SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us on the CCW podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Make sure you connect with us on social media to stay up to date on ministries and events happening at CCW.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you're encouraged, inspired, and motivated by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: To find out how to connect with us, keep listening after the message ends.
SPEAKER_01: Good morning, CCW.
SPEAKER_01: It's an honor to get to be up here and celebrate the beginning of Holy Week with you guys.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think anybody would argue if I said this is the most important week of the entire history of humanity.
SPEAKER_01: The Sunday before Passover until next Easter when Jesus rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: There's no other week like it.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus came into Jerusalem riding a donkey's colt.
SPEAKER_01: People laid out palms.
SPEAKER_01: They put their clothes on the ground for him to ride over, fulfilling Zechariah 9:9.
SPEAKER_01: People screamed and yelled, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The Pharisees, of course, were there on Palm Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: They told Jesus to make everyone be quiet.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, even if they were to be quiet, the stones would cry out.
SPEAKER_01: Then, in no particular order during the week, I want you to know Jesus cleanses the temple.
SPEAKER_01: He teaches in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: He curses a fig tree and explains it.
SPEAKER_01: He predicts Judas is going to betray him.
SPEAKER_01: He washes his disciples' feet.
SPEAKER_01: He institutes the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_01: He predicts Peter will deny him.
SPEAKER_01: He goes out and prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_01: Peter does deny him.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is arrested before that.
SPEAKER_01: The rooster crows.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus goes through trials, scourgings, crucifixion.
SPEAKER_01: The skies turn black, the veil's torn.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus dies.
SPEAKER_01: He's buried.
SPEAKER_01: And then on Sunday morning, the resurrection, the only reason we're here.
SPEAKER_01: But the whole week is important.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible screams at us.
SPEAKER_01: Over a third, I think, of the gospels are devoted to this one week.
SPEAKER_01: So when Pastor Rick cut me loose with a blank slate on Palm Sunday, I had a lot of topics to choose from.
SPEAKER_01: And I decided that I was going to preach on one of the most intriguing characters that I know of in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And that guy's name is Malchus.
SPEAKER_01: And I started getting myself together a sermon about Malchus, and God said, No, you're not going to preach about Malchus.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You're going to preach about Peter, and you're going to preach about what happened between Peter and Jesus right after the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a sermon that's titled The Garden Incident.
SPEAKER_01: Before I get into that, though, I want to pray and then we'll begin.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that you will hide me behind your cross.
SPEAKER_01: And God, I ask that you'll prepare our minds and our hearts to hear the word that you have for us today and to let us respond to your word in hear and when we go out there.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Does anybody here identify with Peter?
SPEAKER_01: Usually, if anybody identifies with any of the disciples, it's Peter.
SPEAKER_01: You don't hear a lot of people saying, Well, you know, I really feel like I'm in line with Andrew right there.
SPEAKER_01: I really identify with Bartholomew.
SPEAKER_01: But we always hear people say, I identify with Peter.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think it's a coincidence that we identify with Peter, because in Matthew chapter 16, Jesus tells Peter, On this rock, I will build my church.
SPEAKER_01: So it makes perfect sense that church people would identify with the rock on whom Jesus decided to build his church.
SPEAKER_01: But man, Peter's far from perfect.
SPEAKER_01: He's impulsive, he's irrational at times, he is quick to speak and slow to listen.
SPEAKER_01: Just like me.
SPEAKER_01: He says some things that just make you cringe.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you want to take Peter to the side and say, could you just be quiet for just a minute?
SPEAKER_01: Just like me.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe even sometime today, but hopefully not.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna look at interactions between Peter and Jesus that happened right after the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna look at them from Matthew chapter 26, if you want to turn in your Bibles.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 26, 30 through 35 will be the first things we read.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Peter and Jesus discussed right before Jesus went to the cross, right after the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 26, verse 30 says this: When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus said to them, All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.
SPEAKER_01: But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: Peter answered him, even though there was no question, and said, Even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you, this night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter said to him, Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.
SPEAKER_01: And so said all the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has just gone into Jerusalem fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: And here when he talks about strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered, he's quoting another prophecy from Zechariah chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: It would seem that that would make sense.
SPEAKER_01: We just did the one thing and now he's telling us the next thing, and this is gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: But that isn't the way that it registers with Peter.
SPEAKER_01: It's from the same scroll, but it's just not the way that it registers.
SPEAKER_01: There's an old song, not that old, but Mercy Me came out with a song about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo called Even If, even if you don't, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Well, this is Peter's even if.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Jesus, even if everybody's made to stumble, I'm not gonna be made to stumble.
SPEAKER_01: He had to be confused.
SPEAKER_01: He had to be thinking they were going to some earthly battle, and then Jesus was going to see him in Galilee, and Jesus was saying you're gonna stumble, and Peter's just saying, based on the information he has, what he's gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: And the first point that I want you to know is Peter tells Jesus what he's going to do.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we see right there.
SPEAKER_01: He tells them, I'm not gonna stumble.
SPEAKER_01: Really, when you peel back this a little bit, Jesus tells Peter the truth, and Peter tells Jesus, that's just not true for me.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you this, we live in a world where a lot of people say, I believe in the Bible, but that part there is just not true for me.
SPEAKER_01: Used to it was lost people who would say, Well, you know, that's just not true for me, I don't believe.
SPEAKER_01: But today it's like church people who are picking parts of the Bible and saying, Well, I believe in this part, but that part over there, well, that's just not true for me.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you, if you hear nothing else I say, there is only one truth.
SPEAKER_01: And that truth is the whole word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And you cannot pick a part that is truth for you and say, well, the rest of it isn't truth for me.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what you think, no matter what you understand.
SPEAKER_01: Peter didn't understand, and that didn't make it not true.
SPEAKER_01: If we go down this idea that something can be true for me but not for you, we get in trouble really quick.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to get too philosophical, but if something is true for you but not for me, then I'm the only truth for me.
SPEAKER_01: And if something's true for me and not for you, then you're the only truth for you.
SPEAKER_01: Except you're not true to me and I'm not true to you, and so really everything's true.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody confused?
SPEAKER_01: You get to dealing in lies and things get confusing really, really quick.
SPEAKER_01: I want you guys to know there is one truth.
SPEAKER_01: That truth has been around forever, and this newfangled stuff that we have, it's not new.
SPEAKER_01: It happened in Genesis.
SPEAKER_01: The devil came up to Eve, and God had told Eve the truth, and the devil said, Surely that's not true.
SPEAKER_01: The only difference is now we're bringing it into the church house.
SPEAKER_01: There's only one truth.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter stumbled even in making that statement.
SPEAKER_01: He falls into the trap.
SPEAKER_01: Peter had limited information.
SPEAKER_01: That's one of your blanks to fill in.
SPEAKER_01: He's got limited information.
SPEAKER_01: He has no idea what's about to happen.
SPEAKER_01: And let's be honest, we don't either.
SPEAKER_01: Let's rewind to December of 2019 and somebody tell me what was about to happen.
SPEAKER_01: We got no idea what's coming.
SPEAKER_01: Some people seem like they have more idea of what's gonna happen than others.
SPEAKER_01: But let me tell you this: a lot of times if people seem like they have a bunch of information, they really don't have all that much information.
SPEAKER_01: Compared to the Creator, we don't have very much information at all.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know much of anything.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible tells us that.
SPEAKER_01: If we listen, Psalm 145, verse 3 says, Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
SPEAKER_01: His greatness is unsearchable.
SPEAKER_01: In Romans 11, 33, O the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know anything.
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah is one of my favorites, Isaiah chapter 40, verses 12 through 14.
SPEAKER_01: Who has measured the waters of the hollow in his hand?
SPEAKER_01: Who's measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
SPEAKER_01: Who's weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?
SPEAKER_01: Who's directed the Spirit of the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Or as his counselor has taught him?
SPEAKER_01: With whom did God take counsel and who instructed him and taught him the path of justice?
SPEAKER_01: Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding?
SPEAKER_01: Nobody.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have all of the information.
SPEAKER_01: But Peter here in this situation honestly believes that he does.
SPEAKER_01: Just like me.
SPEAKER_01: But he didn't.
SPEAKER_01: Just like me.
SPEAKER_01: And if we can realize, first of all, that we have limited information, maybe we need to take a different approach.
SPEAKER_01: My wife, a few years ago at a church that we were attending, was in the ladies' ministry, and one day she came home with this shirt that had nothing but Job 13.5 written across it.
SPEAKER_01: Job 13.5.
SPEAKER_01: All the shirts said Job 13.5.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if they were trying to tell themselves something or if they needed to go home and tell their husband something, but you gotta look it up if you don't know the verse that's on the shirt.
SPEAKER_01: So I looked up Job 13.5 in my New King James version, and it said, Oh, you would be silent and it would be your wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the Holman version of the Bible is the one they were talking about, and that version is not quite as couched.
SPEAKER_01: It says, if you would only shut up and let that be your wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that you would be silent and let it be your wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: Be quiet, Dave.
SPEAKER_01: Peter, be quiet.
SPEAKER_01: But you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I have so much to offer.
SPEAKER_01: I've got things that I need to say.
SPEAKER_01: And so did Peter.
SPEAKER_01: But he didn't know anything.
SPEAKER_01: And you just want to shake Peter and say, Peter, Job 13, 5.
SPEAKER_01: Be silent and let that be your wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: My dad was not the most eloquent of speakers, but he had this one memorized, and he used to say this so much that it imprinted on my brain.
SPEAKER_01: He said, it's better to keep your mouth shut and let everyone think you're a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say that again.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this that that is prophetic.
SPEAKER_01: Better to keep your mouth shut and let everyone think you're a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
SPEAKER_01: The thing about is, you don't think people are fools when they're quiet.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be honest.
SPEAKER_01: You see a guy sitting, a lady sitting, they're quiet, they're just looking, they're not saying anything, just watching what's going on, taking it all in.
SPEAKER_01: You drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what they're thinking about you.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I do.
SPEAKER_01: Or sometimes I think maybe they're thinking about something too lofty for me to understand.
SPEAKER_01: But when you're quiet, a lot of times people think you're wise.
SPEAKER_01: And when I start talking, sometimes people think different.
SPEAKER_01: Be silent and let that be your wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: Number two on your blanks is this it's listen.
SPEAKER_01: If you can be quiet, then maybe, not guaranteed, but maybe you can listen.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you know that it can take work to listen?
SPEAKER_01: A lot of ladies know that it's hard for their husbands to listen.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It's hard.
SPEAKER_01: But God speaks to his people, he always has.
SPEAKER_01: Can we listen and hear it?
SPEAKER_01: He tells us in John chapter 10, Jesus says, The sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
SPEAKER_01: When Jeremiah was in prison, God told him in Jeremiah chapter 33, call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you do not know.
SPEAKER_01: Job's friend came to talk to him while Job was being kind of devastated, and his friend said, God may speak in one way or another, man does not perceive it.
SPEAKER_01: Peter doesn't seem to perceive what Jesus is saying here in this interaction.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't seem to be listening.
SPEAKER_01: And instead of taking it all in, he speaks and tells Jesus what he's gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: Can you hear God speak?
SPEAKER_01: Are you quiet ever and listening?
SPEAKER_01: Can you perceive what the Creator is telling you?
SPEAKER_01: It can be hard to understand sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: I know uh many of you guys will laugh, and some of you guys will scoff, and some of you may choose to argue with me, but I really am getting older.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, there's more salt than pepper in the beard these days.
SPEAKER_01: And you pull the curls back, and there's a lot of white under there.
SPEAKER_01: I want you guys to know I've been to an appointment this year with the foot doctor, and I may go back for another.
SPEAKER_01: We've discussed things like inserts and surgeries.
SPEAKER_01: I have progressive glasses now because I can't see far or close.
SPEAKER_01: So now I'm wearing these things three or four days a week.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I even have to wear them when I'm driving.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the only thing that's going on, though.
SPEAKER_01: My my hearing.
SPEAKER_01: I used to be like a 17-18 on the TV volume.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm like 23-24.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not, no signs of slowing down.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell you, I I prefer subtitles.
SPEAKER_01: Especially now that I have my glasses.
SPEAKER_01: Just yesterday, Amanda and I were over at the Walmart.
SPEAKER_01: I may have seen some of you guys there, and we turned right.
SPEAKER_01: I don't like going down the right side of the store.
SPEAKER_01: I need doll soap deodorant, toothpaste, we're done.
SPEAKER_01: When we go right with her, there's little bottles of cream that cost$13.97 and things I just don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: But we got over on the right hand side of the store, and then we're getting back down the aisle.
SPEAKER_01: We're done with that part.
SPEAKER_01: We're going towards the sporting goods, and we're by the pillows and the lamps and all that.
SPEAKER_01: She's in front of me and she says, uh, what do I need over here?
SPEAKER_01: Cat food.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, we don't have a cat.
SPEAKER_01: And the cat food's back over there.
SPEAKER_01: And I got to thinking that maybe she was getting a little older in some areas too.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Did you say we need cat food?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, No, I said I'm a cut through.
SPEAKER_01: So my hearing is going and it's gotta be driving them crazy, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We'll be in the house, and what I to keep from saying huh, and to keep from sounding like a bunch of geese, I've kind of adopted this thing.
SPEAKER_01: I say, excuse me or I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not quite to the come again thing, but I'm I'm headed there.
SPEAKER_01: Like we're headed towards come again.
SPEAKER_01: Right now, though, for our amusement, what I will do sometimes is I will tell her back or tell the kids back what I think I heard them say.
SPEAKER_01: And man, background noise is the worst.
SPEAKER_01: The other day I was in the kitchen.
SPEAKER_01: I think I had the water running, maybe the stove vent.
SPEAKER_01: They were in the living room, they had the TV on, and I hear, I hear garble, garble, garble, garble, ate it with a dinosaur.
SPEAKER_01: And I went, I said, Did I just hear you say you ate something with a dinosaur?
SPEAKER_01: No, Dad.
SPEAKER_01: I said I hate this stuffy nose and I hate it when my throat is sore.
SPEAKER_01: So on and on we go.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you all of that to ask you this: how much background noise is getting in the way of you hearing what the Lord is saying?
SPEAKER_01: Can you even perceive it?
SPEAKER_01: How many thoughts and fears and ideas and judgments and assumptions and preconceptions, how much TV, radio, internet, how many other voices are out there that you're trying to decipher the word of the Lord from?
SPEAKER_01: Can you be quiet and cut out the noise?
SPEAKER_01: Prayer is what we're talking about here, guys.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't say that we were gonna have a sermon on prayer, but that's what it is.
SPEAKER_01: A conversation with God.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Peter's doing.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we do.
SPEAKER_01: When you pray, do you listen?
SPEAKER_01: God speak, let me hear your voice clearly.
SPEAKER_01: And then just be quiet.
SPEAKER_01: You ever do that?
SPEAKER_01: Focus.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to do.
SPEAKER_01: Your phone's gonna buzz about as soon as you try.
SPEAKER_01: And then your mind's gonna drift off.
SPEAKER_01: You may fall asleep.
SPEAKER_01: If we said, let's pray right now, in about 15 or 20 seconds, somebody better start talking.
SPEAKER_01: If nobody started talking for a minute, it would get really uneasy in here.
SPEAKER_01: And if we went two or three minutes, people would start needing to go out to the restroom, and some people would never come back.
SPEAKER_01: They would be saying, Man, there's a lot of weird people over there.
SPEAKER_01: They just sit around listening for God to say something.
SPEAKER_01: They said pray and nobody said anything.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of our prayers are for an act of God.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of times when we pray, we tell God what we want Him to do.
SPEAKER_01: We tell God what we want to do.
SPEAKER_01: We ask God to bless what we've decided to do.
SPEAKER_01: We give intricate details about what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not discrediting prayers like that.
SPEAKER_01: But God's word is powerful too.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible tells us so.
SPEAKER_01: So when we're asking God for all the things we want to do, sometimes we may just need to ask him for a word and listen.
SPEAKER_01: But listening can be dangerous.
SPEAKER_01: Does God ever just make conversation?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that ain't how he talks to me.
SPEAKER_01: If we ask God to heal, it's not that risky.
SPEAKER_01: He either will or he won't, right?
SPEAKER_01: But if we ask God for a word, and then we get one, that could mess our day up.
SPEAKER_01: That might make you rearrange your schedule a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: That might make you change your life a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not preaching against schedules.
SPEAKER_01: We have one, I know.
SPEAKER_01: But if your life is so full that you can't even have time to hear what God may be telling you to do.
SPEAKER_01: And you're filling it up with your limited information.
SPEAKER_01: Are we missing the point?
SPEAKER_01: Number two, you guys are still here, so I'm gonna keep talking.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing that we see in this interaction between Peter and Jesus comes from Matthew 26, 36 through 40.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, Sit here while I go and pray over there.
SPEAKER_01: And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, I believe are their names, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death, stay here and watch with me.
SPEAKER_01: He went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.
SPEAKER_01: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
SPEAKER_01: Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said, Peter, what could you not even watch with me one hour?
SPEAKER_01: Point two, Peter doesn't do what Jesus tells him to do.
SPEAKER_01: So number one, Peter tells Jesus what he's gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, Peter doesn't do what Jesus tells him to do.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus gave him a simple instruction to stay and watch.
SPEAKER_01: But how many of you know here today that sometimes simple does not mean easy?
SPEAKER_01: We will go all the way around the world with complicated things to keep from doing the simple Simple, hard thing that the Lord has told us to do.
SPEAKER_01: You want to have some fun?
SPEAKER_01: Go home today and tell your kids, kids, I want you to stay and watch.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, what are we watching for?
SPEAKER_01: How long do we have to watch?
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like?
SPEAKER_01: We know when we see it.
SPEAKER_01: Where are you gonna be?
SPEAKER_01: When you come back, you gonna watch with us?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you got questions, right?
SPEAKER_01: I wonder what Peter thought he was watching for.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus told him to stay and watch.
SPEAKER_01: And he didn't do it.
SPEAKER_01: He fell asleep not one time, not two times, three times.
SPEAKER_01: We didn't read all the times, but three times he falls asleep.
SPEAKER_01: Right after Peter had told Jesus all he was gonna go do.
SPEAKER_01: We get all geared up sometimes about what we're gonna do for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes God just says, I just need you to stay and watch.
SPEAKER_01: Just be still, watch.
SPEAKER_01: If God's given you that instruction today, don't sleep on the thing that God has told you to do.
SPEAKER_01: What are we watching for?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, in the Bible you read that we're watching for signs of the times, the end of the world.
SPEAKER_01: We do.
SPEAKER_01: That's a train that's coming, and we can watch for that.
SPEAKER_01: But while we're waiting on that, I suggest maybe we watch for attacks.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter 5, verse 8 tells us to be sober and vigilant.
SPEAKER_01: You know your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour.
SPEAKER_01: So watch for attacks.
SPEAKER_01: Another thing that we watch for is opportunities.
SPEAKER_01: Galatians 6, 10, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those in the household of the faith.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of you guys know that I went to Costa Rica.
SPEAKER_01: It's been last month and now.
SPEAKER_01: I had the opportunity to go on a short-term mission trip to Costa Rica.
SPEAKER_01: I've never been to Costa Rica, and I've never been on a short-term mission trip, but I signed up and told the Lord I was gonna go serve the people in Costa Rica.
SPEAKER_01: And I was nervous.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but one couple things happened to make me not quite so nervous.
SPEAKER_01: One thing was um when we got our flight information, it was Southwest Airlines.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's arguable, but I'm a Southwest guy.
SPEAKER_01: I like the way they do business.
SPEAKER_01: I know they had a little trouble around Christmas, but I like Southwest.
SPEAKER_01: I've learned how to play the game.
SPEAKER_01: So the Southwest game is, except for the few little seats up front that I don't ever sit in, you have like first come, first serve seating on Southwest Airlines.
SPEAKER_01: So the day before, 24 hours before your flight leaves, you have to check in online, and that gives you your boarding group.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're in boarding group A, man, you've really done something.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna go get whatever seat you want except for those high dollar seats.
SPEAKER_01: Boarding group B is okay.
SPEAKER_01: When you get down into C, it's kind of 50-50.
SPEAKER_01: And if you know anything about airplanes, usually they have three seats on one side and three seats on the other.
SPEAKER_01: If you get in the C's, you're probably in the B's and the E's, which means you're in the middle seat.
SPEAKER_01: I checked in 23 hours ahead of time.
SPEAKER_01: And I got boarding group C, and I was alright.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, all right, this is gonna be good.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we get over to Houston at the airport, and at our gate, another thing happened that gave me some comfort.
SPEAKER_01: There was a ton of people wearing green shirts and some like big old boys, and they were going to Costa Rica, and they had been before, they had t-shirts, they were going to do mission work, and I was like, I'm not the only one going on a mission trip to Costa Rica.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in boarding group C.
SPEAKER_01: It's probably gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_01: I get in the airplane and I go all the way to the back, and I got a window seat with nobody sitting beside me.
SPEAKER_01: On the way to Costa Rica in boarding group C, and I was like, the Lord is blessing this day.
SPEAKER_01: I sat there, I got myself situated.
SPEAKER_01: I may or may not have had my book bag in seat B, just so that somebody had to ask me to move it if they wanted that seat.
SPEAKER_01: And in a few minutes, I see uh coming down the middle of the plane a mom and a dad and two kids, maybe like five and seven years old or six and eight, and they come all the way to the back of the plane, and then they turn around and start going back towards the front of the plane.
SPEAKER_01: And I've flown with my kids before and I knew what they were doing.
SPEAKER_01: There weren't any two seats together.
SPEAKER_01: And a soft, still voice came to me and said, You can do this.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, if nobody else volunteers, I will.
SPEAKER_01: And then I said, if they come back this way, I will.
SPEAKER_01: And then I said, if they ask, then I will.
SPEAKER_01: And I sat right there and I didn't offer to help those people.
SPEAKER_01: And in a minute the stewardess came over the microphone and she said, if anybody wants to drink free on the way to Costa Rica, we need a seat.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Well, I can't raise my hand now.
SPEAKER_01: A man, a couple of rows behind me at the very back of the plane, gave up his seat.
SPEAKER_01: And the lady and one of the kids went and sat down there, and the husband and another kid went and sat in another place.
SPEAKER_01: And I heard the lady say when she sat down, all these people are going to serve Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They tell you when you go on one of these short-term mission trips, you may never know the impact that you have on the people that you go and serve.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you this.
SPEAKER_01: I may never know the impact that I chose not to have on the tarmac at the Houston Airport for that young family.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't do what God told me to do.
SPEAKER_01: I had told God what I was gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: But until I got there, I I was gonna be comfortable.
SPEAKER_01: Do the clear, simple thing that God tells you to do.
SPEAKER_01: The third time Jesus wakes up the disciples, the army's already there.
SPEAKER_01: The arrest is about to happen, the betrayer has come.
SPEAKER_01: If Peter was watching, it wouldn't have mattered, okay?
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't have stopped these guys from coming.
SPEAKER_01: That was gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: But in Peter's story, in Peter's mind, his last two interactions with Jesus before Jesus is arrested.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, he contradicts Jesus and tells him what he's gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: And number two, he disobeys Jesus and doesn't do what Jesus tells him to do.
SPEAKER_01: This is the rock who does this.
SPEAKER_01: Number three, Peter doesn't wait for Jesus to tell him what to do.
SPEAKER_01: Say that again, Peter doesn't wait for Jesus to tell him what to do.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 26, 47.
SPEAKER_01: While he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priest and the elders of the people.
SPEAKER_01: Now his betrayer had given him a sign, saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one sees him.
SPEAKER_01: Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, Greetings, Rabbi, and kissed him.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus said to him, Friend, why have you come?
SPEAKER_01: Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him, and suddenly one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand, drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
SPEAKER_01: How effective, right?
SPEAKER_01: I've cut off your ear, and now you can't hear what we're saying.
SPEAKER_01: It's like Monty Python or something like that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't even know.
SPEAKER_01: So surely he was aiming for the head of the servant of the high priest.
SPEAKER_01: I like to think anyway, this one who was with them.
SPEAKER_01: That's Matthew's account.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew leaves out a couple of details, though.
SPEAKER_01: If you look at this account in John, this garden incident, John says, Peter, having a sword, drew it, struck the ear of the high priest's servant, and his name was Malchus.
SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to tell you all about Malchus, but I just have to tell you all about Peter.
SPEAKER_01: So Peter is identified as the one who had a sword.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he was the only one with a sword, but he's the only one, John says, who had a sword.
SPEAKER_01: Let's finish filling in the details in Luke chapter 22, 49 through 51.
SPEAKER_01: When those around saw what was going to happen, they said to him, Lord, shall we strike with the sword?
SPEAKER_01: And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus answered and said, Permit even this.
SPEAKER_01: And he touched his ear and healed him.
SPEAKER_01: That's a prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Should we strike with the sword?
SPEAKER_01: That's asking Jesus for a word.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know who prayed the prayer, but Peter's the only one we know of who had a sword.
SPEAKER_01: And he was definitely close enough to hear the question.
SPEAKER_01: And before Jesus could even answer, before Jesus could even answer the prayer, the sword was swung, the ear was cut, the damage was done.
SPEAKER_01: The only way that makes sense is if they prayed with their sword right here.
SPEAKER_01: The prayer God answered, Jesus said, permit even this.
SPEAKER_01: But Peter jumped the gun.
SPEAKER_01: And when he did that, by not waiting for Jesus to tell him what to do, he was ineffective.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't accomplish what he intended to accomplish.
SPEAKER_01: He was insignificant.
SPEAKER_01: Even if he had done what he wanted to do, there's a legion of army there.
SPEAKER_01: It wouldn't have mattered.
SPEAKER_01: But lastly, I want you to know this.
SPEAKER_01: Peter was injurious.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to this, church.
SPEAKER_01: Peter, the church, actually hurt someone in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And that man's name was Malchus.
SPEAKER_01: And the last thing we see Jesus do before he's arrested and taken to the cross is heal Malchus.
SPEAKER_01: Cleaning up the mess that Peter made.
SPEAKER_01: The last thing we see Jesus do is fix the damage that was caused by his church.
SPEAKER_01: If you guys would stand to your feet, I think we got the worship team coming.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna leave you just like that.
SPEAKER_01: The good news is that Malchus was healed and Jesus can heal.
SPEAKER_01: And the good news for Peter is that when Jesus rose again from the dead, he went and restored Peter.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason that I believe we relate with Peter is because Peter's the one that Jesus tapped to be the foundation of the church.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what you've done, you can be usable.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus still wants to use you.
SPEAKER_01: But when we see this with Peter, I think a lot of times, if you're like me, I get all geared up saying what I'm gonna go do.
SPEAKER_01: I don't do what God says do, and then I pray and don't wait on God to tell me what to do.
SPEAKER_01: And that's not the way to be a usable servant.
SPEAKER_01: There may be somebody here who would say, Dave, you know, I always uh do what God says.
SPEAKER_01: And I clear my mind, and I can always hear the thing he tells for me to do.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't ever just go off and tell him what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: We always just wait.
SPEAKER_01: And if that's you, man, I can't wait to see what God does with you.
SPEAKER_01: But there may be somebody else here who might say, Well, you know, I do sometimes just run my own agenda and tell God how it's gonna be.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe somebody else is here that says, I've heard that soft still voice and I missed that chance because I was gonna be comfortable until I got off to where I was gonna serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And there may be other people who pray and don't wait to hear what the Lord has to tell you to do.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, that's that's being like Peter.
SPEAKER_01: But the next kind of person that may be here, I this is for you.
SPEAKER_01: Is there is there anybody here who says, you know, I I feel like Malchus?
SPEAKER_01: I've been hurt by the church.
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, I want you to know we're all imperfect, but Jesus can heal.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus can heal.
SPEAKER_01: It's the last thing he did before he went to the cross.
SPEAKER_01: This last interaction with Peter was cleaning up Peter's mess, and Jesus can clean up any mess that anybody at the church may have done for you, too.
SPEAKER_00: We're excited you joined us for today's message.
SPEAKER_00: Our heart is to connect with others in our community to grow with one another and build a bigger kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.
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SPEAKER_00: Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.