Don't Stay on the Sidelines: How Peter Dared to Come Back to Jesus

Introduction

After denying the Lord three times, Peter could have vanished. He could have told himself: "It's over for me, I'm not worthy anymore, I'll just stay out of the way." And he could have spent the rest of his life on the sidelines, stewing over his failure. But in Mark 16, on resurrection morning, an angel calls Peter out by name: "Go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He goes before you into Galilee.'" The risen Lord did not leave him out. He called him back.

This message from Marie Agostini for Momentum turns on one strong phrase: don't stay on the sidelines. Not on the sidelines of Jesus, not on the sidelines of your brothers and sisters, not on the sidelines of what God wants to do in your life. Peter is living proof that after a denial, a fall, a bitterness, a disappointment, it's possible to move forward, to walk out of the cage, and to find a ministry deeper than the one before. If you're keeping your distance right now (from the gathering, from prayer, from your calling), this message is for you.

Message Outline

1. Don't stay on the sidelines: the angel called Peter by name

• Mark 16 tells of resurrection morning. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome enter the tomb and see a young man dressed in a white robe. He tells them: "Don't be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here."Then he adds this precise line: "But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He goes before you into Galilee.'"
• That detail is not incidental. Peter is named apart because he had just fallen. He had denied Jesus three times only days before. He might well have believed himself excluded, banished, struck from the group. And Jesus, through the angel's mouth, says: "You too, come. Don't stay on the sidelines."
• Peter could have answered: "No, I don't deserve it, I'll stay here, leave me alone." But he did not stay on the sidelines. He went to Galilee, he found the risen Lord again, and his life started up once more.
• The Lord makes you the same call today. Whatever the fault, the shame, the disappointment, the ministry failure, the bitterness, he calls you by name. He doesn't just say "the disciples," he also says your name. Don't stay on the sidelines.

2. The Lord opens a door no one can shut (Revelation 3:8-13)

• The preacher reads this passage to the church in Philadelphia: "Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn't deny my name."
• What Jesus values here is not performance or a big structure. It's that you kept his word and did not deny his name, even with little power. It doesn't matter how small you are, your reputation, your quiet voice: the door is open for you, and no one can shut it.
• "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more." A pillar holds the building up. In a world where the hour of trial is coming on the whole earth, where people will run this way and that looking for a safe place, that place of peace is the house of God. And Jesus tells you: "Be that pillar. Be the place where people will find safety, an answer, a miracle."
• Staying on the sidelines means deserting your post as a pillar. Coming back means taking your place in the temple for those who will come looking for refuge.

3. All things work together for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28)

• Marie Agostini quotes a verse she recommends keeping "on the fridge or on the bathroom mirror": "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)
• Be careful: learn it by heart with intention, not "like a parrot." She recalls a childhood memory, where her grandparents and parents each kept a parrot they trained to repeat things by heart alongside the radio. You can recite a verse and never let it actually work in you.
• "All things work together for good" is not resignation: "things happen to me, I'll just grit my teeth and bear it to look like a good Christian." No. It means: through this situation, I'm going to seek God's glory, I'm going to testify to the miracle. What I'm going through is not the end.
• The preacher testifies: for years she has walked through situations where she thought she would never make it out, her studies in an unfamiliar country, criticism within the church, the names she was called because she refused to follow the trend of the moment. Every time, God made things work together for good. Did she stay on the sidelines? No. She testifies to the miracle.
• Remember Hebrews 12:3: "For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don't grow weary, fainting in your souls." Jesus himself was called every name in the book by people who knew the word well. If you're mistreated for doing God's will, all the better: you're in good company.

4. Seek God's face and let yourself be corrected

• When something goes wrong, don't sit and stew, asking "why, Lord?" with bitterness. Ask him directly. Ask him: "How could I have handled that differently? What did I miss?"
• Marie Agostini insists: "The Lord, when you ask him, answers so readily. I encourage you to seek his face, because the Lord told us his yoke is easy and his burden light (Matthew 11:30), and it's a rule: when you seek God's will, things happen."
• Her daughter once told her: "I love it when I go out evangelizing after a long day, it's always good, we always end up doing something." She draws a simple lesson from that: we often treat evangelism as a burden ("I have to get up earlier"), when in fact, once you go, the power of the Holy Spirit renews the whole day.
• Don't stay on the sidelines of evangelism, of service, of the word. That's where God answers.

5. Like Peter, let yourself be transformed by the process

• Peter did not become the pillar of the church overnight. He went through a process. He was caught up in a Judaizing mindset, under the influence of James and the "hardliners" who told him to stop eating with non-Jews (Galatians 2:11-14). He had to grow, to change how he thought and how he saw his life.
• We find Peter among the Romans in the 50s and 60s AD. His first letter was written between 60 and 63 AD. In 1 Peter 5:13, he writes: "She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you." He wasn't literally in Babylon: Babylon as an empire had ceased to exist centuries earlier. He meant Rome, using a code name, because they were being persecuted. Peter had grown: he became a missionary apostle at the heart of the empire.
• Far from destroying him, the fall and the process took him further. This is the same Peter who, in the deepest dungeon, was praising the Lord until the angel came and opened the door (Acts 12). The process didn't stop the message; it amplified it.
• If you stay on the sidelines out of bitterness ("they did this to me, they didn't understand me, so I'll keep quiet"), you kill your own ministry. Peter did not stay in his bitterness. He grew. And it's that Peter 2.0 whom God used.

6. Get out of the cage: make the most of the brothers and sisters God gives you

• Marie Agostini asks a direct question: "What's the point of spending the whole day on YouTube listening to preachers, while staying deaf to the brothers and sisters God has placed right next to you?"
• "You complain about loneliness, but someone is right there with you, and you're not listening to what they're saying. The Lord is speaking, and we're busy asking: is there any bread? Is there any of this or that?" This happened to Peter. It happens to us.
• True freedom is not "doing whatever you want." If what you want to do is hurting you, you're not free: you're a slave to a script, to the TV, the phone, the girlfriend, the neighbor, the coworker, the doctor. True freedom is the freedom found in Jesus, the kind that makes the impossible possible.
• Get out of the cage, out of the oppression, the ritual, the Judaism of habit, the survival plan you've locked yourself into. Just as Peter came out of Judaism to reach the non-Jews, come out of your silence to reach those God places beside you.

7. Rebuilding: versions 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 of yourself

• The message closes with a prayer: "Lord, open the eyes of our hearts, gladden our souls, so we can see this version 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 of each one of us. This long and full life that is here to set the captives free, to build works that last, restored lives, restored families, hope, health, finances, understanding, goals, ministries, gifts, desires, and callings restored."
• Stay on the sidelines, and you'll never see the restored version. Come back, and God rebuilds you.
• Marie Agostini then prays against every spirit of rejection, against the strongholds of argument that make you think you're excluded, that you haven't received anything, that you'll never know how. That very voice ("you're excluded, you're rejected") is exactly what keeps you on the sidelines. That voice is a lie. The Lord has called you by name, just as he called Peter.

Key Takeaways

• Don't stay on the sidelines: Jesus calls you by name, just as he called Peter. After your fall, the angel invites you to the meeting place. Go.
• The door is open, and no one can shut it. Even with little power, if you keep his word, you become a pillar in the temple.
• Romans 8:28 is not resignation. All things work together for good so that you can testify to the miracle, not so you can just grit your teeth and endure.
• Seek God's face and let yourself be corrected. His yoke is easy, his burden light, but you have to ask with intention, not like a parrot.
• The process makes you grow, it doesn't destroy you. Like Peter, come out of bitterness and let God produce the 2.0 version of your ministry.

Personal Application

• What fall, what denial, what shame is keeping you at a distance today from the gathering, from prayer, from service? Can you believe that the angel is calling you by name, just as he called Peter?
• Is there a brother or sister right beside you that you've stopped listening to, preferring YouTube preachers instead? What first step could you take this week to come back into that real conversation?
• Romans 8:28 · do you recite this verse "like a parrot," or do you let God show you how he's making your current situation work together for good?
• What are you trying to earn a "good Christian" diploma for, instead of seeking his face about the specific question you're carrying?
• In what area are you willing to let God produce the 2.0 version of yourself (family, health, finances, ministry, calling), instead of staying planted in your bitter version?

Scriptures Cited

• Mark 16:6-7 · "Go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He goes before you into Galilee.'"
• Revelation 3:8-13 · "I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut."
• Romans 8:28 · "All things work together for good for those who love God."
• Hebrews 12:3 · "Consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself."
• Matthew 11:30 · "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
• 1 Peter 5:13 · "She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you."
• Acts 12 · Peter in prison, freed by the angel.
• Galatians 2:11-14 · Peter corrected by Paul at Antioch.

FAQ

What does "not staying on the sidelines" actually mean today?

It means not withdrawing from the gathering, from service, and from real conversation with your brothers and sisters just because you've fallen, been hurt, or don't feel worthy. Peter denied Jesus and did not desert him: he answered the angel's call and went to Galilee to find the risen Lord again. Practically, that could mean coming back to worship, speaking again to someone you'd been avoiding, picking up a service you'd dropped, or simply listening to the brother or sister next to you instead of spending the day on YouTube.

Why does the angel single out Peter by name in Mark 16?

Because Peter had just denied Jesus three times. He could reasonably have believed himself excluded from the group of disciples. The angel saying "his disciples and Peter" is a targeted message from the risen Lord: "You too are invited. Don't stay outside." It's a personal sign of restoration, even before the face-to-face restoration by the lake (John 21). If you think you're too far gone today, remember: Jesus calls you by name.

Is Romans 8:28 there just to help you "put on a brave face" through trials?

No, and that's the key nuance of this message. "All things work together for good" is not stoic resignation, "things happen to me, I'll just grit my teeth so I look like a good Christian." It's an active posture: through this situation, I'm going to seek God's glory, I'm going to testify to the miracle he's going to do. The verse is a promise of divine action, not a placebo for enduring without hope.