Transformed Life: Peter

Hello, and welcome to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast.

Thank you so much for listening.

We're startup church.

We just planted in September, 2020 and at the Kalamazoo church, we believe that Christianity is done best when it is done together.

And so if you live in the Kalamazoo area, we would love to connect, be it coming to a Sunday service, one of our small groups, or even just grabbing coffee with a member to learn more.

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We pray that you are inspired by what you hear today.

Amen.

Um, well, first, I actually, I just want to, uh, really give a shout out to the worship ministry.

I think over the last, uh, maybe it's, it's been a while since they've been obviously serving in the worship team, but I just, I really appreciate your guys's energy and effort and all the work that you guys do to, uh, to, to make the service more whole.

And I, it seems like there's a, you know, from the guitar, how are we amping this?

You guys have put a lot of work over the last, uh, certainly over the last years, but I think specifically maybe even the last few, few months, like I've seen a really just a massive effort.

I know you guys know it.

Uh, but Alec decided he's gonna, you know, learn how to play guitar.

And obviously the Cajon is like a learned, believe it or not, it's a learned skill.

I don't know if you guys, if you guys ever tried to play Cajon, you'll realize it's not as easy as it looks.

Yeah.

Uh, and, um, and maybe, or maybe you already realized that maybe your, your kids have tried to play with it and you're like, put that down, choose a new instrument.

I don't know.

But any, anyways, I just, I really am grateful for, for you guys and, and, uh, all that you're doing to, uh, to help the Kalamazoo church.

I do, you guys have a massive impact.

Um, that's not, that's not in my notes.

I just, I was thinking about it last Sunday and I, uh, you know, all the work that you guys put in, they, I don't know if you guys know, they went over to each other's house early to practice and showed up to, you know, the, the gold Meadows.

And so you guys, you guys are working hard.

I really, I do appreciate that.

Um, it doesn't go unseen for sure.

You guys, we're going to be flipping a bunch in the Bible, uh, this morning.

Um, so we're, we're starting a new series and the series is called transformed.

The idea is that basically the hope is that we understand we're able to pull from some, some men and women in the Bible, and we're able to pull some things that we can change in our lives.

Uh, you know, the, the life of a Christian, it can't be, it needs to be transformed.

There, there's no, there's nobody who's actually living for Jesus whose life is not continually shaped and we can say, uh, what I would say is this, I think many people might point to there being a sudden moment of transformation, uh, when I went from this place to that place and that that's true.

I think that that is true.

But work with me here.

There's a continual process of being a follower of Christ.

That means I have to change this aspect and I have to grow in this aspect and I have to learn how to do this better and that better.

And I have to talk better.

And, and you know, people have come up to me and I, you know, I, one of my really good friends, um, his wife came up and said, Hey, my husband is listening to some horrible Christian music or some horrible music.

That's not Christian.

Uh, he only listens to rap is all day and he listens to the explicit versions.

Uh, what do I do?

And my response was, well, uh, as he grows to be more like Jesus, I think he's going to stop listening to the music.

And, and sure enough, a few months later she said, Hey, you were right.

And so what I, what I mean to say is the life of a Christian is constantly transforming and changing.

Amen.

I, I think this, this is going to be a chance, you know, we're doing something a little bit different than that.

Usually over most of this year, we've spent a lot of time looking at one passage in the Bible and saying, what do we pull from this?

What, what did we've looked at a book in the Bible, multiple books in the Bible.

Uh, this, this is going to necessitate a little bit more work on your end because there's a lot of, uh, there's a lot of passages that we're going to look at and not all of the, the ones that we look at are as like the extent of the life that today we're looking at the life of Peter.

We can't look at every, every little bit of Peter's life.

And so there's going to be things that you said, well, he missed that part.

I probably did go ahead and you, you cover it and you decide for yourself, uh, how was the life of Peter transformed?

I want to, I just want to bring up one component of it, uh, this morning.

Uh, you know, I, I think, um, if, if I'll say anything that I think the life of Peter was transformed from somebody who operated exclusively out of duty because he said he was going to be a follower to somebody who operated, uh, from a place of love.

And I, and, and we'll, we'll, we'll read this.

Okay.

I, I, I don't want it to just be, I, that's what I think, or that's what he thinks.

I want to, I want to show you guys, uh, you guys can go to Luke five.

I will say if there, again, if there's times when you feel like, I don't, how am I going to get there?

It's what he's going too fast.

That's okay.

A lot of it will be up on the screen and if not, you can just write it down.

There'll, there'll be a, there'll be a lot more.

We're going to look at, uh, just a little bit of the life of Peter.

Again, I think you'll leave a question.

I want to ask you guys to start is why do you do what you do?

It's clear that you do spiritual things.

It's clear you're here on Sunday, right?

I'm preaching to the choir.

You guys are doing, you guys are doing a lot of Christian things, but why, why do you do that?

Uh, the Bible says, uh, he got into one of the boats, this is Jesus, uh, the one belonging to Simon, um, and asked him to put out a little from shore.

Then he sat down, taught the people from the boat.

When he finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.

Simon answered, master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything, but because you say so, I'll let down the nets.

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them.

And they came and filled both boats that they, that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus's knees and said, go away from me.

I'm a sinful man.

For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch, uh, officially had taken drop down here.

Uh, Jesus says, uh, follow me.

Don't be afraid from now on.

You will fish for people.

And in verse 11, it says they pulled their boats up for unsure, left everything and followed him.

You know, this is, uh, there, there's different, there's different accounts.

You can read, uh, it's a little bit different account actually in, in Mark one of how, uh, how Peter was called, but it's clear a few things that we, I want to put before you that Peter and Jesus or Simon in this, in this spot, they had, uh, there was some kind of connection.

Why?

Well, because Simon said, Hey, you can use my boat.

Maybe he felt like he had to allow him to use the boat, but whatever, however you say, there's some kind of relationship and he allows him to use his boat even prior to becoming, uh, a follower of him.

At this point, there's a level of under of awareness that Peter has.

Uh, well he says, uh, master, you know, I'll, I'll do what you ask this word.

Maybe we'll take it in English to say, Oh, that means he knew he was the one.

He was the guy.

And then that's not exactly what it, what it means in that, uh, in that time, master would have just been somebody who's older than you or somebody who's who has some kind of authority or it's a respected overseer.

And so we can't point to this saying and point to this moment and say, Oh, this is when he really, uh, he was, he was fully in belief, uh, master, I'll do it.

You know, I would say, uh, work with me here.

Uh, when Peter's called, it's impressive.

He leaves everything.

It's probably not totally different than how many of us were called.

Uh, many of us probably had a relationship with God.

Uh, there was some kind of understanding.

Maybe we'd even given something to God.

Maybe that can be contribution or it can just be our energy, our effort, our time.

We'd probably given something to him.

Uh, but there's a point in everybody's life when, when you have to decide, and if you've not decided yet, uh, then, then you've got to, you've got to make that decision.

But there's a point in everybody's life when you have to decide, am I willing to follow it, to leave everything in order to follow Jesus?

Uh, that, that, that point is not, uh, it's not.

I've done all of these things and then I'll be a follower of Jesus.

Uh, no, it's, I'm going to leave everything in order to follow him.

Uh, and so we've got this first moment that Peter, he's called, he leaves everything, he's following.

And you guys know Peter, if you'd had to describe him, you might say that, well, one, he's mentioned as the, uh, the first apostle whenever you see lists of the apostles.

So he was really well respected.

There's a lot of evidence that would say that he was the oldest of the apostles.

He was the only one that we understand was married.

Um, on top of that, uh, well, I don't want to get in, but it's, it's pretty, it's pretty widely believed that he was the oldest.

He was the one that was the most respected.

Um, and so he does some amazing things.

He's one of Jesus's closest guys.

Let's go over to, uh, to Matthew 16.

He's following Jesus and, and then he confesses Jesus as the Messiah.

And there's a point again, work with me here.

You can follow God.

You can, you can be on his, on his team.

You can do spiritual things, but until you really decide, no, he's, he's the fulfillment of everything that, that this world ever has, has promised.

Um, then, then maybe he's not your, your, your actual Lord.

Uh, it says in verse 15, Jesus is talking first.

He says, Hey, who's all these people?

They say a lot of things, but, but who do you say I am?

And, and Peter says, you're the Messiah, the son of the living God.

And then Jesus, uh, we understand what he tells, uh, he tells Simon, he says, I'm going to build, I'm going to, when he gives him a new name, he says, I'm going to build my church on this rock.

And, uh, and, and there's ramifications for that, that we're not going to get into, uh, this morning.

Um, Peter's walked with Jesus.

Uh, maybe he didn't understand the extent of what Jesus was going to call him to do, but he was willing to live for him.

And, and so I think this can relate to some of us.

There's this continual transformation that, that you, you, you're here, you, you realize I'm going to live for Jesus.

I'm committed to him.

Uh, it's the only, he's the only person worth following.

Um, but, uh, you're probably a little bit like Peter in that, that you'll, you'll make, uh, you'll make mistakes as well.

Uh, so here, here, here it is in John 18.

So Peter, the life, uh, he, he, at this point, he's driven out demons.

He's performed miracles.

He has, uh, he's followed Jesus.

He's given up a lot for Jesus.

Jesus is close to his family and that it's, it's pretty understood that he probably, Jesus is one of his bases of operation was probably, uh, a place that Peter, either Peter lived or Peter's mother-in-law lived, that it was, he was, he was in the family basically.

And, uh, and, and yet he, he doesn't understand fully what's, what's being asked of him.

He didn't, maybe he doesn't understand how, uh, how Jesus is going to fulfill all of these promises as the, the savior.

In John 18, uh, it says, Jesus answered.

I told you that I am he, if you're looking for me, let these people go.

This happened so that this is, sorry, this is right before he's going to be crucified and he's being, uh, taken, uh, taken away.

Um, this happened so that the word he had spoken would be fulfilled.

I have not lost one of those you gave me.

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear.

The servant's name was Malchus.

Jesus commanded Peter, put your sword away.

Shall I not drink the cup the father has given me?

Stop here.

This, this, this takes, uh, again, this necessitates a, uh, I, it takes work on your end, but put yourself in, into this situation and understand, you know, we can look down on Peter and I think he's viewed, he was this brash guy.

He spoke so strongly.

He didn't understand what Jesus was saying.

I would have understood, I would have understood it.

I would have gotten it right.

We, we all would have, if we were there, we would have fully, we would have been in it and we would have said, Peter, don't do that.

Don't, you don't get it, Peter.

And in reality, I think there's, there's so much of Peter in all of us.

Uh, we're sincere, right?

Peter's sincere.

Trust him, right?

He, he's sincere when he wants to help Jesus.

He said, no, I got the solution.

Jesus, I'm going to, I'm going to show you that I'm going to, I got your back.

I'm going to organize it perfectly.

Jesus, you don't got to worry these guys.

How dare they?

And actually it shows my followership.

Even if I know you don't want me to do it, that's just you saying it.

I'm going to take a stand and I'm going to stand up for you.

Although you're not standing up for yourself, but you've done that too.

Here we have, here we have this, this interaction, uh, that, that we see here and you and I go through it all of the time, right?

What do we do when God does not act how we think he ought to act?

What do we do when in your, maybe it's your marriage.

Maybe it's your, with your children.

Maybe it's in any other relationship.

Maybe it's at work.

When you're like, God, God wants to, why, why, why doesn't he act on my behalf?

But he wants me to have a great marriage.

He wants me to have a strong marriage.

Well, how come, how come it's not working out that way?

Or he, he, he wants my children to listen and obey and I'm trying so hard.

And yet I look at random Joe Schmoe's children.

They actually listened to him and mine don't listen to me.

And they don't even go to church.

How, what is going on?

How come he's not acting the way I want him to act?

How about at work?

When, when you say I've done this, that, or the other thing, and I'm working hard and I'm doing it for God, and I would spend the money on a promotion way better than anybody else.

I'm going to give at least a tithe of it to God, if not more.

And then in my day-to-day life, and I could do so much with it.

How come God is not acting the way that I want him to act?

I think this is Peter right now, right?

He's like, God, this isn't going, this isn't going right.

This is not what I expected.

I signed up for something a lot different than this.

I thought there was going to be some, some military kingdom that was going to come on this earth.

And it was going to change everything.

And people were going to understand that you are the exact, you are the right way to live.

People were going to get it.

And then they were all going to follow you and every knee would bow.

And we would be able to reign on this earth again.

And, and, and yet Jesus says, no, this is why I came here.

I've got to do this.

What do you do when, when God doesn't act how you want him to, and how you think he should.

Let me see that he denies Jesus.

We're just going to look at the third, the third denial.

Well, an hour later, another asserted, certainly this fellow was with him for he is a Galilean.

Peter replied, man, I don't know what you're talking about.

Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.

Listen to this.

The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.

Then Peter remembered the word.

The Lord had spoken to him before the rooster crows today, you'll disown me three times.

And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Have you, have you ever walked into a conversation with somebody and, and had it organized, you knew it was going to be a pretty stressful conversation.

So you had it organized and you know, I'm not going to be disrespectful in this conversation.

I'm not going to be rude.

I already prayed.

I prayed through it.

And I'm not, I'm not, that was the old me.

I'm not doing that again.

And then you got in that conversation and you felt, and it was an actual battle in your head because they said something foolish.

And you thought, man, I should, I'm going to let them know.

I'm going to let them know how dumb they are.

And maybe, maybe then you spoke up and it was the, the exact thing that you had already committed.

I'm never going to do this.

I'm done with that life.

I have it.

I see it.

And then there was a battle inside in this, in this interaction that you had the opportunity.

Certainly sometimes, sometimes we sin and we don't, it feels like we don't have the opportunity.

Right.

And that's not to say that we don't have the opportunity, but our, we just don't have the awareness of it.

We, we're not, we're not close to God in the moment.

We just get carried along and do it.

And, but this is not that though, right?

This interaction that you guys have had that I bet you, you've made a mistake.

I know I have it from time to time.

That's, that's what's going on in Peter's mind times.

Maybe, maybe a million, because not only did he say, Jesus, I'm not going to deny you, but, but he did it once.

Then he did a second time.

Then he did a third time.

And imagine the third time he does it somehow in some way, shape or form, Jesus's eyes lock with him.

If you were Peter, how would you be feeling in that moment?

You, you've given up everything for Jesus.

He even says that, Hey, what about us?

We've given up everything.

You, you, you love Jesus.

You, you've changed your life for, for Jesus.

You've given up being a fisherman.

You've given up your identity.

You've given up your family business.

I'm sold out for him.

And, and then I see him on his worst day.

Not only was I sleeping, then I woke up and I just, I just denied him.

He says he went outside and he wept.

He wept bitterly.

And we, we see, we see here.

I, I, I put before you guys that up until this point, Peter, he was reliant on Jesus.

He walked with Jesus.

He did what Jesus asked.

At times, the order of the relationship would be a little bit confused, but he, he really loved Jesus.

But I, I don't know if Peter up until this moment saw how distant he was from Jesus.

I don't know if he saw, maybe until this moment, how dependent on Jesus he actually was.

I would say this, this, this would be the moment that he realizes, I, I can't stay, all the good things that I do, they can't stand up.

I can't point.

I bet you in that moment, he wouldn't have said, Hey, Jesus, what's going to happen to us?

We've given up everything to follow you.

I bet you he wouldn't have said that.

And when just, just, if not, if not a year before he said, Hey, we gave up everything for you, Jesus.

He realized there's there, everything we give up is not, it's not worthwhile according to what Jesus did for us.

And then the story ended there.

It'd be a bad story.

We wouldn't be here right now.

We, we understand Jesus rose from the dead and then Jesus goes out of his way to reconcile Peter.

There's this miraculous catch, which it, it says in verse six of John 21, Jesus rose from the dead.

He already showed himself to, to the people.

And then he kind of, he comes back and he interacts with them again.

He said, throw your nets on the right side of the boat and you'll find some.

When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loves said to Peter, it is the Lord.

As soon as Simon, Peter heard him say, it is the Lord.

He wrapped his outer garment around him for he'd taken it off and jumped into the water.

You know, this is, uh, this is amazing.

How did Jesus, how did Jesus call Peter?

Well, he, he called him the same way, right?

That he said, Hey, let your net out and, and go ahead and collect the fish.

When, when the man, I, you understand that, that Peter didn't understand this was Jesus in that moment.

And he says, Hey, throw out your net.

I wonder, uh, I wonder if Peter was too frustrated to think, to think twice about it.

And I don't know.

I, I don't know.

Whatever.

Fine.

Uh, if he was, I wonder if he gave the guy an excuse or I wonder if he just did it.

However, you figure though, when he does it and then he sees the fish jump, jump in the net and he see any, I wonder if like, man, this is the click.

This is Jesus.

Everything that he said, it was actually going to happen.

It came true that it really is him.

Mary wasn't the crazy one.

No, he's, he's really, really here.

And then, and then we understand from this point, uh, they, they go into, uh, they, they go and they, they sit down and if you, it's not, it's not on here, but a little bit later, it says that Jesus was, he actually, he made a fire and he started, uh, he started making, uh, some food for them.

You know, where, where did, uh, where did Peter deny Jesus the last time?

Right by a fire.

I'd have to imagine that, that Jesus is, is doing everything he can to, to let him know, hey, Peter, I love you, man.

I, I called you.

I knew, I knew you were going to deny me.

And I, and I still love you.

When I, from the, from the moment that I said, hey, come follow me and you left everything.

I knew it was all going to lead up to this.

I knew you were going to do amazing things.

I knew you were going to fail over and over and over again.

Uh, this, this must be, and then we'll, we'll read in verse 15 in a minute, but I do think this is the time when Peter realized that all of the duty, all of the good things that I've done, it's, it's just not worth anything.

I, I can't stand up to Jesus.

I can't point to my good deeds as being something that I did this out of duty.

And now I'm good with God.

No, I'm so distant from him.

I can't, I can't stand up if I have to, if I have to talk to him, this is the, this, this restoration here.

He says, uh, when he finished eating, Jesus said to Simon, Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

Yes.

Lord.

He said, you know that I love you.

Jesus said, feed my lambs again.

Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

He answered.

Yes.

Lord, you know that I love you.

Jesus said, take care of my sheep.

Third time.

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

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time.

Do you love me?

He said, you know, all things, you know, that I love you.

Jesus said, feed my sheep.

Then he, he goes into detail and even communicates.

You're going to follow me.

And there's one time you're going, you're actually going to die a death that you don't, you don't want to die.

It's going to be against your will.

You know, Jesus, Jesus does amazing things in, in this, in this reconciliation that he has with, with Peter.

He asks him, do you love me?

And he says it three times.

Certainly this was pointing to you denied me three times.

I'm going to leave no doubt in your mind that, that, that you love me.

And so you're going to, I'm going to make you say it three times.

You denied me.

That's done.

That's over.

Just, just communicate.

You love me three times.

And you know, what's so powerful.

And I, I think, I think it's powerful because I don't know that I, I want to say I wouldn't act this way, but I betcha I would.

I just denied Jesus three times, just a little bit before.

Jesus does everything good.

And he's asking me a question and it says Peter was hurt.

I hope that I wouldn't be hurt in that moment, but I betcha I would.

How could, how could Peter be hurt?

Why, why would he possibly be hurt?

If he was the one who denied Jesus, if he was the one who turned his back on him, how could he be hurt when he asks him, Hey, do you love me?

I think Peter understood something.

I, Peter, Peter understood by this time and what I put before you, Peter understood one, you know, everything to you, you know, that I love you.

Three, that the idea of feeding my sheep doesn't have any bearing on, on the, the love that, that I have for you.

I can feed your sheep without love, but if I love you, you know, that I'm going to feed your sheep.

And I, and I bet you there was some, some restoration by the end of this conversation that Peter felt with, with Jesus that I, I have this deep love for you, Jesus.

And so of course I'm going to feed your sheep.

You don't even got to say it.

I, I would say that, that over the course of Peter's time, perhaps he, he, he felt the same duty that I'm going to follow Jesus.

I'm a committed follower of God.

But Jesus then says, keep that same duty.

Do, do all of the things you're doing, but, but make it be, be because you love me.

Feed my sheep because you love me.

Don't feed my sheep because it's your duty to feed my sheep.

Feed my sheep out of your love for me.

This is, this is some of the culmination of the transformation.

And I'm, and, and there's a couple more scriptures that we're going to look at.

I, again, I, I don't want it to just be something that I say.

I think you will see it in a couple of letters that actually Peter writes.

We see that he, I think he understands it by the end of this.

Why do you do what you do?

Well, what does taking care of sheep look like?

If Jesus were to talk to you and he says, do you love me?

You'd say, yeah, I love you.

What would he say?

Set up my chairs, be with my people, be fully engaged in service.

Give, give financially, give sacrificially, give, give your time.

All of these things are good things.

They're great without a love for Jesus.

They're useless.

If you find yourself, uh, frequently exhausted, tired, critical, frustrated with, uh, with the things that you are doing that are, that are for God, then perhaps, perhaps they're not for God.

I say it cause I've been there and I'm trying to work my way out of not working with this.

I'm wrong.

I'm trying to lock back in is what I would say.

I realized there's, there's so much on, on the day to day that's expected of all of us.

Um, and there's so much spiritually that's expected of all of us that if, if I'm not careful, it's just becomes this dutiful thing.

And I'm, I'm feeding his sheep because of his sheep.

And that's not the point.

Wow.

You're not setting up chairs for people can sit in them.

You're setting up chairs because you love God.

You're not meeting with people for the people you're meeting with people because it glorifies God, right?

You're not fully engaged.

You're not giving what you have because it helps to pay a salary or it helps to allow us to meet here.

No, you're doing it because you love Jesus.

Anything less it's, it's, it's motivation that's not going to last forever.

So Peter goes through this time and then, and then he just, and then he preaches powerfully.

We understand what happens in Acts two, uh, but, but I think it even, even, uh, maybe as powerful, maybe not, I don't know that is, is that he, he has this interaction in, in Acts four and they're preaching, uh, they heal somebody, they get in trouble and they're having to answer to these people who have great authority over them or, or, or worldly authority over them.

It says they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach, uh, it at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John replied, which is right in God's eyes to listen to you or to him.

You be the judges.

As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard there's understand there's still a duty.

We can't help, but do this.

And so we can't help, but serve God.

We can't help, but love God.

We, but it's not because of the commitment that we made whenever, whatever age we were.

It's not because of the, Oh, it's just the easiest thing to do, or it's, I've just set up my life in this such way.

No, it's, it's because of Jesus's love.

We can't help, but do it because of the love of Jesus, because of what we've seen and what we've heard because of the lives that have been changed because of how God has loved us individually.

I want to ask, what, what do you, what, what command or what action do you take or what do you primarily do out of duty for God?

Reading your Bible, going to church, being kind to others, having difficult conversations, overlooking offenses, ordering your entire life around the faith.

It can even be giving contribution.

I think if you were to talk to Peter, when he was first called, he might say, yeah, me too.

But if you, if you talk to, if you talk to the Peter, when he, when he finishes up and he's near the end of his life in second Peter, he pointed to something very different.

It says his divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Notice Peter doesn't say he called us because of the good things we've done.

He said he called us according to how good he is through these things.

He has given us as very great and precious promises so that through them, you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

And then it says for this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness.

And it goes down this list of things to make sure it keep doing this, keep doing this.

Uh, verse 10, they reminds them again.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters make every effort to confirm your calling and election.

For if you do these things, you will never stumble and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

You know, this, this lesson, if you look at the transformation of Peter, you would see that he's still extremely dutiful.

He does what is asked of him, but he does it out of love.

And that is, that's the call for anybody who's going to live as a Christian for the rest of their life and not end up critical.

This, this call, right?

He says, you're going to receive this inheritance.

Look forward to the amazing time.

This is why you're doing it.

It says, go ahead and confirm your calling, not earn your calling.

Go ahead and show this.

Absolutely.

I am.

I am a part of God's kingdom.

I'm loving him.

I'm serving him.

I'm doing it because he, because he loves me first though.

And so in your life, the challenge is to identify where do you primarily, what do you do primarily out of duty for God?

It's not, it might not be a right now conversation.

It's probably something you got to sit down with and actually assess and then to make a decision that I'm going to, this is the goal.

We're never going to get there.

The goal is that we do everything out of the love for Jesus though, right?

We feed a sheep out of the love that he has for us.

You know, Peter, it's so powerful to look at, to look at his life that he's, he was transformed by it.

That's, that is the only way to be transformed.

We can change, you can change actions and you know, you've changed your action and you haven't changed your mind about things.

You know, I, I, you've seen people who have changed an action and not changed their mind, right?

You can go, you can talk about weight loss.

You can talk about character change.

You can talk about waking up on time, right?

Or getting someplace on time.

And if you're, if your heart's not different and if your mind has not changed, the action changes for a little bit, but it never lasts, right?

Same is true spiritually to a, to a greater extent.

But if our mind has changed, if we decide I'm going to be different, I'm going, I'm going to lock into God's love, then we can be different forever.

And that is the hope.

Right now we're going to pray and, and we're going to pray and take communion together.

And the, the, the connection between it, but behind all of this is that there's, there's no hope if Jesus didn't do it first.

If Jesus was, it was connected to us only because of the, the duty from his father, I don't, I don't think we'd be here right now.

If it was just out of this dutiful, I've got to do it because my father wants me to.

He said, yes.

So I've got to, it was, it was because he looked at us.

He, he, he loved us and he loved his father loves us.

And he loves his father.

Let's pray right now for dear God, Lord, father, we come before you and we're grateful to be able to, uh, to call out to you.

We're grateful that we can, um, God, that we can pray to you.

We're grateful that you hear us.

We're grateful that you're not far away from us, Jesus.

We, we need you.

We realize that we can say it.

Father, I pray that we will, we'll, we'll lock into it.

I pray that out of our love, we will be able to, uh, we, we will feel motivated Lord.

I pray that that is the, that is the motivator.

God, to look at your love, Jesus, for us, um, your love dying on a cross, uh, and resurrecting from the dead and that we can look at that love and that it will compel us.

It will spur us on Lord to, uh, to serve your people, to honor you, to give glory and praise to your name, uh, to, to lift you up as, as high as you are.

And we realized that's an impossible endeavor.

We'd be, we're going to be doing it all day and we're grateful to do it.

Uh, Jesus, thank you so much for your sacrifice on the cross.

Um, this is in your name that we pray.

Amen.

Thank you so much for listening to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast.

If you're in the Kalamazoo area, we'd love to get connected.

Please go to kalamazoo.church and fill in your information to come to a Sunday service or any other event that we have going on.

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