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• Illustration: May begins by describing how much he enjoys a comeback, including a story of a recent football game with a surprise comeback at the end.
• In a very short period of time Peter went from the depths of despair and failure and hopelessness to the heights of faith and power and success.
• Big Idea: He couldn’t have done it without God’s help, AND God wouldn’t have done it without Peter’s participation.

• Peter had already established a pattern of hits and misses.
• Illustration: May takes several paragraphs to paraphrase the biblical accounts of Peter’s successes and failures, including stories from Matthew 14 and 16.
• Many of you struggle with the same kind of setbacks.

• These patterns are established by impulsiveness.
• Another attitude that leads to a downfall is believing in ourselves too much.
Matthew 26:35
1 Corinthians 10:12
Something else that led to Peter’s downfall was fatigue.

• Illustration: May remembers growing up thinking Peter must have lived his life in shame, only to realize later (as he read Acts and Peter’s Epistles) that Peter had become a leader with confidence, authority, and power.
• Peter made a comeback and so can you.

• No matter how far behind you are, you can turn things around—but you cannot do it without God.
• You do your part—the possible—by faith; he does his part—the impossible—by his mighty power.
• Illustration: May recaps a famous football comeback, “The Music City Miracle,” to illustrate how it’s never too late for a comeback.
• The first step in making a comeback is making a decision to stay in the game as long as there is time on the clock.