Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Hope it gives your perspective to see Gods moving in your life. Enjoy the message what enjoy to be with you today.
My name is Larry Bryan, one of the pastors here at Elevation Church.
But all my friends call me ld and.
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 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.
She's still holding.
Babies eighteen years later at Elevation Blakeney.
Thank you, Marie Neial.
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.
And now this is my son, this is now, this is.
Just a couple of weeks ago, my man, my boy.
Yeah.
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.
What was it, honey?
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.
She calls me.
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.
Babe, it's gonna be okay. And I got off the phone.
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.
We love you, We honor you.
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.
I've been praying that you.
Would be good soil, because this is good and when good seed meets good soil, it produces a great harvest for his glory.
Mark Chapter one.
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 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.
Amen.
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.
Destiny and Direction.
Thank you, worship team. This is an incredible story because many things are happening in this scene at the same time.
Peter Andrew Simon. Well Simon, he's Simon.
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.
That's that guy.
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 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 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. 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.
Come to you.
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?
Could I learn from you?
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 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.
He sees all of you. He sees what you did, he sees.
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 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 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.
And in Second Peter.
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.
Remember when when.
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 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, 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?
That's what I want to talk about today.
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, but he speaks of two distinct roles that Jesus must occupy in your life.
First is as Savior.
The second is that Lord, because the Savior determines the destiny and the Lord sets the direction.
That's what I want to talk about for a few minutes.
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, 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.
And she's like, Daddy, I love you.
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, 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 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, starting in verse thirteen, when Jesus came to the region of cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who.
Do people say the Son of Man is? Now?
This is about two years after Peter started Jesus on the journey.
He's been walking with him for a while. This is not brand new.
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.
To the world.
If I were to go into the environments around you and see the people closest to you, what would they say about Jesus?
Who is Jesus?
Because some of you need to understand, you are the only Jesus some people will ever see.
Who do they say? He did not give you that job for an income.
He gave you for influence. God puts you in that place to exert his influence.
For his glory.
Oh.
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.
And he flips the.
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, Jesus is concealed, and in the New Testament.
Jesus is revealed. This is all about.
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 does he think he is? Than even herod king, herod pilate kings and people in authority who would say.
Are you a king?
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 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. 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.
Simon Peter answered.
You are the Messiah, the son.
Of the Living God.
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.
You are the Messiah.
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.
Redeem you from it.
Oh, but some of us come to church because we feel bad, and we follow Jesus for two years and I got the Bible.
But have never seen him as the Messiah.
And it's beautiful from the Scripture says this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by Father.
What he's saying is the grace you see.
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 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 a revelation.
It says this.
It says this in Ephesians chapter two, verse eight, it says, for it is by grace that you have been saved through faith.
This is not from yourselves. It is a gift of God.
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 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
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.
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.
I'm in just a second.
And some are like, oh my gosh, you're gonna make me stand with Yes, he died a very public death for you.
He did. He died a very public death.
And the reason I want some of you to stand is because you're sitting.
Down in sin and I need you to remember that.
The next time the voice of the enemy tries to get you to sit in that sin.
You can stand and say, no, I have been redeemed.
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 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 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. 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 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.
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 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.
Him in this place.
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 that beautiful. Oh, you can sit back now, but you can stand up anytime you need to.
Is God not good?
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. 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.
Why is it hard.
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.
Your Oh, you are the Messiah.
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 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 being made like him one day when we see it.
But between these two, I'm.
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 got my thing. Now would you bless my thing in Jesus' name?
If I'm honest, I live in that.
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.
Direction of our lives?
In Mark chapter six, it says the apostles gathered around Jesus and reported them all they had done and talk.
Let me give it a little context.
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.
So he sends them out like Noah's.
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.
Jesus, look what we did. We talked to demons.
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?
Stop it, stop it. Start standing in the authority he has given you.
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.
Stop it.
So they go out and then they come back to Jesus. And now they're like reporting to.
Them, Jesus, it was amazing. We cats out David's it was incredible. Ha ha, And then verse thirty one.
Then because so many people were coming and going, they did not even get a chance to eat.
They were hungry.
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.
Now let me pause there.
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 gonna be freaking amazing.
Okay, I need some resp.
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, stuff is burning on the stove, the dogs are barking. It is complete chaos. Do any of you look at that and go like.
Oh?
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 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?
Contempt, frustration? Are you freaking kidding me?
Jesus?
Question for you.
Jesus says, let's go to a quiet place by yourselves, to a solitary place and get some rest.
They get across the lake.
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?
Like it was just like who doing them to?
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.
He is truth.
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 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 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.
See the beginning of God.
Oh, Jesus is taking them to the wilderness, not to punish them, but to speak to them, because.
The wilderness is the place.
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.
You want to run from and you say I won't.
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.
Pastor Tim.
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 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, 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.
He said, we just need to have more sex.
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.
Praise the Lord. Won't God do it?
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 to get married, and this isn't what I picture.
And I wanted so.
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 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 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?
Can we shut this thing down?
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.
Jesus had compassion. They did not.
So finally they all nudge Peter like you're the obnoxious.
One, go say something to him.
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.
In this most interesting scene, because here's the reality.
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, 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 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 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, would they themselves be refreshed?
One person, thank you.
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.
In chapter six, verse.
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.
The wind died down. They were completely amazed.
You've never heard this verse before fifty two, for they had not understood about the loaves.
Their hearts were hardened.
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.
Jesus. We've been doing this all day, haven't you seen us.
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.
And here's the thing.
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 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 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.
Simon Simon.
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.
Like what been calling for me by name?
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.
Oh.
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 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. 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 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.
Here's the reality. The direction of your life is daily.
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.
That's where life comes down to.
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.
Make it plain in this house today.
Some of you are feeding self deprecation, and that's what's going to grow.
Some of you are feeding greed and envy.
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 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 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
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 gonna steal anyway, Just.
I'm serious.
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 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 back to being a fisherman. And I love the fact that our Savior said, I cannot.
Leave you like that.
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.
Him, here's the image I need you to see.
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. I've been going my own direction. Forgive me.
And then you come back and strengthen your brothers In.
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.
And he comes to him.
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?
Yes?
Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my lambs.
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.
And he asked Peter, Peter, do you love me?
And he goes, you know that I love you. There's three different words to describe love. And Jesus asked, do you agape me?
Do you love me like your lord?
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 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, 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.
You give him some deed. I don't have anything.
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 three times he asked him, do you love me?
Do you love me? Here's how I picture the whole scene. The second time and the third time.
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.
Do you love me? Feed my sheep?
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?
Do you love me? Do you love me? Now? Feed my sheep?
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.
You.
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 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.
Can Only I can cover that where you want it.
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.
Not want to go.
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.
Someone else address you lead you. Do you not want to go?
Jesus had this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God, and then he said, follow me.
I thought Jesus only.
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.
I'm going to pray for you in just a second.
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.
I got these big decisions I need to make.
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, 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 and they wonder how did I get her?
No one of those was a big decision.
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 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.
Or will I deny me?
But I want to challenge you at a very practical level, what's the thing you've been feeding.
That God said, I need you to starve deny that thing.
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, and you hold them in their hands.
Nobody can take you from it.
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 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.
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