This guest blog post draws directly from the sermon “Showcase - You’re One Decision Away From a Different Ending | John C. Maxwell” so you can keep engaging with the message all week. Read, reflect, and share it with your small group or friends.

Famous Failures: Why God's Greatest Heroes Messed Up Big — And What That Means for You

Meta Description: John Maxwell unpacked two famous biblical failures — Jonah and Peter — and showed us why God's grace always gets the last word. URL Slug: famous-failures-jonah-peter-john-maxwell-sermon Featured Image: A warm, slightly worn Bible open to the Gospels, resting on a wooden surface with soft natural light — evoking honesty, hope, and the idea that real life is found in these pages.

There's something quietly powerful about sitting in a room full of people and realizing that every single one of them has failed at something. This past Sunday, that realization didn't feel heavy — it felt like relief.

Leadership teacher and author John Maxwell joined us to kick off our Book Club message series, and from the moment he opened his mouth, the room felt different. Honest. Safe. Hopeful. Drawing from his new book How to Get a Return on Failure, Maxwell took us straight into the lives of two of the Bible's most famous failures — and showed us that the story doesn't end where we think it does.

We All Fail. The Bible Doesn't Hide That.

Maxwell didn't ease us in gently. He went straight to the truth: everybody fails. And the Bible, he reminded us, is not a catalog of perfect people.

He rattled off the list with a kind of warm humor that made the room laugh and exhale at the same time — the woman at the well with five husbands, Gideon placing an idol on holy ground, Sarah laughing at God's promise, David's adultery, Zacchaeus and his crooked tax schemes. The Bible, Maxwell said, is full of men and women who fell short in spectacular ways. And yet, what's beautiful is that it's equally full of their divine comebacks.

"Before you tally up all your failures, losses, misses, and sins," he told us, "count theirs. And before you throw the towel in on yourself, look at the list of people in the Bible who failed."

With that foundation laid, he walked us through two of them.

Jonah: God Will Give You a Second Chance

Maxwell called Jonah "the Old Testament prodigal" — a man who knew God's call and ran the other direction as hard as he could. God said go east; Jonah sailed west. God said arise; Jonah went below deck and fell asleep. God said live for others; Jonah chose himself.

And yet, tucked into the book of Jonah are twelve words that Maxwell said stopped him in his tracks: "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time." (Jonah 3:1)

A second time. After all of it — the disobedience, the running, the fish — God came back.

Maxwell unpacked what a second chance really means. First, it means the first time was lost. We only need a second chance because we blew the first one. Second, it means grace is needed — not justice, not what we deserve, but what we could never earn. He told a classic story about a man arriving at heaven's gate, listing his good deeds one by one, only to realize he was still 900 points short. In desperation, he said, "The only way I'm getting in is by the grace of God." And Peter replied, "That's 900 points. Come on in."

Third, a second chance means we get to make a better choice. Maxwell quoted his mentor, legendary UCLA coach John Wooden: "There's a choice you have to make in everything you do. Keep in mind that in the end, the choice you make makes you."

The encouraging word from Jonah's story? Though you cannot go back and make a brand-new start, you can start today and have a brand-new end.

Peter: God Will Give You Hope

If Jonah was a surprise pick, Peter was the one many of us saw coming — and Maxwell leaned into that with honesty and empathy.

Peter was the leader. The bold one. The one Jesus called Rocky. And yet, at the most critical hour in Jesus' life, Peter denied him three times, just as Jesus said he would. Maxwell identified three reasons Peter fell:

He placed himself spiritually above the others. In Matthew 26:31–33 (NLT), when Jesus told the disciples they would all desert him, Peter declared: "Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you." Maxwell was direct: spiritual superiority is a dangerous place to stand.
He thought he knew himself better than Jesus did. Peter was certain. Jesus was certain too — and Jesus was right.
He overestimated his own strength. Jesus said it plainly in the garden: "Your spirit is willing, but your body is weak." (Matthew 26:41)

When the rooster crowed and Peter looked up to meet the eyes of Jesus, the weight of that moment must have been crushing. C.S. Lewis wrote in The Screwtape Letters that Satan's strategy is to get Christians preoccupied with their failures — because from there, the battle is won. Peter lost hope. And like anyone who loses hope, he left. He went back to fishing. He wanted to be alone.

But here's what Maxwell said with unmistakable joy: Jesus went looking for him.

"When you lose hope and give up and want to get alone by yourself," Maxwell told us, "he'll come looking for you." He pointed to the parable of the lost sheep — Jesus always leaves the found to go after the lost.

What happened next at the lakeshore is one of the most tender moments in all of Scripture. Jesus asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" — once for each denial. And in a detail Maxwell highlighted beautifully, Jesus ultimately came down to Peter's level. When Peter couldn't claim the highest form of love (agape), Jesus met him where he was, asking simply if Peter loved him with a brotherly love (phileo). And Peter said yes.

"Jesus came to where Peter was," Maxwell said. "He'll come to where you are."

Failure Is Always a Moment — Never a Person

Maxwell closed with a story from a conversation he had years ago with a highly successful businessman — someone who had experienced significant failures on his way to building something remarkable. Maxwell asked him: "Which of your failures would you go back and erase?"

The answer was none of them.

Why? Because erasing the failures would mean erasing the lessons. And the lessons, the man said, were worth far more than the failures ever cost. Beyond that, he said, the failures had built his character — the resilience, the grit, the depth that the valley produces in ways the mountaintop never can.

Maxwell was clear that this isn't grace — it's wisdom. But it points us toward something grace makes even more beautiful: God doesn't just redeem our failures. He uses them.

Whether you're in a Jonah season — running from what you know you're called to — or a Peter season — sitting by the lake wondering if you've disqualified yourself — the message Sunday was the same: God isn't finished with you.

Take a Next Step This Week

If this message landed somewhere tender for you, you're not alone. Here are two simple ways to keep going:

Watch the full message if you missed it or want to revisit it — share it with someone who needs to hear that failure isn't the end of their story.
Get into a Life Group. As Maxwell reminded us, growth and healing happen in community. If you're not connected with others who are following Jesus together, now is a great time to take that step.

Failure is always a moment. It is never a person. And the God who came back to Jonah a second time — the God who walked to the lakeshore to find Peter — is the same God who is coming to find you.

Social Media Excerpt (Facebook/Instagram): The Bible is full of famous failures — and that's actually great news for the rest of us. This Sunday, John Maxwell walked us through the stories of Jonah and Peter and reminded us that God's grace always gets the last word. Whether you're running from your calling or sitting by the lake wondering if you've blown it for good, this message is for you. Watch or read the full recap at the link below. 👇