You Are What You Consume

Your habits are discipling you, whether you notice it or not. What you watch, scroll, replay, and obsess over becomes the “diet” that shapes your thoughts, your tone, and the way you treat people. We start with a simple gut-check: are we feeding on God’s Word or filling our minds with nonstop news, anxiety, and distraction?

From there, we move into John 21 and watch Jesus restore Peter after his denial. The conversation gets beautifully specific as Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” and the meaning deepens through agape love versus phileo love. It’s not a vocabulary lesson for trivia night; it’s a window into grace. Peter can’t claim perfect, self-giving love, but he can tell the truth about what he has, and Jesus still gives him a mission: feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. We talk about what shepherding looks like in real life: teaching Scripture, protecting people from spiritual lies, and building a steady rhythm of Bible study and prayer for lifelong spiritual growth.

Then the tone turns sober as Jesus explains the cost of discipleship and says, “Follow me.” We sit with the hard questions about suffering, sacrifice, and why comparison derails obedience when Peter asks, “What about that man?” The closing lifts our eyes to the bigger story in the Gospel of John: Jesus is fully God and fully man, there’s always more to learn, and he is coming back.

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Come On Up is the radio ministry of The Mountain Cross in Waynesville North Carolina. To learn more about us please visit: TheMountainCross.com. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to Come On Up, the radio ministry of the Mountain Cross in Waynesville, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

You are what you eat, right? So what are you eating? Are you are you in the word? Are you watching the news all day? Are you in the word or are you on YouTube all day? You know, and what are those things that you're watching in those? Are those things that are bringing you closer to the Lord, that are digging you into God's Word, or are they distracting you and pulling you away from the Lord? These are things we all need to ask. And the Lord says, Come and eat.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Let me work with you. You've probably heard the saying, you are what you eat. Pastor Carl will share in today's message that eating is more than just the food you put in your mouth. This can include everything you consume, whether it's secular music, violent TV, or late-night doom scrolling. By consuming too much of these things, you will begin to think and speak negatively. The same is true with the Bible. When you consume a lot of it, you start to act like it. So you think positively, you act kindly, and you speak gently. And now, here's Pastor Carl.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Now at the beginning, the first question that Jesus asked him, Now, do you love me more than these? Which harkens back to an incident in Matthew's gospel, chapter 26, verses 33 and 35, I've got here. This is what Peter said. Boldness, Peter. This is Peter that, oh, whatever happens, I will never forsake you. Even if all are made to stumble because of you, all these guys, if they fail, I'll never fail you, Lord. I will never may be made to stumble. Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And he meant it. He meant it. Until the circumstance happened where he got all discombobulated and he regressed back to denying the Lord. Have you ever done that? Where you got into a situation and and and you just didn't know what to do, and and you say something that you really don't mean? It's happened to me. And of course I regret it. But did that change my love for the Lord? No. But it shows my fallenness, it shows my need for the Lord. And uh the Lord is bringing that up with Peter right now. He's showing him that, you know, yeah, I know I love you. I know you love me, and I've got work for you to do. Which was good. He didn't reject Peter like Peter rejected the Lord. But of course, Peter didn't ultimately reject the Lord just before man, and he's got these lessons to learn, and now he's empowered by the Holy Spirit, and and and things will look different, but he still had that guilt within him, and the grace of God here is coming to Peter and saying, Peter. I died for that. I died for your denial, and it's time to be made right with me. There's some interesting words that are used to describe love as Jesus and Peter go through this uh through this question and answer time. The first time that that uh the Lord asks Simon, Do you love me? The word is agape or agape, the the love of the Lord. It's this it's the self-giving, self-it's others, it's others-oriented. It's giving of your whole self. It's for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, loved the world that rejected him, loved the world that denied him, loved the world that didn't even acknowledge his existence. We were while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Before we could acknowledge our need for a Savior, Jesus showed his love towards us to die for us. That's the agape love. That's the kind of love that God shows us. Except for the Lord working in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can't show that agape kind of love. It has to be God working in and through us. So Jesus is asking Simon, do you agape me? Do you love me with the love of God? And Peter says, Yes, Lord, you know I love you, Phileo. Phileo is that brotherly love. Phileo is, you love me first, so I love you. Which is, you know, one of the verses in the Bible, too. Because the Lord first loved us, we're able to love him. As mankind, uh, we have this idea of brotherly love and compassion towards each other. And that's what Peter had for the Lord to acknowledge that I can't love you with the love that you love me, but I do love you because you have first loved me. And Jesus accepts that and he says, Feed my lambs. Feed my lambs, show them my truth by the word of God. That's why we go verse by verse and chapter by chapter through the word of God, because we need to be fed from the word of God. And in this instance, he's focusing on lambs, young believers or people that are still yet to come to the Lord. Feed them so that they can grow in me, so that they can mature in me, and go out and do the same thing someday. Then he asked again, Simon, do you love me? Do you agape me? And he said, Yes, Lord, you know I phileo you. And then he says, All right. If you love me, tend my sheep. I've got a job for you to do, Peter. And that's Peter is all about doing the work that God called him to do. And now, not only do you teach the Bible, but now I want you to shepherd my sheep. I want you to be a pastor to your people, look out for them, pray for them, watch over them, feed them the word of God, help them apply it in their lives, and just be there for them. Watch it out for wolves in the midst that would come and to distract them from the truth of God's word. Then he says, Simon, do you love Phileo me? Jesus changes it. He flips it around. Do you really love me like you say you love me? And that really is hitting Simon in his heart. And it said that, you know, he was he was upset because the Lord is asking him this, and now he's even changing the word to the word that I've been using. And, oh, you know I love you, Lord. I'm sorry, my heart breaks. I'm, you know, the what's implied here is that he's he's his heart is broken for the times that he did deny him. But praise the Lord, even though Peter denied the Lord, the Lord didn't deny Peter. The Lord continued to love Peter. The Lord continued to want to use Peter. The Lord continued to forgive Peter. How often does guilt stop you from doing the things God has called you to do? Do you realize God is saying the same thing? Do you love me? I know you messed up, but do you love me? Do you believe me? Do you trust me? Do you seek me? Do you pray? Then come, because that's what the cross was all about. I've made a way where there is no way. You are free. Flee from that guilt and walk in me because we got work to do. And Jesus tells them to feed my sheep. Not only do you feed the lambs and you watch out for the sheep as they're growing, but you continue to feed them. We never stop growing in our relationship with the Lord. We need the word of God in every season of our lives. And we need to encourage each other with it. We need to challenge each other with it. We need to pray for one another with it. And the Lord is is telling Simon Peter to go and to do these things. And boy, did Peter take the ball and run with it, didn't he? And we look at Pentecost when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And Peter went out and he preached the gospel to the crowds. And 3,000 people came to the Lord, and the church was born. And he was a giant leader in the church of Jesus Christ ever since that day until his death. Again, at Calvary Chapel, this is an old Calvary Chapel bumper sticker where the sheep love to eat. We come and we partake of God's word and we grow in the Lord. Peter's called to go do that. And so are we. To go and to declare the good news of the Lord and to bring people in and to dig into the word together. Because you are what you eat, right? So what are you eating? Are you in the word? Or are you watching the news all day? Are you in the word or are you on YouTube all day? You know, and what are those things that you're watching in those? Are those things that are bringing you closer to the Lord and that are digging you into God's word, or are they distracting you and pulling you away from the Lord? These are things we all need to ask. And the Lord says, Come and eat. Let me work with you. Let me work with you. Alright, back to our study, verse 18. Most assuredly I said to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished. But when you're old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. Peter, you've been strong. Peter, you can you got to get up and go. Peter, you're you're a leader, and you organize people and you make things happen. But at the end of your life, it's not going to be that way. They're going to take you, and they're going to crucify you the same way that I was crucified. Verse 19 said, This he spoke, signifying what death he would glorify God. By what death he would glorify God. Peter, I've got work for you to do. And the reward for your work will be crucifixion. Wow. Would you sign up for that kind of deal? But you see, as Christians, we're not we're not looking at what we get in this life. Hopefully, our vision is eternal. That our reward is in heaven. Our reward is forever. It's not in the here and now. And part of the reward in the here and now is leading people to the Lord, even if it costs us everything. And the Lord is laying it out to Peter, you know, here's the deal. I forgive you, I love you, and I know you love me, and I've got work for you to do. But when you're done with your work, you're going to be crucified. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, Follow me. All right, have you really considered the cost? Before you build a tower, have you considered the cost so that when you're halfway through, you don't run out of funds and the ability to build that tower? Peter, I've got work for you to do. This is the best work that you've ever had a chance to participate in. But it's going to cost you everything. Are you ready? Come and follow me. And how serious are we in our relationship with the Lord? Are we ready to go and to declare the good news no matter what it costs us? The Lord had said in other parables that, you know, he's come not to bring people together, but to divide them. Not that he purposely goes after dividing people, but that's the nature of what happens when the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not receive it. But people that do come to the light shine into the darkness, and the darkness doesn't want it. And so even within families, you have divisions because of the gospel. Are you willing to suffer those losses? Are you willing to be martyred for the sake of the Lord? These are serious questions that the Lord is asking, isn't it? But you know what? That's what he's calling us to. And there's no better calling that we could find on this earth than to be representatives of him. Because even though they might destroy my flesh, they can't destroy my soul. And I'm going to be with the Lord forever. And I'm going to be with the Lord with other people that the Lord allowed me to contact, to connect with, and to minister to, and we'll see them in eternity as a result. And what a glorious thought that is. And to pay a price in that work as well. Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple who Jesus loved following, who had also leaned on his breast at the supper and said, Lord, who's the one who betrays you? This is funny. This is Peter. This is Peter. I mean, can we relate to this? Yeah, but you say, I'm gonna die and I'm gonna do this stuff, but what about these other people? I mean, here he goes. Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, but Lord, what about this man? How often do we compare our lives with other people's lives? Lord, why did you let them do all this and nothing ever bad seems to happen to us and to them, and then we have to do this, and and it's always a struggle, and bad things always happen. What is it? What was Jesus' answer to him? If I will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Look, you need to follow me. You need to follow me. John needs to follow me, but me and John have you know a different understanding. You and me have a specific thing. I have called you to do a specific purpose. And yeah, we we have a tendency to do that, don't we? I admit as a pastor, I have a tendency to do that. Standing before a group of believers that that love the Lord and are seeking him through his word, and I'm so thankful for that. Sometimes I just wish there were a bit more that would come and be a part of that. But that's not up to me, is it? It's up to me to present the word. It's up to me to show the love of Christ, it's up to me to do the things that God has equipped me to do and leave the other things up to the Lord. You follow me. And being a Christian is about community, but it is about a one-on-one relationship with the Lord. Being a Christian is about, you know, having the benefits of growing up in a Christian family. But eventually, children need to come and know the Lord personally for themselves. And we each have a common call, which is to be salt and light in this world, but it plays out in many different ways. So for each and every one of us, it's so vital that we wait on the Lord, that we seek the Lord, that we hear from the Lord, that we're equipped by the Lord, and that we obey and do the things that the Lord has called us to do. Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. And there are still, you know, rumors that John is alive today. In fact, I heard that there's some groups that believe that John is Bigfoot. Because he was a hairy man and he just never shaved, and it's no. John died. He died a natural death on the island of Patmos. But he died. Jesus says, That's not the point. The point is, Peter, I've got work for you to do. Do you believe? Will you follow? Will you obey me? Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but if I will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? So often we get into other people's business without being invited in. We need to be careful. Not to compare ourselves with each other, but to lay ourselves before the Lord and his mercy and to be used by him to experience his power and his grace and his love so that we can share that with others. This is the disciple who testifies of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. This gospel that you are reading, the gospel of John, I am the disciple that saw these things, and I wrote them down. This is my experience, says John. And these things are true. I wrote them so that you would know them, so that you would believe in the only begotten Son of God. And there are so many other things that Jesus did, which, if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. We're talking about Emmanuel, God in the flesh dwelling among us, the infinite God. And even, you know, restricting himself to be a man and operate here on the earth, there was still so much wisdom and so much knowledge and so many things that he shared with his disciples and other people, and so much more that he could have. There's not enough room for it all. Again, this is the idea that we can't arrive in our relationship with the Lord. We can't arrive in our knowledge of the word. There's so much more to learn, to grow, to experience. So may we continue to have that desire to seek after the Lord, to know him, to be changed by him, and to be used by him. And he wraps up by saying, Amen. Let it be. In other gospel accounts, it goes on to share that they again ended up in Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. And there Jesus ascended into heaven, and the disciples looking up, just amazed at what they're seeing, were visited by two more angels. They say, What are you looking at? The same one who is gone will return in the same way. And someday the Lord will return to set up his kingdom on earth. And his feet will be placed on that mount of olives. And an amazing earthquake that has never happened until this time will cause the mountain to be split, and there will be a river that runs from the temple to water the nations. Oh, the Lord is coming back. He's coming back. He's longing to be reunited with us. Are you longing to see him? I hope you are this morning. Father, we thank you again for your great love for us, to send us your only Son. Jesus, we thank you for your humbleness. To willingly leave your place of majesty in heaven to become one of us. And to be to be re misunderstood and rejected by your very own. And yet, because of the love that you had for us, you you completed your task. You died for the sins of the world that whosoever would believe would not perish but have everlasting life. And you rose again on the third day to prove your power over sin and death. And you're coming back, Lord. You're coming back for your church. You're promising us our entire salvation, which includes resurrected bodies, where no longer is there sin or sickness, but we will be equipped to fully serve you with our whole hearts and minds and bodies for eternity, doing amazing works that only you know you have for us. And we look forward to those works, Lord.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

You've been listening to the teaching of Pastor Carl from the Mountain Cross on Come On Up. We're in the Gospel of John, and there's much to explore in this exciting book of the Bible. Jesus does all kinds of miracles in the book of John, such as turning water into wine and raising Lazarus from the dead. These were signs that he was far more than human. However, Jesus didn't shy away from expressing his humanity on earth either. When his friend had died, he was sad and he cried. He experienced righteous anger, seeing people abusing and defiling the temple while taking advantage of the poor. He cleared out the temple area with a cord of whips and showed his authority. But he was also tender with children and compassionate to those who were considered outcasts. This is the juxtaposition of the book of John. Jesus was both God and man, and you get to fully appreciate it more and more by reading this rich book of the Bible. If you're enjoying the teaching on Come On Up, would you consider helping us get the word out to others? Simply visit themountaincross.com/slash donate. It's a safe and secure way for you to give online. The Mountain Cross meets Sunday mornings at 10 at the Smoky Mountain Cinema in Waynesville, North Carolina. If you are nearby and don't have a church home, we'd be delighted to have you join us this weekend. And be sure to come on up to the mountain with us next time as we seek to learn more from the Lord through His Word. Come On Up is sponsored by the Mountain Cross, a Calvary Chapel fellowship.