few that had some pretty significant doubts and denials during Jesus’ time on earth.

Three named disciples, two identified but nameless, and two unidentified.

The two unidentified disciples are kind of irrelevant to the story, but they were probably the other Galilee natives.

The two identified but nameless disciples were the sons of Zebedee, John (the author of this gospel account) and his brother James.

But the three named disciples were the three with the most severe failures.

Nathanael of Cana in Galilee doubted that anything good could come out of Nazareth when Philip told him about Jesus back in John 1:46.

Thomas, called the twin, doubted Jesus’ resurrection in the previous chapter, in John 20:25, and he doubted Jesus’ resurrection power back in John 11:16 when he fatalistically said “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

And Peter, the primary focus of this chapter, chapter 21, failed even more than all the others when he denied his association with Jesus three times back in chapter 18.

His denial came about because he was relying on his own strength rather than relying on Jesus.

But it was also because he was loving himself rather than loving Jesus, and he was pursuing his own idea of what the Christ would be and do rather than pursuing the truth of God’s Word and what Jesus had clearly explained.

So, John begins this final chapter of his gospel account by bringing up the names of the most notorious disciples, and others who were from Galilee.

Then John says that Simon Peter decided to go fishing instead of spreading the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, and the other disciples who were with him decided to follow him.

They decided to do what they knew how to do, what they were comfortable doing instead of what Jesus told them to do.

Jesus had told them all that he was sending them just like the Father had sent him.

They were supposed to be on mission, but they went fishing.

And that night they didn’t catch anything.

When you refuse to do what God has clearly told you to do, he disciplines you to get you back on track.

I can’t help but think of Jonah here.

He also refused to do what God told him to do, and God disciplined him by appointing a giant fish to swallow him and then spit him out once he repented and agreed to do what God told him to do.

Peter and these other disciples got off easy, their discipline was just not catching any fish instead of getting swallowed by one.

Well, just as dawn was approaching, and they were coming back in to shore to clean up after their failed fishing trip, a man called out from the shore asking if they had caught anything.

We know that this man was Jesus, but they didn’t probably because of the dim light and the distance.

Verse 4 says that this was just as day was breaking, and verse 8 says that they were about 100 yards from the shore.

Have you ever tried to recognize someone in the early morning twilight when they were the length of a football field away from you?

So, Jesus called out to them and asked if they had caught anything.

Our translation says that Jesus called them Children, but the feel of the Greek is more like calling them “Guys.”

“Hey guys! You got any fish?!”

But they didn’t, and they were probably a bit frustrated with their failure at something they were normally good at, so they just answered, “no.”

Then Jesus gave them some fishing advice that probably didn’t make sense to these seasoned fishermen.

“Throw your net on the right side of the boat, then you will catch some fish.”

They had been out there all night, throwing their nets all over the massive lake.

And now this random guy on the shore has the audacity to suggest throwing the net on the right side of the boat.

This is a ridiculous suggestion, but one that the frustrated and tired disciples ended up trying since nothing else had worked that night.

Surprise!

It worked, they caught so many fish that they weren’t able to haul in the net!

And this miracle catch sparked something in John’s mind.

That guy who suggested throwing their net on the right side of the boat… he wasn’t just some random guy… that must have been Jesus.

So, he told Peter, and Peter was so excited to see Jesus again that he grabbed his cloak and jumped into the water and swam to shore instead of waiting for the boat to come in.

Peter loved Jesus so much that he wanted to be with him sooner than later.

But he also left his fellow disciples to deal with the heavy catch of fish.

The other disciples came in the boat dragging the catch of fish, but it didn’t take them too long because they were close to the shore, about 100 yards.

A relatively long distance to recognize someone, but a short distance to drag a catch of fish.

Jesus had miraculously provided them with a massive catch of fish when they as experienced fishermen couldn’t do it for themselves.

This is how Jesus got their attention in a multilayered way.

Jesus provided when their own effort was inadequate, and he provided miraculously so they would rely on him and realize that what they were trying to go back to was not what he wanted for them to do.

Well, once they all got to shore they saw that Jesus had made a charcoal fire to cook them some breakfast.

But Jesus asked them to add to the meal some of the fish he had provided for them to catch.

Notice how when Jesus provides for them he also asks them to contribute as well.

He provided the fish but had the disciples throw the net and pull in the catch.

He provided breakfast but had them add to it some of their catch.

So, Simon Peter was eager to obey now that Jesus is present with him, and he immediately got up and went to haul the net ashore to get some fish like Jesus had asked.

And here John gives us some interesting details about the catch that Jesus miraculously provided.

The fish weren’t normal fish, they were large fish, they were big, and there was 153 of them.

There isn’t anything significant about that particular number.

But it does prove John’s eye-witness account.

Perhaps he himself was so amazed at how many fish there were that he decided to count them.

And 153 large fish would have normally torn the nets, but they held fast, Jesus made sure that the nets would hold.

We can assume that Peter brought back some of the fish after he brought them to shore, and Jesus invited them all to eat breakfast with him.

But none of them dared to ask him who he was since they knew it was Jesus.

It’s curious to me why John thought it necessary to include this detail about the disciples not daring to ask Jesus if it was really him.

The question they dared not ask was simply, “Who are you?”

But they knew the answer already, so why would they feel compelled but dare not ask it?

I think they felt compelled to ask because most of them had a tendency to doubt, remember Nathanael and Thomas were there.

But I think none of them dared to ask because they were caught just like all of their fish.

They were supposed to be fishers of men now, but they went back to fishing for fish.

Jesus caught them running away from their mission, and I think most of them are a bit ashamed here.

So, they dared not ask Jesus anything, even voicing their doubt that they were probably a bit ashamed of as well.

But Jesus met them in their shame and served them.

He loved them and cared for them by feeding them breakfast.

Just like he loved them and cared for them by taking their sin and shame on the cross.

This third appearance of Jesus to his disciples in John’s account was much the same as the first two.

The first one he reminded them of their mission being sent as the Father had sent Jesus, and their provision of the Holy Spirit.

The second one he addressed Thomas’ doubt and called them all to believe.

Those two appearances resulted in these disciples not pursuing the mission and relying on their own provision, so Jesus showed up a third time to kick them lovingly into gear.

He subtly reminded them of their mission to spread the gospel to catch men rather than spreading their nets to catch fish.

And he reminded them that his provision of the Holy Spirit is what would accomplish the mission as they faithfully did what he called them to do.

So, the first aspect of the mission Peter was restored to was a mission that relies on Jesus’ provision.

Jesus gave these disciples a physical picture of his spiritual provision.

They couldn’t do the one thing they thought they were good at without his provision.

Just like they and we won’t be able to accomplish the continuation of Jesus’ mission of salvation without relying on his provision of the Holy Spirit.

Trying to do it in our own strength is useless and it will make us want to quit even more than our personal failures.

But doing it in Jesus’ strength, with his provision, in the power of the Holy Spirit, will energize you and make all your personal failures irrelevant.

Next, in verses 15-19, we’re going to see the second aspect of Jesus’ continuing mission, restoration to a ministry of love for Jesus by caring for each other no matter the cost.

John 21:15-19 says this:

John 21:15–16 ESV

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

John 21:17 ESV

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

John 21:18–19 ESV

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Again, we can all identify with Peter here…

In spite of your failures Jesus calls you to Love Him by Caring for Each Other (15-19)

After breakfast Jesus focused on Peter, he focused specifically on restoring Peter in light of his three-fold denial back in chapter 18.

Remember the charcoal fire Jesus was cooking breakfast on?

I think John wants us to see that charcoal fire and remember the charcoal fire the soldiers and officers were warming themselves by back in chapter 18.

Peter had already denied Jesus once with the servant girl at the door, but immediately after that he went to a charcoal fire and stood with the soldiers and officers warming himself.

And in his interaction with those soldiers and officers around that charcoal fire, Peter denied Jesus two more times.

I wonder if Peter saw the charcoal fire and thought of that night, too.

That night was probably on his mind a lot because that’s what we do with our significant failures, isn’t it.

We replay them over and over, beating ourselves up mentally and emotionally.

But Jesus didn’t want Peter to keep beating himself up, he wanted him to remember and let go because of the forgiveness that Peter already has.

Jesus addressed Peter by his old name, Simon, as if gently rebuking Peter for acting like his old self going back to his old way of life.

But, again, he didn’t want Peter to stay there wallowing in self-pity, he wanted him to see where he was and be restored to where he ought to be.

So Jesus asked him, “Simon, do you love me more than these?”

This question might have stung a bit as if Jesus was really questioning Peter’s love for him.

And the question Jesus asked here was a comparison, “do you love me MORE than these?”

These most likely refers to the other disciples who had just finished breakfast with them.

These other disciples who had their doubts and failures, but none of them had denied Jesus.

Now, Peter’s denial of Jesus was motivated by his own self-love.

It indicated that Peter loved himself more than he loved Jesus.

So, the question Jesus asked him was basically, did you learn your lesson?

Have you learned to love me more than you love yourself?

Have you learned to love me like these other disciples do?

And Peter’s answer, from the shame of his failure, is an act of repentance.

He said, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”

Now, this is not a prideful response claiming to love Jesus more than all the other disciples.

His answer didn’t even address the comparison in Jesus’ question.

This is a humble response claiming to love Jesus in spite of his previous failure which revealed his lack of love for Jesus.

It’s a response that indicates that he did, in fact, learn his lesson.

And it focuses more on Jesus’ knowledge of Peters love more than Peter’s claim to love.

Lord, YOU know that I love you.

He didn’t even try to prove it.

He knows that Jesus knows it.

Then Jesus responded to Peter’s answer as a personal reminder to continue the mission.

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

This is sort of like an if-then statement.

Peter, if you love me, and you do, then feed my lambs.

Jesus is saying that the best way to show your love for him is to take care of what he cares for.

He’s used the metaphor of sheep and a shepherd before, and here it has the same meaning.

He’s the shepherd, and all of his followers, all of his disciples, all who have put their faith in him, are his sheep, his lambs.

The best way to love Jesus is to care for other believers.

John reiterated this point in 1 John 3:17 “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”

And again in 1 John 4:20 “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

Love Jesus by loving what Jesus loves… love each other!

Well, because Peter denied Jesus in his self-love three times, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him.

The second time, Jesus didn’t use a comparison, and simply asked, “Do you love me?”

And Peter responded the exact same way, “Lord, you know that I love you.”

And Jesus answered similarly, “Tend my sheep.”

Shepherd my sheep.

Care for those I care about.

Love others, not just yourself.

And the third time Jesus asked Peter if he loved him it grieved Peter.

I don’t think Peter understood the significance of what Jesus was doing here.

Jesus was forgiving Peter for each of his denials, and telling him what he ought to do now that he has repented.

Very often confession and repentance can be painful because its much easier and less painful to just ignore our sin and pretend it didn’t happen.

But this pain, this grief over our sin is necessary and healing so that we can be at peace on the other side of it.

So that we can actually move on from it.

Peter responded the third time by appealing to Jesus’ omniscience.

He said, “You know everything, you know that I love you.”

Again, he didn’t try to prove it, he humbly stated his repentance and appealed to Jesus knowing everything to prove it.

And Jesus answered a third time that Peter ought to feed Jesus’ sheep as a continuing act of love for him.

But loving and caring for Jesus’ flock isn’t an easy cushy job, it’s hard work, and for Peter it would mean giving his life as a martyr.

Jesus gave Peter a prophetic glimpse of what this mission of love would cost him.

Jesus’ words are a little difficult to pin down because they’re prophetic.

He said, “When you were young you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”

Rather than trying to figure out exactly what all of Jesus’ words here mean, I think we ought to leave it at John’s inspired interpretation and significance.

John says in verse 19 that Jesus said this to show by what kind of death Peter was to glorify God.

We might have all kinds of disagreements and odd ideas about what each detail of Jesus’ prophecy here means or signifies, but none of that was why John included it in his gospel account.

He included it here because Jesus told Peter how he would die glorifying God.

Where he had denied Jesus out of self-love in order to avoid dying like Jesus, after this restoration to ministry Peter would boldly and lovingly claim association with Jesus unto death.

And after Jesus encouraged Peter with the assurance of his love and faithfulness, he said, “Follow me.”

This may have indicated Jesus and Peter getting up and walking down the beach, Jesus simply telling Peter literally to follow him as they walked together.

But I think this statement had more significance than that.

Peter had claimed that he would follow Jesus even unto death back in chapter 13.

Jesus had told his disciples that he was going away.

And in John 13:36–38 “Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.”

Peter wanted to follow, but his self-love prevented him from following and resulted in his denial of Jesus.

Now Jesus has forgiven him and restored him to ministry and encouraged him that he will follow him unto a God-glorifying death because of his love for him and his care for his flock, the church.

So, the first aspect of the mission Peter was restored to was a mission that relies on Jesus’ provision.

And the second aspect was a mission of loving Jesus by loving each other.

Jesus redeemed Peter’s previous three denials by recommissioning him three times to love him by caring for his flock, other believers, brothers and sisters in Christ.

And this loving care would result in persecution, even Peter’s own martyrdom, following Jesus in a God-glorifying death.

It’s a high cost, but it’s worth it, Jesus is worth it, because he has loved you so much.

Finally, in verses 20-25 we’re going to see the third aspect of Jesus’ continuing mission, restoration to a ministry that pursues the truth of his Word.

John 21:20-25 says this:

John 21:20–21 ESV

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”

John 21:22–23 ESV

Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”

John 21:24–25 ESV

This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

One more time, here, we can all identify with Peter…

In spite of your failures Jesus calls you to Pursue the Truth of His Word (20-25)

I think Peter understood what Jesus was telling him.

He understood that Jesus meant that he would die for his faith some time in the future, that he would follow Jesus in dying like a criminal because he dared to love Jesus and care for his flock.

But he turned around and saw John following them.

The same guy who Peter got to ask Jesus who would betray him.

The same guy who was so close to Jesus that he sat right next to him at that dinner.

John was close to both Jesus and Peter, so it makes sense that Peter would want to know if John would also follow Jesus unto death like he would.

And Jesus’ answer is basically, mind your own business.

“If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.”

Don’t look for courage or steadfastness in the face of persecution by comparing yourself to others.

Keep your focus on Jesus, on his Word.

Another reason why Peter ended up denying Jesus three times is that he had based his courage on his own presuppositions about what the Christ would do and be and not on the truth of God’s Word or what Jesus had clearly revealed.

Jesus was supposed to suffer and die for the sins of the world and rise again three days later.

He was supposed to conquer sin and death, not Rome.

He was supposed to usher in a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly one, not yet anyway.

So when Jesus was arrested, Peter’s courage faltered because it wasn’t based on the truth of God’s Word, it wasn’t based on what Jesus had clearly revealed to him, it was based on his false assumptions.

And that is the very situation that John speaks into in verse 23.

John’s original audience had heard a rumor that he wouldn’t die before Jesus came back.

A rumor that was based on what Jesus had said to Peter here, but it got bent out of shape over time like the game of telephone.

A dangerous rumor because people were putting their hope for Jesus’ return on the length of John’s life instead of putting their hope in God’s Word.

John knew that if he died before Jesus came back, then the people who believed this false rumor would have their faith shaken to its core like Peter did.

So he takes the time here at the end of his gospel account to set the record straight.

Jesus didn’t say John wasn’t going to die.

He said, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”

It’s an if-then statement.

The “if” side is something that may or may not actually be a reality.

We’ve got to base our hope on something more concrete than something that may or may not be a reality.

We’ve got to base it on the absolute truth of God’s Word.

And his Word says that no one will know the day or the hour when Jesus will come back.

We can see the signs and be ready when it does happen, but we cannot pinpoint it ahead of time.

We are not supposed to know exactly when Jesus will come back, and our hope in his coming cannot be based on something as superficial as a rumor about the length of one disciple’s life.

Our hope is based on God’s Word alone.

God’s Word which reveals some of what will happen when Jesus comes back so that we’ll look forward to it.

But it leaves out the exact timing so that we will live as if Jesus is coming back any minute.

Well, John concludes his gospel account by attesting to the truth of it and reminding us of its limited scope.

Verse 24 is how we know that the disciple whom Jesus loved is also the author.

Peter had asked Jesus about the disciple whom Jesus loved back in verses 20 and 21.

And now John says, that was me.

And he claims that his testimony is true, his eye-witness testimony that agrees with history and it agrees with the other testimonies.

There’s nothing that ought to cast any doubt on the truth of what John has written here.

In verse 25 John reminds us that he carefully selected certain things that Jesus did for his gospel account.

It’s an eternally significant, but necessarily narrow slice of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

In the previous chapter he told us exactly why he recorded these specific signs that Jesus did, so that we would believe that Jesus is the Christ, and in believing we would have life in his name.

Now we get another side of that same argument.

Just because John only recorded these few signs, we ought not to think that Jesus only did these things and nothing more.

Jesus’ ministry on earth was so impactful, so earth shattering, so glorious, he did so many other things that we couldn’t ever record them all or even read them all if they were somehow recorded.

Don’t let this narrow slice of Jesus’ life narrow your view of how much Jesus has done.

Don’t base your hope on the assumption that this is all Jesus did.

Base it on the truth of who Jesus is, as he is revealed in God’s Word.

Conclusion

So, Peter had a pretty significant failure.

He denied Jesus three times because he was relying on his own effort rather than relying on Jesus’ provision, he was loving himself rather than loving others, and he was basing his hope on his false assumptions rather than basing it on the word of God and Jesus’ clear explanation of it.

And Jesus restored him from his failure by addressing each of those aspects of his denial.

From Jesus’ restoration of Peter we can also see how he restores us back to the mission when we fail in sin.

He reminds us to rely on his provision, he reminds us to love each other as an act of love for him no matter the cost, and he reminds us to base our hope on his Word.

So, when you fail, and you will because we’re all human, remember how Peter was restored and do likewise.

Our failures, our sins, can make us want to quit like Peter.

But Jesus doesn’t want you to quit, he wants you to repent and keep going.

And remember this when you haven’t failed, too, so that you can hopefully avoid falling into sin as much as possible.

Keep pursuing the mission relying on his provision, loving each other with his love, and basing your hope on the clear Word of God.

If you aren’t a believer yet, then you may have a lot of sin a lot of failure, but Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is enough to forgive even the worst sinner.

Jesus is calling you to repent, to turn from your sin and believe in him for forgiveness so that you can avoid your just punishment and live with him forever.

All you need to do is confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.

Jesus is Lord whether you confess it or not, but confessing it means that you have surrendered to his authority.

And God really did raise him from the dead whether you believe it or not, but believing it means that you now live in light of it.

So, if you believe then tell God in prayer that you believe, and tell us, too, so we can rejoice with you over your new life and so that we can help you to live in light of Jesus’ authority and his death and resurrection.

Pray

Father, thank you for this encouragement to confess our sins our failures to be reconciled and to be restored to your mission.

I pray that you would help us remember this when we fail, so that we won’t want to give up, so that we won’t want to quit.

Help us remember to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ provision for us.

Help us to love each other as the best expression of our love for Jesus, our love for you, for how much you have loved us.

Help us trust in your Word and not our presuppositions or assumptions about how we think things ought to be.

Lord, help us to remember these things and keep going, keep pursuing the mission, keep loving people with your love in the gospel.

We can’t do it on our own, we need you.

So, please help us, empower us, remind us, and work through us to see people come to new life by faith in your Son, Jesus.

And to see our brothers and sisters in Christ grow in their knowledge and love for you.

We thank you, and praise you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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