God and You Moments.
Memory Verse:
'The last enemy to be destroyed is death. '
1 Corinthians 15:26
Sermon Sentence: God and you moments can take you to a deeper relationship with the Lord.
'The last enemy to be destroyed is death. '
1 Corinthians 15:26
Sermon Sentence: God and you moments can take you to a deeper relationship with the Lord.
Day 1
Read John 21:1-14
Last week, I spent a lot of time remembering the past. I went back to see where Jenna and I met at college and showed the kids all of our favorite places of memory there. Most of the time was spent showing them a building and saying something like, “Now, there used to be right here…” I grew up in Monticello, AR and did many crazy things as a teenager that were not overly flattering and that I regret. I shared all of these stories with my kids, some they thought were funny and some they were kind of taken back by, surprised at what I used to be like. I took them to the church I was saved in and where I started preaching. I started preaching there, but then I decided it wasn’t for me. God did not tell me that, I decided that. There are a few years of me doing other things to shut out the draw that came from the realization of what I was supposed to be doing. I guess you could say I was running. Have you ever run before? Have you ever gone back to your old life, or just been so confused and bewildered, or even lost in your current situation that the only thing that really made sense was to just go back to what you have known before? That is how I feel Peter is handling this situation. He is just going back to what he used to be. What’s done is done and he probably felt like there was no real returning from denying Jesus.
Have you ever “gone back”? Why did you do that and what happened?
What lesson do you learn from the invitation of Jesus to Peter and the disciples that followed him to breakfast?
How does this story relate to your life or the life of someone around you?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Last week, I spent a lot of time remembering the past. I went back to see where Jenna and I met at college and showed the kids all of our favorite places of memory there. Most of the time was spent showing them a building and saying something like, “Now, there used to be right here…” I grew up in Monticello, AR and did many crazy things as a teenager that were not overly flattering and that I regret. I shared all of these stories with my kids, some they thought were funny and some they were kind of taken back by, surprised at what I used to be like. I took them to the church I was saved in and where I started preaching. I started preaching there, but then I decided it wasn’t for me. God did not tell me that, I decided that. There are a few years of me doing other things to shut out the draw that came from the realization of what I was supposed to be doing. I guess you could say I was running. Have you ever run before? Have you ever gone back to your old life, or just been so confused and bewildered, or even lost in your current situation that the only thing that really made sense was to just go back to what you have known before? That is how I feel Peter is handling this situation. He is just going back to what he used to be. What’s done is done and he probably felt like there was no real returning from denying Jesus.
Have you ever “gone back”? Why did you do that and what happened?
What lesson do you learn from the invitation of Jesus to Peter and the disciples that followed him to breakfast?
How does this story relate to your life or the life of someone around you?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 2
Read John 21:15-25
I love that John ends his Gospel story on this really personal story that goes from the 30,000 foot view to this intimate scene with Jesus and Peter. It compacts it all emotionally. When the camera zooms in on the realization of these two sharing a meal on the beach and the lingering thought that everyone probably feels the tension of the moment, the feelings get heavy and you can hear the conversation fade away as everyone realizes what is reality. Peter denied Jesus. It wasn’t that long ago. Then Peter was found out on the water returning to the thing that he knew. He was commissioned, by Jesus, to go and do something incredible, and instead he went fishing. Fishing with his shame only to end up on the beach sharing fish with the One that he had denied knowing to just a little girl that asked him. Sitting at a meal with those two beside each other, that is when Jesus spoke to him. That is the thing about Jesus speaking to you, you just want to answer it all at the surface with easy pleasantries, but you know He is saying more than you want to admit. There is clearly a reason that Jesus asked Peter three times the same question. Clearly, to Peter. And it was clear to everyone sitting there. This was an obvious moment that left Peter feeling exposed and vulnerable…before God and those around the fire. But Jesus was showing love. And that is the thing: when Jesus speaks directly to us in these moments that feel like we are called out and have messed up, it is out of love and for restoration. He is not bringing up Peter’s shame, but rather He is bringing Peter to restoration in his admission of the wrong.
Have you had a moment like this with Jesus? What happened and how did you respond?
What are the things that this story teaches you about Jesus that are important to you?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
I love that John ends his Gospel story on this really personal story that goes from the 30,000 foot view to this intimate scene with Jesus and Peter. It compacts it all emotionally. When the camera zooms in on the realization of these two sharing a meal on the beach and the lingering thought that everyone probably feels the tension of the moment, the feelings get heavy and you can hear the conversation fade away as everyone realizes what is reality. Peter denied Jesus. It wasn’t that long ago. Then Peter was found out on the water returning to the thing that he knew. He was commissioned, by Jesus, to go and do something incredible, and instead he went fishing. Fishing with his shame only to end up on the beach sharing fish with the One that he had denied knowing to just a little girl that asked him. Sitting at a meal with those two beside each other, that is when Jesus spoke to him. That is the thing about Jesus speaking to you, you just want to answer it all at the surface with easy pleasantries, but you know He is saying more than you want to admit. There is clearly a reason that Jesus asked Peter three times the same question. Clearly, to Peter. And it was clear to everyone sitting there. This was an obvious moment that left Peter feeling exposed and vulnerable…before God and those around the fire. But Jesus was showing love. And that is the thing: when Jesus speaks directly to us in these moments that feel like we are called out and have messed up, it is out of love and for restoration. He is not bringing up Peter’s shame, but rather He is bringing Peter to restoration in his admission of the wrong.
Have you had a moment like this with Jesus? What happened and how did you respond?
What are the things that this story teaches you about Jesus that are important to you?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 3
Read Luke 15:11-32
My family loves the old tv show The Middle. If you haven’t seen it, it has aged well. It is a sitcom about a middle class family of 5 just trying to survive life. Jenna and I watched it first before we had kids and it quickly became a favorite of ours as we related to so much of it. Recently, we have returned to the series to show our kids the show. It got way better with time! Well, and with kids. The kids find the show hilarious because you can see so much of each of us in it.
This is a great story. It is certainly a classic that everyone knows. It is great to learn as you are growing up, but as you return to it over and over again, after you have experienced more and more life, it hits harder. Before you would watch that guy that walked away from it from your position of life privilege and declared that you would never be like that and wondered what was wrong with him. Now you have left over and over again. Stories are better when you become the characters rather than just read about them. Not better…maybe that is not what I mean. They are just more real and make us feel more things. I am the prodigal son…or at least I have been before.
And now for the last layer of this story. It is Jesus that is telling the story. Sometimes I read this in my voice and leave it generic, getting lost in the story. I wonder what it was like to hear the prodigal son tell the story. He probably had a way of telling it that really made the experience stick. But much like the joke in the mouth of a comedian, there is something really special when you realize it is the the Father of the prodigal son telling the story. Jesus tells this story to the prodigal sons, about his way of being to the prodigal son. That is helpful to remember as I read this story.
How would Jesus tell the story that you are a part of?
How do you think the prodigal son’s version of this story would be different when he told it?
How has this story changed in your life and understanding as you have experienced more life?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
My family loves the old tv show The Middle. If you haven’t seen it, it has aged well. It is a sitcom about a middle class family of 5 just trying to survive life. Jenna and I watched it first before we had kids and it quickly became a favorite of ours as we related to so much of it. Recently, we have returned to the series to show our kids the show. It got way better with time! Well, and with kids. The kids find the show hilarious because you can see so much of each of us in it.
This is a great story. It is certainly a classic that everyone knows. It is great to learn as you are growing up, but as you return to it over and over again, after you have experienced more and more life, it hits harder. Before you would watch that guy that walked away from it from your position of life privilege and declared that you would never be like that and wondered what was wrong with him. Now you have left over and over again. Stories are better when you become the characters rather than just read about them. Not better…maybe that is not what I mean. They are just more real and make us feel more things. I am the prodigal son…or at least I have been before.
And now for the last layer of this story. It is Jesus that is telling the story. Sometimes I read this in my voice and leave it generic, getting lost in the story. I wonder what it was like to hear the prodigal son tell the story. He probably had a way of telling it that really made the experience stick. But much like the joke in the mouth of a comedian, there is something really special when you realize it is the the Father of the prodigal son telling the story. Jesus tells this story to the prodigal sons, about his way of being to the prodigal son. That is helpful to remember as I read this story.
How would Jesus tell the story that you are a part of?
How do you think the prodigal son’s version of this story would be different when he told it?
How has this story changed in your life and understanding as you have experienced more life?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 4
Read Luke 15:11-32
This story deserves a lot of time. That is why we are coming back to it. I want to take some time to look at the perspective from the prodigal son and think for a little while about how it all fell apart. Jesus tells a relatable story for sure. He started out by cashing in on what he thought he deserved. That is always a bad place to start life from: thinking that we are owed something. Reckless living is always after the attitude of deserving things. That is what entitlement does. The issue from there comes when the storms of real life hit and throw off our perceived plans. Sure, we made it all work in our heads, but how foolish to think that everything we thought of was enough to handle even what we can’t control. Famines just show up. Life throws all sorts of curveballs out here. Then when we are in need, we are compromised to make decisions that are not in our best interest, but rather in the interest of trying to make it all go our way again. Next thing you know, you deserve so much, spend so much, experience tough times, and find yourself in debt, under water, struggling to get your head up.
You see, Jesus is telling the typical story that we can all relate to in one version or another. If it is the story everyone experiences, then what in the world is the counterexample?! What other choice do we have? The other way of being is the system that we despised so much because it felt like it held us back and never seemed to allow us to have our way. The goal of the son was to go out and make a life for himself, meanwhile the father’s goal was just to give a life to the son. Why do we always seem to struggle with trying to make for ourselves what it is that God desires to give to us?
If you are the prodigal son, how do you humble yourself in the situations that you have brought on and remember that the Father desires good for you?
Why do you think the Father/father is always so excited and willing to welcome the child home?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
This story deserves a lot of time. That is why we are coming back to it. I want to take some time to look at the perspective from the prodigal son and think for a little while about how it all fell apart. Jesus tells a relatable story for sure. He started out by cashing in on what he thought he deserved. That is always a bad place to start life from: thinking that we are owed something. Reckless living is always after the attitude of deserving things. That is what entitlement does. The issue from there comes when the storms of real life hit and throw off our perceived plans. Sure, we made it all work in our heads, but how foolish to think that everything we thought of was enough to handle even what we can’t control. Famines just show up. Life throws all sorts of curveballs out here. Then when we are in need, we are compromised to make decisions that are not in our best interest, but rather in the interest of trying to make it all go our way again. Next thing you know, you deserve so much, spend so much, experience tough times, and find yourself in debt, under water, struggling to get your head up.
You see, Jesus is telling the typical story that we can all relate to in one version or another. If it is the story everyone experiences, then what in the world is the counterexample?! What other choice do we have? The other way of being is the system that we despised so much because it felt like it held us back and never seemed to allow us to have our way. The goal of the son was to go out and make a life for himself, meanwhile the father’s goal was just to give a life to the son. Why do we always seem to struggle with trying to make for ourselves what it is that God desires to give to us?
If you are the prodigal son, how do you humble yourself in the situations that you have brought on and remember that the Father desires good for you?
Why do you think the Father/father is always so excited and willing to welcome the child home?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 5
Read Luke 22:31-34
As the sermon from Sunday spent time in the story of Peter’s restoration in John 21, this is the background setting before that happened recorded in Luke’s gospel. It is an incredibly beautiful passage that can help so much in trying to process Peter’s life after the cross. I recently heard this passage preached on when we attended church in Jamaica on our recent trip. I remember thinking about the importance of this moment in Peter’s memory for his restoration. Jesus had prayed for Peter and even warned him that he would be facing an attack. It makes me want to say that I could do better with attacks from Satan on my life if I just had a little heads up, but that rarely checks out as fact. I do have plenty of warning and I am always aware that the enemy is longing to steal, kill, and destroy me and those things and people around me. That is what the enemy does. But the thought of Jesus still being in charge in these situations is a thought that I probably do not entertain enough in my life. I also don’t know that I think enough about Jesus rooting for me in those situations. I often think about God sitting back and teaching me about how I made this mess myself and I can get out of it myself, but there is not enough time spent from the reality of God sitting with me in the mess rooting me to restoration. That is a beautiful thought. Especially in this story, you can surely see how Jesus could live the offended life of wondering what kind of a friend or follower Peter really was, because he was going to betray him. It is also easy to hear the condemning voice of Jesus at the beach, just making sure he reminds him of that time he had that one conversation in Luke 22:31-34 with him and told him this was going to happen. But that is not what this conversation nor the John 21 conversation brings up. It is all pro-Peter. I can learn a lot from that.
How do you think the conversation from this moment lived in Peter’s head in the days after he betrayed Jesus and before the restoration?
How have you experienced a similar thing in your life?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
As the sermon from Sunday spent time in the story of Peter’s restoration in John 21, this is the background setting before that happened recorded in Luke’s gospel. It is an incredibly beautiful passage that can help so much in trying to process Peter’s life after the cross. I recently heard this passage preached on when we attended church in Jamaica on our recent trip. I remember thinking about the importance of this moment in Peter’s memory for his restoration. Jesus had prayed for Peter and even warned him that he would be facing an attack. It makes me want to say that I could do better with attacks from Satan on my life if I just had a little heads up, but that rarely checks out as fact. I do have plenty of warning and I am always aware that the enemy is longing to steal, kill, and destroy me and those things and people around me. That is what the enemy does. But the thought of Jesus still being in charge in these situations is a thought that I probably do not entertain enough in my life. I also don’t know that I think enough about Jesus rooting for me in those situations. I often think about God sitting back and teaching me about how I made this mess myself and I can get out of it myself, but there is not enough time spent from the reality of God sitting with me in the mess rooting me to restoration. That is a beautiful thought. Especially in this story, you can surely see how Jesus could live the offended life of wondering what kind of a friend or follower Peter really was, because he was going to betray him. It is also easy to hear the condemning voice of Jesus at the beach, just making sure he reminds him of that time he had that one conversation in Luke 22:31-34 with him and told him this was going to happen. But that is not what this conversation nor the John 21 conversation brings up. It is all pro-Peter. I can learn a lot from that.
How do you think the conversation from this moment lived in Peter’s head in the days after he betrayed Jesus and before the restoration?
How have you experienced a similar thing in your life?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
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