Worship at 10:30 a.m.

God’s Answers to Life’s Difficult Questions

How Do I Rebound from Failure?

Faith Family,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on this blessed first full week of 2026. I continue to give thanks to our gracious God for putting you all in our lives. Your faithfulness and your enthusiasm fill my heart with joy and helps complete my hope in Christ. Every day I look forward to serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ alongside each of you and growing in our discipleship journey together.

Last week, we discussed the question, “What Stresses you out?” As well as the question, “How do you cope with stress?” This week I am asking, “How do you deal with failure?” And the follow up question is, “How do you rebound from failure?”

We are not perfect. We do the best we can, but the truth is, sometimes our best isn’t always good enough. We make mistakes and some mistakes seem impossible to recover from. Maybe we studied very hard for a test to receive a very low grade. Sometimes we work and work to get that promotion, but it goes to someone else. Sometimes we do what we can to make our marriage work, but unfortunately there are cases where the marriage fails. How do we deal with those failures? How to we teach our children, and maybe our grandchildren to deal with failures they may encounter like not making the starting football, basketball, volleyball team? Or maybe that Brisket you have been smoking for hours, just isn’t as tender as you had wanted?

There are different levels of failures, some more relevant to folks, than others. But nonetheless, we have all experienced some type of failure. How did you deal with it? How did you rebound from it?

The Book we are looking at in our life group is called "God’s Answers to Life’s Difficult Questions” by Rick Warren. In this chapter on Failures, Pastor Rick Warren provides us with three key ingredients to help us rebound from the failures we face.

He begins by sharing a Biblical Story of Jesus and his disciples. In Luke 5:1-11, we have an encounter between the Jesus and his disciples. The disciples had been fishing all night but FAILED to catch anything. I am sure they were tired and frustrated, as most fishermen would be after a long night of nothing. 

Jesus got into Peter’s boat, asked him to go out a little and he began teaching the crowd. After that, Jesus instructed Peter go out further, into deeper waters and told them to let down their nets to fish. I can imagine what Peter was thinking. I can imagine how Peter was feeling, but instead of complaining, denying the request, Peter simply says, “But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” It was at the moment they caught so many large fish, their nets began to break. In fact, they needed help from another boat, and both boats were filled.

It was at that moment, according to Luke, that those in the Boat, including Peter began to repent and follow Jesus and learned to fish for people. The Disciples experienced failure the night before and in the early morning. However, in the hottest time of day, when fish do not normally bite, they experienced an abundance of success. What was the difference? This is where Pastor Rick Warren offers his ingredients to help us rebound from failure, as did the Disciples.

1. Appropriate God’s Presence in your life: Make inviting Christ to be a part of your life a priority. Scripture promises us that Nothing is impossible with God. We may still face trying times, and hurtful situations, but with Christ in our lives, our mindset is different, how we look at things are different, and what we may normally see as a failure, may truly be a building block for success.

2. Cooperate with God’s Plan for your life: As I mentioned, I am sure Peter and the others were tired, frustrated and the last thing they wanted to do was be out there on that water especially during the hottest time. In addition to them being out on the water, they were told to fish some more. Too often, we allow our past failures to frustrate us, depress us and cause us to not want to participate. However, Peter did as Jesus instructed and look what happened. It was a teaching moment. Peter was obedient to Jesus’ plan, even though he may not have totally agreed or wanted to do it. Sometimes God calls us to go further, and into deeper waters. Why? So we can rely on Him, and not ourselves. God’s plans are not there to have us fail but to encourage us for success. We only face failure when we “do it” ourselves.

3. Lastly, Anticipate God’s Promises: Jesus didn’t promise Peter they were going to catch fish, however, Peter knew deep in his heart that if Jesus told him to cast the nets, something wonderful was going to happen. Friends, God has promised that if we are faithful, if we are trusting, if we are loving, we will be blessed. If we give God our whole lives, our whole lives will be blessed. If we give God our entire wealth, then our entire wealth will be blessed. You get the picture. Jesus doesn’t just want part of us; he wants all of us so that we will experience wholeness and Holiness.

I don’t know what failures you have experienced or are currently experiencing. But what I do know is that if we invite God’s presence to be involved in our lives; if we follow God’s plan for our lives, and if we anticipate the promises of God, we will not fail. And our failures will become steppingstones for growth.

I pray your continued journey in 2026 to be an Acts 2 Church will be found with limited stress and an abundance of peace and joy.

Have a blessed New Year!

Pastor Frank