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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Hey, thanks so much for listening to Sandals Church. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We hope you enjoy this message.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Come on now Sandals Church, it is good to be here and I hope and pray that you are excited to be here as well. Hey, whether you're at a campus, at a Sandals Church, anywhere location or online, wherever you are, Can we just give God some praise? Come on, let's praise God for who he is. Come on, let's just clap. God is so good.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Come on. And we're praising God because we're breathing, we're alive. We made it to church today. Praise God. And I do that because sometimes I think we take it for granted that that we exist and that we're here on planet earth and that the earth is actually rotating on its axis and that there's oxygen in the air to breathe and that gravity is is still working.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Come on. Friends, that ain't you, that ain't me, that's nobody but the Lord. That ain't nobody but the Lord. So please don't tell me you don't have something to thank God for because there's always some I noticed tough things going on in your life. I get that, I get that.
Pastor Jeff Whye:But at least you're going through it with Jesus, right? Amen. Amen. So we should be constantly in a state of thanksgiving because God is always at work for our good. Amen?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Amen. And as we begin, let me just say this, you are not here by happenstance or coincidence. It's not random, it's not a random chance that you happen to be exactly where you are. I believe that I believe that you're supposed to be here and that God has something for you for us. So I pray that you don't miss whatever it is that God has for you today.
Pastor Jeff Whye:His mercies are new every single morning and he offers bread daily to us. So let's posture ourselves to receive it. Well, we are finishing up in our series encountering Jesus, but please know that Jesus offers an everyday encountering opportunity regardless of a series when it starts or what ends. And today we're gonna continue ourselves in the book of John. Now John, who was a disciple who became an apostle was an eye witness to the life and ministry of Jesus.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And what is interesting about John is that John is writing to encourage, to encourage faith in Jesus for unbelievers. While at the same time, while at the same time, he's not only doing that, but he's also encouraging us, those of us who already believe that we would continue to believe. I think sometimes that's why if you are new to the faith, we actually tell you to read the book of John. So so I want you to know that I want you to know that there's something here for all of us because no matter where you are, no matter who you are on this journey called life, we all tend to struggle with God every now and then. It's funny because it's funny because I, you know, I used to look at the old testament and read about the Israelites and the Jewish people coming out of Egypt in the desert and they're back and forth and they're worshiping other gods, they're struggling, they're arguing, they're listening, they're not listening to leadership, they're up and down relationships and their ins and outs with God.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And I realized, hold on, wait, hold on. I stopped looking at them. I looked at me and I said, Lord, I do that. I must be Jewish. Lahaim, that must be me.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I didn't have a bar mitzvah, but maybe I can have a bro mitzvah, come on. I don't know if they they allow people, brothers in the forties to do that. But anyway, I think that'd be awesome. But this is what I discovered. Struggling and wrestling with God is not a Jewish thing.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It's a people thing. We all do this and today we are going to look at what it looks like when we fail in our faith. And I believe that for the most part, we don't we don't need a new insight or more spiritual insights. Our greatest need is not to learn a new thing, but to trust what we already believe, what's already been revealed to us. So today, today we are gonna be discovering God's word in John 21, starting at verse 15 and and here as we're reading this Jesus has just just, been resurrected and and he is appearing to his disciples.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And so as we've been accustomed to doing if you're willing and you're able can you please stand for the reading of God's word as we honor him? It says, When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord, Peter said. Yes, Lord, he said. You know that I love you.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Jesus said, Feed my lambs. Again, Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, Take care of my sheep. The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him a third time, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourselves and went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you to where you do not wanna go.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, follow me. Let's pray family. Well, Lord, we thank you. We thank you for today and what you have for us today.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Jesus, what are you up to? What do you wanna do? Whatever it is, we don't wanna stand in your way so Lord have have your way. Holy Spirit, you are always on the move so my prayers that you would move through me in this time and spirit of God, open up the ears of the hearers of this word so that we can be doers of the word. We pray this in Jesus name and we all said together, amen, amen.
Pastor Jeff Whye:You may be seated.
Christian Crowley:Hey guys, as we get going with the message from pastor Jeff, I wanted to take a moment and just invite you to be a part of the work that we're doing here at Sandals Church by Financially Giving. If that's something that you'd be interested in, you can go to donate dot sc. Now let's jump back into the message with Pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I'm gonna, I'm gonna read a list to you. And after I read this list in full, I want you to let me know if this has ever been you. Have you ever been someone who has been hard headed, tough to work with, someone who messes up, maybe someone who repeats the same sin over and over and over again, someone who just can't seem to get your act together, someone who is in it for themselves, maybe you are selfish. Maybe you're just a hot mess. Maybe with all of these, you're just someone in denial.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Raise your hand if that's ever been you. Man, isn't that amazing? Well, I want you to know that you are in company not only with the person on your left and right. Don't Don't look at him, don't look at him, don't look. Okay, you can look at him, you can look at him for a little bit.
Pastor Jeff Whye:No, look here, look here, look here. Not only are you good company with that individual on your left and right, but I think you're also in good company with the apostle Peter. And it's his life we will be looking at today because I believe that we all can find ourselves within the narrative of Peter. And I don't know if you are like me, but there are so many moments within the gospels, which are the first four books of the new testament that I I just feel like I am Peter. But I'm probably not the only one.
Pastor Jeff Whye:So as we spend our time together, I want you to just take note of how you are like Peter today. I'm gonna come back to our main passage that we have been reading, but I want you to know that in the very beginning, Peter, whose original name was Simon, has an encounter with Jesus. Has an encounter with Jesus. And and in John, in John, chapter 1 verse 41, Andrew is telling his He's telling his brother Simon, he says, we have found the Messiah, that is the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Jesus looked at him and said, You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas, which is translated to Peter. Now, question, wouldn't you say that one of the most identifying things about someone is their name? I mean, soon as you say a name with that goes a person, a personality, a background, something like that. If I were to say a name, something would come to your mind, a person.
Pastor Jeff Whye:If I said Ian, something comes to your mind, someone comes to your mind. If I say Diane, if I say Devon, if I say Lori Lynn, if I say Jack, if I say Lucius. That's an awesome name, Lucius. Lucius. Hey, if you're a Lucius out there, I'm sure you're a wonderful person.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I would love to meet you. But here we see Jesus renaming Simon to Peter. Something that Jesus only did with a few people, but here he does it with Peter. Why? Why does he do this with Peter?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Maybe because on the first encounter with Jesus, he knows that Peter needs a new identity. And he needs to start that new identity with his name. But you will soon see, you will soon see that like Peter, we all struggle to believe and live from the identity that Jesus gives us. We all do this. I think this is one of the most beautiful things that Jesus does for us because he knows it's one of the most difficult things that we wrestle with in our life.
Pastor Jeff Whye:We wrestle with our identity. Maybe we wrestle with our identity because, maybe it's our profession. I don't know if it's, it's our background, our ethnicity, our skin color, our sexuality, our relationship status, our painful past, our hurt, our politics, our success, our education, our bank account, our nationality, our personality assessment, maybe it's who we desire to be. Any one of those things we tend to place in front, meaning like this is my identity, which usually drives us to we, to who we are and who we ultimately will be in life. And Jesus is saying, no, stop, don't do it.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And it's not that what you placed one of those things is not that it's not important. It's just not paramount to who God says you are. That's why we read in Colossians that we are to set ourselves with the things above and not of this world. Have you ever read the Bible? Don't take my word for it, read the Bible for yourself.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And we also read in 2nd Corinthians that if anyone is in Christ, that they are a new creation. The old is gone and the new is here. Church, this is a good thing. It needs to be about Jesus because if we search for Jesus, you will find yourself. But there is another account that, another account that that another disciple, Matthew, records at a later time that Jesus encounters Peter.
Pastor Jeff Whye:He encounters Peter and is found in Matthew 4:18. It says, as Jesus was walking, walking beside the sea of Galilee, he saw 2 brothers, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, and they were casting a net into the Lake for they were fishermen. Come follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers and men. I will send you out to fish for people. At once they let their nets down and they followed him.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It's here in Matthew, Peter actually starts to follow Jesus. Earlier in John, we read that Jesus changed Peter's name, but Peter actually, doesn't quickly start following Jesus because Jesus doesn't directly ask Peter to follow him yet at that point. But then here Peter is not with Jesus and Jesus sees him doing what Peter knew, which was fishing. For it says, they were fishermen. And Jesus says to them, follow me.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Listen, church, God is asking you, will you follow him? Which means sometimes leaving what you are accustomed to doing and what you were you were set out to do. But but but time out time out reality reality and vulnerability moment. This was me. I told you that I am Peter.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I thought I knew, I thought and I knew and I was convinced that I was supposed to be in the entertainment industry. And I had a degree in it. I I I had so many people tell me that this is what I was supposed to do. I had a voice for TV and a face for radio. Got that.
Pastor Jeff Whye:But I had an encounter with God and he said, Jeff, I have something else for you to do. And it was tough to leave. It was so tough to leave. I kicked and screamed the whole way out, but I left to do this thing called full time ministry and become a pastor. And please don't think I chose chose the easier route because there are many days ministry is not the easier route.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It's the most rewarding, praise the Lord, but it but it is tough. It is tough and all the pastor said Amen. Come on now. Come on. Shoot shoot shoot.
Pastor Jeff Whye:All the church workers said Amen. Come on somebody. But my question to you is, is God calling you to follow him? Family for a lot of us, Jesus calls us to be a disciple right where you are. And to be his ambassador within your context, at your job, in your homogeneous community, a place where Jesus needs you to be equipped to do the ministry right there.
Pastor Jeff Whye:But for others of us, is Jesus calling you to follow him out of what you are doing and into something else. What's so awesome about Jesus is that is that he tells them that he will he will make them fishers of people, meaning that he's going to start with where they are at and what they already got because he can take what you do and turn it around for him. I used to be in front of people saying some crazy stuff. And today I'm up in front of people saying some crazy stuff. But for Jesus, but for Jesus.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Things that help you hopefully in your faith. These guys knew how to catch fish. But now Jesus is going to help them catch and fish for people. By the way, I'm so glad that this version that I'm reading actually says fish for people and not men, and which is fine. But for years, the church has always said, you you know, the version why, you know, it says, hey, Jesus said, hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you to help me fish for men.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I I don't know. I I think maybe that's the reason why the church is more filled with women because they're fishing for the man. They're fishing for the man. Hey, hey, if you wanna fish somewhere ladies, at least fish in church, all right? But but don't fish for men, all right?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Ted, Tyrone, Juan, Chang, Cephas. I'm so glad that we went with Peter and not Cephas because Cephas sounds like someone's old messed up uncle. You know, he crazy. He ain't right, uncle Cephas. You must have an uncle Cephas, don't you?
Pastor Jeff Whye:But at this moment, Peter drops his nets and follows. And it would have been awesome if in this encounter with Jesus, Peter was fully convinced and stayed with Jesus, but he actually doesn't. And this is like so many of us. We'll have an encounter with Jesus, the God of this universe, where we are invited to follow him and we end up returning to our Simon days and our old ways, trying to do you and what you know. If we are wondering about the timeline here, scholars believe that it was about 4 months that had passed between the first and the second encounter with Peter, that Peter had with Jesus.
Pastor Jeff Whye:So somewhere in that time, Peter, I don't know, maybe he got scared, maybe he needed money, maybe he got bored with following, maybe he sat under the tutelage of Jesus and he's like, I need to be fed. I'm not getting fed. Maybe he finds out that this is not exciting as he thought. Maybe he started doubting and instead of seeking, he just walked out. Maybe he was looking for a vending machine Jesus.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Who knows, but maybe I, who knows, maybe he thought his old life and his old way of doing things and supporting himself with what he knew would be more advantageous. And just like many of us, he reverted back to his old way of living. And we find in Luke 5 that Peter has again left Jesus and gone back to fishing. The context here for what I'm about to read is that Peter is out on the lake and it's morning, it's morning and Peter has fished all night. He has fished all night with his homies, his boys, and he has caught nothing.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And Jesus is there teaching on the shore. Luke 5, starting at 4, it says this, When he had finished speaking, Jesus said to Simon, Peter, put out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, Master, we've worked all night. We've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and they filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Man, I wish I could spend time on this. When Simon and Peter saw this, when Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, go away from me Lord, I am a sinful man.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I love this scene. I love this scene. Peter has an incredible encounter with Jesus and he is convinced. He is convicted. He is ashamed.
Pastor Jeff Whye:He is embarrassed. He's embarrassed and he knows that Jesus is indeed the way. As I read this, I feel like I feel like this is how it should be. This is how it this is how it should happen. When we find ourselves in a place recognizing that we are nothing without God, nothing without God.
Pastor Jeff Whye:In a mental, emotional, spiritual state of lack, that's where we I feel like that's where we It seems like it it seems like it's it's only in these type of moments when we recognize who Jesus actually is. It's a place where I think Jesus actually wants us to get to. It's a place of humility, which you find in the book of Peter that he tells us in due time, the Lord will lift you up. But it starts with humility. Peter falls at Jesus' feet and confesses that he is a sinful man.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Within a short within that short confession, he is saying that that he is lost without the savior, that that he should have trusted Jesus, that he is sorry for leaving, that that that Jesus is the only way, that that the only true success lies with Jesus. That Jesus doesn't call him to live a safe life, but a sacrificial life. Have you ever been there, saints? Have you ever been there, saints? Where you're when you've fallen on your knees and on your face only to confess that Jesus, without you I can do nothing.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I've been there, church. I've been there. I've been in the church. I've been a Christian for a lot of years and I've been there many times. Like Peter, we can forget that our true identity can only be found in Jesus.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Do you know that? Every now and then, do you find yourself like Peter going back to your Simon days? And I'll say this because in verse 10 of Luke 5, it actually says, Then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid. This is where he lifts him up. And Jesus responds to his humility, he says, don't be afraid.
Pastor Jeff Whye:From now on you will fish for people. So they pulled their boats up on the shore and left everything and followed him. Praise God that Jesus continues to to hold out his hand, saying, come on in, get up. I know you have failed, now follow me. Don't be afraid, I got you.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Family, this is who we are. This is what we do and Jesus is right there. He is right here saying the same thing to us. He is saying, follow me. And this is and this is what's so incredible.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Jesus will come to you. K. He will come to you. Verse 3 tells us that Jesus Jesus got into Peter's boat. He got a Jesus will get into your boat.
Pastor Jeff Whye:He will get into your mess. He will get into your success. He will get into your waywardness, your hot mess selves to save you from yourself because you are worth it. My God left heaven and put on flesh, came to earth to be with this. What God does that?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Our God, our God. There was no other religion. There was no other God, lowercase g, God that comes down to us. It's like Francis Chan says in his book, Crazy, Crazy Love, that God came down from the mountain. All the other guys, they don't come down from them.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Jesus comes down to the mountain in our mess, come from, down from the mountain to our muck, to our mire, to our mess with us. Who does this? His name is Jesus. Come on now, that's an opportunity to clap. I wanna take you I wanna take you on, a brief little journey of the highs and lows moments of, Peter within the life and ministry of Jesus.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Listen to this, these are moments that Peter had with Jesus and I wanna just read some of them to you. Listen to this, there was a time when Peter literally saw Jesus take a few loaves of bread and fish and multiply it for 1,000. That's amazing. And then a few hours later, he was scared of a storm and Jesus walking on water. But then Jesus came out with, but then Peter came out with Jesus on the water, walking with him.
Pastor Jeff Whye:But then he looked at the storm and looked at the waves and then he started sinking and drowning. But then Peter saw it, there was another time when Peter, actually saw Jesus transfigured. You can't even imagine that sight. Jesus was levitating, he was glowing and he heard the voice of God. And within that moment he was astonished.
Pastor Jeff Whye:But then there was another moment. There was another moment where Peter is rebuked by Jesus and Jesus calls Peter, Satan. Thank you, Jesus. He's never called me Satan. And then there was another time when Peter spoke up and told Jesus that there is no other place for him or the disciples to go because Jesus has the words to eternal life.
Pastor Jeff Whye:But then also Peter argued with the apostles about sitting on the right hand, the right side of Jesus and when he comes into his kingdom. Peter told, Peter told Jesus not to wash. You ain't gonna wash my feet Jesus. But then a few seconds later, he's like, actually wash my whole body. Peter was trigger happy and sliced off a guy's ear.
Pastor Jeff Whye:But he also, but he also was the only one who got it right. And he said that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the son of the living God. Peter was clumsy. Peter was committed. Peter was confused and Peter was commissioned.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Friends, you are, church, you are in good company Because one of the most decorated and impactful and productive disciples of Jesus, Peter, failed many times. And he also got it right many times. Many of us can relate to this journey and our faith walk with Jesus. One minute you are here at church, raising your hand and worship, crying out to God, I love you. And then on Tuesday, you're yelling at God, why did I lose my job?
Pastor Jeff Whye:One moment you are serving on a real team, greeting and welcoming people, to the Lord's church, but then but then your marriage is suffering and you're wondering why God can't serve you in your marriage. Maybe you're trusting God with your finances and you just started tithing. You you started giving financially. But then you're asking God to to bless your finances and to give it an increase. Almost every week you pray.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Hear me out there. Almost every week you pray and you're on the prayer team, you're on the soul care team, and you're praying that God would heal people that you don't even know. But then you just got diagnosed with a chronic health condition yourself. You serve in Sandals Kids Ministry, but you can't even have kids or maybe you lost a kid yourself. You read that Jesus was single and you say, Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Yeah, but Jesus, you don't know what it's like to be 38 and single or 40 and single or 45 and single. Friends, this is real life. This is yours and it is my life as Christians, as people. And this is what causes a lot of us to fail, give up, check out. We all live within this gap between what we say we believe and how we actually live.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And it's the goal of formation, spiritual faith in Jesus formation to actually try to close that gap. And we see this with the disciples of Jesus and in all the gospels as we see the turn from kingdom to cross. And when Jesus begins to talk about how the Messiah must suffer, which is not just something for Jesus, but something for his disciples and for us as Christians. Life brings suffering and you don't escape suffering because you're a Christian. If anything, I'm sorry, watch out and you actually may suffer more.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And Jesus tells us in his gospels and in gospel after gospel about suffering and crisis and doom and gloom and earthquakes and wars and persecution and betrayal. And then it's at the last supper, the first communion when Jesus is talking about his own suffering that will happen on the cross and Peter will have none of it. Even going as far as telling Jesus that he will stay with Jesus to the very end. You know what? He said, Jesus, I'm gonna die with you.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I'm gonna die with you. In fact, this is actually what Peter says In John 13, starting at 37, Peter asked, Lord, why can't I follow you? I will lay down my life for you. And Jesus answered, Will you really lay down your life for me? You see Jesus sees the gap with Peter.
Pastor Jeff Whye:He sees the gap with what he's saying and then what actually will happen. Very truly I tell you before the rooster crows, you will disown me 3 times. And that is exactly what happens. Jesus is arrested, taken to court to the high priest and there in the courtyard as Peter is warming by the charcoal fire, Peter is asked by those around him if he is if he's been with Jesus and if he knows Jesus and is he with Jesus and not once not twice, but three times he denies Jesus. And in the middle of the 3rd denial before he can even get out, I don't know.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Before he could even get it out, he hears the rooster crowing. And Luke's gospel says that that at the very moment Jesus looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered what Jesus said. And Peter broke down and cried. I wonder I wonder what Jesus' facial expression was in that moment. And I asked that question because maybe whatever you believe Jesus' face looked like is how you believe Jesus looks at you when you fail.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Peter's life comes unfolding. It comes on it comes it comes folding in on itself. And at that moment he realizes that he is a failure. How many of us have been there? Come on, Satan.
Pastor Jeff Whye:How many of us have been there? How many times have we denied Jesus, left Jesus, forsaken Jesus? I think it's moments like these that we discover really what we believe in God. When I look at Peter's life and in his moments of boredom, unmet expectations and crisis, It's in these moments that we discover where he's really at with Jesus and it's in those moments of our lives that we see what it is that we truly believe about God, ourselves and life itself. For Peter, what he actually believes is revealed in this crisis moment.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It reminds me of this idea that that we are all like bags filled with tea. You don't really know really what's inside until we're put in some hot water situations. Guess where Peter goes after this denial? Right back to fishing. Right back to fishing.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It's where the resurrected Jesus finds Peter actually in our passage today that we read earlier in John 21. Peter like us reverted back to his old ways. It's been years since he was a fisherman. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter.
Pastor Jeff Whye:He returned to what was comfortable for him. You see, because Peter is still wrestling at his core with who he is, his failures and and his shortcomings. Somewhere Peter Peter forgot that it's only in Jesus that we discover who we are. Do you know who you are? Who Jesus says you are?
Pastor Jeff Whye:You want to know what I believe is the number one thing that will close the gap between what between what you believe and how you actually live your life? It's trust. You see, if there is one thing I I've discovered, one thing that I've discovered in my in my years of following Jesus, reading his word, being in community, serving and giving, if there's one thing I have learned, it's asking and answering the question, will I trust him? Family, when we fail, and we will often fail, our greatest need is to trust what we already believe. What we've already seen, what we've already been told.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Will we trust Jesus? You see this closes the gap between what we say and how we live. It's trust. Let's look at the last Let's look at this last scene, in John 21 with Peter. John 21 verse 3, Peter says, I'm going out to fish.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And they said, We'll go with you. Friends, have you been noticing that Peter is a leader? So they went out and they got into the boat, but that night they had caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore. This is the resurrected Jesus.
Pastor Jeff Whye:He stood on the shore, but the disciples did not recognize who he was. He called out to them, friends, have you any fish? No, they answered. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say this, it is Lord, he wrapped his outer garment and he took off. He jumped in the water, took off after him. Man, I'm just like Peter. I would've been in that water.
Pastor Jeff Whye:I hope I hope it was warm, but I would have been in there. This moment, this scene is so incredibly intentional by Jesus. This is why the bible is so good y'all. This is too good. Here they are at the same beach where it all started years ago, where Peter fell to his knees in tears in front of Jesus after seeing Jesus perform a fish catching miracle.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And Jesus says the same words he did 3 years ago. Almost doing the exact same thing verbatim. And when he gets out of the boat, he runs to Jesus. And then he smells the charcoal that is in the air. For Peter, the last time there was charcoal and Jesus was a reminder of his greatest disappointment.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It's where it's where and when he denied Jesus. And Jesus is recreating the scene for Peter. And Jesus cooking up fish just like those that they just brought in. Jesus looks at Peter and says, Simon Peter, do you love me more than these? You see he's asking once because Peter denied him once.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And he's saying these because Peter returned to his old occupation, fishing, for which Peter is for which Peter knows there's a known outcome with this. But with Jesus, you have to trust in the unknown outcome. And then Jesus asked him twice if he loved him because Peter denied him a second time. And I'm sure Peter felt a little insecure, a little ashamed because he asked him the same question. But here but here is Jesus asking him a third time because Peter denied him 3 times and this one hurt Peter.
Pastor Jeff Whye:And because it was a response and a yes out of his pain, Jesus knew that Peter did indeed love him. And the third time's a charm because it's it's what I believe restored and reinstates Peter. 3 denials, 3 times Jesus asked, and I feel like Jesus was doing something because biblically we see anytime there's 3, there's there's a it's completion. And each time Jesus told Peter, take care of the people that I will entrust to you. In this moment, Jesus reinstates Peter and for Peter, he experienced personally, personally the grace and forgiveness of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff Whye:This is what I capture throughout the story of Peter and Jesus is that Jesus has always seen Peter as he truly is. Despite all of his crazy, all of his back and forth and even in his denial, Jesus still loves him. Family, Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you. It's in this walk with Christ.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It's in this walk with Christ that it's okay to fail. Jesus is there to restore and reinstate you and love you because he's got kingdom work for you to do. You see Peter's greatest contribution to God's kingdom came out of his failure. What he learned the most from God was birthed out of his deepest failure. This is not just true for Peter y'all, this is true for me and it is true for you.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It is the cross of Christ that allows for our failures to be transformed into triumph. You wanna know who said that? The Apostle Peter. Friends, family, where are you right now with Jesus? Are you in a high season right now or a low season?
Pastor Jeff Whye:Do you find yourself bored with your faith and a place of unmet expectations? Are you in a crisis mode? Are you about to return to what you know? Have you failed Jesus in some way and you are ashamed? Is Jesus asking you, do you love me more than these?
Pastor Jeff Whye:You fill in the blank. What are these for you? Is Jesus asking you, do you love him and will you follow me? Wherever you are at, Jesus wants to meet and encounter you right there. And just because you failed doesn't mean Jesus is done with you.
Pastor Jeff Whye:It very well could be the start of Jesus powerfully working through you. Come on somebody. Friends as we end today I want you to think, I want you to think about where you are at with Jesus right now. And because you doubt, it doesn't count you out. Because you're gone doesn't mean you can't come back in.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Wherever you are, believe it or not, Jesus is right there, He's waiting on you, He's waiting for you. He's saying, I love you, do you love me? Will you follow me? Come on, let's pray. Gracious father, thank you so much for giving us this moment.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Thank you so much for forgiving us. Even though we mess up, Lord, Lord, God, this life is difficult. And all of us are back and forth with you, Jesus, From trusting to denying, to leaving, to returning, to our old ways, to not doing what you called us to do. Father, I pray that we would believe who you say we are. And part of that means believing in you, believing in your son, Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff Whye:Thank you that that even in our failures there is forgiveness and you still have a future for us. Jesus we wanna follow you, we wanna follow you. In Jesus name, amen.