[SPEAKER_00]: High Praise Podcasts.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody, this is Pastor Josh.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll leave Pastor here at High Praise and I want to thank you for downloading today's podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that this message is going to encourage and bless you.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want you to open up your heart and receive with the Lord as for you today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Grab your Bible, go to John chapter 21.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want your turning there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just want to once again reiterate what a blessing it is to watch all of these people participate in water baptism for them to be baptized in water today.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to understand that what we witnessed in baptism is not just obedience.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just we do it because we're Christians.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not anything like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's participation really in somewhat of a spiritual mystery that the early church called Union with Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: Paul says in Romans chapter 6 that we were buried with him and we were raised with him, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: If you grew up in Pentecostal cultures, you may have heard it said this way, that you went under one way, you came up another.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be ever heard that kind of phrase you used before.
[SPEAKER_00]: You went under one way, you're going under the water one way.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you're coming up the water completely different.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the early church said something even stronger.
[SPEAKER_00]: They said that salvation is not just forgiveness, but it is participation in divine life.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's even stronger.
[SPEAKER_00]: That we are brought into communion with God's life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which means this, that resurrection is not something that Jesus just did.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is something that we are now being drawn into.
[SPEAKER_00]: Resurrection was not just a moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: It didn't like I said last week.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't just a Sunday that Jesus picked so that 2,000 plus years later, you would have a reason to go by a pretty dress.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you'd have a reason to make your husband get dressed up.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you'd have a reason to stand and take 93 pictures to get one where your kids smile.
[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, parents, you don't know what I'm talking about.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in today's world, if you can't make them smile, you just feed the picture through Chad G.P.T.
[SPEAKER_00]: And say, make them smile.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It is so much more than that.
[SPEAKER_00]: If Jesus was resurrected to draw you into something, to draw you into divine love, to draw you into communion with Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: In other words, it means this that you are different now.
[SPEAKER_00]: that you're not the same as you used to be, that you're not the same person you used to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank God, how many glad you're not the person you used to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you are different now.
[SPEAKER_00]: How many you thankful that better be careful?
[SPEAKER_00]: How many you thankful your spouse ain't the person that you used to be?
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't raise your hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: You all be careful.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it how fight start, praise God?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the pastor's fault, praise God.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there are some believers that are living in this tension, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been buried with Him in death.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been raised with Him in resurrection.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been drawn into that divine light.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're unsure what that means, what to do with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is where John chapter 21 lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: The grave is empty.
[SPEAKER_00]: Death has been defeated.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last week, our text was in John 20.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're literally picking up directly after that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I was still in Pastor Casey, and I don't want to tip my hat too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was still in Pastor Casey before service.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've read this scripture a lot this week, and I was going to be preaching out of it, read this chapter a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: And spoiler alert, but this might be my favorite chapter.
[SPEAKER_00]: in the entirety of the gospel of John, and I'm going to explain why as we go, but it's absolutely stunningly beautiful.
[SPEAKER_00]: And oftentimes we just read it, and because we just read the Bible, and we don't read the Bible, we miss everything that it signed us, and we miss all the beauty, because we just see events, and we don't see the picture that's being painted for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus is alive, the grave is empty, death has been defeated, but the disciples are still trying to understand what that means for their lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because here is the tension, so maybe we'll look at it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can be positionally raised and practically unsure what that means and how to live.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because we've had an experience, but we haven't allowed what has happened to form a ship.
[SPEAKER_00]: And John chapter 21, verse 1, it says this,
[SPEAKER_00]: After these things, Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberius, which is also the Sea of Galilee, which is also like Guinness Sarat.
[SPEAKER_00]: So anytime you read any of those three things, they're all the same place.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in this way, He showed Himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's saying, after the resurrection, after everything has happened, Jesus is going to show Himself to them again, and this is what happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 2, Simon Peter,
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cain and Galilee, the sons of Zebedy, and two others of his disciples were together.
[SPEAKER_00]: Get this, and Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing.
[SPEAKER_00]: just pause for a second there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And think about how profound this is.
[SPEAKER_00]: John immediately paints this picture.
[SPEAKER_00]: After these things, after the resurrection, after Jesus has appeared to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: John ends in chapter 20 saying, by the way, Jesus did a lot of other things in our midst that I'm not even going to tell you about in this book.
[SPEAKER_00]: and the things that John just tells us about is enough to turn anyone's life upside down and completely change everything about them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet here we are a couple verses later and after these things, Peter says, I'm going fishing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter, you've just experienced the most monumental thing in all of history and your response is I'm going fishing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I know some of you in here like to fish.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, I doubt your initial response.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you saw, I would say I would hope it's not, but let's be real.
[SPEAKER_00]: For a lot of us, this is our response.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm getting way ahead of myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we experience moments of God's glory, of his power, of him displaying himself to us, and then we immediately go right back to what's comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: because Peter is a fisherman.
[SPEAKER_00]: So after all of this, Peter says, I'm going fishing.
[SPEAKER_00]: They said to him, we're going with you also.
[SPEAKER_00]: They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember that Jesus stood on the shore.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then Jesus said to them, children, have you any food?
[SPEAKER_00]: They answered him, no.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said to them,
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they cast and now they were not able to draw it because of the multitude of fish.
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus love, John, said to Peter, it is the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now when Simon Peter heard that it was a Lord, he put on his outer garment, or he had removed it.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you actually get into what this is actually saying, this wasn't just Peter took off his jacket, Peter is naked in the boat fishing.
[SPEAKER_00]: He fish all night and he gets so tired, he's like forget this and just strips down.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter did some weird stuff, guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: He removed it and plunged into the sea.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the other disciples came in the little boat,
[SPEAKER_00]: But they were not far from land, but about 200 qubits.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once again, John just bow and shade it, Peter left and right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter didn't need to jump in the water and swim.
[SPEAKER_00]: We weren't that far away.
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't even get there much faster than we did.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then as soon as they had come to land, they back up.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the other side was coming to the little boat for they're not from land, about 200 qubits, dragging the net with fish.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then as soon as they had come to the land, they saw a fire of coals there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'll fire of colds there and fish laid on it and bread.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish, which you have just caught.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land full of large fish, 153.
[SPEAKER_00]: And although there were so many, the net was not broken.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said to them, come and eat breakfast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet none of the disciples dared ask him who are you knowing that it was the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them and likewise the fish.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is now the third time Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, this is,
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the chapter immediately after what we read last week.
[SPEAKER_00]: The resurrection has happened.
[SPEAKER_00]: The disciples have countered this resurrected Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: John, me, once he tells us at the end of chapter 20, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not even written in this book.
[SPEAKER_00]: So all the amazing things that tell you, Jesus did even more.
[SPEAKER_00]: He appears, they see his wounds.
[SPEAKER_00]: And a few verses later, Peter responds who that we've already talked about.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going fishing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I read that and my Peter, what are you doing, man?
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what Jesus has called you to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know who you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has literally defeated death.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has resurrected out of the grave.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you want to go fish.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what you want to do now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hear me, Peter has a revelation,
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter knows who Jesus is.
[SPEAKER_00]: He knows what Jesus has said.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as the old saying goes, old habits die hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is what we're seeing, and this is so interesting, and this is why we can have so many people that come and cry at altars, and come and have what I believe are really experiences with God, and they can be around people of God that are doing amazing, incredible things, and they can have prophetic words spoken over the life, and they can have visions of what God's gonna do, and the Holy Spirit can speak to them, and then by Tuesday they're doing the same mess that they did before, because old habits,
[SPEAKER_00]: I heart, because we have positionedly been made righteous.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have positionedly been made new, but there is still this flesh inside of us that's fighting against what God wants to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: They want us to sink back to what is familiar.
[SPEAKER_00]: They want us to sink back to what is comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't really want to be changed and do the things that Jesus has called us to do, because we'd rather be fishing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can we put it to where you all live for an instant moment?
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't want to come out of our grave and live holy.
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to go right back to the abuse that we had previously.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't want to actually live right to sleep.
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to go back to the bottle.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't actually want to live holy.
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to go back to drugs.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't actually want to do what God has called us to be, because we want to go back to pornography, because we want to go back to a listen sex, because we want to go back to slothfulness and laziness.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we want to go back to gossip.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't forget some of y'all.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, I ain't got a problem with drugs, I'm good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to go right back.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're talking smack about our spouse when they're not around.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, now we're just meddling this morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I was just talking to the boys.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you don't need to be talking to the boys about your wife that way.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just having lunch with the girls to vent.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to vent to the girls.
[SPEAKER_00]: The girls are going to gas you up in a way you don't need to be gasped up.
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to go have a conversation with your spouse and make it right.
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, before you do that, pray.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you all living?
[SPEAKER_00]: See, everybody's like, that's right.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't do drugs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not like Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: I never been an alcoholic.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: We all have things in our life.
[SPEAKER_00]: We all have issues, we've all been through things that after these moments, it's easy to sink back to.
[SPEAKER_00]: And just because yours doesn't seem as grand as somebody else's, doesn't mean that your issue won't keep you from what you're supposed to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just because your issue, you don't come to see our form, maybe you should.
[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't mean that it's going to keep not keep you from becoming who God has called you to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter has revelation, but his reflexes are still being retrained.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hear me, and when clarity is missing, what the soul does is it reaches for what it remembers.
[SPEAKER_00]: They return to what is normal, normal behaviors, normal patterns, our normal ways that we've lived life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's really easy for us to even look at Peter and go, he won't do anything wrong, he was fishing, he went to work, it was trade, that's what he did.
[SPEAKER_00]: And to even understand that, we have to even re-understand what sin is, because sin is not just behavior, the early fathers would say it was this ordered desire.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sin wasn't just some behavior that culturally we looked at went, ooh, that's bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was this order desire.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter was no longer ordered to desire to fish.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was ordered to desire to be a fisher of men.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because that's what he had called me and called to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: So for Peter to simply go back to fishing, wasn't just he went to work.
[SPEAKER_00]: His order was
[SPEAKER_00]: His desire was out of order, and because his desire was out of order, it was going to keep him from becoming who he's called to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, you're watching that show may not be sin, but if it's keeping you from becoming who you're called to be, it's this order desire, and it's wrong for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just because something is it sin in the way we have traditionally defined that as God bless America, Pentecostals?
[SPEAKER_00]: Does it mean that it's not a this order desire which is what sin really is that's keeping you from becoming who you're called to be?
[SPEAKER_00]: For some of you, I'm going to get in the weeds, is that all right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all are very nervous, I can tell it's like, is that all right everybody's like no, please don't.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please God.
[SPEAKER_00]: For some of us, our disorder desire is in media, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead of praying, we want to Netflix, or we want to scroll, doom scroll, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to sit in bed and bedrock through all of eight million reels that do nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, they're Christian.
[SPEAKER_00]: OK.
[SPEAKER_00]: For some of us, our disorder desire is in politics, because we put more attention and more faith in that than we do in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all don't shout me down this morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: For some of us, our disorder desire is in influencers and podcasters, because we listen to their voices, more than we listen to the voice of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's not sin, Pastor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's a disorder desire in your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: which is sinful for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you're not sinning it, anybody.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're sinning it against yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you are keeping yourself from becoming who God has called you to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Fishing wasn't sinful.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's nowhere in scripture where it says, thou shalt not fish.
[SPEAKER_00]: And some of you like praise God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen, pastor.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a disagree with everything you said.
[SPEAKER_00]: But whenever you said it's not a sin to fish, I'm with you now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, where his scripture says it's a sin to fish, but it was a disorder desire in Peter's life.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was wrong for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter is prioritizing lesser things over his calling.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not that Peter's desire to work is wrong, that his desire to fish is wrong, but it's misaligned with his calling.
[SPEAKER_00]: What we really see is Peter is returning to a previous identity that Jesus said wasn't his anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when, after remember, when Jesus calls Peter the first time to follow him, he's feeling a net in the water.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's fishing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when Jesus meets him, he says, this isn't who you're called to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: First time, Jesus meets Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has empty nets.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, this is who you're called to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's going to meet him again with empty nets to remind him, this is not who you're called to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because whenever Jesus gives you a new identity, you're never intended to go back to the way it used to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: This entire thing, and y'all, I know we're taking a minute to get somewhere, so y'all just hang with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The entire thing is fascinating.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I mentioned your segment, but the gospel account in Luke of Jesus calling Peter looks like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's in Luke chapter 5, you can go read it later.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's Fisherman with Empty Nets.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says, have you called anything?
[SPEAKER_00]: We've been fishing all night, we haven't.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says, go back out, throw your nets and you're going to catch fish.
[SPEAKER_00]: They go back, they let down their nets and they catch so many fish that their nets break.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Then they come back, Peter starts confessing, oh, he's not worthy, confessing is sin to Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says, don't be afraid from now on, you will catch men, from now on, you will be a fisher of men.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when ever Jesus shows up to Peter in John chapter 21, it's almost the exact same picture.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter's outfishing, fishing all night, Jesus goes y'all catch anything?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, though you're nets on the right side.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they catch fish, and then John goes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: How does John know it's Jesus?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it is a direct echo of what happens in Luke chapter 5.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus is reminding them of this event.
[SPEAKER_00]: What is he doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's saying, listen guys, I'm here to remind you of who you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: You've seen me in Resurrection, you've seen me in my glory, now I'm here to remind you of what I've called you to be, because we're going right back to the, I have a little bit of people go, I have people go, we have this weird thing where we have this same account recorded differently in Gospels, it's not recorded differently, it's two different accounts.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's two different events.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not the same event from told from different perspectives.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're completely different events at completely different times, separated by years.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason Jesus is doing this is for one person.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's doing this to remind Peter, remember when I called you the first time.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he is then reaffirming that call is still for you today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, this way he's saying, repeat and do the first words.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's reminding him of who he was always called to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't random.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard people preach this message.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard people preach this passage.
[SPEAKER_00]: You be like, this shows Jesus wants to bless your business.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is not, but this is about this isn't about the amount of, this isn't about your MLM business and you being blessed.
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't about you getting a raise at your job.
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't about God's going to bless the worker your hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: Although we believe all of those things, God wants to bless you.
[SPEAKER_00]: The church says,
[SPEAKER_00]: We believe all those things, but that's not what is being communicated to us here.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not about the fish that he's catching.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is the complete opposite.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is actually trying to make Peter remember that first moment that he called him.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is an alter moment for Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: For him, you remember who he was always called to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: You aren't called to fish, Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're called for something greater.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hear me, you might feel like it's easier to go back to sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: You might feel like it's easier to go back to the gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: It may feel like it's easier to go back to the bar.
[SPEAKER_00]: It might feel like it's easier to go back to the illicit sex.
[SPEAKER_00]: It might feel like it's easier to go back to pornography.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it might be easier, but it isn't gonna get you where you want to go.
[SPEAKER_00]: You won't become who you called to be
[SPEAKER_00]: You won't become who God has called you to be, as long as your habits don't change.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you are called to be different now.
[SPEAKER_00]: and that's not just some spiritual reality that spills into your life, that your life should look different.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're born again, your marriage should look different.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're born again, your conversation should look different.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're born again, your habit should look different.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just you get baptized so you can have a great picture to post on your Facebook that people are gonna like and go, good for you, I'm so proud of you.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a declaration, I am different now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not who I used to be and I'm not going back to the way it used to be any longer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is calling them to a new place.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once again, this picture, this chapter is brilliant, there's so many echoes here, there's so many things that are being communicated to us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once again, Jesus is saying, remember this is how I'll call you the first time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only that, and once again, I mentioned this already, but whenever you reach scripture, you'll see the sea of Galilee, you see Lake in the Seret, you'll see the Sea of Tiberis.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're all the same body of water, just different people call them different things.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all the same body of water.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's really interesting to me because Jesus has been with them in the boat when the storm came and said peace be still.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Jesus shows up walking on the waters on the same body of water and calls them to walk above.
[SPEAKER_00]: And once again, you have to remember this in the ancient world, water is represented chaos,
[SPEAKER_00]: Attachment to it that they believed.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus has been with them in the chaos.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus has called them to walk above the chaos.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now when he shows up to them in resurrection, he's not gonna even get in the boat with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's not gonna walk on the water with them, but he's gonna stand all separate from the chaos and call them to come stand with him separate from it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because hear me, Jesus will be with you in the middle of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus will speak to the chaos, peace be still, and Jesus will walk above the chaos, but ultimately where he wants to leave you is leaving the chaos completely and standing on something more firm with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm thankful that he's been with me in the chaos, and I'm thankful that he's given me ability to walk above the chaos, but it's even better whenever he calls you to a place to stand, toward the chaos is not even around you and not something you're a part of, and that's what he's doing here.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the picture that's painted.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not Jesus went in and bite them to the shore so they can show their swimming skills.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's telling them, come up here with me, where there's stability.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm calling you into a different reality than what you're used to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their entire life had been on the water.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's where they lived, it's where they functioned.
[SPEAKER_00]: They functioned in case.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you, that's been your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: You've been in functional chaos your whole life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus doesn't want you to live in chaos your whole life.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's calling you to something more firm.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's calling you to a different place.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's calling you to a different reality to stand with him in something that is different than what you've been used to.
[SPEAKER_00]: You with me?
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not who you used to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're called to be something greater.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is where I really want to shift to this moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: The biggest tactic that the enemy will use to keep you from pressing into the purpose, the destiny, the calling that God has for you, the formation he wants to bring in your life is I believe the same thing that the enemy tried to use against Peter, shame.
[SPEAKER_00]: Shame.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am thoroughly convinced and this isn't directly spelled out in the scriptures, but I believe it is implied by what happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: That one of the primary reasons that Peter went back to fishing is because he was ashamed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because even when he's looking at a resurrected Jesus, even when he's seeing the wounds in his hands and his feet and to side, you have to think Peter went, oh my God, this is the one that just a few days ago, I denied three times.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not even worthy to be in this room right.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus knew Jesus told him he was going to die.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you still think, in Peter's mind, if he knew the things I said about it, he would kick me out of this room.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he knew the things that I did, I wouldn't be invited to follow any longer.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he knew what I said about him when he wasn't around, that Fisher's of men invitation would be revoked.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what's Peter do?
[SPEAKER_00]: He goes back to fishing.
[SPEAKER_00]: what is what Shane put on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Shane put on him to go back to his old way of life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Shane put on him you have to go back because you can't go forward anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: The invitation has been revoked.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of us in this room you have shame of your passion with what you did, shame of who you used to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the good news is this, Jesus has an answer for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus has an answer for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I told you
[SPEAKER_00]: But in the passage in John 21, it says this, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of cold there, which seems random.
[SPEAKER_00]: Seems like, okay, there's a fire there, because I needed to cook breakfast.
[SPEAKER_00]: But John doesn't use this language simply to denote, there was a fire.
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't just some small detail.
[SPEAKER_00]: The spirit of God in this is painting this beautiful
[SPEAKER_00]: Because after Peter denies Jesus, the gospel of John says this, the servants and officers who made a fire of coals stood there for it was cold and they warm themselves and Peter stood with them and warmed himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: That particular phrase, fire of coals is only used twice.
[SPEAKER_00]: In all of John, and it's right after Peter denies Jesus, and it's what Jesus has waiting for Peter when he comes to the shore.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever Peter denies Jesus, he stands to warm himself around a fire.
[SPEAKER_00]: And whenever Jesus shows up to him the third time in resurrection, Jesus meets him around the fire.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a redemptive picture that is being painted.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is recreating the very environment where Peter denied him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is recreating exactly what it looked like when Peter denied him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because Peter's just comes swimming through the water.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's cold.
[SPEAKER_00]: And a couple nights previously, Peter had stood around the fire to warm himself after he had denied Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now he's going to stand around the fire to warm himself with the very one that he denied that was dead, but is now alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: In our Western thought, we have often reduced salvation to simply forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: And once again, it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: But in the fullness of the gospel, God doesn't just forgive your past, he renters it to heal it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He reshaped your very past.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what we talk about when it says your sins have been cast as far as the east is to the west.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what the book of Revelation was talking about, where it's like every tear shall be wiped away, that he makes everything right.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what does Jesus do?
[SPEAKER_00]: He brings Peter right back to the place of failure, not to expose him, but to restore him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously, probably most of you in the summer familiar with the account of Peter's denial, he denies Jesus three times, I don't have time to go read it necessarily in John 21 this morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what happens is around that fire that looks very similar to the fire where Peter denies Jesus three times.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus asked Peter three questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the questions he asked are not, why did you fail?
[SPEAKER_00]: The question he asks is not, why did you go back to fishing?
[SPEAKER_00]: The question he asks is not, why did you deny me?
[SPEAKER_00]: But he asks him this question, do you love me?
[SPEAKER_00]: And he doesn't ask him, do you love me once?
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't ask him, do you love me twice?
[SPEAKER_00]: But he asks him, do you love me three times?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because what Jesus is doing in this moment, because he understands shame has caused Peter to sink back.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what he used to be, so Jesus is reframing Peter's past and stepping into it, and he goes, you denied me three times.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now you're getting an opportunity to three different times where you affirm your commitment and your love for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus doesn't review Peter, he does that previously, but he doesn't do it here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus doesn't tell Peter how could you, Jesus doesn't go Peter, you've lost it, he goes Peter, do you love it?
[SPEAKER_00]: and Peter responds to all three times with, I love you Lord, and Jesus responds with, be my lands, tend to my sheep, feed my sheep, and then ends with simply saying, follow me.
[SPEAKER_00]: After all of that, Jesus goes back to the first conversation he had with Peter, and he says, now follow me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he does it again after Peter gets mad, which I don't have time for, but it's also a hilarious account
[SPEAKER_00]: John and Peter, because right after this, Jesus tells Peter, one day, you're going to get killed for me, and thanks to this picture of Peter's death, and then the way John writes it, he goes, and then Peter looking, Jesus walks off with the one that Jesus loved, the disciple that Jesus loved me, by the way, is what he's saying.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's me, the one who laid his head on Jesus' breasts at the last supper, and Peter goes, what about him?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to die too.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus goes, it's really none of your concern, follow me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Really doesn't matter, follow me.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a whole revelation that someone wants to get so caught up with.
[SPEAKER_00]: What about this person?
[SPEAKER_00]: What about that person?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, what about what they did?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, what about their future?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, what about, well, they're not doing right either.
[SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't matter.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not talking to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: You follow me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't worry about them.
[SPEAKER_00]: You follow me.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is all we're tempted.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm telling you this morning, come on with.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm telling you that Jesus is here today.
[SPEAKER_00]: And some of you may have had an experience, last week on Easter Sunday, you may have had an experience, 10 years ago you may have had an experience, last month, and you found yourself sinking back to those same patterns, those same things that are familiar, those same things that are comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if that's you, I believe this, the spirit of God is here today to ask you a question.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you love me?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not here to review for all your failures.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not here to put you in shame.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what the enemy does.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he is here to ask you a question.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you love me?
[SPEAKER_00]: You may have gone back, but the good news is this.
[SPEAKER_00]: He came back to the shore.
[SPEAKER_00]: You may have drifted, but the good news is this.
[SPEAKER_00]: He always stays steady.
[SPEAKER_00]: You may have questioned everything in your life, but he is asking one thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if the answer is yes, the good news for you is this, everything else can be rebuilt.
[SPEAKER_00]: If the answer is yes, he can still put it all back together.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really want you to feel this this morning, because some of you have been carrying weight that Jesus never asked you to carry.
[SPEAKER_00]: Weight of shame, weight of guilt, the weight of your past mistakes and failures.
[SPEAKER_00]: You've been replying your mistakes.
[SPEAKER_00]: You've been rehearsing failures living under a quiet sense of I should be further than I am now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus is stepping into this moment right here right now, not with accusation, but with an invitation.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe he's asking people in this room right now, not in anger, not in frustration, not in shame, but with an invitation, do you love me?
[SPEAKER_00]: And if that answer is still yes, the good news is this, you're not disqualified.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not done, you're not too far gone.
[SPEAKER_00]: We just watch people go in the water, buried with Christ, raised in new life.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I want you to hear me baptism is not the finish line.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a doorway.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you, you didn't go in that water day, some of you did it a long time ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you need to step back into what that represents.
[SPEAKER_00]: Saying no to your past and saying yes to your future because we love him.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are different and we'll never be the same.
[SPEAKER_00]: We stand up to your feet.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna just wear where I ride right now, just bow your heads from.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's probably some of you in this room throughout this message to Holy Spirit who's been tugging at your heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And some of you were probably even saying right now, Pastor, I love him, but I know I was drifted.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love him, but I've gone back to fishing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love him, but I've gone back to the things that were comfortable in my past.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love him, but I've been living beneath who he's called me to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: today I want to make a fresh commitment that I'm going to live different now I'm not saying you're not safe I don't think Peter wasn't safe
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter just went back to what was comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're in this room, he's a pastor.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've made a mistake of going back to what's comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: But today, I want to meet him on the shore.
[SPEAKER_00]: If that's you, just lift your hand where you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pastor, I've gone back to what's comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: But today, I'm making that fresh commitment.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to understand, once again, I'm not saying, you're not saying, I believe you love Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: By saying you, by lifting your hand, you're saying that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love you, Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I need to make that freshment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just keep your hand there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lift your hands, that's it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just honestly, before the Lord right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's people in this room, you thought God was disappointed with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: You thought he was frustrated.
[SPEAKER_00]: You thought you had to fix yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: You thought you had to make everything right before you could come back, but he never left the shore.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been waiting the whole time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not with rejection, but with the restoration.
[SPEAKER_00]: So right now, I declare over you that shame is breaking.
[SPEAKER_00]: I declare that condemnation is lifting.
[SPEAKER_00]: I declare identities being restored.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are not who you were, but you are who he says you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to look at me for a minute.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you listen to your hand in this room, this isn't a moment of shame.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not a moment of condemnation.
[SPEAKER_00]: As a matter of fact, there's some people in this room that probably should be raising their hands that aren't because they don't have the courage that some of you have in this moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you lifted your hand, here's what I'm gonna ask you to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to take a step further.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to invite you to come to this altar this morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just step a step out from where you are and come stand at this altar because I believe that in your wall,
[SPEAKER_00]: Think about Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: He got off that boat, probably soaking wet, probably a mess, probably embarrassed, probably unsure, but he walked towards Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as you step out and you walk for, I you're not walking to an altar this morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're walking toward Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not walking to a team just to pray for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're taking a step towards a risen Savior.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for downloading this podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: We trust that this message has blessed encouraged and identified you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be back soon with another incredible message.
[SPEAKER_00]: God bless you and have a great week.