Focus on Him — John 21:15–25 - video Dailymotion

Medical Lake Community Church

Please enjoy this message delivered by Pastor Mark Hudson.  🔗 http://medicallake.church  #mlcc #church #churchonline

Transcript

00:00Imagine. You love the Lord. You're definitely born again. You're saved. You've been adopted

00:08into His family. The Holy Spirit. You love the Lord, yet you failed Him.

00:19You yielded to the flesh and gave into that urge, and you failed Him.

00:25Your loyalty was no longer directed to Him. Your loyalty was to you.

00:31It wasn't like the song that says, I mirror not my will but yours, but it was my will, not yours.

00:37Be done. Is it over now for you as a Christian? Can you ever be used now to advance God's kingdom

00:48in this world? Can you be restored? And when I said, I specifically said, you, we can include

00:56all of us in this right here. We all love Jesus. I hope you do today, and yet we know we have failed

01:03Him in so many ways, but the question is, can He still use us to advance His kingdom? Can He restore us?

01:11Peter knows, and we're going to see it in the text today. He understands what it means to fail the

01:20Lord. You and I may have failed Him by yielding to the flesh, but we may not have denied Him like

01:26Peter did three times, but we understand that failure. In fact, a man, a Christian who went through

01:34the same sort of thing, he would yield it to the flesh, and then he was restored. He wrote on the fly

01:38leaf of his Bible. The soul that comes to Jesus through failure, shame, or pain by His wondrous love

01:46and mercy may soar as high again. Can God restore us when we fail Him? We're going to be in John chapter

01:5621, so it's after the resurrection. Jesus had told His disciples to go up to Galilee and to wait for Him

02:03up there, and that's where we're going to find the disciples at the beginning of chapter 21 of John.

02:07They're up waiting for Jesus up in the Galilee. But we see here in the text we'll look at today is

02:14after Peter's failure by denying Jesus at his trial, Jesus through His wondrous love and mercy

02:21restores Peter to serve in God's kingdom. Somehow we think when we fail, it's out. It's over. We cannot

02:28ever serve the Lord again, and we can never be restored, and that's it. I'm out. And guess who loves to

02:33tell you that lie? Satan. He wants to tell you it's over. You already failed the Lord. He can't

02:39possibly restore you. Look at you. You couldn't even be faithful in this little thing. Do you think

02:43He'd call you to do something big like this? Satan loves to play on us like that. So we think the

02:48failure is an end. Peter's going to tell us it's not the end. So Jesus is now, they've gone up to

02:57Galilee. Remember, He didn't hang with them after the resurrection all the time. He came and went. So

03:02He wasn't with them all the time. So they're up in Galilee waiting for Him, and they're fishermen. So

03:08they thought, hey, got nothing else to do, and let's go fishing. He didn't prohibit them from fishing.

03:13There was nothing wrong with going fishing. They're waiting for Him. They're in Galilee. They're waiting.

03:18So they go fishing. And they have been fishing all night long. And they're ready to turn it in and come

03:24back. And they're gathering everything up. And they look on the shore. And they see this person

03:28on the shore next to a charcoal fire that this person has built. They don't know who it is.

03:34And the person cries out, little children, do you have any fish? And they said, no, we don't have any.

03:39He said, cast your net on the right side of the boat. And they did. And 153 large fish swam right into

03:48that net. Yes, this is exactly what God did. He collected 153 large fishes, and they swam.

03:54Right into that net. And they pulled it into the boat. And Peter, realizing it's Jesus,

03:58jumps into the water and swims to shore. And that's basically where we're at right now,

04:04as Jesus has served them breakfast. How would you like the Savior to make breakfast for you sometime?

04:10Wouldn't that be great? Sit down at a table with Him and have breakfast? So He's made breakfast for them.

04:16And so He calls them there. And we're going to start reading in verse number 15. So if you have your

04:20Bibles, John 21, 15, or your biblical device, whichever the case is, this is God's Word. We

04:25want to look at it together. We'll read all the way down to verse number 18.

04:30When they had finished breakfast, now you picture the charcoal fire Jesus had built, and He had some

04:35fish and bread. And so they come, and they finished breakfast.

04:38Thirdly, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

04:45And He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And He said to him, feed my lambs.

04:51And He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

04:56He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And He said to him, tend my sheep.

05:01And he said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

05:06Peter was grieved, the word saddened is the word,

05:09because he said to him the third time, do you love me?

05:13And he said to him, Lord, you know everything.

05:16You know that I love you.

05:18And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.

05:21So here's the interaction between Jesus and Peter right now after this breakfast.

05:28You can look at, what's interesting I found is,

05:34there's a charcoal fire on the beach right now here that Jesus has built for the breakfast.

05:41But there's another charcoal fire that John mentions in John 18, 18.

05:46He mentions another charcoal fire.

05:50In John 18, 18, when Peter was denying Jesus that he even knew him.

05:56Look at John 18, 18.

05:57Now the servants and the officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold,

06:01and they were standing and warming themselves.

06:04Peter also was with them standing and warming himself.

06:07So we see two charcoal fires, one where he has totally denied the Lord three times,

06:12and another charcoal fire.

06:14John wants us to understand that he's tying the two events together.

06:19He's trying to teach us something out of what took place at that first charcoal fire

06:22and what Jesus is going to do in Peter's life at this charcoal fire.

06:27It's obvious that he's relating this event to Peter's denial.

06:32He had denied Jesus.

06:34Now Jesus is coming back to restore him.

06:37But that was a problem in the early church.

06:40When persecution started and people then were persecuted for their faith,

06:44like we pray for around the nations right now,

06:46they walk up to you and say, do you believe in Jesus?

06:48Yes.

06:48They take your head off.

06:50In the midst of persecution, you had believers who were denying Jesus so to save their own life.

06:57After it's over with, they repented of their sins.

07:00And the question the church has had is, do we invite them back into fellowship?

07:04They denied Jesus.

07:06So it was a question in the early church.

07:07What do we do with these people who have denied Jesus?

07:09Do we bring them back into the church?

07:11And there was basically two positions that they had.

07:15The strict were not willing for any of them who denied the Lord to come back into fellowship.

07:19Nope, you denied Jesus.

07:20No restoration for you.

07:22Forget it.

07:22You're out.

07:22That's the very strict churches.

07:24And then there were some that didn't require anything.

07:27No repentance.

07:27I'll just come back in.

07:29But what do we do once we have failed Jesus and repented of that?

07:33Can he restore us?

07:37That was a question in the early church.

07:39What do we do with these people who during persecution have denied Jesus?

07:44So it's to help those churches decide what they're going to do with a person like that.

07:50So he asked them, do you love me more than these?

07:53And often people say, well, I think he's talking about the fish.

07:56The 153 large fish.

07:58You know, fishing.

07:59Do you love me more than fish?

08:00In a context, that's not probably what he's talking about.

08:03In the context, he's talking about something much different than that.

08:07In the context, he's talking about, do you love me more than these other disciples love me?

08:14Do you remember Peter's problem?

08:15Peter was so bold.

08:17Earlier, Peter had boldly proclaimed his loyalty to Jesus.

08:20I'm all in, Jesus.

08:22No matter what comes my, I'm all in.

08:25In fact, in Matthew 26, he says this.

08:27Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away, Jesus.

08:31Jesus, I'm your man.

08:34And now Jesus is going, you made some very bold proclamations earlier on.

08:40Do you really love me more than these other disciples love me?

08:44Check your heart, Peter.

08:48He had such a high opinion of himself.

08:50So Jesus confronted this high opinion about himself, making Peter confront his own frailty.

08:57He's getting Peter to take a look at his own heart.

09:00What really is in Peter's heart?

09:02Does he really love Jesus or not?

09:05In John 13, Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now?

09:09I will lay down my life for you.

09:12Oh, such bold statements, Peter.

09:14Do you, can you say it now?

09:18Can you say that you're still loyal to me now?

09:21You denied me, but are you loyal now to me?

09:24Do you love me now?

09:26Will you fulfill what I'm asking you to do as my servant?

09:31Do you love me?

09:34Oswald Chambers wrote,

09:36Lovest thou me, then feed my sheep.

09:38There is no choice of service, only absolute loyalty to our Lord's commission.

09:43Loyalty to what you discern when you are in closest contact with God.

09:47If you have received a ministry from the Lord Jesus,

09:50you will know that the need is never the call.

09:53The need is the opportunity.

09:55The call is loyalty to the ministry you receive when you are in real touch with him.

09:59Will you be loyal to me?

10:00You've made such bold proclamations, Peter.

10:02Do you really love me?

10:07With the questions, Jesus is searching Peter to the very depths of his being.

10:13He asked three times.

10:14Okay, it's most likely Peter denied Jesus three times,

10:18so he asked him three times.

10:19That's probably what it is.

10:20But once would have been sufficient.

10:22But he's probing Peter.

10:24Peter, I need you to take a look at your own heart.

10:29Paul Bowes has said,

10:31Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.

10:35Peter, Peter, you failed me.

10:38Do you love me now?

10:42A lot of people have honed in on the fact that there's two different Greek words for love

10:48used in the text here.

10:49One is phileo, which is a brotherly kind of love,

10:52and one is agape, which is the highest form of love.

10:55Really, in the context, that's not what the point is.

10:59Whether there are two different Greek words.

11:01We have to think of it like this.

11:03The original conversation was in Aramaic, not Greek.

11:09So also, John, throughout the gospel,

11:11uses agape and phileo interchangeably

11:13for the Father's love for the Son.

11:15So it's probably not a big emphasis here

11:18that a lot of people want to put on it.

11:20They're just two different words.

11:21Granted, the Holy Spirit chose two different words here to put there.

11:24I understand that.

11:25But the point is, both of them can be used interchangeably.

11:28Let me give you an example.

11:29Agape, love, John 3.

11:32The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

11:36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.

11:38Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life,

11:40but the wrath of God remains on him.

11:42That's agape love.

11:43Agape, the Father loves the Son.

11:45But look at John 5.

11:47For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing

11:51and greater works than these will he show him so that you may marvel.

11:54That's phileo.

11:55Two different Greek words, but both of them are in a relationship

11:59to the Father's love for the Son.

12:00So it's just to show you that John uses the words interchangeably.

12:03So I'm not going to place a lot of emphasis on the change of the words here.

12:09Peter moved from, of course, I love you,

12:12to a sense of grief at the third time.

12:14He's saddened.

12:15Why do you keep asking me this question?

12:18But something is coming alive in Peter.

12:21It's like his eyes are being opened up that he can actually see himself for who he is.

12:27So Jesus probed deeply into Peter's heart until Peter was able to see into his own heart.

12:33What is really there?

12:34Do I really love Jesus?

12:36Is it just a show?

12:37Or do I really love him?

12:39He's being confronted to look to the depths of his own being.

12:43Oswald Chambers, I have another quote from him today.

12:46Peter was grieved because Jesus said unto him the third time,

12:49he was awakening to the fact that in the real, true center of his personal life,

12:55he was devoted to Jesus.

12:57And he began to see what the patient questioning meant.

13:01There was not the slightest strand of delusion left in Peter's mind.

13:04He could never be deluded again.

13:06There was no room for passionate utterance,

13:08no room for exhilaration or sentiment.

13:10It was a revelation to him to realize how much he did love the Lord.

13:15And with amazement, he said,

13:16Lord, thou knowest all things.

13:18Peter began to see how much he did love Jesus,

13:21but he did not say, look at this or that to confirm it.

13:25Peter was beginning to discover to himself how much he did love the Lord,

13:29that there was no one in heaven above or upon earth beneath beside Jesus Christ.

13:34But he did not know it until the probing, hurting questions of the Lord came.

13:39The Lord's questions always reveal me to myself.

13:43Do you love me?

13:44I mean, if he came and asked us that question today,

13:47do you love me?

13:49Not do we, corporately yet, do you love me?

13:56So all of this self-confidence that Peter had prior to the crucifixion

14:00has drained away at this point.

14:03He can only appeal to the Lord's absolute knowledge of,

14:07yes, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

14:12He did love him despite his failings.

14:15He really did love him.

14:19Jason L. Baxter wrote,

14:20Peter had received three questions and now he receives a threefold commission.

14:43Feed my sheep, feed my lambs, tend my sheep.

14:45So both the mature and the weak, the lambs and the sheep here are mentioned.

14:50They both need feelings.

14:52Same command given to all shepherds in the New Testament.

14:54Same role that they all play, the shepherd here or shepherd any other churches.

14:58Same role.

14:59In fact, in Acts 20 and Hebrews 13, we read,

15:02that's the same command given to every spiritual overseer.

15:05Acts 20, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock

15:08in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers

15:11to care for the church of God, to care for them, to tend them,

15:14to shepherd them, which he has obtained with his own blood.

15:17Or Hebrews 13, obey your leaders and submit to them

15:21for they are keeping watch over your souls.

15:23They care for you.

15:24They tend for you as those who will have to give an account.

15:28Let them do this with joy and not with groaning

15:30for that would be of no advantage to you.

15:33So here we see the aspect of the mission.

15:36Take care of those whom are part of the Lord's flock.

15:39Take care of them.

15:41Remember what Jesus said to Peter prior to the crucifixion?

15:44He said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you

15:48that he might sift you like wheat.

15:50But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

15:54And when you have turned again, repented, strengthen your brothers.

15:57That was his call.

15:58Go strengthen the flock.

16:00And if you want to find out whether he got the picture,

16:03go read 1 Peter.

16:051 Peter tells you how much he understood being an under-shepherd

16:08to the great shepherd.

16:10So now Jesus begins to discuss Peter's future.

16:14Look at verse number 18.

16:18Truly, truly, that's the word, amen.

16:20Amen, amen, amen, amen.

16:22I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself

16:26and walk wherever you were.

16:31Put your hands and another will dress you

16:33and carry you where you do not want to go.

16:37This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.

16:41And after saying this, he said to him, follow me.

16:46So now he begins talking about Peter's,

16:48what's coming up in Peter's life.

16:50When Peter was young, he had his own way,

16:52but when he's going to get old,

16:53someone else is going to direct him in a way

16:54that he didn't plan on going.

16:57And he said, you will stretch out your hands.

17:01Stretch out your hands was used by the ancient writers

17:04to talk about crucifixion.

17:06You were to stretch out your hands,

17:07you were to carry that cross beam on your shoulders

17:10up to the place of the crucifixion.

17:11You were to stretch out your hands.

17:12It was a sign of crucifixion.

17:14And tradition tells us that Peter was crucified in Rome

17:17upside down because he didn't want to be crucified

17:21like his master was, so he was crucified upside down.

17:25He stretched out his hands.

17:29And then something I find very interesting,

17:32Peter's death will be for the glory of God.

17:36What?

17:37I thought death was a bad thing.

17:40I mean, I don't like death.

17:43But Peter's death was going to be for the glory of God.

17:46And when you get to 2 Peter, Peter's talking about this.

17:49He's knowing that it's about his time to give over this earthly tent.

17:532 Peter chapter 1.

17:54I think it right.

17:55As long as I'm in this body to stir up your way of reminder,

18:00since I know that the putting off of my body,

18:02my tent will be soon as our Lord Jesus made clear to me.

18:07He knows his time is short.

18:09He knows his time is short.

18:12We don't normally think about death as glorifying God, do we?

18:16We don't normally put those two together.

18:18Death is glorifying to God.

18:19Yet in the text, it's exactly what we see.

18:21His death, by the means of his death,

18:23this is the way he was going to glorify God.

18:25How could something so tragic as death glorify God?

18:32And I have another question.

18:34If a person's death can glorify God,

18:36could a sickness glorify God?

18:40Could a personal tragedy glorify God?

18:43Can losing everything you have in a fire glorify God?

18:55Peter's death served the sovereign plan of God for this world.

18:59We must always remember God is good all the time,

19:02and he knows what he is doing.

19:04And this was a way that was going to glorify him.

19:07So Peter is to follow Jesus in loyal discipleship all his life,

19:12and at last follow him in death.

19:15The text says, when you were old,

19:17that means he gets to live a long life.

19:19It wasn't just shortly after this.

19:20He says, when you're old, someone's going to do this.

19:23So he got to live a longer life, which is great.

19:25A long, fruitful life.

19:27And something that I had not put together,

19:29I'm sure I must have read it sometime,

19:30or I must have seen it, I just have forgotten,

19:32but this time was reminded,

19:34when John wrote this gospel,

19:38Peter had already been crucified.

19:42The churches knew this.

19:44If you look at the date of the writing of the gospel of John,

19:46you look at the date of the crucifixion of Peter,

19:49tradition tells us a date.

19:51It's very likely this gospel was written before,

19:53or after Peter was crucified.

19:56So the churches would know,

19:58yes, this is exactly what the Lord Jesus said.

20:01This is exactly what he said.

20:02Peter's martyrdom would have been known to the churches,

20:06and the shame of Peter's denial

20:08had been wiped out by his own blood.

20:11He says, follow me.

20:13This transition going into the next paragraph.

20:17Follow me.

20:18And again, for all you grammar geeks,

20:19it's a present,

20:20which means something you're supposed to do all the time.

20:22Every day, get up and follow me.

20:23Every day, get up and follow me.

20:26Follow me is the central command for Jesus' disciples

20:30from the beginning of his ministry.

20:31That's what he said from the very beginning.

20:33Follow me.

20:34That's what I want.

20:35I want you to follow me.

20:35Where I am, I want you to be with me.

20:37Follow me.

20:39In John 1, the beginning of his ministry,

20:41the next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee.

20:43He found Philip and said to him,

20:45follow me.

20:46It's at the beginning of his ministry.

20:47He's been saying this all of his ministry.

20:49He says, follow me.

20:50Follow me.

20:51Follow me.

20:53Now the text introduces John,

20:56the one who wrote this gospel.

20:57He enters into the conversation here.

21:00If you'll look with me here in,

21:04let's see, where am I at here?

21:05All right.

21:05In verse number 20,

21:07verse number 20,

21:08the transition to,

21:09we have John entering into the situation.

21:13Peter turned and saw the disciple

21:14whom Jesus loved following them.

21:17That's John.

21:18Well, how do we know?

21:19The one who also had leaned back against him

21:21during the supper and had said,

21:23Lord, who is it that's going to betray you?

21:25Go back to the gospels.

21:26That's John.

21:27So we know it's the apostle John, right?

21:30When Peter saw him, John,

21:32he said to Jesus,

21:33Lord, what about this man?

21:36And Jesus said to him,

21:37if it is my will that he remain until I come,

21:40what is that to you?

21:43You follow me.

21:45So the saying spread about among the brothers

21:48that this disciple was not to die.

21:51Yet Jesus did not say that he was not to die,

21:53but if it is my will that he remain until I come,

21:56what is that to you?

21:58This is the disciple who is bearing witness

22:00about these things

22:01and who has written these things

22:03and we know that his testimony is true.

22:05Now, there are also many other things

22:07that Jesus did.

22:09Were every one of them to be written,

22:11I suppose that the world itself

22:12could not contain the books

22:14that could be written.

22:16So here we see two contrasting disciples here.

22:20John, as far as we understand,

22:22he did not die a martyr's death.

22:24He died of old age.

22:25The only apostle that we know of

22:27that did not die a martyr's death,

22:28but we have the death

22:29that Peter is going to do by crucifixion.

22:31So we have these contrasting disciples meeting here.

22:36And since in Peter's mind,

22:37his destiny was pronounced by Jesus,

22:39he wants to know what's going to happen

22:41to his colleague John.

22:42What about him, Jesus?

22:43Jesus, why do we do that?

22:46Why do we compare ourselves to other people?

22:49We do it all the time.

22:50I say we, we do it all the time.

22:53We compare ourselves to other people.

22:55Why do we do that?

22:56We focus on others.

22:58It actually sidetracks us from following Jesus.

23:01What about her?

23:02What about him?

23:02And oh, Jesus, you're asking me,

23:04but what about them?

23:05No, we do it all the time.

23:08Peter did it.

23:09We do it too.

23:11Looking to Jesus is a responsibility

23:13of every Christian.

23:15Even Wiersbe told us that beware

23:17when you get your eyes off the Lord

23:18and start to look at other Christians.

23:20We can't let other Christians

23:21distract us from following Jesus.

23:23No, not family, not friends,

23:26not even a person's own household

23:27cannot distract us from following Jesus.

23:29We don't ask the question,

23:30well, what about him?

23:32What about her?

23:36Jesus is direct and clear.

23:37Peter, what his will is for John

23:40is of no concern to Peter.

23:42Peter, I'm telling you your story.

23:46I'm not going to tell you John's story.

23:47I'm telling you your story.

23:49And I want you to follow me

23:51irregardless of what anyone else

23:52in this whole world does.

23:54I want you to follow me.

23:55Everyone else can abandon me.

23:57Everyone else can deny me.

23:58But I want you to follow me.

24:00And don't compare yourself to others, Peter.

24:02Don't do that.

24:03Peter's basically saying,

24:06tell me his story.

24:07I want to know his story.

24:09What's he going to do?

24:10Is he going to have it easier than I am?

24:12I'm going to die.

24:13Is he going to die too?

24:16I'm going to compare myself with him.

24:19I love C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia.

24:22I know they're written for children.

24:23Maybe I'm just a big child at heart.

24:25I love them.

24:25I think they're great.

24:27There's one called The Horse and His Boy.

24:29You would think it should be backwards,

24:30but that's actually the name of the time.

24:31The Horse and His Boy.

24:32Talking Horse.

24:33In the story, there's a dialogue between Aslan,

24:35who is a picture of Christ, the lion,

24:37and one of the main characters in the story.

24:40This main character had drugged the stepmother's maidservant

24:44so that she would fall asleep

24:45so this woman could escape the palace and run away.

24:49So she's having a dialogue with Aslan right now.

24:53It was I who wounded you, said Aslan.

24:56I am the only lion you met in all your journeyings.

24:59Do you know why I tore you?

25:01No, sir.

25:01The scratches on your back, tear for tear, throb for throb,

25:06blood for blood, were equal to the stripes laid on the back of your stepmother's slave

25:10because of the drug sleep you cast upon her.

25:12You needed to know what it felt like.

25:15Yes, sir, please.

25:17Ask on, my dear.

25:18Will any more harm come to her by what I did?

25:22Child, said the lion.

25:23Listen, I am telling you your story, not hers.

25:27No one has told any story but their own.

25:31It's your story.

25:34He's not going to tell my story.

25:36He's telling you your story.

25:38What does he want you to do?

25:39What can you do to advance the kingdom of God in this world?

25:45He's telling you your story, not somebody else's.

25:49And whatever God's will is for John, it must not influence Peter's following the Lord.

25:54Never.

25:56Whatever John is going to do, it should never influence what Peter's going to do.

26:01Do not be concerned about God's will for someone else.

26:04Be concerned about what God's will is for your life.

26:06And please, please, please don't ever tell somebody else what God's will is for their life.

26:14Actually happened to us.

26:16A friend, I still consider him a friend to this day.

26:18If I saw him, I would call him friends still to this day.

26:20We were getting ready to leave Germany as missionaries.

26:22God had already given us directions what we're supposed to do.

26:25And he directly said to me, God told me you're supposed to stay in Germany and work with me.

26:31I said, that's funny.

26:32He never told me that.

26:33So please don't tell someone else God's will for their life.

26:37Let the Holy Spirit tell them.

26:38Be concerned about what God's will is for your life.

26:44It's hard to follow Christ closely if your eyes are focused on those around you.

26:49Again, the command, follow me, is given.

26:52But with further emphasis, not just follow me, but you follow me.

26:57You follow me.

26:58You must make a decision, Peter.

27:00Irregardless of what anyone else does, you follow me.

27:05William Barclay, the author, wrote,

27:07Jesus did not say, discuss me.

27:10He said, follow me.

27:12We do not make terms with Christ.

27:14We surrender to Christ.

27:16We do not compromise with Christ.

27:18We submit to Christ.

27:20Christianity does not mean being interested in Jesus Christ.

27:23It means taking the same oath as princes take to the king or queen in a coronation ceremony.

27:30The very word sacrament comes from the Latin word sacramentum, which means a soldier's oath of loyalty.

27:36The Christian is one who has sworn loyalty and who keeps loyalty to Christ the king.

27:42He doesn't ask us.

27:44He tells us.

27:46It's not a debate.

27:50When the king of glory says to you, follow me, it's not a debate.

27:54We don't negotiate with him.

27:56Well, only if she will follow me, or only if he will follow you, then I'll follow you.

28:00We don't negotiate.

28:01We submit to him.

28:03We surrender to him.

28:06So in light of that, let me ask you, what is God calling you to do to advance his kingdom in this world?

28:13It could be here in medical aid communities.

28:14That's part of his kingdom, yes, but it may not be here.

28:17It may be somewhere else.

28:18What is God calling you to do to advance his kingdom in this world?

28:25Here, maybe you would like to teach the children in Bible's own experience.

28:28Maybe that's something you would like to do.

28:29You like teaching children.

28:31You like herding cats.

28:34Maybe you'd like to teach in Bible's own experience.

28:37Or maybe you would like to lead a Bible study.

28:39Or maybe you'd like to serve on the multimedia team.

28:43They can always use people on the multimedia team, either PowerPoint or back on the soundboard.

28:48Maybe that's something that God is calling you to do.

28:50You've got a good ear.

28:51You can hear that stuff.

28:52You know electronics.

28:53Ben will teach you.

28:55Maybe you want to be an usher or a greeter.

28:59Or a piano player.

29:01Maybe you want to help out in the youth group on Monday nights.

29:04Maybe you want to help people that are in shut-ins.

29:08And you want to just be an encouragement to them by visiting them.

29:11Maybe you want to be part of the missions committee.

29:14Again, these are stuff here.

29:15I understand the kingdom of God is much bigger than Medical Lake Community.

29:17I understand that.

29:18I'm only mentioning stuff that I know here that can be part of it.

29:23Or maybe there's a ministry that we're not currently doing at Medical Lake that would be something that would advance God's kingdom that we could start.

29:29Maybe you want to do that.

29:30But what is it that God's calling you to do to advance this kingdom?

29:36It's time.

29:37It's time today to surrender.

29:43It's time today to surrender and follow Jesus.

29:47No more questions.

29:48No more hesitations.

29:50No more but.

29:52Yeah, today, Jesus, I'm going to follow you.

29:56We sang it.

29:57But completely, deeply, sold out, sincerely abandoned.

30:05I'm completely, freely, hands to the ceiling, enamored.

30:11My one life endeavor to match your surrender, to mirror not my will but yours.

30:19Oh, I'm completely, deeply, don't care who sees me abandoned.

30:24Oh, I surrender all.

30:28It's time today.

30:30Follow me, Jesus says.

30:34So John's bringing his gospel to a close.

30:37He's actually, it's like a second conclusion here.

30:39He gave a conclusion in the end of chapter 20.

30:42It's like a second conclusion here.

30:44It complements the first one.

30:46The first one is John 20.

30:47Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in

30:53this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son

30:57of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.

31:03He ends it with, hey, there's so many things Jesus did.

31:06We couldn't even write.

31:07All of it, write it down in all the books of the world.

31:10He's using what's called hyperbole.

31:12It's hyperbole.

31:13It's, it's an exaggeration on purpose to show something.

31:17He's not lying.

31:18He's just exaggerating on purpose to show something, to emphasize the greatness of Jesus and his

31:25works.

31:28The gospels, they don't record everything that Jesus did, not by far.

31:33There's much more that he did, and all the books could not contain.

31:37Again, it's hyperbole.

31:38Jesus did so many things that were not recorded.

31:40Yet, I thought, in eternity, there will be no end to all the books that we could write

31:50about Jesus and his greatness of what he has done.

31:53It will never end in eternity.

31:58So John calls on all believers to recognize the immeasurable greatness of Jesus who entered

32:03the world in human form and changed the course of human history forever.

32:09And he closes his gospel message.

32:14Let's pray.

32:15Father, thank you.

32:17Thank you that John wrote this down for us, an eyewitness to tell us what happened.

32:24Thank you that when we fail you, you can restore us and use us in your kingdom.

32:28It's not over.

32:29We can continue on.

32:31You've asked us for loyalty, submission, to love you with all of our hearts, our minds,

32:42our strength.

32:44Father, we are so grateful that you allow us to be part of your mission in this world

32:50and to serve you for the glory of your kingdom.

32:54Amen.

32:55We pray in Jesus' name.

32:57Amen.

32:58Amen.

32:59Amen.

Focus on Him — John 21:15–25

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