June 30, 2024 • 49 mins
What’s your direction?
In “Destiny & Direction,” Pastor Larry Brey shows us that our destiny is determined by a decision, but direction is a daily denial of ourselves.
Scripture References:
Mark 1, verses 16-17
2 Peter 3, verse 18
Matthew 16, verses 13-17
Ephesians 2, verse 8
Mark 6, verses 30-37, 51-52
Luke 22, verses 31-34
John 21, verses 15-19
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see Gods moving in
your life. Enjoy the message what enjoy to be with
you today.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
My name is Larry Bryan, one of the pastors here
at Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
But all my friends call me ld and.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
My wife and I had the distinct privilege of being
one of the original eight families eighteen plus years ago
to start Elevation Church with Eric, my friend here and
I saw Jay Raven around here. And when we started
the church eighteen years ago, my wife and I moved
into our house on a Friday night right when the
church started, went to the hospital the next Wednesday, had
our first born son. Here's a picture of how it
(00:51):
started eighteen years ago. I think we got a picture
to pop up there. That's my boy, Corbyn Charles Brye
and I remember when we took him to e Kids
Children's Ministry the very first I Miss Marie Neil was
the first volunteer to hold him.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
She's still holding.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Babies eighteen years later at Elevation Blakeney.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Thank you, Marie Neial.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Thank you to all the Eat kids, Heather and Anthony,
and all the people that have sown into my son
and all of our kids. I think the unsung heroes
of this ministry are the people that show up every week,
that serve our children and raise them up.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
And now this is my son, this is now, this is.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Just a couple of weeks ago, my man, my boy.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And so on the day he was born, my wife Janet,
when she was pregnant, we weren't pregnant, she was pregnant.
She would listen to the same songs every day in
the morning, and there was a song by Chris Tomlin.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
What was it, honey?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
It was how Great is Our God? Do I remember
that old song? She would listen to it every day
and he would jump in her belly. He would do
like cartwheels. And on the day he was born, he
was not jumping to that song. My wife got real
freaked out.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
She calls me.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Turns out the cord was wrapped around his neck and
that was his way of telling us, you need to
come take me. He arrived Emergency Sea section. Like an
hour or so later, my wife calls me. I'm trying
to hold it together and I'm freaking out, like.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Babe, it's gonna be okay. And I got off the phone.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
First person I called was Pastor Stephen, and I can't
tell you what he told me, but I do remember
how he made me feel. He made me feel like
God was with me. He's in it, fighting for me,
and God is not against me. Thank you, Pastor Stephen
and Pastor Holly for eighteen years faithfully doing that in
this house.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
We love you, We honor you.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Hey, let me give you the passage I want to
preach from today. It's two verses, Mark chapter one, Verses
sixteen and seventeen. This is the word that God has
given me. This is my assignment to deliver it to
you today.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I've been praying that you.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Would be good soil, because this is good and when
good seed meets good soil, it produces a great harvest
for his glory.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Mark Chapter one.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
This is Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee. He
saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into
the lake, for they were fishermen. Come follow me, Jesus said,
and I will send you out to fish for people
one more time. Let me pray, Father, this is good seed.
Sons and daughters of this house and watching online around
(03:28):
the world are good soil. Take your good seed, put
it in the soil of their heart. Produce a harvest
of righteousness for your glory.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Amen, let me give you the title. Then you can
have a seat. This is the title for today, Destiny
and Direction. Look at your favorite person around you, give
them a hogins say.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Destiny and Direction.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Thank you, worship team. This is an incredible story because
many things are happening in this scene at the same time.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Peter Andrew Simon. Well Simon, he's Simon.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Simon is a part of him that's parting on on
Saturday night. But Peter's the side of him that's praising
on Sunday morning. You know, because all of you got
a little bit of a little bit of Simon in you,
then you also got some some Peter in you.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
That's that guy.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
He's out casting nets. I don't know what he did
the night before, but Jesus shows up on the scene
an ordinary day in Peter's life that encounters a radical
savior that's about to change the trajectory of his life.
He did not know that was gonna happen when he
set out on his day. At the same time that's happening,
Jesus is also establishing his earthly ministry. He's saying it
(04:39):
is time to go. He's prepared himself for the assignment
of going to the cross, and now he's gonna pick
the team to follow him. And he shows up and
he's walking along and it says he sees Simon, he
sees him casting a net into the lake. Because another
thing that's happening at that moment. You have no idea
(04:59):
what God's doing on you row. You have no idea
the stories that are ending and beginning. And God is
doing something significant in our midst today. Oh, if we
would perceive in the spiritual realm what God is doing
in this place. And because Jesus is about to establish
kingdom culture, say kingdom culture. You see the culture of
the world when someone would find a teacher or a rabbi.
(05:21):
That's what Jesus is about to become to these these disciples,
is He's about to become their teacher, their rabbi in
that culture. The way that a rabbi would be selected
wouldn't be the rabbi would not.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Come to you.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Oh no, he would never stoop so low as the
step into your lowly place. Rabbis would stand at a distance,
and people would come to him and beg, oh, please please,
could I be your student?
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Could I learn from you?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
And they would say, well, show me how smart you are.
That's the culture of the world. That is religion trying
to prove that you should be picked. Some of you
are exhausted because you have lived your whole life trying
to prove that you should be picked. And Jesus is
about to establish kingdom culture on earth as it is
(06:03):
in heaven. That's what he's bringing into the kingdom on
earth as it is in heaven, because it's the upside
down culture. The first shall be the last, and the
last shall be the first. And Jesus comes to them,
and he comes to you, and he sees you.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
He sees all of you. He sees what you did,
he sees.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Where you're doing right now, and he sees what you're
going to do in the future. And he comes to
you and he picks you. That's the kind of God
that we have, that's the kind of savior that we have.
He pushes through all of the stuff and he comes
to you because he's establishing kingdom culture, and it's beautiful.
And he takes the criteria that none of us would
have ever used to pick his first disciples, none of
(06:42):
us would have been tall enough, good enough, smart enough.
When Jesus says, I am doing something new, something different,
and I think that same spirit is happening in this
place today. Now, this guy named Simon, who would later
be called Peter, he writes two books of the Bible.
So when Jesus shows up in Mark one, Simon would
(07:03):
have been Peter would have been about mid twenties, late twenties,
and he would write two books of the Bible, first
Peter and second Peter.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And in Second Peter.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
The very last words he writes some forty years later
after this incident, looking back on his life, looking back
on all of the high points and low points.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Remember when when.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Jesus saw him casting a net into the lake, and
Jesus came to him, remembering the denials, remembering standing up
on pentagons, reminding him of all the places where he
got it right and got it wrong. He looks back
with wisdom, and he pens the very last words of
his second letter. This is his last letter, his last words.
And there's something about your last words. There's something about
(07:48):
the wisdom of your life looking back on it, when
you want to give somebody the wisdom to say, if
you only remember one thing, this is it. He writes
this in Second Peter three eighteen. He says, but grow
in the grace in knowledge of our Lord and savior,
Jesus Christ. Peter gives this profound wisdom. Looking back, he says, grow,
(08:08):
say grow. Some of us are working hard to grow
our bank account, but are growing in the grace. We're
growing our followers, but are we growing our faith?
Speaker 1 (08:18):
That's what I want to talk about today.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And Peter says, I want you to grow in the
grace and knowledge. You see, when you have knowledge without grace,
your self righteous. I'm trying to prove how smart you are.
But grace without knowledge is a leaky bucket because you
can't hold what God reveals to you. And Peter speaks
to two distinct offices. Jesus is so much, he's indescribable,
(08:43):
but he speaks of two distinct roles that Jesus must
occupy in your life.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
First is as Savior.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
The second is that Lord, because the Savior determines the
destiny and the Lord sets the direction.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
That's what I want to talk about for a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
As we begin a relationship with Jesus, we got to
grow in that relationship with Jesus. It's called progressive revelation.
Progressive revelation. I've got my twelve year old daughter, she
will turn thirteen next week, Miss Carson here, she's amazing.
She's my favorite child that I'm looking at right now.
We've got four, which every one is in front of me.
Is my favorite kid. So progressive revelation is this. She says, Daddy,
(09:24):
I love you. She drove with me to church this morning,
She's like, Daddy, I love you. I remember dropping her
off in kindergarten first.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
And she's like, Daddy, I love you.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But now when she gets around some of her middle
school friends, she's like, Dad, I'm like, you better say
you love me. But I know that she'll graduate from
high school one day and she'll say, Dad, I love you.
She'll get married one day and on the night before
her wedding, or as I get ready to walk her
down the aisle, she'll look at me and says, dad,
I love you. Then, but she holds her firstborn child,
(09:52):
she will look at me and say, Dad, I love you.
She's used the same word her whole life, but her
understanding has changed over time. That is agressive revelation in
our relationship with Jesus. Some of us are stuck in
a flannel revelation of Jesus. You have not upgraded your
definition of Jesus in a very long time. And that's
what God is trying to do today. He's trying to
(10:13):
upgrade your definition because you're living in an outdated revelation.
And Peter is saying, I need you to grow in
the grace of Jesus, your Lord and Savior. If we
fast forward to one of the pivot points of Peter's journey,
and that's who we're really going to focus on today,
is this character Peter. In Matthew chapter sixteen, it says this,
(10:33):
starting in verse thirteen, when Jesus came to the region
of cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Do people say the Son of Man is? Now?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
This is about two years after Peter started Jesus on
the journey.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
He's been walking with him for a while. This is
not brand new.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
He's been seeing the miracles, he's heard the sermons, he's
been there, done all this stuff. And now Jesus is
flipping the script, and he's asking him who do they
say that? I am question for you, for those of
you who claim Christ. If your words are paint and
your life is a canvas, what portrait of Jesus are
you painting.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
To the world.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
If I were to go into the environments around you
and see the people closest to you, what would they
say about Jesus?
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Who is Jesus?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Because some of you need to understand, you are the
only Jesus some people will ever see.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Who do they say? He did not give you that
job for an income.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
He gave you for influence. God puts you in that
place to exert his influence.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
For his glory.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I love what Jesus is doing here because he's flipping
the script. He's pushing out the casual Christianity, and he's
forcing the complacency to come to the surface because you
cannot live at that place and love Jesus at the
level that he's called you to.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
And he flips the.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Script and now he continues in the conversations and he
flips it. He says, but what about you? Who do
you say that I am? I love this question, who
do you say that I am? All of humanity hinges
on this one question. All of scripture is pointing to
one person, and his name is Jesus. In the Old Testament,
(12:12):
Jesus is concealed, and in the New Testament.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Jesus is revealed. This is all about.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Jesus, and the gospel writers says, they pen the story
of Jesus going through humanity. It's what created the casual
crowd to come to Christ because they're asking, are these
miracles really happening? But then the critics and the skeptics
are saying, what did he say? But then the Pharisees
and the teachers of the laws are all saying, who
(12:38):
does he think he is? Than even herod king, herod
pilate kings and people in authority who would say.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Are you a king?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
All of creation has been asking the question who is Jesus?
And it's the question that Jesus brings his disciples to
in this moment, and he asks him very point to
who do you say that I am? And I think
my assignment today is to ask everybody under the sound
of my voice. The most important question you could ever ask,
because your destiny is determined by a decision, and the
(13:12):
decision is who is Jesus. It's not about being a
good person. It's not about trying harder. It's not about
religious attendance. It's not about scripture reading. It is about
who is Jesus. Who is your Jesus. He's the Alpha
and the Omega. He's the author and perfector of our faith.
He is the bright in morning star. He is the cornerstone.
(13:34):
He is the great high Priests. He is the head
of the Church. He is the Holy One. He is
the Great i Am. He is Jehovah, he is Emmanuel.
He is our Redeemer, our prophet, and our Savior. And
in this moment in verse seventeen, here is in verse sixteen.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Simon Peter answered.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
You are the Messiah, the son.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Of the Living God.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Jesus replied, blessed her, you, Simon's son of Jonah. For
this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood,
but by my Father in heaven.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
You are the Messiah.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
It means savior, redeemer, and what Jesus came to save
you from is not your bad decisions, a bad marriage,
or a bad job. He came to save you from
your sins. That's why he had to die, to save
you of your sins, to.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Redeem you from it.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Oh, but some of us come to church because we
feel bad, and we follow Jesus for two years and
I got the Bible.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
But have never seen him as the Messiah.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
And it's beautiful from the Scripture says this was not
revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by Father.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
What he's saying is the grace you see.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
You and I are dead in our sin. We're born dead.
The scriptural the definition that Theologians have agreed to throughout
time is dead means you're dead dead. It means you're
so dead you cannot make a live choice. It means
that you if you don't come to God because it's
a good idea or it's a cool emotional thing that
somebody got stirred up inside of you. Know, what it
(15:05):
means is that right now the grace of God is
going forward, and some of you are leaning in because
when I picture this scene, because this is the scene
where Jesus became the Messiah of Peter, he had been
walking with him for two years. But he had never
been forgiven of a since, I think until that moment,
Because in that moment, the grace of God, the spirit
of God made him go. Oh, the Messiah, he was
(15:27):
a revelation.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
It says this.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
It says this in Ephesians chapter two, verse eight, it says,
for it is by grace that you have been saved
through faith.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
This is not from yourselves. It is a gift of God.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
So the grace of God goes forth, and the grace
is what enables you to consider him. The grace is
what enables you to look at him now. Faith is
your response to the grace that you just received. Some
of you have been coming to church for a very
long time, but you have resisted the grace, standing on
the outside because you feel like I'm too dirty, I've
done too much to clean myself up before I come
to God. You'll come to elevation every week, you'll sit
(16:03):
in the same seat, but you have not trusted in
Him as your Lord and savior. You've stood at a distance.
Peter traveled with Jesus for two years, but this is
the moment that his destiny was secured in the hands
of his savior because he said, you are the Messiah,
and I believe the grace of God is leaning into
your heart right now, and for some of you it
(16:25):
is beating out of your chest. And God is saying,
will you respond to the grace that is going forward?
It is by grace through faith. Faith is your response.
Will you receive it? You can't save yourself, but will
you receive the grace? And normally we would give an
invitation for salvation at the end of the experience. I'm
not gonna wait till then because i wanted to do
it right now and I'm not gonna bring the band up.
(16:48):
There's gonna be no pad behind this. And what I'm
gonna do in just a second at all of our locations.
So I'm gonna ask all of you who need to
begin a relationship with Jesus to stand to your feet.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
I'm in just a second.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
And some are like, oh my gosh, you're gonna make
me stand with Yes, he died a very public death
for you.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
He did. He died a very public death.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
And the reason I want some of you to stand
is because you're sitting.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Down in sin and I need you to remember that.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
The next time the voice of the enemy tries to
get you to sit in that sin.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
You can stand and say, no, I have been redeemed.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
I have been forgiven my Jehovah, Jirah, my Jehovah nieces
Jehovah Shaba. He changed me, He's redeemed me. This is
not emotionalism. This is not me being a good motivational speaker.
I'm not that good. But the grace of God is
that good. And so at all of our locations in
online this is for you too. And if you need
(17:45):
to stand to place your faith in Jesus, I'm gonna
ask you, with the count of three, without hesitation, to
boldly stand. I know, all eyes open, normally we do
every head bout every no eyes open, eyes wide open,
clear conscience, making a commitment to follow Jesus. No longer
doing it in the shadows, standing out in the life. Surprise,
they're already standing here at balance high. If you need
(18:07):
to place your faith in Jesus, stand to your feet. One,
two three, stand up, Oh my soul, hey, stand to
your feet. All of our locations, someone at Lake Norman,
someone in Raleigh right now, stand to your feet, stand
to your feet. Come on, stay standing stay standing, stay standing.
(18:28):
In all of our locations, I don't know what it
looks like other way. We're right here, so many are standing. Hey,
stay standing, stay standing. Here's what we're gonna do. We're
gonna say you pray together, stay standing, stay standing. We're
gonna say a pray together, out loud. There's nothing magical
about these words. But the Bible says, when you confess
(18:50):
with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in
your heart that he was raised from the dead, you
will be saved. And if you have placed your faith
in Jesus and you're around these people, oh and be
praying for him, be praying with me. But there are
a couple of people. You haven't stood yet. And what
I want to tell you, standing doesn't save you. Jesus
saves you. But standing is our response to take a stand.
(19:10):
So if you need to still stand, stay to your feet.
Right now, church family, let's say this prayer out loud,
eyes wide open, clear conscience, knowing that we are following
Jesus as our savior. Pray this with me. I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died
on the cross and rose from the grave. To forgive
(19:34):
me of my sins. I give you my life, I
give you my sin, I give you my shame. Forgive me,
and I'll spend my life following you. Now, give God
the biggest praise you can give.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Him in this place.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Hey, if you're around those people, hug them, high five them,
let them know that they're not alone. We're proud of you.
Come on, give them a hug. Don't let them be alone.
All all oak since church families surround him. Love on them.
Do it, do it, do it in that beautiful in
(20:13):
that beautiful. Oh, you can sit back now, but you
can stand up anytime you need to.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Is God not good?
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Oh, my soul, Your destiny, Your destiny is connected to
a decision. And the decision is who is Jesus. He's
a fairy tale of figment of their imagination or is
a fictional character. No, for some of you, he just
became your messiah, your savior. That's exactly what Peter said
to do. Grow into grace. Is Jesus our savior and Lord.
(20:46):
But here's the reality. It's easier to trust Jesus with
my destiny than my direction. It is so much easier
to say one day by and by Jesus will trust
you with that, but trust you with the hero And now, ooh,
that's so much harder.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Why is it hard.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
To trust Jesus with the direction of our lives? You see,
saved is used in multiple boys. I was saved meaning
there was a moment that Jesus became.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Your Oh, you are the Messiah.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
That moment for some of you, that moment just happened
June thirtieth. Side note, today is my birthday. The best
birthday present I could ever have is to be with
my church family. And so in scripture, thank you. In
scripture you were saved. You will be saved, meaning you
(21:37):
will see him face to face and he will say
either well done, good and faithful servant, or depart from me,
for I never knew you. You see, religious activity does
not matter in that moment. That's why you gotta have
this moment that the revelation of God. The grace is
you are the Messiah, and the faith is I choose
to receive it. I was saved. I will be saved
(21:58):
being made like him one day when we see it.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
But between these two, I'm.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Being saved the sanctification. This is trusting Jesus with the
direction of our lives? Why is it so hard to
trust Jesus with the direction? And I want to show
you from Peter's life why he struggled with this fundamental
faith issue, Because to say, Jesus one day, by and by,
but I got my plan, I got my goal, I
(22:23):
got my thing. Now would you bless my thing in Jesus' name?
Speaker 1 (22:28):
If I'm honest, I live in that.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Place anybody else would you confess with me that you
Why do we struggle with that? And I'm going to
go to a story in Peter's journey that I think
so poignantly paints a picture of the tension that we
face of why is it hard to trust Jesus with the.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Direction of our lives?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
In Mark chapter six, it says the apostles gathered around
Jesus and reported them all they had done and talk.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Let me give it a little context.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Up to Mark chapter six, Jesus had been performing miracles,
he'd been casting out demons, he had been preaching the
word of God. Then he eventually he gets to the
point that he's prepping his disciples for when he would leave,
because he says, after I go, it must continue on.
So those of you, the ones that I picked that
I revealed myself to, It is gonna be your assignment
to do what I have been doing.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
So he sends them out like Noah's.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Art principal two by two, and they're gonna go cast
out demons. They're gonna preach uh, and they're gonna they're
gonna perform miracles. And now they come back to Jesus
like googly little school kids, like.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Jesus, look what we did. We talked to demons.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
And here's the reality of what I was reading that
scripture this morning. I saw some of us living beneath
the authority Jesus gave us. Why are you living underneath
that oppressive spirit? When God give you authority over it?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Stop it, stop it. Start standing in the authority he
has given you.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
I'm not talking about walking into work slapping your boss
in the fore and say get out demon. I'm not
saying dumb stuff, but I am saying God will give
you the strength to endure up under it. Quit wilting
underneath it. Stand in the authority He's given you. It's
insulting when you act like that.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Stop it.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
So they go out and then they come back to Jesus.
And now they're like reporting to.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Them, Jesus, it was amazing. We cats out David's it
was incredible. Ha ha, And then verse thirty one.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Then because so many people were coming and going, they
did not even get a chance to eat.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
They were hungry.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
He said to them, come by yourselves to a quiet
place and get some rest. So they went away by
themselves in a boat to a solitary place.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Now let me pause there.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Jesus says, you're tired, you're hungry, you're exhausted. Come on,
let's go get some rest a quiet place by ourselves.
What picture are you seeing in your head? Like, we're
gonna get on a boat. This is gonna be amazing.
We're gonna go to a B and B get some
R and R. I'm gonna get a manny petty. I'm
gonna put my feet up in a hammock. This is
(24:56):
gonna be freaking amazing.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Okay, I need some resp.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yes, what image of rest comes to mind some mom
or dad? You've been working all week in a job
you don't even like, and you're like, if I can
just get to Friday night, I'm gonna get some rest.
And you got this picture of rest in your head,
of what you think it's going to be. But then
you come home, the kids are running around the house, naked,
(25:21):
stuff is burning on the stove, the dogs are barking.
It is complete chaos. Do any of you look at
that and go like.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Because all of us have an image of what we're expecting.
But what do we do and what we pictured doesn't
line up with what we see. Because the story continues
with the disciples here, he says, But many who saw
them leave and recognize them, and ran on foot from
all the towns and got their ahead of them. This
(25:51):
is the feeding of the five thousand. When Jesus landed
and saw such a large crowd, he had compassion on
them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, began
to teach them many things. Jesus had compassion for them.
What the disciples feel for the crowds?
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Contempt, frustration? Are you freaking kidding me?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Jesus?
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Question for you.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Jesus says, let's go to a quiet place by yourselves,
to a solitary place and get some rest.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
They get across the lake.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Does this line up with anybody's picture of what you
thought rest would be? No, But what do you do
when it doesn't line up with what you thought it
would be? So question, was Jesus lying to them?
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Like it was just like who doing them to?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Like I just need to get in the boat, say
I'll lie to you just to get you here. No,
Jesus is incapable of lying.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
He is truth.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
He is truth personified. He by deafine is truth. He
is the truth. Did Jesus just not what was waiting
for them on the other side of the lake. No,
he's omniscient, he's all knowing. So he knew what was
on the other side of the lake, and he did
not lie to the disciples. So how do you explain
the discrepancy? They had a different definition of rest. And
(27:06):
here's where it's so hard to trust Jesus with the direction,
because when you have a different definition, you won't trust
the direction. You see, when Jesus says, let's go to
a solitary place by yourselves to get some rest, it's
the same word that is used of Jesus in Mark
chapter one. It says he was baptized and then he
(27:28):
was driven by the spirit into the wilderness. You see
what you and I call wilderness. God calls rest. Jesus
was taken to the wilderness because the wilderness is the
place that you experience grace. Because the only way you
experience grace is when you get to the end of
yourself and you.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
See the beginning of God.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Oh, Jesus is taking them to the wilderness, not to
punish them, but to speak to them, because.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
The wilderness is the place.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
That gives you the grace that you start with, I can't,
but you can. Grace is what gives you the ability
to look at a situation.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
You want to run from and you say I won't.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
But God, nevertheless, your will be done. Grace is what
gives you the capacity to say I'm not, but you are.
They had a different definition.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Pastor Tim.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
When you lead so much, you lead so well in
our church, leads our next gen teams, phenomenal leader. As
a leader, don't settle for common language, push for unity
of definition. Because I was doing marital counseling a couple
of years ago with a young couple just been married,
like six or eight months, and they both come in
(28:42):
and their arms crossed, just not like you, they love
each other, They just don't like each other. And they said,
we just don't communicate very well. And I asked the wife,
I said, how do you define communication? She goes, I
think about him all day long when he's at work,
and I wonder what he's doing and how he's feeling,
and how is experiencing all of those things. And I
cannot wait till the moment he walks in the door,
(29:04):
and I just want him to share the deepest, darkest
parts of his stars. Don't spare any detail. Give me
everything that happened in your day, and ask him how
was your day? And all he said is fine. She
had a definition of communication. I asked him to find communication.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
He said, we just need to have more sex.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
You'll never have unity when you've got different definitions. You
might have a common word, but you don't have a
common definition. I just gave somebody mertal counseling in here.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Praise the Lord. Won't God do it?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
But you won't trust God with the direction when it
doesn't line up with your definition. And that's where the
disciples are at. And it's this amazing journey of some
of you that you're sitting in a situation. You didn't
think it would look like this, he said. I wanted
(30:01):
to get married, and this isn't what I picture.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
And I wanted so.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Much to get out of high school to be my
own person, But now I got the dysfunction, and this
isn't what I thought it was going to be. And
what happens is when it doesn't line up according to
your definition, you withhold and you don't trust God with
the direction anymore, not because you don't love God, you
just don't want to be disappointed anymore. That's what I
saw for some of you holding on to this updated definition. Maybe,
just maybe, Holy Spirit, would you upgrade somebody's definition in
(30:28):
here a good marriage, Define it sacrificial rather than receiving
what would be an upgraded Definitely take whatever area you're
frustrated in right now, God, upgrade their definition. Let them
see it differently, let them see it as you see it,
not as we've defined it, but let us see it
as you see it. And now the disciples have been
watching Jesus preach for about nine hours, nine hours. It
(30:51):
started about nine in the morning. Now Peter's gonna come
to him at six in the evening. They've been sitting back.
They're like, oh my gosh, good summon, LJ. Can you
please play the ham and B three and close this
thing up?
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Can we shut this thing down?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Because the disciples, remember, they're hungry, they're tired, they're exhausted,
and they're looking at the whole scene, and I think
they're resenting everything that's going down.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Jesus had compassion. They did not.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
So finally they all nudge Peter like you're the obnoxious.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
One, go say something to him.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
By Verse thirty five says by this time it was
late in the day, so the disciples came to him.
This is a remote place, they said, and it's already
very late. Send the people away so they can go
to the surrounding countrysides and villages and buy themselves something
to eat. But he answered them, you give them something
to eat.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
In this most interesting scene, because here's the reality.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
The wilderness means desolate places, but also desolate people. Jesus
brought them to the wilderness to see the wilderness, and
their wilderness was the people without a shepherd. That's why
he had compassion on them. And they come to Jesus. Hey,
(32:02):
Jesus is late in the day. Can you send them
away to give them something to eat? She said, I've
been feeding him for five hours I've been feeding it
for nine hours. I've been feeding him since I stepped
off the boat. I've been feeding them the bread of life,
the word of God. You just haven't seen it because
you were so starving in the carnal flesh. You could
not see what I was doing in the spirit. Here's
the reality. The reason you couldn't see me feeding them
is because you were feeding yourself. Why is it so
(32:26):
hard to trust God with the direction? Because you're feeding
the wrong things. And Jesus says to him, you give
them something to eat. He said, we don't have anything,
and he goes, you're right, because you've been feeding your
doubt and you're insecurity. You've been feeding all of your
cardinal stuff since we got here. You're right, you don't
have anything for them to eat. But I'm good and
I'm great, and I'm going to feed the people, and
(32:46):
I'm going to use your frustrated heart to serve them.
So take the bread and break it. And Jesus fed
the people. But the miracle was not for the five thousand.
It was for the disciples, and they did not see
it because they had the wrong definition of what rest
looked like. You see the kingdom culture, the upside down
culture that Jesus is establishing is those who were fresh others,
(33:07):
would they themselves be refreshed?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
One person, thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
And then, if you skip a couple of verses, Jesus
finishes the miracle. He puts the disciples on the boat,
and he sends them back across the lake.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
In chapter six, verse.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Fifty one, it says this, Jesus, he goes up to
the mountaintop. He's up there praying, And there they're rowing
back across the lake to where the journey began. It's
taking of five times as long, and they're only going
gone half as far. It speaks to them doing it
in their own flesh and in their own frustration, into
their own flesh. And verse fifty one it says this says,
then he climbed into the boat with them.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
The wind died down. They were completely amazed.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
You've never heard this verse before fifty two, for they
had not understood about the loaves.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Their hearts were hardened.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
What did the conversation sound like on the boat after
they fed the five thousand? Oh, look at Jesus up
there on the mountain. Thinks he's better than us. You're
just gonna sit up there, and now we gotta roll back. Oh,
now here you come walking across the water. Finally you
showed up.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Jesus. We've been doing this all day, haven't you seen us.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
We're still hungry, we're still tired. And they were offended.
The reason some of you cannot feed someone around you
has been feeding your own offence.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
And here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Because Jesus, immediately after he said I'm the Messiah, he
began to talk about I must go to the cross
and die, and then he gave him these marching orders.
If anyone would come after me, he must pick hip
his cross daily, deny himself and follow me. It's a
cheat code just to follow the direction can only happen
with a denial. And now one of the pivot points
(34:57):
in Peter's journey where all this thing comes full circle.
Here you see in Luke chapter twenty two, this is
we fast forward in the timeline of our savior. We're
going to go to We're gonna go to the Last Supper.
This is the Thursday night meal. It's about six pm.
Jesus would hang on across Twelve hours later is when
(35:18):
he would be sentenced, and then he would be crucified,
and at this last supper he looks at at Peter.
He says this in verse thirty one, he says, Simon, Simon.
Anytime you see a name repeated in scripture, it's a
Hebrew term of intimacy. When you read a double name,
read it as a whisper. What it means that God
is close Moses Moses.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Simon Simon.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
He doesn't call him Peter. It's very important you see
that he called him Simon, Simon Simon. Satan is asked
to sift you as weak. And if that's me, my
eyes get really wide.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Like what been calling for me by name?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Yeah, because he sees how deadly you can be when
you're when you're following the direction. He sees the weapon
you can become in the hands of a master. But
when you don't follow the direction, it's the people that
you're leading that get punished. And he says to him,
Satan's asked you, but I have prayed for you, Simon,
that your faith may not fail.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
If I just stopped there, Jesus is praying for me
by name. I'm good, I'm covered. I pray that your
faith would not fail. But then he said to him,
and when you turn back, strengthen your brothers. But he replied, Lord,
I'm ready to go to prison and to death. Jesus answered,
I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you
will deny three times that you know me. Here's the
(36:40):
truth of what I want to tell you today. Your
destiny is connected to a decision, but the direction is
directed by the daily denials of self. If anyone would
come after me is pick up his crossing daily and
follow me. This is what Jesus is saying to him.
(37:00):
He says, you're gonna deny me three times. Peter, You're
gonna deny me. And what happens is you're gonna want
to walk away from me. But when you turn back,
it means when you repent and come back the right direction,
strengthen your brothers. You know what the word strengthen means.
There means to feed connect the dots. Earlier to feeding
of the five thousand, Peter was only feeding himself, which
(37:23):
he didn't see how he could feed the people. And
Jesus is trying to connect some dots here. The only
way that you're gonna be able to feed somebody else
is if you deny yourself.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Here's the reality. The direction of your life is daily.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
It is multiple times every day you're gonna come to
these crossroads, and the direction will be determined by do
I deny Jesus or do I deny myself.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
That's where life comes down to.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
The direction of your life is connected to the denial.
Let me ask it the opposite side. What are you
feeding that God told you to starve? If you want
something to die, starve it, starve it, Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Make it plain in this house today.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Some of you are feeding self deprecation, and that's what's
going to grow.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Some of you are feeding greed and envy.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
You're feeding insecurity, You're feeding the assuming the worst of others.
You're feeding those lustful thoughts. You're feeding gossip and slander.
And what God is trying to tell you is the
direction of your life is connected to the denial in
your life. If you want something to die, starve it.
I want to make it plain. What is the thing
(38:30):
that God told you to starve? Deny that thing? Can
I be really honest? I am addicted to my opinion,
I said it. I am so addicted to my opinion,
Like if I almost feel like sometimes if I don't
share my opinion, I get like a visceral response, like
I'm gonna throw up, Like no one has ever been
(38:52):
one of the Gospel by my opinion, no one has
ever been redeemed because of my opinion. Yet I can
become so addicted to my opinion to start an opinion
an anonymous club. Anybody else want to join my opinion club?
Thank you for a few to only be up here
by myself. What would it look like if you went
(39:13):
into twenty one day opinion fast? You want that thing
to die, starve it. I don't want it to be
in ethereal, deny yourself. I want it to be very practical.
What are you feeding that God said you need to
starve that thing? Write it down in your phone, write
it down in that piece of paper, that pen you're
(39:34):
gonna steal anyway, Just.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
I'm serious.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Here's what God told me to tell some of you.
An unnamed enemy will never be defeated. You only hide
your friends, and you expose your enemies. And what happens
is when you do not expose that thing, you make
it a friend. God will not deliver you from your friends.
He will deliver you from your enemies, What do you
need to starve? Now we fast forward, Jesus goes to
(40:02):
the cross. Peter denies Jesus three times, just like he said.
And in one of the Gospels it says that Peter
saw Jesus and he wept bitterly because his direction he
felt like had been so derailed by his denial of Jesus.
He went back to where it all began. He went
(40:23):
back to being a fisherman. And I love the fact
that our Savior said, I cannot.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Leave you like that.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
Oh, he sees you and the beauty of the grace
of God as it comes to you, and it calls
you by name. And as Jesus saw Peter out fishing,
he called to.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Him, here's the image I need you to see.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
As you're going your direction and you're denying Jesus, because
you're not denying yourself. The grace of God is still
calling your name, is still calling your name. And when
it said Peter, Simon, Simon, when you have turned back
means to repent. Jesus, I've been feeding that thing. Forgive me.
(41:04):
I've been going my own direction. Forgive me.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
And then you come back and strengthen your brothers In.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
John twenty one, we have this intimate story of Jesus
coming to Peter him and he calls him in and
he has a meal waiting for him on the shore. Oh,
it's just this beautiful picture of the grace of God.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
And he comes to him.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
In verse fifteen, it says, and when they had finished eating,
Jesus said to Simon, Peter Simon, son of John, do
you love me more than these?
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed
my lambs.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
Jesus would ask him three times, one for each of
the denials. But I think what's even better there is.
Peter responds three times with the word lord. You see,
I showed you the moment where Jesus became the savior.
This is the moment where Jesus became the lord, because
the Lord determines the direction.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
And he asked Peter, Peter, do you love me?
Speaker 3 (42:08):
And he goes, you know that I love you. There's
three different words to describe love. And Jesus asked, do
you agape me?
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Do you love me like your lord?
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Peter responds back with you know that I love you? Fileoh,
I love you like a brother. You see, Jesus is
a gracious he's correcting his definition because he asked him
a second time. I didn't ask you if you loved
me like a brother. I said, do you love me
like your lord? Feed my sheep. There's something so much
(42:41):
deeper going on here. It's significant that he gives him
three times the opportunity to respond, Lord, and then again
Jesus said, Simon, do you love me? He answered, yes, Lord,
you know that I love you. Take care of my sheep.
The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John,
do you love me. Peter was hurt because Jesus asked
him a third time do you love me? He said, Lords,
(43:02):
you know all things. You know that I love you.
Jesus said, feed my sheep. This would not have been
the first time that Peter would have heard you feed them.
Remember back to the feeding of the five thousand.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
You give him some deed. I don't have anything.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
You're right, you don't have anything because you've been feeding yourself.
But now you went to the wilderness with your own despair.
You went to the wilderness because of your own decisions.
You went to the wilderness because you went back to
old things, and you denied me. But I love you
so much. I came to the wilderness to bring you
out of it. That's how good our God is. And
(43:41):
three times he asked him, do you love me?
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Do you love me? Here's how I picture the whole scene.
The second time and the third time.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Peter's face is down because you can't he can't even
look himself in the eyes, let alone look Jesus in
the face. I pictured Jesus reaching in and grabbing Peter
by the chin at that table and lifting his chin,
and he looks grace in the face.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Do you love me? Feed my sheep?
Speaker 3 (44:11):
You didn't have anything to feed him the first time.
Now what you just ate the grace. That's what you're
going to go feed. That's why I called you out
better three times?
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Do you love me? Do you love me? Now? Feed
my sheep?
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Used him the word lord three times, And then verse eighteen,
he says, very truly, I tell you, when you were younger,
you dressed yourself and went where you wanted.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
You.
Speaker 3 (44:45):
See, maturity is not a product of age. It's a
byproduct of direction. Some of you are very old, and
you are so immature into faith because you have gone
your own direction where you wanted to go. You picked
up your outfit and you did what you wanted, and jesuys,
I will not love you any less, but you will
(45:07):
not be aware of how much I love you when
you live like that, and you can't feed anybody else
when you've been feeding yourself. And the reason that you're
putting on that new outfit is you're trying to cover
that old part of you that only I.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Can Only I can cover that where you want it.
Speaker 3 (45:25):
But here's the moment that Jesus became the lord of
Peter's life. But when you are old, you will stretch
out your hands and someone else will lead you, or
someone else will dress you and lead you to where
you do.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Not want to go.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
Lord, I don't know if I want to go that direction.
You'll either deny Jesus or you'll deny yourself. And the
beauty of our God is he'll bring you back to
that point again and again and again and again, and.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
Someone else address you lead you. Do you not want
to go?
Speaker 3 (45:59):
Jesus had this to indicate the kind of death by
which Peter would glorify God, and then he said, follow me.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
I thought Jesus only.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
Asked Peter wants to follow him, follow me. I'll make
you fishers of men. The first time was to learn
how to fish. The second time was to learn how
to feed. And when Jesus becomes the lord of your life,
you start being more concerned with feeding others than feeding yourself,
saying you feed at all of our locations.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
I'm going to pray for you in just a second.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
And as I was praying for everybody in our church,
I kept getting this image of people feeling like, but LB,
you don't know. I got these big decisions in life.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
I got these big decisions I need to make.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
Here's what I have looking back as an old man.
The direction of your life is controlled more by the
small daily denials than the big decisions. It always is,
because here's the image I want to give you. When
my kids were young, I would take him to the
beach and the waves would come in at an angle,
(47:09):
and so every time they would go out and surf,
they would just get pushed out just a little bit.
And they go out and surf, and they just get
pushed up shore just a little bit, and they go
out and surf again. They just just little little, little,
little little directional shifts and they just get pushed up shore,
up shore, and ten minutes later they're way over here
(47:29):
and they wonder how did I get her?
Speaker 1 (47:31):
No one of those was a big decision.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
It was small self denials that were not show us it.
But the grace of God calls your voice, and he says, Peter,
when you come back, strengthen your brothers. Making Jesus the
savior of your life is a one time decision. He
(47:54):
holds you in his hand. No man can take you
from it. If you can't save yourself, you can't unsave yourself.
But the decision for him to be Lord is a daily,
many times a day, daily decision. Will I deny him.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
Or will I deny me?
Speaker 3 (48:14):
But I want to challenge you at a very practical level,
what's the thing you've been feeding.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
That God said, I need you to starve deny that thing.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
As you do that, that will be the grace that
you will feed the others. Father, I thank you that
your word is true, it's strong, it's right, it's powerful,
it's effective. I pray for everyone and the sound of
my voice who made a decision today that trust Jesus
as their savior. Hallelujah and amen they're calling is an election, sure,
(48:43):
and you hold them in their hands.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
Nobody can take you from it.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
But the decision to let you be lord of our
lives is a many times a day decision. Make it
plain in our lives. Show us one area that we
have been feeding that you have called us to starve,
Give us the grace in that space to deny that
thing rather than to deny you. And every time we
deny ourselves, we receive more of your grace, not to
(49:06):
be kept to ourselves, but to be given out to
the world. Father, we love you, we honor you, we
praise you, we thank you, and all God's people said, Amen,
come on, let's put our hands together, Come on us.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch
dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
with your friends. You can click the share button, take
(49:43):
a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God
bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see Gods moving in
your life. Enjoy the message what enjoy to be with
you today.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
My name is Larry Bryan, one of the pastors here
at Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
But all my friends call me ld and.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
My wife and I had the distinct privilege of being
one of the original eight families eighteen plus years ago
to start Elevation Church with Eric, my friend here and
I saw Jay Raven around here. And when we started
the church eighteen years ago, my wife and I moved
into our house on a Friday night right when the
church started, went to the hospital the next Wednesday, had
our first born son. Here's a picture of how it
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started eighteen years ago. I think we got a picture
to pop up there. That's my boy, Corbyn Charles Brye
and I remember when we took him to e Kids
Children's Ministry the very first I Miss Marie Neil was
the first volunteer to hold him.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
She's still holding.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Babies eighteen years later at Elevation Blakeney.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Thank you, Marie Neial.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Thank you to all the Eat kids, Heather and Anthony,
and all the people that have sown into my son
and all of our kids. I think the unsung heroes
of this ministry are the people that show up every week,
that serve our children and raise them up.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
And now this is my son, this is now, this is.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Just a couple of weeks ago, my man, my boy.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And so on the day he was born, my wife Janet,
when she was pregnant, we weren't pregnant, she was pregnant.
She would listen to the same songs every day in
the morning, and there was a song by Chris Tomlin.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
What was it, honey?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
It was how Great is Our God? Do I remember
that old song? She would listen to it every day
and he would jump in her belly. He would do
like cartwheels. And on the day he was born, he
was not jumping to that song. My wife got real
freaked out.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
She calls me.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Turns out the cord was wrapped around his neck and
that was his way of telling us, you need to
come take me. He arrived Emergency Sea section. Like an
hour or so later, my wife calls me. I'm trying
to hold it together and I'm freaking out, like.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Babe, it's gonna be okay. And I got off the phone.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
First person I called was Pastor Stephen, and I can't
tell you what he told me, but I do remember
how he made me feel. He made me feel like
God was with me. He's in it, fighting for me,
and God is not against me. Thank you, Pastor Stephen
and Pastor Holly for eighteen years faithfully doing that in
this house.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
We love you, We honor you.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Hey, let me give you the passage I want to
preach from today. It's two verses, Mark chapter one, Verses
sixteen and seventeen. This is the word that God has
given me. This is my assignment to deliver it to
you today.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I've been praying that you.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Would be good soil, because this is good and when
good seed meets good soil, it produces a great harvest
for his glory.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Mark Chapter one.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
This is Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee. He
saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into
the lake, for they were fishermen. Come follow me, Jesus said,
and I will send you out to fish for people
one more time. Let me pray, Father, this is good seed.
Sons and daughters of this house and watching online around
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the world are good soil. Take your good seed, put
it in the soil of their heart. Produce a harvest
of righteousness for your glory.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Amen, let me give you the title. Then you can
have a seat. This is the title for today, Destiny
and Direction. Look at your favorite person around you, give
them a hogins say.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Destiny and Direction.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Thank you, worship team. This is an incredible story because
many things are happening in this scene at the same time.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Peter Andrew Simon. Well Simon, he's Simon.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Simon is a part of him that's parting on on
Saturday night. But Peter's the side of him that's praising
on Sunday morning. You know, because all of you got
a little bit of a little bit of Simon in you,
then you also got some some Peter in you.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
That's that guy.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
He's out casting nets. I don't know what he did
the night before, but Jesus shows up on the scene
an ordinary day in Peter's life that encounters a radical
savior that's about to change the trajectory of his life.
He did not know that was gonna happen when he
set out on his day. At the same time that's happening,
Jesus is also establishing his earthly ministry. He's saying it
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is time to go. He's prepared himself for the assignment
of going to the cross, and now he's gonna pick
the team to follow him. And he shows up and
he's walking along and it says he sees Simon, he
sees him casting a net into the lake. Because another
thing that's happening at that moment. You have no idea
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what God's doing on you row. You have no idea
the stories that are ending and beginning. And God is
doing something significant in our midst today. Oh, if we
would perceive in the spiritual realm what God is doing
in this place. And because Jesus is about to establish
kingdom culture, say kingdom culture. You see the culture of
the world when someone would find a teacher or a rabbi.
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That's what Jesus is about to become to these these disciples,
is He's about to become their teacher, their rabbi in
that culture. The way that a rabbi would be selected
wouldn't be the rabbi would not.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Come to you.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Oh no, he would never stoop so low as the
step into your lowly place. Rabbis would stand at a distance,
and people would come to him and beg, oh, please please,
could I be your student?
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Could I learn from you?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
And they would say, well, show me how smart you are.
That's the culture of the world. That is religion trying
to prove that you should be picked. Some of you
are exhausted because you have lived your whole life trying
to prove that you should be picked. And Jesus is
about to establish kingdom culture on earth as it is
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in heaven. That's what he's bringing into the kingdom on
earth as it is in heaven, because it's the upside
down culture. The first shall be the last, and the
last shall be the first. And Jesus comes to them,
and he comes to you, and he sees you.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
He sees all of you. He sees what you did,
he sees.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Where you're doing right now, and he sees what you're
going to do in the future. And he comes to
you and he picks you. That's the kind of God
that we have, that's the kind of savior that we have.
He pushes through all of the stuff and he comes
to you because he's establishing kingdom culture, and it's beautiful.
And he takes the criteria that none of us would
have ever used to pick his first disciples, none of
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us would have been tall enough, good enough, smart enough.
When Jesus says, I am doing something new, something different,
and I think that same spirit is happening in this
place today. Now, this guy named Simon, who would later
be called Peter, he writes two books of the Bible.
So when Jesus shows up in Mark one, Simon would
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have been Peter would have been about mid twenties, late twenties,
and he would write two books of the Bible, first
Peter and second Peter.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And in Second Peter.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
The very last words he writes some forty years later
after this incident, looking back on his life, looking back
on all of the high points and low points.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Remember when when.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Jesus saw him casting a net into the lake, and
Jesus came to him, remembering the denials, remembering standing up
on pentagons, reminding him of all the places where he
got it right and got it wrong. He looks back
with wisdom, and he pens the very last words of
his second letter. This is his last letter, his last words.
And there's something about your last words. There's something about
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the wisdom of your life looking back on it, when
you want to give somebody the wisdom to say, if
you only remember one thing, this is it. He writes
this in Second Peter three eighteen. He says, but grow
in the grace in knowledge of our Lord and savior,
Jesus Christ. Peter gives this profound wisdom. Looking back, he says, grow,
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say grow. Some of us are working hard to grow
our bank account, but are growing in the grace. We're
growing our followers, but are we growing our faith?
Speaker 1 (08:18):
That's what I want to talk about today.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
And Peter says, I want you to grow in the
grace and knowledge. You see, when you have knowledge without grace,
your self righteous. I'm trying to prove how smart you are.
But grace without knowledge is a leaky bucket because you
can't hold what God reveals to you. And Peter speaks
to two distinct offices. Jesus is so much, he's indescribable,
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but he speaks of two distinct roles that Jesus must
occupy in your life.
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First is as Savior.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
The second is that Lord, because the Savior determines the
destiny and the Lord sets the direction.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
That's what I want to talk about for a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
As we begin a relationship with Jesus, we got to
grow in that relationship with Jesus. It's called progressive revelation.
Progressive revelation. I've got my twelve year old daughter, she
will turn thirteen next week, Miss Carson here, she's amazing.
She's my favorite child that I'm looking at right now.
We've got four, which every one is in front of me.
Is my favorite kid. So progressive revelation is this. She says, Daddy,
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I love you. She drove with me to church this morning,
She's like, Daddy, I love you. I remember dropping her
off in kindergarten first.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
And she's like, Daddy, I love you.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But now when she gets around some of her middle
school friends, she's like, Dad, I'm like, you better say
you love me. But I know that she'll graduate from
high school one day and she'll say, Dad, I love you.
She'll get married one day and on the night before
her wedding, or as I get ready to walk her
down the aisle, she'll look at me and says, dad,
I love you. Then, but she holds her firstborn child,
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she will look at me and say, Dad, I love you.
She's used the same word her whole life, but her
understanding has changed over time. That is agressive revelation in
our relationship with Jesus. Some of us are stuck in
a flannel revelation of Jesus. You have not upgraded your
definition of Jesus in a very long time. And that's
what God is trying to do today. He's trying to
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upgrade your definition because you're living in an outdated revelation.
And Peter is saying, I need you to grow in
the grace of Jesus, your Lord and Savior. If we
fast forward to one of the pivot points of Peter's journey,
and that's who we're really going to focus on today,
is this character Peter. In Matthew chapter sixteen, it says this,
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starting in verse thirteen, when Jesus came to the region
of cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Do people say the Son of Man is? Now?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
This is about two years after Peter started Jesus on
the journey.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
He's been walking with him for a while. This is
not brand new.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
He's been seeing the miracles, he's heard the sermons, he's
been there, done all this stuff. And now Jesus is
flipping the script, and he's asking him who do they
say that? I am question for you, for those of
you who claim Christ. If your words are paint and
your life is a canvas, what portrait of Jesus are
you painting.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
To the world.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
If I were to go into the environments around you
and see the people closest to you, what would they
say about Jesus?
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Who is Jesus?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Because some of you need to understand, you are the
only Jesus some people will ever see.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Who do they say? He did not give you that
job for an income.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
He gave you for influence. God puts you in that
place to exert his influence.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
For his glory.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I love what Jesus is doing here because he's flipping
the script. He's pushing out the casual Christianity, and he's
forcing the complacency to come to the surface because you
cannot live at that place and love Jesus at the
level that he's called you to.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
And he flips the.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Script and now he continues in the conversations and he
flips it. He says, but what about you? Who do
you say that I am? I love this question, who
do you say that I am? All of humanity hinges
on this one question. All of scripture is pointing to
one person, and his name is Jesus. In the Old Testament,
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Jesus is concealed, and in the New Testament.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Jesus is revealed. This is all about.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Jesus, and the gospel writers says, they pen the story
of Jesus going through humanity. It's what created the casual
crowd to come to Christ because they're asking, are these
miracles really happening? But then the critics and the skeptics
are saying, what did he say? But then the Pharisees
and the teachers of the laws are all saying, who
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does he think he is? Than even herod king, herod
pilate kings and people in authority who would say.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Are you a king?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
All of creation has been asking the question who is Jesus?
And it's the question that Jesus brings his disciples to
in this moment, and he asks him very point to
who do you say that I am? And I think
my assignment today is to ask everybody under the sound
of my voice. The most important question you could ever ask,
because your destiny is determined by a decision, and the
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decision is who is Jesus. It's not about being a
good person. It's not about trying harder. It's not about
religious attendance. It's not about scripture reading. It is about
who is Jesus. Who is your Jesus. He's the Alpha
and the Omega. He's the author and perfector of our faith.
He is the bright in morning star. He is the cornerstone.
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He is the great high Priests. He is the head
of the Church. He is the Holy One. He is
the Great i Am. He is Jehovah, he is Emmanuel.
He is our Redeemer, our prophet, and our Savior. And
in this moment in verse seventeen, here is in verse sixteen.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Simon Peter answered.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
You are the Messiah, the son.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Of the Living God.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Jesus replied, blessed her, you, Simon's son of Jonah. For
this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood,
but by my Father in heaven.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
You are the Messiah.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
It means savior, redeemer, and what Jesus came to save
you from is not your bad decisions, a bad marriage,
or a bad job. He came to save you from
your sins. That's why he had to die, to save
you of your sins, to.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Redeem you from it.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Oh, but some of us come to church because we
feel bad, and we follow Jesus for two years and
I got the Bible.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
But have never seen him as the Messiah.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
And it's beautiful from the Scripture says this was not
revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by Father.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
What he's saying is the grace you see.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
You and I are dead in our sin. We're born dead.
The scriptural the definition that Theologians have agreed to throughout
time is dead means you're dead dead. It means you're
so dead you cannot make a live choice. It means
that you if you don't come to God because it's
a good idea or it's a cool emotional thing that
somebody got stirred up inside of you. Know, what it
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means is that right now the grace of God is
going forward, and some of you are leaning in because
when I picture this scene, because this is the scene
where Jesus became the Messiah of Peter, he had been
walking with him for two years. But he had never
been forgiven of a since, I think until that moment,
Because in that moment, the grace of God, the spirit
of God made him go. Oh, the Messiah, he was
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a revelation.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
It says this.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
It says this in Ephesians chapter two, verse eight, it says,
for it is by grace that you have been saved
through faith.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
This is not from yourselves. It is a gift of God.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
So the grace of God goes forth, and the grace
is what enables you to consider him. The grace is
what enables you to look at him now. Faith is
your response to the grace that you just received. Some
of you have been coming to church for a very
long time, but you have resisted the grace, standing on
the outside because you feel like I'm too dirty, I've
done too much to clean myself up before I come
to God. You'll come to elevation every week, you'll sit
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in the same seat, but you have not trusted in
Him as your Lord and savior. You've stood at a distance.
Peter traveled with Jesus for two years, but this is
the moment that his destiny was secured in the hands
of his savior because he said, you are the Messiah,
and I believe the grace of God is leaning into
your heart right now, and for some of you it
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is beating out of your chest. And God is saying,
will you respond to the grace that is going forward?
It is by grace through faith. Faith is your response.
Will you receive it? You can't save yourself, but will
you receive the grace? And normally we would give an
invitation for salvation at the end of the experience. I'm
not gonna wait till then because i wanted to do
it right now and I'm not gonna bring the band up.
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There's gonna be no pad behind this. And what I'm
gonna do in just a second at all of our locations.
So I'm gonna ask all of you who need to
begin a relationship with Jesus to stand to your feet.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
I'm in just a second.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
And some are like, oh my gosh, you're gonna make
me stand with Yes, he died a very public death
for you.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
He did. He died a very public death.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
And the reason I want some of you to stand
is because you're sitting.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Down in sin and I need you to remember that.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
The next time the voice of the enemy tries to
get you to sit in that sin.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
You can stand and say, no, I have been redeemed.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
I have been forgiven my Jehovah, Jirah, my Jehovah nieces
Jehovah Shaba. He changed me, He's redeemed me. This is
not emotionalism. This is not me being a good motivational speaker.
I'm not that good. But the grace of God is
that good. And so at all of our locations in
online this is for you too. And if you need
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to stand to place your faith in Jesus, I'm gonna
ask you, with the count of three, without hesitation, to
boldly stand. I know, all eyes open, normally we do
every head bout every no eyes open, eyes wide open,
clear conscience, making a commitment to follow Jesus. No longer
doing it in the shadows, standing out in the life. Surprise,
they're already standing here at balance high. If you need
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to place your faith in Jesus, stand to your feet. One,
two three, stand up, Oh my soul, hey, stand to
your feet. All of our locations, someone at Lake Norman,
someone in Raleigh right now, stand to your feet, stand
to your feet. Come on, stay standing stay standing, stay standing.
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In all of our locations, I don't know what it
looks like other way. We're right here, so many are standing. Hey,
stay standing, stay standing. Here's what we're gonna do. We're
gonna say you pray together, stay standing, stay standing. We're
gonna say a pray together, out loud. There's nothing magical
about these words. But the Bible says, when you confess
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with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in
your heart that he was raised from the dead, you
will be saved. And if you have placed your faith
in Jesus and you're around these people, oh and be
praying for him, be praying with me. But there are
a couple of people. You haven't stood yet. And what
I want to tell you, standing doesn't save you. Jesus
saves you. But standing is our response to take a stand.
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So if you need to still stand, stay to your feet.
Right now, church family, let's say this prayer out loud,
eyes wide open, clear conscience, knowing that we are following
Jesus as our savior. Pray this with me. I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died
on the cross and rose from the grave. To forgive
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me of my sins. I give you my life, I
give you my sin, I give you my shame. Forgive me,
and I'll spend my life following you. Now, give God
the biggest praise you can give.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Him in this place.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Hey, if you're around those people, hug them, high five them,
let them know that they're not alone. We're proud of you.
Come on, give them a hug. Don't let them be alone.
All all oak since church families surround him. Love on them.
Do it, do it, do it in that beautiful in
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that beautiful. Oh, you can sit back now, but you
can stand up anytime you need to.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Is God not good?
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Oh, my soul, Your destiny, Your destiny is connected to
a decision. And the decision is who is Jesus. He's
a fairy tale of figment of their imagination or is
a fictional character. No, for some of you, he just
became your messiah, your savior. That's exactly what Peter said
to do. Grow into grace. Is Jesus our savior and Lord.
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But here's the reality. It's easier to trust Jesus with
my destiny than my direction. It is so much easier
to say one day by and by Jesus will trust
you with that, but trust you with the hero And now, ooh,
that's so much harder.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Why is it hard.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
To trust Jesus with the direction of our lives? You see,
saved is used in multiple boys. I was saved meaning
there was a moment that Jesus became.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Your Oh, you are the Messiah.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
That moment for some of you, that moment just happened
June thirtieth. Side note, today is my birthday. The best
birthday present I could ever have is to be with
my church family. And so in scripture, thank you. In
scripture you were saved. You will be saved, meaning you
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will see him face to face and he will say
either well done, good and faithful servant, or depart from me,
for I never knew you. You see, religious activity does
not matter in that moment. That's why you gotta have
this moment that the revelation of God. The grace is
you are the Messiah, and the faith is I choose
to receive it. I was saved. I will be saved
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being made like him one day when we see it.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
But between these two, I'm.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Being saved the sanctification. This is trusting Jesus with the
direction of our lives? Why is it so hard to
trust Jesus with the direction? And I want to show
you from Peter's life why he struggled with this fundamental
faith issue, Because to say, Jesus one day, by and by,
but I got my plan, I got my goal, I
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got my thing. Now would you bless my thing in Jesus' name?
Speaker 1 (22:28):
If I'm honest, I live in that.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Place anybody else would you confess with me that you
Why do we struggle with that? And I'm going to
go to a story in Peter's journey that I think
so poignantly paints a picture of the tension that we
face of why is it hard to trust Jesus with the.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Direction of our lives?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
In Mark chapter six, it says the apostles gathered around
Jesus and reported them all they had done and talk.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Let me give it a little context.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Up to Mark chapter six, Jesus had been performing miracles,
he'd been casting out demons, he had been preaching the
word of God. Then he eventually he gets to the
point that he's prepping his disciples for when he would leave,
because he says, after I go, it must continue on.
So those of you, the ones that I picked that
I revealed myself to, It is gonna be your assignment
to do what I have been doing.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
So he sends them out like Noah's.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Art principal two by two, and they're gonna go cast
out demons. They're gonna preach uh, and they're gonna they're
gonna perform miracles. And now they come back to Jesus
like googly little school kids, like.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Jesus, look what we did. We talked to demons.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
And here's the reality of what I was reading that
scripture this morning. I saw some of us living beneath
the authority Jesus gave us. Why are you living underneath
that oppressive spirit? When God give you authority over it?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Stop it, stop it. Start standing in the authority he
has given you.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
I'm not talking about walking into work slapping your boss
in the fore and say get out demon. I'm not
saying dumb stuff, but I am saying God will give
you the strength to endure up under it. Quit wilting
underneath it. Stand in the authority He's given you. It's
insulting when you act like that.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Stop it.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
So they go out and then they come back to Jesus.
And now they're like reporting to.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Them, Jesus, it was amazing. We cats out David's it
was incredible. Ha ha, And then verse thirty one.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Then because so many people were coming and going, they
did not even get a chance to eat.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
They were hungry.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
He said to them, come by yourselves to a quiet
place and get some rest. So they went away by
themselves in a boat to a solitary place.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Now let me pause there.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Jesus says, you're tired, you're hungry, you're exhausted. Come on,
let's go get some rest a quiet place by ourselves.
What picture are you seeing in your head? Like, we're
gonna get on a boat. This is gonna be amazing.
We're gonna go to a B and B get some
R and R. I'm gonna get a manny petty. I'm
gonna put my feet up in a hammock. This is
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gonna be freaking amazing.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Okay, I need some resp.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yes, what image of rest comes to mind some mom
or dad? You've been working all week in a job
you don't even like, and you're like, if I can
just get to Friday night, I'm gonna get some rest.
And you got this picture of rest in your head,
of what you think it's going to be. But then
you come home, the kids are running around the house, naked,
(25:21):
stuff is burning on the stove, the dogs are barking.
It is complete chaos. Do any of you look at
that and go like.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Because all of us have an image of what we're expecting.
But what do we do and what we pictured doesn't
line up with what we see. Because the story continues
with the disciples here, he says, But many who saw
them leave and recognize them, and ran on foot from
all the towns and got their ahead of them. This
(25:51):
is the feeding of the five thousand. When Jesus landed
and saw such a large crowd, he had compassion on
them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, began
to teach them many things. Jesus had compassion for them.
What the disciples feel for the crowds?
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Contempt, frustration? Are you freaking kidding me?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Jesus?
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Question for you.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Jesus says, let's go to a quiet place by yourselves,
to a solitary place and get some rest.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
They get across the lake.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Does this line up with anybody's picture of what you
thought rest would be? No, But what do you do
when it doesn't line up with what you thought it
would be? So question, was Jesus lying to them?
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Like it was just like who doing them to?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Like I just need to get in the boat, say
I'll lie to you just to get you here. No,
Jesus is incapable of lying.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
He is truth.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
He is truth personified. He by deafine is truth. He
is the truth. Did Jesus just not what was waiting
for them on the other side of the lake. No,
he's omniscient, he's all knowing. So he knew what was
on the other side of the lake, and he did
not lie to the disciples. So how do you explain
the discrepancy? They had a different definition of rest. And
(27:06):
here's where it's so hard to trust Jesus with the direction,
because when you have a different definition, you won't trust
the direction. You see, when Jesus says, let's go to
a solitary place by yourselves to get some rest, it's
the same word that is used of Jesus in Mark
chapter one. It says he was baptized and then he
(27:28):
was driven by the spirit into the wilderness. You see
what you and I call wilderness. God calls rest. Jesus
was taken to the wilderness because the wilderness is the
place that you experience grace. Because the only way you
experience grace is when you get to the end of
yourself and you.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
See the beginning of God.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Oh, Jesus is taking them to the wilderness, not to
punish them, but to speak to them, because.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
The wilderness is the place.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
That gives you the grace that you start with, I can't,
but you can. Grace is what gives you the ability
to look at a situation.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
You want to run from and you say I won't.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
But God, nevertheless, your will be done. Grace is what
gives you the capacity to say I'm not, but you are.
They had a different definition.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Pastor Tim.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
When you lead so much, you lead so well in
our church, leads our next gen teams, phenomenal leader. As
a leader, don't settle for common language, push for unity
of definition. Because I was doing marital counseling a couple
of years ago with a young couple just been married,
like six or eight months, and they both come in
(28:42):
and their arms crossed, just not like you, they love
each other, They just don't like each other. And they said,
we just don't communicate very well. And I asked the wife,
I said, how do you define communication? She goes, I
think about him all day long when he's at work,
and I wonder what he's doing and how he's feeling,
and how is experiencing all of those things. And I
cannot wait till the moment he walks in the door,
(29:04):
and I just want him to share the deepest, darkest
parts of his stars. Don't spare any detail. Give me
everything that happened in your day, and ask him how
was your day? And all he said is fine. She
had a definition of communication. I asked him to find communication.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
He said, we just need to have more sex.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
You'll never have unity when you've got different definitions. You
might have a common word, but you don't have a
common definition. I just gave somebody mertal counseling in here.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Praise the Lord. Won't God do it?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
But you won't trust God with the direction when it
doesn't line up with your definition. And that's where the
disciples are at. And it's this amazing journey of some
of you that you're sitting in a situation. You didn't
think it would look like this, he said. I wanted
(30:01):
to get married, and this isn't what I picture.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
And I wanted so.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Much to get out of high school to be my
own person, But now I got the dysfunction, and this
isn't what I thought it was going to be. And
what happens is when it doesn't line up according to
your definition, you withhold and you don't trust God with
the direction anymore, not because you don't love God, you
just don't want to be disappointed anymore. That's what I
saw for some of you holding on to this updated definition. Maybe,
just maybe, Holy Spirit, would you upgrade somebody's definition in
(30:28):
here a good marriage, Define it sacrificial rather than receiving
what would be an upgraded Definitely take whatever area you're
frustrated in right now, God, upgrade their definition. Let them
see it differently, let them see it as you see it,
not as we've defined it, but let us see it
as you see it. And now the disciples have been
watching Jesus preach for about nine hours, nine hours. It
(30:51):
started about nine in the morning. Now Peter's gonna come
to him at six in the evening. They've been sitting back.
They're like, oh my gosh, good summon, LJ. Can you
please play the ham and B three and close this
thing up?
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Can we shut this thing down?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Because the disciples, remember, they're hungry, they're tired, they're exhausted,
and they're looking at the whole scene, and I think
they're resenting everything that's going down.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Jesus had compassion. They did not.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
So finally they all nudge Peter like you're the obnoxious.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
One, go say something to him.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
By Verse thirty five says by this time it was
late in the day, so the disciples came to him.
This is a remote place, they said, and it's already
very late. Send the people away so they can go
to the surrounding countrysides and villages and buy themselves something
to eat. But he answered them, you give them something
to eat.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
In this most interesting scene, because here's the reality.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
The wilderness means desolate places, but also desolate people. Jesus
brought them to the wilderness to see the wilderness, and
their wilderness was the people without a shepherd. That's why
he had compassion on them. And they come to Jesus. Hey,
(32:02):
Jesus is late in the day. Can you send them
away to give them something to eat? She said, I've
been feeding him for five hours I've been feeding it
for nine hours. I've been feeding him since I stepped
off the boat. I've been feeding them the bread of life,
the word of God. You just haven't seen it because
you were so starving in the carnal flesh. You could
not see what I was doing in the spirit. Here's
the reality. The reason you couldn't see me feeding them
is because you were feeding yourself. Why is it so
(32:26):
hard to trust God with the direction? Because you're feeding
the wrong things. And Jesus says to him, you give
them something to eat. He said, we don't have anything,
and he goes, you're right, because you've been feeding your
doubt and you're insecurity. You've been feeding all of your
cardinal stuff since we got here. You're right, you don't
have anything for them to eat. But I'm good and
I'm great, and I'm going to feed the people, and
(32:46):
I'm going to use your frustrated heart to serve them.
So take the bread and break it. And Jesus fed
the people. But the miracle was not for the five thousand.
It was for the disciples, and they did not see
it because they had the wrong definition of what rest
looked like. You see the kingdom culture, the upside down
culture that Jesus is establishing is those who were fresh others,
(33:07):
would they themselves be refreshed?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
One person, thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
And then, if you skip a couple of verses, Jesus
finishes the miracle. He puts the disciples on the boat,
and he sends them back across the lake.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
In chapter six, verse.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Fifty one, it says this, Jesus, he goes up to
the mountaintop. He's up there praying, And there they're rowing
back across the lake to where the journey began. It's
taking of five times as long, and they're only going
gone half as far. It speaks to them doing it
in their own flesh and in their own frustration, into
their own flesh. And verse fifty one it says this says,
then he climbed into the boat with them.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
The wind died down. They were completely amazed.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
You've never heard this verse before fifty two, for they
had not understood about the loaves.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Their hearts were hardened.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
What did the conversation sound like on the boat after
they fed the five thousand? Oh, look at Jesus up
there on the mountain. Thinks he's better than us. You're
just gonna sit up there, and now we gotta roll back. Oh,
now here you come walking across the water. Finally you
showed up.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Jesus. We've been doing this all day, haven't you seen us.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
We're still hungry, we're still tired. And they were offended.
The reason some of you cannot feed someone around you
has been feeding your own offence.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
And here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Because Jesus, immediately after he said I'm the Messiah, he
began to talk about I must go to the cross
and die, and then he gave him these marching orders.
If anyone would come after me, he must pick hip
his cross daily, deny himself and follow me. It's a
cheat code just to follow the direction can only happen
with a denial. And now one of the pivot points
(34:57):
in Peter's journey where all this thing comes full circle.
Here you see in Luke chapter twenty two, this is
we fast forward in the timeline of our savior. We're
going to go to We're gonna go to the Last Supper.
This is the Thursday night meal. It's about six pm.
Jesus would hang on across Twelve hours later is when
(35:18):
he would be sentenced, and then he would be crucified,
and at this last supper he looks at at Peter.
He says this in verse thirty one, he says, Simon, Simon.
Anytime you see a name repeated in scripture, it's a
Hebrew term of intimacy. When you read a double name,
read it as a whisper. What it means that God
is close Moses Moses.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Simon Simon.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
He doesn't call him Peter. It's very important you see
that he called him Simon, Simon Simon. Satan is asked
to sift you as weak. And if that's me, my
eyes get really wide.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Like what been calling for me by name?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Yeah, because he sees how deadly you can be when
you're when you're following the direction. He sees the weapon
you can become in the hands of a master. But
when you don't follow the direction, it's the people that
you're leading that get punished. And he says to him,
Satan's asked you, but I have prayed for you, Simon,
that your faith may not fail.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
If I just stopped there, Jesus is praying for me
by name. I'm good, I'm covered. I pray that your
faith would not fail. But then he said to him,
and when you turn back, strengthen your brothers. But he replied, Lord,
I'm ready to go to prison and to death. Jesus answered,
I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you
will deny three times that you know me. Here's the
(36:40):
truth of what I want to tell you today. Your
destiny is connected to a decision, but the direction is
directed by the daily denials of self. If anyone would
come after me is pick up his crossing daily and
follow me. This is what Jesus is saying to him.
(37:00):
He says, you're gonna deny me three times. Peter, You're
gonna deny me. And what happens is you're gonna want
to walk away from me. But when you turn back,
it means when you repent and come back the right direction,
strengthen your brothers. You know what the word strengthen means.
There means to feed connect the dots. Earlier to feeding
of the five thousand, Peter was only feeding himself, which
(37:23):
he didn't see how he could feed the people. And
Jesus is trying to connect some dots here. The only
way that you're gonna be able to feed somebody else
is if you deny yourself.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Here's the reality. The direction of your life is daily.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
It is multiple times every day you're gonna come to
these crossroads, and the direction will be determined by do
I deny Jesus or do I deny myself.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
That's where life comes down to.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
The direction of your life is connected to the denial.
Let me ask it the opposite side. What are you
feeding that God told you to starve? If you want
something to die, starve it, starve it, Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Make it plain in this house today.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Some of you are feeding self deprecation, and that's what's
going to grow.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Some of you are feeding greed and envy.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
You're feeding insecurity, You're feeding the assuming the worst of others.
You're feeding those lustful thoughts. You're feeding gossip and slander.
And what God is trying to tell you is the
direction of your life is connected to the denial in
your life. If you want something to die, starve it.
I want to make it plain. What is the thing
(38:30):
that God told you to starve? Deny that thing? Can
I be really honest? I am addicted to my opinion,
I said it. I am so addicted to my opinion,
Like if I almost feel like sometimes if I don't
share my opinion, I get like a visceral response, like
I'm gonna throw up, Like no one has ever been
(38:52):
one of the Gospel by my opinion, no one has
ever been redeemed because of my opinion. Yet I can
become so addicted to my opinion to start an opinion
an anonymous club. Anybody else want to join my opinion club?
Thank you for a few to only be up here
by myself. What would it look like if you went
(39:13):
into twenty one day opinion fast? You want that thing
to die, starve it. I don't want it to be
in ethereal, deny yourself. I want it to be very practical.
What are you feeding that God said you need to
starve that thing? Write it down in your phone, write
it down in that piece of paper, that pen you're
(39:34):
gonna steal anyway, Just.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
I'm serious.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Here's what God told me to tell some of you.
An unnamed enemy will never be defeated. You only hide
your friends, and you expose your enemies. And what happens
is when you do not expose that thing, you make
it a friend. God will not deliver you from your friends.
He will deliver you from your enemies, What do you
need to starve? Now we fast forward, Jesus goes to
(40:02):
the cross. Peter denies Jesus three times, just like he said.
And in one of the Gospels it says that Peter
saw Jesus and he wept bitterly because his direction he
felt like had been so derailed by his denial of Jesus.
He went back to where it all began. He went
(40:23):
back to being a fisherman. And I love the fact
that our Savior said, I cannot.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Leave you like that.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
Oh, he sees you and the beauty of the grace
of God as it comes to you, and it calls
you by name. And as Jesus saw Peter out fishing,
he called to.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Him, here's the image I need you to see.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
As you're going your direction and you're denying Jesus, because
you're not denying yourself. The grace of God is still
calling your name, is still calling your name. And when
it said Peter, Simon, Simon, when you have turned back
means to repent. Jesus, I've been feeding that thing. Forgive me.
(41:04):
I've been going my own direction. Forgive me.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
And then you come back and strengthen your brothers In.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
John twenty one, we have this intimate story of Jesus
coming to Peter him and he calls him in and
he has a meal waiting for him on the shore. Oh,
it's just this beautiful picture of the grace of God.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
And he comes to him.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
In verse fifteen, it says, and when they had finished eating,
Jesus said to Simon, Peter Simon, son of John, do
you love me more than these?
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed
my lambs.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
Jesus would ask him three times, one for each of
the denials. But I think what's even better there is.
Peter responds three times with the word lord. You see,
I showed you the moment where Jesus became the savior.
This is the moment where Jesus became the lord, because
the Lord determines the direction.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
And he asked Peter, Peter, do you love me?
Speaker 3 (42:08):
And he goes, you know that I love you. There's
three different words to describe love. And Jesus asked, do
you agape me?
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Do you love me like your lord?
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Peter responds back with you know that I love you? Fileoh,
I love you like a brother. You see, Jesus is
a gracious he's correcting his definition because he asked him
a second time. I didn't ask you if you loved
me like a brother. I said, do you love me
like your lord? Feed my sheep. There's something so much
(42:41):
deeper going on here. It's significant that he gives him
three times the opportunity to respond, Lord, and then again
Jesus said, Simon, do you love me? He answered, yes, Lord,
you know that I love you. Take care of my sheep.
The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John,
do you love me. Peter was hurt because Jesus asked
him a third time do you love me? He said, Lords,
(43:02):
you know all things. You know that I love you.
Jesus said, feed my sheep. This would not have been
the first time that Peter would have heard you feed them.
Remember back to the feeding of the five thousand.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
You give him some deed. I don't have anything.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
You're right, you don't have anything because you've been feeding yourself.
But now you went to the wilderness with your own despair.
You went to the wilderness because of your own decisions.
You went to the wilderness because you went back to
old things, and you denied me. But I love you
so much. I came to the wilderness to bring you
out of it. That's how good our God is. And
(43:41):
three times he asked him, do you love me?
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Do you love me? Here's how I picture the whole scene.
The second time and the third time.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Peter's face is down because you can't he can't even
look himself in the eyes, let alone look Jesus in
the face. I pictured Jesus reaching in and grabbing Peter
by the chin at that table and lifting his chin,
and he looks grace in the face.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Do you love me? Feed my sheep?
Speaker 3 (44:11):
You didn't have anything to feed him the first time.
Now what you just ate the grace. That's what you're
going to go feed. That's why I called you out
better three times?
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Do you love me? Do you love me? Now? Feed
my sheep?
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Used him the word lord three times, And then verse eighteen,
he says, very truly, I tell you, when you were younger,
you dressed yourself and went where you wanted.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
You.
Speaker 3 (44:45):
See, maturity is not a product of age. It's a
byproduct of direction. Some of you are very old, and
you are so immature into faith because you have gone
your own direction where you wanted to go. You picked
up your outfit and you did what you wanted, and jesuys,
I will not love you any less, but you will
(45:07):
not be aware of how much I love you when
you live like that, and you can't feed anybody else
when you've been feeding yourself. And the reason that you're
putting on that new outfit is you're trying to cover
that old part of you that only I.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Can Only I can cover that where you want it.
Speaker 3 (45:25):
But here's the moment that Jesus became the lord of
Peter's life. But when you are old, you will stretch
out your hands and someone else will lead you, or
someone else will dress you and lead you to where
you do.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Not want to go.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
Lord, I don't know if I want to go that direction.
You'll either deny Jesus or you'll deny yourself. And the
beauty of our God is he'll bring you back to
that point again and again and again and again, and.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
Someone else address you lead you. Do you not want
to go?
Speaker 3 (45:59):
Jesus had this to indicate the kind of death by
which Peter would glorify God, and then he said, follow me.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
I thought Jesus only.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
Asked Peter wants to follow him, follow me. I'll make
you fishers of men. The first time was to learn
how to fish. The second time was to learn how
to feed. And when Jesus becomes the lord of your life,
you start being more concerned with feeding others than feeding yourself,
saying you feed at all of our locations.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
I'm going to pray for you in just a second.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
And as I was praying for everybody in our church,
I kept getting this image of people feeling like, but LB,
you don't know. I got these big decisions in life.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
I got these big decisions I need to make.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
Here's what I have looking back as an old man.
The direction of your life is controlled more by the
small daily denials than the big decisions. It always is,
because here's the image I want to give you. When
my kids were young, I would take him to the
beach and the waves would come in at an angle,
(47:09):
and so every time they would go out and surf,
they would just get pushed out just a little bit.
And they go out and surf, and they just get
pushed up shore just a little bit, and they go
out and surf again. They just just little little, little,
little little directional shifts and they just get pushed up shore,
up shore, and ten minutes later they're way over here
(47:29):
and they wonder how did I get her?
Speaker 1 (47:31):
No one of those was a big decision.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
It was small self denials that were not show us it.
But the grace of God calls your voice, and he says, Peter,
when you come back, strengthen your brothers. Making Jesus the
savior of your life is a one time decision. He
(47:54):
holds you in his hand. No man can take you
from it. If you can't save yourself, you can't unsave yourself.
But the decision for him to be Lord is a daily,
many times a day, daily decision. Will I deny him.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
Or will I deny me?
Speaker 3 (48:14):
But I want to challenge you at a very practical level,
what's the thing you've been feeding.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
That God said, I need you to starve deny that thing.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
As you do that, that will be the grace that
you will feed the others. Father, I thank you that
your word is true, it's strong, it's right, it's powerful,
it's effective. I pray for everyone and the sound of
my voice who made a decision today that trust Jesus
as their savior. Hallelujah and amen they're calling is an election, sure,
(48:43):
and you hold them in their hands.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
Nobody can take you from it.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
But the decision to let you be lord of our
lives is a many times a day decision. Make it
plain in our lives. Show us one area that we
have been feeding that you have called us to starve,
Give us the grace in that space to deny that
thing rather than to deny you. And every time we
deny ourselves, we receive more of your grace, not to
(49:06):
be kept to ourselves, but to be given out to
the world. Father, we love you, we honor you, we
praise you, we thank you, and all God's people said, Amen,
come on, let's put our hands together, Come on us.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch
dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
with your friends. You can click the share button, take
(49:43):
a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God
bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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