SPEAKER_05: Welcome to the Fourth St.
SPEAKER_05: John Alliance Sermon Podcast.
SPEAKER_05: I'm Nate Perry, the youth pastor here at the church.
SPEAKER_05: We're so glad you've joined us today.
SPEAKER_05: Our desire as a church is to become a community of people who practice the way of Jesus together, and through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, live on a mission to meet the social and spiritual needs of the world around us.
SPEAKER_05: Each week we gather as a community to worship and learn from God's Word and to be encouraged in our walk with Christ.
SPEAKER_05: In this podcast, you'll hear the latest message from our Sunday service.
SPEAKER_05: Whether you're listening from right here in Fort St.
SPEAKER_05: John or from afar, our prayer is that God will speak to your heart and strengthen your faith.
SPEAKER_05: Let's lean in together as we hear today's sermon.
SPEAKER_00: So today we are in Acts 2, verses 14 through 41.
SPEAKER_00: Then Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Listen carefully to what I say.
SPEAKER_00: These people are not drunk as you suppose.
SPEAKER_00: It's only nine in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
SPEAKER_00: In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people.
SPEAKER_00: Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
SPEAKER_00: Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
SPEAKER_00: The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Fellow Israelites, listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which you yourselves know.
SPEAKER_00: This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
SPEAKER_00: David said about him, I saw the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongues rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: My body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.
SPEAKER_00: You have made known to me the paths of life.
SPEAKER_00: You will fill me with your joy in your presence.
SPEAKER_00: Fellow Israelites, I can tell you this confidently: that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.
SPEAKER_00: But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.
SPEAKER_00: Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.
SPEAKER_00: God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
SPEAKER_00: Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what you now see and hear.
SPEAKER_00: For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this.
SPEAKER_00: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, Brothers, what shall we do?
SPEAKER_00: Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off.
SPEAKER_00: For all who come, for all whom the Lord our God will call.
SPEAKER_00: With m with many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them, Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.
SPEAKER_00: Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: So we are delighted to have Mike Clark come and preach for us today.
SPEAKER_06: This morning I am proof that God protects us in even the small ways.
SPEAKER_06: Last night I had a minor baseball spring training incident and took a baseball to the face.
SPEAKER_06: I was not paying attention, and uh I was expecting to have broken teeth or a broken nose or a puffed up face or a fat lip and therefore a lisp, but I woke up this morning and I am fine.
SPEAKER_06: So I'm grateful for that.
SPEAKER_06: It is my privilege this morning to share the word with you on this passage that we went through, which many would say is the first sermon of the church.
SPEAKER_06: Now, to better understand this passage, kind of like a paint a picture of what's been going on around this time and in the background, Jesus has died, risen, and been taken back to heaven at this point, just a few days before.
SPEAKER_06: In doing this, he fulfilled the prophecies and saved you and I from our sins all in one act.
SPEAKER_06: Now the Israelites had been given the king that they had been promised.
SPEAKER_06: But the thing is, they didn't even realize it, and they crucified him.
SPEAKER_06: Hundreds of years before, in the Old Testament, in books like Samuel and Isaiah, it was prophesied that the Israelites, to the Israelites, that God would send them a king.
SPEAKER_06: And they waited.
SPEAKER_06: For many generations, they waited.
SPEAKER_06: And these were not good times.
SPEAKER_06: They fought with each other, they stumbled, they walked away from God, they fought with their neighbors, they were under oppression from the Babylonians when they were exiled.
SPEAKER_06: And at the time of this passage in Acts, they are under oppression and rule of the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_06: And the Israelites were holding on to the prophecy that they would be sent a king, and they would be this king would conquer all of their enemies.
SPEAKER_06: Now, at the time of Jesus, it's estimated that there was a couple of a million Israelites living in the Holy Land.
SPEAKER_06: Now, these couple of a million people, they were waiting.
SPEAKER_06: And now we have the events of Acts 2, where the Spirit has been given to the 120 followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_06: Now think of that.
SPEAKER_06: A couple of a million people, and then all the ones that had passed before them that were waiting, and only 120 of them recognized the king because he had come in a form they weren't expecting.
SPEAKER_06: Now, this passage is the very start of the of that group of 120 of Jesus' followers, convincing others that the king they had been waiting for for so many generations had come and would deliver them from their enemies in a way that they could never imagine.
SPEAKER_06: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_06: Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for this morning and the chance to be in your house and to worship with your children and to dive into your word, Lord.
SPEAKER_06: And I just thank you so much that you have sent your son and your spirit and that you never change.
SPEAKER_06: And Lord, just move in our hearts this morning that we would understand your word and the story that you're telling through it.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_06: Imagine the boldness it would take for those 120 people to look those couple of a million people in the eye and tell them that they were wrong.
SPEAKER_06: They couldn't do this on their own.
SPEAKER_06: Enter the Holy Spirit, God's personal and active presence.
SPEAKER_06: It's the only way this is possible.
SPEAKER_06: Now, there's three main things from this long passage that really jumped out to me and touched my heart that I'd like to walk you through this morning.
SPEAKER_06: Now, the first is the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_06: And to do this, I'd like to go back to the passage from last Sunday as it describes what happened when the Spirit was given to Jesus' followers.
SPEAKER_06: So Acts 2, verses 1 to 4.
SPEAKER_06: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
SPEAKER_06: Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
SPEAKER_06: They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
SPEAKER_06: All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
SPEAKER_06: Now, this is a massive moment that I find myself taking for granted.
SPEAKER_06: The actual Spirit of God given to his followers.
SPEAKER_06: Now to understand this, we need to go back and understand the relationship of the Israelites that they had had with God from the time of Moses until this point.
SPEAKER_06: The people did not have direct access to God.
SPEAKER_06: Only a few designated priests were allowed into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle or the temple.
SPEAKER_06: The priests were the ones who had the word of God and read it to them.
SPEAKER_06: There were lots of rules to follow.
SPEAKER_06: They had to continuously make sacrifices to cleanse them of their sins and their mistakes.
SPEAKER_06: This moment shows how everything is different after Jesus.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus bridged the gap between God and man.
SPEAKER_06: And now these 120 followers are experiencing the Spirit and the presence of God.
SPEAKER_06: Now, if I'm honest with myself, I take the fact that we have direct access to God for granted a lot of the time.
SPEAKER_06: Now, one of the things I love about this passage is the description of the Holy Spirit sounding like the blowing of a violent wind and what seems like tongues of fire resting on each of them.
SPEAKER_06: Wind and fire.
SPEAKER_06: Now, throughout the Bible, wind and fire are common examples or symbols of God's presence.
SPEAKER_06: Wind is an incredibly powerful force, but can be so gentle at the same time.
SPEAKER_06: It's invisible, but it's present just like the Spirit.
SPEAKER_06: Just this morning, I was watching, I had the window open in my office.
SPEAKER_06: I could see the leaves blowing down our driveway and the trees swaying and hear the wind, but you can't see it.
SPEAKER_06: One of my uh biggest experiences with the power of wind, being someone who grew up here and not on the coast where there's a hurricane or something like that.
SPEAKER_06: When I was about 17 years old, we out on the farm had had a really good hay crop and had way too much hay to use that year.
SPEAKER_06: And instead of selling it, my dad and his brother had decided to keep it over for the next year.
SPEAKER_06: So they bought a bunch of tarps and gave me the task of covering this stack so it would last a couple years.
SPEAKER_06: And I had learned how to do this from my uncle working for him in Alberta and thought I did a great job.
SPEAKER_06: And uh my dad and grandpa both had complimented me and said, Oh, this is actually gonna work.
SPEAKER_06: I think this will last a couple years.
SPEAKER_06: A couple weeks later, we got one of those good prairie windstorms, and up on the hill by my parents' house where this uh where these bales were, the wind howled over 90 kilometers an hour that weekend and just shredded these tarps.
SPEAKER_06: Ripped them right off, blew them across the road into the neighbor's field.
SPEAKER_06: All that work destroyed, but so much power is incredible, just like God.
SPEAKER_06: And at the same time, if you think like nothing is more comforting and feels good and gentle than a breeze on a hot summer day.
SPEAKER_06: It's almost unfathomable power that the wind has, and yet the comfort it gives all in one package is just like God.
SPEAKER_06: Now, fire is even more common in the Bible as a representation of God's presence.
SPEAKER_06: God spoke to Moses through the burning bush, and he guided the Israelites around the desert at night with a pillar of fire, and he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with burning sulfur.
SPEAKER_06: Fire is used for the sacrifices in the Old Testament, and it is what takes that sacrifice and delivers it to God.
SPEAKER_06: It purifies.
SPEAKER_06: Now, similar to wind, fire so accurately represents God, it gives warmth and comfort.
SPEAKER_06: Fire is beautiful and powerful and to be feared.
SPEAKER_06: God is all these things.
SPEAKER_06: Probably my favorite story about fire out of the Bible is in 1 Kings 18, when Elijah enters into a battle with the prophets of Baal.
SPEAKER_06: They're in a really bad drought and a famine, and there's no food, and he basically enters into a challenge with the prophets of Baal.
SPEAKER_06: Whoever can call fire down from their God wins, proves that their God is God.
SPEAKER_06: And Elijah calls on God and God sends fire that is so powerful that it even consumes the stones of the altar.
SPEAKER_06: I don't know about you guys if you've ever made like a backwoods sauna, you throw all your rocks in the fire and leave them there for three or four hours, they don't get consumed.
SPEAKER_06: Like this fire that God sent was just unbelievable.
SPEAKER_06: Now I've often wondered why humans love to watch fire so much.
SPEAKER_06: From a baby watching a birthday candle and they just can't take their eyes off it.
SPEAKER_06: Or to a burning building where people can't stop, they can't help but stop in their cars or on the sidewalk just to watch it happen.
SPEAKER_06: Or the hundreds of hours many of us have spent sitting around a campfire with our friends and family just staring at it, talking.
SPEAKER_06: Most people are somewhat mesmerized by fire.
SPEAKER_06: And it just makes me think that deep in our DNA, as God created us, we're maybe attracted to it because deep down we know it's so representative of God's presence.
SPEAKER_06: No, I love how God is so consistent when he sends his spirit on the first believers, he uses the exact same symbolism as an example of who he is that he has throughout all the scriptures.
SPEAKER_06: And this leads me to the second thing of this passage that really grabs me, and it is how God is so consistent.
SPEAKER_06: He never changes.
SPEAKER_06: In this passage, Peter so accurately describes to the crowd what they just witnessed by reaching back into the scriptures and showing them that this prophecy is coming true.
SPEAKER_06: Now, for reference, this part of the passage comes from Joel 2, 38 to 32.
SPEAKER_06: So Acts 15 to Acts 2, 15 to 21.
SPEAKER_06: These people are not drunk as you suppose.
SPEAKER_06: It's only nine in the morning.
SPEAKER_06: No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
SPEAKER_06: In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people.
SPEAKER_06: Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
SPEAKER_06: Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
SPEAKER_06: I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke, the sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
SPEAKER_06: And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
SPEAKER_06: Peter doesn't try to explain this fantastic event that these people in Jerusalem have just witnessed of these believers speaking in languages they don't even know.
SPEAKER_06: He goes straight back to the scriptures to show them that this was always the plan.
SPEAKER_06: And again, he goes to the words written by King David hundreds of years previous in verses 25 and 28, where it speaks of how death will not hold Jesus down.
SPEAKER_06: David said about him, I saw the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand and I will not be shaken.
SPEAKER_06: Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices.
SPEAKER_06: My body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy ones see decay.
SPEAKER_06: You have made known to me the paths of life, and you will fill me with joy in your presence.
SPEAKER_06: Now, Peter, filled with the Spirit, absolutely nails this explanation to the crowds of what they have just witnessed.
SPEAKER_06: He does not try to convince them with his own words or talk them through it.
SPEAKER_06: He goes back to the source and shows them the prophecies that told them this would happen in their own historical books.
SPEAKER_06: One of the things that I find most frustrating about this world that we live in is how fast things change.
SPEAKER_06: So fast, in fact, that some things, by the time I've adapted to the change, it's already changed to the next thing.
SPEAKER_06: Now, technology is one of those examples over my life that that that shows this the best.
SPEAKER_06: I'm 42 years old.
SPEAKER_06: I grew up on a party line where I could listen to my grandma's phone conversations, and I did.
SPEAKER_06: When I was 19, I went to Europe with a bunch of my friends from high school, and one of my friends got tricked into buying a fake cell phone on a street market, and he wanted the cell phone so bad because it had a camera.
SPEAKER_06: And when I was 19, in North America, cell phones didn't even have cameras yet.
SPEAKER_06: That's not even that long ago.
SPEAKER_06: In 2007, when I was a young adult, the iPhone was invented and smartphones brought the world right to our fingertips.
SPEAKER_06: And now I sit here feeling like an old man when my friends give me a hard time for not having Chat GPT and the power of AI at my fingertips.
SPEAKER_06: It's changing so fast.
SPEAKER_06: I almost can't keep up.
SPEAKER_06: The world that my grandpa lived in, and my dad raised me, and I'm raising my kids in, and the one I look forward to watching them raise theirs, it's hard to even fathom what it'll be like.
SPEAKER_06: Now, some change, lots of change, is very natural and a healthy part of life.
SPEAKER_06: And this change is part of God's design and it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_06: And there's still other change that is part of this natural God design life that maybe is not so beautiful.
SPEAKER_06: Just a couple of weeks ago, while I was brushing my teeth before bed, all of a sudden my wife looked at me like she'd seen a ghost and got this little grin on her face.
SPEAKER_06: And with toothpaste in my mouth, I attempted to ask her what was wrong.
SPEAKER_06: And she smiles as she walks over to me and says, Your chest hair started to go gray.
SPEAKER_06: Some of this natural change is not welcome.
SPEAKER_06: No, this list that I'm gonna go through is change that's natural that many of you have lived through, and you'll understand.
SPEAKER_06: You pour your heart and soul into raising your family, your kids for 20 plus years, and then they leave.
SPEAKER_06: And that's the way it's supposed to be.
SPEAKER_06: You love the town you grew up in, and you have such good friends in high school, and you'll be best friends forever, and then you graduate and kind of all go your separate ways, and you tend to lose contact.
SPEAKER_06: Many people have poured themselves into their career or their business to provide for their family and fulfill that desire that God put in them to create and to have success.
SPEAKER_06: And then at some point, you have to give it up and retire.
SPEAKER_06: We grow to love people in our lives and they let us down.
SPEAKER_06: Our loved ones die, and if we're lucky and they believe in Jesus and they go to a much better place, it doesn't change the fact that change hurts, even if it's natural.
SPEAKER_06: These are all great things that we are designed to have a part of a God filled life.
SPEAKER_06: Children, friends, work, success, love, and relationship.
SPEAKER_06: But the problem I find is that I love them so much, they're so good, I start to put my identity in them, and before I know it, they're too important to me.
SPEAKER_06: And then eventually these things will change and let me down.
SPEAKER_06: How many stories have you heard of parents when they have an empty nest having to like refigure out who they are because they were parents?
SPEAKER_06: Or people who retire and then don't know what to do with themselves because their identity was in their job.
SPEAKER_06: No, God is constant, he never changes.
SPEAKER_06: He promises, his promises are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
SPEAKER_06: I have a list of scriptures here that just really speak to that he never changes.
SPEAKER_06: Malachi 3.6, I the Lord do not change.
SPEAKER_06: James 1.17, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
SPEAKER_06: Hebrews 13 8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_06: Isaiah 40, verse 8, the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.
SPEAKER_06: And this last one is my favorite.
SPEAKER_06: Numbers 23, 19.
SPEAKER_06: God is not human that he should lie, not a human being that he should change his mind.
SPEAKER_06: Does he speak and then not act?
SPEAKER_06: Does he promise and not fulfill?
SPEAKER_06: He never changes.
SPEAKER_06: Now, as Peter is explaining to the crowds in Jerusalem about what they have witnessed, he leans into the one constant to make sense of it.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus being crucified, buried, and resurrected, and the Spirit being given to his followers was all a part of God's plan.
SPEAKER_06: To them, it felt like incredible amounts of change, and it was.
SPEAKER_06: But God is constant and he had this plan the whole time.
SPEAKER_06: And during all the change there we're forced to go through in our lives, putting our identity in one, the one constant that is God, instead of the things of this world that are great things still is so important.
SPEAKER_06: When our roots are into God that never changes, it supports us to thrive in the beautiful and wanted change and helps us to get through the hard and unwanted change.
SPEAKER_06: I just love that there's an answer to all the change we must endure.
SPEAKER_06: Now, the last thing of this passage that really grabs my heart is all about the guy at the center of delivering this sermon, Peter.
SPEAKER_06: This passage in Acts is Peter taking the role as the leader of the church.
SPEAKER_06: And he was hugely involved in the development of the church and spreading the gospel.
SPEAKER_06: And this was God's plan.
SPEAKER_06: Now, I have been to the Vatican City, the capital of the Catholic Church inside of Rome, and their main church building is called St.
SPEAKER_06: Peter's Basilica.
SPEAKER_06: It is incredible.
SPEAKER_06: It's a fabulous and breathtaking building.
SPEAKER_06: Much like the incredible resume that Peter has from this moment in time going forward as he helped with God develop the church, spread the gospel.
SPEAKER_06: But what was Peter like before?
SPEAKER_06: He didn't just, this isn't who he was.
SPEAKER_06: There was a lot that happened before this to create who he was.
SPEAKER_06: The Peter that Jesus chose to be one of his 12 disciples, what was he like?
SPEAKER_06: Listen to this list of information that I gleaned out of a couple other sermons and commentaries about Peter and his background.
SPEAKER_06: Peter was from Galilee, an off the road.
SPEAKER_06: Oh, sorry.
SPEAKER_06: I wanted to say, listen to this list and tell me if you can hear yourself in this list at all, or if you can relate.
SPEAKER_06: Galilee is where Peter is from, an off-the-road, blue-collar country town that's often looked down upon by the larger cities.
SPEAKER_06: In John 1.16, it was said, can anything good come from Nazareth?
SPEAKER_06: And the uh if you put that in that passage into Google, it comes up and says, There was a deep prejudice view of Galilee as backwoods.
SPEAKER_06: One sermon that I listened to on this passage, he referred to Galileans as uneducated country bumpkins.
SPEAKER_06: Peter was a fisherman.
SPEAKER_06: That's pretty simple.
SPEAKER_06: That's pretty blue-collar.
SPEAKER_06: I don't know if any of you are starting to understand how much I can relate to this guy.
SPEAKER_06: Peter is known for putting his foot in his mouth.
SPEAKER_06: He was always talking, even when he probably shouldn't have been.
SPEAKER_06: The one commentary I read summarized Peter as being known for his impulsive nature and strong will.
SPEAKER_06: Now, if I was tasked with hiring someone to be the head of the church, I would have tossed this resume.
SPEAKER_06: But Jesus chose Peter.
SPEAKER_06: God chose Peter, it was his plan.
SPEAKER_06: Now let's look at a list of a few of the significant events that Peter was a part of during Jesus' ministry that shaped and molded him.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus heals a 12-year-old girl with Peter, James, and John, actually rose her from the dead.
SPEAKER_06: Everyone thought she had died.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus walks on water, and it's Peter who walks out to him boldly and then sinks due to fear and a lack of faith.
SPEAKER_06: Peter actually rebuked Jesus for fulfilling the role of the Savior in Matthew 16, 21 to 23, when Jesus told them what the plan was for him.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus tells Peter to go catch a fish that had a coin in its mouth that would pay the temple tax for both of them.
SPEAKER_06: Peter rejects Jesus' foot washing at the Last Supper.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him three times, and Peter boldly disputes that.
SPEAKER_06: Peter falls asleep in the garden when specifically asked to stay awake twice.
SPEAKER_06: He cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest in the garden when they come to arrest Jesus.
SPEAKER_06: Peter denies Jesus three times.
SPEAKER_06: After the tomb was found empty, Peter and John run to the empty tomb to see it for themselves.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus shows himself to Peter and his fellow disciples while they were fishing, and finally he witnessed the ascension of Jesus going back to heaven.
SPEAKER_06: This guy was everywhere.
SPEAKER_06: That is a crazy list of all the things that he lived through, all in a few years.
SPEAKER_06: When I look at this list and think of all the hard lessons that Peter learned during this time, or the bold and frankly stupid things that he said and did, or the major ways that he failed Jesus, I'm terrified how much it reminds me of myself.
SPEAKER_06: And yet, listen to this list of some of the significant events Peter was a part of after Jesus was taken back to heaven.
SPEAKER_06: Peter and John heal the lame beggar.
SPEAKER_06: Peter confronts Ananias and Sapphira for lying about the property they stole, or sorry, they sold and kept the money for themselves, and the Holy Spirit kills them.
SPEAKER_06: Peter's shadow heals people.
SPEAKER_06: He is arrested, but an angel breaks him out of prison.
SPEAKER_06: Paul, after converted, lives with Peter for a while.
SPEAKER_06: Peter raises Dorcas from the dead.
SPEAKER_06: Peter is the one who was given the vision from God that Gentiles could become Christians.
SPEAKER_06: Angels release Peter from jail yet again.
SPEAKER_06: At the Jerusalem conference, it is Peter who convinces the conference, the people, the leaders of the church, that Gentiles don't necessarily need to follow all the Jewish rules and they do not need to be circumcised.
SPEAKER_06: And finally, Peter writes 1 and 2 Peter.
SPEAKER_06: Now this list is even more impressive than the first one because he did all this stuff.
SPEAKER_06: The first list he was just a passenger with Jesus.
SPEAKER_06: And the question that comes to my mind is how?
SPEAKER_06: How did this guy like Peter accomplish all this stuff?
SPEAKER_06: Pastor Dan's favorite Dallas Willard quote is the most important thing about you is who you are becoming.
SPEAKER_06: How many of us can look back at our younger selves and honestly think that we knew more then than we do now?
SPEAKER_06: We're constantly learning and growing and maturing and becoming someone else.
SPEAKER_06: Someone more experienced.
SPEAKER_06: When I was a young journeyman carpenter, it was one of the first house builds that I had formed and ran myself.
SPEAKER_06: My boss, we were really busy that summer and sent me two 17-year-old boys.
SPEAKER_06: They wanted to apprentice as carpenters.
SPEAKER_06: And he gave them to me and he said, try them out, see what you think, be patient.
SPEAKER_06: We need the help.
SPEAKER_06: One of them carried a bottle of Pepsi and a bag of Skittles in his tool pouch with him everywhere he went.
SPEAKER_06: Like they this summarizes the whole thing for me.
SPEAKER_06: I told them don't get rid of them.
SPEAKER_06: But we needed the help, so my boss decided to fire one of them to kind of make an example of them.
SPEAKER_06: It wasn't, and it sounds so bad, firing them.
SPEAKER_06: We had told them they were on a probation period and one just wasn't gonna make the cut.
SPEAKER_06: And the second one threatened to quit with all the leverage that he had in support of his good friend.
SPEAKER_06: But fast forward four years, and we gladly signed off on his apprenticeship and his Red Seal papers.
SPEAKER_06: That boy had over four years learned so much and grown so much and turned into an excellent carpenter.
SPEAKER_06: Fast forward another ten years, and both of these boys are now probably in their 30s.
SPEAKER_06: They would be for sure.
SPEAKER_06: And they are excellent tradespeople.
SPEAKER_06: They're very good at what they do, they run their own businesses.
SPEAKER_06: Many of you have probably hired them and had them in their homes, and you were happy.
SPEAKER_06: They are good at what they do, and I wanted to fire them both.
SPEAKER_06: They were not good enough.
SPEAKER_06: I did not have the patience to see through them maturing.
SPEAKER_06: Growing up can be hard and take a lot of time.
SPEAKER_06: And for many of us, maturity in our relationship with Jesus is even slower and tends to hit major roadblocks.
SPEAKER_06: And I'd like to look at Peter again and focus on the two events on the one list that I had that were in bold.
SPEAKER_06: And I just see these as the roadblocks in the one in Peter's life.
SPEAKER_06: Or could have been a roadblock.
SPEAKER_06: Now Peter was warned by Jesus that before the rooster crows, he would deny Jesus three times.
SPEAKER_06: Even with that warning, Peter failed and did exactly as Jesus said he would do.
SPEAKER_06: He betrayed one of his best friends.
SPEAKER_06: Peter himself had proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, and that did not stop him from betraying him.
SPEAKER_06: Imagine the shame that Peter felt.
SPEAKER_06: But it gets worse.
SPEAKER_06: Luke 22, verses 60 to 62.
SPEAKER_06: Peter replied, Man, I do not know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_06: Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.
SPEAKER_06: The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.
SPEAKER_06: Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him.
SPEAKER_06: Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.
SPEAKER_06: And he went outside and wept bitterly.
SPEAKER_06: He had just been told that day that he would do this.
SPEAKER_06: And still forgot and did it.
SPEAKER_06: Verse 61 kind of gives me chills.
SPEAKER_06: The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.
SPEAKER_06: Can you imagine looking the person that you betrayed, the let down right in the eye as it happened and realizing what you'd done?
SPEAKER_06: This is Peter denying Jesus three times.
SPEAKER_06: And Jesus looking straight at him.
SPEAKER_06: Now, how many of us, when I say, can you imagine this?
SPEAKER_06: Can you feel the shame like Peter for what you have done to others, or for how we have denied Jesus, or for some shame for what has been done to you.
SPEAKER_06: That shame is almost unbearable.
SPEAKER_06: It's like a crushing weight that you carry around on your back.
SPEAKER_06: But just like Peter, Jesus wants to take that weight off you.
SPEAKER_06: The second thing that I highlighted on that list is from John 21.
SPEAKER_06: When Jesus is on shore and tells the disciples, he's talking to the disciples in the boat and they don't realize it's him yet.
SPEAKER_06: And he asks how the fishing is going all night, and they say nothing.
SPEAKER_06: He tells them to put their nets on the other side.
SPEAKER_06: They catch 153 fish.
SPEAKER_06: And Peter realizes it's Jesus and literally jumps out of the boat and swims to shore.
SPEAKER_06: There's that impulse of nature again.
SPEAKER_06: But just listen to this.
SPEAKER_06: John 21, 15 to 19, Jesus reinstates Peter.
SPEAKER_06: When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?
SPEAKER_06: Yes, Lord, he said, You know that I love you.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus said, Feed my lambs.
SPEAKER_06: Again, Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
SPEAKER_06: He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus said, Take care of my sheep.
SPEAKER_06: The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
SPEAKER_06: Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time.
SPEAKER_06: I'm sorry, Peter has no business being hurt.
SPEAKER_06: Like, do you love me?
SPEAKER_06: He said.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus said, Feed my sheep.
SPEAKER_06: Very truly I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted.
SPEAKER_06: But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus said, This is to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.
SPEAKER_06: Then he said to him, Follow me.
SPEAKER_06: Now Peter denied Jesus three times, and Jesus clearly knew that Peter was devastated.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus knew that that failure like that could destroy and define a person.
SPEAKER_06: And he purposely asked him, Do you love me three times?
SPEAKER_06: giving him the chance to say yes three times to erase those three denials.
SPEAKER_06: Now this doesn't mean that it didn't happen.
SPEAKER_06: But it showed that Jesus forgave him for what he did.
SPEAKER_06: Peter was one of the first humans ever to experience what the forgiveness of his sins felt like.
SPEAKER_06: And God had a plan for Peter, just as he has a plan for you and for I.
SPEAKER_06: The Holy Spirit filled Peter and the other believers on Pentecost.
SPEAKER_06: And they became capable of incredible things through the power of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_06: I imagine the sound of the wind that they sounded like a wind as they were started coming, speaking in tongues, just as Peter went to do this sermon and to explain what had happened.
SPEAKER_06: Just his lungs filled with the wind of the Spirit, like the wind in Ezekiel that rose the dry bones, well, didn't that filled the dry bones full of breath.
SPEAKER_06: That same wind that God used then, he filled Peter with that, the wind of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_06: Now, I don't know what you have done and what you feel shame for, but I'm guessing it's not worse than what Peter did.
SPEAKER_06: And even if it is, and Jesus wants, he wants to forgive you and restore you just as he did Peter.
SPEAKER_06: Imagine the things that Jesus can do through you when you walk freely with that weight taken off your shoulders, the weight of the guilt, and you are filled with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_06: I'd like to call the band back up.
SPEAKER_06: I did not think that those 17-year-old boys had what it took to be good carpenters, and I was very wrong.
SPEAKER_06: Now some of you might not, you might think you don't have what it takes, but you are wrong in the fact because Jesus wants to forgive you and restore you and empower you and use you for his glory just like he did with Peter.
SPEAKER_06: It isn't about what you can do, it's about what Jesus can do through you.
SPEAKER_06: If you ever think that you are not enough, remember that God loves to use normal people for his glory.
SPEAKER_06: Peter is a prime example of someone who hit rock bottom but was forgiven and healed with that freedom that God did great things.
SPEAKER_06: Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word.
SPEAKER_06: We thank you so much that you were the same yesterday, today, and forever, and you never change.
SPEAKER_06: And that you sent your son to forgive us and fill us with your spirit.
SPEAKER_06: Lord, we thank you for the example of Peter.
SPEAKER_06: And I just pray this morning that you would work in our hearts and help us to understand no matter what we've been through and what we've done, there's forgiveness.
SPEAKER_06: And just like Peter, you can restore us, and you want to walk alongside us.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Oh God, my God, I need you.
SPEAKER_03: Oh God, my God, I need you now.
SPEAKER_03: How I need you now.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, Rock, oh Rock of Ages, I'm standing on your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_03: I'm calling on the God of Mary Whose favorest upon the holy.
SPEAKER_03: I know with you all things are possible.
SPEAKER_03: I'm calling on the God of David Who made a shepherd boy courageous.
SPEAKER_03: Oh God, my God, I need you.
SPEAKER_03: Oh God, my God, I need you now.
SPEAKER_03: How I need you now.
SPEAKER_03: Oh rock, oh rock of ages.
SPEAKER_03: I'm standing on your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_02: You heard your children then, you hear your children now.
SPEAKER_02: You are the same God.
SPEAKER_03: You are the same God.
SPEAKER_03: You answered prayers back then, and you will answer now.
SPEAKER_03: You are the same God.
SPEAKER_03: You are providing them.
SPEAKER_03: You are providing now.
SPEAKER_03: You are the same God.
SPEAKER_03: You move in power, then God moving power now.
SPEAKER_03: You are the same God.
SPEAKER_03: You are a healer then.
SPEAKER_03: You are a healer now.
SPEAKER_03: You are the same God.
SPEAKER_03: You are a savior then.
SPEAKER_03: You are a savior now.
SPEAKER_03: You are the same God.
SPEAKER_03: Oh God, my God, I need you.
SPEAKER_03: Oh God, my God, I need you now.
SPEAKER_03: How I need you now.
SPEAKER_03: Oh rock, oh rock of ages.
SPEAKER_03: I'm standing on your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_03: Oh God, my God, I need you.
SPEAKER_03: Oh God, my God, I need you now.
SPEAKER_03: How I need you now.
SPEAKER_03: Oh rock, oh rock of ages.
SPEAKER_03: I'm standing on your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_03: Your faithful men.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Mike, that was a great word.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much just for bringing that this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So appreciate your heart for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It's just felt.
SPEAKER_01: I just love it.
SPEAKER_01: Just a couple things here before you go.
SPEAKER_01: On your way out, you're going to find these uh spring and summer uh catalogs.
SPEAKER_01: And so they just kind of outline what's going on in the church over the next three to four months or so.
SPEAKER_01: So if you don't have one yet, I want to encourage you to make sure you grab one on the way out.
SPEAKER_01: They're just kind of at the corners of the door here, so make sure you grab one of these on your way.
SPEAKER_01: Also, if you're here this morning and you would like to come up for prayer, please come forward afterwards.
SPEAKER_01: There'll be a number of us up here.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love to spend time with you and pray over anything that's on your heart this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So let me pray for you, and I'm going to send us off here.
SPEAKER_01: So let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord Jesus, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, for your goodness, thank you for your kindness.
SPEAKER_01: And thank you that you are the same God.
SPEAKER_01: You are the same God that we read about here in Acts this morning.
SPEAKER_01: The one that just moved in power through a man who was just ordinary in so many ways.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus, thank you though for the invitation.
SPEAKER_01: That that is accessible to us.
SPEAKER_01: That Jesus, you want to use us in the same way.
SPEAKER_01: That if we would just make ourselves I mean, that if we would just make ourselves available to you.
SPEAKER_01: And say, Jesus, you can use me if you want to.
SPEAKER_01: That Lord, you can move in power in the same way.
SPEAKER_01: So Lord Jesus, we thank you for the church.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are not done yet, that there is more still.
SPEAKER_01: So Lord, we love you.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you.
SPEAKER_01: And we ask all these things in your name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Have a great week, everybody.
SPEAKER_01: God bless you.