Why Are You Fishing?

Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu from Pneuma Church in Houston, Texas.

Thank you for listening to the message today.

I hope that it blesses you and all those that you share it with.

God bless you.

You know, I love, I love Resurrection Sunday because churches all around,

all around the nation, all around the world are full today.

They're full.

And to me, that is an opportunity.

That tells me that people are going to get saved today.

Numbers are going to be added to the kingdom of God.

Hell is going to be emptied and a big chunk today.

And so the people of God have so much reason to celebrate.

That's why we love Resurrection Sunday.

That's honestly, you know, it, yeah, we, we like to see people in the room,

but more than that, we want to see people fill heaven.

And, and that's why Easter Sunday is so special.

And man, we had a beautiful weekend, a very tiring weekend.

We had our good Friday night of worship where the presence of God just filled

this room.

And then yesterday we had an awesome community event.

And, um, and so, I mean, if, if you were here, I know you're tired and I just

want to say thank you for, for serving.

We have an amazing church, man.

We have an amazing church.

And if you're looking for a church, um, I, I think we have a really good one.

We have, we're not a perfect one, but there is no perfect church.

And, uh, we have a, we have a ministry that is full of imperfect people, but

people that are trying to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.

And we have ministries for your whole family, for your marriage, for your kids,

for your, for the men, for the women, uh, we've got something for everybody.

And so, um, welcome, welcome to Pneuma.

If this is your first time here, um, I'm going to get right into the message.

All right.

Um, when I, when I tell you that I, I struggled with this word, man, I struggled

with this word, man.

Um, and this, this was not the week to struggle.

Um, you know, I, I even, I was, I was at home yesterday working on the, on the

sermon and I, I changed it.

I changed the whole thing.

I was like, you know what, I don't want to preach what I was going to preach.

And so I started a whole new message and then, and then I just, I went back to

the original one.

Um, and so I was back and forth, back and forth.

I had the word that God wanted me to bring today.

I had the text.

I, I, I knew what God wanted to say.

I felt that it was a little too narrow focus.

And so I was there wrestling with God throughout the week, trying to broaden

up the word to impact more people on Easter Sunday.

This is resurrection Sunday.

This is Superbowl Sunday for churches.

So where we bring out the best coffee and we sing the best songs and we put out

the best looking greeters, right?

Um, I'm just kidding.

I'm kidding.

They're all great looking.

Uh, but this is where pastors try really, really hard to bring a powerful sermon.

That's going to bring impact to everybody in the room.

And that's true every week.

Um, but it's especially true today.

And so I was stuck trying to figure out this sermon until I just surrendered to

God.

I said, all right, God, you know what, you know what you're doing.

Um, so have, have it your way.

And I told him that like three times, cause I went back and forth and I almost

scratched it.

But I finished the sermon yesterday and I said, I don't even know if I like it.

Um, like if this was an assignment, I don't know that I would want to turn it

in.

So I'm, I'm truly trusting God to speak to, even if it's one person today, one

person who was going to be changed by this, this gospel, this word that we're

going to bring today.

Um, I think that God wants to give permission to people who are deeply

imperfect to dwell in his presence.

I'm going to, I'm going to say that again because I want, I want you to get

that.

God wants to give permission to people who are imperfect to dwell in his

presence.

Yes.

He is a holy God.

Yes.

He requires holiness.

Yes.

He desires something pure, but becoming holy is a process and it's a process

that does not happen overnight.

So God wants you to know that it's okay to not have it all figured out yet to be

a Christian.

You are still welcomed into the body of Christ.

It's okay to struggle with letting some things go while you're doing your

absolute best to serve him.

God doesn't need your perfect today.

He wants your heart and with your heart, he will work to make things perfect.

There, there is, there is a process.

I want you to understand this.

There is a process to making things good.

God is the God of process.

God is the God of process.

Sometimes God will do a miracle and he will bypass the process, but more often

than not, God is a God of process.

The Bible says he works all things for the good of those who are called

according to his purpose.

And so all God needs is your heart to begin that process to make you holy.

See, when Jesus went up to the cross, every step that Jesus took was a

You hear me?

Every step Jesus took all the way up to be crucified for your sins.

And for my sins was a struggle.

Every breath was deeper than his last.

Every movement was slower than his last as his body grew weaker and weaker and

weaker.

The temptation to call down angels from heaven to come and deliver him from that

hour of torment.

It grew with every passing minute.

We know that Jesus gave the perfect sacrifice, but the process to give that

sacrifice wasn't perfect.

It was incredibly physically painful.

It was emotionally draining.

It was spiritually draining.

It was humiliating and it was humbling.

It was a very human process all the way up to that cross, but with it and

through it, God brought restoration.

He brought freedom.

He brought salvation to everybody who would call upon the name of Jesus.

And the reason I tell you this is because a lot of people withhold their

sacrifice from God.

They withhold giving God their whole heart, not because you know, your hearts

are imperfect.

Nothing that we give to God is perfect, but people withhold their sacrifice

because they know the process to give that sacrifice is not going to be

perfect.

And so you don't give God your heart because you know that somewhere in the

process, you're going to fail.

God, you don't commit to giving God your time because you know that sometimes

you're not going to have the time and all of this leads to a place.

Listen, it leads to a place where we know we have love for the Lord, but we

don't think that our love is enough to serve the Lord.

Are you hearing me today?

Some of you have convinced yourself that your love for God is not enough that

if I don't have the time and I don't have the offering and I don't have the

gifting, I don't have this or that to serve God without failing God.

What can my love for God really do?

This is what we believe because you know, when a man and his wife get to a

point where they say, you know, we've got love for each other, but things

aren't working out.

I love you, but I keep hurting you.

I love you.

You love me, but love doesn't seem to be enough.

God wants you to know today that your love for him is enough.

If you stop believing the lie that it isn't.

God, God wants to talk to the people who love Jesus, but for some reason aren't

walking right with Jesus.

And so I entitled the sermon today.

Why are you fishing?

And I want you to turn with me to John chapter 21.

John 21 · chapter mention

John 21, we're going to read a few verses 14 through 17.

This is a very familiar story.

This is after the death and the resurrection of Jesus and Peter and some

of the other disciples decide that they decide to go fishing the place that

Jesus called them from to follow him, to be his disciples.

Verse 14, if you would stand with me as we read the word, you have it.

John 21, 14 through 17 says this.

This was now the third time that Jesus was raised to the disciples after he was

raised from the dead.

When they had finished 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, feed my lambs.

He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

He said, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

He said to him, 10, my sheet.

He said to him the third time, son, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

And 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.

Let's pray right there.

Heavenly father, I pray my God that this word would speak to the person that you

have reserved it for.

My God, I pray that your spirit Lord would overwhelm us, my God, with your

love, that you would remind us, my God, that, that the love that we have for

you, my God, is all you need to transform our hearts.

Father.

I pray my God that you would bring healing today and restoration.

My God, I pray that you would speak through your servant, my God, and

into the hearts of your people in Jesus name.

Amen.

Amen.

You can be seated.

Why are you fishing?

I don't know what your fishing is.

But I know that there are people who are not living a life that God intended for

them to live.

You, you know that you were called for more.

You know that you've been anointed, you know it, but for whatever reason, you

want a different direction.

Peter's reason for going back to what he knew was because he thought that he was

disqualified from living the life that Jesus called him to before he denied

Jesus.

That that's, that's, this is like part two of Peter's story.

It's directly tied to his denial of Jesus.

If you know that story, Jesus, as he was being tried, you know, Peter in a very

high pressure moment, denies knowing Jesus three times when confronted three

times.

Like first time, it's like, okay, you made a mistake.

Second time is like, bro, get it together.

Third time, bro, you know what you're doing.

So that was Peter's big mess up.

He denied knowing his Lord.

Imagine if, if I was thinking about this, like, oh, I'm trying to put myself in

the shoes of Peter.

Imagine if it was your spouse being tried for a highly controversial case and

they ask you, are you married to this person?

And you're like, is that my, I don't think so.

That, no, that's not her.

I do that one time.

It's all over from my marriage, bro.

Melissa's like, oh, you don't know me, huh?

Okay.

You about to know me real quick.

I do that two more times and I'm dead.

You know, Peter denied knowing Jesus, his best friend, his Lord, his God, three

times.

And as Jesus, uh, most closest, most fired up disciples.

This is probably the most shame that Peter has ever felt in his life.

Peter was adamant about his devotion to Jesus.

He was genuinely convinced that even if everybody else failed you, Jesus, if

everybody else ran away, if everybody else fled for their lives and hid, I

would be by your side the entire way.

And I think Peter, I don't think he was just a sweet talker.

I think he really believed this.

He had the confidence that he was going to stay by his Lord's side all the way

to the end.

Even if his own life was threatened, Peter would be there ready to die for

Jesus.

And you know, what's even more humbling is the fact that, you know, Peter wasn't

confronted by like a super buff, like Roman soldier.

Bible says he was confronted by a little slave girl.

And so by a little slave girl saying, Hey, you were with Jesus.

He's like, no, I wasn't.

How embarrassing that this man who always talked such a big game had all this

confidence and said, I will never leave your side was now being confronted by a

little girl and say, no, I don't, I don't know that man.

He failed his Lord and he failed him miserably.

And so now Peter and the disciples, they're kind of in this limbo state.

They don't really know what to do anymore.

It feels like a season has ended in their life.

Their season of ministry where they were, they were spending every single day for

three years with Jesus.

It's gone.

The good old days are never coming back.

It feels like the damage that has been done can't be undone.

The only thing to do now is go in a different way and figure it out.

I don't know if you've ever done something super shameful in your life, or

maybe you have witnessed something very shameful and the after effects of it

makes it, makes it to where nothing is ever the same again.

You've done something so shameful and, and after the fact, nothing is ever the

same anymore.

We see this.

Unfortunately, we see this too often and we see it in churches.

And if you are, if you're new here and you don't normally go to church and you

have certain reservations about Christians, I ain't gonna, I ain't gonna

butter us up like Christians are imperfect and, and Christians sin and

Christians hurt people.

And it gives the church a bad name, a bad reputation, and we don't like it, but

sometimes that's what you get.

And so we've heard about all of these, all of these scandals and all of these

church leaders and pastors falling from grace.

And nothing is ever the same after that.

When these things happen, it, it taints the reputation that the church isn't the

same.

The people aren't the same.

Nothing's ever the same.

Sin, it shifts or things shift when sin is given a voice.

The whole, the whole atmosphere shifts when sin is given authority.

And even when the dust settles and, you know, after the news breaks and after

everybody and their mama has had a chance to comment on what happened, and

even after the sin was dealt with, sin has the power to keep people down if

they let it.

And I hate that man.

I hate the, I hate the lies that sin tells people because I know that it

doesn't have to be that way.

I know who my God is.

I know what my God did and it doesn't have to be that way.

You don't have to be a slave to your sin.

You don't have to be on the ground.

But so many people fall away from God and they never get back up or they fall

away from God and they get back up, but they're never able to stand tall again.

It's like they're walking with a limp and it's not a limp caused by God.

It's a limp caused by the residual effects of sin telling you, be careful

before you lift up your hands.

Be careful before you commit too much because remember what happened the last

time you committed.

Be careful that you don't talk too much like a Christian because people are

listening.

Remember what you did last time.

Let me, let me tell you today, man, that when God forgives, God forgives all the

way.

He doesn't keep record of wrong.

He doesn't keep something in the back pocket of his to remind you of what you

did after you came to repentance.

He forgives and chooses to forget because God isn't working.

Listen, God's not working on your past anymore.

The past is the past.

God is working on your present to prepare you for your future.

Sin, sin wants to keep you in the past and it wants to keep you walking with the

limp so that every time, every time you, you come closer to the feet of Jesus,

you are reminded that you are not good enough.

Tell the person next to you, stop limping.

Stop limping.

Maybe you find yourself in that situation today.

Maybe you find yourself like Peter.

There was something in your life that happened or maybe there was a season in

your life that happened and and that season removed you from the presence of

God that at one time in your life, you were so used to being in all the time.

You were once fired up for Jesus.

You were once all in for Jesus.

You were once totally surrendered to the will of God and you were confident like

Peter that nothing could ever separate you from the presence of God because you

love God so much and every time that song would hit, it would just, it would

wreck you and every time the sermon would, would, would speak, it would speak

directly to you because you were so, you were so involved with the Holy Spirit.

He inundated every part of your life.

You couldn't go outside and see the Holy Spirit because you were so fired up.

You were so closely connected to the father, but something happened.

And maybe it's something you can't even put your finger on.

But it's kept you distant from the God that at one point in time, you were so

close to.

I don't know who God is speaking to today, man.

But now you come to church and it doesn't feel like it used to feel.

The sermon doesn't hit you the same way it used to.

The worship doesn't move you like it used to because you have allowed too much

of a distance between you and God and it's keeping you from what God is trying

to call you back into.

But Jesus came to change this.

Jesus came to restore.

Jesus came to forgive.

He came to heal.

He came to give a second chance and then another chance after the second chance

what sin wants to keep down.

Jesus wants to resurrect.

That's the resurrecting power that he has.

It's the resurrecting power that we're here today to celebrate.

And let me tell you this when Jesus resurrects something back to life.

It looks better than it ever did before.

Can anybody testify to that?

The Bible says that that when when we're resurrected from the grave,

we're going to be given glorified bodies.

You're going to get that six-pack you were always looking for.

Come on, Jesus.

You're going to give a resurrected body that don't quote me on that.

Okay, you're going to say like pastors.

This pastor is talking false theology.

You're probably not going to have a six-pack.

But but things are going to look better in the resurrected state.

The Bible says that that when Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after

the resurrection, they didn't even recognize them.

Ain't that something like they spent three years with this man looking at his

face every single day and then after the resurrection, they don't even

recognize that it's him and in the same way when Jesus brings something back

to life when he starts to resurrect that joy that you once had when he begins

to resurrect that lifeless spirit in you because he breathes Holy Spirit in

you people aren't going to recognize you anymore.

You're going to talk differently.

You're going to think differently.

You're going to react differently people won't even know it's you because even

though it looks like you it doesn't seem like you because there was something

new in you that wasn't alive before that is the resurrecting power of my Lord

Jesus.

Man, I love this is why I love talking to prodigals man.

I love talking to prodigals.

I love hearing stories about how people grew up in the church and then for

whatever reason they left they left the church at some point in their life

happens to a lot of people a lot of people and the thing about this is, you

know, when you grow up seeing a mother pray every single day for her children

that does something in you when you pray every single Sunday, I'm sorry when

you're raised every single Sunday coming to church at does something in you it

creates roots roots are created in your life.

And so that's why I love talking to these people because you know, they grew

up in church, but somewhere along the way they decided to leave but they still

have the roots.

They had the right upbringing.

They had the right spirit, but like Peter at some point they go fishing.

And a lot of times it takes a long time to come back because there's so much to

work out and work through but when God finally breaks them again here at the

altars and begins to rebuild them and restore them.

I love it when people tell me pastor.

I am walking in a glory that is even better than the former glory before I

had roots, but now I've got branches and I can't get the branches to stop

spreading before I had a good upbringing, but now I am bringing up a godly

generation of men and women who come after me.

I don't know who this is for men, but God wants to restore that relationship

that you used to have with them to even better than its former glory.

But so many times we wallow in the shame man.

Don't reminisce too long on the past.

Don't reminisce to the days ahead of you will be far more glorious than the days

behind you because God is not just a God of yesterday.

God is the God of today and he is a God of tomorrow.

There's too many people who hold on to their shame.

Listen too many people who hold on to their shame when God is trying to

replace it with grace.

He's saying give it to me.

You don't have to hold on to it anymore.

I've got something better for you something that's going to relieve you

and release you of the shame and the guilt that has been crippling you.

But so many people hold on to the grace.

I'm sorry to the shame.

Shame is so powerful man because

Shame doesn't let you celebrate when you know, there is a reason King in the

room.

You know what I've you know what I've realized on any other Sunday.

The worship goes a lot harder than it does on on Easter Sunday.

It and I don't know if it feels like I don't know if people are just nervous.

Y'all heard me messing up my words.

I don't know if I'm nervous.

I don't know what's going on.

I don't know what I don't know what it is.

But on any other given Sunday when you've got a majority of Christians in

the room who are totally sold out for Jesus man, it's like

It's like the women could take off their eyelashes.

There's no shame and

nobody's looking pretty.

All right, everybody's taking off their heels and now but Easter Sunday

everybody got to live their best.

I'm over here wearing a suit.

But on any other given Sunday, I mean the worship man.

It goes it goes hard man.

Our Resurrection Sunday for some reason I've noticed this the past the

past five years.

I've noticed that it seems like more people should be celebrating because

we have a risen King, but it doesn't sound like it in some of these churches

and I believe this is this is what I believe.

I believe that there is a lot of shame in the room that is shutting the

mouths of those who should be celebrating.

That is what shame does it numbs you from celebrating something good because

it tells you you don't deserve it.

This isn't for you that songs not for you.

It's for the it's for the born-again Christian.

It's not for you.

You know, what's interesting to me verse 14 says that this was the third

time somebody say third time.

This was the third time that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after

his Resurrection.

That's interesting to me.

If this was the first time Peter saw the resurrected Jesus.

I understand his sense of defeat.

I understand it.

You know, if he thought Jesus was dead.

What else is there to do?

There's no more ministry.

There's nothing left to preach.

There's no good news.

If Jesus didn't resurrect from the grave Paul says our faith is futile.

What are we even doing here?

Let's go out.

Let's go outside.

Let's go eat something.

And so it's interesting to me that Peter knew Jesus had already resurrected

from the grave and yet was still living in this sense of defeat.

Why isn't he celebrating?

Why isn't he singing some songs?

Why isn't he jumping?

Why isn't he more excited?

Why is Peter even after seeing the resurrected Jesus still beating himself

up probably playing back that night where three times he denied Jesus even

though there is a wrecked resurrected Jesus walking the streets right now,

even though Jesus did exactly what he said he was going to do even though

Peter witnessed the greatest miracle the world had ever seen when just a few

chapters before this he went running to the tomb to find Jesus.

Empty the Bible says he went in there and he was amazed.

He went in the tomb after hearing that Jesus wasn't there.

He goes he inspects the tomb.

He's not there.

The Bible says he was amazed.

He was amazed by what Jesus did but still ashamed by what he did.

This is the proof that you can come to church and you can be amazed by what

Jesus did but to ashamed by what you did to celebrate.

And so you can come to church and you can believe all the things that we say.

You can believe that he's the king of kings.

You believe that he defeated death.

You believe in the name of Jesus.

You believe that demons tremble at the very name of Jesus.

You don't have a faith problem.

You have a shame problem.

And your shame is keeping you from celebrating.

Your shame is keeping you from singing.

Your guilt is keeping you from giving God more of your heart because you know

what happened last time you did.

Your sin is keeping you downcast because you don't think that you're worthy to

partake in the celebration of Easter Sunday, but you my friend are the very

thing Jesus died for you were on his mind with every hammer of those nails

that entered my Lord's flesh your mistakes were accounted for.

So Peter, why are you fishing?

Why are you fishing?

Why aren't you celebrating?

Why aren't you out doing the work that I had already commissioned you to do?

I've said that you were going to be the rock of which my church would be built

upon.

Why are you fishing?

What's what's very interesting to me about this chapter?

Are you still with me?

What's interesting to me about John chapter 21 is that it's very different

John 21 · chapter mention

than the rest of John's gospel.

It's it's in your Bible and your heading.

It's called the epilogue different scholars actually suggest that the book

originally ended at chapter 20.

And if you read the end of chapter 20, it sounds like the ending of a book.

But perhaps John sometime before he died went back to tell the story that he

knew needed to be told because it relates so much to the human condition

of failure and constant need of restoration.

We all fall short of the glory of God.

We all make mistakes.

We all fail.

I don't care how good you look.

I don't care how nice to ask the eyelashes look.

I don't care how nice the nails are.

I don't care how well you're suited up.

Everybody's got some ugly.

We all fall short of the glory of God.

And so it's also interesting to me that this chapter takes a very different

direction than the rest of the gospel.

If you read through John, you'll find that the main theme of John is belief.

It's faith.

John uses the word belief.

More than any other Gospels combined.

At the end of chapter 20, John says Jesus did many other things in the presence

of disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so

that you would believe so that by believing you may have life in his name.

So faith and belief are a very big deal for John as he does his best to create

a case for why Jesus is a son of God, but chapter 21, it doesn't deal with

belief at all.

Chapter 21 doesn't speak to the skeptic.

It doesn't speak to the atheist.

It doesn't speak to the unbeliever or the unchurched.

And you know what?

Can I be honest?

This is why I struggled so much with even preaching this.

Because I my expectation every Resurrection Sunday is that I'm going to

bring a message of the gospel.

I'm going to bring a message to the people who don't normally come to church

so that they can hear the gospel for the very first time so that they could

give their life to Jesus.

But God was saying I need you to speak to the prodigals today.

I need you to speak to the ones who don't have a faith problem.

They already know who I am.

They've experienced it.

They've lived it.

They've seen my glory.

They've seen miracles.

They've had one-on-one experiences with me.

That's who I want to speak to.

I want to speak to a John chapter 21 crowd today.

John 21 · chapter mention

John 21 speaks to the believer.

The one who already knows that Jesus is the risen son of God, but who is

defeated by their own regret and their shame and belief that their love is

not enough.

I love the story that Pastor Danny told this morning in Spanish.

If you know anything about Pastor Danny, he was he's just he's just like me.

He's just got some hair.

Both raised pastor's kids.

Both pastoring.

He had he had the roots.

He had the relationship with with his father, but at one point in his life

for about three years.

He acted a fool.

He's got the tattoos to prove it.

I'm just kidding.

But I remember walking with Danny through all of this.

Danny's one of my best friends and I remember walking with him and I don't

know if you remember this, but we were at McDonald's right here down the

street and you were already at this point.

You were man.

You were just you were you were so stuck in your rebellion and I even asked

you.

I asked you like is just are you just turning your heart already?

Is your heart just getting cold?

How did you remember that?

And you you said you admitted it and you're like, yeah.

And I think there's a lot of people like that.

But Danny said something this morning.

He said that when he was drunk when he was out acting a fool.

He would look at himself in the mirror and he would say God, I miss you.

I miss you God.

And how many people are in the room today?

You have the roots, but you haven't allowed them to grow but you miss God.

Let me tell you God misses you.

God wants to bring back that heart that is grown cold.

He wants to bring it back to him.

So the climax of this story is, you know, Peter's restoration.

If you read the first half of chapter 1, you'll see that Peter decides to go

fishing.

Some of the disciples, they follow him.

They spent all night.

They catch nothing.

Jesus shows up.

He tells them to cast their nets again.

And this time they catch an abundance of fish.

Well, when Jesus first called Peter.

He found him fishing again.

Caught nothing.

I believe that these were not the best fishermen.

They're always catching nothing.

And as well as in chapter 21, Jesus finds them and he tells them cast their nets

and they catch all the fish.

So much so that their nets begin to break.

And you know that led me to think of John 15 5 where Jesus says apart from me,

you can do nothing.

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

Maybe you can catch a fish or two, but you ain't going to, you're not going to

step into miracle territory.

You're not going to step into transformation territory.

You might have a little bit of success, but, but you ain't going to have victory

apart from me, you can do nothing.

And if you notice the pattern and the disciples finding Jesus when they were

fishing, when Jesus is present, their nets are full.

When he's absent, their nets are empty.

Now, I know that I may only be speaking to a select few today, but I know that

this resonates with somebody.

You know that when Jesus is with you, your heart is full.

You might not have everything you want, but you've got everything you need.

You might not have money in the bank, but your, your heart is still full of

joy and peace.

You may struggle with sickness, but your heart is full of faith because you have

relationship with your father.

And you also know that when your heart is distant from the Lord, everything in

your life could be fine, but you're still missing something that is incredibly

crucial.

God wants to give permission to people who are deeply imperfect to dwell in his

presence.

God wants to tell you that it's okay to not have it all figured out to be a

You are still welcomed into the body of Christ.

You can still sit at the Lord's table and dine with him.

It is okay to be struggling with letting things go while doing your best to

follow him.

God doesn't need your perfect right now.

He just wants your heart.

And then with your heart, he will work to perfect everything else.

So the challenge is this, listen, I'm going to challenge you with something.

I said that this message is for those who love the Lord, but for whatever

reason, they're not walking right with the Lord.

The question that Jesus asks Peter is Peter.

Do you love me?

Let me have your attention.

The last five minutes of this sermon.

Peter, do you love me?

It's a very direct question.

And I believe that God is asking you that this morning.

Do you love me?

Do you love me?

Now, this is not a question for Jesus.

Jesus knows that Peter loves him.

Those of you who love Jesus, but you're not walking with Jesus.

Let me tell you something.

Jesus knows that you've got some love for him.

Jesus knew the pastor Danny still loved him, even though he was distant

from him.

He knows that you've got love for him.

He knows that because he knows that sometimes you still think about him.

Like the prodigal son reminiscing on the good that he used to have in his

father's house.

Jesus sees your thoughts.

And he knows the times when you think about him.

Jesus knows that you love him because he hears you on those rare occasions

where you go running to him in a very broken moment and you begin to pray

and cry out to him.

He knows you love him because you reach out to everybody else in your

circle.

You reach out to your mom.

You reach out to your dad, your best friend, the people that you know are

closer to Jesus.

You ask them to pray for you.

Jesus knows that you love him because sometimes you go back to listen to

those songs that in the past would take you directly to the presence of

God and how long, how you long to be there again.

And Jesus is asking you today, very boldly, very directly.

Do you love me?

Now, this is what shame does.

It says yes, but

Jesus isn't asking for your commentary.

It's a simple question.

Do you love me, Peter?

Peter, do you love me?

You know, I believe that Peter said, Lord, you know that I love you.

Because it was complicated.

I don't think Peter knew how to put this into words.

I don't think Peter understood how he could say he loved Jesus while at the

same time hurting Jesus.

You don't, you don't hurt those that you love.

But is that really true?

Am I speaking to anybody today?

This, this, this is what you tell your spouse.

You don't hurt who you love.

But when I look at my relationship with Jesus and I see how much of an immense

love I have for him, I don't understand how I can love him while every single

day still failing him.

I don't understand how I can love Jesus as much as I love him while always

falling short of the glory of God and never and always missing the mark that

God would have for me.

Every single day.

I can't tell God, look, I can't tell God, God, you know, I love you.

I can't say, God, I do love you.

And here's the proof.

I said yes to the calling that I didn't want for you.

I spend time with you daily.

My heart breaks for the for the things that your breaks for.

I love your church.

I love your people.

I can't tell God, I can't point to any proof because on the other side of that

same coin are all the reasons that would suggest I don't love Jesus.

And people who are crippled by their shame and regret are the ones who only

look at that one side of the coin.

So, so the same Peter who listened before would have said, yes, Jesus.

I love you.

You know, I love you.

I love you more than anything and I love you more than anybody else loves you.

I'm your number one.

I will never leave your side.

That same confident Peter is now a humbled Peter saying, Lord, you see what's

in my heart.

You see all the darkness.

You see my selfishness.

You see my struggles.

You see the things that I keep running to.

You see my addictions.

You see my mindset.

You see my pride.

You see my ego.

You see all of that ugly that is in me, but he also sees the love that you have

and maybe that very far corner of your heart.

And it might be so small, but can I tell you today?

That's enough.

God doesn't need your perfect.

He just needs your heart and then he will work to perfect everything else.

I'm going to ask you to stand.

Listen.

Love is something that requires obedience.

Okay.

You hearing me?

Listen, guys, listen, love was never meant to just sit there.

Love was never meant to just sit there.

That's admiration.

I'm not, I'm not talking to the ones who admire Jesus.

I'm talking to those who truly love Jesus, but have been crippled by their

sin and by their shame.

Jesus tells Peter, feed my sheep, Peter.

He was calling Peter back to the thing that he had originally called him to

Peter.

Why are you fishing, bro?

You're not even that good at it.

Peter.

I, I called you to fish for people.

I called you Peter to be a rock.

I called you Peter to birth generations of godly people.

I, I, I called you to disciple.

I called you to bring back to life some dead things.

Listen to me, somebody, you've got a purpose and that purpose will not be

defeated by a moment or even a season of weakness.

And Jesus name, whatever sin has wanted to keep you down, whatever devil wanted

to lie to you, whatever shame has been a cancer to your soul.

Jesus died so that you would have a new life in him.

The old has passed away and the new is here.

As long as you've got some love, God can do something with that heart.

If you love Jesus, it's time to commit to Jesus.

Okay.

Can we stop playing around?

Can we stop playing around?

You believe in Jesus?

You believe in him?

You were raised in it.

You have the roots.

You got the structure.

You got the upbringing.

You, but you don't have a faith problem.

Can we stop playing around?

If you love Jesus.

Step into it.

Feed my sheep.

Raise godly children.

Bring them to church.

If you love me, do the work that I have called you to do.

If you love me, stop running from me.

Because I know you love me.

You need to know you love me.

God wants to release you from that shame this morning.

He wants to release you.

And look, this altar call might not be for everybody, but I pray that it's for a

select group of people.

And I'm going to ask you to close your eyes and Holy Spirit lead this moment.

If you have been crippled by a past that has been lying to your present.

If you maybe did some things that people wouldn't forgive.

And so it's making you think that your God can't forgive.

If you're stuck in your shame, because you know, the weight of your sin is

heavy.

Jesus is calling you to be brought back to life today.

And he wants you to know that with the love you have for him, if you just

commit to him in this moment, he will take that heart and as ugly as it might

be, and as dark as it might be, he will begin to work to make it holy because

he is a holy God.

If that's you today and you want to be released of the shame and the guilt and

the weight of your sin, would you come forward, come forward now?

If that's you.

Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on Pneuma Church, visit us on our website

at mypneumachurch.org.

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on social media and tag us at mypneumachurch.

Thanks again and God bless.