The God of The Comeback

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected], we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Good to see you guys here this morning. Really, everybody in the room, if you think about it, and everybody watching online, has a comeback story. Everybody has gone through something in life that has set you back and then set you up for a comeback. And that's kind of the cycle. That's really how it works. You don't go through life unscathed. You don't go through life without disappointments and setbacks. They're just part of everyday living. Whether you know the Lord or you don't know the Lord, whether you're in church or you're out of church, it is an unescapable reality of life. That's why the Bible says it reigns on the just and the unjust. It's the idea that good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. It's just part of the life cycle. And if you live long enough and you go through enough in life, you're going to find that to certainly be true. And this morning, we're going to be looking at another character in the Bible who was a great man. In fact, he was one of the leading apostles in the scriptures. He was one of those closest to Jesus, and yet he suffered an incredible setback. It affected him dramatically. In fact, it could have been the end of his ministry. You could have ended the story with where we're going to start our story this morning. And that would have been all that we would have known about this man. His name would have dropped from the canon of scripture. There would have been no comeback story. But that's not how it ends. It ends a beautiful, beautiful way where our Lord goes after him. And this man experiences an incredible comeback. Of course, the man I'm speaking of is Simon Peter. When you read of Simon Peter, and you read about him, particularly in Matthew, chapter four, you understand he was a businessman. He ran a fishing business and probably was very successful from what we know of the scriptures. He owned several fishing boats. And so he was really good at what he did. And Jesus passed by one day. And you remember that familiar statement. He said, follow me and I'm going to make you fishers of men. I'm going to use your skill sets. But now it's going to be used to capture the hearts of people for the purpose of God and not simply to build a business and to make money. And so at that point Simon Peter begins the process of following Jesus. And it's interesting because of all the things that Simon Peter saw Jesus do. One of the very first miracles that Simon Peter witnessed was his own mother in law who was dying. The Bible says she had a fever that was very life threatening. And Jesus encounters her. Simon Peter takes her to the home and he heals this woman miraculously of her illness. So Simon Peter saw that miracle. He was also around for the feeding of the 5000. Many of you are familiar with that. And of course when you look at it in the Bible, back in that day, they only counted the men, the women and children weren't included in the count. I take that up with them when you get to heaven. I don't know why they didn't do that, but that was just the way they did it back in that culture. And so if you have 5000 men and you have at least probably 5000 women, am I safe to go that far? And you get 5000 men and women, you probably got a lot of kids somewhere. So there was probably 15 to 20,000 people that Jesus actually fed. So the feeding of the 5000 5000 alone is pretty bad. Incredible. But I mean bad as in good, that's a pretty amazing thing. But to feed 15 to 20,000 people with some bread and fish is amazing how Jesus multiplied it. My point with going back over all that is Simon Peter saw that. Remember it wasn't long after that Jesus tells his disciples, get in the boat, go to the other side of the lake. I'll meet you on the other side. And they're in the middle of a storm. All of them are panicking. They're afraid they're going to die. Remember, Jesus comes walking to them on the water. It was an incredible story. And when Simon Peter saw him and calls out to him, at first they thought he was a ghost. And then he answers and they said, no, it's the Lord. And Simon Peter said, hey, if it's you, invite me to come join you on the water. And so Simon Peter begins that incredible miracle of actually walking on the water. And it was a miracle. It wasn't because he knew where the rocks were. I've heard that joke. He actually was walking on the water. And the Bible says concerning Simon Peter, that as long as his eyes were on Jesus, he could do that incredible feat. But the minute he took his eyes off Jesus and he put his eyes on the wave, the Bible said he began to sink. And it's a beautiful illustration for us to know that we can do the incredible, sometimes we can do the unimaginable, as long as our eyes are on Jesus. But in minute we take our eyes off of Jesus, we're going to start to sink. And Simon Peter calls out to the Lord. In that moment, he prayed the quickest, most desperate prayer in the Bible. Lord, save me. That's all the time he had to pray. He was going under. Sometimes we know in order to reach God, we have to put a lot of adjectives in our prayer. We have to pray long prayer. No? Sometimes, Lord, save me is enough. And that's all it took. And Jesus reaches down and saves Simon Peter. What's my point? My point is I just want to rehearse these events in your hearing this morning to know that the man we're talking about had been on the pinnacle. In fact, literally, he had been to the mount of transfiguration with our Lord. In fact, when you study the record, Jesus told all of the disciples, except for three, Peter, James and John, to wait for him at the bottom of the mountain. And they went up the mountain to Jesus and saw him transfigured. They saw the glow and the glory of God fall upon Jesus. So Simon Peter witnessed some of the most incredible events in that day. He saw Jesus do some of the most amazing things. And yet, Simon Peter, with that resume, Simon Peter, with that incredible experience, Simon Peter, with that amazing testimony, still had a setback that could have absolutely knocked him completely off course for God. And the reason I think that's important, that I underscore that, is sometimes we have the habit of thinking that sometimes it's always sin, and sin is always associated with setbacks. Now, that's true sometimes, but that's not true all the time. Sometimes setbacks are associated with some of the very best people in the entire world. Sometimes a setback can happen when you're doing the right thing for the right reasons. And Simon Peter was the right man, and God was using him in an incredible way, and he still experiences a setback. Now, to give you a little more context of the story, Jesus has gone to the cross. And prior to going to the cross, you remember Simon Peter said, lord, I'll never deny you. And Jesus said to him, before the rooster crows, you will have denied me three times. And sure enough, Jesus is arrested. He's carried away. Simon Peter is warming his hands at the fire, and one of the girls around the fire recognizes him. She goes, you're one of those followers of Jesus. And he goes, no, I don't know what you're talking. No, no, no. I've seen you. You're a follower of Christ. And he goes, no, really, I don't know what you're talking. No, no, no, I know. I know what I'm talking about. You are a follower of Jesus. And he just cussed her out, and he says, I don't know what you're talking about. And so all of a sudden, after he denied Jesus three times, the rooster crows, and Simon remembers what Jesus had told him. You will deny me before that. Rooster crows. And he goes out, the Bible says, and he weeps bitterly. Well, why do you think Simon Peter was so disillusioned at that moment? Well, in my estimation, as I've studied this, oftentimes, I really believe Simon Peter realized when Jesus went to the cross and he died on the cross, his livelihood was gone. Not only was his livelihood gone, his reason for even existing. He was a support person for Jesus. He traveled with him. That's been taken away. Simon Peter had his theology a little messed up. He thought Jesus was coming to overthrow the oppressive roman government, and he thought Jesus was now going to establish his kingdom on the earth. He was mistaking the first coming of Jesus, which was to go to the cross and, of course, be raised from the dead. But he was to go to the cross to suffer and die. The second coming of Jesus was to come back to rule and reign. So he was confusing his theology. He thought Jesus was coming now to overthrow Rome, and finally we'd be free. Finally, God would establish his kingdom on the earth, and we'd live in this wonderful utopia right here on the earth as God originally intended it all to be. Well, when Jesus goes to the cross, that goes away. So he's just disillusioned. This is not what I thought was going to happen. This is not the life I signed on to. And I'm telling you this morning, again, if you've walked with God very long, you've had those moments. You've hit those crossroads where you've said, this is not what I signed on for. This is not how I thought my life would go. This is not something I ever imagined that I would experience in my life. And if that's you, it's been me. And I'm telling you, the setback is setting you up for a comeback. So I hope I can encourage you a little bit in that experience. In fact, look with me in John, chapter 21. We just look at a section of this passage that deals with Simon Peter's setback and what he did when that happened. John 21, verse three. Simon Peter said to them, now, who is them? It's his closest friends that were around him. Now, let me stop long enough to say everybody in the room influences someone. Leadership could be defined simply by this one word, influence. You influence people. Remember, it comes from the word inflow. Influence comes from inflow. It's the idea of two little tributaries that flow together to create a river or a stream. And those tributaries create a current. Influence means to be caught in the flow, into the flow of someone's life. Someone is pulling you into the current of their life. And Simon Peter had influence. There were people that were caught up in the current of his life. So at this bad moment in his life, at this down time in his life, he says, here, Peter says, I'm going fishing. Now, on the surface, that sounds pretty benign. There's nothing wrong with fishing. I've heard of preachers actually going off on fishing as being. That's what he was indicating there. Bless her heart. That's like being against wrestling, because the Bible says, wrestle not okay. I don't think that's what that means. But anyway, that's what I talk about, finding a tooth and building a dinosaur. That's not what he's talking about. You have to understand, when he said, I'm going fishing, what he was saying is, I'm going to go back and I'm going to do what I did before I ever met God. I'm going to do a big reset on my life. Man, it wasn't great, but, man, before I met God, at least I didn't have the pressure of dealing with people. At least I didn't have the hassle of dealing with the government. I could go out and fish. I could catch fish. I could sell my fish. I could make money, pay my bills, go home. And my phone didn't ring. My computer is not blowing up. That's very loosely translated, but I'm trying to apply it. And I don't have the pressure that my job is bringing on me. I'm going to go back, and I'm going to do something that I did when life was much simpler. And have you ever noticed when you think about your life, your memory of the past always gets sanitized? You remember the early days as being much better than they really are. Nobody wants to go back to the early days. I mean, really. Do you really want to go back? I remember when I got a cut. We had a nurse in the church, and my mom brought the nurse to the house to deal with this cut on my hand, and she used something called mercurichrome. Anybody familiar with that? Mercurichrome. All right, for those of you whose hands aren't up, google that, kids. It's a real thing. It was a red medication that was the equivalent of pouring turpentine on an open cut. You not only would see Jesus, you would hear angels. It was this incredible. And I think the reason they used it, it just seared the wound immediately. It's just like pouring battery acid right on your hand. Just that skin just seared over, and that nurse came over. I don't want to go back to mucuracrone. I'm glad my kids don't even know what that means. You don't want to do that. I mean, I thank God for medical science. Aren't you glad for all those people, all these new technology? Good for new technology. Great. I don't want to go back, but we tend to remember things as being better than they were, and I think that was probably a little bit of Simon Peter. I want to go back to a simpler time. I want to go back when I didn't have the pressure of people and the stress of ministry. I'm going fishing. And then notice what they said. They said to him, we'll go with you. Now, before I move off of that, let me say, when I make a bad statement or I make a bad decision at a downtime in my life, I have to be careful who I make that statement to, because my decision or my statement is going to affect someone who just heard me say that, you got to be careful what you say around your kids. That's why you have to be careful what you say around people who may not be strong as you are, and they may not be able to handle what you just said, you have to be very careful because you'll get over it. But they may not. And so you influence someone. And Simon Peter says, I'm done. I quit. And they said, us, too. Well, they weren't in the same place as Simon Peter, but yet they were caught up in the current of his life. So his influence led them down the same path. So they go out, they get in the boat, and that night, they catch nothing. They caught nothing. But just as day was breaking. Look, Jesus is on the beach. Yet the disciples didn't know that that was him. He was present, but he wasn't perceived he was there. But they didn't know he was there. So Jesus is there on the beach. Isn't that interesting? And I'll come back over this in just a moment. But Jesus knew exactly where they were. I mean, they're out fishing at night, and Jesus now, he is raised from the dead. Simon Peter had already seen him. He's spending that period of time here on the earth before his ascension in acts one. And so Jesus knew where they were. So he sees them and appears on the beach, and he notices that they're fishing. And notice what he did. He calls out to them in verse five. Children, have you any fish? Now, I'm not a great fisherman. I like to get out and make an effort. I love hunting, probably a little more than fishing, but fishing is fun. It's relaxing. But I can tell you I've fished enough to know if you fished all night. The last time. Last thing you want anybody to ask you is, did you catch anything? I mean, anybody that fishes. No, that's not the question you want. You pull the boat in, you're going to load the boat up. Hey, how's the fishing? Why don't I just grab you and throw you in the lake? You're not in the mood. You don't want to hear that. And Jesus asked them the one question that they probably didn't want to have to answer. Did you catch any fish? And notice what they said they answer him, no. Now, may I suggest to you, I think he was asking this on a little deeper level. I think what he was saying to them is simply this. You've done what you said you wanted to do. You've quit. And I let you quit, and God let you quit. You've walked away because that's what you said you wanted to do. And God will let you walk away. And they did. And he's asking them the question, as Dr. Phil might say, how's that working for you? I mean, are you happy? You got to do what you said you wanted to do. I'm done with church. I'm not going to read the Bible. I'm not going to pray. I'm not giving another dime to another church. I'm not going to tell anybody else about. I'm tired of. It doesn't work. It's just too disappointing. It's too hard. I tried to live the right way and just junk hits my life. I'm done. And Jesus kind of comes after a period of time and says, are you happy? Are you any happier now than you were before then? Are you catching fish? And Simon Peter, he just says, no. And then Jesus says, well, then, cast your net on the right side of the boat. In other words, do it my way. You've tried it your way, do it my way. And the Bible says, you'll find some fish. And they did. And the Bible says that the net started to break because they couldn't haul it in. For the number of fish was so great. Now let's jump down to verse twelve. Jesus said, come and eat breakfast. Yet none of his disciples dare ask him, who are you? Remember, they thought at first he was a stranger, because they knew indeed that this was the Lord. And Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them. And likewise, the fish now dropped to 15. And when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, Simon Jonah, do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than fishing? Do you love me more than your old life? He said, yes, lord, you know that I love you. He said, then feed my lambs. And I didn't put it in all the narrative, but if you want to go back and read it, he'll ask him two more times, Simon Peter, do you love me more than these? And Simon Peter will say, yes, lord, you know that I do. Then he'll say, feed my sheep. And then he finally ask him the third time, Simon, do you love me more than these? And Simon will finally say, yes, lord, you know all things. You know everything there is to know about me. You know that I love you. And when I've read that, I've often wondered, why did he ask him three times? But when you look at it in the greek language, there are several words for the word love. We only have one in our language. I love you. But love means different things to many different people. You could say to your spouse or your significant other, I love you. And in the next breath say, I love peanut butter. Well, you don't mean you love her like you love peanut butter. We understand how that word gets changed in its meaning. Well, in the Greek, they were very specific. They had a word called eros. We get the word erotic from that to love is a very sensual type of love. It was describing a type of love, Eros. Then there was a word called storge. Storge. Storge is a greek word that implies familiarity. That's someone you know. You can't put a name on the face. You run into them in the grocery store and you go, I know them. So you go, hey, man. Or how are know when you don't get the name, it's man are you? And we all do that because you can't remember those names. It's Storge. You know them. You're not close to them. It's a relationship, but it's storge. And then you have. The next level of love is Fileto. Fileto. We get Philadelphia from that city of brotherly love, really. But anyway, Fileto. You've been there. It means friendship. It means a close association with someone. It's a best friend. Fileto. And then the highest level of love is agape. Agape. That's the love God has for us. And when Simon Peter responds to Jesus, when he first asks him, he, you know, we're friends. We're close. I know you. I mean, I didn't recognize you at first, but I know who you are second time. Mafleo. We're buddies. We're friends. Yeah. And he asks him the third time, and he goes, oh, I get what he's driving at. No, Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. I'd be willing to lay down my life for you. It's a sacrificial love, and that's what Jesus was driving at. And he goes, that's the problem. That was the point of departure, Simon Peter, when you lessened your love for me, when that started happening, then it was easier for you to walk away. No one has ever made a decision outwardly that they didn't, first of all, consider it inwardly. No one has ever done something outwardly they didn't, first of all, plan it and process it inwardly. That's why you got to check your thinking sometimes, especially when you're going through a hard experience. So with that set up, let me go back over it in about ten minutes, give you the thought I wanted to share. Number one, I want you to notice the disappointment that he felt. The disappointment that he felt. It was real. It was real. This was a real disappointment that Simon Peter felt. And listen, justifiably so for all the reasons I gave you a moment ago, so that he messed his theology up, he thought it was going to work out better than it did. It didn't. All a disappointment is. Is an unmet expectation. We have disappointments all the time. We have expectations. Sometimes are realistic. Sometimes our expectations are unrealistic. But when you have a disappointment in life, it's tied to an unmet expectation. People will let you down. One of the devotionals last week, I talked about the betrayal of Jesus by Judas and how God used the betrayal of Jesus by Judas to actually affect the progress of Jesus going to the cross. How God can take betrayals in our life. He can take the things that the devil meant for evil according to Genesis 50. Genesis 50, and make those things work out for our good. God has a way of doing that. When you're in the middle of it, it's hard to see it. When you're in the middle of it, it's easy to get disappointed and disillusioned by it. And that's where Simon Peter was. You and I have the hindsight of a couple thousand years of looking back, going, it works out, man. Simon Peter, amazing guy. One of the pillars of the early church, man. Go, Simon Peter. But, man, right in the middle of this, he wasn't seeing it that way. Remember, he checked out. This disappointment was real. And one of the things I wanted to cover with you this morning and make sure you're clear on is this. This is a truism. Here it is. People who are at the center of Holy Spirit activity will also be people who are at the center of unholy spirit activity. When God is doing something in your life, whether it's in your relationship, in your business, whether it's in your parenting, when God is at work in your life, so will the enemy be? He will absolutely be at work. People who are at the center of holy spirit activity will also be people at the center of unholy spirit activity. Anywhere God is at work building the enemy will be at work blasting. That's why I say, man, when you go through something that sets you back, you have a decision to make. Am I going to stay the course or am I going to go fishing? Am I going to keep pressing in or am I going to just bail? I mean, you literally are at a crossroad. Every time I've hit those moments in life, I've had those thoughts. I don't have to do what I'm doing. I can do other stuff. I think I can sell ICE cubes to Eskimos. I mean, there's things I know I can do. I can be a greeter at Walmart. I guarantee I'll be the best greeter they've ever had. I can go to work at Home Depot. I don't know what a lot of that is. I'll learn it. I'll help you find your boards, your screwdrivers. I'm not too good to do anything. I'm just saying, when I've hit those moments in life, I've thought about my options, and we all have options. Nobody's put a gun to your head to make you do what you do for a living. You have options. But what you want to find is what is the best option for me? Because oftentimes, good can become the enemy of best. So what is the best thing for me? And it's the best thing for me. I need to press on. God has birthed this thing in my heart. He's called me. He's gifted me to do it. I had a setback that didn't make sense. I can't figure it out. It's not fair. It doesn't work. But what am I going to do? Am I going to press on? Am I going to keep going forward, or am I going to bail? Here's another good verse to remind you of when you're getting shot at. In Galatians, chapter six, verse 17, Paul said, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. It's interesting the greek word for marks is stigmata. And to understand what he was saying when he said that, is this. In that ancient day, kings would go into battle with their armies, with their troops. Kings would often be in the forefront of the battle with their army, with their troops. So if the enemy was going to take out the army, all of the arrows of the enemy would be trained on the king. They'd try to take the king out, because if they can kill the king, they'll discourage the hearts of all of those who are following him, and they can turn the battle in their favor. So here's my point. If you're not sold on the king and you're not sold on the fight, the last place you want to be is close to the king. You kind of get your distance, that boy's going to get shot at. So I'm going to back off of him a little bit. I'm going to stand way away from the king. So the point Paul was making is, my king, the Lord Jesus Christ has all the arrows of the enemy trained on him. The devil's been trying to take him out from day one. He tried to kill him right after he was born. Remember, Herod said, bring me words so I can go and worship. And angel told the wise men, go another way. Don't go. Herod's going to kill him if he can find him. How many times you read about Jesus escaping for his life? He wasn't afraid to die, but that wasn't the time for him to die, nor the way for him to die. And the devil tried to kill him in the garden of Gethsemane. When he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, he tried to stop him every step of the way from going to the cross, but he couldn't. And so I'm just suggesting to you that when you follow Jesus and you say, as for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord, I'm going to honor him with my business, with my family, with my life, you can expect to get shot at, because the closer to God you go, the more the enemy will try to take you out. So I'm just warning you, I'm just giving you a heads up and telling you that's the reality. But Paul turned that, and he said, I gladly bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. These scars show that I've walked close to God. It's proof of my commitment to him. I bear in my body the stigmata of the Lord Jesus. So sometimes the good news about the bad news is if you're getting shot at, it means you're doing the right thing. I found in my life, if I'm not running into the devil, in some ways, I'm probably running with him. So one of the ways, you know, Paul Harvey used to say, you know, you're on the road to success when it's uphill all the way, right? Paul said, there's a great and effectual door open unto me, but there are many adversaries. And when you think about what he was saying, what he was saying is doors of opportunity swing on the hinges of opposition. And so you're going to have opposition, and sometimes it'll be enough to disappoint you, to discourage you. So, number one, you see the disappointment that he faced. Number two, notice the decision. The decision that he faced. I said a moment ago, you're at a crossroads. You have a decision to make. In this case, he decided, as I said a moment ago, he's done. I'm going to go back. I can't handle the pressure anymore. It's too heavy for me, and I'm going to walk away. That's going to be the best decision for me to make, and he made it. Here's what I would suggest to you, that there is a process that you and I will go through, and the devil uses it. In fact, Paul even said, concerning the devil, we're not ignorant of his devices. If you want to know what the devil will do, look back in the Bible and see what the devil has done. He will use tactics that he's good at using. That are effective on people. Number one, he gets you worn out. Worn out. He gets you tired. If he can get you tired, tired of your relationship, tired on your job. If he can get you worn out, that's the first step. Sometimes the best thing you could do for you is to rest a little bit, take a day off. The Bible talks about a sabbatical rest. And we in America are terrible about that sort of thing. I mean, especially if you're an entrepreneur, if you tend to be a little workaholic, if you have a company. The reason you're successful is because you know how to work. And God bless people that aren't lazy. God bless you. And I just don't have a lot of patience for lazy people. But anyway, it's not a thing. I love them, but I don't have patience. I hang with them. But the point is, you get worn out. You get worn out. It's a tactic. You get worn out not doing bad stuff. You get worn out doing good stuff. It's not the bad stuff that wears you. I'm taking care of my family. I'm doing this. You're redlining. You need to take a little time. Second thing he does is once he gets you worn out, he'll get you weighted down. Now the pressure feels heavy. Now it's heavy. Now what? You're worn out. Now you're trying to carry something that is heavy for you. And once you're feeling the weight or the pressure of your circumstance, you're already worn out. And now you're weighted down. And here's the third thing that happens. You get wrought up. You get angry. You go off on people. Sometimes you get angry at the people who love you most and the people who are on your team. And sometimes we're nicer to strangers than we are our own people, the people in our family, in our house. Someone said, home is where you go. When you're tired of being nice to people. That's sad, but that's often true. And we take it out on people. They go, hey, you're shooting your own soldiers here. We're on your team, right? Well, don't take it personally if you've been the object of that sort of anger, because you're dealing with someone you love and understand. They're worn out, they're weighted down, and it's easy for them to get wrought up. The best thing you could do to help a person navigate through that circumstance is, say, we need to rest. We need to find a way to get this pressure off. One of the first things you do to get the pressure off of you is you give it to God. You give it to him. He said, cast all your care upon me first. Peter, 57 for I care for you. Some of you guys are carrying burdens God didn't design you to carry. You're weighted down because you've got stuff on you that God's saying, I can help you with this. I told you a while back when Shannon and Rick, when the twins were little, I was going somewhere with Shannon. Cindy was doing something, and so I was going somewhere. I think we were going to the mall, back when the mall was a thing. And so we're going to the mall, and so she gets all the gear out. She gets the twins, she gets them in the little thing, little cart deal. And she's got a backpack on, and she's got all this gear, and she's got all this stuff, and we're heading, and I'm walking big old six three dude with nothing. She's got the backpack, she's got the kids. And I'm thinking, man, this is really a masculine lady. Shouldn't I carry something? Pick her up, at least carry her and kind of do the. It's terrible. So after we got through shopping, I remember dropping them off at the house, hey, fun day. Let's see the baby. And then I asked her this. I went, are you going to be okay? Do you need some help? And she looks so not disgusted, but puzzled, like, dad, you've been with me for 2 hours today, and I got this. This is my life. I can do this. And I realized, wow, that's true. That is her life. And she and Rick could actually handle that. But it's what struck me was sometimes we're carrying burdens. When we got a six four guy walking alongside saying, I at least could take the backpack, right? And I thought about that. When it comes to God, sometimes we're carrying things, and he's going, I can get that. You want to carry it? All right, well, here you go. I'm kind of here to do that for you. And so I'm saying what prayer does is prayer pushes your problems toward him. And I would tell you, as often as you feel the weight of what you're going through, pray, connect prayer to the moment you start feeling the weight of the problem that you're carrying. Some of you, you're going to take your prayer game up at a whole different level. All of a sudden, you're saying, I'm feeling the pressure. God, I can't deal with this. I can't handle this. I'm pushing it back toward you. You got to watch the weight. You got to watch the weight. So worn out, waited down, wrought up. That was Simon Peter. And it led him to make a choice that wasn't the best choice for him. But notice a third thought. Not only the decision he faced, but thirdly, notice the devotion that he found. The devotion that he found man at the crisis point, at the right moment. God was there. Can I tell you, God is never early. Boy, don't you wish sometimes he would be? Gosh, it'd be awesome. Sometimes God would be early. He's never early. He's never late. He's right on time. I said a moment ago, when Jesus went to the cross, the Bible said, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son. He walked into the world. He came into this world. He was as old as his father and older than his mother. Born in the manger. He came into the world right on time. Everything he did was moving him toward the cross. Right on time. And when he died, he laid down his life. No one could take it. He gave his life. He laid his life down right on time. He arose on time. One day he's coming back on time. What am I saying? I'm saying God is a God of timing. And this morning you may be feeling like he's late. Does he know where I am? Does he know what he knows? He knows. You may not perceive his presence, but he's there. When they looked to the shore, they saw him, though they didn't know it was him. Did you know sometimes God is present in your life, even though you may not perceive him, he's there. Remember, he never leaves us. He never forsakes us. He's an ever present help in times of sorrow. The God who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor does he sleep. While you and I were asleep last night, the God of heaven was looking out over us. He's got you. He's got this. He works right on time. And Simon Peter discovered that Jesus was there. And what was interesting about it is what Jesus didn't do, what he didn't do was he didn't chew Simon Peter out. He didn't say, after everything, you know, remember the cross? I just got off the cross. I did that for you, you ungrateful guy. I cannot believe that. After everything. Remember your mother in law? Nah. I bet you wish I just let her go. But I didn't. No, I don't know if you had said that I healed that old gal, remember that? Remember all those hungry people and you didn't know what we were going to do and they were complaining because we fed them 5000 of them. Remember that time you wanted to come walk on the water? And I went, well, why not? Come on and I'll let you do that. He didn't go into any of that. He didn't get in his grill. He didn't shoe him out. He just looked at him and said, you're tired, aren't you? Come to have breakfast. And he had a fire for him because he was cold. He had fish and bread because he was hungry. And Simon Peter sat down and he arrested at the fire Jesus had made. He ate the food Jesus had prepared and Jesus just let him warm himself by the fire and rest a little bit. And then what? Jesus didn't say. He didn't say, do you believe in my doctrine? He didn't say that. He didn't say, do you believe in the cause of the church? He didn't say that. He didn't say, do you enjoy doing ministry and working with people? I thought you were called to do that. Don't you enjoy. He didn't ask him that because you can do all of those things and not love Jesus. He asked him the one question that went to the heart of what was wrong. He said, do you love me? And something had happened in Simon Peter's heart a while back where he had allowed some coldness to drift in. So when it came time for him to make a decision in the middle of his disappointment, it was easier for him to walk away than it probably would have been otherwise. And once Simon Peter got a hold of that and understood that he rededicated himself. He rededicated himself to the purpose that God had called him to do. And you know how effective that commitment was. Many historians say that when Simon Peter died that he was actually crucified much like Jesus. But when he realized they were going to crucify him, he said, I'm not worthy to die as my savior died. And he asked them if they would crucify him upside down. And they said, simon Peter actually died as a martyr, crucified upside down. Let me tell you something. People may live for a lie, but very few people will die for a lie. Simon Peter knew who Jesus was. He knew what he had done for him. And once he connected with him and he committed his life to him from that point forward, he never looked back. He never looked back. So I want to suggest to you this morning, even though you're in the middle of a setback. When you think about it, it could be a set up for a comeback. God's not finished with you. He loves you. He wants to lift the load you're carrying this morning. Trust him. Let him. He will not fail you. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I thank you for your word. You've said in your word through Isaiah, it doesn't return void. It doesn't come back empty. But every time your word goes out, it always lands, it always hits. It finds its mark. And so, Father, I pray for those who feel that this word has been for them, that they won't just be, as James instructed us, to be a hearer of it, but help us now to be a doer of it. Help us to put it into practice. Help us to write these things down so we don't forget them. To pray these things in and to begin to live these things out. And finally, Lord, I ask for my friends who may never have trusted you as their savior, and they're trying to do this hard life on their own. I pray this might be the moment, the epiphany, where they just swallow their pride and with all their heart, they just pray this prayer and say, lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart, forgive my sin, be a reality in my life. And I pray this prayer in Jesus name. Amen. [00:37:26] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer quests, please contact us by visiting Metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.