I’m speaking to you today from Mapleshade, New Jersey. But our guest here today is speaking from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Many of you have heard Joseph Mueller speak at a workshop at the Thee Generation Youth Summit. Coming up here, by the way, this October 17 to 19, 2018, make sure you sign up on TheGeneration.org. But Joe’s also spoken on the podcast here before. And, you know, I know that whenever Joe speaks, you need to listen up because something wise and faith stirring is going to come out of his mouth. So I know he’s going to be a blessing to you here today. So, Joe, take it away.

Well, thank you, Brother Bosler. I appreciate this opportunity to be back on the podcast. Once again, I count it a real privilege and just so thankful for what God’s doing through the V generation, through the podcast in my own heart. And I’m thankful for these recent episodes dealing with really opening our mouth, being bold with the gospel. And that’s exactly what we need right in this hour. That’s what I need, and so thankful for that. As we look at the Word of God today, I want to just ask you this question. Have you ever really blown it? I know I have. I mean, really messed things up. You made a decision and just totally messed things up. Maybe not even just for yourself, but for other people too. And I can think of one particular situation that I was working on a website a couple of years ago and making a change in the hosting service and so forth. And in so doing, I made just a little change, really, just changed a few numbers around. But in so doing, I completely shut down the email accounts for our entire church staff. And literally, if they couldn’t receive emails, nobody could send emails. If an email got sent to them that said, this email is not deliverable to the sender or whoever. And so literally that one little decision totally for about 24 hours shut down the email service for everyone on our church staff. And that was a pretty big mistake, and I really blew it. And I remember thinking, boy, they’re probably going to tell me don’t ever touch anything with the website again because I just totally blew this one. And thankfully they didn’t do that. They were very kind and gracious about my mistake, but that was a pretty big one. But, you know, more often than I would blow things in that type of a situation, I feel like I blow it in the spiritual realm, and maybe you do too. Maybe God gives us an opportunity where it’s just a wide-open door, a clear opportunity to open our mouth and speak for Jesus, to declare the gospel, and to let it pass by. I blow it, whether it’s because of fear, because of unbelief, because I’m busy, because it’s just not comfortable, I just, I blow it. I don’t do it. The Holy Spirit’s leading me very specifically to take a step of faith to do something, and I disobey. I don’t do it. I blow it. And maybe there’s a moment of temptation. And in that temptation, I know I don’t have to do this. I have Jesus. I can have victory. I don’t have to serve sin anymore. And yet I still choose to do it. And we blow it. In those situations when we blow it, it’s sometimes easy to think, why does Jesus even try to use me still? Is Jesus going to be done with me? Because I keep on being defeated in the same area again and again and again and again. He keeps on giving me opportunities to speak for him, and I keep keeping my mouth shut. How is Jesus going to, can he ever use me? I think I’m a hopeless case. There’s no way. I just, I’m just always blowing it. Well, here in John chapter 21, which is where I have my Bible open, we find another man who really blew it. His name’s Peter. We’re familiar with Peter. He’s the one who said, Lord, though all others will forsake you, I will not forsake you. Though others might deny you, I will not deny you. And yet there around that fire, after Jesus was arrested, we find Peter denying the Lord Jesus three times. I call that really blowing it. Here at the moment when he had the opportunity to identify with Jesus, to open his mouth and say, yes, I am a follower of Jesus. Yes, I am with him. He says, no, I don’t even know him. He denies the Lord Jesus. He really, he blew it. And though Jesus comes in John chapter 20, and he comes to all the disciples, Peter included, and he says, peace be unto you, and I’m sending you just as the Father sent me. You’re going to receive the Holy Ghost, and you’re going to be used to lead many people to righteousness, to lead many people to forgiveness of sins. And Peter was there, and I think we get the sense that Peter realized, I’m forgiven. Jesus is not holding this against me. He has forgiven me, and we sense that personal connection between Jesus and Peter. Yet, we come to John chapter 21, and it’s pretty apparent that Peter, he assumed that though he was forgiven, that Jesus was done with trying to use him. And so Peter said, I’m done. We see in verse number three, Simon Peter said unto them, I go a-fishing. He says, I’m going to go back to what I’m used to doing. I’m going to go back to what I’ve always done. Because this following Jesus, this being one of his disciples, one of his sent ones, is it’s not working out for me. I just keep blowing it. So I’ve got to go back to what I know I can do. And the ironic thing is he goes back and goes fishing and it says, they went forth and entered into the ship immediately. This is the end of verse 3. And that night they caught nothing. Here we see, and isn’t this how it so often happens, when we blow it and we say, we want to give up, we say, all right, I’m giving up on this. I can’t do this. We can’t even do the thing we thought we could do. So here’s Peter and he fishes all night and he catches nothing. but friends can I encourage you with this reality that just because you blew it it doesn’t mean it’s over just because you blew it it doesn’t mean that Jesus is done with you you may have given up on yourself but friends Jesus hasn’t given up on you you know Peter everything we see or all the details here in John 21, which there are many that are, I think, significant, that show us that Peter was clearly thinking, Jesus is done with me. Jesus comes to them and he says, do you have any meat? And they tell him no. So in verse number six, he says, cast the net on the right side of the ship and you’ll find. And so they cast, therefore, it says, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. So here they were catching nothing. And Jesus comes, stands on the shore and says, hey, cast your net on the other side. And they they obey, and when they do, they catch a huge multitude of fishes. In fact, it says 153 in verse 11. So nothing to 153, and that should have been enough to say, whoa, this is what’s happening. But Peter, he doesn’t even see it. Verse number seven, it says, the disciple whom Jesus loved, that’s John, saith unto Peter, it is the Lord. And then it says, now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord. You see, Peter didn’t even recognize that Jesus was there. He was so unexpected of Jesus showing up in his life because he thought, Jesus is done with me. He was so unexpected that he thought that Jesus will never come and try to use me again. I’ll never see him do the miraculous in my life again that he didn’t even recognize it when Jesus did. Somebody had to tell him, that’s Jesus. John had to tell him, this is the Lord. And then it tells us this, and here again, another indicator, Peter thought he was done. When Simon Peter heard that, he girt his fisher’s coat on him for he was naked and to cast himself into the sea. Peter wasn’t, He wasn’t expecting Jesus to show up in his life. He wasn’t dressed appropriately for Jesus to be there. That’s what the text indicates. When he heard it was Jesus, he put his fisher’s coat back on. It wasn’t that way because he wasn’t expecting Jesus to show up in his life again. But Jesus does. And friends, Peter assumed it’s over. It’s done. But it wasn’t. You see, Jesus isn’t done with you, friend, no matter how much you’ve blown it. Jesus is still ready to show up in your life. He’s still ready to give you opportunities because he still wants to use you. And we see here, and you know the rest of the story here very well, they come to land and they bring that fish and Jesus has food for them and as they’re eating, they’re sitting there eating, Jesus then turns to Peter. Because he wants Peter to know, I’m not done with you, Peter. And three times he asked them that simple question, Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? and there’s of course much that could be said the different words for love here but that’s not really my focus here this morning i want to notice that peter responds and he says lord you know that i do and i notice how jesus each time responds to him jesus says to him in verse 15 feed my lambs verse 16 after that second question he says to him again feed my sheep verse 17 again after that third time he asked that question he says feed my sheep then verse 19 this spake he is signifying what death he should glorify god and when he had spoken this he speaking of jesus says unto him peter follow me peter had blown it big time but jesus jesus wasn’t done and when you feel like giving up friends when it seems like your life is just hopeless, inevitable defeat, would you know this? Jesus hasn’t given up on you. Jesus still wants to use you. Yes, he’s forgiven you. Praise God for that. He’ll forgive you when you fall. He’ll forgive you when you disobey. He’ll forgive you when you hang back in fear. But not just will he forgive you. He still wants to use you. You are still an integral part of his plan. He’s ready to use you. He’s ready to pick you back up. And that’s exactly what happened with Peter, isn’t it? Peter goes and he’s with that group on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit falls. And it is Peter, the one that stands up and boldly proclaims the gospel that boldly is used to preach and 3,000 get saved and again and again to stand before the Sanhedrin where he had once cowered, now he stands with confidence and boldness. Friends, can I tell you this? Because Peter realized that Jesus wasn’t done with him. Just because he had blown it, it wasn’t over. Friends, you may have given up on yourself, but Jesus hasn’t given up on you, and don’t fall for that lie of the devil. You were defeated. Recognize the defeat. Admit it. But then, how should we respond? Well, we see it right here in John chapter 21. Love Jesus. Decide, you know what? I’m not going to give up because I love Jesus. I’m going to follow him. Remember what he’s called you to do. He was given that commission again. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. And then follow him. Follow him. Listen to Jesus and obey him. And he can use you today. Doesn’t matter if you’ve blown it. It doesn’t matter if it seems like you should give up. If it seems like it is hopeless, friends, it is not hopeless for you because where Jesus is, there’s still hope. And friends, Jesus hasn’t given up on you. So maybe you’ve listened to some of these episodes about the opportunities to give the gospel and the need to not pass up one in some of these things. And you’ve said, I’ve blown it so many times, there’s no way Jesus can deliver you. Jesus is ready to use you. It comes down to us being willing to say, Lord Jesus, I love you. And all right, yes, Lord, I remember what you’ve called me to do, and I am going to listen and obey. To not falling for that lie that it’s just done, it’s over. Let’s get back up on our feet, even if you’ve blown it, and trust Jesus to take us and use us

in a way that we never could do in our own strength. Amen, Joe. Thank you for that reminder. You know, young people, I face young people now and then in our evangelistic outreaches where we talk to them and they say, you know, oh, I’m just too far gone. You know, I’ve done too many horrible things in my life. There’s no way God could ever forgive me. And, you know, I think any one of us here listening to the podcast today would say, what are you talking about? Jesus paid for all of your sins. Yeah, exactly. He did. And young people, the same cleansing blood that can give you a righteous standing before God is the same cleansing blood that washed your heart so clean that God can use you. Amen. Thank you, Joe, for this wonderful reminder from the life of Peter. And young person, just remember, it’s a life of total surrender and total dependence to turn the world upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s what we’re about here at The Thee Generation. Thanks for listening.