Help Me Fail

TL;DR Summary

In this Good Friday sermon, Pastor Steven Furtick delves into the profound moments of perceived failure in our lives and how they can lead to spiritual growth and revelation. He reflects on Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and the conversation with Peter, highlighting the paradox of failure as a path to strength. This message is a reminder that even in our weakest moments, we are not alone, and God’s presence is with us, guiding us through life’s challenges.

The core message of the sermon is centered around Luke 22:31, where Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked to sift him as wheat. Pastor Furtick explains that this sifting is a necessary process that God allows to separate the valuable from the worthless in our lives. Just as Jesus prayed for Peter’s faith not to fail, we are encouraged to see our trials as opportunities for growth. The sermon emphasizes that God uses these moments to build us up, and even when we feel like we are failing, God is at work, transforming our weaknesses into strengths.

Listeners are encouraged to embrace their struggles and view them as part of God’s divine plan. Pastor Furtick challenges us to pray for the strength to endure and grow through our failures, knowing that God is with us every step of the way. This message offers hope and reassurance that our failures do not define us; rather, they are stepping stones to a deeper relationship with God. As we reflect on the significance of Good Friday, we are reminded of the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made and the promise of resurrection and new beginnings.

Full Sermon Transcript

As I prayed about what to share with you on this Good Friday service for a short devotional, I thought about one of the strangest prayers that Jesus ever prayed. I think it leads us to a prayer that we can pray for the moments in our life when we feel weak and lost and lonely. To give you the prayer, I want to take you to the table where Jesus sat with his disciples. As we sit together tonight, maybe joining around the world, maybe you’re by yourself watching this, but you’re not alone because God’s presence is with you right now.

What must have been on his mind when he sat and celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples, knowing that just ahead of him was the very reason that he came to Earth? But it would seem to them to be a failure of his mission, and for a moment, they would think that all of it was for nothing. That all of the following and all of the healing and all of the teaching and preaching and feeding and helping had been for not. He prepared them for it, but nothing could really get them ready for this. He prepared them for it, but it was like they didn’t want to believe that it could actually happen. It was the primary mission for which he came. Yes, he enabled people to walk who couldn’t walk, but he didn’t really come for that. Yes, he enabled those who couldn’t speak to speak, but he didn’t really come just so that the lame could walk or so that the mute could speak. He came so that we could be saved, and that could only happen if he died for us.

As he prepared to do that, he had a conversation with all of his boys, but particularly with Peter. Jesus and Peter had a special thing going. Pretty much it went like this: Peter screwed up, and Jesus helped him over and over again. How many of you have a relationship just like that with Jesus? So I think you’ll really love what he said to Peter sitting at the table, although at first, it seemed strange. The prayer that he prayed for Peter could use a little revision from our human perspective, but from Heaven’s perspective, it’s the most perfect prayer that could be prayed in a moment like this.

Now, many of you are not facing a cross where you’re going to die tonight, but you’re facing some situations in life that you don’t know how they’re going to turn out at all. As a matter of fact, some of you took all the strength that you had to get here to this Good Friday service tonight, and God has a word for you. In Luke chapter 22, verse number 31, Jesus looked at Peter just before the eve of his crucifixion and said the following: Simon, Simon. Now just in case you’re thinking that I’m confused because I told you he was talking to Peter and he said Simon, you need to know that all of us have two names. There’s the one that God calls us and the one that we act like sometimes. Even though he had seen Jesus do amazing miracles and he had wonderful potential, he was still Simon. Simon, some say, means Shifty, unstable. Peter, Petros in the Greek, means Rock, Solid. Shifty or solid, which one? It depends on when you catch him.

I wish you would touch your neighbor because they’re looking all Good Friday holy with a halo on, but tell them you’re still Simon sometimes. Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. We’ve been talking in church on Sunday mornings about the sifting before the lifting, that some seasons in our life where God is separating out the worthless from the worthwhile. We can trust him in those seasons to know that no matter what life is using to sift us, and even if the Devil Himself sifts us, then the devil is just an instrument in the hands of a sovereign God because God will never take his hand off your life, not for one single moment.

Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. The devil had to get permission from God to even mess with Peter to begin with, so don’t ever think he’s not still in charge. Even on Friday, even when it looks the worst, God is still the greatest, and his name is still the highest. That’s why we worship him. That’s why Friday is good, yeah, because God is good, that’s right, all the time and all the time. Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, Simon. Woo, that must have been a relief to Peter. So you’re not going to let him sift me? Well, actually, Peter, I’m going to allow him to sift you, but and every time you see but in the Bible, stop and pay attention because it might mean that God is going to do something different than you expect.

But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when, not if, and when, not if, and when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. It’s as if Jesus already sees Peter on the other side of the sifting, and he sees him stronger. Isn’t that exactly what this moment represents for Jesus when he prayed, if there’s any other way, Father, let this cup pass from me? Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. Even Jesus, when he bled in the Garden of Gethsemane as his disciples, including Peter, slept and couldn’t stay awake, didn’t he pray, God, whatever is your will, let it remain even if it means my will being put aside?

These sifting seasons, these Friday moments for our faith to be tested, are easier to describe than they are to experience. They’re easier to talk about than they are to walk through. So I was thinking about how God sees you stronger on the other side, and I remember a very unique thing that I heard when I was doing a workout recently with a bodybuilder. A bonafide, certified, Instagram-verified bodybuilder came over to work out with me, and he was showing me some different things that would make me look like him, I guess, if I did them enough and took steroids. The guy was really strong. Elijah brought him over, and he brought somebody with him, and we were lifting together. He said something to his spotter that I thought was a strange thing for somebody that strong to say. Listen to what he said. He kept saying to his spotter, hey, come over here and help me fail. Help me fail.

Now, what he meant technically speaking was just when I get past the point where I can do it, I need you to make sure that I get that rep after the rep where I would have stopped because if I don’t push past the point where I can’t go anymore, I won’t grow. That’s how it works in the gym. For all of you who do three sets of eight and you really could do 15, you’re only going to get so far that way if you don’t reach the point of fatigue and failure. Now, you got to fail with good form. You can’t just be throwing weights around; you’ll end up in surgery that way. But there is a point where you need the spotter if you’re really going to get that last bit and not end up dropping something on your toe or on your head. It’s good to have somebody who can help you with the last rep.

But what got me was the language. It was so interesting that he said help me fail, and I sat back and thought about that. I thought about how I have never in my life asked God to help me fail. I did pray the prayer of Jabez when I was in college. Don’t know if you were around for that one, but it was Lord, bless me indeed. I prayed the blessing, the Numbers Chapter 6 blessing, even was a part of writing a song about it. We take that song all over the country, and we sing may his favor be upon you, but never in my life did I pray a prayer, God help me fail. I don’t even like saying it in front of you because I’m scared he might do it to me right now, just make me blank out and forget what I’m preaching, make the legs fall off the chair so I can fall down on the floor, and you can all laugh and say was that a planned illustration? I’m so scared of God that he might actually take me seriously.

But see, Peter didn’t ask Jesus to fail. In fact, he insisted that he wouldn’t. Never, Lord, I will never deny you, and yet he did three times. Jesus knew that. Jesus didn’t predict that at the moment that he saw Peter’s faith getting weak. He knew that from the moment that he got in Peter’s boat the first day he called him. So God is not surprised by Simon, and God is not surprised by you. Jesus was not surprised by the cross, even though the disciples were and tried to do everything in their power to stop it. That’s what he came for, and yet it wasn’t a failure at all for him. It was the reason for which he came.

It got me wondering if in your life and in my life that some of the times where we feel like we’re failing are some of the greatest times that God is building. That some of the times that we feel like we have nothing are the times when God is actually up to something. Y’all aren’t going to help me preach, but if I had a Good Friday crowd, I would have you touch three people and say God is up to something. Do you know how I know he’s up to something? Because when it gets too heavy for you, that’s where he steps in and does the things that only a God like him can do. Because if you can do it, you don’t need him. Because if you can take it, if you can make it, if you’ve got it in you without him, you don’t need him. God will never design a life for you that makes him unnecessary.

So what he does from time to time, did you ever hear him say God will never put more on you than you can bear? That’s not true. The Bible says he won’t tempt you beyond what you’re able, but he’ll give you a way of escape. But he will most certainly allow you to have more than you can handle so you will turn to him and find that he is more than able. Simon, Simon, Satan asked if he could sift you, and I said yes. You said yes? I thought you loved me. Yes, what, you love me, or you told him no? Yes, I love you, and yes, I said he could sift you. Yes, Jesus loves you, and yes, your life is really hard right now. Yes, Jesus loves you, and yes, you’re going to have to walk through the valley sometimes. Yes, Jesus loves you, and yes, sometimes you deal with depression. Yes, Jesus loves you, and yes, you’re under financial strain. Yes, Jesus loves you, and yes, you still struggle in your flesh. The yes that you struggle with does not prove the yes that he said when you asked him would he save you because God still says yes.

That big old bodybuilder said help me fail, and I thought I’m going to start praying that sometimes. Not that I’m shopping for God to give me failure. I mean, I want him to use me, and I want him to bless me, and I want him to increase me, but there are going to be times in my life where I know that I’m failing, and I got to know in those times that I’m not a failure, but I’m still his child. That’s what Good Friday does for me. It lets me know that failure in my life is an event, but Jesus is my identity.

I won’t make you raise your hand, but some of you have felt this week like you are really failing those that you love, failing yourself, failing God. You know, I bet if we went deep enough into the categories of the spreadsheet of your life, we could find one column where you’re really, really, really, really not getting it done. If you make me, I’ll come interview your wife about it, and she will show me the column in their life. The difference that we have as Christians is not whether or not we ever feel disappointed or whether or not we ever fail. We were singing a moment ago he will never fail, but we know that we still will. That’s why this moment is so important, and that’s why we have to stop in the shadow of the Cross before we shout in the light of the empty tomb. Many of you are singing about a God who never fails, but yet you feel like you’re failing.

I want to invite you that the prayer that Jesus prayed for Simon before he went to the cross on that Friday where he would be denied by the very disciple that he would go on to use in the greatest way at this moment invites a prayer for us to pray. God help me fail in a way that moves me forward. He said when you turn back, Peter, you are going to know that it is my hand that is able to lift you. When you turn back, the strength that is going to emerge from this sifting in your life is going to surprise even you.

So we pause tonight to reflect on his forgiveness of our sin. Yes, we thank him for that. We thank him for that, that God sees beyond our fault and meets our need. Can we thank him for that? Let’s just clap our hands and thank him for that, that he sees me straining beneath the weight of my sin, and he doesn’t leave me there, but he comes to lift me there. That’s the message of my gospel. How about yours? That’s the mercy of my God. How about yours? Do you have a God who stands off at a distance and waits to see how your weakness plays out, or a God who, the moment that you call him, steps into your weakness and becomes your strength? Come on, Hallelujah. One drop of his blood is enough for every sin that you ever committed, and one drop of his grace is greater than all of your weakness. What a Savior.

When you have turned back, that means there is more in store for you. If the cross doesn’t teach us anything, it teaches us that where man puts a period, God puts a comma. If the cross teaches us anything, it teaches us that where you are right now in your life is not where you’re staying. If the cross teaches us anything, it’s that God uses life’s worst moments to reveal his greatest grace. I see great grace coming into your life tonight. I see great grace coming to your home right now. I see great grace coming to that situation that only you and God know about. Simon, Simon, you will be sifted. We all are, but after the sifting comes a lifting. After Friday comes Sunday. After death comes Resurrection. This is not the end. Say it, this is not the end. Let the devil know this is not the end because the next time you see Simon, he’ll be denying Christ, but if you look a little deeper, he’s going to be restored and preaching on the day of Pentecost. God doesn’t see you down; God sees you raised up in Heavenly places with Jesus.

I was preaching one Sunday, and I told Holly after the sermon that I felt like I failed. I felt like I didn’t say everything that God put on my heart the way that he wanted me to say it, and she thought about it for a minute and she said nothing. I thought maybe she agrees with me; it was really that bad. But then she spoke with quiet wisdom, and she said, you know, maybe you didn’t fail, maybe you just didn’t finish. Maybe you should pick it up next Sunday where you left off. I wonder if you think you failed, but really God’s just not finished yet.

To everyone in here who’s ever wondered why do they call it Good Friday when he wore a crown of thorns? Why do they call it Good Friday when they mock the King of Kings? Why do they call it Good Friday when they made him carry his own cross until he collapsed, when they whipped him and they beat him and they crushed him until he couldn’t breathe? How could a thing like that be called good? Because when he said it is finished, he wasn’t done. He wasn’t done. Shame was. He wasn’t done. Death was. He wasn’t done. The devil was. So we came tonight calling this Friday good because it wasn’t us on that cross. We came tonight to celebrate what he did, and I’m going to give everybody who’s thankful that he did it about 30 seconds to praise him that he did. Come on, let’s give him glory to the Risen Son of God who was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, but on the third day he arose into heaven and ascended to the right hand of God the Father Almighty. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord.

I want to pray for you today for every fear and every failure that you carried into this place, and I assure you tonight that if you’re still breathing, there’s a reason you’re alive. The very sin that you think should keep you from God is the very reason that he sent his son to die for you. He wants to make you an example, a trophy of his grace, and he can do that right now. Yes, thank you for all of you who are joining us in this moment, and you’ve never really given your life to Jesus. Oh sure, there’s been church. Oh sure, you’ve heard the story. Oh sure, there have been moments where you have felt his presence because he’s everywhere. But I mean you’ve never really received the forgiveness of sin, or you’ve been far from him, and he’s been speaking to you as we’ve been singing and worshiping and praising him. He’s been speaking to you as I’ve been talking. You’ve been saying that’s me, Pastor Stephen. I’ve been saying I’m a failure, and I’ve been turning away, and I felt like God doesn’t want me, and I don’t even know if I want myself. But if he’ll have me, I want to come to him. I want to give my life right now. You can do that right now. We’re going to pray a prayer in this moment, and we’re going to pray it as a church family out loud for the benefit of those who are coming to God for the first time or coming back to him. If you repeat this prayer after me, the Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

So if that’s you, I want you to repeat this after me, church family out loud. Pray this: Heavenly Father, I am a sinner in need of a savior, and I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior of the world. Today, I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he died that I could be forgiven and rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. I am a child of God. On the count of three, raise your hand if you prayed that. One, two, three. I want to celebrate with you. I want to thank God with you online at our campuses. If you just prayed that prayer, we celebrate the greatest moment of your life, a new beginning in your life, a new season in your life, a new day dawning in your life. His mercies are new this day. You will never be the same. Let’s thank God for his salvation, his forgiveness, his joy, his peace, his hope.

Right now, I want to lead you in a moment of communion. Holly’s going to come and join me. I want you to take the elements that you were given. If you’re joining us online right now, I’d like you to take some bread and some juice in the place where you are and celebrate this moment with us. This is not a moment just for people who are members of our church. This is for every believer in Jesus Christ. At that table, he sat with his disciples, and he took the bread, and the bread symbolized his body. Right now, would you take the bread that’s on the top of your cup, those of you who are here with us live, and just hold it for a moment as we consider his body broken for us. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. What a savior. Thank you, Jesus, that in his brokenness we were made whole. Thank you, Jesus, that he showed us that he is the king of our weakness, the God of broken bread, the God who breaks bread into new beginnings, the God who paid the price in his body for your sin, the God who suffered wrath so that we would never have to. Take now, eat this bread in remembrance of him. Eat now.

Thank you, Lord. After he had taken bread, he gave them wine, saying this is the blood of my covenant, shed for many, shed for you today, shed for you. Take now, drink in remembrance of him. Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus. That’s good. Thank you for your blood, Jesus. It’s good to thank him. Yes, God. It’s good to praise Him. Hallelujah. Will you worship Him in your own way right now? Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your blood, Jesus. We exalt you in this place, God.