Glimpses to Gallilee

Matthew 28.

So after Jesus got on the cross and rose from the cross, that we took you to last week, there's glimpses of Jesus in the Bible, about 10 times of him post-resurrection.

That you'll see him in Scripture where he appears.

And so I wanted to take you to a few of those glimpses today, and next week we'll finish up on that.

But today's message title is Glimpses Near Galilee.

And if I had another title to give it, I would give it this title.

It's a time to rise.

Let me pray.

Father, Lord, we love you today.

We thank you for your presence, Lord.

Um, Lord, our worship service.

And God, just knowing that you decide to show up here.

God is so good.

And I'm thankful for every person here.

Lord, I pray that you would speak to our hearts.

God, we don't need another tradition.

We're not here for a habit or to check off a list.

We are here for the presence of God.

And so draw us to that through this word in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So point number one this morning is this in Matthew 28, the reception of the resurrected.

How many people here would raise your hand up and say you're a roller coaster fan?

Or were at least at one time roller coaster fans?

Okay, we got some.

I think people from other eras would have a hard time understanding this if it was explained to them.

If you were telling somebody from the 1800s, one day people in the world are going to build things to terrify themselves.

And they're going to build them to terrify themselves, and they're going to call this amusement.

In fact, there'll be entire parks full of amusement through terrification.

I don't know if that's a word.

But that'll be the whole purpose.

One time, uh, when Heather and I were dating, uh, just early into dating, I had been on lots of roller coasters, and I'm like, come on, you're gonna get on this roller coaster with me.

And so we're in Ocean City, Maryland, and I'm pulling her through the line.

She's like, I don't do roller coasters, I'm not gonna do that roller coaster.

Don't, I don't want to do this roller.

I'm like, it'll be just go through.

I said, just walk through line with me.

And so she goes through line with me, and we get to the road.

I was like, just sit down, it's not gonna be that bad.

It's not gonna be that and she sat down, she had had enough of me, which is funny today because it would never happen now.

She's not gonna do what she doesn't want to do.

So we get on this roller coaster and we're going up, and I knew I was in trouble when I looked over at her, she hadn't spoken for the first part of the ride, and there's a lonely teardrop coming down her cheek.

I was like, oh, this is no good.

And she was not happy about that roller coaster.

But if you can imagine the disciples last three years with Jesus.

I mean, a missions trip that went on for three years.

If you've ever been on a mission trip, after one week, you're completely depleted.

You've got nothing left in the tank.

Three years, healings, rising of the dead, they've seen.

They've seen miracle after miracle and preaching that would take your heart with authority.

This is what they did.

And then I have to say, probably the hardest day that any of them had ever been through.

The mission trip and the theme of all that they've been doing was put on a cross and killed.

And even though they had been told what was going to happen, they just did not have the understanding to really know or the belief that this is about to be true.

So they had their hardest day.

Now look at Matthew 28, and I want you to see verses 5 through 8.

So we seen Jesus out of the tomb last week.

Verse 5, but the angel answered and said to the women that sought to see Jesus, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

He's not here, he is risen, as he said.

Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and indeed he is going before you into Galilee.

There you will see him.

Behold, I have told you.

Listen to this.

So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples the word.

Letter A this morning is this there's devotion from the disciples.

I want you to see what happens after they get this word.

They show up to the tomb, there's this glowing angel, they hear this word, he's not here.

Verse 9.

And as they went to tell his disciples, Behold, Jesus met them, saying, Rejoice.

So they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.

There's devotion here.

I want you to see the word that Jesus says.

It's in red in my Bible in verse 9.

He says, greetings, or the word meaning rejoice.

I wish we could hear the tone.

Imagine Jesus in this moment.

I wish we could see the look on Jesus' face as he just shows up.

He just appears.

What a word he says.

Jesus, who went through hell, who went through the cross, the grave, and he comes upon his closest friends.

Can you imagine his face?

Have you ever surprised somebody and you couldn't wait for the moment that you were about to do the thing that you were about to do?

Can you imagine Jesus feeling about this moment?

And he goes, Rejoice.

I mean, rejoice.

He could have said anything.

He could have said, the king is here.

He could have said, I rose.

He said, rejoice.

Philippians 4 4 tells us to rejoice in the Lord always.

And if that wasn't enough, he said, and again, I say, rejoice.

The Marys might have heard rejoice, and I think pastor might have become their favorite word after this.

Anytime they greeted someone, they said, Rejoice! Rejoice.

And here's why I think this is so important.

Have you ever been in the waiting room?

Jesus has been in the tomb.

And the disciples, and everybody's sort of waiting for what's going to happen.

We know what he said.

We don't know if we've really understood.

He said he could tear that a temple, build it back up in three days.

Okay.

Sort of not sure if that was real or if it was like his parables.

So they're trying to figure out what's going to happen in three days, and they're in the waiting room.

Right?

In the waiting room, it's like, have you been to the doctors lately?

You go to the hospital, you go in the waiting room, you feel like when you're called that you just got called for who wants to be a millionaire.

I've been selected.

All of these other people, and it's me.

And so they call you in, and then they bring you to a room so that you can wait.

You go sit in a room and you wait.

You're like, I was selected.

And then after 15 minutes, a nurse comes in.

And that nurse comes in to get your financial info.

Like, you haven't even seen me.

You haven't done anything.

I haven't had my temperature read.

You want my credit card?

Okay.

And she leaves.

And then the next nurse comes in and she gets all your vitals.

And then you wait.

And you wait.

Right?

And you're in the waiting room and you're like, I can't wait to see the doctor.

Just so I can get through this.

And you're waiting in the wind.

Then the doctor comes to you.

He does all that you need to do, takes all the tests, takes all the blood.

And he says, I need you to go home.

You got six weeks of waiting for results.

Right?

Like the waiting room, not knowing, is so hard.

Are y'all with me?

If you just had a result, you could make some moves.

Right?

If I know I'm gonna die, then I'm about to live a good life for the next four days.

But if I'm gonna live, then I need to know what I gotta handle.

Okay?

And so the waiting room, well, they're waiting to see the tomb, and the angel's there with the results.

The angel says, He's not here.

He has risen, like he said.

And it says they left with fear and joy.

What does this mean?

What do we do?

And then Jesus just shows up.

So don't miss the meaning of one little word.

When he says, rejoice, you know what it says they did after that?

It says, and they held him by the feet and worshiped him.

As soon as he said rejoice, I was at the Mom's Day Out program the other week, and it was doughnuts for dads.

And let me tell you, if you want to come see something hilarious, you need to come to one of these programs.

They're so cute, and the kids, some of them sing, some of them don't do nothing.

Some got dance moves, other, I mean, it's hilarious.

And in between every song, all of the vibrant kids, hi daddy, that's my daddy.

Hi daddy, right?

They're all about their daddy.

Put up this picture of Callie.

I want to show y'all this picture.

Um, there was a time.

There was a time when my dad, that's me.

There's a time when my kids were young, I would come to the door, and at this time, all the way up to about age nine, and they'd rush the door.

I mean, they would knock things over.

Daddy's home, daddy, and they'd come running.

Weston still will do it every now and then, but mostly just the dog.

Right?

That's who greets me.

Rustom were like, here's your list.

We have to get things accomplished.

You're home.

But listen to me, these are grown people.

He's alive.

I can't believe Jesus is here.

It's real.

What we've been talking about and thinking on for three years, there he is! And they're grabbing and embracing around his legs.

And let me tell you, church, about worship.

Jesus talks about that the Father seeks some who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

Free of inhibitions, free of thinking about all the other things, free of thinking about what the people next to you might think.

And just worshiping the Father.

This is what he's talking about.

They had no nothing was holding them back from their heart.

He is here.

How badly do you want to get to Jesus?

Is my question.

Because he's risen.

Let me tell you, he's here.

We have altar calls, and I went to a whole conference about the altar call.

Um, and we talked back and forth about this idea, and it's this is not magic, but it's the whole point of preaching is to get a response.

We're not just saying things.

We hope that there is a response from you in your heart to God.

And so, how badly do you want Him?

I think some people are so inhibited by the person next to him or whatsoever.

Nobody, we are all a mess.

Look at the person next to you and say, You're a mess.

Just get it out now.

If you come to Alder, nobody's judging you for being a mess because you came a mess.

And you're not gonna stand there and go, they'll never know.

We're a mess.

I love this scripture in Psalms where David begins worshiping Jesus and he's out in the street and he's dancing, singing to Jesus, and it says he's in his linen ephod, and his wife comes out and says, What are you doing?

What's this going on here?

You're out in the street, this is an embarrassment.

And he says, I will become even more undignified for the cause of worshiping my Lord.

He says, I'm gonna worship him.

I'm gonna worship my Lord.

This is not Jesus here, listen, in some false form.

This is the real resurrected Jesus, and they're just holding his legs.

We to look further in scripture, there's a place in Luke, Luke describes, or John describes it, that he says to the Marys, John 20, 17, you can look it up.

He says to the Mary, don't cling to my feet, I've not ascended yet.

And what this means, he's not telling them, he's not being considerate here, but he's saying, Don't delay here.

I want you to go tell my brethren, is what he says.

This is a deep phrase.

He says, Go tell my brethren what you have seen.

And so when you encounter Jesus, Jesus wants you to go tell your brethren.

And so what have they seen?

John 15, 13 and 14.

I love that he says, brethren, because in John 15 it says, No greater love has a man than this, and he lay down his life for his friends.

And then he goes on to tell the disciples, you are my friends.

And so he says to the Marys, Go tell my brothers.

He's so excited, rejoice.

Go tell them what has happened.

And then he says, Go tell them to go to Galilee, that is where they'll see me.

Thought about being that close to Jesus and what that must have meant.

The resurrected Christ tells them, You're gonna see me again.

And I hope one day to visit, I hope to visit Gethsemane, I hope to visit Golgotha, I hope to visit the Garden Tomb, and I hope to visit Galilee, but more than all of those things, I tell you what I want to see, church.

I want to see the resurrected Jesus Christ.

Don't you want to see the resurrected Christ?

They got to see the resurrected Christ.

I bet they had church that day.

When they got to Galilee, if they hadn't had church before that day, I'm guaranteeing you church went off then.

Because listen, this is what the psalmist says.

Psalms 22, 3 says, God inhabits the praise of his people.

You want to talk about where church is, where the presence of God is, why we can sing these songs, and you feel it?

Because the praise of his people is real, and God inhabits that.

It's real.

In the scripture, it says where two or more are gathered together.

There I am in the midst.

That is church.

I'm guaranteeing you they had church that day.

But we have church.

That's why I'm talking about these connect groups.

We want to have church, a gathering.

I know that my God loves church.

Psalms 84, the psalmist says, How lovely are thy tabernacles.

Something's wrong with the people of God when they don't love church.

When you have to endure church, when you consider all other options on the weekend before church, something is wrong.

The Marys didn't have to be prodded into worship.

They said, Oh, there he is.

The idea of Jesus present immediately.

They got as close to him as they could.

They grabbed him.

And I want you to know, church, I believe we've been meeting with the presence of God at CCW.

I believe he's been here.

But I believe this too.

You can miss it.

I believe you can miss it.

Oh, he's here.

Let me tell you how you can miss it.

This letter B.

Letter B is distractions from the devil.

Look at Matthew 28, verse 11 through 15.

Matthew 28:11–15

Now, while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priest all the things that had happened.

And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them this.

His disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept.

And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure.

So they took the money and they did as they were instructed.

And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until that day.

This is what I know, church.

Wherever God is working, Satan is plotting.

Immediately after his resurrection, lies, rumors, critical thinking, Satan will use distraction.

I have a word for the Christians today.

Because Satan wants to use distraction and he'll use it through all kinds of meaning.

If you have an issue in the church, fix it, help it, or be quiet.

Don't go spreading.

I'm going to tell you, it is Satan.

If you're being critical, it's not because God told you to be.

I have yet to read the scripture that says, be thouest critical unto the people.

If you're complaining, it's not because God told you to.

Haven't read that scripture.

In fact, it says, do all things without murmuring and complaint.

It's a distraction.

If someone is making you so angry, it's not because God said, Christians, it's high time to get angry.

And mad at people and make sure everybody knows except the person, don't go to them.

Don't do that.

If another person can make you really angry, or you can get that disappointed in humans, your expectations of humans are way too high.

Because we're a mess.

Raise your hand if you're in the mess up club.

Man, I am.

Look, not only the president, but also a client.

We mess up.

If you struggle with being critical and complaining, this is what you need to do today.

You need to confess.

And you need to ask God for some cookies or ice cream because you need to sweeten up.

That's good.

If you don't like it, fix it, help it, or be quiet.

Satan is a master at distracting in the name of anything.

He hates what God is doing at CCW.

He hates this.

Let me tell you, the week, two weeks ago, I preached on hell.

And I preached on hell, and this is just the way Satan gets in.

It may seem silly, but we probably have somewhere between four to five hundred people that view on Facebook.

And Satan, the Bible says, Prince of the power of the air.

I don't know what that includes with airwaves and traveling internet.

But I know this.

He wouldn't let Facebook post the hell sermon.

We couldn't get it on there.

We had the presence of God and we couldn't get it through.

Am I right?

Two weeks before that was the sermon we came together and we talked about heaven song.

And the Spirit of God was so thick in the air.

You want to know something?

Facebook didn't like us talking about heaven either.

That wouldn't go through the airwaves.

I was shocked that last week we got Easter through.

But I know this, Satan wants to distract.

He doesn't want any of that happening.

And so he will distract.

I mean, we sang here holy, holy, holy.

And the presence of God was here.

As soon as Jesus arose, Satan said, Dispatch the demons.

The hearts of men need distracted.

And let me tell you about these people.

These were elders, officials, counselors.

These were learned men.

It wasn't prisoners.

City officials, probably religious people.

And he said, I need you to distract their mind.

They were probably church people.

You hear me?

We can get distracted easily.

Especially if it involves our feelings.

There's theories today that still exist that happened that day.

Satan got involved, sent some money.

There's theories that people still bring up today about that day.

And I gotta tell you, what you believe about the resurrected Christ is really foundation to your Christianity.

So these are theories that came out that day, the grave robber theory.

They're teaching classes to dispute that the disciples or somebody came and stole Jesus.

And we talked about the other week the impossibilities of Jesus getting out of the tomb with the stone, with the guards, and they're teaching the grave robber theory today.

There's a theory called the mass hallucination theory.

The 500-plus witnesses that saw Jesus all must have been in a drunken religious party, I guess.

They all got high, and they all decided to make the same hallucination.

We saw Jesus while we were high.

They have a theory called the dog theory.

Dogs snuck into the body of Jesus and ate his body.

I'm like, now the other one's okay.

This is dumb.

These people, if you're at a seminar and they start spitting this out, I'm like, okay, I gotta leave.

The dog theory and a reburial theory.

There's all these attempts for Satan to distract.

Here's why.

We said it in 1 Corinthians.

If Jesus Christ is not resurrected, then our faith is in vain.

This church service does not matter if Jesus Christ is not resurrected.

What we're doing is in vain.

So Satan will distract.

Why?

Because if you believe this, then you Might get saved.

And he doesn't want people to get saved.

He doesn't want people knowing and walking in a real relationship with Jesus Christ.

So he'll distract.

And he wants them to get their eyes immediately off the cross and the resurrection.

He doesn't want you thinking about that.

You can talk about preferences.

He'll distract you personally.

Get your eyes on your schedule, on earthly treasures, the next big thing, all so that you'll forget the main thing.

Heather sent me to Walmart with a grocery list, and my phone rang.

I had my cart.

And 15 minutes went by and I looked up and I'm like, why am I looking for steering wheel covers?

Where am I?

I'm like, I gotta go.

I'm sorry, mom, I gotta go.

I'm like, why am I in the steering wheel cover?

I got so distracted.

I went in there with a grocery list.

I was on the opposite side of the whole place.

Are we not easily distracted?

Oh, Heather sends me a text, and I got the list of the card.

I'm like, oh no, a text.

Man, are you with me?

I'm like, not another thing.

I had perfection happen in the cart, not one more.

I might not even be able to find it.

Then I got a call.

Look, I get off course.

Satan wants to take your eyes off the main thing.

Let me tell you what the Marys didn't do.

I bet from that moment forward, this is real.

I don't care about the trophy.

I don't care about the job.

I as much as I can worship at these feet.

That's what I'll do.

Well, that takes us to point number two this morning.

The next glimpse of Jesus we see is in Luke chapter 24.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

The road with the resurrected.

Luke chapter 24.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

Verse 13 through 17.

The road with the resurrected.

Now, behold, two of them were traveling the same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.

They talked together of all the things which had happened.

So it was while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself, important, mark that, star that, underline that, drew near and went with them.

But their eyes were restrained so that they didn't know him.

And he said to them, What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?

Letter A is this under point two.

They were perplexed due to perspective.

These men were walking the Emmaus road with Jesus, the risen Christ, and they were sad.

This is what I gained from this.

You can be all around Jesus and still miss it.

You can be right next to it, and someone near you be what looks like in the midst of heaven on earth, and you be sad.

And I'm convinced that the world you see is filtered through the lens that you choose.

Y'all ever meet the weather people?

I've been in youth ministry 15 years.

Weather people hit me all the time.

And weather people are never coming at you about the good weather, right?

Did you see there was a chance of rain?

There's a chance.

We heard this last weekend.

There's a chance.

They were like, I got it all week.

What are we gonna do?

I'm like, we're gonna have the we're gonna have the event.

I don't care.

Unless the news or people tell us we just can't because the tornado's come, we're gonna have the event.

But there's weather people, there's a chance.

We're always going to six flags or some theme path.

Have you looked at the forecast?

I'm like, if it starts raining, that's good.

Everybody'll clear out, we'll get free rides.

But there's the weather people, right?

Over 60 families have visited this church since January.

What lens do you choose?

There's many churches.

I met with 70 preachers the other day.

There's many churches who can hardly get a visitor.

There's been over 40 new members to our fellowship, and we're about to start our next class, and there's going to be some more.

God is doing some incredible things.

These groups are going to be amazing.

I'm so excited about what he's doing.

But someone will say, Did you hear what so-and-so said, preacher?

I love so-and-so.

I promise.

From my heart, I love so-and-so.

But there's people here, Jesus could be standing in front of you in the church service, and you say, excuse me, sir, you're blocking my view.

Jesus was walking with them, and they're content to talk about why they were sad about Jesus, too.

Jesus, missing Jesus.

Look at your neighbor and say, Jesus is here.

Jesus is here.

Jesus said, Rejoice, remember?

Look at verse 25 through 27.

Then he said to them, O foolish ones, slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken.

Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and enter into glory?

And then Jesus, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, expounded to them in the scriptures the things concerning himself.

And so Jesus begins to preach.

Jesus.

He goes from Genesis to Malachi talking about Jesus.

He shares Jesus to them.

By the way, if people around you can't see Jesus, show them this.

Open the word of God, because the Bible says of itself, thy word is a light into my feet and a lamp into my path.

It might illuminate, it may help that perspective that's a little lower than others.

Listen, share the word of God.

I love food.

I don't know how many of you are food lovers.

I know Pastor Danny is.

Are there any admittedly hangry people here?

You know what hangry is?

See?

You're my people.

Right?

I've heard Heather before say, if I don't get a taco in about 30 minutes, I'm gonna have a headache.

What?

Is that prophecy?

What are we saying?

Listen, Matthew 4.4 says, Man shall not live on bread alone, but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

So if your perspective is dim, maybe you need to be getting close in the word.

Hebrews 4.12 says about the word.

It's quick and powerful, it discerns my heart.

If my heartbeat is a little low for the things of God, maybe I need to open the word.

And maybe then I'll be able to praise instead of being so sad.

What is your perspective?

If you want to know what your perspective is like, what you seem like, this is gonna sound scary, but ask somebody.

Do I seem spiritual to you, honey?

Or do I seem down a lot?

Ask somebody.

I mean this to help you.

That takes us to the second point under number two, letter B.

Passion due to proclamation.

I don't know if you saw there, but Jesus opened up the word of God, and from pillar to post he preached to them about Jesus.

And let me tell you what it says about them after that.

Look at verse 32 through 34 in Luke 24.

And they said to one another, Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us on the road and while he opened scriptures?

So they rose up at that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven and those who were gathered together, saying, The Lord is risen indeed.

Says they heard the word of God from the Son of God, and their hearts burn.

So this is what scripture says.

They passed some roleades.

That's what it says.

Did not our hearts burn?

This is what I know, church.

To get rid of our clouded vision and begin to see Jesus, to have a burning in our heart, we need to love his word.

Jeremiah 29 says, His word was in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I couldn't hold back.

The word of God changes a calloused heart.

If you say, preacher, I don't, I don't, I've been dealing with this a long time.

Listen to me, and I'm not being judgy here.

Get in the word and just start.

Just start back in the word.

Give it a chance to go through those layers.

If it's gotten calloused, it will burn in your heart given time.

This is what I know about exercise.

If you start exercising, it's hard to start.

But once you start, you get your heart rate up.

When you get your heart rate up, it causes your body to move oxygen and blood to your muscles, and then you burn calories and you lower cholesterol and your blood pressure, and your heart starts beating.

Christian, the word of God should ignite us like exercise does.

If you come and you can't stand it, you've got to do something.

There's a couple of things that might happen if you can't get excited as a Christian.

A couple of things that it might be.

There might be, number one, sin in your life.

And we'll have a time of invitation today, but the Bible says that it's a weight that besets us in the race of life in Hebrews.

You might have sin in your life and you can't get excited about God because it's weighing on you.

And so you've got to confess that sin.

David said in Psalms 51, he said, create in me a clean heart, O God.

Why?

Because he wanted to feel different.

Create new because I don't want to feel like this anymore.

And what have you been doing?

He'd been sinning.

He says, make me new.

Maybe you need to ask God for that so you can feel different.

I remember when I played, this is a shock to y'all, but when I played basketball, and yes I did, I had this silly dream that one day I'd be able to dunk a basketball.

So I know that's even funnier.

But I dreamed it, right?

So don't you stomp on my dreams, dream crushers.

So, in order to help my dream, I was thinking of ways to do this.

So I bought myself a pair of 10-pound ankle weights, and I wore them under my pants every day.

I wore them to school, and every day I had ankle weights, up and down the stairs, through the halls, ankle weights, ankle weights, right?

Now listen, you y'all that wear skinny jeans.

You can't wear skinny jeans with ankle weights, all right?

We didn't have them back in those days.

Wasn't a problem.

Had wide man jeans.

And so I had my jeans on, and I had on my ankle weights.

And when I when I started practice and pulled that ankle weight off, I was like a feather.

I didn't know what was happening.

I jumped Air Jordan.

That's what I felt like.

I'm telling you, I believed I could fly.

And so I wore these ankle weights, but it was so freeing when I took them off.

I felt different.

That's what it feels like when we confess.

That freeing.

It's like, wow, I feel so light.

I've been carrying this burden that I didn't even have to.

I could just give it up.

I don't have to feel that weight.

I don't have to feel like that.

The second thing it could be, you might have sin in your life, you might not be able to get excited about the word of God because you're harboring unforgiveness.

There's a lot of people that have been offended and have decided the thing is worthy of your anger.

The offense is worthy of your anger.

And I'm not saying that people have not hurt you.

Don't hear me wrong.

Don't mishear what I'm saying.

I'm sorry that you've been hurt and that a lot of you have been hurt badly.

But what I believe about Scripture, if you will harbor this unforgiveness, you're making a choice to say, this thing that's happened is worthy of keeping my ill feelings.

Hence making him unworthy of having my forgiveness.

And I've felt like that before.

I've been offended, and I've had a talk with God, like, God, their arrogance is unbelievable.

God, I feel these things.

I've been offended, their lack of care for me.

God, I I deserve to be angry at this, God.

And he's told me over and over again, Rick, what do you deserve?

Well, come on, God.

What do you deserve, Rick?

He says, seven times 70, you forgive.

Have I forgiven you, Rick?

Well, then forgive.

And move on.

Get it right so that your heart can burn again.

In a bit, we're gonna have an invitation, and I want to challenge you if you've been there, and you gotta give that up.

Don't hold on to that weight.

Here's the last thing.

Point three this morning.

I want you to turn to John.

John chapter 21.

John 21 · chapter mention

Another glimpse of Jesus.

We don't have time in the next two weeks to go through all 10, but there's these important ones.

Jesus sees Peter.

This is the recommendation of the resurrection, resurrected point three.

I want you to look at John 21, verse 7 through 9, and then we're going to look at verse 15.

John 21:7–9

It says, Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord.

Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had removed it and plunged into the sea.

But the other disciples came in a boat, for they were not far from land.

They were dragging the fish, and then as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread.

Look at verse 15.

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, listen to these words.

Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?

He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

He said to him, Feed my lambs.

So I need you to understand something.

Letter A is this the healing for the heart.

This is what Jesus recommends to Peter.

He needs to have healing in his heart.

Why?

Because Peter was told he was going to deny Jesus three times, and in fact, he does.

Jesus comes out from the tomb and he tells his disciples and Peter he is going ahead to Galilee.

There you will see Jesus, just as he told him.

Okay?

And imagine Peter the days after his denial.

The same day Jesus was resurrected.

It says he met with Peter privately to reastoreassure him and restore him.

Peter goes on and he goes fishing.

He's considering what he should do.

He was a disciple, he was sold out, and Peter is wearing the weight of his decision to deny Christ.

He knows Jesus knows and even predicted it.

And he's embarrassed.

And he's depressed.

And he's defeated.

And if that doesn't help, he's not even having any luck fishing.

Jesus appears.

And it's interesting here the way that Jesus calls him.

Jesus calls Peter here Simon.

Simon, son of John.

In John 1.42, he tells Peter when he becomes a disciple, you will be called Peter, meaning rock, or Cephas, meaning rock.

And at this moment he chooses to call him by his pre-disciple name.

Jesus is subtly relaying a message.

Jesus calls Peter then to public question.

And he asks him this question: Do you, now listen to the word, agape o me?

He says, Do you love me?

And that word is sacrificially love me.

Now I need you to know there's three types of love that you'll see in scripture.

Agape is sacrifice.

Phileo is fond of or friendship type of love.

And then there's Eros, the romance.

Look at your wife right now and say, Eros, baby.

There's three types of love.

And so he says to Peter, do you agapeo me?

And verse 16, Peter says again, do you agapeo me?

And he says, Peter says back, you know I phileo you.

Second time he says, You know, Lord, I phileo you, meaning, you know I'm fond of you.

And finally, the third time, Jesus comes down to his level and says, Peter, do you phileo me?

Are you fond of me, Peter?

And Peter, I bet, wishes he could have come up to his level.

I bet he wishes he could have said, I have sacrificed for you.

I love you.

I agapeo you.

But Jesus comes down to his level and says, Are you fond of me, Peter?

Right?

And so what Jesus is doing here, Peter has to subside to his omniscience to say, Lord, you know.

I know that you know.

But this is what I see through this back and forth: that loving Jesus is a healing thing.

And three things I think Peter has to do.

Number one, he has to remember.

Remember what he had done wrong.

So for us to have a proper confession, to have a proper healing, we have to remember Peter wanted to be Jesus' best disciple.

But he denied Jesus while he was warming coals by a fire.

That's interesting because Jesus takes them back and has a little campfire and puts some fish on the charcoals.

And Peter's standing there thinking about, we don't know.

But I bet he thought about his denial.

Peter denied Jesus three times.

So Jesus asked him three times, Do you love me?

Before Jesus' death, Peter had boasted in the midst of the other disciples, saying that his love was better than the rest.

And Jesus conversely asked in front of all the disciples here, now, do you love me more than these, Peter?

So he had to remember.

He had to remember what had happened.

Healing is not just remembering, but it's repenting.

It says here that Jesus asked these questions, and Peter was grieved.

It says, when Jesus said these things, his heart was grieved.

We don't, listen to me, you don't confess, we don't repent without having that grieving over what we had done.

Matthew 5, 4 said, Blessed are those who mourn.

The psalmist says that it's by a broken and contrite heart that God blesses.

And then we are healed, the third thing, by recognition.

He says, You God, know.

He recognizes his omniscience.

He says, You know, Lord, you know that I denied you.

But I also know that you know that I hate that I did it.

You know all things, Lord.

You know how I failed, but you know deep down how I really want to be faithful.

Aren't you thankful, church, that God in his omniscience doesn't see Peter here for his denial, but what he could be.

Is that not your story?

Man, I'm so thankful that God is aware of what I could be and not what I was.

Jesus didn't say to him, Here, Peter, if you love me, go get a trophy.

I need lots of trophies, Peter.

He doesn't say here, Peter, if you love me, I need you to have the nicest lawn.

If you love me, Peter, I need you to rise to the highest ranks at your workplace.

Jesus saw that Peter was usable.

And he's not screaming at Peter, do you love me?

Do you even love me, Peter?

You denied me three times, just like I said.

That's not the tone here.

I believe our Lord is looking at him softly.

And he's saying, Let me take away your burden.

If you love me, then you can feed my sheep.

You can, Peter.

I believe you can.

You didn't even want to, you've been depressed, you've been down, you've been discouraged about this.

And I'm telling you, you can do it.

Quit sulking.

Quit fishing.

Quit being depressed.

Feed my sheep.

You messed up so fess up and feed my sheep.

There's a song by a group called 10th Avenue North, and I've always kept these words.

It says, You are more than the choices that you make.

You are more than the sum of your past mistakes.

You are more than the problems that you have created.

You have been remade.

If you want to rejoice, then you have to heal.

Letter B is this, that phrase, and I'll be wrapping up that phrase that he said.

He said, Feed my sheep.

Letter B is help for the herd.

He says, If you love me, Peter, then feed my sheep.

Feed my sheep.

And this is what we know happened with Peter.

In Acts 2 41, it says that Peter stood and with a loud voice he said, Repent and be baptized.

And Peter was preaching, and on that day, 3,000 souls came to Christ.

You think Peter got it right with the Lord?

He did.

It says that Peter was involved in the healing of a lame man.

Peter was arrested for speaking bold truth.

Peter went on to do great things in the name of Jesus Christ.

He even died as a martyr.

And what did he do the rest of his life?

He was feeding sheep.

He was helping other Christians.

And my hope and desire for this church is that every member be a discipler.

I've said it before.

Look, if you're 70, you need a 60-year-old that you're meeting with and telling them how to be a better grandpa.

If you're 60, you need to be meeting with a 40-year-old who's going through midlife and teach them.

If you're 40, then get you a young 20.

And everybody should have someone they're doing breakfast with, connect groups with, somebody that you can be ministering to.

That's what Peter did.

He said, listen to me, church, hear me.

There's teenagers in here.

There's a kids' department.

If you love me, feed my sheep.

You're an example now.

He says, feed my sheep.

Go help my sheep if you really love me.

I know this about feeding sheep.

It takes patience.

And Jesus was patient with Peter.

How do I know this?

Later on, Paul, the greatest missionary of all time, was on a mission trip.

And there's a man named John Mark with him.

And Paul says, I can't take this guy no more and kicks him off the team.

It's in there.

You have to read it.

1 Peter 5 13.

This is what it says about Peter after Paul kicks John Mark off the team.

It says, Peter made him a son in the faith.

Peter learned that you could mess up and get it right and still be used.

So he took John Mark and raised him up because he'd walk through it.

Take your life lessons.

And look, some people say, I don't know why this ever happened to me, Pastor.

Why did this have to happen?

I don't know why, but I know this.

You can use it.

You can use it to feed sheep.

There's a video I was looking through this week.

I want you to see this before I sh start this invitation.

Watch what happened to this lady.

You won't have me win up.

I have seen all the heart.

But she was not finished.

She didn't get knocked down and say, that's it.

I'm all over.

She got up.

She rose up.

And you know what happened because she got up and started taking steps.

The next one followed, and all of a sudden speed came with it.

And the rest of her race was a really good race.

And it took her to the finals and she won gold medal because she won that heat and didn't stay knocked down.

Are you hearing me, church?

We're gonna go to a time of invitation.

As we do, you can bow your head, but I need you to hear a word from Paul.