[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. Good morning, everybody. Welcome in to all those who are watching online. Come on, High Ridge family. Give them a big warm round of applause.
I'm glad you made it from wherever you're watching from. Those of you watching from Cameron, hello to the Barry family. From Abilene to Mineral Wells to Frisco to Corsicana, all the way over in Australia, G'day, mate. To you as well, we have Leo watching from his hospital bed. Your church family loves you, so it's awesome thing that you have tuned in today. So let us know where you're watching from. Let us know what you need us to pray about. We would love to connect with you if you're watching online. It's such a, such a beautiful, beautiful day right here in East Texas. We're walking through the great pollening and having to thank the Lord for great car washes. There's a car wash on every single street corner. And if you just move to Longview, you're like, why do we have so many car washes now? You know, it's the Polandemic around here. There's not enough Zyrtec in the world to handle what's going on.
We're going to turn our Bibles, turn our Bibles, if you wouldn't mind, to John chapter 21, John 21. We're going to spend all of our time right there in John 21 today as we continue on with our series called A Life that Matters. A life that matters. That's my heart for you. It's my hope for you that you would truly live a life that matters. So as you're turning over to John chapter 21, I want to say thank you for your generosity. You guys are an amazing and a giving church and I'm so very, very grateful for all of you who have trusted us with your finances. We are doing some fantastic things over in our children's building, in our students building. In case you notice, we're kind of under construction. There's lots of paint happening. That's only because of your generosity. We're also able to hang out with other youth groups right here in East Texas to know that we're not about the spirit of competition, but we are here to be a part of the body of Christ. And we're teaching that to our young people, your children, your grandchildren. God has a plan for your teenagers, and I love that we get to be a part of that. And so I want to just thank you for sowing seeds of lots of generosity here so we can make that possible. That's a big deal. And I'm grateful for you guys that have chosen to trust us with that. Thank you so much. John, chapter 21. We're going to pick it up right here at the beginning of this chapter and go through the next 19 or so verses. We got a lot of ground to cover today, but as we finish up this series, I think it's important that as we look at what it means to have a life that matters, we talk about something that's gonna happen in every single life at some point, and probably, if we're being honest, at multiple points. That's what happens when the very thing you told God that you would never do, you do. What happens when you made a vow? What happens when you're like, I will never do that? What happens when you say, I'll never do that again?
What happens about 48 hours later when you're doing it again?
How do you handle disappointment and frustration? How do you handle shame?
And let me ask you this. If I could just step on your toes for just one quick second and we'll get onto other things. Let me ask you this. When was the last time that you felt shame?
When was the last time that you looked at your life and the decisions that you made and you said, I.
I'm ashamed of that?
When it comes to our relationship with Jesus, when it comes to our walk with Christ, are there things that you've done that you said, I swore I would never do that again, and yet I find myself doing it again?
What happens when you find yourself dealing with raw emotions like disappointment and shame? Regret? What happens when you look at your life and the life that you thought you were going to have? You don't have it.
All of us at some point will have to come to those moments. And how we process through those moments, biblically, theologically, scripturally, those things determine whether or not we're going to live a life that matters or whether we just go back to what we used to do.
And so this is the place where we find the disciples of Christ right here in John, chapter 21. Remember that in the timeline of this story, Jesus has gone to the cross and all of them have scattered.
They all told Jesus like I'm with you till the end. And Peter said, now, even if they leave, I am ride or die. Me and you are going right there together. No matter what happens, I'm with you. Did that happen? No. As a matter of fact, Jesus tells Peter, look, before the rooster crows twice, you're going to deny me three times. Jesus knew that what he swore he would never do, he would do. And he would do it again and do it again.
Jesus understands that we are human. And sometimes even in our best intentions, the things that we believe with all of our heart are going to be different. If we don't make some real changes, they're not going to be different.
But Jesus, thankfully, is a God of grace. He's a God of forgiveness. He's a God of mercy. He's a God that understands in our humanity we're going to mess up and that we need Him. We need Him. So dealing with disappointment and shame and heartbreak and loss of purpose is where we find the disciples today. And so Jesus has gone to the cross. They've seen their dreams and their hope kind of come to. To come to a crashing end when they nail them to the cross.
And they find themselves dealing with it in the same way that me and you would deal with what happens in life throws us disappointment and shame and embarrassment and regret. They just go back to doing what they used to be good at, and they find that it produces nothing.
That which they were experts at produces nothing. And in that moment, Jesus shows up. And by the way, he'll do the same for you.
He'll do the same for you. So this is where we find the story. John, chapter 21, verse 1. Simon, Peter and other disciples were together. And notice what Peter says. I'm going to fish. Now, this is not just someone taking a break. It's not someone just taking a vacation. Not someone, I need to go fish and clear my mind. This is someone going back to the life that God called them out of. He says, I'm going to go right back to it, to what I used to be good at. I had a sense of purpose there.
And in his leadership, the other people that were around him said, you know what? I'll follow you. If you're going back, I'm going back too. That's why it's so important that you recognize God has called you to lead. And the life that God has called you out of, if you try to go back to it, you're going to lead people right back to where you used to be. I'm going to go Fish, he says, Simon Peter told him, and they said, we're going to go with you. So they went out, they got into the boat. But that night, look at this. They caught nothing.
It just doesn't produce like what you think when we go back to an old lifestyle, when we try to do the things that we used to do, when God has called you out of one lifestyle and you try to go back to it. But I used to find a lot of fulfillment here. I used to find happiness here. I used to find my peace here. And whatever that here might be for you, it might be different for the person next to you. But all of us have things that we used to do that would promise us a sense of fulfillment. But God has called you out of that. It doesn't produce like what you think it should produce. They caught nothing. And early in the morning, notice that they fished all night long. Expert fishermen fishing the places where they have grown up fishing their whole life. They know all the best spots. This is how they make their money.
Until Christ, it says Jesus, stood on the shore. But the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
They didn't realize how close Christ was.
Jesus was there. That's important. He's there in the midst of doubts and disappointments, in the midst of frustration. When things look unclear with our future, Jesus is there. You've got to believe that today Jesus is there and he's calling out to them like he's calling out to each of us.
Jesus says this, friends, haven't you any fish?
By the way, this is just a complete mirror image of how Jesus called them the first time. He's calling them back to the beginning. Hey, you guys got any fish? My friends.
Now, they didn't recognize that it was Jesus voice, but they should have. Jesus has given them deja vu all over again. Let's go back to the beginning.
Have you caught any fish? He says, no, they answered. He says, well, throw your net on the right side of the boat and you'll find some. Now, I don't know about you, but if you're an expert at something and somebody comes along that is not an expert trying to give you a nickel's worth of free advice. I don't do well in that. In that particular situation, like Jesus, I know what I'm doing.
You might be good at being carpentry, I'll give you that. I will call you when I need to put some tables and chairs together. But I'm an expert fisherman over here. And what's the difference between the right side of the boat and the left side of the boat. Nothing.
They've gone all night.
But here's the key word. They did it. They obeyed. Throw your net on the right side and you're going to find some. And when they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. So it produced something when Jesus spoke into it.
There's a big difference between my best efforts and what God can do when he speaks.
And so there's a massive number of fish that come. And then.
You cannot miss the humor in this. There's. The person that's writing this book is named John. And John refers to himself as the disciple that Jesus loved.
You gotta love that. So it says this. The disciple that Jesus loved said to Peter, it's the Lord.
He recognized. He's the first one that. The light bulb came on, by the way.
It takes them a little while. I'm so glad that the Lord doesn't kind of just whitewash. This part of scripture lets us know it took them a little while to recognize Jesus because it does us the same way. I can see that they're not the smartest people on the planet, but once they see this great, huge catch, they recognize this is a miracle. Wait a minute. Whose voice is that? It's the Lord. And as soon as Simon Peter heard him say it is the Lord, look what he did. He jumps in the water. He responds immediately, I've got to get to Jesus. I want you to recognize the emotions that are probably going through not just Peter's mind, but through the disciples. I would imagine in my mind if I put myself in that situation, there's not a lot of talk going on all night because they're going through and replaying over and over the scenario of what they thought would be. And yet it just didn't happen the way that they thought it should happen. You ever been there in your own life? What about you? You ever been in places where you just lost in your thoughts because what you thought would happen, what you thought was gonna be good, turns out to not be good? What you thought you would do, you ended up not doing. And what you swore you would never, ever do again, you find yourself doing again, as they're sitting there on that boat all night long with frustration, not talking, just silent. And then Jesus shows up, and Peter responds. The moment that John recognizes that's the Lord, he jumps in the water. And the other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, knowing that they check this out. They couldn't even Bring it in. They just had to tow it to shore because there's so much. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. And Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you've just caught. So Simon Peter climbed back in the boat and dragged the net ashore. Don't miss that. Because what they could not even bring into the boat, they had to tow it in. He goes up and grabs that whole load by himself and drags it to shore. Don't get lost on the fact that he has superhuman strength. Why? Because he's an emotional wreck. And if Jesus says, I can do it. If Jesus says, bring it here, then I'm gonna do it. I don't care if anybody else is listening. He said, I could do it. He drags all of those fish to the shore by himself. That's a big deal. You talk about Mama Bear strength. This is Simon Peter.
You can see the emotional whirlwind that he's dealing with. And when Jesus says, bring some of those fish, he's like, I got was full of large fish. 153. But even with so many, the net wasn't torn. And Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. If you're looking for a great scripture to get tattooed on you, I gotta say, that's a pretty good one. It is. The most important meal of the day, Come and have breakfast. Is a pretty good one.
But none of the disciples dared to ask him, who are you? They knew that it was the Lord. It's interesting there that you have to kind of look deeper into that scripture and think, why did they not recognize his face? They saw his voice. They saw his miracles. They saw the way that he was handling loaves and fishes. They knew it was him, but yet his face is different. They didn't ask him, like, who are you? Because they knew it had to be him. In my mind, I have to be of the opinion that maybe Jesus hasn't healed from what they did to him before they hung him on the cross. And Jesus is still obviously probably recovering from those incredible wounds.
But Jesus, in spite of all of that, makes some breakfast, says, come sit down. Let's talk. Go back to what your original purpose is, the thing that I called you out of, and the life that you're supposed to be living. Let's get past that shame and doubt and fear and regret. Let's sit down and have a conversation, me and you, and get you back to a life that matters instead of a life that produces nothing.
Jesus begins to speak to him. And when they'd finished eating, he says this to Simon Peter, simon, son of John, do you love me? More than these, it's interesting that Jesus doesn't call him Peter.
He calls him by the name that he had before he responded to the call of Christ. He takes him back to the beginning of who he used to be.
Says, you know what changed you from who you used to be to who you're supposed to be? Your love for me.
He says, do you love me, Simon?
Scripture records that. He says, yes, Lord, you know that I do love you. And Jesus says, feed my lamb.
He says, you're not a fisherman. What are you doing?
You're a shepherd. I've changed you. That's not going to produce anything, anything beneficial. I've called you out of that life. What are you doing here?
Do the work I've called you to do.
Feed my lambs, he says. And again Jesus asked him, simon, son of John, do you love me? He answered, lord, yes, you know that I love you. Jesus said, then take care of my sheep.
The third time, he said to him, simon, son of John, do you. Do you love me? Are we friends? Are we brothers?
It's interesting that he asked him three times after Peter had denied him three times. He's covering each one of those mistakes that Peter had made that is weighing so heavily on him, taking such an emotional toll. Jesus asked him, do you love me? Then let's start over. Do you love me? Yes. At this moment, it said, simon, Peter has a breakdown. He finally just loses it. He was hurt. And John says he's hurt because Jesus had to ask him three times. I don't think he's hurt because Jesus had to ask him three times. I think John just thinks he's the one Jesus loves. And Peter's got emotional problems.
I think Peter finally has a break because that shame and that fear and that disappointment is finally breaking off.
He says, lord, you know all things. You know whether I love you or you know whether I don't. I love you. I do. I'm sorry. In other words, I messed it up. I lost it.
I said I'd be with you till the end. I swore I'd never do it again, but I see that you're being kind to me. I love you. And Jesus tells him once again, feed my sheep. And then Jesus tells them the same words that he told them when he first called him. Out of darkness and into light, he says, follow me.
Follow me.
So I would bet that at some point in your Life very similar to mine. You have times in your life where you can look back and say, I told the Lord I would never do that again. And I did it. No, just me at the First Church of the Self Righteous today.
Yes, you have.
There are times where you promised yourself, I will never do that again. It might be an ex girlfriend that you swear to yourself, I will never call her again. Then about 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, you're like, where am I going to go tonight? Who am I going to hang out with? You know, she wasn't so bad. You know, I.
I didn't need the paint job on my car anyway. She can key it if she wants to. She's emotional and I was asking for it. And you find yourself doing what you swore you would never do again. I remember on my 16th birthday, I came to a crisis because I had grown up in the Pentecostal Church and I swore to myself that even if all of my other friends start drinking, I will never start drinking on my 16th birthday. I wasn't listening. I decided not only would I drink on my 16th birthday, I would drink until the point where I would black out. I want to see. What is that magic number where you drink until, like alcohol poisoning. How do you push it all the way to the very end of this? And let me tell you what. I woke up the next morning, afternoon, I said the very same thing that some of you have said. I will never. Come on, do that again.
That next Saturday, I'd forgotten all about how sick it made me.
There are multiple times in my life I swore I will never do that again. And I find myself doing the thing that I did not want to do. Why? Because it was a way to temporarily mask my shame and my regret, my disappointment, my anger.
And many of us still find ourselves in the exact same cycle of shame and regret. And trying to mask the shame with one thing after the next. Here's the good news. Jesus was standing on the shore, speaking into the lives of his friends, the same as he is doing to me and to you, saying, come on, come to me because you're not strong enough. I knew you were going to mess it up. And there's grace for you. Let's get back on track. Get back to your original purpose. And I feel that so strongly in my spirit today. I'm speaking prophetically to somebody. This is more than just a message. You need to hear this. The Lord's saying, I intended you for more than this.
Let's get back to who I called you to be it matters how you respond in that moment to your shame, to your fears, to your doubts. If you can approach that with honesty, like Peter does, if you can respond to the grace of God, you can find yourself doing things that you never believed on your best day that you'd be able to do in spite of the mistakes that you've made. I've made them. And you've made them too. This is not a church full of perfect people. But the question is, how do we respond to the grace of God in spite of our shame and regret? And I asked you before, and I'll ask you again. When was the last time that you felt shame? Because for some of us, we've been doing the wrong thing so long knowing that it was wrong, we've seared our conscience. I don't even feel shame about it. It's just part of who I am.
Let me just speak very, very clearly to that. No, it's not.
There's a new heart for you.
There's a plan that God has for you. And it's better than just living in shame and regret. God is calling us back to a love for him where everything starts fresh and new in light of his grace. Here's three things I wanna share with you that I think are so important for us to glean from this story. Not only to the disciples, but to us as disciples of Christ today. Here's the first thing I wanna show you. To live a life that matters, Number one, a life that matters. Must be able to recognize Jesus. I have to be able to recognize Jesus in the midst of emotional struggles.
And this is where we have a problem. It's not recognizing Jesus when things are going really, really good. Now, some people, that's a problem. But for most of us, we've learned to say, hey, thank you. Thank things in my life are really good right now. But when we're faced with shame and doubt and fear and regret and our mistakes and our worries and our problems and anxieties, that's the time where it's hard to recognize Jesus because the voices of our emotions speak louder than what Jesus is saying.
Notice Jesus is calling out to them from the shore, speaking the exact same thing that he did when he first called them. Did they recognize him? No.
My friends, do you have any fish?
No, we've got nothing.
Well, throw your net on the other side.
They didn't recognize Jesus because of the emotional whirlwind that is happening inside of each of their minds. That's my question for you. Do. Do you do that? Do you have a hard time hearing the voice of the Lord when your emotions are running high.
There's an old statement that says wisdom is low when emotions are high. And it's really true.
I found myself. When I get emotional, when I get full of anxiety, when I find myself thinking about something that I know could happen in my own mind, I am really good at making sure that that thing already happened in my mind, right? And I carry it through to its worst possible outcome. And then I live the next day like it already happened.
Just me.
I found myself saying, I am a really good expert at finding the worst in things and making them even worse than that in my own mind.
Here is Jesus speaking into the emotional turmoil that is going on, and they don't recognize him. Let me just remind you that a life that matters must be able to recognize Jesus in the midst of emotional turmoil. And my emotions can keep me from recognizing what Jesus is saying, because the voice of my emotions will. Will try attempt to lie to me and tell me this is the truth.
When God's word is true, what Jesus says about me is true.
So my dad has.
Has a very specific way of approaching things when he gets super upset. And I knew this, but I still like to push his buttons. As many of you will know, some of us are button pushers, and some of us get our buttons pushed. You're either on one side or the other of that. So I was driving in Fort Worth one day, and I saw my dad happen to pass me in traffic. And so I honked at him and waved. And he just kind of like, ah. You know, he didn't recognize me, but he said something back. And so I'm like, push button. So I pull in right behind him, get up close and honk at him. I'm waving, you know, in the rearview mirror, I can see him just.
[00:22:08] Speaker A: So.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: I get really close to his bumper because I got to honk on the horn again, lay on it. He pulls to the side of the road, gets out, grabs a tire iron from the back of his truck and comes charging at me, screaming at me. And I'm like, dad, dad, don't kill me. He's like, I didn't even recognize you. I was like, cause you're so angry. What's wrong with you?
You've got issues.
Sometimes when emotions are running high, we just don't recognize what's happening right in front of us. Is it just me and my family, or could the same be said about you? Here's what's happening with the disciples. Emotions are Running high, and they don't recognize Jesus. And they allow their emotions to let them drift back into old habits. Their emotions push them back to things that they used to be drifting good at. The old lifestyles, the old things that God has delivered us from, we find ourselves doing when emotions run high. Just me, no, you want to build a life that matters. We have to master that. We have to recognize that Jesus is speaking. In the midst of my turmoil, Jesus is always speaking.
And what does Jesus say in those moments? He says, hey, throw your net on the other side. Throw it on the right side. And they respond because they heard the voice of Jesus and responded to what it was he was saying. Even though they were the experts. They're really good. They've been fishing those waters their whole life. They know all the best spots. But yet they responded to what Jesus had told them to do in spite of their emotions. They cast it out on the other side and it produces where there was nothing before. Let me remind you of this very, very simple truth that my best efforts cannot produce what Jesus can do with a single word.
You may be an expert, you may be really, really good.
But when emotions are high, we make bad decisions. But if I can find the voice of Jesus in the midst of my emotional struggles, it begins to produce things that I couldn't produce on my best day. Please hear me.
We all have days like this where emotions get out of control. But Jesus is speaking. And as followers of Jesus, we are expected to be led by his voice. We're expected to be led by the Holy Spirit. One of the markers of being a child of God is whether or not you can be led by the Holy Spirit. Many people around our world today would say, I'm a child of God. We're all children of God. It's a very common thing for many people to say, we're children of God. Are we really not like that?
Romans chapter 8 tells us very clearly, for those who are led by the Spirit of God, those. Those are the children of God. The question is not do you have emotional struggles? But can you find the voice of Jesus in the midst of it and begin to listen to what he has to say? Because often what Jesus will say will be completely different than what you're thinking. I found that to be true in many, many cases.
But what he says always produces, and what I think does not produce anything healthy or good.
He is the best part of me, and he's the best part of you.
A life that matters must be able to recognize Jesus to be led by the Holy Spirit to respond to whatever he's saying. And how do we do that? I'm so glad that you asked.
How are we led by the Holy Spirit? How do we do that? Pastor, here's the good news. It's very, very simple. You ask him to lead.
I want to give this to you, and maybe you've never, ever done something like this before. I want to encourage you to let the first part of your day not be spent on your phone, but be spent in the presence of the Lord, asking him, will you lead me today?
It may seem really, really trivial to you. It may seem like, okay, I don't understand what I'm even doing. Just. Just try it. Holy Spirit, would you. Would you lead me today before I get on my phone, before I take on the. The issues of the day, before I get lost in what's about to happen? Would. Would you lead me today?
Simply asking the Lord to help you, inviting him into your day, will start a process of living a life that really matters, a life that makes a difference.
Here's the second key that we see. Number two. A life that matters is not just built on recognizing Jesus, but built on the right responses, the right responses. So notice, in the midst of all the things that are going on on this boat, what happens. As soon as the disciple that Jesus loved said, it's the Lord, what does Peter do? He jumps in the water. He responds immediately to what Jesus was saying.
So what about you?
If you can recognize the Lord in the midst of what you're walking through, will you respond immediately? Or you like the rest of the disciples that kind of just sit on the boat? I said, we'll get there in a few minutes. Let's take care of these fish now. I think the important thing is that they responded, but Peter responded faster.
I think that also gives us a clue to the kind of emotional battle that he was facing. What's really going on inside of his mind, the things that he was lost in, the things that he felt regret about, the shame. As soon as he recognized it was the Lord, he jumps into the water. That's the right response, by the way, to respond immediately to what Jesus is telling you. In the midst of whatever it is that you're walking through, respond. Because why Jesus is speaking.
He's always speaking.
Respond. And Peter, by the way, is known for his emotional responses. But the last time that Jesus really had a conversation with him, you know, he was on the side of the mountain and people were coming to arrest Jesus. Peter pulls out a sword and Starts slicing ears.
He's kind of an emotional guy. Let's be honest. Now, I don't know about you, but I want to kill a couple of those people around me at all times. Like, if we're willing to. When they say ride or die, they mean it until it's like the real ride or die. But he was willing in that moment at least, to pull out a sword. Let's go. Like, he's an emotional guy, but in this moment, he responds to the Lord and he jumps immediately into the water. I love that. It shows us his heart, shows what he's walking through. And I'm not really sure exactly why he jumped into the water and nobody else did, but I can only imagine that if I was Peter, I would be thinking to myself, hey, John, you might be the disciple that Jesus loved. You might have beat me to the tomb, but you ain't beating me to Jesus. You might be able to run faster than me, but. But you ain't swimming faster than me. Or who knows? Maybe he thought, if Jesus told me to come, maybe I get to walk on water again. I don't know.
But nevertheless, he responds. And it's always the right response to run to Jesus.
I want to leave that on the screen. I want to make sure that those of you that are watching online see that maybe if you don't hear anything else that I say today, please hear that. The right response is always run to Jesus to talk to him, to ask him for help, to get to his presence as soon as possible. The right response is always to run to Jesus. It's always right to listen to whatever he says. When he says, hey, come here, get in the water, take off running, get to his presence as soon as you can. When God speaks, His people are supposed to respond. That's why it's important when God speaks to you about giving, about being generous, that you respond, trust him, take a step. When God speaks to you about inviting somebody to church, respond. He knows what he's doing.
I had somebody tell me one time, well, I don't know if it was really the Lord. It might have been the devil telling me to invite him to church. Like, does the devil want people to come to church? It's not the devil. Invite him to church. What happens when you know that one of your co workers or one of the members of your family is struggling and they say something like, would you pray for me?
The right response in that moment say, hey, I'm gonna keep you in my prayers. No, no, don't do that. Start Praying.
They've given you a free pass to bring Jesus into the conversation. And the right response is always to go to Jesus. His children are expected to respond. And I love that. As Peter comes up onto the shore and as he runs to Jesus, you know, Scripture doesn't really record, do they embrace? I figure that they probably did.
But in those moments, you know what Jesus does not do? Jesus doesn't say, I told you so.
Aren't you thankful that we don't serve a God that says I told you so? Even though, by the way, he could.
Jesus doesn't. It doesn't record that. Jesus is looking at Peter like.
Because sometimes you don't even have to say it. I know the look. The look is, what does he do?
He says, let's have some breakfast.
And Jesus already had the breakfast made for him ready for him to respond. I want you to see the kindness of our God.
That what he could have said. He doesn't say what he could have called attention to. He doesn't. Instead he says, why don't you come sit down with me? Let's have breakfast together.
It's interesting that Jesus didn't need their fish. He had his own and he was ready for Peter to sit down.
I want you to recognize the kindness of your father.
If there's been a distance between you and the Lord, recognize that it's his kindness. Scripture says in Romans 2, God's kindness is intended to do what? To bring you to repentance.
To get you to stop being who you used to be and to walk into who you're supposed to be. To turn away from your sin, to turn away from your old life, to turn away from the shame and to come back into relationship with Jesus. His kindness leads us to repentance. So even when we missed it, we can try again. Even when we've fallen short, we get to get up, get back to the life that God has called us to lead. Get close to Jesus. Proximity to Jesus, by the way, starts with repentance.
Let me just remind you of this. If, if you've had some shame this week that you've dealt with, if you have a situation where you told God, I'd never do that again, and you find yourself that you've done it again, you're dealing with that.
When you talk about getting close to Jesus, it starts with repentance, saying, lord, I messed it up, I'm sorry, let me get close to you.
Let me have a one on one relationship with you right now. Because Jesus is not waiting to say, I told you so not waiting to condemn.
He's here to restore relationships. God is a relationship restorer to those that are willing to come and sit with Him. So a life that matters must be able to recognize Jesus and it has to be built on the right responses. But number three, a life that matters is built on restoration.
And by the way, restoration is not a one time event for all believers. Restoration is something you're probably going to have to walk through time and time and time again because we don't always get it right. We're going to make some mistakes. We're going to find ourselves trying to go back to another life, trying to go back to the old ways of doing things. Restoration is something that we've got to get right. When we come back into relationship with the Lord, we sit at his feet and allow him to start chiseling the way of parts of our heart that were wrong.
Jesus begins to do that with some questions.
He doesn't say, do you remember when I told you that you would do this and you said you wouldn't?
You know what the question that he asked him? He says, do you love me?
And he asks him three times, once for every single time that Peter says, I don't even know you.
He says, do you? Do you love me?
Do you love me?
You know, it's interesting that Jesus finishes up this, this conversation with Peter by saying the same two words that he said when he called him. He said, follow me, follow me, follow me.
I can't help but go back just a few verses before, when Peter was denying Christ. The Bible says that as they were leading Christ into the place where they were about to whip him and to beat him and put the crown of thorns on his head, about to spit on him, when all that was happening, the Bible says Peter followed at a distance.
Let me ask you, how about you?
What about you?
See, some disciples just scattered when the going got tough, one disciple followed, but at a distance.
What about you? Would you say that your life with Christ is closer than it's ever been? That your following of Jesus is closer than it's ever been?
Would you say that you're following him, but it's from a distance?
You know, in these moments, as Jesus is restoring Simon Peter back into relationship with him, as he's reminding him of his calling, there's some beautiful things that begin to happen around this fire. As a matter of fact, we find some clues in the word fire itself. You know, when it says the charcoal fire that Jesus has prepared for Peter, and they prepared these fish on that word only appears two times in Scripture. It's a very, very rare word that we only see happen twice. And both times that it appears in scripture is the time that Jesus cooks breakfast for Peter and restores him, and the time that Peter was warming himself by the fire as he denied him. And is it insane to think that perhaps Jesus reminded him of how far he has come with a smell? He takes him back to that exact moment and says, I saw you there.
I know what you said, but the question is, do you love me? Because there's grace for you.
Jesus begins to restore Peter by taking him back to the exact moment that he lost it.
And I want to encourage you today to don't be afraid of those moments, to go back into your mind and to say, lord, I was wrong right there. And you were there and you saw me do it. Like King David said, my sin is ever before you, against you, and you only have I sinned to live a life that matters to me, a life that understands restoration, that God is ready and willing and able to restore me. And in these next few moments, I want you to think about this in terms of not what the person next to you needs to hear. I really hope that they're listening. No, let it speak to you.
God takes him back to the moment where he lost it. And God reminds him that there's a grace for him. And God is here to remind you today there is grace for you, that there is a calling and a purpose for you.
As a matter of fact, God's word tells us that the calling of God, those gifts, they're irrevocable.
God didn't take those away the moment that you lost it and messed up. Whether you've been honest about that or not, God still loves you. And he's asking today, do you still love me?
Because perhaps today is a day where you get back up, you get in the right relationship with Jesus, you start doing again what God has called you to do. Maybe you've been hurt, maybe you felt abandoned, maybe you've hurt yourself or been ashamed of what you've said or done or thought about where you've gone.
God is a God that loves and restores. He's a God of great grace.
He's a God that understands that we are human and we fall short.
But he loves us in spite of what we've done. He's a God that is ready and willing and able to restore those who would come and sit with him and get back to a simple love relationship between us and our Father. Can you receive that? As we're finishing up today, I want to remind you of a very simple statement.
Because of Jesus, I have a calling. And my calling is always greater than my failure.
Let me remind you of your calling today.
You have a purpose.
You have a purpose. And your purpose is bigger than just getting more toys than your neighbor. Your purpose is bigger than just having some more kids. Your purpose is bigger than just getting married. Those are beautiful and wonderful things. I hope you get plenty of toys, but that's not your purpose.
And often we'll find ourselves chasing things that just don't matter. But a life that matters, life that is submitted to the Lord is going to be bigger than you. It's bigger than me.
And what you can accomplish through what God has called you to do is always greater than the times where you've messed it up and fallen short. We are a church full of imperfect people.
We're a church full of mistakes, people that haven't gotten it right. You are not alone.
We're also a church that recognizes that the spirit of the Lord is here. And he's drawing us back to himself.
He's a restorer of those that have missed it and lost it, those that are covered in shame. He's here to help today. Would you bow your head and close your eyes? I want to invite you to pray the same prayer that we do every single week. The prayer is Holy Spirit. What are you saying to me, Lord? Is there anything that you're saying to me today out of this word? For some of us in this place, you might be dealing with shame. Shame from your past, things that you've thought about and looked at, things that you've done where you swore you would never do it again.
You find yourself dealing with the shame of that.
Let me just remind you of the power of our God.
Let me remind you of the grace of our God.
He says, follow me.
Get close to him.
For some of us here today, it's been a while since you've talked to the Lord.
I want to encourage you to not give up, to talk to him right now.
For others in this place, you might have even been raised in church, but you don't have a relationship with Jesus. You've gone so far from him for one reason or another, you find yourself far from God.
My friend, I want you to know that it's not an accident that you're here. It's not an accident that you're listening to me. God led you here for this moment. And if you could see it right now, God himself is reaching out his hand to you, saying, come home.
You may say, how do I respond to that? What am I supposed to do?
You talk to him. It's called prayer.
If you want a relationship with Jesus, right now, with every head bowed and every eye closed, if you want a relationship with Jesus, I want you to pray this prayer with me. You can pray it out loud if you want to. You can pray it underneath your breath. The most important thing is that you believe it. But right where you are, pray this prayer with me. Just say, jesus, I believe you're the son of God.
Say, I believe that you came and died, and I believe that you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness for all of my sins I have messed up.
I ask you to forgive me.
Take over my life, and I will follow you for the rest of my days.
I'm all in.
With heads bowed and every eye closed. Those of you that just prayed that prayer with me, if you're not afraid or ashamed to admit it, my friend, I will not embarrass you in any way. That's not what I'm here to do. But those of you that prayed that prayer with me, would you go ahead and look up at me and slip up your hand and say, that was me. I did. I prayed that prayer with you today. I prayed that prayer. Good. Good for you. Yes, sir, I see you.
You might be watching online today. And if you prayed that prayer with me, I want you to know that just like if you were here in this room, there's a number appearing on your screen. There's a number appearing on the screen behind me. I want to invite you to text me if you prayed that prayer. Text the number on that screen and text the words I prayed. And when you do that, what's gonna happen is I'm gonna send you back the link to some things that I've prepared just for you. They'll help you understand what just happened inside of your heart and what to do next. Because this isn't the end of your relationship with Jesus. This is the beginning. It's a new start. It's a new day.
Let me help you. It's the greatest joy of my life to help people be in a great relationship with Jesus. Let me help you with that.
And High Ridge family. Go ahead and look up at me if you would. Then let's stand to our feet together as we end our service today. I want to remind if you're watching online and you liked what you heard today, if you feel like Our world needs to hear about restoration. If our world needs to hear about the grace of Jesus, then do us a huge favor. Share this message on whatever social media platform that you're watching. Use your social media influence to spread the news of Jesus, the love of Christ, the grace of our great God, and you would be shocked at what God can do when some of his people come together and use the resources that they have to be a blessing to the kingdom of God. It's a big deal when you do that. So thank you for sharing that. Also, we have our elders and their wives stepping forward. And if you need prayer today about anything that you might be walking through, we want to know that these people will stay right here as the service ends to be available to pray for you. Let me also remind you of a couple things. Easter is coming up. It is going to be a huge experience. We also have five services coming up on Easter. We are a very large church and everybody seems to show up on the same day at Easter. But here's the most important thing. It's not how many people show up. The most important thing is that your people show up.
There are people that God is going to uniquely place in your path. And I want to encourage you, I want to challenge you. Invite people to church on Easter, they will come. Statistics tell us that if you invite people on Easter and on Christmas, they will come. And I will make this agreement with you. If you bring your friends, if you bring your co workers, if you bring your family members that are far from Christ, I'll do a couple things. Number one, I'll do my best not to embarrass you.
And number two, I'll introduce them to Jesus. And you're gonna watch eternity change because of your obedience. It's a beautiful and powerful thing when God uses you to change somebody else's life. That's how you live a life that matters, by the way. That's how you make an eternal difference. That's not just a return on investment. That's an eternal return on investment. I want to encourage you to be a part of it. Invite people to church. It's on 420 this year, so just remember. That should be easy for you to remember. Some of you are like, why are they giggling? We love you, we're proud of you. But for the rest of us, we've got a past.
Let me also remind you, if you've been kicking the tires around here and you're saying, I like this church, I want to be a part of it. Our growth track is what you would call a membership class that's happening at 12 o'clock right here in the building behind me. That happens every single Sunday. Our growth track is where you figure out what we believe and how you can be a part, what your role is and what my role is. We would love for you to be a part of this church and growth track is how you do that every Sunday at 12 o'clock is the class right behind me. You can meet my wife and meet some of our staff members there. They would love to help you become part of this family. Then for everybody else, let me pray for you and bless you as we go. Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week? Help them to be led by your spirit. Help them to walk today free from shame, walking in the power of what your authority says that we can walk in. Would you bless them in Jesus name and all of us said together? Amen. God bless you as you go. I hope you have an awesome week.
[00:44:50] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening.
[00:45:02] Speaker B: If you want to be a part.
[00:45:03] Speaker A: Of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv or you can check out our
[email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.
