Discipleship: Grow (Gospel/Identity) | Luke 5:1-11 | Jarryd Cole

Welcome to the Ambassador Church Podcast, a church in the city for the city, on Milwaukee's east side.

We pray this message meets you where you are, challenges your faith, and draws you closer to Jesus.

Alright, alright.

You guys can go ahead and find your seats.

Take a seat, take a seat.

If you haven't found a date, time, place yet, that's on you.

You have plenty of time.

All right.

Well, hey, go ahead and grab your Bibles, meet me in the Gospel of Luke.

We're gonna be in Luke chapter 5 today.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

Grab your Bibles, meet me in the Gospel of Luke.

Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

Uh, we're starting a new series today.

We're in a three-week series on discipleship as we're coming into the fall.

Okay.

Uh, we started a couple different ministries coming into the fall now, and one of them just happened yesterday.

Ambassador Women kicked off yesterday.

Any women in the room that was at Ambassador Women yesterday morning, Kelly did a great job.

Amazing, amazing, amazing.

Um, but we're also doing Ambassador Men.

Any men in the room excited about Ambassador Men.

Okay, this is an announcement I actually missed just a second ago.

Okay, if you're interested in Ambassador Men, the date for that is October 10th.

All right, scan the QR code in front of you.

You can sign up for that right now.

I think right now we have about 30 men signed up to come to Ambassador Men.

Uh, we don't want you to miss out on that.

We want you to be in the room for it.

Uh, if you're on the community side or the salt company side, uh, Ambassador Men is for you.

We'd love to have you come out and invite your friends.

It'll be exciting.

But then we have city groups that are kicking off too, okay?

And city groups, when we think about that, this is actually gonna be the heartbeat for Ambassador Church for our discipleship.

And so if you're new to the room, we actually kicked these off just the last couple of weeks and at the beginning of September.

And so by now, every group should have met at least once.

And so if you're wanting to know how you're gonna be discipled in life of Ambassador Church, how you're gonna be heard, known, seen, loved, it's gonna be through groups that happen here in the life of ambassador church.

If you haven't signed up, you can still sign up.

It's not too late.

We have eight groups currently, they're starting to get kind of full, and so we'll we'll get you in as soon as we can, but we want you to take advantage of that.

But our discipleship series that we're doing, this is actually coming alongside this season of new ministries and groups being started to help us get an understanding of what discipleship is all about and how we're hoping that we as a church are growing and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus here specifically at Ambassador Church.

Okay.

And I wanted to define a couple things for you first as we jump in.

If you want to know what a disciple is, maybe you're new to the church, and you're just like, man, what does disciple actually even mean?

Here's a helpful definition for you it means this a disciple is someone who is following Jesus, who is being changed by Jesus, and is committed to the mission of Jesus.

And this is what we want to see: people who are following Jesus, being changed by him, and on for him.

But not only that, we want to see people who are becoming disciples, but also people who are making disciples.

How many of you know that once you know and follow Christ, the thing you're supposed to do is not hoard it to yourself, but the thing you're supposed to do is give it away and see other people come to do the same thing.

And so we could also care about not just disciples, but disciple making, meaning that you intentionally enter into relationships to help other people follow Jesus and be changed by Jesus and join the mission of Jesus.

And so, an ambassador church, there's really three ways that we're praying that we see that happen here in the life of our church.

And we're gonna talk about these for the next three weeks.

We're gonna be talking about the first one today, which is grow in our new identity, which simply means this that, hey, once you believe in Jesus, you are functionally a new person.

You are somebody that you once were not.

The second part is gather around the table.

We want to be people who not only grow in our identity, but gather around the table.

We value the idea of stories here at Ambassador Church.

We believe sitting at a table, sharing a meal, sharing a drink is a great way for you to get to know the other people around you.

Yes, people that you know and love and want to be in a relationship with, but also new people to your life, people who don't even believe in but believe in Jesus.

We want you to be inviting them around the table too.

And thirdly, we want to be people on mission who go to the city.

As we become disciples of Jesus, we believe Jesus is calling us to these three things to grow and what it means to be in a new identity, to know Him, to gather around the table, and to be on mission to go to the city.

And so we're gonna be unpacking these over the next three weeks.

But first today, our first one is to grow in our identity.

And as I said, what this means is that when you become a Christian, there is fundamentally something different about you.

There's something new about you.

When you give your life to Christ, you are no longer the same.

You are no longer the person that you once were.

And so I know we come from some backgrounds and contexts where becoming a Christian simply just means, hey, well, now I'm just in on the things of Christianity, right?

My day is marked, and at the end of my days, I'll be in heaven with Jesus.

Yes, this is true, but we need to know first and foremost that becoming a Christian is not just the fact that, yes, you are saved from your sin.

Amen.

You are saved from the penalty of your sin, you are saved from the punishment of your sin.

But what's also true is that you have been given a new identity.

And I think this is one of the hardest things for us to reconcile with in our faith because often we go day to day and we may know, yes, thank you, Jesus, you give me this new identity.

But we also experience life.

And sometimes it just doesn't feel like that we have this new identity, and we need to know first and foremost, it's true.

It's true whether you feel it today or not.

You are a new person.

We're a 2 Corinthians 5 type church.

If you've been coming around for a while, you know that we get our name from 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20.

2 Corinthians 5:20

It says, Hey, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us, and therefore we plead on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

Where we get our name from, ambassadors of Christ.

But if you look at that text in your Bibles and you go just a little before verse 20, uh Paul talks about not this kind of we are ambassadors in title, but he talks about what it means to receive this new identity in reality.

That not only do we get saved when we call on and believe in Jesus, but he has transformed us and we are being transformed.

2 Corinthians 5.17.

Here's what Paul says: he says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away, and the new has come.

If you were here last week, we did baptisms.

We do baptisms here pretty frequently at Ambassador Church.

And everybody who gets baptized, they get these fresh new shirts, right?

And if you were here, you saw them.

And on the front, what does it say on the front?

If you saw them, they say new creation.

They say new creation.

Why?

Because we want the people who are being baptized to realize this reality that they are entirely new.

And it's a reminder for those who watch that this is what is happening when we give our life to Christ.

We are becoming new people.

The old is out, and yes, the new is in.

Like this is what happens when you believe.

You have a moment of need, you cry out to God, He saves you, makes you brand new.

And so instantaneously, here's what's true: you were once one way and now you're completely another way.

This is for every Christian in the room.

This is your story, whether you believe it or not.

You were once lost and now you are found.

You were once an orphan and now you are adopted.

You were once a sinner and now you are a saint.

You were once forsaken and now you are chosen, you are redeemed, valued, beloved, you are treasured, and so much more in the name of Christ.

But often it doesn't feel like this, right?

Sometimes it feels like sin is winning in your life.

You don't feel like a saint, you feel like a sinner.

You don't feel chosen, you feel forsaken.

And oftentimes because of something that we've done.

Here's what's true: although our position before God is set in stone, you are blameless spiritually before God.

We call that being justified.

You are, when you believe in Christ, justified before a holy God.

You are made right in the side of God instantaneously.

But you are also still being formed, you're still being transformed on this side of eternity into the likeness of Christ.

We call that being sanctified.

And what these are are just two$10 words to basically describe what I'm talking about here.

That in Christ, one, you have a new identity.

And two, you are simultaneously growing into your new identity.

You are becoming a new creation.

And so, to the person in the room who's wrestling with their faith right now, who yes, maybe had a moment of conversion and salvation, and you're wondering, man, why am I still kind of like this?

Why am I still doing this?

It is because, yes, you are justified, but you are also being made into the image of God day by day.

New creation.

It's true of you, and it's being formed in you.

And so we're gonna be in Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

You've probably found it already.

This is gonna be a story we're gonna be unpacking today.

And in this story, we're gonna be talking about uh the Apostle Peter.

And this is the Apostle Peter before he becomes the Apostle Peter.

He's going to be getting his call to follow Jesus right here in this moment.

And I love this story because I think it gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to receive this new identity and now what it looks like to even walk into that.

And so if you're in the Bible, Luke chapter 5, we're beginning in verse 1.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

We only have 11 chapters here.

I'll read them all and then we'll unpack it.

Here's what it says in the text.

It says, as the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God's word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret, and he saw two boats at the edge of the lake.

The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

He got into one of the boats which belonged to Simon, aka Peter, and he asked him to put out a little far a little further from the land.

And then he sat down and he was teaching the crowds that were before him from the boat.

And when he had finished speaking, he looked to Simon and he says, Hey, put out a little bit further in deeper water and let down your nets for a catch.

And Simon replies, Master, we've worked hard all night long, and we've caught nothing, but if you say so, I'll let down the nets.

And when they did this, here's what happened: they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear.

And so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

And when Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, Go away from me, because I'm a sinful man, Lord.

For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners.

Jesus says, Don't be afraid, Simon.

From now on, you will be catching people.

And then they brought the boats to the land, and here's what they did: they left everything and they followed him.

And so at this point, the Gospel of Luke, just to get you guys caught up a little bit, maybe some of you, the Gospel of Luke is your favorite gospel in the Bible.

It's my favorite gospel in the Bible, if I can have a favorite, okay?

I love the Gospel of Luke.

And at this point, Jesus has been baptized, he's been tempted in the wilderness, he had begun his earthly ministry.

And so he's been going to different synagogues, preaching the kingdom of God.

If you guys were here for the last 12 weeks, we went through the Sermon on the Mount.

And I believe what Jesus was going around preaching at this moment was all the stuff that we had already heard from the kingdom of God or from the Sermon on the Mount in so many different ways and implications.

Jesus likely preached and expounded on the things that we just heard in the Sermon on the Mount.

And so he was teaching good, but he was also going around putting his hands on people and speaking things, and he was also healing good.

Okay, Jesus' ministry was off to a phenomenal start.

But here's what's true: some people rejected Jesus, but some people accepted him.

So for the most part, his notoriety was building, and people saw him coming, and they loved that he was coming to see them.

And so at the point where we're at today, there's this crowd that's beginning to press in on Jesus to hear him preach a little bit more.

And the text tells us that he's right there by Lake Gennesaret.

And Lake Gennessaret is a simultaneous name for the Sea of Galilee.

But he's here, and what he looks and sees is these two boats.

There's these two boats on the edge of the lake, one of which, to who we know now, is belongs to the beloved apostle Peter.

Okay, before he was the beloved apostle.

But the boats were empty.

Why?

Because it was at the end of the day, and what Peter was doing and his whole crew, they had been fishing all night, fishing into the morning.

The shift is about to be over, and they're like, hey, we're packing up.

We hadn't really catched anything.

So we're all good as done.

But Jesus comes in, he has this crowd of people behind him, and he looks at Peter and he's like, Yo, I'm gonna need to teach these people.

I need you to come into the boat.

I need you to get off the shore just a little bit so I can have a little bit of space so I can preach to the people.

And I love this because you can imagine Peter's just like, you know, I've been out here all day on night.

And I don't really want to be here anymore.

Jesus, I don't know if you noticed, he was kind of like a Baptist preacher.

He can go for a long time, okay?

And Peter's just like, I don't, I don't know.

I don't know about this, Lord.

But but okay, I'll hop in the boat, I'll do it.

You can imagine, this isn't the first time Peter has probably heard Jesus preach.

And so he's probably just like looking at his watch, thinking, dude, when is when is this when is it gonna get over?

Sitting on the edge of it, Jesus is doing his thing, right?

The crowds are loving it, and Peter's just unamused.

He's like, When is it going to be time?

And so here's what happens: Jesus teaches the people, and then when he's done teaching, he turns his focus to Simon Peter and look back at verse 4.

Here's what happens it says, when Jesus finished speaking to the people, he looked to Simon and he says, Hey, would you put out a little bit further in the water?

He's like, All right, man, I've done preaching.

Like, that was a good day.

Peter, like, what's up, my guy?

How about you go back out in the water for a little bit?

And Peter's like, listen, dude, we've we've already been out here.

We've been out here all night.

We haven't caught really anything.

And Jesus' like, well, just go and let down your nets and see what happens.

And I love this part of the text because you can see this kind of sheepish interaction between Peter and Jesus.

You see, this carpenter turned rabbi teacher of some sort, is talking to like this bass pro expert.

And he's trying to help him get this idea of what it looks like to catch the fish that he's been trying to catch all night.

And you can imagine maybe you've been in an experience like this.

Like maybe you know a little bit of something about the thing that you do.

And here comes someone with this novice advice, and they're like, Hey, have you ever considered this?

You ever tried it this way before?

You're like, hey, get out of my face, be quiet.

Right?

If you're anything like me.

And so Peter, I think he's no different than us, and he probably wanted to respond in this way until he recognized who he would be talking to, the son of God.

And he's just like, okay, if you say so, I'll let down my nets.

And so Peter lets down his nets, and I wonder why he gave in.

Have you ever asked that question before?

Like I wonder why Peter gave in in this moment.

It doesn't tell us this in the text, but I like to think that Peter had a little bit of hope in him.

A lot of scholars, a lot of people think that, man, Peter was just being super sheepish and all this kind of stuff and being entitled in this moment.

But I think the grand narrative of the Gospel of Matthew of Luke tells us a little bit something different about Peter because you can tell in the moments before this interaction.

Just in Luke chapter 4, Peter is married.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

Peter has a wife, Peter has a mother-in-law.

You guys remember the story of Peter's mother-in-law?

She gets sick.

And in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law happens right here before this moment happens with the fish.

And so this isn't the first time Peter sees Jesus.

Not the first time Peter hears Jesus, not the first time he sees him do something miraculous.

And so I wonder, I wonder, I wonder if maybe the reason why he gave in to let down his nets was because he's already seen the faithfulness of God.

He's already seen what he can do.

And even in his fatigue and even in his tiredness, what he chooses to do is not disobey the Lord and do whatever he wants.

He didn't back up early.

He didn't say, Jesus, man, I hear you, but it's late.

We're going back to the shore.

He says, Okay, listen, listen, master, he says, if you say it, I'll do it.

So Peter lets down the nets, and we know what happens next.

Lots of fish, so much fish that all the work that Peter had done, remember, they were mending their nets before Jesus came to preach.

Mending your nets means you're taking them up, you're untangling them, you're probably even repairing some that's probably been broken before.

And all the work that he had done had just been undone because of this mass amount of fish that they had just caught.

So much fish.

And Peter calls his partners over, and I can see the scene.

They're probably frantically hopping in their boats.

They're like, he's a little bit ways out.

We're paddling, we're paddling, we're paddling, we're trying to get over to our friend Peter.

They're getting in the fastest way that they can.

And they see Peter trying to put these fish in his boat.

And there's so much fish where all the fish couldn't even fit in Peter's boat.

And so they tried to put them in the other boats, and they couldn't even fit in that boat.

And so the text tells us that there was so much fish that the boats began to sink.

So many fish.

Boy, jumping for joy.

Payday, baby.

Look what Peter does.

He fell at Jesus' knees and he said, Go away from me, because I'm a sinful man, Lord.

For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners.

And Jesus says, Don't be afraid, because from now on you will be catching people.

Then they brought the boats to land, they left everything, and they followed him.

This is the story of a reluctant Peter who didn't really want to listen to the commands of God, getting way more than he bargained for when he listened to the command of God.

He got way more.

He got the provision that he was looking for, and he got this inside information on Jesus and about himself, and that the main thing that Jesus wants to do is yes, he does want to provide for you.

The Sermon on the Mount definitely makes that clear.

God is the God of provision, He's the author of provision, but that's not the main thing he wants to do.

He wants to provide something more for you than you can ever even imagine.

He wants to give you a new name, he wants to give you a new identity, he wants to call you to something that you didn't even think you need to be called to into the mission of God.

He wants you to look at him and follow him and be on mission for him.

And I love this interaction because you wouldn't think that this would be the case that happens after you see this kind of story.

But this is the business that Jesus is in.

He's not in the business of specifically and predominantly providing for your needs.

He's in the business of providing for your spiritual need and giving the thing that you need most.

And the thing you need most is to know who you are and whose you are.

You need to know your new identity.

And so, what this narrative shows us is Peter finds this out and he's figuring this out in a really unique way.

And so, for the rest of the time, here's what I want to do.

I just want to pull out four truths of a person growing in their new identity, as demonstrated by Peter right here in this moment.

Four things.

They recognize nothing in this life can satisfy, they recognize they are unworthy of Jesus, they recognize they have sin in their life, and they recognize following Jesus is worth it.

So the first one is this they recognize nothing in this life can satisfy.

When you think about the narrative, Peter had just had the greatest professional day in his life.

All the fish he could ever imagine, James and John, they're all a part of it.

Scholars say that the amount of fish that this would have been would have been about 3,500 pounds of fish.

Anybody ever seen 3,500 pounds of fish before?

I've never seen 3,500 pounds of a fish.

That's a lot of fish.

And when you think about the economic advantage of that, here's what scholars say.

They think that 3,500 pounds of fish would have been gone for about 25 years of yearly wages.

25 years.

Could you imagine today having an opportunity right now in an instant that would set you up for generations to come?

Peter hit the lottery.

I told you, if this was me, I don't know if this is you.

I would have been jumping for joy.

But I love what Peter says here, or I love what happens to Peter because he doesn't jump for joy.

What he does is he falls to his knees.

And here's what we need to know about God and how he works is that we don't get to choose the thing that brings us to our knees, do we?

Because often in our lives, some of the things that bring us to our knees, yes, is when we hit rock bottom.

We know that.

When we are searching for a thing and we never Forget it and we expend all the things that we have to get to it, and we hit rock bottom, like this can be the thing that kind of brings us to our knees, and we realize that all we have now is the hope in Jesus Christ that we can kind of muster up.

But another way we can be brought to our knees is we experience all the success that we ever want.

You know anybody like this?

Or maybe you're a person like this.

You get everything that you ever set out for, you get everything that you prayed for, and you realize at the very end you get to the top of this mountain of success, and you realize everything you strive for, everything that you wanted, everything you prayed for, and you got it.

When you got to the top, you got it in your hand, and it ended up dissipating.

Why?

Because it is absolutely empty.

It doesn't hold you.

It can't hold you like Jesus can.

I don't know about you, but when um on social media, when I start like thinking about stuff and writing stuff, and somehow my algorithm starts feeding and pushing me things that make sense of what I'm like thinking and doing.

Your algorithm does that, does that too?

I was looking at Instagram this week, and this story pops up on my Instagram story, and it's about this young man, uh high school graduate, 2025, in the state of Ohio, who was one of the top baseball prospects in the country.

And he tells this story, he's going around sharing his testimony, he's a believer in Jesus.

And in 2024, he tells a story about how he made the decision that he's no longer going to pursue baseball.

He had so many Division I scholarships to go play baseball, potentially a pro.

And he made his decision in 2024.

Hey, I'm no longer going to go and pursue baseball.

He tells a story, and it's incredible.

It is miraculous.

He talks about the the the moment everything shifted for him.

He was like, there was one game, one tournament I played in it.

And after one game, three Division I scholarships, after the entire tournament, 11 Division I scholarships right after the thing.

Everything began to shift.

All the things that he was praying for, all the things that he wanted, they were happening right now.

They were at the tips of his fingers.

So you can imagine 2024 as a junior coming into a senior year as he's talking to his mentors, his coaches, the people around him, and he's like, hey man, I think God might be calling me to something different.

You can imagine the conversations that people were having about him.

Well, what about your education?

Well, what about your future?

Well, what are you gonna do?

How are you gonna provide for yourself?

How are you gonna take care of yourself if you don't do the thing that you're clearly gifted to go and do?

If you don't take advantage of the net full of fish that God has clearly given to you.

He made this choice that he came to this reality that all the things that he wanted in his life, he said, Hey, I know that that won't satisfy like Jesus would be able to satisfy in my life.

And I think this is also Peter's story.

It hits home for me as well.

Like he didn't hit rock bottom, but he had this experience where he got all the things had he wanted.

He had the big catch, he had that big breakthrough, and he's looking at this impossible catch of a fish.

And what he does is he doesn't rejoice in the catch of the fish, but he breaks down and falls before God, looking at his holiness, broken before him.

And so I wonder if there's people in a room like that today.

If you're the kind of person who's still looking at the things of this life to satisfy you, listen, I want you to know that hey, the thing that you're putting your hand to, it's not wrong, it's not bad.

But hey, if it's ruling your life, if you actually listen to the commands and the demands of the gifts that God has given you versus God Himself, I want you to know you're putting your satisfaction in something that will ultimately bottom out sooner or later.

Peter came to this reality that even 25 years of earthly wages wasn't enough for him to say no to the call to follow Jesus.

I think we need to get to that place too.

So the person who is growing in their new identity knows that there is nothing in life, no life circumstance at all, that can replace their need and priority for Jesus.

What we need to know.

Secondly, people growing in their new identity also recognize they are unworthy of Jesus.

Peter continues in the narrative, he says, Go away from me.

After he sees this fish, he falls to his knees, and the first word of it out of his mouth is he says, Go away from me.

He's saying, God, I am unworthy of this thing that you have done.

He doesn't relish the fact that he had just hit the lottery.

No, he says, Man, I am undone to my core.

He falls on his knees before a holy God who's able to do all things, and he says, Go away from me.

Do you know who I am?

I wonder how many of us are broken by the holiness of Jesus in this room.

When you think about the holiness of God, does your heart break?

Do you think about how far you are actually from the holiness of God?

And if you're a Christian in the room, do you think God daily that Jesus bridged the gaps that you can even stand in the presence of a holy God?

Are you broken by the holiness of Jesus?

Peter's response to Jesus helping him make the catch of a lifetime is I don't deserve to be in your presence.

Peter is overwhelmed by the sheer power and the authority of Jesus, but he's also overwhelmed by the gracious care and generosity of Jesus.

And the thing he says is, man, I am unworthy of all of this.

And for Peter, that was significant because in his mind, back in this day, as a Jewish dude growing up in this kind of context, he was thinking, man, people that get stuff like this, they've deserved it.

They've deserved it, they've earned it to some degree.

Blessing comes to those who do good, cursing comes to those who do bad.

He says, I am a sinful man, I deserve bad, and look what I've got.

I've got so much good.

Christian, this is your story in the room, too.

It broke him.

The holiness of God broke him.

So we need to be people who are broken by the holiness of Jesus as well.

But he doesn't stop with the awareness of his unworthiness.

He moves to the confession of his sin.

And this is the third point.

People who are growing in their new identity recognize they have sinned in their life.

Peter falls to his knees.

He says, I am unworthy.

Go away from me, holy, holy God.

And he says, Why?

Because for I am a sinful man.

I have sinned in my life.

Peter not only confesses his unworthiness, but he also confesses his sinfulness.

And if we're honest in the room, we're kind of uncomfortable with this part, right?

Because Peter's not talking about past sin, things that he once did.

He's talking about his makeup right now, who he is currently.

He's talking about current sin that he's struggling with in the moment.

It's hard for us to talk about being sinful people, isn't it?

When I walk people into their conversations about Jesus, people who are coming to know Christ for the first time, one of the questions I ask them is, hey, do you believe that you have sin in your life?

Do you know that's one of the hardest hurdles for people to get over when they're thinking about following Jesus?

Answering the question, hey, is this something I'm willing to do?

Do I lay down my nets and follow this rabbi?

Do I follow the king of the world?

It's the question of, do I have sin in my life?

Don't you know that the sin in your life doesn't disqualify you from the love of God?

The sin in your life is the very thing that qualifies you for the thing that God wants to give you.

And Peter, like I don't know if he knows in this moment, he's just having an organic moment at the moment.

He's just like, God, I'm unworthy, I'm sinful.

I wonder what our lives would be like if we were like that.

If when we thought of God, we just outburst in this reality of like, God, I'm so unworthy of you.

And I'm a sinful man.

I am a sinful woman.

And yet I'm so modern and grateful by the way that you draw near to me.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

We are people who have sin in our lives.

Not just past sin, but present sin.

Not just present sin, but future sin.

There are things that you haven't done yet that you will indeed get to that, believe it or not, Jesus Christ has already paid the cost for.

His blood covers what you've done.

His blood covers what you're what you're doing, and his blood covers what you will do.

And so this posture of confession and repentance that Peter has this is a good and right and ongoing posture for Christians to have.

And so the person growing in their new identity knows that confessing sin and repentance isn't a one-time event, but it is a lifestyle.

And there's echoes of this all throughout the text.

Way back in Isaiah chapter 6, going to pop up here on the screen.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

Isaiah 6, verse 5.

Isaiah 6:5

Remember this?

Isaiah's in the throne room.

He has this vision, he sees these angels coming, and this is what Isaiah says.

He says, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.

And because my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of armies.

This is a prophet who was in charge of communicating God's word in the Old Testament.

This is his confession.

This is his repentance.

This is his realization about himself.

He is a sinful man among sinful people, and he cannot stand.

He's unworthy before a holy God.

Peter demonstrates this for us in the New Testament for us.

Y'all, this is the life of the Christian, that we be people who confess and we repent.

We should be walking in this day by day.

So people growing their new identity recognize nothing in this life can satisfy.

They are unworthy of Jesus.

They have sin in their life.

And lastly, they recognize that following Jesus is worth it.

It says, Then they brought the boats to land.

They left everything and they followed him.

They left everything and they followed him.

You know, Peter gets a bad rap in our Bibles, doesn't he?

He's often known as the disciple who puts his foot in his mouth all the time.

He doesn't say the right things.

He's always in the wrong spot, right?

When Jesus was getting arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter was the one that took the knife out of his pocket and he was like, pop, pop, watch out, bro.

I wish I had a punching, like Peter.

He was one of the outspoken disciples.

He was he was the one who gets a bad rap.

And maybe it's because, like, really, when you think about it, he chose to follow Jesus.

And the text clearly tells us that out of this 3,500-pound catch of fish that he gets, you know how much he kept?

Zero.

None of it.

And if I was Peter, you want to know what?

I'd probably be a little bit on edge too.

Following this Jesus.

Being like, God, did you just left?

Everything.

The fortune.

The family.

God.

I would have been a little bit on edge too if I was Peter and James and John.

I've always wondered why Jesus chose Peter, James, and John to be his closest disciples.

You guys know that, right?

Like the inner core, the three.

Maybe it was because they just needed that deep intimacy with Jesus all the time because they had been given so much.

They've given up so much.

Like God, if it ain't you, it ain't anything else.

I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here.

Like I think that's part of the reason.

And even though he didn't keep any of the spoil, he was like, yo, following Jesus, leaving it all on the shore of the beach, it is a hundred percent worth it.

Yo, following Peter changed everything, or following Jesus changed everything about Peter's life.

He was no longer just Peter the fisherman now, but he was now Peter, the fisher of men, who would be crucial in the building up of the church.

He would be the chief of the apostles.

He would be the one who gives the keynote address to the people at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples after the resurrection.

This is Peter's trajectory.

And maybe you're hearing this story and you're like, yeah, well, that's good for Peter.

Yeah, Peter might have a new identity.

Maybe you're new here to the faith, and you're just like, man, that sounds good for a biblical character like Peter, who has this perfect life in existence.

Yeah, of course he could not take the fish and prepare for his future.

Why?

Because he was just walking with Jesus.

I'm like, of course.

But do you want to know the rest of Peter's story?

Like Peter was a man that Jesus had to tell, get behind me, Satan, because he couldn't even get on the program with the fact that Jesus had to live, die, be put on the cross, be buried, and raised from the dead.

Jesus told Peter, hey, get behind me, Satan.

Peter was one who denied knowing Jesus three times.

In public, no less.

This wasn't like off somewhere making some mistake or something like that.

No, he was in public at the moment Jesus was being tried and about to be crucified.

Peter was walking around and these people was asking Peter to yell, ain't you the dude that know Jesus?

Ain't you one of his disciples?

Haven't you been following him?

He's like, nope, nope, nope.

Denying Jesus.

He spent a lot of his life wrestling with his prejudices against other people, namely all the Gentiles around him.

Peter would die a martyr's death, crucified upside down.

Why?

Because he didn't think he was worthy to be crucified the same way that his Savior Jesus was.

Like, yes, Peter had some of this great benefit of what it meant to follow Jesus, but it wasn't a perfect life.

And yet, he left the fish on the shore.

And yet, he denied the inheritance for his family and chose to follow Jesus.

And you want to know what he would say if we were to go to heaven right now and ask him, was it worth it?

He would say 100%.

It's 100% worth it to follow Jesus.

And here's what's true about us we can get there too.

But we have to do it like Peter does it.

We have to come to this realization that the promises of this life are empty, that there's nothing here that can satisfy us, that you are unworthy of Jesus, that you have sin in your life, that you are powerless to handle on your own, and that following Jesus, no matter what it costs you, is completely worth it.

Like if we want to be people who grow into our new identity, who are formed in the image of God, then it has to start here.

It has to start with believing in this reality that the gospel of truth is true, that Jesus is who he says that he is, that he is the perfect God man who ever lived and he died an undeserving death, that we should have died, and he was buried in the grave for three days and he rose again, conquering sin, death, hell, and the grave.

And you have to recognize your need for him as a savior.

If we want to be people who grow in a new identity and understand what Jesus has done and what he's capable of doing in our lives, it has to start here.

We have to fall face down at Jesus and recognize, yo, you are king of my life, you are the savior of my life.

I can't do it on my own.

God, would you please save me?

It has to start here.

Then you commit to following him.

You keep your eyes on him forever.

This is the key takeaway for this morning.

Discipleship with Jesus begins when your grip on this world ends.

Discipleship with Jesus begins when your grip on this world ends.

So, Christians in the room, I want you to consider your story.

When was the last time that you considered the radical way that God met you and what he's done and is doing in your life?

See, part of my story is that God took me, a broken man, a womanizer, a compulsive liar, poor excuse of a man.

I can be angry, I can be slow to forgive, all these things can be true about me.

I was a man that once pursued immediate gratification over everything else in my life, my pleasure over everything, success, my reputation, my image, all of these things.

When I say that I would be the guy that would have been like Jesus, thank you for the catch out.

That would be my story if not for the grace of God.

That would be my story.

It was always been me and me and me first.

And as I look back across my life, you want to know it's true, I have trails of broken hearts and tears and heartache and pain.

Why?

Because of my sin.

Because of my sin.

And if I was a betting man, I would say that you have a trail of broken hearts and tears, heartache, headache, just like me.

It may look a little bit different.

It may look a little bit different than what Peter's trail looks like, but you better know we have it.

You better know we have it.

And the good news I want you to know today is that that doesn't have to be the end of your story.

That you can put your faith in a God right now, who sees you and who knows you, who knows what you've done in the past, who knows what you're doing right now, who knows what you will do in the future.

And he says, Hey, my son has come to die for that.

He lived the life that you couldn't live, he died the death that you should have died.

He was pinned to a cross, he was buried in rose.

He's saying, When you put your faith in him, listen, pardon.

You're good.

No longer who you once were.

Can you imagine that?

You giving your life to someone and you don't even deserve the goodness and the 3,500 pounds of the thing that he can do for you.

What about 3,500 pounds of grace?

3,500 pounds of unmerited mercy.

3,500 pounds of grace that you could have never earned, that you don't deserve, and he gives it to you anyway.

Why?

Because he is a loving God, a generous God who wants nothing more for you than for you to be no longer who you want.

We want you to step into the kingdom.

But before you do that, you have to be a transformed person.

You have to receive your new identity.

The one that is bestowed upon you at justification, you are made right in your proclamation of faith.

And then, yes, we also live into it, we walk into it day by day, receiving our new identity as we know and trust God.

So, by way of application, if you want to grow in your new identity, here's some practicals for you.

There's only two of them.

The first one is this follow Jesus with your whole heart.

Some of you in the room, you need to make a decision today.

You came here, you don't know Jesus.

You just hop in the car with a friend, hop and lose it.

We're going to church.

And you came to Ambassador.

Glad you're here.

Welcome.

You need to make a decision today.

Are you going to follow Jesus?

Are you going to submit to him as Lord?

Are you going to fall before the knees of Jesus and say, hey, I am unworthy.

I have sin in my life.

God, there's nowhere else to go.

Would you take my sin and I vow to follow you for the rest of my life?

This is what you need to do.

You need to follow Jesus with your whole heart.

And some of you are already following Jesus, but you're following him half-heartedly.

What would it look like for you to drop your nets at the beach?

What would it look like for you to just drop them?

And be like, yo, God, I've been doing this half-heartedly.

I can see you from a distance, but I desire to get close.

When you enter through the narrow gate, you can't take everything that you have.

You have to continue going, and some things have to drop.

And I wonder, I wonder, I wonder what is it that God might be asking you to drop so that you can get closer to Him.

What is He asking you to let go of?

It may not be everything, but it may be something.

And I would ask you to consider what might it be that God is saying, Hey, would you leave this behind why?

So you can draw closer to me and pursue me, not with half of your heart, but with all of your heart.

The second thing is this you need to embrace your journey.

We use the word grow on purpose.

Why?

Because grow is a process.

Grow is slow.

Grow doesn't happen overnight.

Grow doesn't happen right now.

Yes, you are made new instantaneously, but we are also being made new.

That is growth.

And what growth does is it just happens over time.

You plant a seed and immediately get an apple.

You plant the seed, you water the seed, you expose it to sunlight, it sprouts, you care for it, you nurture it, and over time it will sprout into a tree.

Trees take at least five to twenty years before the first fruit is even given.

So I want you to know in the room, yes, you might believe in Jesus.

You you do believe in Jesus.

And you might be looking at your life and you're like, man, it's not looking how I want it to look.

Just know the process can be slow.

So the best thing for you is to embrace the journey.

Don't let go of Jesus.

Don't let go.

I beg of you, don't let go.

Pursue Him with your whole heart and embrace the journey.

Life is long, guys.

Your story is long, and God can have his way at any moment.

So would you let Him?

And would you trust Him in due time?

And so, people, I want to be a church like this: a church who has received our new identity, a church who is growing in our new identity, a church that follows Jesus with our own heart and embraces the journey that God has us on.

Are you with me in wanting to be this kind of church?

Let's grow in our due identity.

Pray with me.

Father, we love you, and we're grateful for this morning.

And I'm thankful for your son Jesus.

I'm grateful for what he's done in our lives.

I'm grateful for his approach towards us.

The thing that's true most about us is that we consistently run away from you, God, and yet you consistently pursue us.

Even those of us who don't believe in you.

You are knocking on the hearts of those who don't believe right now.

You are comforting those of us who do believe right now.

You are guiding those of us who believe right now.

You are always pursuing us.

And so would we be people who think about that and who cherish that and lift that up?

Would that be the crown of our hearts?

To know that we have a God who knows us and loves us and wants nothing more than to be with us where we believe that we have a God that has transformed us and is walking with us as we are transformed in the sanctification of our faith, that we are for sure growing in our new identity.

We be comforted from the words of Philippians that the work that you have begun, you father, you father, you father, will bring it to completion.

Would you do that in the room?

So, Father, we love you.

And we're grateful.

We pray this in your son, Jesus' name.

Amen and amen.

Thanks for listening to the Ambassador Church Podcast.

To learn more, visit ambassadormke.org or follow us on Instagram at AmbassadorMKE.

And if you're in the Milwaukee area, we'd love to see you this Sunday at 9 or 11 a.m.

at 2308 East Bellevue Place.

Grace and peace.