Heart Attack - Heart Failure

 

Objective  - Students will learn that they will experience failure and be directed to focus on the unfailing grace of God.

Key Scripture  - Luke 22:61-62 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Summary - In this four-part series called Heart Attack: Don’t Let Your Attitudes Harm You, we are looking at four destructive attitudes that attack the heart. The first attitude is feeling like a failure. We discussed reasons why students might feel like a failure. Failure can cause different emotions like anger, guilt, grief, regret, or embarrassment. These feelings are real, and they attack the heart. 

In the lesson, your student learned from the life of Peter that God can take failure and turn it into something beautiful. Peter told Jesus he was ready to go with Jesus anywhere, even if that meant prison or death. Jesus rebuked Peter and told him he would deny Jesus that very night.

Peter denied Jesus not once, but three times. On the third time, Jesus looked at Peter and their eyes met. Peter experienced deep feelings of failure, and he went out and wept bitterly. Sometime later, after His death and resurrection, Jesus sat down with Peter and they ate breakfast together. During that conversation, Peter experienced forgiveness for his failure. Peter learned from his failure and went on to be greatly used by God.

We challenged the students to learn from their failures. God extends forgiveness, and His grace is unfailing. God wants your student to know that failure isn’t final with God’s unfailing grace.

Your student might feel like a failure for many different reasons. They might feel like they can never measure up or that they mess everything up. They might even feel like a disappointment to you and others. Failure has a way of attacking the heart and causing your student to feel frustrated, angry, shameful, or embarrassed. 

As a follow-up to this lesson, ask your student if they have ever felt like a failure. You may even want to share about a time when you felt like a failure. Remind them how much you love them and how proud you are of them. Ask them how they have seen God's unfailing grace in their lives and share how you have seen it in yours.