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Well, good morning. If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join us in
Joel chapter 2. Add something a little new. If you don't have your Bible, we do have some in the
very back here, in this back table, if you don't have a Bible. And we'd love for you to stop by
after the service is over with so that we could give you one of those Bibles after the service
so that you can have a copy of God's Word. I want to echo what Pastor Dave said. I want to welcome
our first-time guest. We're so grateful that you were here and that you chose to worship with us
today. If you've got time after the service is over with, I'll be back here at this table. Would love
for you to stop by just to speak. If you have any questions about Willow Ridge Church, would love to
be able to answer those questions for you. Then also, happy Mother's Day to all of the moms who are
here. My wife and kids are in Jackson, South Carolina. If you know where Jackson, South Carolina
is, you're probably one of a handful of people here. But they are in Jackson, South Carolina with
her parents this morning, worshiping Christ there and celebrating with her mom. And so we know that a
lot of you moms are here. You've got a group with you. We're so excited that you're here. And I hope that
today is all that you want it to be. I hope every said and unsaid expectation is met. I hope everything
that you long for and desire happens today. Fellas, get to work. All right. With that being said,
I say this every year, not because I have to, but because I want to and just what the Lord has impressed
on my heart. As joyous as today is, and it is a good day. Today is such a good day. But Mother's Day
can be a wonderful day of celebration, but it can always be a difficult day. Growing up for me in
the Bradbury household, Mother's Day in our family was always a bittersweet day. I've got a wonderful
relationship with my mom. In fact, after the service is over with, I'll be jetting down to North Augusta to
spend the afternoon with her and my dad and Aaron. The kids will come meet us over there later this
evening. But just to spend time with her. But growing up, my mother's mom passed away when my
mother was 16. In fact, the fullness of the story that I found out later on, I believe as a teenager,
is that my mom came home from school one afternoon to find that her mom had passed away. She found her
mom. She died of a massive heart attack at her mid-50s. And so growing up for me, Mother's Day was
always a bittersweet day in our houses. My mom both celebrated being a mom and grieved the loss of her
mother. When I got married, Aaron and I, and we were looking forward to having kids and having a family,
we also went through about five years where we could mark our struggle as a couple. A struggle with
infertility, a struggle with miscarriages, and we walked through definitely a very difficult and hard
season before God blessed us with Emma and Grayson. So I say all of that to say this this morning, that
moms, we're so grateful for you and what a privilege it is for you to be here and your influence and your
love, and we're thankful for that. But I also know that for maybe a laundry list of reasons, there's a
group of you here today that today's a difficult day. And if today's a difficult day for you, I want
you to know that we're, we're praying for you. Another matter of prayer before we get into God's
word this morning, I've had several of you ask me as we partner with, with Pastor Sam and the church in
India and all that has been going on with India and Pakistan and the relationships, uh, that, that are
there. Um, and so I've been, I've been communicating with Sam throughout the week to see and how we can
pray and, and checked in with him this morning. We're just like, Hey man, um, just with all the,
the, the ceasefire and those pieces, like, like, how are you guys doing? And so he asked if we would
pray for these two things, very specifically with the church. He said, things definitely still feel
unsettled, uh, and they're waiting for it to kind of, uh, take the next step of hostility. There isn't
the sense that there's peace. He said, so pray for the church, pray for perseverance, that the church
would, would grow strong through this. And then he said to also pray for the faithfulness
of the church, that what greater time than right now in these moments of chaos and these moments of
tragedy to share about the hope in Christ and Christ alone. So let's go, uh, to the Lord in prayer this
morning. God, I come to you today. Lord, we thank you for the mothers who were here. We thank you for
the mothers that you've blessed us with. We thank you for those who stepped into our life when we
maybe did not have a mother to serve as that figure for us. God, we thank you for their, their love. We
thank you for, for their compassion. We thank you for their work. We thank you for their service. And
Lord, what a wonderful blessing they are. God, I thank you for my mother. I thank you for my
mother-in-law. Thank you for my grandmothers. I thank you for my aunts. Lord, I thank you for my wife.
And Lord, I know many of us echo the same sentiments. God, we also lift up those here this morning who
today is a day of struggle for them as they wrestle with the loss of their mother, maybe the loss of
their child, maybe the inability to, to have children, maybe, Lord, as they've struggled with
miscarriages in the past. God, we pray for comfort and peace for their heart. God, may they know that you
hear them. God, may they know that you love them. God, we pray for all of India. God, we pray for the
men and women of the church. God, we pray for their perseverance of faith, their perseverance in the
strength of the Lord. God, we pray for their faithfulness. May they carry on the ministry,
Lord, for what you have for them, for your glory, for your name, and for your renown. And God, may we
continually lift up those on foreign soil who are serving you all over this world. And it's in Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. Well, a question that I have for you this morning as we continue on in our study of
Joel. We have this week and then next week as we'll conclude it then. But here's the question. Have you
ever restored something? Have you ever taken something that was a little old and made it something new
or something newer or something that was old and kind of looks kind of new? Maybe you've taken a piece
of furniture and reupholstered the fabric. Maybe you've taken an antique dresser or chest and sanded
it down and applied new stain or paint or hardware to repurpose and to use. Maybe you've gotten an old
car with the dents and the rust and the engine that doesn't quite work right and maybe you left a little
bit of the rust and the age on the outside, but you got that engine maybe not running smooth, but running
again. Have you ever worked to restore a relationship? A relationship that's had some tension, a relationship
that's had some relational distance that's been created, and you fought to restore that friendship,
to bring it back where it was or to bring it to a better setting than it
was before. We might not think about it, but restoring is something that we
do quite often. We think about that there's whole TV shows and TV channels that are
that are dedicated in order to see people restore things. YouTube channels that you can subscribe to
and watch as men and women take that which was broken, take that which others saw as trash,
and restore it and bring it back to life. My mom's dad, his name was Bill Milford. He passed away
my senior year in high school. Honestly, before, when I was born, he had already retired.
I don't even know what he did for a living before he retired. I was thinking about that this morning.
He'd been retired for so long that I don't know, and he never really talked about it, but I know what
he did after he retired. He ran an antique shop in downtown Augusta, and what he would do is he would
get up every morning. One of the things that he had learned in his years was the trash route,
and he would get up early in the morning, about 3 a.m., and he would drive the trash route.
He had an old truck. The best way that I can describe the truck, and this will maybe go over
the heads of some generations who are in here with us this morning, but he had an old truck that we
called the Fred Sanford truck, you know, and he would load up in that truck, and he would go out ahead
of the trash trucks, and he'd drive really slowly, and when he saw a piece of furniture cast to the side
of the road for them to throw away, he would get out of his truck. He would load it back up. He would
bring it back to his shop, and he would pride himself on how little he could spend but to pour
his time and his energy and his effort while saving money and take an old piece of furniture and restore
it and take that which was someone's trash and turn it into what would be someone's treasure.
The Bible talks about restoring. In fact, one of the most common passages of Scripture is the
23rd Psalm, and it says this,
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
Here it goes, these special four words. Verse 3,
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
In this beautiful picture, David paints a portrait of God as his shepherd, and he talks about how a
shepherd cares for his flock, cares for his sheep in rest, in provision, in leading,
and guiding. And in the middle of this description, David uses these four words that connect us in
Joel chapter 2. He restores my soul. Here's what I believe David is telling us. That while God saves us
once and fully, we are in his flock. We are his sheep. But because sin still exists and lives in our life,
and because God loves us in the depth of relationship with which God desires for us,
that God does something that only God can do. He restores what is broken. He restores what we break.
David knows this better than anyone. In Psalm 51, after his affair, his sin with Bathsheba,
after he's called out, David cries out to God, and uses expressions like this.
Have mercy on me. Wash me. Blot out my transgression. Cleanse me. Purge me. Create in me a clean heart.
I love this. Restore to me. Restore to me. Restore to me. Restore to me the joy of my salvation.
These are the words that David uses. In the fullness of faith with God, David knew
that after his sin, what he needed was not to just make better decisions. David needed to make them.
Was not just don't repeat the same action, even though he didn't need to repeat that action over again.
Not to just have more discipline. And David definitely needed discipline in his life. But what David needed
more so as the reflection of Psalm 53 speaks into Psalm 51 was for God to do the miraculous work of restoring David.
So we looked at week one in Joel. God calls us to repent. We looked at last week that God calls us to return.
And so this week what we're going to see is that God restores. God restores. So let's read Joel 2, 18 through 32.
It says,
And I will remove the northerner far from you and drive him into a parched and desolate land.
His vanguard into the eastern sea and his rear guard into the western sea.
The stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things.
Fear not, O land. Be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things.
Fear not, you beast of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green.
The tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine give their full yield.
Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication.
He has poured down for you the abundant rain, the early and the latter rain as before.
The threshing floor shall be full of grain.
The vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter.
My great army which I sent among you.
You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied.
And praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
You shall know that I am the midst of Israel, and I am the Lord your God, and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
And it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and daughters shall prophecy.
Your old men shall dream dreams.
And your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female servants, in those days I will pour out my spirit.
And I will show wonders in the heavens and on earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.
The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
For in Mount Zion and Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said.
And among the survivors shall be those who the Lord calls.
The background lasts two weeks.
Really quickly, the locusts have come.
They've destroyed the land.
The coming army, God tells them about.
And Joel, at the beginning of Joel chapter 2, will destroy them.
But God calls his people to repent and return.
And then we see in this interaction, this case study on restoring and what God does.
We see that God comes.
And we'll look at this in verse 18.
That he's jealous and has pity on his people.
So God says, in the midst of this chaos, in the midst of this tragedy, in the midst of this trauma,
in everything that has taken place, God says, but here's what I'm going to do.
God says that God provides.
He says that he will provide everything that is necessary for life.
God says that he's going to remove.
God will remove the locust.
God will move the coming attack.
God will remove the army.
God says that he's going to sustain.
God says that you're going to live.
God says that this is going to be a season of life.
God says that he's going to provide hope.
God's going to provide prosperity.
That God will remove from them the fear that is there.
And that instead, there will be hope.
Instead, there will be rejoicing of what was once there.
God says, because of what God is going to do, because of what God is going to restore,
because of how God is going to work, what was complete destruction of what's there.
The tables will turn.
The page will turn.
Things will become different because God restores.
And this is what God does.
And God tells his people, and this is not done partially,
that when God restores, that God restores fully.
That God will restore them physically.
When you go back and you look and you see,
remember, this had gone through and not just wiped out,
not just dealt with a segment or a region,
but this was the whole land.
This was all of the people.
So God says he's going to restore the land.
God says he's going to restore the economy.
God says he's going to restore the crops, the animals,
people's lives, that when God restores,
there's not an area left unturned that's going to be forgotten about.
It's not going to be missed.
God's going to take care of what God needs to take care of,
and God's going to do what God's going to do.
God says that he's going to restore, not just physically,
but that God's also going to store relationally.
He tells them, like, look, like, in this, as I'm restoring you.
And we talked about this, we don't 100% know why God's people were found
in the situation of what led up to that.
But we know they stand in the path of God's judgment.
And God says, I'm going to restore you relationally.
And so God's people were welcomed back into relationship with him.
You see, this just hasn't affected physically around them,
but because of one of the ways that God's people were called to engage with him
through sacrifices was through grain offerings.
So they literally were not able to worship
and to be in relationship with him.
And so God says, look, as I restore, I'm bringing you back into relationship with me.
I'm going to take what you see and what you look at
and what you live in and what you experience and restore it.
But I'm also going to take this relationship and restore it.
And then God says that I'm going to restore spiritually as well.
And the area I think that we miss, God talks about that he's going to pour out his spirit.
That his spirit's going to fall, his spirit's going to be fresh,
and that the word of God will come for his people.
This is what God does.
God takes what is broken and restores it.
About a year ago, my mother, when my parents moved, they moved about 10 years ago.
They moved out of a house that was roughly 3,200 square feet,
somewhere around there.
And they moved into a townhome as they're in the retirement years.
And so they wanted less yard.
They wanted less things to clean, those type things.
And so they moved from about 3,200 to about 1,100, right, is where they live now.
And so I got the phone call.
And I don't know if your parents haven't hit that world yet.
Let me tell you kind of what's going on at your parents' house right now,
if they're still in the house that you grew up in.
They probably still have a lot of your stuff that you didn't want, but they kept a hold of it
because you said, hey, I may want that, but I don't want it bad enough to come get it now,
but I'll come get it later.
And I got that call.
Hey, Bo, you know those things that are in our attic?
You know those nine million baseball cards?
You know that old Nintendo that's broken?
You know that stereo that you have stored away?
We need you to come and get it.
And I remember I said to my dad, hey, don't worry about it.
You can just take that stuff to Goodwill.
And my dad said, in all the kindness and compassion in his voice,
oh, it can go to Goodwill, but you got to take it there, right?
Like, I'm not taking it.
This isn't my things.
These are your things.
So we get there, and we're taking stuff, and there's some stuff like G.I. Joe figures
and Star Wars figures and things like that that now they're in my attic, right?
But there, you know, we took the other stuff, stuff that's worthless.
We took that.
We held on to the priceless items.
But then there was these other things.
And my parents were like, I want you to have this.
And some of it, I was like, yeah.
And some of it, I was like, huh, what are we going to do with that?
One of those things was a chest.
It was an old, like, trunk, chest that my grandfather had given my parents when they got married.
And you think, well, that's a gorgeous thing.
Your granddad, that's the granddad.
He restores things.
He brought new.
Well, my parents got married in 1976.
And let's just say that decorations in 1976 do not look like decorations now.
And he had wrapped this thick, I'm going to describe it as like burlap around this entire chest
and had put, like, a thick layer of glue that was probably, this is probably a slight exaggeration,
but, like, a half inch thick around that.
And it was a color of green that no one has used since 1976.
This is the chest.
And we get it, and Aaron says to me, what are you going to do with that?
I don't know.
Put it in the garage, and one day I'll deal with it.
It sat in the garage for years.
Things piled up and piled up and piled up both in it and on top of it.
And then one day, in a moment of being sentimental and connecting with my grandfather and who he was,
I decided, because my love for him and his love for my parents,
that I was going to take the time and energy to work and to put the effort into, to take and to restore it.
Why?
Do we need another piece of furniture?
No.
But my heart for my parents and my heart for my grandfather
were my motivation in working to restore that piece of furniture.
Why do we find, not just in Joel, but continually all throughout Scripture,
why do we find a holy, powerful God
desiring to deal in the mess, the mayhem, the chaos
of groups and individuals of rebellious people.
And Joel chapter 2 verse 18 tells us why.
It says,
Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.
This, this biblical concept that God is jealous.
Numerous times, especially throughout the Old Testament, we see this, that your God is a jealous God.
And God isn't jealous or envious the way that we are jealous or envious.
We see somebody with a better house, with a better car, and we're jealous or envious, and we want what they have because we think that's what we need.
But God is jealous in a different way.
God's jealousy is not a sinful jealousy, but a holy jealousy.
God is jealous when someone gives to another something that rightly belongs to him.
Today we're going to be with my, my wife and kids are with my mother-in-law, and we'll be with my mom tonight.
So Saturday, traditionally for us, has become Mother's Day for Aaron, and she loves that.
It's what we do.
And so last, yesterday, we celebrated Mother's Day with Aaron.
Now, if you were here a few weeks ago, you'll understand this.
We went and ate sushi last night, right?
It's what we did.
And she still doesn't know his name, you know?
And that's just, but she knows this guy.
Now, let me ask you this question.
All week, me and the kids have been talking about where do we want to go?
What are we going to do?
As we celebrate Mother's Day, what does this need to look at, look like?
What if the kids and I decided that we were going to celebrate Mother's Day?
And how we were going to celebrate Mother's Day is instead of taking Aaron out, we were going to take somebody else out.
We're going to call your mom and take her out.
Why?
Well, we need to celebrate Mother's Day.
We need a mom to celebrate.
So let's get the mom to celebrate, and then let's go celebrate.
I wouldn't be here today if that happened.
Would Aaron be hurt?
Absolutely.
Would she be angry?
You better believe it.
Would she be justified in these feelings?
Yes.
Why?
Because the heart of my wife on Mother's Day is not rooted in her saying,
I want what someone else has, but in the love for her children and the love that she has for us
to see and to experience and to be reminded of the love that we have for her.
You see, God is jealous for you.
God loves you.
God loves you more so than any love that anyone else has ever had or ever will have for you.
God loves you fully.
God loves you completely.
God's love for you is so great.
It's so great that it cannot become greater.
That it is complete and that it's full.
And that's why God takes and loves and works and moves and broken and messed up people.
People who tend to wander and who tend to pursue and who tend to chase after things that aren't his.
You may be asking yourself, though, but what about me?
Am I restorable?
Occasionally growing up, my granddad, I would go spend the night at his house.
And when I would spend the night at his house, we'd wake up early that morning.
We'd go to Hardee's to get breakfast.
And then we would get out ahead of the trash truck.
And for my being his assistant on that day, I'd get paid a dollar, which he would then take me and I would go buy baseball cards with.
We'd stop and we'd see he'd see a piece of furniture on the side of the road.
And I would grab it and I would bring it up to his car.
And he would say, ah, that's not worth it.
So I'd go in and throw it back.
And then we'd ride down the road and we'd see another piece of furniture and I'd grab it.
I'd bring it up to his truck.
Oh, that's worth it.
Put it back.
Put it back in the back.
And we'd load it back in the back.
You see, when we rode around, he would determine if something was fixable, restorable or not.
Before coming to faith in Christ, I oftentimes doubted, am I worthy?
Is God going to be one who would love me?
There's even been times in my walk with the Lord where I've entered into paths, into seasons of sin and wandering where he is.
And he graciously loved me.
And I wonder, God, am I restorable?
Am I broken?
Am I capable of being fixed?
And what I understand is that some of you right now may be walking through that same mindset.
There's no way God would.
There's no way God would care.
There's no way that God is capable to.
And before we close this morning, if that's where your mind is, I want to do a case study.
The person in the Bible that we see, a man by the name of Peter.
The disciple Peter.
Peter, the one who proclaims the truth about Christ.
To Christ.
Peter, the one who stands before the religious authorities and acts and calls them to repentance.
The same ones who would crucify Jesus.
Peter, who goes on to plant and pastor churches.
Do a case study on Peter if you're here today and you're asking yourself,
am I restorable?
Am I restorable?
In John chapter 13, Jesus tells Peter.
They're in the upper room.
Jesus has washed the disciples' feet.
Later that night, Jesus will be arrested.
And Peter, the vocal leader of the group.
The one who says, this is what I'll always be in the confidence in his relationship with Christ.
Jesus looks at him and tells Peter, you'll deny me.
You'll deny me tonight.
You'll deny me three times.
Now imagine, for Peter, that hurt.
He'd given up everything to follow Jesus.
Where Jesus went, Peter went.
Who was Jesus to question his devotion?
Fast forward in John 18, they're in the garden.
A group of soldiers come to arrest Jesus.
And Peter reaches out, grabs a sword, attacks the high priest's servant.
Because he's going to be bold.
He's going to be brave.
Doesn't matter how many of them are there.
Jesus, I'm here for you.
Swings.
Cuts off his ear.
What does Jesus do?
Jesus doesn't say, attaboy, Peter.
Maybe I was wrong.
He didn't say, attaboy, Peter.
I knew you had it in you.
He stops.
Jesus picks up the ear.
He heals the man.
And he commands the violence to stop.
John 18, verse 15.
The Bible tells us that Peter continues to follow Jesus as Jesus is led into town.
Staying a distance back.
And as Jesus is led into the courtyard of the high priest.
As the trials of Jesus would begin.
That would lead him to the call of crucifixion on his life.
And it's in these moments that the Bible tells us, that Peter denies, just as Jesus said, three times, that he knows Jesus.
Do you think you think you're unrestorable?
You think about the list of sins that you've done.
You think about the condition that you find your heart in.
You find the things that you think about.
You find this peace after this peace after this peace.
And maybe it's a mindset of too far gone.
Maybe it's a mindset of God couldn't do this with me.
I find that when we look at in just this evening with Peter.
That we find a pattern and a trail of sin.
That seems on the surface to be unrestorable.
We see attempted murder.
We see that he challenges the authoritative words of Jesus.
We see that he rejects Jesus.
We see that he takes, instead of the will of God, that Peter's, what he's pursuing is the selfish motivation of his own heart.
That he allows not the peace of Christ to consume him, but that the fear of this world to consume him.
And all through this, what's been building is that even though Christ has been saying,
this is what must take place, and this is what will happen,
but the Son of Man will raise again with what the future church would brand as heresy.
As heresy.
Peter rejects the teaching of the resurrection.
And the sinfulness of his action.
Peter's list would leave the logical, worldly mind to say too far unrestorable.
And if that's where you are, and where you find your list going to.
But the Bible continues.
Let's close in reading John 21.
Christ is resurrected.
The tomb is empty.
Easter that we just celebrated.
And then John 21, verse 15.
When they had finished eating breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?
And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
And he said to him, feed my lambs.
He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
And he said to him, tend my sheep.
He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
Peter was grieved.
Because he said to him the third time, do you love me?
And he said to him, Lord, you know everything.
You know that I love you.
And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted.
But when you were old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.
This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.
And after saying this, he said to him, follow me.
Follow me.
Peter, who's gotten it all wrong.
Time after time after time again, has an encounter with the Lord.
He has a faith encounter with Christ.
In the brokenness of who he is and of what Christ needs to restore.
And what we see in here is that Peter grieves.
Peter grieves.
Peter was grieved.
The Bible tells us that after the third time when Jesus said, do you love me?
Three and three.
Peter's an intelligent guy.
I think Peter sees and puts the pieces of it together.
It begins to click with Peter.
It begins to click with those moments leading up to this.
The doubt, the struggle, the insecurity, the rebellion.
All of these things.
And it says that Peter begins to grieve because of what God is needing to do, of what God is calling him to.
And notice this, that as Peter grieves his sin, he doesn't run from Jesus.
As Peter grieves, he draws closer to Jesus.
You see, guilt will run you away.
Conviction will draw you toward.
Peter grieves.
And then he proclaims.
He proclaims.
He will proclaim his love.
We'll look at that just one.
But what he does here that I think is important, he says to Jesus, you know everything.
Now, in our culture, when you look at someone and say, yeah, sure, you know everything, that's not a compliment that you're really smart, right?
That's not to be received that way.
That's not what Peter is saying here.
What Peter is acknowledging is the all-knowing presence of God.
He proclaims that Jesus is God.
You know everything.
Who knows everything?
God.
And then Peter loves.
Peter loves.
There's lots of talk and conversation about the different words for love that Jesus uses in talking to Peter.
But each time that Peter responds, our English translations say that he says that you know that I love you.
You know that I love you.
You know everything.
You know that I love you.
The first two times that Peter used the word know, he uses the word elida.
Which is to know something intellectually.
It would be like to say, you know about someone or you know about something.
Do you know who Michael Jordan is?
Yes, I know who Michael Jordan is.
Do you know Michael Jordan?
No.
Same word, but different.
He said, Jesus, you know intellectually.
You know intellectually.
I'm stating what is factual to you.
But the third time, the third time, that Peter in his proclamation declares his love.
He uses the word ginosko.
Ginosko.
And ginosko is to know through experience.
It's relational knowing.
See, what is happening in this picture is as Peter grieves his sin,
as he proclaims about what is true about Christ and his deity.
He declares not a mental love, not a mental devotion,
but going all the way back to Joel chapter 2 of what God has called his people to
is a restoration of their heart.
And that's found in relationship with God and God alone.
And Peter here describes an intimacy of relationship with Jesus Christ.
It's moved beyond my sin.
It's moved beyond what I know.
And it consumes who I am.
And Jesus, Jesus then in this moment, in this beautiful picture before everyone who's there,
Jesus restores.
Jesus gives Peter a prophecy about his life,
about the journey of what will go on and what it will mean to follow Christ.
And then the very simple words.
Jesus says,
follow me.
Follow me.
Words that I'm sure over Peter's years of being a part of the ministry of Jesus,
he heard time and time again.
Follow me.
I don't know what is on your list.
I don't know this morning what makes you think
that you're unlovable,
that you're unfixable,
that you're in too deep,
that God doesn't care.
But here's what I know,
that God is jealous for you.
He has a depth of love that you could not even fathom.
And in our call to relationship with him,
in the power of the Holy Spirit this morning,
would you grieve your sin?
Would you grieve your brokenness?
And instead of letting that sin push you from God this morning,
I don't care if this is the first time you've been to church in your life,
the first time you've been to church in 10 years,
the first time you've been to church since last week.
Will you allow that grieving to not push you from him,
but to draw you closer to him?
this morning would you declare with your mind and declare with your heart that Jesus is God.
That he's not a way to God.
He is the way to God.
And that he is our Savior.
And that what you desire from him
is not just simply for him to take care of a future eternity
that one day you'll get to,
but to restore the brokenness of relationship that's there.
In fact, that is the heart and desire of God.
Would you pray with me?
God, we thank you for the truth of your word.
We thank you for the power of your word.
God, I thank you for everyone who is here.
Everyone who is in relationship with you.
Lord, we did not get here by our means and by our capabilities.
We did not get here by our righteousness,
by our holiness.
We did not get here by our work and by our perfection.
But we got here through the work and the means,
through the person,
through the holiness,
through the righteousness,
through the sacrifice of Christ and Christ alone.
And God, all of us
who have seen the sin of our life
come through and wipe out and destroy,
to kill and to remove,
to bring us into a void
and to a separation from you, God.
God, when we hear and feel
the sweetness of your voice
calling us back to you.
God, in the words that you spoke
in Joel 2.
Now, Paul will repeat in Romans,
that everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
God, I thank you
that we are not a piece of furniture
cast in the side of the road
that is unfixable,
that is too far gone,
that's lost its beauty,
and that's lost its purpose.
that God, as you said to Peter,
follow me.
God, it's the call
that you're calling us to now.
God, we lift up those who are here this morning
who have not put their faith and hope
and trust in Jesus Christ.
God, we pray that today
they would put their faith in you,
admit that they're a sinner,
to put their belief
in you and you alone
and confess you as Lord and Savior.
But God, so many of us
find ourselves
in David's seat
and David's condition.
God, we are the sheep
of your flock.
God, restore my soul.
It's in your name we pray.
Amen.
That's it for this week's message.
Be sure to check back next week
for a new episode.
And in the meantime,
you can visit us online
at willowridgechurch.org
or by searching for Willow Ridge Church
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Thanks again for listening.