Grace Under Fire - Introduction To Peter

Well, it's not an easy time to be alive.

It's true, we have more technology and we have more infrastructure than any other culture that's ever gone before us.

That's true.

It makes it easier, makes us more comfortable than any other civilization that's been before us, and yet all those things it seems like those things are just betraying us in some way, still feel like we're living kind of at the edge emotionally and mentally.

There's like a nagging at our nerves and it seems like we just eke out an existence week by week, and the political climate and the changes in ethics in our day and international events that we are unable to control just press on us daily and it makes it really hard to navigate our lives and we feel betrayed sometimes by the powers that govern us.

We feel like they don't have our best interests at heart.

We feel like we're living in some kind of point in history where things are changing and we sense that changes are coming soon that will likely alter the way we know life, and pressures of belief systems that are contrary to our own are pushing us toward the very real experience of being persecuted for our beliefs, and the very truths that we live our lives by are an affront to our culture.

I mean here it is Year of our Lord 64.

And Rome is tightening its grip on us and our beloved Palestine, and they're trying to gain some kind of control.

They feel they've lost and they're waging war to try to keep the peace.

And it's not clear to us at all what the future looks like and how are we supposed to stand for what we know is true in the face of all this opposition.

And we have Jesus' disciples with us, it's true, but oh, how we wish Jesus was still with us.

Well, maybe this is exactly how life felt for Peter and for the Christ followers that he wrote this letter to that we're getting ready to start studying.

For the next few weeks we're starting a sermon series called Grace Under Fire.

It's a study of the first letter of the apostle Peter to the ones who are following Christ along with him in the first century.

And you know, I think we have a lot in common with them.

I think the same things that we say about our day can be said about their day, maybe even more so in their day, I don't know.

Peter's letter shows us how to remain righteous, remain faithful and remain purposeful in the midst of suffering, and suffering comes in many different forms.

But Peter tells us in this letter how to have the kind of true perseverance that God expects from his people.

And we normally walk through these scriptures when we do a book study, expositionally, expositorily, so we go verse by verse and we see what's there.

And that's what's going to happen in the next few weeks.

But my job today is a little different.

My job today is to introduce you to the man Simon Peter, and a little bit of background to his letter.

And I want to do this by reading to you the very first words that he wrote to the churches, and I want to read to you the very last words that he wrote to the churches that we have recorded in scripture.

So in 1 Peter 1, verse 2, his very first words that he wrote, after a brief introduction, he writes these words grace and peace be multiplied to you.

1 Peter 1:2

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ.

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept for you in heaven, who, by God's power, are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

And then, if you just flip a few pages over, in the second letter, he wrote the last verse, chapter 3, verse 18, he ends with these words but grow in the grace.

Under the pressure of their day, they were suffering persecution for their faith.

Peter lays before them a promise.

He lays before us a promise of God's grace, of God's peace, of a new birth, of a living hope and of an unfading inheritance, and of God's power to guard us and keep us.

It's good news, isn't it?

And then, at the end of his life, the very last thing on his mind, to speak to the churches After this life.

It was packed with wisdom and experience.

These words come out of this life from a man who had triumphed bravely and failed spectacularly.

Here's what he has to tell us Grow in grace.

He begins with grace and he ends with grace, which may be a little bit surprising when we see the kind of man that Peter was, because he was not the most gracious of people, kind of contrary.

So who was Simon Peter?

Well, simon Peter comes from Capernaum, which is not near Jerusalem.

It's up in Galilee of the nations.

Up away, he was kind of an outsider in many ways to what was going on in Jerusalem, so he probably spoke Greek as well as Aramaic.

He was given a very common name for that day Simon Simon.

There were two of the 12 disciples of Jesus named Simon, and I found nine Simons in the scripture.

It was a big name because he was probably named after somebody that was a hero of the Jews of his day, which gives us an idea of the kind of political climate he lived in.

Simon Maccabees was one of the Maccabees clan and he was an important player in the Maccabean revolt, which was a Jewish revolt against Roman government.

That happened about 200 years ago, 200 years before this letter was written, and in Simon's day for those Jews, in Simon Peter's day, this was probably the closest living memory to anything like political independence for Israel, and Simon and his friends were all hoping for that kind of independence.

They represented a renewed hope for what the scripture said and what they knew Surely the day would come when God would set up a Davidic king on the throne and overthrow the power of Rome, and this was what they were hoping for.

But you know, simon would find out quickly when he was following Jesus, the true Messiah, that this kingdom is going to be very different than he thought it was going to be.

And we're going to see that shift in his thinking as we go through this first letter of Peter to the Christians of his day.

First letter of Peter to the Christians of his day.

But actually, in reality, simon's vision of political revolution was interrupted every day by his very real life problems just trying to make a living, just working with his hands to feed his family.

He had lived his entire life paying taxes to a foreign nation that was oppressing his people.

And Capernaum was on the Sea of Galilee, which is a small sea, really just a lake, and that lake is fed by a river called the River Jordan.

And at the River Jordan there was a man named John, and John was baptizing people and he was a fiery prophet that reminded people that the Bible said someone would come in the spirit of Elijah and would make a way for the Messiah.

So this caused a stir and people were gathering, flocking to John's teaching and the baptizing he was doing in the wilderness.

But John declared that Jesus, this man from a little town near nowhere called Nazareth, would be the Messiah.

And so from that point Simon had to look at Jesus of Nazareth in a different way.

But what was Simon like?

What was he really?

If you read the New Testament, you will get a definitely.

You will form an opinion of the man.

Okay, if you read his story, because he's not the kind of guy you can be neutral on.

He is one way.

You love him or you wonder why he's even doing what he's doing One or the other.

You wonder why he's even doing what he's doing One or the other.

Some call him the greatest disciple and he is mentioned more in the New Testament than all of the other disciples combined.

Throughout history.

Many thought of him as the first pope.

The religious scholars of his day called him ignorant and unschooled because he didn't know anything about the weightier matters of the law.

He's just a fisherman and he had a fishing business with his brother Andrew on that lake of Galilee and he probably, for all you fishers out there, he probably caught this little type of fish that's native there called tilapia.

It's like a tilapia, it's not like the tilapia you get from China, I'm just telling you.

Actually, they began to call it St Peter's fish.

That's what they call it now, st Peter's fish.

So St Peter was fishing for St Peter's fish, and we know besides that he was married.

We know that and we know that his wife according to Clement of Alexandria, who was an early church father Peter's wife was a partner and minister with him and she ministered with him and she ministered with him and she also was martyred with him.

So they lived together and they died together.

But Peter himself was larger than life.

He was big in every way.

He was the center of every scene.

His name is the first in every list of the disciples, peter.

He made really quick decisions, even if they were wrong ones.

He engaged his mouth before he engaged his brain.

You know anybody like that.

Jay stewart holden said he was not the kind of flower that is born to blush unseen.

Quick, impulsive, impetuous.

He was a man who must express his feelings.

He was quick on the trigger, a man who does things first and then thinks them over, sometimes, sadly, later on.

Such a man will make mistakes, but he'll make other things too that are not mistakes.

You know anybody like that.

He never did anything halfway.

So he had huge successes and he had huge failures, and he always thought he was right.

In fact, he always thought he was right.

Do you know anybody like that?

I feel like there's some elbows going on in here and I'm not sure I feel this kind of attitude in the room here.

He actually rebuked Jesus.

You know that.

He rebuked Jesus as if Jesus was wrong about his death.

Jesus is talking about his death.

And Peter said no, no, no, lord, you will never do that.

And then Jesus was going to wash his feet and he said you'll never wash my feet, which is just like so audacious to look in the face of the man who raises the dead and performs miracles and say let me tell you what you're not going to do.

It's like what are you even talking about?

Who does this?

Right?

But Jesus said no, if I don't wash your feet, you don't have anything to do with me.

He said okay, all right, let's do it Cold plunge all the way, give me the whole treatment, because he was one way or the other that he couldn't be in the middle, right, 100%, some direction all the time.

Know anybody like that?

But Peter gives us hope when we think that we're not worthy to be accepted or to be used by God, because no matter how bad you are, peter was probably worse, he was the only person in Scripture who was rebuked by every member of the Trinity.

So if you haven't been rebuked by the Father, son and Spirit, you're doing better than him, okay.

The Father rebuked him on the Mount of Transfiguration.

The Son rebuked him when he said you'll never die.

And Jesus said get behind me, satan, because you savor the things of man, not the savor.

You don't savor the things of God.

So when Jesus calls you the devil, that's a bad day.

Yeah, he got up, he went and cut off some guy's ear and Jesus had to rebuke him for that too.

It was like, from the beginning to the end, he was just doing things that had to be corrected, you know.

And then the Holy Spirit corrected him, because he had a vision once and this sheet was let down from heaven with all of this food that was unclean, and this voice said rise and kill and eat.

And Peter said there's no way.

Ok, I don't know what I would do.

I'm not sure what I would do if I had that kind of vision and a voice from heaven, from the vision, says to do something.

I'm not sure.

I don't think I would say Let me tell you what I'm not going to do.

I don't think I would say Let me tell you what I'm not going to do.

I don't think I would say that no, do you?

Got to rise and kill and eat.

And then it says the spirit told me to go with them to Cornelius and don't make any distinction between Jews and Gentiles.

So the spirit rebuked him.

Okay, so man, he's a man of contradictions.

He has super high highs and super low lows.

He had great insight.

You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God, you have the words of life.

And then he didn't even understand some of the parables that Jesus told.

And Jesus had to say do you still not understand?

It's like what is up with this guy.

He had great faith to step out of the boat onto the water and then he has this doubt In the middle of his walk of faith.

He has a doubt.

Do you know anybody like that man?

I get it.

And it's interesting to me that later in his life, peter was so honest about all of this instability that he had.

Because we know that a lot of these things we know about him because of the gospel of Mark, and we know that the gospel of Mark was written because Mark got his information from Peter, so it's really eyewitness accounts of Peter.

So Peter is telling Mark all of these failures and all of his frailties and he's an open book.

He's okay with it.

At least at the end of his life he was okay with it.

But here's the thing, guys.

Here's the thing If you're going to follow Jesus, you got to go to school.

You got to go to Jesus school.

All followers of Jesus have the privilege of going through a training program designed especially for them.

The purpose is to separate what is worthless from what is precious.

The purpose is to separate what is worthless from what is precious and to form in them the kind of hearts that look and act like their Lord and to get them ready for their ministry.

And Peter had a specific personalized curriculum in the school of Jesus.

And you do too, and I do too.

So what did Peter learn from Jesus' school?

And it's impossible to go through everything he learned.

It would be a really long sermon or a long sermon series really to do that.

But I've pulled a few things out, things that Peter learned from Jesus' school.

One thing he learned is that once you meet Jesus, you will never be the same.

Never be the same.

Strong people have to learn that they're not strong enough, that they are dependent on other people, and God has to change us from one thing into another, and often in Scripture that transformation is signified by a name change.

And we see it all through Scripture, really.

We see Abram to Abraham, we see Jacob to Israel, we see Saul to Paul and in this case we see Simon.

And Jesus says I'm changing your name and you're going to be called Peter, which means a rock.

Simon means one who listens and live up to your name, please.

Peter means rock, and so this change of name is a change in destiny, and Jesus is helping Peter to see the kind of person he can become if he follows Jesus.

There's a hope.

There's hope for all of us guys.

Now, maybe you didn't have a literal name change in your life, but maybe your life has changed so much that the people around you don't even recognize you anymore.

That's the way it is with me.

Amen.

It's the way it is with me.

I have trouble getting people to believe my testimony because I was such a mess before I was born again and Jesus changed everything.

That's the way he does it.

Another thing he learned in Jesus' school is you use what you're given, use what you've been given.

It's a curious thing to me in Scripture that many times when God uh is preparing you to do something in the spirit, it's the same kind of thing that he prepared for you to do in the natural.

You know what you're doing in the natural is.

You're learning things about what you are going to be doing in the spirit, and it happened with Moses.

Moses was a shepherd for 40 years before he shepherded God's people.

It was sheep first and then it was people, and I don't know which one's easier.

I'd like to ask him that I think I do know which one's easier.

Actually, john, when he was called, do you know what John was doing when he was called?

He was mending, not the baptizer, john the apostle, john the disciple, he was mending nets.

Mending nets, he was taking something broken and he was fixing it.

Okay, so this was something that was dysfunctional, that he was pulling back into functionality, and he did that with his gospel.

The first few verses of his gospel are literally a correction of the theology of his day, because there were some things, there were errors that were happening.

He was pulling it right back, and you see it also in his letters.

You see him pulling us back to the things that are right.

He's mending nets right, the things that are right.

He's mending nets right.

Well, peter, when he was called, he was casting a net, he was fishing.

He's literally throwing a net out there.

And so that's what he did, not only in the natural, it's what he did in the spiritual Acts, chapter two, when the Holy Spirit fell and everything was changing.

What did he do?

He cast a net.

He got 3,000 fish, at least that day, and what he did was he took something Jesus gave him, because Jesus gave him the keys to the kingdom.

And he took those keys and he stood before the Jews and he opened the door to the kingdom to those Jews and he brought them in with the message of the gospel.

And then, later on, in Acts 10, when that vision came and the Holy Spirit rebuked him and he went with Cornelius and he began to realize, hey, this is different, god cares about the nations.

And he goes to Cornelius and he began to realize, hey, this is different, this is, god cares about the nations.

And he goes to Cornelius's house and what does he do?

He casts a net and he takes those keys that Jesus gave him and he opens the door to the kingdom for the Gentiles.

This is what he did, he and John.

Chapter three of Acts.

They're healing a crippled man and what happens?

He throws a net, preaches a sermon, throws a net.

He goes fishing.

Serve God in your own way.

Use what you've been given.

That's the way you're going to be most impactful.

That's what he learned.

But he learned some things too after Jesus resurrected and ascended into heaven.

But he learned some things too, after Jesus resurrected and ascended into heaven, and one of the things he learned was we need the power of the Holy Spirit.

After being filled with the Spirit, peter became the rock that Jesus spoke about, the rock of stability.

This unstable man became a pillar of stability in the early church when the Holy Spirit came upon him.

Okay, and how are we going to get into what God has called us to do without being filled with the Spirit?

Guys, it's so important.

I know the Holy Spirit's inside of us.

He lives here, but we need to be praying to be filled with him consistently, because the scripture says to be filled with the Spirit literally means to be being filled with the Spirit.

Continually filled with the Spirit.

I need him every day.

I need the Holy Spirit to help me actually walk out Christianity, actually follow Jesus and to step into my destiny.

We need to cry out for that, trust God, for that.

Be filled with the Spirit.

But also he learned that we need to be filled with the Scriptures.

In Acts, chapter 2, peter is powerfully preaching at Pentecost and he's proclaiming the words of Jonah, or of Joel rather of Joel, not Jonah, but Joel and also the Psalms, all of these Psalms that are coming together in his mind.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

He's beginning to realize, wow, all of this stuff about Jesus was already foretold.

And he's beginning to say these scriptures out loud to the people.

Well, how could he say it?

Because these scriptures out loud to the people?

Well, how could he say it?

Because they're in there.

That's how he could say it.

They're in his heart.

Already this fisherman had the word of God in his heart.

We need to be filled with the scriptures.

He also learned that we need our brothers and sisters.

Acts, chapter 1 and 2, and 3 and 4 and basically the rest of it.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

He was in Acts, chapter 1, he was together, all together, with the believers in one accord right, and the Holy Spirit fell upon them and they were all together the day of Pentecost and Peter stepped forward.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

He was with them and he stepped forward from them and he began to preach.

But he was with them and he was with John in the temple when they performed the miracle.

And we see that the group, the community, was together in Acts, chapter 2, and Acts, chapter 4.

Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 4 · chapter mention

They had all things in common.

They were continuing in fellowship and breaking in bread and prayer, the apostles teaching.

They were together.

So he understood we need each other.

Can't do it on your own.

He understood that there's joy in being persecuted for righteousness sake.

Chapters 4 and 5 of Acts they were persecuted when they spoke about Jesus but they continued speaking in Jesus' name because they said we have to obey God instead of man.

So they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name.

It's beautiful.

There's joy even in suffering.

And that which he learned is that which he spoke through that first letter of 1 Peter to those early church believers.

He also understood the importance of the fear of the Lord.

Fear of the Lord is a healthy fear.

It's a wholesome dread of displeasing God and it's a wholesome understanding of his holiness and that he is sovereign Lord and we know that he's Father and we know that he's father.

We know that he loves us, we know he wants to be intimate in relationship with us, but we also have to understand that he's holy and that we have to live holy and if we don't do it, things are going to fall.

He learned that message because of Ananias and Sapphira and they came in and they were saying things that weren't true.

They lying to the, the church, to the apostles, to the holy spirit, and the end of that was they were killed and peter had a message.

Peter had a prophetic word about it and it said after that that fear, great fear, came upon the region and the believers there.

And the fear of the Lord is clean and the fear of the Lord keeps us focused on what's right.

The fear of the Lord is to hate what is wrong and to love what is right, and fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

This is where wisdom and purity come into your life by having a fear of the Lord.

It's a beautiful thing.

He also learned that self-control is a part of wisdom In Acts, chapter 15, this story where the Jerusalem council were meeting because, you know, the gospel was going forward, the Gentiles were receiving it and God was doing the same thing with the Gentiles that he was doing with the Jews, and they had no grid for that.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

They had no understanding how this could even happen.

And so they're gathering together and saying what should we even do?

I mean, do they need to keep the law?

These Gentiles?

They don't even know what the law is.

What should happen?

And you know what the old Simon would have done.

He would have known what to say.

He would have stepped up, whether it was right or not.

He would have opened his mouth, he would have said something rash and he would have I don't know, maybe caused confusion, I don't know.

But you know what Peter did.

He stepped back and he let all the other guys talk A lot of heavy hitters there, right, and they're all talking.

He let them all talk, let them give their wisdom.

And then he gave his wisdom, and it was wise, it was actual, it was actually right, it was actually correct, it was actually correct.

So only after others had spoken did he step up and give his own wisdom.

So he learned self-control is a part of wisdom.

And he learned to overcome his prejudices and walk in the gospel consistently.

Remember, he had this message that he took from that vision that was let down from heaven.

He took this message to the Gentiles.

He knew it was for the Gentiles In Acts, chapter 15, he was talking about that very thing.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

But then later the apostle Paul had to rebuke him because he had stepped back from that truth.

He had actually stopped eating with Gentiles when Jewish people were around and Peter had to say.

Paul had to say Peter, no, you're not doing well, you're not walking consistently in the gospel.

So Peter had to learn to grow in grace.

This is the big thing he learned.

We never stop growing in grace.

Right, his life is up and down, but there's a constant in all of our lives we're all up and down, but there's a constant.

It's the grace of God, it's the gospel of Jesus.

That's the constant.

But he had to learn that, sometimes the hard way.

Do you know anybody like that that forgets what you've learned?

But I want to close with maybe the greatest lesson that I see that he learned, and it had to do with his failure actually.

And it had to do with his failure actually.

There were many kindnesses that Jesus showed toward Peter in his life.

The name change was a kindness.

Once he said Satan desires to sift you like wheat, but I've prayed for you and when you're converted, strengthen your brothers.

Okay, you're not going to fall or you're not going to fall completely.

I've prayed for you and you're even going to out of that, you're going to strengthen people.

This was something that was a kindness of Jesus and it actually was a kindness that a special message was given to Peter.

Actually, it was a kindness that a special message was given to Peter even at the resurrection, when the angel said go tell the disciples, and Peter and Peter, oh, tell Peter, especially tell Peter.

This is kindness, because all the while, jesus the good shepherd was shepherding his little sheep, but what was happening is he was getting ready to graduate from Jesus' school.

Another shepherd to shepherd his sheep, and so, in John, chapter 21,.

John 21 · chapter mention

You know the story, shepherd his sheep.

And so in John chapter 21,.

John 21 · chapter mention

You know the story, what he learned was failure does not disqualify you from service to God.

That's good news, for we're restored by the kindness of Jesus.

We're restored by the kindness of Jesus.

So here he is.

Peter had overestimated himself.

He said I'll never forsake you, lord.

These other guys, I don't know about them.

They're a little wimpy.

I have my doubts about them, but I know me.

I will never deny you.

I will never deny you, lord.

I will never.

You can count on me.

He overestimated himself.

He thought he was more committed than he was.

He thought he loved Jesus committed than he was.

He thought he loved Jesus more than he did.

He thought he loved Jesus more than the other people.

He thought he could go through any temptation and come out victorious.

But he was wrong.

On all of those counts he was wrong.

And now Peter's unsure.

All of his failures are right in front of him.

He's not filled with the power of the Holy Spirit yet, john 21,.

He denied his Lord.

And what does he do now?

What do you do now when everything you built your life on is gone?

What do you do?

How do you go forward?

I mean, what do you?

Even?

Everything has to change now, right.

I mean, do you abandon ministry?

Do you abandon your dreams?

And he's shocked at his own response.

He betrayed himself, he denied Jesus.

He betrayed himself.

He's a broken man, no confidence.

And Jesus tells them to go to Galilee and wait.

And they go there.

But they don't wait.

He goes fishing.

Peter turns back to what Simon knew.

Simon knew fishing.

He went back to just the only thing that he felt comfortable with.

He took all the others with him.

They were out there fishing and it was this is so classic.

They're out there fishing, they fished all night and they caught nothing which felt very familiar to him.

This has happened before.

And somebody's on the shore and it says if you caught anything, no, throw it on the right side.

Okay, this sounds really familiar to me.

And then they get a catch that they can't even haul in.

This sounds, this is, this is not.

I mean, it doesn't take them very long.

Right, it takes them, maybe longer than it should have.

But that must be Jesus over there and Peter what.

He jumps in the water.

He can't wait till the boat to get back.

He jumps in the water and he goes and he swims to the shore and Jesus had made fish and made bread on a fire and he had a meal for him.

Jesus recreated the same miracle that happened when he called Simon and now he's calling Peter back into his destiny.

But Peter can't see it.

He's sitting by the fire, he's warming himself because he's wet from the water and he remembers another fire that he sat by not too long ago warming himself.

Not too long ago, warming himself the night Jesus was betrayed, the night he denied Jesus once and twice and a third time by lying and cursing.

And surely the smoke from that fire was stinging his nostrils, just like the memory of his denial was stinging his soul.

And he's sitting there by Jesus and thinking oh, here it comes, here it comes.

And of all the things Jesus could say, he could have said a lot.

Where's your great allegiance now, peter?

Peter, I had such great hope for you.

I thought you could be a leader in my movement.

I poured so much into you.

I feel like I just can't trust you now, going to have to put you on a program of rehabilitation before I can trust you.

He didn't say any of those things.

You know what he said.

He said the most important thing Do you love me?

Do you love me?

He said Simon, simon, he used his old name, simon.

Do you agapeo me, agape, agapeo?

Do you love me with a high level of love?

Do you love me with the most committed covenant kind of love, high level of love?

You love me with the most committed covenant kind of love.

And Peter said Lord, I phileo you.

Phileo means brotherly love.

It means you're my friend, you're my good friend.

You're my good friend.

Are you devoted to me, simon?

Lord, you know you're my friend, simon.

Are you devoted to me?

Lord, you know I'm your friend.

He wasn't even sure where his love was.

He'd made that big boast before and he knew that didn't work out.

He didn't know his own heart.

Now, lord, you know I love you on this level.

And the third time Jesus said Simon, do you phileo me?

And it says Peter was grieved that he asked a third time.

Maybe he was grieved because he used a different word.

He used Peter's word.

Peter, are you my friend?

But I don't think it was a rebuke.

I think Jesus was just coming down to his level of love, and that's beautiful because he will come down and meet you at your level of love.

But then you know what he'll do.

He'll say if you love me, feed my sheep.

No more fishing buddy.

That's in the past.

I got something higher for you.

He's raising the past.

I got something higher for you.

He's raising the bar.

He's establishing him in his love.

And then he's raising the bar and he's saying I have a destiny for you to walk in.

Feed my sheep.

And Peter did feed his sheep.

And Peter fed his sheep, partly by writing the book, the little letter to the churches that we're going to be studying in the next few weeks.

He wrote them to these churches that were spread out all over Asia Minor and they were suffering persecution because of their faith.

And he said to these churches you can lift your vision higher, you can see a bigger picture for your suffering.

You can remember the suffering of Jesus and he will not only strengthen you, he will use you to change your world.

Peter was strengthening his brothers Three times.

Peter denied Jesus, three times Jesus Beautiful.

Shortly after, peter wrote his second letter when he was in Rome.

He was put to death because of his faith and what we're told is at the time he was martyred.

He told his executioners my Lord was crucified with his head up.

I want you to crucify me with my head down.

I'm not worthy to die the way my Lord died.

I'll die for my Lord and I'll die the same kind of death, being crucified, but I want to die letting the whole world know that he's so much more worthy than me.

What kind of motivation, what would motivate you to love to that end?

Love all the way to give your life.

What motivates that commitment?

Well, it's love.

That's Jesus' question to them Do you love me?

Do you love me?

We love him because he first loved us.

And what we love we will sacrifice for.

We do it all the time.

You sacrifice for what you love.

If you show me your calendar and show me your bank statement, I can tell you what you love because you sacrifice for it.

And this is the same calling that Jesus called Peter to.

That he's calling us to today.

Do you love me?

That's the question.

Do you love me?

That's the question Do you love me?

And I think there are some people here today who feel like they can't be used again because they failed, and it's a lie.

I mean like you have to be perfect for Jesus to use you.

I mean.

So then, who's he got to use?

Who's he's got to work with?

All he's got is frail, fallen people, right?

That's all he's got.

That's what he does wonders with.

I think Jesus wants to give courage today.

I think he wants you to hear his voice asking do you love me?

And saying I'm calling you into that call that's never left your life.

It's never left your life.

It's something I planned before the foundation of the world.

There's a call in your life, and it doesn't matter what you've done.

I know what you've done.

Do you love me?

Let's go forward, won't you stand with me?

Let me pray for you.

What kind of love is this, lord?

Lord, that smoke from those fires of our own failures is just stinging our own soul, lord, so many times.

And we have an accuser.

Lord, you know Jesus, you know you were tempted in every way, like we are yet without sin, and you're able to comfort us because of that.

You understand the accuser.

And we have this accuser who speaks to us and says we're not worthy, and shows us what we've done and lies to us that there's no future.

What kind of love is it, lord, that you will restore completely to relationship with you and that you will fill us with power and you will send us out in this calling that you have on our lives?

Lord, I pray for each of us.

We're all different places.

Lord, and especially Lord, I pray for those of us who are hearing the voice of the enemy saying it's over for you.

It's over for you.

You had a good run, did some good things, but it's over.

You've gone too far and, lord, I'm asking that you would speak louder than those lies, asking that you would speak louder than those lies.

The truth of your word and the call of your spirit would draw people, lord, into that place of calling and destiny in you, and I pray your blessing over them, the blessing of Peter's last words, lord, that they would grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord.

Jesus Christ, if we just take a minute and just talk to the Lord, there, where you are, and just whatever it is that he's putting his finger on, whatever he's shown you today, just respond to him right there.

Thank you, lord, thank you, lord.

Lord, I ask you to pour your effective grace into the hearts of all of us today.

Give us a vision of what we can be as we follow you.

Fill us with your power, god, Fill us with your scriptures, god, god, teach us to fear you, lord, and help us to understand that we always grow in your grace.

And can we honor you with the rest of our lives, lord?

This is our prayer.

Could we honor you with the rest of our lives, whatever door?

This is our prayer.

Could we honor you with the rest of our lives, whatever door you open, lord, thank you for that, father.

In the name of Jesus, we pray Amen.