Telling the Truth for Women

Jill Briscoe: We're looking at what happens when Christ actually inhabits a human heart and starts to craft his likeness on our character, on our faces, in our lives, in our actions, in our attitudes. And that of course happens when the word who became flesh moves into our neighborhood and comes and invests himself in our life.

Jill Briscoe: We can call it conversion, we can call it being born again, we can call it coming to faith, we can call it what we like, as long as the thing I'm talking about happens in the human heart. And all of us come from different religious heritages and perhaps have different phrases, different jargon for what we're talking about. The important thing is the reality of it. And do we know Christ in reality? Do we know what it is to so abide in him, so be connected to him, that his life is real?

Jill Briscoe: When we kneel to pray, is that real stuff that's going on? When we share our faith, does anything happen? Do people ignite with the same life that we're enjoying? Is anything happening out there?

Jill Briscoe: Well, we've been looking at Peter specifically because he's the one who was Simon and God promised to change into Peter. And today we're going to talk about standing. We've talked about trusting, changing, abiding, caring, serving. And today we're going to talk about standing and falling, falling down and getting up again.

Jill Briscoe: Because of all the characters that John from his gospel, of all the characters he took these pictures of, these snapshots and put in his gospel album, Peter is a prized photo opportunity. And John was busy taking pictures of Peter both standing and falling flat on his face, and then standing up again.

Jill Briscoe: And this is an experience that all of us go through. You do not come to Christ and never make mistakes. We're going to talk about making mistakes. I wrote a book years ago, and I called it How to Fail Successfully. And it failed successfully. In the marketplace, it didn't last very long. And my publisher said it's the title Jill, it's the wrong title. And I said, why? He said because Americans don't want to read about failure.

Jill Briscoe: So he said, let's change the title. Let's 10 ways to be a success, and then it will succeed. And I said, I don't want to write about success, I want to write about failure. And he said, well, you can still write about failure, but you know, you have to sneak it on them because they don't want to talk about failure. Now, that book was a best seller in Europe. And that was very interesting with that title.

Jill Briscoe: Well, we changed the title. We called it How to Follow the Shepherd When You're Being Pushed Around by the Sheep. And it became a best seller here. It's amazing what a title will do. And it's amazing how we don't want to face up to failure. We don't want to deal with the times that we fall flat on our face.

Jill Briscoe: And so I hope the talk that we have today as we look in the scriptures and we look at Peter and what happened to him will help us, because it's all part of the Christian life. So if you turn to John's Gospel chapter 6, I want to look at Peter standing up, and before we just do that, I want to just make some comments that the Bible exhorts Christians to stand and the Bible wouldn't have to do that if Christians weren't busy falling down all the time.

Jill Briscoe: So be encouraged. There is a large family of fall-downers out there, and we're all part of that. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 16:13 for example, I'll just give you a few verses on standing. Talking about when courage is needed, be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be men of courage, be strong.

Jill Briscoe: Then in Galatians 5:1 it says, it's for freedom that Christ has set us free, stand firm therefore. Don't let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of bondage. This is talking about legalism. It's talking about coming to Christ and finding that you don't have to keep all the rules to be accepted with God. Now, it's not that there are no rules when you're a believer. It's just there's freedom in the rules. And the rules that bring you into bondage are the rules that say if you do this and do this and do this, then you might get to heaven.

Jill Briscoe: And so we're told to stand firm in the freedom that is in Christ. It's not by what we do. That's not it. We don't make the team if we do this, that, and the other. We make the team because we come or we crawl on our knees to the foot of the cross and we accept the free gift of grace. And so the Bible says, stand in your freedom in Christ. It says, stand strong when you're in trouble.

Jill Briscoe: It says in another place, be patient for the Lord's coming, stand firm. When things get really tough, then some of the doctrines of the Bible, especially the coming of the Lord, will help you to stand firm. And then in 1 Corinthians 15:58 it says, maybe in Christian service, you're having a tough time, you're laboring. Well, it says, stand firm, let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, for you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So stand firm. If you're getting strung out, if you're getting worn out, worn down, simply from the service that you're yielding to God, then you have to continue, you have to stand firm, you have to put your head down and do it and do it tired if necessary. Do it hurting if necessary. But just do it.

Jill Briscoe: So the Bible is full of things that are exhorting us not to fall. 1 Corinthians 10:13, talking about temptation. He will not let you tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you're tempted, he'll also provide a way out so you can stand up under it. There will be trouble and we'll look at some of that trouble that came to Peter, and when that trouble comes, you're meant to stand and stand firm. And of course, Ephesians, Ephesians says, stand then, having done all, stand. Stand being dressed in the armor that you're going to need. Take the sword of the spirit and all of that. In that little passage, when it's talking about dealing with the devil, three or four times the word stand is used.

Jill Briscoe: And so we realize that this is a command to stand firm. And specifically to stand for the truth, to stand up and be counted. Now, Jesus has been feeding 5,000 people. And he uses the miracle as a means to teach on the bread of life, and the bread of life discourse follows the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 in John's Gospel, in John 6.

Jill Briscoe: And the crowd comes back for another handout, having stuffed themselves like pigs, as Jesus points out. And he says, you're only back to fill your stomachs, you missed the point of what I was doing. The Pharisees were with them and had heard what had happened, had not been there at the feeding of the 5,000. And they said, well, it's a measly miracle, 5,000 people. Why God fed the children of Israel every day for 40 years, a million and a quarter of them. So what's 5,000 people? And Jesus said, wait a minute, he fed them with manna from heaven. I am the manna from heaven. And I'm going to feed a world full of people that believe in me from now to eternity.

Jill Briscoe: And so he takes the criticism and he takes the miracle and he marries it to his teaching about himself, I am the bread of life, he that eats my bread, he that drinks my blood, he will live forever, etc., etc. Well, some of the disciples didn't like this little application. And in verse 60, many of his disciples said, this is a hard teaching who can accept it. Well, aware that the disciples were grumbling, Jesus said, does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? The spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. The words I've spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.

Jill Briscoe: And then he turns to his disciples, because from this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. You don't want to leave as well, says Jesus to the 12. And Peter stands up, and he stands for truth. And he says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and we know that you are the Holy One of God. Jesus simply replies, haven't I chosen you the 12? Yet one of you is a devil. He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who though one of the 12 was later to betray him. So here we have Peter doing well. He's standing up for truth.

Jill Briscoe: It's one thing of course to stand up for truth to the disciples, it's another to stand up in the face of hostility, as we'll see. But he did well, his first confession. Twice he confessed, you are Christ, you are the Messiah, we believe. I believe, I believe, this was his creed. And Jesus affirms this in another place and says, you haven't figured this out for yourself, Simon, God has revealed this to you. This is the truth. Simon does well.

Jill Briscoe: Now, we will be required to stand up for truth, especially in our day and age. There's lots of things being written in Christian magazines about what you and I face when we are called to stand up for truth. And affirm, we believe that Jesus Christ is God. There was an article written and it is a horrifying article. I'm just going to read you straight a couple of paragraphs.

Jill Briscoe: In 20 years of college teaching, Professor Simon had never met a student who denied that the Holocaust happened. What he sees quite often though is worse. Students who acknowledge the fact of the Holocaust but cannot bring themselves to say that killing millions of people is wrong. Simon reports 10 to 20% of his students think this way. Usually they deplore what the Nazis did, but their disapproval is expressed as a matter of taste or preference, not moral judgment. Of course I dislike Nazis, one student said Simon, but who is to say they're morally wrong? Overdosing on non-judgmentalism is a growing problem in our university schools.

Jill Briscoe: Two disturbing articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education say some students are unwilling to oppose large moral horrors, including human sacrifice, ethnic cleansing, and slavery, because they think that no one has the right to criticize the moral views of another group. This is our world. Absolutophobia, they're calling it. An unwillingness to say anything is wrong. Now listen to this. The subject came up when another professor taught her class, Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. Maybe this is familiar to some of you, and will be reading for your high school students in their English classic situation as they come into this, so maybe some of you are dealing with this already.

Jill Briscoe: This is a short story about a small American farm town where one person is killed each year to make the crops grow. In the tale, a woman is ritually stoned to death by her husband, her 12-year-old daughter, and her four-year-old son. This professor has been teaching since 1970. Until recently she said, Jackson's message about blind conformity, which is the point of this whole story, people acting in blind conformity, always spoke to my students' sense of right and wrong, but no longer.

Jill Briscoe: A class discussion of human sacrifice yielded no moral comments even under the professor's persistent questioning. One male said the ritual killing in the lottery almost seemed a need. Asked if she believed in human sacrifice, a woman said, I really don't know if it was a religion of long standing. The professor writes, I was stunned. This was the woman who wrote so passionately of saving the whales, of concern for the rainforests, of her rescue and care of a stray dog. And so this is our world, folks.

Jill Briscoe: And if you and I think that our kids are going to have it easy standing up for truth, we are mistaken. And anybody like Peter that stands up and says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Holy One of God, is in for trouble. In their classes, sitting in a college class, they could be the only one. And of course, we have to say to our kids, okay, don't say I'm the only one, say I'm the first one. Because God is going to lend the power of heaven to every one of his disciples who stands up for the truth.

Jill Briscoe: So standing up and falling down and standing up again, this is the story of Peter. Because as we know, unfortunately, when you say Peter, so many people think of roosters. Right? So many people think of roosters. Yes, we do think of many, many other things. The rock of your faith, that's what I'm going to build my church on. We think of all sorts of things about Peter the apostle. But unfortunately, people that aren't very well versed in the Bible, if you say Peter, will say roosters.

Jill Briscoe: I wrote a book years ago on Peter, called By Hook or By Crook, and it was about how God shaped a fisherman into a shepherd. But I noticed that I wrote, when you say roosters, you say Peter. That is if you've been to Sunday School and church and know the gospel story. Very short time before he died, Jesus warned Peter that he would disown him three times before the rooster crowed. When Jesus was arrested by the chief priests and officers of the temple guard, all the disciples fled. But as they led Jesus away, Peter followed at a distance. Entering the high priest's courtyard, the big man mingled with the crowd to see what was going to happen. Challenged by a servant girl about his relationship to Christ, he denied it vehemently, saying, woman, I don't know him. Three times this happened. Then the rooster crowed. Just as Jesus had predicted it would, and Peter went outside and wept bitterly.

Jill Briscoe: It's a dark night indeed when we disown the Lord. When we fail him, and there are many ways this can happen. Perhaps like Peter, we followed well, then we failed to follow on. Actually, the Bible doesn't say Peter failed to follow, it says he failed to follow closely. When we follow Jesus closely, we can hear his voice and sense his presence and know his power. But when we deliberately put distance between us, we hear only the clamor of the opposition and lose sight of God himself. It is then that we panic, as Peter did, and we end up failing both Jesus and ourselves, and we fall down. We fall down.

Jill Briscoe: Now, that's what happened to Peter. I read it out of my book instead of the scriptures, but you can read it in most of the gospels. Around the corner of his huge success came this incredible failure. One point he's standing up, the next minute he's saying, I can't believe I said that. Have you ever said, I can't believe I said that? Have you ever said, I can't believe I did that? Have you ever been so disgusted with yourself? Have you ever wept up bitterly and said, how could I do this? How could I betray my family? How could I think that? Well, of course you have. Because there's Simon in all of us, in all of us.

Jill Briscoe: And of course, standing for the truth, as I said, in front of the disciples is one thing. Standing up publicly in front of a hostile mob is another. But I want to look how Peter did. If you turn with me to John chapter 18, just turn on a little bit. Because he did show incredible bravery in the Garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus had finished teaching and speaking to his disciples in the upper room and washing their feet and all the rest. Verse 1 of 18. When he'd finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples, crossed the Kidron Valley, on the other side there was an olive grove, and his disciples went into it. Judas of course, who betrayed him, knew this place, because Jesus often met there with the disciples. So he came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

Jill Briscoe: Jesus knowing all it was going to happen to him, went out and said, who is it you want? Jesus of Nazareth, they said. Well, I am he. Actually, what he said is, I am. And the power of the statement of deity and his incredible authority caused the entire crew to go back and fall down, which must have been fun. Again he said, well, who is it you want? Seeing they're all flat on their faces. So they clamber up and say, Jesus of Nazareth. Well, I told you that I am he, if you're looking for me, then let these men go.

Jill Briscoe: This happened so that the words he'd spoken in the upper room would be fulfilled, I have not lost one of those you gave me. Then Simon Peter, here he is, stands up with a sword. They had two swords apparently, that you read in the previous chapter. And he slices off the right ear of Malchus and remember he didn't intend to do that, he intended to split him right down the middle. Malchus obviously went like this. Can you see Peter saying, I'll just take his ear? That wasn't Peter. Here I am, Lord. Get away from my Jesus. And Peter shows incredible courage, because do you know what a detachment of soldiers is? It's a tenth of a legion. You know what a tenth of a legion is? 600 men.

Jill Briscoe: 600 men were sent to arrest Jesus Christ. And they came with clubs and swords and weapons and clanking with armor. And if you have been to the Garden of Gethsemane, you know that you could see them starting that long wind up that narrow road, and Jesus would have seen them at the end of his praying in the Garden of Gethsemane coming to get him. Along with them were Pharisees and along with the Pharisees were soldiers of their own from the temple. So you have this mob of people. And bless Peter. Where are the others? I don't know, but Peter says, get away from him, and slices off Malchus's ear.

Jill Briscoe: Jesus of course, turns to Peter and commands him, put your sword away. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? Poor Peter. You know, I mean, he must be so confused by now, because every time he does something and he does it with all the best intentions, he does the wrong thing. I can imagine him standing there with his sword in his hand, saying, I can't believe I just did that. I mean, the Lord's told him this is going to happen. He's told me that this is the cup. He's told me about the cross and here I am messing up the eternal plan of God. Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt, I can't believe I did that. I cannot believe I made such a mess of this.

Jill Briscoe: Well, poor old Peter, trouble of another sort. If you turn with me to Luke now, chapter 22, we will see that Jesus looked at Peter and I don't know if he said it, but he thought it, this is totally predictable. It was predictable because he'd predicted it. And Jesus predicted exactly what would happen in Luke chapter 22. Starting at 21. You are those who've stood by me in my trials, says Jesus to his disciples, and I confer on you a kingdom just as my father conferred one on me. So that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Look at this. Simon, Simon. It's very interesting if you read the gospels that Jesus has been calling Simon Peter up to this point. Simon, Simon. Oh, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I've prayed for you, Simon, that your faith fail not. And when you've turned back, strengthen your brothers. Interesting little thing I never noticed before. Simon, oh, Simon.

Jill Briscoe: Every time we fall, that's our Simon-ness. Right? And Jesus predicts what will happen before it happens. And you know, that in a sense is a comfort because he knows ahead of time when we'll fall and of course he has provided for it. Not only does he predict it, he has provided for the restoration of us in all our Simon-ness and he is ready for it. He is ready for it. He predicts it. Well, there are two things going against Peter at this point. His self-confidence. In the place where he confesses Christ, he has stood up and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And then a few verses later, he takes Jesus aside and rebukes him, it says, for wanting to go up to Jerusalem to die. And Jesus looks at him and says, get thee behind me, Satan. I mean, poor Simon. It, I mean, he's just made this incredible statement. And Jesus had said, blessed are you, Simon Jonah. God has revealed this to you. And he got the answer right. Peter got the answer right. Now this must have been a huge thing. There was a test. It was only a test. Who do men say that I am? Simon Peter put his hand up. I know, Peter. Simon Peter, who do you think? You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Oh, God has revealed this to you. Can you imagine it? Got it right. Top of the class. Four verses later, get thee behind me, Satan. And that's when Jesus says, Satan has desired to have you, that he would sift you, sieve you, sieve you. So there's nothing left of you, everything that comes through when he's finished with you. But I have prayed for you, says Jesus, that your faith fail not. And when you get up again, and when you stand up again, and when you're restored, and when you're forgiven, then strengthen your brothers through this. You'll be able to help everybody else that falls down like you do. You are such a good fall-downer, Peter. You'll be able to say, oh, I did that. I did that. One of the other disciples maybe have talked to Peter after Pentecost and said, I ran away. There they all were in the garden and I forsook him and fled. And Peter would have said, but I denied him. I denied him. And look what he did. He restored me. So when it was over, he was going to strengthen his brothers with the experience that he went through. And every time we fail, that's what we need to do. We need to learn our lesson, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down, and say, now, how can I help somebody else that's really struggling with this? And you will find that God will put people in your way that have struggled with the thing that you are struggling with. And you'll be able to say, oh, but I denied him. And this is what God did for me.

Jill Briscoe: So, there were two things going against Peter. First, his self-confidence. Because in that passage of scripture where he is being so brave and upstanding, he says, this lot might deny you, but I never will. Don't know about this lot, look at them. Weak lot. But I won't, God. No, he says this in front of his brothers, so they must have been really impressed with Peter. But this self-confidence is there, and that has to be dealt with. That's what God has to deal with in us. And when we fail or when we fall, that's what happens. It deals a blow to our fleshly desire to do it on our own. I can do this, says Peter. No, we can't. In John 15, Jesus has just explained, without me you can do nothing, unless you abide in the vine. I do nothing without my Father, and you do nothing without me. The principle of the Christian life is total dependence. I can't, he can. I can't, he never said I could. He will, he always said he would. And if we get hold of that, we will not do stupid things like Peter did. We will not say silly things like Peter did. We will not do the devil's work for him, as Peter did.

Jill Briscoe: Self, self-confidence. Now one of the problems that Peter had was he had to have his sleep. This was a problem. Whenever you meet Peter in dramatic situations, he's struggling to keep awake. Have you noticed? It really is amazing. In Gethsemane, Jesus said, would you pray for me? Can you imagine being asked a question like that? Took his three best friends, James and John, Peter, would you guys just, would you pray for me? And they fell asleep. Now, it says they fell asleep for sorrow, they were exhausted, another version says. And Jesus had no sympathy with this. He comes back, shakes them awake and says, couldn't you even pray one hour? I know the spirit's willing, but the flesh is sure weak. He didn't say, there, there, what you need is a good night's sleep. He said, no, what you need to pray, because there's a cross around the corner of tomorrow and if you guys do not push through this, though you are exhausted, and you don't stand up under this, you're not going to stand tomorrow, and of course they denied him, forsook him and fled.

Jill Briscoe: And so Peter had this sleep problem. Another time he was asleep on the roof, and God wanted him to go and do some wonderful job with the Gentiles, and he fell asleep. So God had to speak to him in a dream. You know, I can see God saying, ah. I I'm going to all this trouble to give dreams to Cornelius and the Gentiles are waiting for the gospel. So I know where Peter is, and so here's the servant from Cornelius, who I've given this vision to, coming to Peter. He slept. How can he be asleep? He went to the rooftop, but he didn't go to the rooftop to sleep. You go to the rooftop to pray. And here he is again, every time he went to pray, he fell asleep. Well, I'm with Peter. I fall down on that.

Jill Briscoe: And then one other time, in the book of the Apostles, he was in jail, right? And he's going to be killed in the morning or what not, and he falls asleep. And God does this wonderful miracle because all the church is praying, let's please get Peter out of prison. And God looks at Peter and he says, oh, no. So he sends this angel and it's a wonderful story. It says the angel poked him. Wake up! And the doors are open and, can't get the guy awake. And he goes like this and it says the gates open and he says he doesn't know where he is. I love Peter. I love him. He has this flesh problem. He has this body problem. He has this tired problem. And I have people who say to me, well, God wouldn't want me to have a headache. You know, God, God, so I don't pray and fast. I never fast because it gives me a headache. And I say, well, so? And he says, but it gives me a headache, looking at me in horror. I said, well, do it with a headache. Never occurred to them. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is so often weak. We pamper ourselves. We pamper ourselves. Peter had to learn not to pamper himself.

Jill Briscoe: But not only did he have a problem and Jesus was saying, prayer is the answer, he was assured that Jesus prayed for him, that Jesus didn't fall asleep on the job. I have prayed for you. And one thing you can know if you're going through a trial or you've blown it, is he's been praying about this and will continue to do so. Remember being very discouraged at one point, a couple of years ago, and as I got dressed and got up and had to face the day and get on with it, my spirit lifted, lifted, lifted, lifted and my soul was tap dancing by the time I was ready to go out that door. And I thought, you know, somebody's praying for me. It's those women, those women are praying for me. And as quick as a wink, a little voice said, I'm praying for you. I am. And I stood in my kitchen savoring that moment. I was alone in the house, just savoring it. I have prayed for you, Jill. You can put your name in there. I've prayed for you that your faith fail not. And you say, but his faith did fail. No, his faith didn't fail. His nerve failed. His faith never failed that this was Jesus, the Son of God. He might have denied it publicly, but he never denied it privately. His nerve failed. And that's the difference between Judas and Peter, because that might be a question I certainly asked of this passage. What's the difference between betraying him and denying him, disowning him? Well, the difference was he hadn't disowned him inside, Judas had. He hadn't rejected Christ. That was the difference.

Jill Briscoe: And so his self-confidence was being attacked with good reason. And Jesus said, you've got to learn to depend on me. You have to be aware if you're facing temptation that you are so close to Christ and know yourself. There, but for the grace of God, go I. You need to realize that. I think I can't remember which group I shared with, but did I share with you my struggle with my temper with my children? There, but for the grace of God, goes the child abuser. There, but for the grace of God, goes whatever. We have no idea how we'd react in a situation. If you were one of those mothers and the only way you could feed your children was to steal food, what would you do? And if the only way you could steal food to keep your kids alive was to hurt somebody to get it, what would you do? What would I do? You never know until you're there. But know this, that Simon would do anything that was necessary. In my flesh, there is no good thing, in myself. That's why the life of Christ has to take over and grow and grow, and our Simon-ness has to be dealt with.

Jill Briscoe: I wrote something about this quite a few years ago because I've been dealing with a lady who was struggling at work with the boss who was making a pass at her. He was young, he was attractive, she was a little older than him, and I wrote this for her actually as I tried to help her. I'll never fail him, said self-confidence with intense pride. I love him and when I love, I love. I know what it is to be loyal to the people close to me. Then the cock crowed. Self-confidence hadn't understood how lonely she would feel when her husband was out of town. She'd only meant to have a business lunch with the handsome young man in the office. I'll never deny my Christian faith again, self-confidence vowed, very much chastened. Thank goodness my marriage has been salvaged. So she took some Bible courses so she'd know how to answer temptation when he came knocking at her door again. She got A's for the course. Now she was ready. Then the cock crowed. Somehow she couldn't remember the Bible verses when the young man kept saying such nice things to her all the time. It was very flattering, after all, she was twice his age. I'll never forsake him again, self-confidence swore to herself. He can really rely on me this time. The third time. I've learned my lesson, that's for sure. Watch out devil, here I come wielding my shiny little sword of self-sufficiency, she said confidently. Then the cock crowed. And they took Jesus and crucified him.

Jill Briscoe: Self-confidence died with grief. Jesus risen from the dead visited her tomb. Taking her hand, he lifted her up and gave her a beautiful new name, Dependence. And the next day Dependence came face-to-face with the handsome young man in the office. Where have you been? he asked. Someone said you'd died, but you look pretty good to me, good enough to eat in fact. Then tonight, he whispered in her ear. Not tonight, not tomorrow, never again, Dependence answered quietly. She was very nervous and looked around for Jesus. He was there, of course, standing in the shadows. Then the birds sang. Do you know yourself? Do you really know yourself? Do you really, really realize who Simon is in you? Then when push comes to shove, you won't fall down.

Jill Briscoe: At Pentecost, Peter stood up again. At Pentecost it says Peter stood up. Full of the spirit. It's the only way. And he preached. Having run away from a little girl, having denied his Lord. Something happened to Peter. A personal Pentecost. And that's what's got to happen to you and I. If we are full of Christ, we will stand up. In the place they crucified Christ in the city of Jerusalem, he stood up. And by now they were out for the disciples too. And he preached his heart out. And he looked at the men that perhaps had come to arrest him and he said, you killed the son of God.

Jill Briscoe: Now what had happened to Peter? Holy Spirit had happened to Peter. And that's how you stand up again. So when the rooster crows, let me give you some practical things here. Fall, the word fall. F, focus. Weep bitterly, then dry your eyes and use them to look for Jesus. You've got to really repent, and that's a whole hour on its own, just to talk about what real repentance is. But you've got to come to the point where you are so sick of yourself, you're going to do something about this. You got to weep bitterly, just got to weep bitterly. I remember falling down again and again as a young missionary on a issue and going to my mentor and saying, I just keep failing on this over and over again. She said, Jill, you have to go and have a good cry, then you have to wash your face, then you have to get up and get on with it. And I wrote that in my Bible, have a good cry, wash your face, get up and get on with it. Actually, she put one more little thing in there because I'm English. Have a good cry, get up, wash your face, have a cup of tea, and then get up and get on with it. And that's what you have to do. You have to weep bitterly, and then you have to focus on Christ. You have to dry those eyes and stop weeping. You know, when Hagar was dying in the desert, she was within eyesight of the well, and she couldn't see it because she was crying too much. And God had to shout at her from heaven, Hagar, Hagar, stop crying! And then it says, she saw the well. So there has to come a point, yes, guilt and contrition and repentance has to happen at a deep level. You have to be sorry, and if you're not sorry, pray, God will make you sorry you're not sorry. Start there, and get sorry. But after you've been sorry, you have to open your eyes and look at Jesus. A, afterwards, it says in John 21, Jesus appeared again to his disciples, and he said, come and have breakfast. What you have to do is renew your spiritual disciplines. Once you have done that, you have to follow closely. You have to get back in your Bible, you have to get back on your knees because those things will have fallen away if you're fallen away, you're falling down. You have to renew your spiritual disciplines. Have a good look, those things that you know are going to keep you connected and abiding in God.

Jill Briscoe: And so when rooster crows, focus. When the rooster crows, afterwards come and have breakfast with Jesus. And when the rooster crows, look up and realize that he's praying for you. He's praying for you. It's predictable, you will still fall, but he's provided for you, and he is praying something that will help you after failure. And that will be different for every one of us, I can't tell you what that will be. But the provision will be there, and it is all wrapped up in his prayers, and he always gets his prayers answered. And lastly, when the rooster crows, lastly, just know that at last, beginning with L. Simon, who Jesus made into Peter, will get more and more Peter-ish. Look back last year and say, well, I'm not doing that as much as I did this time. I'm not saying, oh, I can't believe I did that. I'm only doing that once a month instead of five times a month. Progress. Peter is being made in me.

Jill Briscoe: As Peter says in his epistle, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you've suffered a while. Will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, steadfast, he will make you stand. That's Peter. After denying the Lord, that should give us great lot of courage. And then he ends, to him be power forever and ever. Pray with me if you will.

Jill Briscoe: Dear Lord, it's a hard subject and yet one we need to deal with, because we fall, we stand, and then we fall flat on our face and we say, Lord, I don't believe I did that. And yet you not only believe we did it, you predicted we'd do it. For you know all things, you know all things ahead of us as you know all things behind us. And so Lord, we know that when we fall, you are cooking us breakfast on some spiritual seashore, and you are inviting us to come and be restored, talk about it, be renewed. And so Lord, I pray for any woman here who is struggling with guilt, who feels that there's something in their life that they've never really felt free of. That God could not forgive, because they cannot forgive themselves. And I pray for those women today, that they may see that there are people that have been forgiven that have done far worse things, there's David, and there's Peter. And all the disciples who forsook Jesus and fled. There is renewal, there is forgiveness for the believer. And I pray the freedom and the joy of that may go with us even now. We ask it for Christ's sake. Amen.