LWC SERMON GUIDE

BREAKFAST WITH JESUS

Scriptures to Read and Ponder

John 21:1–19 — The risen Jesus meets Peter beside the Sea of Galilee, feeds him, restores him and calls him again.
John 21:12 — “Come and have breakfast.” The invitation of Jesus comes before the conversation about Peter's failure.
John 21:19 — “Follow me!” Failure has not cancelled Peter's calling.
Matthew 26:33 — Peter's confident promise that he would never fall away.
Mark 14:53–54, 66–72 — Peter follows Jesus at a distance and denies Him three times.
John 18:18 — Peter's denial takes place beside a charcoal fire—an important detail that appears again in John 21.
John 21:4–6 — After a night of empty nets, Jesus is already standing on the shore.
John 21:9 — When the disciples arrive, Jesus already has a charcoal fire, fish and bread prepared.
John 21:15–17 — Three denials are met by three questions and a renewed commission: “Feed my sheep.”

Sermon Recap

1. WHAT DOES JESUS DO WITH FAILURE?

The sermon began with the image of a child who has just broken something valuable. There is the crash—and then the silence. The child's first thought is often not simply, “What have I broken?” but “What is going to happen when Dad finds out?”

We may grow older, but we do not entirely grow out of that instinct. What we break simply becomes more significant: trust, relationships, opportunities, promises and sometimes even promises we made to ourselves. 20261004-Breakfast with Jesus

Peter knew that feeling.

He had publicly declared that even if everyone else abandoned Jesus, he never would.
Yet when Jesus was arrested, fear took over.
Peter denied Jesus—not once, but three times.
When the rooster crowed, Peter remembered Jesus' words and broke down in tears.

Peter genuinely loved Jesus—and Peter genuinely failed Jesus.

That is important because Christians can love God deeply while still carrying regret, guilt and shame about parts of their story they desperately wish they could change.

But Peter's story reveals the heart of Jesus:

Jesus does not condemn Peter where Peter failed. He restores Peter and calls him forward.

2. THE NIGHT OF EMPTY NETS

After the resurrection, Peter tells the other disciples:

“I'm going out to fish.”

They fish throughout the night and catch nothing.

Again and again the nets go out.

Again and again they come back empty.

Peter is doing something he knows how to do—and even there he experiences frustration and emptiness.

Then John gives us a beautiful contrast:

Peter is in the boat; Jesus is on the shore.
Peter has been in darkness; morning is arriving.
Peter has empty nets; Jesus is already waiting.
The disciples cannot recognise Jesus—but Jesus has never lost sight of them.

There will be seasons when we do not understand what God is doing. Sometimes all we can see are empty nets.

But:

Just because you cannot see Jesus does not mean that Jesus is absent.

Morning was coming, and Jesus was already standing on the shore.

3. JESUS ALREADY HAS WHAT PETER NEEDS

Jesus tells the disciples to cast the net on the other side of the boat. Suddenly there are so many fish that they cannot haul the net in.

John recognises Jesus:

“It is the Lord!”

Peter immediately jumps into the water and swims towards Him.

The child in the opening illustration wanted to hide after breaking something. Peter teaches us another response:

When you have failed, it is safer to run towards Jesus than to run away from Jesus.

Then Peter reaches the shore and discovers something extraordinary.

Jesus already has fish.

The disciples have just experienced a miraculous catch, but Jesus does not need their catch. He already has breakfast prepared.

Our world constantly asks:

What can you achieve?
What can you produce?
What can you contribute?
How useful are you?

We can unconsciously bring the same mentality into our relationship with God.

But the Gospel begins somewhere completely different:

Before we bring anything to Jesus, He has already prepared the table.

Grace starts with what Jesus provides, not with what we produce. Christianity is ultimately not the story of what we have given God, but what God has freely given us in Christ.

4. COME AND HAVE BREAKFAST

Jesus says:

“Come and have breakfast.”

Think about the scene.

The risen Messiah—the One who has defeated death, walked out of the tomb and still carries the scars of the cross—is standing on a beach cooking breakfast for tired disciples.

And when Peter arrives, Jesus does not begin with:

“Peter, we need to talk.”

Instead:

“Come and have breakfast.”

Before the teaching, there is grace.

Before the correction, there is bread.

Before the commission, there is communion.

Jesus prepares a table for the man who failed Him.

This does not mean failure is unimportant.

Grace does not mean that failure doesn't matter.

Grace means that failure is not the final word.

Jesus does not restore Peter from a distance. He brings him close.

5. THE SECOND CHARCOAL FIRE

John deliberately tells us that Jesus prepared breakfast over a charcoal fire.

That detail matters.

There are only two charcoal fires highlighted in John's Gospel.

At the first fire, in John 18, Peter warmed himself while denying Jesus.

At the second fire, in John 21, Peter encounters Jesus again.

The sights, sounds and even smell of that fire may have brought Peter straight back to the night he failed.

But Jesus brings Peter back to the place of memory not to humiliate him, but to heal and restore him.

The place associated with failure becomes a place of grace.

The memory associated with shame becomes a place of restoration.

The enemy points to your past to condemn you. Jesus touches your past to redeem you.

The enemy wants to remind us of what we have done.

Jesus wants to remind us of who He is.

Our worst moments therefore do not have to become the final chapter of our story.

6. “DO YOU LOVE ME?”

After breakfast, Jesus finally speaks directly to Peter.

Three times He asks:

“Do you love me?”

And three times Peter responds.

There is something wonderfully restorative happening here.

Peter denied Jesus three times.

Now Jesus gives Peter three opportunities to reaffirm his love—and three times Jesus entrusts him with responsibility:

“Feed my lambs.”

“Take care of my sheep.”

“Feed my sheep.”

Jesus is not merely forgiving Peter.

He is restoring Peter.

Peter still has a future.

Peter still has a calling.

Peter still has something to contribute to the Kingdom.

The message of Jesus to Peter is effectively:

“Peter, I'm not finished with you.”

7. “FOLLOW ME”

The story finishes with two words:

“Follow me.”

Those words matter because they are essentially the words that began Peter's journey with Jesus.

Peter had followed.

Peter had seen miracles.

Peter had walked on water.

Peter had confessed Jesus as Messiah.

And then—

Peter failed.

But now, on the other side of failure, on the other side of the Cross and on the other side of resurrection, Jesus looks at Peter and says again:

“Follow me.”

Jesus does not tell Peter to spend the rest of his life proving himself.

He simply calls him to follow again.

We do not need to build our identity around the worst day of our lives. Shame does not get to determine the direction of our future.

On the other side of failure, shame and regret, there is still Jesus—full of love, waiting for us and inviting us to come close.

Memorable Quotes & Aha Moments

“Just because you cannot see Jesus does not mean that Jesus is absent.”
“Morning is coming, and Jesus is already on the shore.”
“It is safer to run towards Jesus than to run away from Jesus.”
“Jesus already had what they needed.”
“Before we bring anything to Him, He has already prepared the table.”
“Grace starts with what Jesus provides.”
“Our faith is not primarily the story of what we bring to God. It is the story of what God has freely given to us in Christ.”
“Before the correction, there is bread.”
“There is communion before commission.”
“Jesus prepares the table for the man who failed Him.”
“Grace does not mean that failure doesn't matter. Grace means that failure is not the final word.”
“Jesus does not restore Peter from a distance; He brings him close.”
“The enemy points to your past to condemn you; Jesus touches your past to redeem you.”
“Our worst moments are not the end of the story.”
“Peter, I'm not finished with you.”
“God is calling us not to prove ourselves, but to follow Him.”

Questions for Discussion & Reflection

When you fail, what is your natural instinct—to hide from God, explain yourself, fix things yourself, or run towards Him?
Why do you think shame often causes us to withdraw from the very One who can restore us?
Peter loved Jesus genuinely and still failed Him badly. What does that teach us about failure in the Christian life?
Have you ever experienced an “empty nets” season—a time when you worked hard but seemed to have little to show for it? What happened to your faith during that season?
What difference does it make to know that Jesus may already be “on the shore” even when you cannot recognise what He is doing?
Why is the detail that Jesus already had fish so significant? What does it tell us about grace and our tendency to measure ourselves by productivity?
Where are you most tempted to believe that God's acceptance depends upon what you can produce for Him?
What might “Come and have breakfast” look like practically in your relationship with Jesus this week?
Why do you think Jesus shared breakfast with Peter before addressing his failure?
“Communion comes before commission.” How could forgetting this distort the Christian life into performance rather than relationship?
Is there a “charcoal fire” in your own story—a memory or failure that still carries shame when you revisit it?
What is the difference between Jesus bringing something from our past into the light for healing and the enemy bringing it up for condemnation?
Peter was not only forgiven; he was entrusted again with responsibility. Is there an area where you have assumed that past failure permanently disqualified you?
Are you currently spending more emotional energy looking backwards at what went wrong or following Jesus forward?
If Jesus were saying “Follow me” to you afresh today, what might obedience look like this week?

Prayer Points

Jesus, give me the courage to run towards You rather than hide from You when I fail.
Lord, meet me in the places where I feel disappointed, ashamed or regretful, and let Your grace speak louder than my past.
Help me trust You during seasons of empty nets, when I cannot understand what You are doing or see evidence of Your presence.
Deliver me from measuring my worth by productivity, achievement or usefulness. Teach me to receive what You have already provided by grace.
Draw me back into communion with You. Before I become busy doing things for You, teach me again simply to be with You.
Jesus, touch the painful memories of my past—not to condemn me, but to heal, redeem and restore what has been broken.
Silence every voice of condemnation that keeps defining me by my worst moments, and remind me again of who You are and who I am in You.
Restore the places where failure has caused me to withdraw from Your calling. Give me faith to believe that You are not finished with me.
Holy Spirit, show me where Jesus is saying “Follow me” again, and give me courage to obey without constantly looking backwards.
Lord Jesus, let my life be shaped not by what I have broken, but by Your grace, Your restoration and Your continuing invitation: “Follow me.”

Sermon: Breakfast with Jesus