When You Overpromise and Under Deliver
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But essentially, this whole series is about backstories, right? Backstories. Oh, am I already on? And the backstories are the things that inspire us. I see a lot of people's stories and their backstories, and I am so inspired by the different things that have happened in their life from where I see them now.
And I think this series is great for that because you can see someone at the very end, the highlight reel, and you haven't seen the years of all the stuff they've had to deal with. And so this series is great because I think this is real. No pun intended. This is real life when we start to see that God uses everyday people to do pretty miraculous stuff all the time, and it's not because of us.
We can't do it on our own, and that's encouraging, for me anyway. But I wanted to share with you just a little bit if you've been around here for a while, you've probably known a fair bit of my backstory. I've got some big things that happened in my life, big change in my life, and I'm actually not gonna go into any of those today.
So sorry. You'll have to wait for another day or come and talk to me and I'll tell you about them. But I did wanna share with you today some photos of mini Megs. You ready for mini Megs? Yeah. All right. Here we go. First one. Oh, look at that. Oh. Little mini Megs. It looks like my son straight away, right?
I think I was probably about four there. Very tiny. And there's something about me now that was very different to me back then, and I'll share that in a little. Here's another little one. This is me all the way over here. My brother. Do you ... Can anyone recognize Pastor Len right there? Yay. Oh, look at Pastor Len.
Oh, and what about Dot? Oh, they've changed her face. That's not what her face looks like. I think they've put some other stuff in there, but lovely. And then last one, this is when I was a little bit older. Look at me there holding a microphone. And do I look very confident there? No. This is called you're the pastor's kid, and you gotta just get thrown into everything.
You gotta sing, you gotta do all this stuff when you're a kid. And this particular person here, I just feel is so different to the person that you see standing right now. I'm the same person, but God has done something in my life because when I was young, I was so scared and shy and anxious. Can you believe it?
People go, "No way." Yes way. It's true. I was scared, I was shy, I was always anxious. And to think now, if mini Meg thought about what I'm doing right now and the things that I've done in my life, that, that little girl right there would be like, "No, that's not gonna happen for my life." But it really has happened for me.
And so today, we're gonna have a look at how our lives can begin to change, and the way in which God has changed the lives of many others. Because when I was in my 20s is when I decided, you know what? I have to recognize that I have things that I really truly believe, and if I start walking into those things, I can become more confident in being the person that I feel that I'm meant to be.
And that's what I did. And I just was like, okay, came to a point, I'm just gonna be confident all the time. In every single decision in my life, I'm just gonna be confident. And that's what happened. And guess what? With that comes the fact that sometimes I'm wrong. Whoops. I go from one to- one extreme to the other.
But I decided for me, that's ... I would rather be wrong sometimes and be confident in most things in my life, because I believe that God can use me, than to shy away and be a person who's "I don't really have anything important to say." I feel every person has something to say. But the problem with being bold is you do sometimes get it wrong, and with that comes the humble pie moment, right?
I love pie. The pie I hate the most is humble pie. Very bitter. Man, I hate that pie. But it does come with a, with ... And you've got this awkward aftermath at times. But I have found that it's not about the moment when you're being wrong, it's about how you decide to move on from that point. Do I turn up and I'm arrogant about the fact that I was wrong, and I prove my point even though I know I'm wrong?
Oh, no, I will fight the fact that I was right. No, I wasn't. I know I wasn't. Or do I acknowledge I just didn't get that one quite right. And this is what I'm loving to look at today, because the person that we're gonna unpack from the scriptures, he had a little bit of this going on in his life, and I'm not gonna be sad about saying that I'm a little bit like him, okay?
In fact, I'm a lot like him. And when it came to the time of being able to share a little bit about the people that we're gonna share about in this series, I said, "Can I please take this person?" 'Cause I feel like I'm the closest- ... to that particular person. But everyone has overpromised and we've under-delivered in our lives at different times.
Whether that is you've made a claim and it didn't pan out, or whether you've said something you just, you would never do that again, and then you've gone and done that again. Anybody here had that happen? Or that shame spiral in your life where maybe you've had a broken promise, whether it's a broken promise to yourself- Whether it's a broken promise to someone else, or even on a deeper level, sometimes we feel, "I've had a broken promise to God."
And if you look in society, the way in which society responds to broken promises is instantly, let's do some public shaming, some amplification, let's throw a bit of blame game in there, and let's make that problem the biggest problem ever. And I see that day in and day out in society. If someone stuffs up, everyone's gonna know about it.
But the big trap with that is that we can start to think that's actually the way that God sees things And I'm here to tell you that the world, the way in which society responds to things, the way in which God responds to things, is very different. The counter-cultural way of God is so different. He doesn't do the cancel culture of people's lives.
In fact, He's in the business of the glow-up. He takes something that everyone else says, "N- there's nothing you can do with that person anymore," and He's "Just watch me. I'm gonna glow this person up." And so today we're gonna look at Simon from the Bible, or as he's also known later on, is Peter. And I'm gonna interchange between Simon, Peter, Simon Peter, 'cause there's differences as we head through the scriptures.
But Simon has one of these amazing glow-ups with God. And here is Simon. Not specifically him, but here is Simon. And here's some things that we learnt about Simon, and I'm gonna tell you a little bit about his backstory as well, because it helps us to see where God takes him. Now Simon, first of all, we find out in 1 Corinthians he was married.
So he wasn't just a single guy by the time Jesus met him. He was married. His job was he was a fisherman from Galilee. But then when we read through the different events that happened in Peter's life, and Simon Peter's life, we see these are some of the traits that he have. He was impulsive, he was passionate, he was outspoken, he was headstrong, he was high energy, he was deeply devoted.
He was also fearful, and he was bold and inconsistent. And so when I say I can see myself in Simon Peter, I look at those traits, I'm like, ouch. But in reality, I sometimes fit into some of those. And maybe you're reading some of the traits and going, ooh, that kind of feels a little bit like me at times as well.
There's hope for us, don't worry. But one of the great things for Simon is that he was one of the very first disciples that Jesus called to follow Him. One of. And I love the story of how Simon actually meets Jesus, and we've heard the story of when he's down be- beside the waters and Jesus asks him to follow Him, but there's actually a meeting prior to that.
And what ended up with Simon, he had a brother, Andrew, and they both were in the fishing business together. And Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, and he would hang around John the Baptist, and he was watching John the Baptist d- doing baptizing of people, but also hearing him declare that Jesus was the Messiah.
And one day, Andrew is hanging out with John the Baptist and Jesus walks past. And J- and John says, John the Baptist says to Andrew, "That's the Lamb of God right there." And you know what Andrew does? He runs straight over to Jesus and goes, "What are you going? Where, like, where are you going now?" And Jesus says, "Oh, I'm going over there.
Do you wanna come and hang out?" He's "Yeah." And Andrew and another disciple go and hang out with Jesus, and they're there for the whole afternoon. And then this is like the best brother ever moment, right? Soon after that, Andrew leaves Jesus, and he runs back to Simon and says, "Simon, you need to come right now and meet this guy."
That's a good brother, right? Straight away he runs there. And we read this in John 1:42, this encounter: "Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. And looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, 'Your name is Simon son of John, but you will be called Cephas,'" which means Peter. That's the very first time he met him.
Pretty significant moment. First time meeting Jesus, you've already got a nickname. Yeah. Gotta be loving that. Okay, but then after that moment, so that's the first time he met him, Jesus is walking down beside the sea, and Simon and Andrew are there, and they're fishing a little unsuccessfully at this particular time.
They're not catching anything. They've had their nets out, both sides. Nothing's happening, and Jesus walks up and He sees them, and He basically says to them this situation doesn't look so great, guys. Why don't you throw your nets over the other side?" And I love Simon's response, because he's headstrong and he knows everything, right?
And he does an eye roll moment, "Oh, yeah, never thought of that. Thanks, Jesus." But sure, 'cause you said it, we'll do it. And he throws the nets over the other side, and the amount of fish within the net is enough to break the nets, and start to break the nets. And we read this in Luke 5:8. This was Simon's response.
When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and he said, "O Lord, please leave me. I'm such a sinful man." For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. And Jesus replied to Simon Peter, "Don't be afraid. From now on, you'll be fishing for people."
And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. Oof. This begins the journey of Simon Peter, where he's grappling with the truth of Jesus and the magnitude of who He actually is. Because Simon is actually, he leaves everything and follows Jesus, but he has years and years of world knowledge, of his personal traits that he's still carrying with him, and that is going to have to start to change.
Because once you come to know Jesus, you start to change. And so this is what I love to see about this story, because this is the process and the struggle that we now begin to outplay. And we're gonna look at three particular accounts today of Simon Peter's life. And when I rattle off these three moments, you might even recognize straight away what we're gonna look at.
First one is the sinking faith moment. We're gonna have a look at that one. We're gonna look at the foot-in-mouth moment Because he was a bit of a big mouth, Peter. I don't mind. I'm a bit of a big mouth sometimes myself. And the big declaration moment. So these are the three moments that we're going to jump into, but let's go straightaway into Matthew 14.
Now, there's gonna be quite a bit of scripture today because these stories are so great out of the scriptures. So you can listen, you can write down and read it later. I am gonna read it, and some of it will be on the screens as we go through. But in this moment, in Matthew 14, there's some significant things that have just happened.
John the Baptist has just been killed. That's a pretty big thing for Jesus' followers, because he was the one going before. And then just after what we're about to read, this is after, Jesus has just fed the 5,000 with the fish and the loaves. So everyone's starting to see about the miracles of what Jesus is doing.
And so after the miracle has happened, Jesus is a little bit tired. He's "Guys, I'm gonna send you out across the water. You go back across there, and while you're out there, I'm gonna go up to the mountain. I'm gonna pray, recoup after what's happened." And when the boat gets... once they head out there, the boat gets into trouble, and there's storm and that sort of stuff.
And all of the winds are up, and all the disciples are in there, and they're starting to freak out a little bit. And I love this. They look out, and someone's starting to walk out across the water towards the boat. And because they are just, such devoted followers of Christ, their first reaction is, "Oh, my gosh, it's a ghost.
Ah." Maybe not. But Jesus says, "Stop freaking out, guys. It's me. It's me, okay? Don't jump to conclusions." And we read this in Matthew 14 from verse 28. It says, "Then Peter called out to him, 'Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you walking on the water.' "Yes, come," Jesus said. Peter went over the side of the boat, and he walked on the water towards Jesus.
But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified, and he began to sink. "Save me, Lord," he shouted. And Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. "You have so little faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?" Ooh. Gosh, but what a paradox, right? Peter has faith enough to literally step out of a boat and walk on top of water, maybe to prove a point, let's be honest.
Maybe he's "Yeah, if it's really you, Jesus, let me walk on the water." I kinda feel like that kind of vibe in him. But then he does it, and he's whoa, okay, this is actually happening." But then his head knowledge gets in the way. Yeah. And instantly ba, help me.
All right? Because he has this bold faith, but it's mixed with just enough fear for him to not fully be able to crack through. I can imagine Jesus saying to me, "Oh, Megs, why do you have such little faith?" He said it to me, so I can imagine it, okay? It's happened to me in my own life, so I don't judge Peter, Simon Peter, at all.
But he's got this mix. And the thing is, Peter is just still learning. He's still learning, I need to listen. And he does, he listens to Jesus, and he acknowledges, and he's "Okay, next time, I've got it, Jesus. I've gotta have big faith. Got it. Big faith. Yeah. I'm good to go." Now, it's not long after this- There's this pressure that's starting to mount all around the regular spaces.
The Sadducees, the Pharisees, the different priests, they don't like Jesus. They don't like the message he's bringing. They don't like what it is that he is claiming. And so they're starting to give a little bit of information out there, which Jesus is not happy with. And he starts talking to the disciples, and he's saying to them, in Matthew 16, he talks to them a little bit about how you need to be aware of what they're saying, because it could play with your mind a little bit, and you might start believing what they say, but you've got to listen to what I'm saying.
There's whispers everywhere. And he talks to them as they're walking along, and he's basically saying to them, "Guys, you've heard a bunch of things that people have said about me, but I want to know, who do you think that the Son of Man is?" And a whole bunch of them are saying everyone's saying, maybe you're John the Baptist, or maybe you're Elijah."
And he's "No, I don't want to know what other people are saying. I want to know, who do you think that I am?" And in Matthew 16:16, straight away, Simon Peter, first one, he's up there. Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Doesn't get more affirming than that, right? And Jesus replied, "You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you.
You did not learn this from any human being. Now, I say to you that you are Peter," which means rock, "and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Woo. Imagine how Peter's feeling after that. Yes. Maybe I sunk out in the water, but guys, this guy I got a new name.
I'm Peter. Bold faith. Peter, maybe don't run your mouth too quickly. Two verses later, guys, we hit the foot-in-mouth moment. Not two chapters later, two verses later. Straight after that conversation, Jesus is "All right, guys, so Peter's the guy. New name. Guess what's gonna happen? I'm gonna be killed. I am, but I'm gonna rise again, and I'm gonna meet you in Galilee, so it's okay."
And 22, verse 22: "But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. 'Jesus, heaven forbid, Lord,' he said. 'This will never happen to you.'" And Jesus turned to Peter and he says, "Get away from me, Satan! You're a dangerous trap to me. You're seeing things merely from a human point of view and not from God's."
Ooh. Is that not the highest high and the lowest of low within one little meeting? Because Peter's got this super spiritual insight, but then it's followed instantly by spiritual blindness to what God wants to do, because again, Peter understands Jesus is the Messiah, but he's struggling with the way in which God wants to do things, because that's not how things are done.
And Peter knows that's not the way things are done. No, I have bold faith. I'm gonna defend you, Jesus. That's not gonna happen to you. It is. I'm telling you it's gonna happen to me. Oh, dear. Okay, the passion is strong. Peter just needs to calm down. And Jesus is basically saying to him, "Just stop running your brain for a moment.
Listen to what I'm saying and get ready to see what's happening next." And I can put myself into Peter's sandals right now. Stop running your brain, trying to figure it out on your own, and just listen to what I'm saying. And then it comes to our last moment, the big declaration moment for Peter. And this is towards the end when Jesus is about to go and He's going to be put to death, and they have this last dinner together.
As many of us know, it's called the Last Supper, and I love the fact they had dinner together and then they sang a hymn together before they headed out. And then they're walking together, and as they're walking along, we get to this part where Jesus is gonna predict that Peter will deny Him, and it's in Matthew 26:31, and it says this: On the way, Jesus told them, "Tonight, all of you will desert me.
For the scriptures say, 'God will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' But after I've been raised from the dead, I'll go ahead of you to Galilee, and I'll meet you there." And we pick it up in verse 33. Peter declared, "Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you."
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, Peter. This very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me." 35 No. Peter insisted, "No, it's not gonna happen. Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you." And all the other disciples vowed the same. Ba, baa. Now, if you've read the scriptures, you kinda know what's coming up.
If you haven't, strap on in. I love the fact that Peter is arguing with Jesus. "No. No, it's not gonna happen. You're wrong." Because he's so deeply devoted, he's so passionate, and before, he's just got this great confidence "I will defend you, Jesus, if it's the last thing that I do in my life." He's so passionate 'cause he's he's like the Jack Russell of the disciples. Yeah. Come on. I'll get him for ya. That's what I picture in my brain, right? And so hours later, this is when Jesus is actually taken, and He's arrested, and He's betrayed by Judas. And the guards come to get Him, and Peter grabs out a sword, and he actually cuts off one of the guard- guard's ears, whick, 'cause he's "Look, Jesus, I told ya."
"Not denying you, am I? Even got my sword out." You know what Jesus does. Picks up the ear, heals it- ... and says, "Calm down, mate." Basically. Peter, rein it in, bro.
He's wanting to do these big displays. And then He's taken to the council, and Peter, it actually... You can read this in the scriptures. He's actually hiding and following. He's one of the ones that followed to see what was happening with Jesus, and he sees Him taken before the people, and he hears them saying that He's guilty, and he hears them saying that they're gonna kill Him.
And I can imagine in that moment, Peter, like hiding in the bushes, like Homer Simpson. Eee. And I can imagine all of the Simon traits are probably bubbling, right? Oh, why are they doing this to Jesus? Ugh. Pet- And God's already been trying to change some of that in him. And then this is the reality moment.
Peter's "No, I'm gonna always defend Jesus." And then we read in 26, from verse 69 of Matthew, this is where Peter denies Jesus. And it says, "Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant ga- girl came over and said to him, 'You were one of those ones with Jesus the Galilean.'" 70. "But Peter denied it in front of everyone.
'I don't know what you're talking about,' he said. Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, 'Hey, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth.' Again, Peter denied it, this time with an oath. 'I don't even know the man,' he said." A little later, some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and they said, "You must be one of them.
We can tell by your Galilean accent." 74, Peter swore, "A curse on me if I'm lying. I don't know the man." And immediately the rooster crowed. Suddenly, Jesus' words flashed through Peter's mind, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me." And this part hits home, and he went away weeping bitterly And I think that's probably the lowest moment in Peter's life right there.
'Cause he just said, "No, I will never, ever do that," and then exactly what Jesus had said happens. Because Peter has this great confidence, but he also has this devastating failure, which happens within hours of each other. And so when I say I can feel like sometimes I f- I'm a Peter, have you seen any of yourself in any of these accounts of Peter today?
Because this is human nature. This is the battle and the struggle of learning to let go of human nature and step into spirit nature. It's a real thing for a lot of us. And so here's the things that we noticed with Peter. He had bold faith, but he also had fear, and the two were mix- mixing together, and sometimes one took over the other.
Inconsistencies. The next one, he had spiritual insight, but then a spiritual blindness at the same time, because it was out beyond the way in which he could think, because God thinks higher than we can think, and our brains struggle with that. And then last of all, he had this great confidence, then with this failure.
And I get it. And my immediate reaction is when these things happen in my life, I feel like I failed. I'm done. I've lost my chance. It's game over. That's what the world would tell you, to be honest. But with God, it's never game over, ever. Time and time again, we see that people's lives are restored and brought back by God.
Why? Because God uses bold mistakes to build His kingdom. He used what Peter was giving, even though it was a little wrong, and He chose to build it within him for what was to come in the future. I like to think of God as like a master craftsman, a bit like MacGyver
He can take a rubber band, broken toothpick and make an electric guitar. Bew. It's what it feels like. He can take the stuff... yeah. And the lo- the thing is, I love the fact that Peter's heart was still for God. Even though he kept making these little errors, he still was for Jesus, and his, even though his human nature got in the way, it was the fact that the story of the three denials is not where it ended for him.
And that's what we want to look at now, just as we're heading into finishing up. Because what ended up happening is Jesus did died, die and He rose again, and He comes back, and as He's there He's making Himself known to the disciples again. And in John chapter 1, 21, we then see how Jesus comes to see Peter again, and it's in a beautiful way that it happens.
They're all standing together, and then Peter says to the guys, "Look, I know Jesus is back, but I'm gonna go fishing. I haven't seen Him yet. I'm gonna go fishing." And a bunch of them say, "Yeah, we're gonna come, too. We're gonna come fishing, too." And I'm gonna read this little part for you. But it says, "At dawn, Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn't see who He was.
And He called out, 'Fellas, have you caught any fish?' 'No,' they replied. And then He said, 'Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat and you'll get some.'" Good one, Jesus. "So they did, and they couldn't haul in the net because there were so many fish in it. Then the disciple Jesus loved," which is John, "said to Peter, 'It's the Lord.'
And when Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he put on his tunic," 'cause he'd stripped off for work, "he jumped in the water and he went to shore." There's this desperation. He didn't even wait for the boat to come back. That's Jesus. Out there, that's Him, and Peter's "The one I denied three times, He's here?
I've gotta get to Him." And he heads straight away. And then Jesus is making them breakfast once they all come back, and this beautiful moment happens from verse 15. It says, "After breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me more than all these?' And he says, 'Yes, Lord,' Peter replied, 'You know I love you.'
'Then feed my lambs,' Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' 'Yes, Lord,' Peter said, 'You know I love you.' 'Then take care of my sheep,' Jesus said. A third time he asked him, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' And Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time, and he said, 'Lord, you know everything.
You know that I love you.' And Jesus said, 'Then feed my sheep.'" Three denials, three affirmations And the thing I love is that Jesus turns up for Peter on the side of the boat, telling him to put your net out again, and the same miracle happened the very first time he called him to follow him. And Jesus in the same way, and I really felt that was God saying, "You know what, Peter?
We might have had some rocky ground between the two, but let's start again." And I think that is the big message for us. You might have had some rocky ground between, but let's start again. And for some of you here today, maybe that's the one thing you need to hear the most. Let's start again. And so now, this unlocks Peter 2.0.
Oh, ho, ho. No longer Simon. Peter the preacher. Still married. He's now the rock of the Church of Christ. But look at these traits. The traits that he had before, they're slightly changed. He's now a leader. He's chosen to be one of the disciples that gets to see Jesus' transfiguration. He sees Moses, he gets to see Elijah, and the passing on of the baton.
That's pretty impressive. He's passionate and he's spirit-filled. He's present at Pentecost, the one time when the Holy Spirit comes for the first time to fill all of Jesus' followers, and he is there. And then Peter, not only does he get filled with the Spirit, he goes out and he does a message to people, and 3,000 people come to Jesus That is passion.
That is amazing that God's using him in that way. He's d- deeply devoted. He gives his life to build the early church. He wrote letters upon letters to those churches. He wa- went beside them and he helped them to be able to follow the way. He wrote the books now that we get to see, First and Second Peter.
But did you also know that the Book of Mark is actually all the eyewitness accounts of Peter? 'Cause Mark sat under Peter as one that he would mentor, and then Mark wrote down all of the eyewitness accounts of Peter. This is stuff that we get to now read. And then he was unshakable. He was the rock now from which the church of the modern day was going to be built from.
And Jesus called Simon out the very first moment he met him and said, "You're gonna be Cephas," from the very first interaction. That's quite significant, 'cause Jesus saw it. And the ministries of both Peter and Paul are foundational to now, what we now get to experience here, and we get to hear about. 'Cause it went from just this Jewish sect of people to a universal faith, and God used the loudmouth dude.
He used the loudmouth, the quick to act, but maybe a little bit slow on thinking, to help transform the world and the faith that we all get to be a part of. That's amazing. And then last of all, he actually was a martyr. Paul Peter was eventually killed for his faith, and he was actually crucified.
But the historians have shared that he refused to be crucified the right way up, and he was crucified upside down, 'cause he said, "I will not go through the same death as my savior." Woof. And the thing that I loved about Simon that turns into Peter, is he actually didn't have to become a different person.
He was turned into a new, better version of who he had always been intended to be And maybe for some of you here today, you might feel a little bit scared to change. And you've been thinking I would love to know more about God, but I know I've got to give my whole life to Him, and when I do that, then I'm gonna lose myself."
You're not gonna lose yourself. You're actually gonna gain yourself. You're going to gain a more real version of yourself that you don't even know about yet. Because He's gonna take what you already have, and He's gonna polish it up, and He's gonna say, "Ooh, that faith's a little low there. Need to get that a little bit sorted out.
All that confidence is great, but maybe let's put some action with that, hey?" And He'll start to change us as we go. And then maybe as well, you're in that stage where you're just punishing yourself over something, and you're beating yourself up for the fact that you've actually got broken moments and broken promises, and the times that you've claimed one thing and you've done a different thing.
That is not what Jesus does. That is not the way God works. So you need to let that go. You need to let go of your personal punishment, and hand it back to Jesus and say, "God, I'm gonna give this to you." Because Jesus, He wants to restore you. And I was thinking of this just this morning. I was pondering on my message, and this old song came to my mind from Hillsong, and it was called The Power of Your Love.
And the words of it just ... This is it. Ready? I'm gonna sing it. Is that all right? Yeah, let's go. Lord, I come to You. Let my heart be changed, renewed, flowing from the grace that I found in You. And Lord, I've come to know the weaknesses I see in me will be stripped away by the power of Your love And it says,
Your love surrounds
Side and as
I will soar with you. Your spirit leads me on. In the power of your love Is that not the story of Peter, right? That just dropped into my spirit this morning, 'cause that's it You need to Get back up. Failure isn't final unless you stay down. And Peter wasn't defined by the sinking moment, he didn't get defined by the moment when he rebuked Jesus, he didn't get defined by the times when he denied him.
He was defined by the fact that he ran back to Jesus and said, "Let's start again. Let's start again." Because God doesn't need perfect promises. He doesn't need perfect promises. He just needs people that are willing to try again, and we see it throughout scripture, the people that are willing to try again.
I saw this little video the other day as I'm finishing off. I've got a couple of little rocks here. Forgot about the fact that Peter was the rock, that's just another one of those things. But a guy, he had been given a rock, a bigger rock than these, and it was all craggily on the edges, and someone had said to him, "If you kick that rock every day for 100 days, it's gonna change the shape of the rock."
And so he did. He kicked this rock for 100 days. I've got a little video, actually, if you want to pop that up on the screens. And so he kicks this little rock around for 100 days, and then with every little change every day, the rock started to become smoother around the edges. You can see the picture here, the little video.
And by the end of it, finally after 100 days, it was a perfect sphere. It's a perfect sphere, this one rock. And all he didn't have to get a file and chisel it down, he just kicked it a little bit, chipped off a few things off the edges, oh, little bit at a time. Pow pow. And then that rock had perfect momentum, and I thought, "Is that not exactly what God wants to do for us?"
Yeah. Sometimes you might feel like you're getting a bit of a kick. Woo. But it's to refine us, and it's to give us momentum into the next thing that's coming, and I thought that was something really cool. So today, as we finish, I want you to imagine as well, what if, as a church group, we became people that lived the way in which Jesus did, in that failure isn't fatal.
It's not a fatal part if you fail. But the church gets known for being for people who are in the mist- the mist of m- mix of missing the mark, and that we can help them get back on track by just saying there's one question. Jesus is asking you, do you love him? And if your answer is yes, then you're good to go."
And He will step into that, and He will help you. And just like my Mini Megs, my little Mini Megs before, not knowing where I would end up being in my life and being so shy, God continues to build and change my life. And I still have highs and lows all the time. I still think I'm a little bit... i'm still not perfect stone And I still have to get kicked around sometimes, but we are all in the position where we get an opportunity to be able to say, "Jesus, I'm gonna reflect. I'm gonna give my life to you just like Peter did." And so just as we finish off, I'm gonna put these last three things up on the screens. Today, as you're praying, you might need to ask specifically for God to help you with your faith, that I can have faith without fear.
Or maybe your big thing is, God, can you please give me spiritual insight without questioning about it? Maybe that's your next thing. I'm gonna stop questioning, I'm just gonna have really strong faith in that God. Or maybe last of all, you wanna ask for great confidence that actually results in the success of the Spirit working in you.
And for you, I don't know which one of those maybe stands out the most, maybe it's all of them, but we're gonna have the teams gonna sing in just a moment. And I just wanna encourage you that Jesus is gonna meet you wherever you open yourself up to. If it's in faith without fear, get ready for him to use you in some faith moments.
If it's for spiritual insight, have you started reading his word? If you haven't, that's a good spot to start getting some spiritual insight, without questioning the things you're reading. All of us are in different places, but all of us have the ability to turn from a Simon into a Peter when Jesus is placed into the equation I'm just gonna pray for you as we finish up, and then the band's going to sing this song.
It's called Broken Vessels, and it talks about how the fact that we do come with all of our brokenness, but Jesus sees us and He says, "That's okay. I can work in that." So I'm gonna pray for you right now. Father, we just thank You that through the message of Peter, the story of his life, You took the bold one that would make mistakes, declare one thing, do another sort of personality, and You showed us that You can even use the mistakes to further Your Kingdom.
And so Father, just in our own lives as we reflect today, we pray into these different areas for our faith, for our spiritual insight, for our confidence with action. And we ask, God, You challenge us, that we won't stay the same, that we'll be refined, that we can get momentum in our lives to be able to live the life that You want us to lead, but also to help lead others into getting to know You and the way.
So Father, just speak to us now, Holy Spirit, as the music plays. Just speak to us, God, and we give our lives back to You open, ready to be refined. Amen