Sermon
Tearing Down the Walls Part 3 - The Lunchbox
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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if you want to join me in John chapter
John 21 chapter mention
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21 the first name for the
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Christians was people of the way so I
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love that song because it reminds us
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what it means to be people of the way be
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in uh John 21 we'll also be in Luke 22
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and a couple other passages but mainly
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John 21 today and the main idea of this
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sermon series is that God loves to to
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partner with his children to help them
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Tear Down the Walls that keep them from
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becoming the people that he destined
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them to be so walls are basically
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anything that you have to work to
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overcome um and you just haven't been
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able to so this could be a spiritual
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wall an emotional wall a financial wall
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a material wall any kind of a barrier
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that keeps you from becoming the person
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that you know God created you to be and
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so what I've done in the series so far
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is I've given you some biblical tools to
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help you knock down these walls and we
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started out with with a sledgehammer and
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that Sledgehammer was designed uh to
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help you knock down the wall of
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basically Disobedience so that
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Sledgehammer was daily faithful
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obedience to God not once a month not
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once a year but daily faithful obedience
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to God will help you knock down that
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wall last week we talked about the
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shepherd's Crook and it's not only Larry
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loved that
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lesson it's not only something that God
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uses to defend his people but it's also
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something that God uses to redirect
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his sheep and so in order to knock down
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a wall you have to take on the position
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of a sheep and allow God to be your Good
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Shepherd and today I'm going to give you
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another tool um this tool is a little
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more simple this is a lunch boox in
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particular this is my lunch box from
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elementary school back in the 80s
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returned the Jedi uh lunch boox we'll
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talk a bit more about that in a minute
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but I want to give you a lunch box today
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that's going to help you tear down a
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wall that's probably been keeping you
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from being the person that God created
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you to be so as we get started I want to
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say a quick word of prayer and then
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we'll focus on God's
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word father it's important for us as we
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come to a worship service to be able to
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clear our hearts and our minds of
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anything that would distract us from
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hearing what you want us to hear Lord we
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pray that if there are any distractions
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in our life that you would just kind of
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she away those birds to keep them from
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stealing the seed before it has time to
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germinate in our heart Lord I pray that
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today as we focus focus on your word
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that your word would penetrate our
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hearts and our minds and it would reveal
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to us uh the walls that exist in our
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lives that keep us from doing what
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you've called us to do and being what
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you've called us to be and I pray that
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today for those that have those walls
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that they would be absolutely demolished
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before they walk out the doors of this
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church in Jesus name I pray
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amen we're going to talk a little bit
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about restoration because God doesn't
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just want to tear down your wall God
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actually wants to restore you um I I've
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been on a big restoration kick over the
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last several months it started with this
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YouTuber that I was watching who took a
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a Super Nintendo that had turned yellow
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which happens to the old Super Nintendos
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the gray on the shell uh it turns yellow
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over time and I just thought that was
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you know an irreversible fact of life
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because I've owned a few of them and
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they always have some yellow spots on
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them um but this guy took one that was
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completely yellowed and he put it in a
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fish tank with some UV lights and some
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other chemicals and like two days later
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he pulled that thing out of there and it
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was like perfect right back to its it's
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different guys and and women that
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restore things on the internet one of my
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favorites was this dude found a a Zippo
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lighter that had been on the bottom of
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the ocean for like a long time and it
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looked like a barnacle and after a few
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weeks in his shop that thing would not
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only light but it looked exactly like it
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did when it came out of the factory it
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was brand new so I'm like you know what
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I I this is what I need to be doing in
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my free time you know I need to be a
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restoration guy uh so I told my wife my
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lovely um fauxhawk wearing powerlifting
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West Virginia wife uh that I felt like
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maybe I should be a uh a a restoring you
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know someone that could restore stuff
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and she said actually you should be the
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person that orders stuff off of
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Amazon yeah yeah lovely woman happy
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Valentine's Day uh so I did uh get a
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bike out of a dump um by the way my my
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son actually pulled it out of the
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dumpster and and brought it to the house
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and I'm like I'll show her I'm going to
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restore this this bike now it's been in
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my garage for like 6 months and I
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haven't even looked at it um but one day
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one day I'm going to restore that bike
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to its original glory and guess who's
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getting the first ride on it my wife all
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right so moving on uh so restoration if
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you look it up uh like if you ask Google
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what what the word restore means it
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would tell you that it means to bring
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something back to its original state so
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you may restore a car you may restore a
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piece of furniture you may restore a
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bike um so you're going to bring it back
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to its original state but if you do a
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Biblical study of the word restore in
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scripture you will find that it doesn't
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mean that it actually means something
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else it means something more akin to
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dropping a small block V8 into a Honda
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Civic um it means making it better than
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it was before so when you read the word
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restore in scripture don't think about
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going back to the original state I want
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you to think about something getting
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better that when you see the word
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restore in Scripture it is when you
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receive more than you lost it means that
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the final state is going to be greater
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than the original amen this is a great
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word in scripture the word restore in
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job
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42:10 job was a man that lost everything
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through no fault of his
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own and it says after job had prayed for
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his friends because his friends told him
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to curse God and die because his life
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was so miserable so he prays for these
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friends um and after he's done praying
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for for them it says the Lord
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what what's the word the Lord restored
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his fortunes and get this doubled his
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previous possessions every time you see
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the word restore in Scripture it always
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connects to making something better than
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it was originally better than its
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original state it comes from the word
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restoration restoration which is two
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words rest which means to refresh and
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oration which means formal speech so the
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question might be well how do I get
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restored how do I get made better than
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my original state and the answer would
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be to listen to the words of Jesus
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because Jesus would orate the words of
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God and formal speech and the people
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that heard the word of God and responded
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to the word of God would recover their
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strength and be refreshed or renewed so
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when Jesus spoke to the blind man guess
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what the blind man was able to do when
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he spoke to the crippled man guess what
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the crippled man was able to do when he
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spoke to the hungry people guess what
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the hungry people received that's right
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not
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tacos fish
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sandwiches Jesus is the word of God made
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flesh and when he speaks lives are
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restored that's why the Bible says lean
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not on your own understanding but in all
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of your ways acknowledge Him and He will
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direct your paths God is always in the
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restoration business with your children
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with your marriage with your career with
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your spiritual life with your church he
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is always in the restoration business
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friends he doesn't just knock down walls
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he makes your life better than it was
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before so that your final state is
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greater than the original and this is
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where you say prove it okay good that's
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what we're going to do Luke chap 22 in
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Luke chap 22 uh there's a situation
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where the Apostle Peter uh familiar
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passage of scripture if you were raised
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in church but the Apostle Peter uh was
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told by Jesus that Jesus was going to
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have to die on the cross that he was
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going to raise up on the third day and
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that everything would be made right but
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Peter didn't want Jesus to die and he
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told him that Jesus like look get behind
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me Satan and then he continues with his
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oration and then Peter again goes to
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Jesus and says look I just want I want
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you to know when all this goes down I
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got you Jesus all these other guys like
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disciples are right there in the room
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you know and he's like all these other
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guys they're going to fail you they
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they're going to deny even knowing you
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when you go I guarantee they're all
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going to fade away but you know who's
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going to be there J Jesus you're Rock
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you're Peter I'm not going anywhere so
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Jesus says yeah well um about that
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you're going to deny me three times
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before the morning then we see in Luke
Luke 22 chapter mention
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chapter 22 after Jesus was arrested in
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the garden and led away uh to a trial
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which was a mock trial where he was
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found guilty of things he never did it
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says They seized him verse 54 They
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seized him they led him away and they
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brought him into the high priest's house
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meanwhile Peter was following at a
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distance they lit a fire in the middle
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of the courtyard and sat down together
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and Peter sat among them when a servant
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saw him sitting in the light and looked
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closely at it at him she said this this
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man was with him too but Peter denied it
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he says woman I don't even know him a
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little while later someone else saw him
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and said hey what you're one of them too
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and he says man I am not about an hour
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later
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after another kept insisting the man was
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certainly with him he's a galileon can't
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you see Peter said man I don't know what
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you were talking about and immediately
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while he was still speaking a rooster
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crowed morning
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came then then the Lord turned and
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looked at Peter so Peter remembered the
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word of the Lord and how it had been
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said to him before the rooster crows
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today you will deny me three times
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imagine how brutal that must have been
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to to make eye contact with Jesus in the
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middle of your failure after being so
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braggadocious about how you would be the
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only one that would stay behind with
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Jesus you deny him three times as Jesus
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Jesus said and on the third denial when
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the rooster crows Jesus is Led out of
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the house into the courtyard looks over
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at Peter as Peter looks over at Jesus
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they make eye contact and they're
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staring at each other in the middle of
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Peter's
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failure and to make matters worse Peter
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didn't even have a chance to make things
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right because Jesus would go on to die
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on the cross so here's the wall today
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that I think affects quite a few of us
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even if we would never admit it the wall
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today is failure and it is one of the
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most impenetrable walls that probably
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exist in your life see we've all failed
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but it's the scheme of the enemy to go
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to you in your failure and tell you that
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you are guilty to shame you to make you
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feel less than and now sometimes that's
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your fault sometimes you're the one that
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takes on the identity of your greatest
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failure and then sometimes it's other
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people's fault because they are the
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people that are reminding you of your
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greatest failure it's a form of coercive
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control that is used in a lot of
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relationships to keep the other person
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down so sometimes it's your fault and
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sometimes it's someone else's fault but
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it doesn't really matter whose fault it
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is because the end result is the same
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you can't move forward and become the
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person that God created you to be
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because you're running headlong into
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this wall of failure it's why now in
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John 21 as we go to verse one it's why
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why now we see Peter going back fishing
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has he met with Jesus after Jesus came
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back from the dead yes twice but he's
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never had an opportunity to sit down
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with Jesus and try to make things right
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he's never had an opportunity to confess
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his sin to Jesus and so Jesus although
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telling Peter that he would be the
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foundation of the First Christian Church
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Peter feels like a failure and so
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instead of going out to establish this
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church after receiving the Holy Spirit
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Peter decides to go back to knows he
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goes back to fishing and that's where
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Jesus meets
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him John
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21:1 says after this Jesus revealed
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himself again to the disciples by the
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Sea of tiberias he revealed himself in
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this way to Simon Peter to Thomas called
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twin Nathaniel from canaa of Galilee
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zebedee's sons and two other disciples
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were together Peter says I'm going
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fishing and they're like we're coming
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with you and they told him that's what
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they told him then they went out and
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they got into a boat but that night they
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caught
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nothing expert fisherman with empty Nets
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Kevin on a boat with no fish that makes
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perfect sense that's my life Ronnie saw
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you're on a boat with no fish that's
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weird there's something to be learned
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there expert fisherman with empty Nets
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that might be a lesson someone needs to
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learn today because you're an expert for
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sure but your way is not working that
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wall of failure is it's not going
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anywhere so maybe you're one of those
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people that's like well if I can make
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enough money if I can rise to the top of
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my my profession if I can gravel in
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self-pity if I can have the highest
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batting average then they'll forget
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about my failure and they'll finally
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love me God will finally accept me if I
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just do good in life friends that's a
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wall of failure that's not going
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anywhere that way is not
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working so verse four when Daybreak came
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Jesus stood on the shore but the
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disciples did not know it was Jesus and
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he says friends you don't have any fish
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do you and they said no Jesus asks a
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question that he already knows the
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answer to so you say why would he do
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that he has infinite knowledge why would
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he ask them something he already knows
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the reason is because he needed to put
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them on the map so when you go hiking
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they have trail maps and on the trail
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maps there's always something that says
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you are here because that map does you
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no good if you don't know where you are
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so Jesus question is a way of putting
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them in a position where they have to
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face where they are they know where
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they're on the map so now they can
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figure out where they need to go it's
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the same thing that happened in Genesis
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Adam and Eve they they sinned and they
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hid from God and God says Where Are You
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Adam of course they God knew where Adam
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was he's asking him a question that he
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already knows the answer to because he
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wants to put Adam in evil on the map so
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so Adam hiding shouts out to God and
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says I'm here and God's like well why
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are you hiding and he knows it's because
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of his failure but he's not going to
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admit it so he looks over at Eve and he
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says Hey God remember that lovely woman
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that you created for me talking about
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bad Valentine's there David this is one
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of them you remember that lovely lady
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that you you created that I'm married to
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um she's the one that led me to eat the
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fruit of the tree that we weren't
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allowed to eat from and so God looks
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over at Eve he says Eve why are you
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hiding and she's like hey God remember
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that serpent that you made and that you
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put in the Gard she points her finger at
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God all right so like but here's the
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thing that question was so therapeutic
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it was so good for them because it put
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them on the map they didn't admit their
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failure they walked with God they knew
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God they knew that God would forgive
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them if they simply ask but instead of
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asking for forgiveness they do what a
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lot of us do when we failed and they
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play the blame game oh it wasn't me it
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was her oh it wasn't me it was the snake
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you know they passed the buck along this
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question helped them see their wall they
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realized in that moment that they were
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not taking responsibility for their
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failures your way is not working you
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have failed and you are trying all these
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ways that you can think of to to make up
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for that failure and God is like stop
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running into the wall I have a better
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plan for
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you so he says to Peter basically your
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way isn't working is it and Peter has to
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say well no it's it's not then Jesus in
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verse six he says cast your net on the
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right side of the boat and you'll find
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some fish so they did and they were
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unable to haul it in because of the
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large number of Fish Friends this is
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restoration they listened to the word of
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God and their final state was better
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than their original state they caught a
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record number of fish this was their
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personal best this wasn't just any catch
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this was a personal best this is the
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catch of a lifetime this is the one that
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you take home and you put on the wall in
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the den and you don't care what anybody
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else says the fish is going on the wall
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because I'm never going to catch a
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bigger one that's what God does when he
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speaks and you listen and do what he
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tells you to do the Wall comes down and
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you are better off than you were before
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amen so the disciples they they
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responded to the word and they received
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restoration friends here's the point
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their exper their expertise their
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expertise did not catch any fish but
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their obedience did maybe that's what we
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need to hear today your expertise is not
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allowing you to succeed but your
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obedience to God will your way isn't
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working so listen to the word of God and
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that wall is going to fall down that
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failure is not only going to be for
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given but you will be restored you'll
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receive more than you lost and the
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disciples are like man this seems oddly
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familiar because there was this guy
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named Jesus that went back to heaven we
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thought um but he he used to say stuff
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and when we did what he said our lives
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were better and they're like oh this
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this reminds of us of this experience
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that we've already had with Jesus and so
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it says in verse seven the disciple the
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one that Jesus loved said to Peter it is
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the Lord I love John John and Peter must
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have had this rivalry that I I would
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have loved to have watched because over
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and over in this gospel he's always like
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I'm faster than Peter I'm more observant
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than Peter I'm more obedient than Peter
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I'm the disciple that Jesus loved the
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most and he likes to point all that
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stuff out like he's doing here so John's
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like I'm the one that figured it out and
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I told Peter that it is the Lord and
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when Simon Peter heard this that it was
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the Lord he tied his outer clothing
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around him for he had taken it off and
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he plunged into the sea Peter is so
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extra isn't he like dude all the guys in
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the boat are getting ready to take the
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boat to the shore like you could roll
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with the fellas man you don't need to
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jump out of the boat and try to walk on
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water you don't need to jump out of the
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boat and try to swim to Jesus before
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they get there with the boat um but I'm
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going to give him a pass here because
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he's been living with his failure for so
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long
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no doubt I I just really believe that
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when he falls asleep at night he was
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thinking about that moment in the
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courtyard when their eyes met and he was
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just caught right there in the middle of
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his failure by Jesus so the fact that he
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wanted to jump out of the boat and swim
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to Jesus and get there as fast as
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possible in order to make it right I'm
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going to give him a pass on that because
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it makes perfect sense given the
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situation I want to take a little side
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note here and uh just kind of point out
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that remember that we need to remember
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that sometimes our last word might
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actually be our last
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word we we've done five funerals in 10
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months here in this building more than
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that in other locations it's a it's a
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humble reminder that sometimes our our
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last word is really our last word and so
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our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ wants
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to make sure that we get things right
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before it's too late he encourages us to
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go and make it right in Matthew chapter
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uh
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23 he says so if you are offering your
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gift on the Altar and there you remember
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that your brother or your sister has
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something against you leave your gift
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there in front of the Altar and go and
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be reconciled to your brother or sister
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and then bring the gift back to the the
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altar so Jesus is saying this is more
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important than even communion this is
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more important than even your your
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tithes and your offering if you have a
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brother or a sister in Christ and you
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have a a strained
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relationship understand that this might
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be the last word that you've ever that
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you'll ever get a chance to say to them
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so don't waste the opportunity go and
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make things right to the best of your
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ability so Jesus is in the uh the
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restoration business and what we know
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about Jesus is that his mercies are
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renewed on a daily basis that means that
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Jesus has prepare prepared Mercy for you
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every single morning he notice this too
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Jesus doesn't need to spend time with
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you I don't care what the Facebook posts
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say like he's not he's not out there
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like man I really hope Kevin spends some
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time with me today so my life will be
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complete okay Jesus and God and the Holy
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Spirit were fine for all of eternity
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before we existed and they're fine after
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all that too okay they don't need us to
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talk to them they want us to talk to
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them because they love us and want to
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spend time with us and that is why God's
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mercies are made new every single
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morning God wants to wake up and have
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breakfast with you so Jesus doesn't need
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to spend time with Peter but he wants to
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spend time with Peter so Peter is on the
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or Jesus is on the shore and he's uh
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preparing breakfast for
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Peter and Peter's like awesome I get to
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go set at the feet of Jesus and now I
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get an opportunity to make things right
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I get an opportunity to knock down that
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wall of faith failure so in verse 8 of
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John 21 since they were not far from the
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land only about 100 yard away the other
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disciples came in the boat dragging the
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net full of fish thanks a lot for your
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help Peter um verse n when they got out
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on the land they saw a charcoal F fire
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there with fish laying on it and bread
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bring some of the fish that you've
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caught Jesus told them so Simon Peter
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climbed out and hauled the net ashore
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full of large fish 153 of them that's
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when it's your personal best you you
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count right you get the measure out you
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get the scale out right they know 153
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they've been bragging about that
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forever even though there were so many
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fish the Nets were not torn so Jesus
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says come and have breakfast but none of
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the disciples dared ask who are you
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because they knew it was the Lord and
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Jesus came and he he took the bread and
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he gave it to them and he did the same
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with the fish this was now the third
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time that Jesus appeared to the
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disciples after he was raised from the
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dead
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this kind of reminds me of my grandma
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Truman she lived in Dixie West Virginia
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which is a really small town in the
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middle of a Haller and my grandpa was a
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Baptist Minister and so often times they
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would have people at their house that
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would come to really do confession you
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know it's the pastor and his wife and so
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they would come to the house and they'd
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be like oh I messed up or whatever and I
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remember my my grandma no matter if it
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was like one of the cousins or the
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grandkids or whatever like when we
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started talking to Grandma about things
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that we had done wrong grandma would
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always say the same same thing does
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she'd say you
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hungry you
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hungry and then before you could answer
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she's like of course you are come and
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set a spell have some uh ham and ters
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right and you could be like I just ate
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grandma and she's like nonsense you're
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going to eat more right so she's like
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forcing food down your your gullet
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because that's her way of loving you so
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Peter sees these nets that are full of
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fish they're untorn and he knows he
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knows only Jesus can do that that
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blessing only comes from Jesus so he's
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sitting there and I I know that
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convicted his heart so he's sitting
-
there with Jesus eating the fish
-
sandwich and he's like you know he just
-
wants to say I messed up Jesus I failed
-
I've been carrying this guilt of my
-
failure ever since that day in the
-
courtyard and we just haven't had time
-
to Hash it out and while Peter is
-
mulling over how to say these words to
-
Jesus Jesus looks at him and says hey
-
Peter you
-
hungry I got something for you
-
you've been running into that wall
-
because you're leaving the house hungry
-
every day friends it's it's time to put
-
down the poptarts in the morning that
-
you eat while you're running out the
-
door and it's time to sit down for
-
breakfast with Jesus see I got this
-
lunch box and I'm a real one I'm an only
-
child so that's why it's in Immaculate
-
condition um and yeah so I got to prove
-
this too I'm not that kid that lost the
-
the thermos either I kept my
-
thermos and look look not even scratch
-
there's not one scratch on Wicket right
-
there not a scratch on them you know why
-
because I love my stuff and I take good
-
care of it unlike my children um I guess
-
that's not an inherited trait but look
-
this is a lunch box right and this is
-
reminding us that when we sat down with
-
Jesus we need to open our lunchbox and
-
spend some time with him stop rushing
-
out the door every single morning and
-
eat the meal that God has prepared for
-
you see that wall that you've been been
-
running into get this it has nothing to
-
do with your failure you think it's a
-
wall of failure but it's not a wall of
-
failure the only reason that that wall
-
exists is because you haven't spent
-
enough time with Jesus to allow him to
-
teach you about his forgiveness and his
-
restoration yes Matthew 4:4 Jesus
-
answered it is written man must not live
-
on bread alone but every word that comes
-
from the mouth of God this isn't about
-
the lunch it's not not about the fish
-
sandwich this is about the word of God
-
the word of Jesus that knocks down walls
-
and restores lives Jesus says in first
-
John 1:9 if you confess your sin he is
-
faithful and just and will forgive you
-
of your sin and cleanse you of all
-
unrighteousness the wall of failure only
-
exists because you haven't set down with
-
Jesus long enough to allow him to
-
destroy the wall to forgive you of your
-
sins
-
and restore you to a better
-
condition continuing in verse 15 when
-
they' had breakfast Jesus asked Simon
-
Peter Simon son of John do you love me
-
more than these yes Lord he said to him
-
you know that I love you Jesus says feed
-
my Lambs second time he asked him Simon
-
son of John do you love me yes Lord he
-
said to him you know that I love you he
-
says shepher my sheep then in verse 17
-
he asked him a third time Simon son of
-
John do you love me but Peter was
-
grieved that he asked him a third time
-
he's connecting the dots he's got it now
-
he didn't need to say anything to Jesus
-
because Jesus knew exactly what he
-
needed Jesus says for a third time do
-
you love me and he said Lord you know
-
everything you know that I love you and
-
Jesus says feed my sheep three times
-
Peter denied Jesus three failures from
-
his past that he'd been carrying around
-
three reasons that Peter went back to
-
fish
-
instead of becoming the pastor of the
-
First Christian Church that Jesus told
-
him that he would be but once he took
-
time to sit at the feet of Jesus once he
-
had his breakfast with Jesus once he
-
heard the word of Jesus he was restored
-
he was forgiven three different times
-
three different statements encouraging
-
him to get out there and be the person
-
that Jesus destined them to be take care
-
of the sheep feed the sheep be a pastor
-
start a church teach the go gospel Jesus
-
came there and he's on the shore and
-
he's saying look Kevin have you found
-
what you're looking for yet and I'm like
-
no I haven't and Jesus like your way is
-
not working is it and I'm like no it's
-
actually it's actually not and Jesus
-
says well you hungry and I'm like yeah
-
yeah I'm hungry Jesus and Jesus says
-
well come and set a spell cuz I got a
-
word for you well talk about forgiveness
-
let's let's talk about blessing let's
-
talk about who I created you to be let's
-
talk about restoration let's talk about
-
the fact Kevin that I want to make you
-
better than you were before your failure
-
doesn't Define you it doesn't matter
-
what the enemy says it doesn't matter
-
what that person is trying to trying to
-
control you says it only matters What
-
God Says and God says that you can be
-
forgiven of any sin and you can be
-
restored that you will receive more than
-
you lost that your next state of being
-
being is going to be greater than the
-
original Jesus says you have value you
-
have dignity and you have purpose can
-
somebody thank God for that this morning
-
amen let's
-
pray father sometimes your word Just
-
Hits and it hits
-
hard and I thank you for that because
-
it's that hard hit that knocks down
-
those
-
walls sort today I know in this room and
-
maybe some watching online that there
-
might be some people that have been
-
defined by their failure maybe it's
-
their own fault that they've taken their
-
worst moments and saying this is all
-
ever be but maybe it's somebody else's
-
fault maybe there are people in their
-
life that are are are upset with them or
-
trying to control them and they're
-
they're bringing up their past over and
-
over to to to just make them feel guilt
-
and shame they're being a mouth
-
mouthpiece for the enemy and so Lord I
-
just pray for those that are under that
-
that that failure that identity of
-
failure and I pray that today that they
-
will clearly see see that even though
-
they have failed you like we all have
-
Lord that they don't have to be defined
-
by that that their their final State can
-
be so much better than the original if
-
they will simply listen to your words
-
today and realize that they can be
-
forgiven of all of their
-
sin even Christians need to be forgiven
-
of all of their their
-
sin Lord I pray that as we accept that
-
forgiveness that you will visually allow
-
us to literally see the wall coming down
-
because that that wall was never built
-
on our failure it was built on our
-
failure to spend time with you so for
-
all those that are trying to do it their
-
own way that are rushing around from one
-
place to the other trying to to earn the
-
approval of the people that they have
-
failed against Lord I pray that today
-
that they'll see there's only one
-
opinion in the world that matters and
-
it's the opinion of our creator Jesus
-
Christ and I pray that as they see his
-
opinion of them that it'll give them
-
that dignity and value and purpose that
-
they have lost Lord that they will see
-
that they don't have to be defined by
-
their failure but they can move forward
-
in the power of the Holy Spirit past
-
that wall and into a new relationship
-
with you where like Peter they can be
-
the people that you destined them to be
-
they can teach Sunday school they can
-
sing in the choir they can go to the
-
mission field they can be a greeter at
-
the church they can go into their
-
schools and their homes and their
-
businesses and share the gospel with
-
people even with a checkered past
-
because we know Lord that your
-
forgiveness is the greatest thing that
-
we have to offer people so why not show
-
them a tangible representation of
-
someone that has been forgiven and
-
restored Lord you're going to do great
-
work through this little branch of your
-
family tree you already have and I know
-
you're going to continue it so Lord As
-
we sing this last
-
song spend some time in introspection
-
Lord I pray that if there's any in the
-
room that that need a special prayer up
-
front with me or just need to do
-
business with you that they would tune
-
out all of the other things that are
-
going on right now the storm that's
-
outside or their lunch plans or whatever
-
Lord and they would focus on what you
-
are trying to say to them right now
-
focus on receiving that free gift of
-
Salvation and forgiveness that's
-
available to
-
them and we ask these things with
-
confidence because we're asking in the
-
name of Jesus Christ amen
-
[Music]
-
seeking you as
-
[Music]
-
you are
-
[Music]
-
my
-
[Music]
-
Jesus God
-
[Music]
-
Worthy is
-
[Music]
-
your
-
[Music]
-
Jesus of
-
God Worthy
-
[Music]
-
when I fall down you pick me up
-
I
-
[Music]
-
am
-
[Music]
-
Jesus
-
God Worthy
-
is
-
[Music]
-
your
-
[Music]
-
Jesus L of
-
God
-
Worthy
-
[Music]
-
is repeat that one more time
-
Jus L of
-
[Music]
-
God
-
Worthy is
-
[Music]
-
your
-
L God
-
[Music]
-
that one gave me the Goosebumps uh
-
baptismal candidates you are dismissed
-
at this time to uh change into your
-
baptism gear and uh everybody else you
-
can be seated for a moment um they're
-
going to redecorate the stage get the
-
Baptist
-
ready well baptism is
-
like
-
people is just a symbol of something
-
that has already happened in my life
-
right it's the same for baptism
-
salvation occurs the moment that you
-
confess Jesus your lord and savior and
-
ask him to be the Lord of your life That
-
Forgives you of your that you are saved
-
afterwards you are baptized which is the
-
public profession of your faith it's
-
equivalent to the you're letting the
-
whole world that I choose to be a person
-
of the way I choose to be a follower of
-
Jesus and so today we're very fortunate
-
to have three young people that have
-
given their lives to the Lord they' all
-
in office and I've asked of questions to
-
make sure they knew what they were doing
-
and every single one of them answered
-
all those questions correctly and their
-
childlike faith is enough to them enough
-
to lead me to think that they do
-
need so today we're going to celebrate
-
Three baptisms and if you're thinking
-
about being baptized all you have to do
-
is come and talk to me and we'll
-
schedule a time to discuss
-
that start with gray
-
so Grayson has there been a time in your
-
life where you've given your life
-
completely and fully to Jesus Christ as
-
your lord and savior yes on that
-
profession of faith and now baptize you
-
in the name of the Father the Son and
-
the Holy Spirit
-
[Applause]
-
I don't know why you so
-
scared sister Alissa
-
has there been a time in your life where
-
you've given your life completely and
-
fully to Jesus Christ well that
-
profession of faith I now baptize you in
-
the name of the Father the Son and the
-
Holy
-
[Applause]
-
Spirit all right next up we have Sanders
-
this is
-
Xander hey Xander has there been a time
-
in your life where you've given your
-
life completely and fully to Jesus as
-
your lord and savior yes all right W
-
that profession of fa and I'll baptize
-
you in the name of the Father the Son
-
and the Holy Spirit
-
[Applause]