The Passion of Peter

I was asked to write and deliver the sermon for Lenten services. I also read a passage from "Imaginary Jesus" by Matt Mikalatos. Here's the sermon: As I read and researched and learned more about Peter for this message, I realized that I actually know a lot of people who are a lot like Peter. Peter is impulsive. He's a proud person who thinks a lot of himself. He's hot headed, and quick to argue and criticize. He really sounds like a lot of people I know, and even maybe, a little like me. I think we all have a little bit of Peter's character in us. Maybe that's because its one of the biggest problems we as humans face. As Mac Davis sang: Oh Lord it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way. It is a funny song. But we're not perfect, and even doing the best that we can, isn't good enough. Did you know that? Did you know that no matter what you do, no matter how good you are, no matter how much money you have, it will not get you into heaven? I looked it up on Travelocity.com, and I couldn't even find the airport for Heaven. The closest it could get me was Havana. So if we can't buy the ticket to heaven, how do we get there? Peter knew in his heart that Jesus was the true son of God. He knew, he had been with Jesus this whole time. He saw the miracles, he saw everything. How can he not have complete faith in Jesus, when he was there? He was there! He heard the parables straight from the lips of Jesus. He saw his own mother-in-law, laying in bed with a fever, sick as a dog, touched by Jesus, and healed instantly. He knew! He knew Jesus was for real. So do we, we know Jesus is for real. I'm sure each one of us has seen the love and miracles of Jesus in our lives. So why then, does Peter deny Jesus? In Luke 24 verses 31-34 Jesus says: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you 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.” And we heard the story, he did deny Jesus, not once, it wasn't a slip up. He did it three times! Did he not even realize what he was saying? He had just expressed his willingness to die with Jesus, and now he doesn't even know Him? How is that possible? I think that Peter was afraid of the peer pressure and he was under a lot of stress. Peer pressure is defined as the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to the group's behavior. Its something we usually attribute to teenagers, however, its something very real in most of our lives. Almost everyone wants to be accepted by the people around them. And during this day in Peter's life, everything he knew fell down around him. He was probably feeling very anxious, scared, and uncertain. I want you to imagine that day in Peter's life. He knows something is going on. Jesus has been talking about how he's going to die. They celebrate the Passover meal with Jesus, who gives them this speech about how happy he was to have this meal with them before he suffers. Then he gives them bread and wine, saying that its his body and blood, broken for them. Then he tells them that one of their band of brothers is going to betray him. So what do they do? They start arguing about which one of then is the greatest disciple! Did they not believe it, maybe they just didn't want to believe it. Maybe they didn't understand. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. If you don't think about it, maybe it won't happen. But as the predictions of Jesus started coming true, Peter's blissfulness started turning into panic. In the garden after taking a nice nap as Jesus prayed, sweating blood for the horrible torture He was about to endure, Peter again, in John 18 verse 10, shows his impulsiveness by pulling out a sword and hacking off the ear of the high priest's guard who comes to arrest Jesus! Jesus, who for obvious reasons, doesn't need Peter as a bodyguard, says, in Matthew 26: “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” So then Peter follows after his rabbi, his leader, his best friend in all the world, who he has pledged to die for, only to say he doesn't know him when he's asked. You see, Jesus has been hauled off. He's being judged for crimes he didn't commit. Peter knows Jesus is innocent, and he's scared. He can't go into the court room, so he's waiting outside, anxious and nervous, scared for his life. Talk about stress! Fight or flight. Its what our bodies and our brains are designed to do when under great stress. We saw Peter choose to fight with the sword, and Jesus said no. So now he's picking flight. If he doesn't know Jesus, then he can't be held accountable, right? If he runs away from the problem, it goes away, right? Was all this really happening? Or was it all a bad dream? I think that perhaps Peter's mind was spinning with all this information, with all these things being dumped into his consciousness at the same time, and his nervous system was being overloaded with adrenaline. People are asking him questions, he doesn't even know what he's saying, he's scared, he's panicking, and then bang, the rooster crows. That rooster must have been like a fire alarm going off in his brain. The terror it must have struck in his heart. The fear, the hopelessness, the anger toward himself realizing that he just did the very thing he swore he wouldn't do! It was done. It was over. The last thing that Peter got to do for Jesus was pretend he didn't know him. It says "He went outside and wept bitterly." Jesus told him to pray not to give into temptation. Was that temptation, the temptation to believe that he could do all this on his own? What if instead of relying on his own strength through this trial of his life, he had prayed for guidance? What if instead of thinking he was such a great disciple, he acknowledged his weakness and asked for help? Maybe he wouldn't have had to go through all that heartbreak. I think that making Peter go through this dreadful denial of Jesus was God's way of teaching Peter humility. If that didn't make him a little more humble, I'm not sure what would. I think that is the plank in our eyes that God keeps telling us about. If we can't look at own sins and shortcomings with honesty, we will never be able to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. But if we stop depending on our own understanding, our own knowledge, and our own preconceived notions, and we start praying for guidance, for understanding, and for mercy, then God will show us His love, and give us these things. I think most people would have a pretty easy time judging Peter to be a pretty poor disciple. But Jesus didn't think so. I also think that many of us have a pretty easy time judging each other to be pretty poor disciples. Praise the Lord that Jesus doesn't think so. In fact, He is so convinced that you are one of His best disciples that He let himself be nailed to the cross and He died to show you how much He believes in you! That ticket to heaven was purchased, not by us, but by the blood of Jesus Christ who died for us on that cross.

"Where's Waldo" or "God's Plan for my Life"

Sometimes I feel like I'm the Waldo in the pictures, one face in the sea of faces, one little insignificant person in the crowd of millions. Make that billions. One person, one soul, just one lost sinner looking for my role, waiting on God to reveal...what's that Jesus?
What am I waiting for?
I've been floundering around for my whole life, trying to figure out what God's big plan for my life is. But I'm still waiting. I even go to church almost every Sunday and toss a couple bucks in the offering plate, but nothing's changed. My life isn't anything like it will be once God's plan is revealed. I'm still waiting for God to show me...what did you say Jesus?

Good works? Good news?
Yep, I go to work everyday, but its not cool to talk about God there. My coworkers might make fun of me if they knew I was a Christian. And I don't know if any of them go to church, and I sure don't want to talk about the Bible to anyone that doesn't go to church. That would be really uncomfortable. So that's why I'm just waiting for God to reveal...what do you mean Jesus?
What do you mean God already showed me His plan?
Its in the Bible?
But I read the Bible, the whole thing, and I never found anything where God wrote about what He was going to do with my life. He doesn't even mention me in the Bible, Jesus.

He did mention me in the Bible?
Oh, yeah, child of God...
Yeah, I know, I'm a child of God, and that's all great, but I'm waiting for MY big day, when God shows me what He's calling me to do with my life. When He calls my name loud like thunder and says"This is what you were meant to do!" And then He gives me a bunch of money and I can go do whatever easy job He's created me for. I can't wait to do God's work! Its going to be so great... What did you say Jesus?

What do you mean "Feed my sheep"?
Who are "the least of these"?
Love my neighbors? Well, I hardly know them, how can I love them?
Besides, wouldn't that be weird?
But those people live on the other side of the planet, how can they be my neighbors?
I've never even been to Samaria, how would I know a good one if I met one?
I just don't understand your riddles Jesus!
What's that about parables Jesus?
Don't waste my what, Jesus?

Love Never Fails

Love Never Fails.
The verses printed inside the cross are 1 Corinthians 13: verses 1-8. I have pretty much bet my salvation on this way of thinking. When I am before the Lord, my God, and He asks me what I did with my life, I will tell Him that I loved: that when I was in doubt, I did what I thought Jesus would do, and I loved.

As you judge, you will be judged.

I know that I, the sinner that I am, will need alot of mercy, so I make sure to offer it as much as I can. But I know in my heart, that God wants us all to think this way. He said it so many times, it amazes me that people are still out there, judging away. In my journey to know God, I have had to change some of my ways of thinking. I have had to completely change my point of view on some things. Its hard, but when the Bible says...when JESUS says... we need to listen. We need to stop assuming we know what HE meant. Stop assuming we understand what HE wants us to do.
To enter heaven we must become like small children.
Read that Bible again, with the soft heart of a child, and see what it really says. Our hardened hearts will never know the truth unless we can do this.

Luke 16: 26

My depiction of the great chasm.

I gave up my soda habit, my chiropractor has been telling me for years that diet Coke is evil for one's body, and to celebrate I sponsored a little girl from Guatemala.

(I have thought about it many times, its funny how God does these things. But I really felt that this was what I was supposed to do, and maybe its why God made me buy the book "Radical" by David Platt. Ever since I've read it, I've felt convicted to do more for God, and to listen to that still small voice in my heart. You know that voice? That small voice, the one that's barely audible because of all the commercials and pleas for you to spend your money on material things to make your life of ease even more comfortable. The small voice, that you almost need to meditate to hear, to go into a quiet place so you can hear it.)

I was on the Childfund website trying to pick a child, which is so difficult, all their beautiful little faces! Everytime I picked one, they had already been picked by someone else.

(That in itself is wonderful because it means many people have been sponsoring children recently. I wish we could all see how truly rich we are, compared to the rest of the world. For years I ignored the call to sponsor a child because I just didn't know if I could afford it, or I just didn't know if I really should, or I just didn't know which one of the sponsorship companies to pick. "You really want to me sacrifice some of my money for what??" )

So I just told God to pick for me, and started clicking until I got one that up for sponsorship. When I got the info about her this morning, it showed me that she and my son have the same birthday.

I thought, "That was pretty cool God! ", and in my brain I could hear, "See, I picked her out just for you."

So thank you God, thank you for your patience with me, and your never-ending love.
I love you too.

Where Am I Going?

Please excuse my previous absence, and the possible absence to follow.

God has been working in huge major ways in my life, and I've been feeling a little overwhelmed. I just haven't had any extra time to write, or even think about things of which to write.

I'll tell you all about it once it gets going beyond the point that it is. But for now all I can say is: Its huge, its crazy, and my life is never going to be the same.
I can't sleep at night, my stomach is fluttery, and its all I can think about.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Its a big hope, but it means a big future too. A future for generations.
As I leave you hanging, with my heart full of optimism and the love of the LORD, I bid you this: Pray unceasingly that the LORD will reveal His will for your life to you. Because when He does, its pretty dang amazing!

Supersheep!

This is an excerpt from a sermon I wrote, and had the chance to deliver to my church in June 2010.

We sometimes need to change our attitudes. Philippians 2 verses 3-5 says "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus"
I think that's a tall order for a regular human being. I think that we do tend to think of ourselves first. We've all heard the phrase, "looking out for number 1!" And by saying that we mean ourselves, and our families, and its usually said with an angry tone, or an arrogant one. Face it, sometimes, we don't want to be the sheep. Sometimes I don't want to be a timid, submissive sheep that can't take care of myself, walking around, being told what to do.
I want to be a warrior sheep!
A sheep that can tell you the way it is!
The way its going to be!
I want to be a Supersheep!
With a sword, and a cape, and a big letter "S" on my chest!
But God says NO. God says be humble. God says in Hebrews 10:30 "For we know him who said, 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again, 'The Lord will judge his people'." I don't get the sword, it's God's sword. I don't get to judge. That's God's job. I don't even get a cape. I just get instructions:
"Feed my sheep."
"Do unto others"
"Love thy neighbor"
"Love one another"

No sword, no cape, just love.
But its such an important job! And once you let love break down the boundaries in your heart, once you let God's love wash over you, taking away your sin, even the sins you don't think or know are sins, that's when God's light can really shine. That's when Jesus takes over your life and then, it can be lived for the will of God, and not yourself. When you give it up, is when you will live. That's what God tells us in Luke 9:24, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." This doesn't mean necessarily dying a physical death, but a spiritual one. You have to let go of yourself to make room for God. You have to trust in Him completely, and give yourself to Him completely.
'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
When you give yourself up to God, you allow Him to use you as He used Elijah, and so many other notable people in the Bible. It’s the people who did surrender their lives to Jesus, who gave themselves up, who were able to bring God glory.
And that's what its all about.