Sunday Morning Service, 5/16/10

Songs

• [ I Have A Hope]
• [ Love The Lord]
• [ Everywhere I Go]
• [ Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior]
• [ Blessed Be Your Name]
• [ I’m Amazed]
• [ The King Is Coming]
• [ Go Fight The Battle]
• [ How He Loves]
• [ How Can I Keep From Singing]

Testimonies

Jeremy Thompson

Over the past few months, God has been working with me about being that light to everyone I meet. I had a couple of challenging conversations when I was back home. I got to share baptism a few times. I know he’s still working with me, and he’ll provide a way for me to make it through and share his gospel.

Larry Glander

The testimony that is lived is the best. One day I was going into a workcenter that I don’t normally go into. After I had sit there a few minutes, the guy who was in there asked, “What’s up? Normally you’re whistling or humming, but today you’re just sitting there.” What they didn’t know was that I was beating myself up about some things that God had already forgiven me for. People watch, so be real; be sincere. That’s your best testimony.

Kathleen Shields

We’ve all experienced ups and downs, but nothing can get you through it like God can. We’ve been worshipping in this church for about a year, and it’s just been awesome. I can see the light of God shining through every one of you.

Message: Just Like Peter

Pastor Thomas

We are a blessed people, those who know the Lord and have a personal relationship with God. Sometimes we forget how blessed we are. Sometimes we forget how important that relationship with God should be. As an example, I’d like to talk about Peter today. Look at how much we are like Peter, not because of what he did, but because of what he didn’t do.

• He didn’t follow through on his commitments
• He didn’t keep his word
• He didn’t always follow Jesus

In this scripture, they’d already had communion; already broken bread, and Jesus had already washed their feet.

This is the last time that Jesus ever called Peter by the name of “Simon”. That was a personal close relationship that Jesus had with Peter; his proper name was “Simon Peter”.

In this scripture, Jesus is on the shore, fishing. This time, Jesus calls him by his proper name.

You know, my Dad called me “Buddy” all the time, but when he said, “Edward Jacob Thomas”, I knew that I was in trouble. So here is Simon in this intimate relationship, and they’d already broken bread.

Peter not only denied Jesus, he also cursed. Can you picture with me what it must have been like for Simon? This strong man, who said “Thou art the Christ”, who had walked on the water with Jesus, was now crying and brokenhearted. This big, strong guy was overcome, thinking “What have I just done?” But even weightier than the guilt was the shame.

Shame isn’t what you’ve done; it’s what you become. It is when you let the things you’ve done attach themselves to who you are, saying “I am bad; I am dirty; I am unworthy.” Peter was there, feeling all alone, dealing with these feelings. But every one of us know those feelings; every one of us have stood with Peter in that moment. We’ve crossed the barrier of ethics.

ethics

A system of moral principles

There are medical ethics. There is a certain standard, with lines that you can’t cross. If you cross them, you can be sued.

There is a legal morality. I love the joke about the two young lawyers who started a practice together. A lady wanted her will done, and the fee was a hundred dollars. So she paid the bill and left, and then he discovered that she had given him two hundred-dollar bills, stuck together. So his ethical dilemma was, “Should I tell my partner?”

We know what is right and wrong. There are codes of conduct, just because we are human beings. Archaeology shows that certain standards that we hold dear today have been kept since ancient times. If you steal something in some Muslim countries, you might be walking around without an arm. Out west, they might come at you with a six-shooter. Today, they come at you with a policeman. Regardless of what we’d like to do, we can’t take the law into our own hands, because that’s called being a vigilante.

We see codes of conduct in positions of power. You who are officers in the military can’t date someone of a lesser rank, and certainly not an enlisted person. That’s called fraternization, and there is a severe punishment for it.

I heard a quote once, “You can’t hold someone else down without bending down yourself.” There are people who hold others down, overpowering them.

Ethics, morality, position, power: every one of you have at one time or another crossed those boundaries.

Whether we’ve been drunk in public and done something to be ashamed of, or whether we did drugs… Church, I was not a good person before I got saved. I remember one day when we had just got back from Mexico with all the drugs we’d bought, and there was a blue haze in the room. I answered a knock at the door, and it was a state trooper. He had a warrant for someone’s arrest, but it was the wrong address. After he left, we’d never cleaned an apartment that fast in our lives. The policeman never came back, but I decided to change my life. I got orders to Japan and thought, “Nobody knows me there; I’ll stop doing drugs.” But I didn’t change. I found new friends who liked doing drugs, and started buying and selling them. When I got saved, I wondered how God could love me after what I did. But God doesn’t see degrees of right and wrong; he sees sin as sin. He sees what we’ve done, and it’s exactly what Peter did. When we cross the line of God’s ethics and morality, we carry that guilt. That burden raises its head in so many ways. We get angry. We try to justify it. We try to separate ourselves from what we’ve done. But shame attaches our past actions to how we think about ourselves. And that harms our ability to reconnect with God. Just like Peter, we’re standing outside, thinking “What have I done?” Peter hung out with the disciples after that day, but he wasn’t yet converted. He might have been active in the choir, the ushers, the music and art department, but he was not yet converted. Christ doesn’t look at our activity level, because sometimes we try to bury our guilt and shame in our actions. It wasn’t until Peter met Jesus on that beach – I’ve stood on those shores. Peter was a natural leader; when he said “I go a fishing”, the other disciples said “I’ll go with you.” Where are we leading others by our behavior? So here’s Peter fishing with the disciples, and Jesus saw them and said, “Do you have any fish?” Of course, he already knew, but sometimes God asks us “How are you doing?” Jesus asked the blind man, “What do you want?” Sometimes Jesus wants us to vocalize how we’re doing, so that we understand how we’re doing. So we say “God, I’m not doing all that great,” and God says, “So you finally realize!”

So they cast their nets on the other side, and the nets broke, and Peter jumped over the side and swam to Jesus. Peter was called by Jesus to lead; it was imperative that Peter get converted. Look at what happened afterwards! Peter was the first to preach the message of salvation; he was the first to bring the message to the Gentiles.

Look around; there is not a one of us who has not sinned since we got baptized. We knew that we broke the ethical codes when we did it. We denied fellowship with brothers and sisters to have fellowship with lost people, and we justify it. How about our language? We know that the Bible says “Let no filthy communication proceed from your mouth.” You can’t use profanity. Then you make excuse, saying “Well, they just make me mad!” Doesn’t the Bible say “be ye angry and sin not”? If you prepare your heart and study the word, then the Holy Ghost will do the work. But if you don’t prepare your heart, you’ll always be burdened with guilt and shame.

Jesus went to Calvary not so we could stay the same, but so that we could be changed. He went to Calvary to remake you in his image, not the image that the church wants you to be, but the image that God wants you to be. The went there because he loves you, and because he loves you, he expects you to be converted.

When you grow up and leave your parents, they’re not always there to hold you accountable. But Jesus is always there to hold you accountable. One day you’ll die and there are two books that will be opened: the book of life and the book of works. You know what’s missing? The book of intents. God couldn’t care less about what you intended to do. If your schoolteachers and your boss on the job doesn’t want to hear your excuses, what makes you think that God wants to hear them?

I like the sign they put out front: “What in hell do you want?” People stopped and took pictures. You’ve got to ask yourself, what in hell is so important that I want to go there?”

What do you call a bad day? No matter how bad it was, There isn’t anything that will compare to what hell has to offer. And there isn’t anything that is so good that it compares to what heaven has to offer. Decide which is more important. That’s a decision you’ll have to make every day, day after day. What prevents you from making the right decision is the burden of guilt and shame from making the wrong decisions. But if we bring our burdens to the foot of the cross and give them to Jesus, then we’ll walk away able to be converted. You can’t run the race with patience while carrying that load. It’s like trying to run the mile with two hundred pounds on your back. You’ve got to get rid of it, and the only place to get rid of it is at Calvary.

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done; Jesus can forgive all things if you’re willing to lay them down at the foot of the cross and change who you are. So don’t say “I’m not worthy.” Yes you are. You’re precious in the sight of God. His arm is not shortened that he cannot save, and his ear is not heavy that he cannot hear, and his love is not weak that he cannot embrace you. So don’t carry those burdens any longer.

God has something for you, church. It belongs to you.