SPEAKER_00: Had a great Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you would say I ate way too much food?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that means you did it right.
SPEAKER_00: That means you did it right.
SPEAKER_00: I asked somebody this morning, I said, How are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: They said, I'm still full from Thursday.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Let's go.
SPEAKER_00: You're my kind of guy.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna be in a we're gonna be in John chapter number 21.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 21.
SPEAKER_00: And years ago, there was a there was a conference for ministry leaders, and they were all gathered together, and there was this well-known speaker that everybody was super excited to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody was ready to hear him.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like when Dr.
SPEAKER_00: John Harris comes to FCC, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to hear him.
SPEAKER_00: And this speaker got up on the stage and he looked across at the room.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Do you want God to use you greatly?
SPEAKER_00: People were clapping.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Applause died down.
SPEAKER_00: He said it again, but a little bit louder.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Do you want God to use you greatly?
SPEAKER_00: People were clapping even more.
SPEAKER_00: You had the the the some people were like whistling and hollering, and then you know it kind of died down.
SPEAKER_00: And then he asked it one more time.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Do you want God to use you greatly?
SPEAKER_00: This time, everybody stood up.
SPEAKER_00: They were like, Yeah, we want God to use us greatly.
SPEAKER_01: And the applause died down.
SPEAKER_01: And then he said, Then God must break you deeply.
SPEAKER_01: And the room got dead quiet.
SPEAKER_00: What he was saying was there's this pattern in scripture where people that go the furthest with God and people that were used the greatest by God tend to be the people that God broke down.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, God often, God often, before He uses us greatly, he often breaks us deeply.
SPEAKER_00: God often does a work in us before God does a work through us.
SPEAKER_00: And you might be like, Nate, like what do you mean God wants to break us down?
SPEAKER_00: Like that's uh a breaking work is when God awakens us spiritually to some places in our life where maybe we are dependent on ourselves, some places in our life where maybe there's pride, some places in our life where he needs to mature us and change us and sanctify us, set us apart.
SPEAKER_00: And what God will often do is God will reveal things to us and awaken us spiritually to some places because he wants to use us greatly.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you are like me and you realize that there sometimes are blind spots in your life?
SPEAKER_00: If you weren't just raising your hand, your blind spot is your blind spot.
SPEAKER_00: And what he'll do is he'll awaken us, he'll reveal places in our lives where our trust is not in him because he wants to use us greatly.
SPEAKER_00: We go to a place in the book of John where this happened.
SPEAKER_00: We go and talk about a guy whose name was Peter.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us are familiar with Peter.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, everybody say Peter, ready?
SPEAKER_00: Peter, Peter, and Jesus wanted to use Peter, but Peter had some things that that needed to be worked through that couldn't go to the place that Jesus wanted to take him.
SPEAKER_00: Peter had some heart things, and Jesus was going to break him down because Jesus wanted to use him.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know this morning that Jesus wants to use you?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you.
SPEAKER_00: You said, No, Pastor Nate, if you knew me, like Jesus couldn't use me.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you knew me, you'd be like, there's no way.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wants to use you.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, this I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to turn to your neighbor and I want you to tell them Jesus wants to use you.
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to tell them one more time because I think they're unsure about it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, go ahead and tell them one more time.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to use you.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna go to an account in scripture where he breaks somebody down so he can use them.
SPEAKER_00: It's John chapter 21.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're ready for it this morning, would you say amen?
SPEAKER_00: John 21, verse number one, it says this.
SPEAKER_00: It says, After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias.
SPEAKER_00: The Sea of Tiberias is another name for the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: This is where Jesus did a lot of his miracles.
SPEAKER_00: He did a lot of them on the Sea of Galilee or around the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: So that's where he's at.
SPEAKER_00: And he revealed himself in this way.
SPEAKER_00: Verse number two, Simon Peter, Thomas called twin, Nathaniel from Cana of Galilee, Zebedee sons, and two others of his disciples, the disciples of Jesus, they were together.
SPEAKER_00: Verse number three, I'm going fishing, Simon Peter said.
SPEAKER_00: We're coming with you, they told him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're a fisherman in the room, when somebody says, I'm going fishing, you probably are like, I'm going with you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly what happens here.
SPEAKER_00: We're coming with you.
SPEAKER_00: So they went out and got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you ever gone fishing before and you have caught nothing?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, how many of you are like me, and every time I've gone out fishing, I've caught nothing.
SPEAKER_00: There are a few things as frustrating as sitting there.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, come on.
SPEAKER_00: I if you're like me, after like two minutes, I'm getting impatient.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, something's not working here.
SPEAKER_00: They fish all night, they catch nothing.
SPEAKER_00: What's interesting about this is they were fishing, which was their livelihood, which is what God um which is uh what they what they had done until Jesus met them on the same shore, the Sea of Galilee, and had called them to no longer go fishing, but to be fishers of men.
SPEAKER_00: Now Jesus had died, he had resurrected.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about that last week.
SPEAKER_00: And now what they've done, instead of being fishers of men, what they've done is they've gone back to what's comfortable and what's normal and just what's kind of socially acceptable.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's a good thing because that's their livelihood.
SPEAKER_00: So they're like, well, Jesus resurrected.
SPEAKER_00: We know that he wants us to be fishers of men, but right now we're just gonna go out and fish.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what they had done.
SPEAKER_00: They had traded the best thing, what Jesus had called them to do, for a good thing, what they were used to doing.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes what we think in our lives is we think all of our decisions are between what's good and what's bad.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the decisions are between what is good and what is best.
SPEAKER_00: And what's happened here is the apostles have said, hey, hey, hey, we're gonna go back to fishing, even though Jesus has called us to be fishers of men.
SPEAKER_00: And what they don't realize is Jesus is about to meet them right where they are.
SPEAKER_00: And verse number four, it says this it says, When daybreak came, Jesus stood on the shore.
SPEAKER_00: But disciples, they didn't know it was Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, Jesus called to them, You don't have any fish, do you?
SPEAKER_00: That's a rhetorical question.
SPEAKER_00: No, they answered.
SPEAKER_00: And you'll find some.
SPEAKER_00: So they did.
SPEAKER_00: And they were unable to haul it in because of the large number of fish.
SPEAKER_00: The disciple, the one Jesus loved.
SPEAKER_01: I always love how John includes that part when he describes himself.
SPEAKER_01: The one, the one Jesus loved.
SPEAKER_00: He says, it he said to Peter, It is the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied his outer clothing around him, free had taken it off, and he plunged into the sea, since they were not far from land, about a hundred yards away.
SPEAKER_00: The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish.
SPEAKER_00: And when they got out on the land, they saw uh, what are those two words?
SPEAKER_00: They saw a charcoal fire.
SPEAKER_01: Make a note of that.
SPEAKER_01: With fish lying on it and bread.
SPEAKER_00: Bring some of the fish you've just caught, Jesus told them.
SPEAKER_00: So Simon Peter climbed up and hauled the net ashore full of large fish, 153 of them.
SPEAKER_00: Simon Peter must be pretty strong.
SPEAKER_00: Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.
SPEAKER_00: Come and eat breakfast, Jesus told him.
SPEAKER_00: None of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you?
SPEAKER_00: Because they knew it was the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came, he took the bread and gave it to them, and he did the same with the fish.
SPEAKER_00: This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Now we get to the next section of scripture in verse 15 in a minute.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna see this interaction that Jesus had with Peter that was emotionally charged, that was life-altering, that changed the trajectory of Peter's life.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus was about to remind Peter of the calling that he had on him.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you in the room, you need to hear this is that God has a calling on your life.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are aware of the calling that God has had on your life.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are unaware of the calling that God has on your life, but God has a calling on your life.
SPEAKER_00: And what Peter is going to have happen to him is Jesus is going to break him down.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus can build him up and call him into the calling that he had for him.
SPEAKER_00: And he does it around a charcoal fire.
SPEAKER_01: Does anybody remember the one other time in scripture where there is a charcoal fire?
SPEAKER_01: And this is a hard question.
SPEAKER_01: Does anybody remember?
SPEAKER_01: The denial.
SPEAKER_01: Peter had denied Jesus around a charcoal fire.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the one other time in scripture we see a charcoal fire is right here.
SPEAKER_00: Now Peter is around a charcoal fire.
SPEAKER_00: When Peter denied Jesus, there were witnesses around.
SPEAKER_00: Now there's an in this charcoal fire, there's also people around.
SPEAKER_00: It's a public moment.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples are there.
SPEAKER_00: Around this charcoal fire where Peter denied Jesus, there was a question that was repeatedly asked.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Are you a follower of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Now there's about to be a repeated question that's going to be asked that Jesus asked him.
SPEAKER_00: There's these similarities between that charcoal fire and this one that's happening just a few days later.
SPEAKER_00: And here it happens, and here it goes down, and here's this emotionally charged, life-altering moment in Peter's life that literally changed his trajectory.
SPEAKER_00: It started with a question.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Simon, son of John, do you, what's that word?
SPEAKER_00: Do you mean more than these?
SPEAKER_00: Now the word love here is the word agape.
SPEAKER_00: That's the word that's translated into love.
SPEAKER_00: Agape means completely sacrificial, completely committed.
SPEAKER_00: And at the Last Supper, not far before this, Jesus had stood at a sat at a table with all the disciples, and he said, Hey, hey, hey, uh, things are gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: What are y'all gonna betray me?
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, Hey, hey, hey, Jesus, if if all of these guys, my boys, if they deny you and they forsake you, I ain't never gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00: Me, I'm I'm never gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm committed, I'm in, I'll sacrifice everything for you.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus says, Simon, do you have that agape love more than these?
SPEAKER_00: These same disciples that were sitting at that table.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, You know that I love you, but Peter doesn't use the word agape.
SPEAKER_00: Peter uses the word phileo.
SPEAKER_00: Phileo is a is a word for love that's less sacrificial than agape.
SPEAKER_00: It's like an affectionate type of love.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you know that I'm affectionate towards you.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say I have agape towards you.
SPEAKER_00: Because he remembers charcoal fire, charcoal fire.
SPEAKER_00: He's very well aware of this.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, he's like, I have phileo towards you, feed my lambs, Jesus told him.
SPEAKER_00: In verse number 16, a second time he asked him, Simon, son of John, do you what's that word?
SPEAKER_00: He asked someone, do you love?
SPEAKER_00: It's agape.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Lord, he said to him, You know that I Phileo, I love you, shepherd my sheep.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when Jesus is saying, feed my lambs, shepherd my sheep, whenever you see sheep in scripture, it's referring to the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is literally telling Peter, who just denied him, I want you, I have a calling for you to feed the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm Jesus, I don't know if I trust Peter enough to do that.
SPEAKER_00: He's just denied, but yet Jesus is giving him a calling, he's reminding him of his calling.
SPEAKER_00: A third time in verse 17, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
SPEAKER_01: Peter, watch this word.
SPEAKER_01: Peter was grieved.
SPEAKER_01: This means intense sorrow.
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus asks him this third time, do you love me?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't use the word agape here.
SPEAKER_00: He uses the word phileo.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus goes down to the level of Peter.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter, seeing all of this, is grieved in his heart.
SPEAKER_01: Peter's aware of his shortcomings.
SPEAKER_01: Peter's aware of his disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: Peter's aware that Jesus isn't even asking me about do I have full commitment?
SPEAKER_01: He's not even asking me for that kind of love anymore.
SPEAKER_01: It's apparent that I don't.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter responds by saying, Lord, you know that I love you.
SPEAKER_01: You know everything about me.
SPEAKER_01: Feed my sheep.
SPEAKER_01: And what Jesus has done here is he's he's gotten to the heart of Peter.
SPEAKER_00: He hasn't just shown the love that Peter doesn't have, but he's also revealed that Peter has failed because of Peter's pride, because of Peter's self-reliance.
SPEAKER_00: And what Jesus is doing here is Jesus was doing surgery on Peter's heart.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever had surgery, you know it's painful.
SPEAKER_01: Surgery is not a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, verse 17, takes Peter to a place where Peter's grieving.
SPEAKER_00: Now you might say, Why would Jesus do this?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, why why would Jesus get him to a place where he's grieving about what he did?
SPEAKER_00: Is Jesus cruel?
SPEAKER_00: Is Jesus being like mean here?
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't Jesus care more about how Peter's doing than what Peter's doing?
SPEAKER_00: Why doesn't Jesus just like give Peter lots of affirmation in this moment and be like, Peter, I believe in you?
SPEAKER_00: Why does he take Peter to a place where Peter's grieving?
SPEAKER_00: That seems, especially in our culture, that's a very unloving thing for Jesus to do.
SPEAKER_00: But he loves Peter enough to break him down because he wants to use Peter in a mighty way.
SPEAKER_00: But there are things in Peter's life that cannot go to where God wants to take Peter.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Peter is up to this point is pretty cocky.
SPEAKER_00: Peter has the spiritual gift of being impulsive and reactionary and saying whatever he thinks.
SPEAKER_00: He puts his foot in his mouth very often.
SPEAKER_00: He has an unhealthy pride about him.
SPEAKER_00: He lacks faith.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has rebuked him for his lack of faith.
SPEAKER_00: And the foundation of Peter's life, at the very core, is pride, is self-reliance, is arrogance.
SPEAKER_00: And the fruit of that was denying Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And now Jesus is asking him questions to take him down to the roots of what's really going on in his life, and he's doing surgery on Peter's heart.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason why Jesus does surgery on Peter's heart is the same reason why doctors do surgery on us.
SPEAKER_00: Doctors perform surgery not to hurt us, but to heal us.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say you go to the doctor this week.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say you're like me and you can't remember the last time you went to the doctor, but you decided to go to the doctor this week.
SPEAKER_00: And you go to the doctor and they run some tests and they find out that you have a tumor in your body.
SPEAKER_01: The doctor is not gonna say, Man, you have a tumor in your body, but don't worry about it, bro.
SPEAKER_00: Uh just wake up in the morning and say five positive affirmations about yourself and watch a bunch of Tony Robbins videos.
SPEAKER_01: And let me like, I'm just gonna like give you some good vibes, and these good vibes, everything's gonna go away.
SPEAKER_01: You'll be like, what?
SPEAKER_00: The doctor's doctor, this is what doctors do.
SPEAKER_00: Doctor's gonna be like, we gotta cut that tumor out of you, bro.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna put a date on the calendar, we're gonna figure out all the different parts of the tumor, we're gonna run some more tests, we need to see the diameter.
SPEAKER_00: Where is it at?
SPEAKER_00: How can we best get to that?
SPEAKER_00: Because you gotta get the tumor out of you.
SPEAKER_00: Because the tumors in you is gonna mess everything up.
SPEAKER_00: And what Jesus is doing to Peter is Peter has the tumor of pride and self-reliance and ego and all of these things in him.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus has to get him to the point where Peter realizes this, where Peter is self-aware enough to say, Oh, I have this in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't really love you like I think that I love you.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm not really as committed to you as I think that I'm committed to you.
SPEAKER_00: So he gets Peter to this place where Peter is grieved and Peter repents.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he's grieved.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the thing: repentance is hard.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's kind of like this.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys, how many of you guys have, I'm curious, how many of you guys are allergic to something?
SPEAKER_00: You guys have any allergies?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, somebody wanna shout out what's what's something that that you're allergic to?
SPEAKER_01: Walnuts?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, walnuts.
SPEAKER_01: What is that?
SPEAKER_01: Coding?
SPEAKER_01: Coding.
SPEAKER_01: What's that?
SPEAKER_01: Pork?
SPEAKER_01: Allergic to pork?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Something else?
SPEAKER_01: Glute gluten?
SPEAKER_01: Blue cheese?
SPEAKER_00: Dot here.
SPEAKER_00: Dodgers fans?
SPEAKER_00: Somebody said they're allergic to Dodgers fans?
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: That was Raiders fans, my bad.
SPEAKER_00: Um sorry, I just, you know, it's you know a lot of us are allergic to something.
SPEAKER_00: But I think a lot of us have an allergy that's been undiagnosed.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, there's something that you know, you've gone to the doctor, you've written some tests, they have not been able to diagnose this one.
SPEAKER_00: And I think the allergy that a lot of us have that we don't realize is a lot of us are allergic to admitting that we're wrong.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, because let's be honest, we're not wrong very much, are we?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, other people are wrong.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, if they just saw it like you saw it, then things would be way better.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: If they just did what what you thought they should do.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, those times that we maybe like the one time that we are wrong, like the one time a year that we're wrong, even in those times, it's really hard to admit that we're wrong, right?
SPEAKER_00: Man, it's uncomfortably quiet in this room right now.
SPEAKER_00: In those times, we admit that we're wrong.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times, we don't even have, it's not even a genuine repentance that we have.
SPEAKER_00: It's more of like a self-centered repentance, a self-centered admittance that we're wrong.
SPEAKER_00: It's like this, okay.
SPEAKER_00: This is what self-centered repentance is it is being sorry for the consequences of our actions.
SPEAKER_00: So it's like if you have a kid, you have kids, you might tell them don't do this, and they still do it.
SPEAKER_00: And you tell them, don't do this, and they still do it.
SPEAKER_00: You tell them don't do this, they do it.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Okay, you're in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: You're grounded.
SPEAKER_00: I'm taking this away from you.
SPEAKER_00: At that point, they're like, Mom, I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_00: Mom, I'll never do it again.
SPEAKER_00: I promise.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I I need to, like, I need my video game.
SPEAKER_00: Like, like my YouTubers got a new video coming out, and you know, I think it's and it's like, hold on, hold on.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you sorry right now?
SPEAKER_00: Why weren't you sorry like the first two times I told you?
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because they aren't sorry for what they did, they're sorry for the consequences for their actions.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know you have an angel as a kid, your kids never do that, right?
SPEAKER_00: Sorry for the consequences of their actions.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the now here's the reality.
SPEAKER_00: The reality is that when we have self-centered repentance, it's driven by fear and by shame and by self-preservation or trying to manage consequences.
SPEAKER_00: It's saying, okay, it's saying, like, okay, um, I snapped at this person, so I need to apologize for this because if I don't apologize for it, like that gathering of coworkers or family, it's gonna be kind of weird or uncomfortable or awkward.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want it to be weird or uncomfortable or awkward.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna apologize because I said this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna apologize because I treated somebody outside of how God wants me to treat somebody and communicate with somebody.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna apologize because of the consequences that I don't want to experience.
SPEAKER_00: See, there's a difference between self-centered repentance and God-centered repentance.
SPEAKER_00: God-centered repentance is when we are sorry for the action.
SPEAKER_00: And God-centered repentance flows from being loved, forgiven, and accepted by God.
SPEAKER_00: God-centered repentance says, like, I love God so much, and He has called me to live a life that's in alignment with who I am as his child.
SPEAKER_00: And when I step out of alignment of that, I repent because I've made that choice to do that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sorry for the consequences, I'm sorry for what I did.
SPEAKER_00: You see, self-centered repentance runs from the consequences of our actions.
SPEAKER_00: God-centered repentance runs to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: In this text, what happens is Peter has a God-centered repentance which causes him to grieve about his sin.
SPEAKER_00: It causes him to grieve.
SPEAKER_00: And can I say one more thing as your pastor?
SPEAKER_00: Because I love you.
SPEAKER_00: If you play with sin long enough, eventually it will burn you.
SPEAKER_00: Sin will burn you.
SPEAKER_00: And at first, it may be cool and it may be okay, and you may be like, life is better than it ever was before.
SPEAKER_00: It says in Hebrews that Moses chose to rather enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is pleasurable.
SPEAKER_00: It talks about how he followed God.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the reality: if we will play with sin, eventually we will get burned.
SPEAKER_00: But we don't have to do this because we have a God, we have a heavenly father that loves us, that invites us to come to him.
SPEAKER_00: And when God says, No, I don't want you to do this, it's because he doesn't want you to hurt yourself.
SPEAKER_00: When God is not trying to keep you from something, like God in heaven is not like, man, I want to make their life miserable.
SPEAKER_00: Man, Giovanni, I want to make your life so hard, so don't do this over here.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: God's a good father, he's a good father that loves us and cares about us.
SPEAKER_00: And he brings Peter to this place of genuine repentance where he's grieving so he can call him up, number two, to take a step of growth.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 16, in verse 17, and I think it's verse 15 too.
SPEAKER_00: He tells him, Feed my sheep.
SPEAKER_00: Feed my lambs.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost like Jesus says, Peter, hey, the last charcoal fire you were at, you denied me.
SPEAKER_01: Last charcoal fire you were at, people around, you denied me.
SPEAKER_01: This charcoal fire, I'm restoring you and I'm calling you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm restoring you and I'm calling you.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what someone needs to hear this morning is that God is a God of second chances.
SPEAKER_00: God is a God of second chances.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you look at your life and you think, man, God has given up on me.
SPEAKER_00: Man, why do I even try?
SPEAKER_00: God is a God of second chances and a God of third chances and fourth chances and fifth chances and sixth chances.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're like me, you need even more than that.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, Listen, I see you where you are, and I want you to come back to me.
SPEAKER_00: And what God did is God was a God of the second chance that called Peter back to him and said, I have a calling, Peter, on your life for something bigger than you can imagine.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's like, hey, I'm going out, I'm fishing right now, like I'm trying to take care of my family, which is a very good and noble thing.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's like, I'm trying to work.
SPEAKER_00: I got I got these things going on.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, Hey, it's time that you stop fishing for fish.
SPEAKER_00: And I have a calling that you would feed my sheep.
SPEAKER_00: I have a calling that for something bigger than just fishing for fish.
SPEAKER_00: Like you are choosing what's good, but I have something that's better for you.
SPEAKER_00: And friends, this morning, some of you, God's put a calling on your life and you're settling for just the good.
SPEAKER_00: When God says, I have something greater.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the calling is scary and it's uncomfortable, and you never walked down that road before.
SPEAKER_00: But guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, the calling that God has for you is greater and it's worth more than the temporary discomfort you're gonna feel to step into that calling.
SPEAKER_00: God is a God of second chances.
SPEAKER_00: And as we end this morning, I want to talk to us for just a couple minutes.
SPEAKER_00: I also have a little family talk about an opportunity that some of us might have to take a step of growth in our life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna sit down for this.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you guys know our our church is growing.
SPEAKER_00: And while we're not a big church, it's been pretty cool to see this fall.
SPEAKER_00: Our church has averaged over 350 people a Sunday between three services.
SPEAKER_00: So we're a growing church.
SPEAKER_00: And when we look at that, we say, okay.
SPEAKER_00: This is stewardship that God wants us to steward.
SPEAKER_00: And when we look at this, we understand something that the first Christian church is not my church.
SPEAKER_00: First Christian church is not your church.
SPEAKER_00: It's God's church that we all get to be a part of.
SPEAKER_00: And as the church has developed, you have to structure things a little bit different to support the growth that's happening.
SPEAKER_00: So for example, when you when when as a church, when we had 75 volunteers, you could structure a certain way, and that structure doesn't support now that we have over 200 volunteers.
SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't work.
SPEAKER_00: And we're we we have felt some pain points.
SPEAKER_00: So going into January, and some of our teams are already doing this, and many of you already know about this, but we're restructuring our serve teams a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: We're we're asking people to serve either the first, third, and occasional fifth Sundays of the month, or the second and fourth Sundays of the month.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what we really need across all of our teams.
SPEAKER_00: We really need some people to take a step of growth and either start serving or re-engaging in serving.
SPEAKER_00: Because for God to use us to do what we believe God wants us to do, it's going to take everybody serving.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I'm asking for our church to do.
SPEAKER_00: I literally am asking for a hundred percent of our church.
SPEAKER_00: You say a hundred percent, yep, a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_00: A hundred percent of our church that would say, I'm going to step into serving for the next six months.
SPEAKER_00: That starting in January, you would say, I want to step into serving, and I want to be a part of one of these teams of uh of what God wants to do.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you'll step onto a team, guys, that's an easy way that we get to be a part of God using us and us helping more people know Jesus and making Jesus known.
SPEAKER_00: Second of all, we're gonna do something for men in 2026 that we haven't ever done before.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be called a leadership track brotherhood.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what this is this is the purpose of this is to raise up men that will be ministry coordinators, ministry leaders, deacons, and elders here at FCC.
SPEAKER_00: What this is gonna look like is it will happen during the growth group semesters during 2026.
SPEAKER_00: So we'll meet, I think 26 Wednesday nights happen on Wednesday nights, 26 Wednesday nights out of the year next year.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you men in the room, God's stirring something in you.
SPEAKER_00: And can I just say I want to invite you to be a part of this?
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm gonna be leading this.
SPEAKER_00: I think there's eight of us that are part of it so far.
SPEAKER_00: But God might be stirring something in you to lead in church and different places, and we will meet together for training, for development, for accountability.
SPEAKER_00: And this is gonna start in January.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're interested in this, talk to me.
SPEAKER_00: I would love to get you connected.
SPEAKER_00: And wherever you are in your life, I just want you to know that God wants to use you, that God has a heart for you to be used by you, to be used by him.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 2, verse 41.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it says about Peter's life.
SPEAKER_00: Josh can come up and play as I'm closing out this verse.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Those who accepted the message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them.
SPEAKER_01: The person that preached this message was Peter.
SPEAKER_00: Peter, days later, after this charcoal fire experience, was preaching the gospel, and 3,000 people, 3,000 people said, I accept your message.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Messiah, he's Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I want to follow him in baptism.
SPEAKER_00: 3,000 people, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: You talk about being used, that was used in a powerful way.
SPEAKER_00: But it started when Jesus restored him, and Peter humbled himself and he stepped into the calling that God had for him.
SPEAKER_00: So here's my two questions.
SPEAKER_00: One, what do you need to repent of in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Where's the place where maybe there's self-reliance or maybe there's self-dependence?
SPEAKER_00: And then two, where is God calling you to take a step of truth?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a calling that you've been fearful of, maybe it's something God's put in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just say, hey, guys, trust God?
SPEAKER_00: Trust him and take a step of truth and watch how he can use you in great tiny ways.
SPEAKER_00: Let's have a word of