He Restores My Soul

All right, good morning. I'm glad you're here. It's good to see you guys. If you want to go ahead and stand with me, we'll pray and we'll get started.

Oh Lord, we thank you for another beautiful day. Lord, we got to thank you for all the ways you provide for us and take care of us, Lord God, for the work that you're doing in our lives. Lord, we just ask your blessing upon this time. Lord, help us to sit everything aside and to focus on you, Lord, and to worship you, to allow the praise upon you. Father God, it may be a sweet sound to your ear. We love you and we praise you in your name. Amen.

Lord God, no matter what we're going through, whether we're on the mountaintops or in the lowest valleys, Lord God, we will praise you because you are worthy of all of our praise. Amen. We sing this next song, Lord. Lord, let us pray that we come to this place of trust in you. Lord God, if there's any here this morning that have never trusted their lives with

you, Lord God, I pray that today would be that day. But I also pray that if there are any unsurrendered areas of our lives that we haven't trusted you with yet, Lord, I pray that we lay those down at your feet this morning and trust you to work in those areas. Stand with me for this last one. Glorify you. And Lord, if there's any part of our lives that don't glorify you, we lay

those at your feet this morning. May we surrender those places to you, Lord God. As Pastor Ryan comes this morning, I would just pray that you would overflow him with your Holy Spirit, or let your Holy Spirit move mightily in us, or give us hearts to receive it, ears to hear it, and a spirit to do it, Lord God. Father, we love you and we praise you in your precious and holy name. Amen.

Let's take some time and greet one another. Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seats, grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. Glad that you have joined us this morning. Some things to take note of in your bulletin. The biggest thing is that there's a little bit of a change here in the middle section of your bulletin. It says that there's going to be ladies' breakfast this next coming Saturday, but with all of the events that are going to be taking place, graduations and

things like that, we've decided to go ahead and cancel ladies' breakfast for next Saturday. So go make all of your journeys to all of the graduation parties all over the place. And then next Sunday, Mother's Day, there will be an Agape Fruits Mother's Day cookout at 530 out here in the parking lot. Agape Fruits is putting that on. So if you have any questions, you can see Jordan

Aerosmith about that. And then we do have a little bit of a break here in the parking lot. So if you have any questions, you can see Jordan Aerosmith about that. And then next Sunday, we're going to have intercessory prayer tonight at six o'clock down at the other end of the hallway. So go check that out. It's always a good time to gather and pray for the things going on, not only in the community,

but throughout our world. And then there's a sign up for a new ladies Bible study in Philippians, and it's out there in the foyer. All of the information is there if you're any interested in getting signed up for that. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responses, we're going to have a little bit of a

reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 23. Psalm 23. Look at the New American Standard for this part so that hopefully we all sound the same. If you need a copy of the New American Standard, there should be one in a row around you. And as you're turning to Psalm 23, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word. I will read the odd verses, if you will

follow along with Pastor Allen in the even verses. Psalm 23, a psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley in the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my

enemies. You have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And Father, we praise you for being our good shepherd. Lord, for being the one who leads us, guides us, sustains us, protects us, and restores us. And so Lord, we praise you for your goodness that you show to us,

and just ask that as we spend time in your Word this morning, that you would move by the power of your Holy Spirit as you see fit. Father, that you would move in our hearts to reveal to us the areas that we need to surrender to you, and Lord, to find comfort in the areas where you long to bring us comfort. And so Father, instruct us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

You may be seated. If you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of John chapter 21. John chapter 21. I really did intend to get back into the book of John chapter 21, the book of 1 Timothy this week. But in my heart and in my mind, I'd been kind of reflecting on the entire story of the crucifixion and Peter and everything else that had gone on. And the Lord had

laid this on my heart when I first started the series about the resurrection. And I kind of pushed it aside, but this week I felt like the Lord really said, no, this is what I want you to do. So the title of this morning's message is, He Restores My Soul. And we'll be looking at John chapter 21. As a matter of fact, I would just like to read for you verses 1 through 19 of John chapter 21. So if you would follow along in your Bible

as I read these to you. It says, After these things, Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias, and he manifested himself in this way. Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others, of his disciples, were together. And Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing.

They said to him, we will come with you. And they went out and got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, yet the disciples did not know yet that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, children, you do not have any fish, do you? And they answered him, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the

boat, and you will find a catch. So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it's the Lord. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on, for he was stripped down for work, and he threw himself into the sea. But the other disciple came in, the little

boat, for they were not far from the land, about a hundred yards away, dragging a net full of fish. And when they got on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid, and fish placed on it, and bread. And Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish which you have caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, about a hundred and fifty-three. And although there were so many,

the net was not torn. And Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. And none of the disciples ventured to question him, who are you, knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus came, and he took the bread, and he gave it to them, and the fish likewise. Now the third time that Jesus was manifested to his disciples, after he was raised from the dead. So when they finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me

more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said, tend my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, shepherd my sheep. He said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter was grieved, because he said to him a third time, do you love me? He said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that

I love you. And Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. Truly I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you, and you will go where you do not wish. Now this, he said, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him,

follow me. This is what we oftentimes refer to as the restoration of Peter. And so this is what I want to talk to us about this morning, is about God's ability to restore. Because God's ability to restore, I think, is one of the most powerful attributes of who God is. As a matter of fact, that's why I wanted us to read Psalm 23 this morning, because one of the greatest lessons I've

learned in my life comes out of Psalm 23, and it's that line where he says, he restores my soul. I think the greatest miracle that you'll ever see is someone go from being dead to alive, spiritually speaking, the born-again process. But second only to that, the second most powerful miracle that you'll see is God restores someone who has fallen in some kind of way back to a place where not only are they right with God, but they can be used by God again. I have watched the process of restoration take place in so many people's lives throughout my life and my time in ministry.

I've watched people be restored from alcoholism. I've watched people be restored from drug addiction. I've watched marriages be restored from affairs. I have watched people be restored from grief. I've watched people be restored from depression. Just this last weekend when I was at FCA camp, I got to hear a wonderful testimony from a guy who his one mission in life is to go around

and pray for people. That's his mission. ministry. And he was given a few minutes to share his testimony with a group of high school kids. And he got up and he said, when I was about five years old, I was abused sexually. And I lived my life in anger. And I lived my life in vengeance. And I tried to mask it all with drugs and alcohol and a desire to fight anyone that came my way until I finally surrendered myself to the Lord.

Until I finally came to a place where I could surrender myself to Jesus Christ. And when I did, he replaced all of that hatred, all of that anger, and all of that vengeance with love for people to the point where now my one goal in life is to go around and pray for everybody I can come in contact with. I've watched God restore people like that. And in my own life, because that's the testimony I can speak to the most, I've seen God's ability to restore. I've seen the power of God's restoration

in my own life. I've watched God restore me from areas where I had fallen into sin. I have watched God restore my own personal life from a deep depression that I didn't know if I was ever going to come out of. I have watched God restore me from areas of deep grief through the things that I've been through in about the last eight years in my life that I wasn't sure I was going to overcome if it weren't for the power of the Holy Spirit and through the restoring power of Jesus Christ. I have watched

him be a God. I have watched him be a God who restores. And so the message that I bring to you this morning is not a message that I studied out with all of the proper Greek words, although I did some of that too. But it's a message that I've studied out in the way that I've lived. This is about the third time I've taught this message in various places. And every time I think I'm going to learn something

new this time. And you know what I find? The principles of restoration are not ones that change. It's the exact same thing, because God is really simple in the way that he does things. And so I want to talk to you this morning about this story of Peter. And I want to talk to us about the story. And then I want us to learn the lessons. And so as we come to this story of Peter,

there's three things that we'll see. We'll see a fishing trip. We'll see a breakfast. And we'll see a conversation. Well, to bring us up to speed on why this chapter is so important. First of all, this is a little bit of an addendum to the Gospel of John, because you would think once Jesus rose from the dead, we really don't need to learn a whole lot else after that. But it's a little bit

of an addendum to his Gospel account, probably because if people read what else took place in John with Peter, they would say, so why is that guy now leading the early church? Because something had taken place in Peter's life. You see, before Jesus was crucified on that night, he told all of his disciples, all of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight. As a matter of fact, you're going to find, the shepherd called Peter. So here's this story of Peter to Daniel a little bit later in the story of John's midnight

trip that fast forward ate in the atomic army, he said, just as the master of the world said, anything ever will be heard again because of Jesus Christ. So we see here, what's the story of Peter going to say. He's not only going to say anything at the point in time, but it says that he himself had already always said it, and so after filmed the idol, and apparently he had brought the work of Jesus Christ here, and because he just thought it was all bad, but then he agreed to do it, because when he did, he changed it before he said something face i believe he said oh peter before tonight's done you will deny that you have even known me three times do you know that in another gospel account jesus told peter something interesting

he said peter satan has asked for you that he could sift you like sand but i've prayed for you and when you return i will have something for you to do and so and so he has this conversation with peter and peter's in this absolute denial that he could ever do that sort of thing there's no way i would ever deny that i know jesus and everything was great in the garden because in the garden he was ready to start cutting heads off and jesus says listen those who live by the sword die by the sword that's not what we're here for so peter fled with all the rest of the disciples when jesus got arrested and everything was great when there were soldiers around and he thought he could be the great hero but put him at

a little campfire next to a young lady who said aren't you one of his disciples and he folded like a deck of cards she said aren't you one of his disciples and he said i have no idea what you're talking about meanwhile jesus is on trial somebody else a little while later looks over at him and says i thought i saw you with jesus this week in the temple aren't you one of his disciples i have no idea what you're talking about and then one of them says you have a galilean accent you have to be one of his disciples and jesus began to or peter began to curse and say i don't know the man and around that time jesus comes walking out of the place where he's on trial and the rooster crows and peter went away very very sad now we learn from the gospel of luke

and from first corinthians chapter 15 that that there was a moment when jesus met the disciples and he said i have no idea what you're talking about and then one of them says on the day that he rose from the dead and perhaps that was when jesus said peter i still love you and i still forgive you i forgive you for what you've done but there was still something with peter that wasn't right as a matter of fact i think peter found himself in a familiar place that a lot of us find ourselves in when we have fallen into some area of sin or perhaps depression has overtaken us or the cares of the world have overtaken us and we find ourselves saying i don't know if i'm worth

anything anymore i don't know if i'm worth anything anymore i don't know if i'm worth anything anymore i don't know if i can be used by god anymore i'm not sure if god even cares about who i am or what happens with me anymore and we can find ourselves in that position for me personally when i was going through my deepest depression uh part of that was because of a relationship that i was in that i wasn't supposed to be in and when i broke up with that girl i remember a friend of mine saying so what are you gonna do now i said i don't know i used to want to be in ministry but i don't even think i'm fit to clean the toilets anymore i'm just gonna have to wait and see what happens and so i think that's kind of where peter was at

this point in time he's like i don't know what i'm supposed to do and since he didn't know what he was supposed to do he decides to go fishing notice what says after these things jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the sea of tiberias and he manifested himself in this way simon peter and thomas called didymus and nathanel nathaniel of cana and galilee and the sons of zebedee and two others of the disciples were there and simon peter and thomas called didymus and peter said i'm going fishing and they said we're coming with you now there's a lot of debate about what peter meant when he said i'm going fishing some people are like well peter was just

like i got nothing else to do i may as well go fishing some people are like well he was returning back to his trade some people are saying well he was leaving ministry behind what was he doing i don't know he was going to go fishing i don't think he knew what to do next maybe down the road he was going to go fishing and he was going to go fishing and he was going to go down in his heart he was like i don't think this is for me i wanted to be in ministry jesus told me he was going to use me in a powerful sort of way jesus told me he was going to use me to do great things as a matter of fact i was always in the inner circle with jesus but now now i don't know what to do i'm just going to go fishing and i love the way the rest of the disciples respond

because the other disciples that are with them are like we're going to go with you now i've read that different ways over the years but this is the way the disciples respond that i've read it this this time around i've talked to people and they say listen i've got a friend and and and he's fallen into some stuff and and he needs restored and i don't know what to do for him how do i what am i supposed to do what is my role in this restoration looks like look like like the first thing that it looks like is exactly what the disciples did they just went with him they were just there with him can i tell you as as somebody who has found himself in a place where he needed restored in his life that the best thing

that anybody ever did with me was just come hang out with me was just come spend time with me i just knew that they were there when i was in bible college i i fell into an area of sin for a very short amount of time and i was very broken over it and um and i remember i didn't want to go be around anybody i didn't want to hang out with anybody and and i was just laying on my bed one morning and it was a saturday morning and i didn't want to get up i didn't want to go anywhere i didn't want to go anywhere i didn't want to go anywhere i didn't want to do anything and my friends would have none of that as a matter of fact uh most of us never locked our doors in bible college because it was bible college right and if

somebody stole something maybe they needed it it was a really weird way to look at things but that was what we did so we never locked our doors but this particular morning i locked my door except i forgot something i slept right by the window and i didn't lock the window we all knew how to break into each other's rooms right and and so my my friend chris opens up my window and he crawls in my bed and he lays next to me he says get out of bed and pushes me out of bed you know why he did that because that's what i needed in that moment i needed someone that was with me i needed someone who was not going to be content to let me wallow in self-misery to wallow in self-pity i needed someone who would just be with me and

that's what my friends were for me in that moment and that happened to me over and over again and i would tell you that that if that if you know someone that's in this place that needs to be restored the biggest thing they need for you to do is to be with them so they say we're going to go with you and so they go out and they go fishing and i love it they caught nothing right this is the second time that we read of these fishermen going fishing and this is the second time we read of them catching nothing right like that's usually what i do when i go fishing i always say i'm better for everybody else when i go fishing because when i go fishing i'm like oh look at all of you all that you caught that was way more than i caught you must

know the the can you imagine okay you're peter at this point in time you're broken over everything that's taking place you think the one thing that you really know how to do is go fishing and you go fishing and you're not even good at that like great i can't even fish anymore i really can't do anything and so and so as there as the day is breaking and it's become morning jesus is on the shore only don't realize it's jesus he's in his resurrecting body so maybe looks just a little bit different but also his first thing in the morning the the sun is just he's out of context for them they don't realize that jesus and jesus says kids have you caught any fish now you know the worst thing that you can ask somebody that has caught nothing while

they're fishing have you caught any fish and you're like nothing he's like you should try casting it on the other side of the boat now i love that peter didn't pick up just yet on the fact that it was jesus because three years before when he met jesus for the very first time this is exactly how jesus introduced himself he said have you guys caught anything and they're like nothing and he said have you tried casting on the other side of the boat and in their minds they're going gosh we hadn't thought of that one but they did they cast it on the other side of the boat and they began to haul in a great number of fish more than they could have even imagined and i love what happens next verse seven therefore

love said to peter it's the lord when simon peter heard it he put on his outer garment he threw himself into the sea so they're they're pulling in all these fish and in the disciple whom jesus loved which of course you know is john looks out and john being the one who is a little bit more spiritually astute the observer remember of the disciples he looks out and he kind of leans over to peter as they're trying to pull all these fish in and goes it's jesus can i just tell you that the second thing that you can do for somebody that's in the process of restoration that's trying to be restored from something that's happened in their life is help them to see jesus because sometimes jesus is right there and they can't see it

sometimes the grief is too heavy they can't see jesus standing right there in front of them sometimes the depression is too deep and they can't see jesus standing right there in front of them sometimes the uh the the the guilt and the shame is so strong that they can't see that it's jesus right there in front of them one of the best things that you can do is you can say that's jesus there he is help them see jesus point them to jesus because that's the greatest thing anybody needs in their life in the process of restoration well that's what john does and i love the way peter reacts peter throws his outer garment on he he and i think in the king james it says he was

naked dude was not naked okay like he was just he was down to like the undershirt right so he puts puts on his outer coat and i just love the way that the new american standard of words is he threw himself into the sea like it wasn't some graceful dive it wasn't a nice jump it was just like bailed out like jumped into the water and he ran up to see jesus now when he goes up to see jesus it says he threw himself into this into the sea and he just he's just there right now i don't know how you picture this with simon peter going up to see jesus but i picture that moment when forrest gump saw lieutenant dan right do you guys remember that scene from the movie forrest gump when forrest gump is on the

fishing i can't help it it's perfectly placed when he's on the shrimp boat and there's lieutenant dan on the uh on the deck up there on the on the dock up there and he goes lieutenant right he jumps in the water and he swims to him and he gets out and he just goes hi lieutenant dan that's how i picture peter coming up to jesus at this point in time right like like peter hurls himself into the water swims up to the swims up to the sea hi jesus right he's just so excited to see him he can't help it he just loves the guy right well now it's time for breakfast jesus had already made a little fire notice what it says in verse 9 when they got out uh on the land they saw a charcoal

fire already laid and fish placed on it and bread and of course jesus says bring some of what you caught too and as they sat there they just had breakfast by the sea listen the main point of the story i love this moment because because in this moment this is probably two or three weeks after the resurrection we're told it was the third time he'd appeared to them we know that the first time was on the day that he rose again the second time was eight days later when thomas was there this is the third time so we're talking maybe two to three weeks later maybe around the same distance that we are from easter right now and and jesus is just there with him and and what does jesus do with

them he just sits down and enjoys a meal with them friends i i cannot overreact or emphasize the fact that what jesus desires with us more than anything else in the world is fellowship now there are things that keep us from fellowship therefore we have to pay attention to things like sin and stuff like that in our lives because they'll prevent fellowship but that's what he really wants for us is he wants fellowship with us that's the entire reason he died and rose again and i love that the way that he manifests himself to them the way that he presents himself to them is as a friend who just wants to have breakfast do you jesus that way in your life do you view him that way as he just wants to have coffee with you

he just wants to have breakfast with you so that he can spend some time with you and that's what he does with these disciples i always wonder what what the conversations were like like where the where they all just kind of quiet for a little bit and maybe maybe as jesus is serving the fish to them they can see the they can see the marks on his hands and they're and they're sort of reminded maybe maybe another little sobering moment for them but then they start talking about what's going on what's been happening in their lives how crazy it is that this whole death and resurrection thing happened how much longer he's going to be around you name it they probably just

talked they just had conversations about things and in the process of all of the conversations i want you to notice what it says so jesus took the bread and gave it to them verse 13 of the fish likewise it's the third time that jesus was manifested to them after he was raised from the dead but now comes the part that i really want to talk about and that's the part that i want to talk to focus on that's a conversation with jesus says in verse 15 so when they had finished breakfast jesus said to simon peter simon son of john do you love me more than these he said to him yes lord you know that i love you he said to him tend my lambs so for the very first time jesus asked him

a question now the question is what's going on in his life what's going on in his life what's going on in his life and the question i have in all of this is were all the disciples chilling right there or was it just jesus and peter breakfast is done maybe they've gone back to to do all of their fishing stuff to clean their nets and deal with the fish and all that kind of stuff and jesus just says hey pete question for you do you love me more than these now again this is another place where a lot of commentators debate what does he mean when he says more than these he could either mean do you love me more than you love me more than you love me more than you love me more than you love

all your friends he could mean do you love me more than you love all of these fish or he could mean do you love me more than these guys love me i tend to think it was the third one because remember what peter said when jesus told him every one of you is going to abandon me tonight do you remember what peter said i don't know about these other guys i'm not going anywhere he essentially said i love you more than they do in his overconfidence but you see peter's beyond the overconfidence now peter's past all of that and now he's just a broken man eating breakfast with the savior he would love to be able to serve but doesn't feel fit to and so jesus looks at him and he says simon do you love me more than all of

these other guys do and i think he asked that question on purpose because he needed to get to peter's real heart and he said i love you more than all of these other guys do and i think he and jesus and peter said and i i love you you know that now to properly paint the understanding of what we're about to talk about here i need to identify some greek words there's three main words in scripture that are used for love uh the first one is the word eros and that's that's more of a self-satisfying sort of love it's a it's a physical aspect of love the second word is the word philio or phileo it's where we get our word philadelphia and the second word is the word

philadelphia from and that's a that's a brotherly love a strong affection and then there's a third word and that word is agape and that's a divine love a perfect sacrificial sort of love when jesus asks peter this question he says simon son of jonah do you agape me more than these simon answers it by saying yes lord you know that i phileo you and jesus says go and tend my sheep or tend my lambs peter had to come face to face with something he had to come face to face with the knowledge that in his heart of hearts what he wanted to say is yes lord i have a divine sacrificial love for you but he knew that that would not be honest he wouldn't be being honest with himself and he wouldn't be being honest with

jesus who sees the depth of his heart so as he was 100 honest with himself as he was 100 honest with with jesus he had to say i think you're a really good friend i have a i have a really fond affection towards you and i love the way that jesus responds he doesn't say well that's not good enough that's not enough jesus says tend my lambs in other words do what i've called you to do jesus asks him a second time he said to him again verse 16 a second time simon son of john do you love me he said yes lord you know that i love you he said shepherd my sheep again we're in this place where jesus says peter do you have an agape divine sacrificial love for me and peter looks at him he says you know all things

you know all things you know all things you know all things you know all things you know all things

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time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. This time, what Jesus says to him is, Peter, do you have a fond affection for me? See, Jesus got back down where Peter was. Jesus met Peter where he was. They said, do you

have a fond affection for me? Which is why it says Peter was grieved. I think he was grieved for two reasons. Number one, I think he was grieved because Jesus had to lower the standard because he knew what was really in Peter's heart. And Peter had come face to face with what was really in his heart. And as he came face to face with what was really in his heart, and Jesus came face to face

with what was really in his heart, and Jesus came face to face with what was really in his heart, it was really in his heart. He said it the third time, do you have a fond affection for me? But I think the second reason why he was so grieved is because I think he knew this is the third time, just like it was the third time that he denied him when he met eyes with Jesus and he heard the rooster crow. And there was something about the third time for him. And I think all of that came

rushing back. And I love that in this moment, he says, Lord, again, you know all things. You know that I love you. And he said, shepherd my sheep. Jesus never once condemned him for not having the right kind of love. Jesus never once condemned him for the fact that he was still a weak human being. He just told him, I can take someone who's honest. I can take someone who is

transparent. I can take someone who is real and I can make you a shepherd. He said, shepherd my sheep. And he said, shepherd my sheep. And he said, shepherd my sheep. And he said, shepherd my sheep. And then, of course, Jesus goes on to tell him, he says, truly, I say, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch

out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish. We're going to find that Peter will go from the one who denied that he even knew Jesus to one who refused to be crucified in the same way that Jesus was because he wouldn't do it. So they crucified him upside down. At least that's what church history tells us. Because that's the difference that Jesus makes in a life. Then in verse 19, it says, now,

this he said, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Follow me. Well, as I look at that story, that story of the public restoration of Peter, I've come up with a handful of things that I think that we can pull out of this. Actually, four lessons for restoration that we can pull out of this because God is the God who restores.

But we play an active role in that restoration as we surrender to the Lord. And so I believe that these four principles are some of the best principles that I have been shown by the Lord to truly bring someone to restoration. I would love to be able to give you quick, easy answers, but quick and easy answers are just that. They're quick and easy and they don't provide results. I don't provide quick answers. I provide real answers, and I don't

provide easy answers. I provide eternal answers because that's what the Bible gives us. And so in these four principles that I'm going to give you, I need you to know nothing ever happens overnight. And if somebody says, well, you know, this will just happen overnight, they're lying to you because it takes time for God to do the work in our hearts that needs to be done. But I've

watched it over and over again in the lives of people, and I've watched it over and over again in my life that this is the most important thing that you will learn today. So number one, the first lesson in restoration is restoration requires time with the Lord. It requires time with the Lord. It requires private time with the Lord, and it requires public time with the Lord. You know,

according to both Luke and 1 Corinthians, Jesus met with Peter individually and privately. And then we have this instance here where Jesus, met with Peter publicly. And that would indicate to me that if we want to see restoration in our lives, that it will require private time with the Lord, and it will require public time with the Lord. Your personal time with Jesus that's just you and him is one of the most valuable times you'll ever have in your life. And I would tell you that if you want to see restoration take place

in your life, then you need to dig into your own private time with the Lord. You need to find yourself a place in the Bible to start. You need to start reading. You need to decide every day you're going to be in God's word, whether you feel like it or not. And you're going to decide every day that you're going to write something down about what God is teaching you. And people fight me on this sometimes. They're

like, oh, you don't have to write stuff down. Yeah, you do. You got to be able to, you got to be able to process stuff. I don't care if you just underline something in your Bible, you got to be able to process. And there is a physiological, psychological truth that when you read something and then write it out, that task is going to be done. And that's what we're going to do. And that's

going to be a tactile motion of actually writing things out, processes in your brain differently than anything else does. And so you've got to decide I'm going to be in God's word every single day. Listen, when I went through my time of depression, I didn't always want to get into God's word because I didn't get anything out of it. I would read it and I would be like, it's just words on a page to me. I don't, I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of it. But God told me

every day, that's what he wanted me to do, be in it every single day. And so I got into God's word every single day. And I still read it every single day. And I still read it every single day. And I remember the first time I really got something out of God's word during that time. I was renting the basement from my parents up in, up in Johnson County. And I was sitting on quite possibly the

most comfortable couch I've ever sat on in my entire life that my wife would not let me bring into our apartment because it was God ugly, God awful ugly. That's a conversation for a different day. But I'm sitting there on this couch and I was in the book of first Timothy. And it was just Paul talking about his testimony, about the fact that, that God had saved him. And I remember

reading that and going, God just spoke to me. And it was about the cross. And it was about the power of the cross. And that was the first time about a year and a half in that I really felt like God spoke to me. And in that moment, it was one of the, it was one of the greatest moments of my life because I was like, man, here I am just in this place where I feel like God is 100% silent in my

life. And all I knew to do was to pray every day, Lord, heal me and Lord speak to me. And finally, in that moment, I heard God speak to me and it was through his word. And it was about the cross. And I became an underlining machine because, because this was God speaking to me and my private time with the Lord became the most important thing in the world to me. And it, and it hasn't stopped being the most

important thing in the world to me because, because the next thing that you go through, you have to be in God's word because every time that God ministers to you in one of those places of restoration, you're reminded the greatest thing I can do is now, I'm going to be in the Lord's word because that's the place of restoration. And so, and so you get into it a little bit more. And I remember the day after my cousin died, uh, Jalen, it was somebody that was very, very close to, and, and I was going, God, I don't really see you in this one. I don't understand this one right now. This one's really hard. And I got into God's word and I was like, I guess I'm just going to

have to do what I've always done and get back into the word. And so I got back into the word. And I happened to be reading Psalm 40 that morning. And those words jumped out on me or jumped out off of the page and hit me as if they were written only for me. And I was reminded restoration comes through time with the Lord, but that can only happen if I get alone with God and

his word. But you know that your time with the Lord should also be public. Do not stay away from people. Don't decide I'm in this place of restoration. I'm just going to do it all by myself. Nope. Get ugly with people, right? Like get into church because I'm also here to tell you right now. I remember, uh, specifically pastor Rick Jardine at the Calvary chapel of Johnson County.

And I'm leading a college ministry at this point in time. And I was, I was battling depression big time. And, and I was like, Lord, I don't know if I'm the right guy to do this. And he's like, you are the right guy to do this. Stop whining and start teaching. And so, and so I'm, I'm leading this college Bible study and it's a Sunday morning. And, and he says,

if, if anybody needs spiritual healing, I just want you to stand up because we want to pray for you. And so I stood up in my entire college group gathered around me and they all laid hands on me and pastor Rick prayed. And, and that was a powerful moment for me because that was a powerful start to God's restoration in my life. You see, you need, you need public time with the Lord too, because you need the body to be alongside you. And so if you want to be restored, number one,

it will require time. It will require time with the Lord. As a matter of fact, sorry, one more thing I'm going to say about this. When my parents were leading the school here, they went down to a principal's conference down in, down in Florida with the Abeka book people. And, and, and the guy that started Abeka book, Horton is his last name. And it's not the guy that heard of who, it's a different

guy. I can't think of his first name. But, but he had this philosophy and he said, there is no substitute for God. And he said, there is no substitute for God. And he said, there is no substitute for time in the Lord. There is no substitute for time in the Lord. And listen, I'm just going to be really honest with you. I 100% agree with that because time in the Lord is what

brings healing. A lot of people say, oh, time heals all wounds. No time creates bitterness. Time and the Lord heal all wounds. And there's no substitute for it. So number one is time with the Lord. Number two, honesty with God. And yourself, honesty with God and yourself. Listen, Peter had to get incredibly honest with Jesus. And I think that had to have been the hardest thing in the world for him to do.

We don't read about it, but I kind of wonder how long the pause was between Jesus saying, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? I always wonder how long that awkward pause was. Something that Peter wasn't real familiar with because he was usually a speak first, think later sort of a guy. But I think there was a long, awkward pause on that. And as he had to think, I know what I want to say, but I also know what I have to say.

And as he sat there and thought, he finally had to, in all honesty, say, I'm just not the man I'm supposed to be. And Jesus said, I can work with that. I can work with that. Listen, Jesus will always meet you right where you are. When you start getting honest with God, he will meet you right where you are. But you can't be honest with God until you're first honest

with yourself. As a matter of fact, I would say that one of the first things you have to start being if you're going to be restored is you have to start being honest with yourself. I remember when I started getting really real about confessing things to the Lord, and I would be like, ooh, that sounds really bad when it comes out of my mouth. Like thoughts that you have or things that you've done or desires that you have. And I would say, I'm not the man I'm supposed to be.

I'm the man I have. And you start to confess it, and you're like, dude, if that comes out of my mouth, that sounds way worse than if I just think it in my head. But that's the process of getting honest with yourself. See, most of the problem with the people, especially in the Western culture today, is we're not very honest with ourselves. We have been so conditioned to present the best of who we

are to everybody that we start presenting the best of who we are to ourselves. And we stop allowing ourselves just to be honest about what's really going on. And I've just had to learn, I just have to be completely honest with myself. And that, in turn, will cause me to be completely honest with God. Because once I can own it for myself, it's a whole lot easier for me to own it with God.

But listen, God can't meet you where you are if you won't tell him where you are. I'm not saying that it's some impossibility for God. I'm saying God won't violate your free will like that. God won't meet you where you are until you tell him where you are. But once you tell him where you are, he'll meet you there. Because did you notice he did that with Peter?

He was like, Peter, do you have this perfect love for me? And Peter's like, no, but I got a little bit of love for you. Peter, do you have a perfect love for me? Nope, but I sure think you're a good guy. Peter, do you have a little bit of love for me and you think I'm a pretty good guy? Now we're talking. He said, all right, I can meet you there. But listen, honesty with God says that

Jesus will meet you where you are, but he won't leave you where you are. Because he's going to take Peter, who says, I think you're a pretty nice guy and I have kind of a fond affection for you. He takes him from that guy to the guy who will one day be crucified upside down because of his deep love for his savior. And all that happens, why? Because of honesty with God and yourself.

Friends, you got to start getting brutally honest. Jesus knows it anyway. Start letting those walls down and start giving it to God in that full honesty that he desires from us. Number three, you have to believe what God says. You have to believe what God says. What did Jesus say every single time Peter was honest with him? He said, feed my sheep, tend my lambs, tend my sheep.

In other words, he was saying, I know you don't think you're worth being a shepherd, but you're a shepherd. Now believe it. Believe what God has to say. You know, one of the hardest things we do in life is to believe what God says. Like we can believe it for everybody else in the world, but we have a hard time believing it for us, right? Like I can believe that God can restore him. I can believe that God can love her. I can believe that God could use them,

but I don't believe that God can restore me. And I don't believe that God can love me. And I don't believe that God can use me. You have to start choosing to believe what God has to say. Matter of fact, write down Romans 15, 13. You don't need to turn there. Just write it down. Romans 15, 13. I'm going to read it to you real quick. It says, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy,

and peace, and believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. You see, for me personally, when I was going through my time where I needed a lot of restoration, one of the many, I started finding what I call in a super cheesy way, a verse to hang your hat on, right? I know, I'm sorry. All the cowboys in the room are like, I kind of like that one.

But that's the only thing I can come up with, right? Is a verse to hang your hat on. And every time things would get hard, I would go back to that place. For when I battle depression, I go back to Psalm 41, where it says, why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise him for the help of my countenance and my God. When I'm battling grief, I go back to Psalm 40.

I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined into me, and he heard my cry, and he brought me up out of a pit, set my feet upon a rock. Praise to my God, many will see and will fear me. When I'm not feeling very good about myself, I go back to 1 John 3, verse 2. It says, Beloved, now you are the children of God, and it's not yet been revealed what we shall be.

But we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he truly is. And I go back to those things, and I have to decide to believe them. And it's not always the way that I feel, because faith isn't feelings. If faith was feelings, everybody would have it, but then it would come and go. Faith is not a feeling. Faith is a belief. And it's the belief

that God is true, and let the feelings do what they may. And that was a hard lesson I had to learn, too, is that in the process of being restored, I can't rely on my feelings, because my feelings will lie to me. I have to believe what God says to be true, and let everything else take care of itself. And every day, I would choose. Today, I will believe this. Today, I will believe

that God's word is true. And as you do that, it's amazing how God begins to heal your mind, and how God begins to heal your spirit, and how he heals your soul, and he brings that restoration. And so, number one, it requires time with the Lord. Number two, it requires honesty with God and yourself. Number three, you have to start believing what God says. But then, number four, you need to serve Jesus. You need to serve Jesus.

I hear people say it all the time, well, I can't start serving until I've been restored. Maybe there's some areas where you can't serve yet, but you should start serving, right? Like, if you just fell into some deep sin, I'm not going to put you up here right away, but you should still be serving. You should start doing something for someone else, because that's the place where healing begins to come. That's the place that takes your eyes off of you and puts them on something else.

As a matter of fact, I would say that you will be the happiest in the process of your restoration when you start serving other people. When I was going through that time of depression, God put me into ministry, and I've shared it with you before. I tried as hard as I could not to, but God kept putting me into ministry. I remember having a conversation with Rick Jardine's son, Michael, and I said, I don't know what's going on. I feel like

the harder I say, Lord, please don't ask anybody to ask me to teach anywhere, I get another request to go speak somewhere. And he looked at me and he goes, it's almost like God has a plan. And I was like, fine. And so I'm leading this Bible study. And you know what the happiest night of my week was at that point in time? It was Thursday night. Not because that was the night after the Bible study, but because that was the night of the Bible

study. Because I was the happiest I could possibly be when I was serving God. Because when I was leading that study, and we were praying together, and we were fellowshipping together, I wasn't thinking about my depression. I was focused on Jesus, and I was focused on other people. What did Jesus tell Peter over and over again he needed to do? Go be a shepherd. And I'm here to

tell you right now, if you want to see restoration in your life, go serve. Maybe it starts with just serving in your neighborhood, helping other people out there around you, because maybe what you're going through would negate your ability to teach a Bible study, or teach a children's church class, or something like that. But if it's not some sort of sin that you're being restored from, it's time for you to start teaching. You know what? It's

time for you to start serving. You know what the best place I think you should start serving is? Teaching little kids. You know why? Because little kids are great. Sometimes they're a little scary. Yeah. Sometimes they're a little scary. Yeah. Sometimes they're a little scary. Full disclosure. But it is so much fun. It's so fun to teach little kids, because you know what?

You know what I have found? If you work with young people, you're going to laugh a lot. And they're going to laugh at you sometimes, but they're also going to laugh with you sometimes. And they'll teach you to laugh at yourself. And they'll teach you to have fun with everything, because that's just what kids do. So all I'm saying is, if you really want some restoration in your life, go teach

a kids' class. Or go start being a nun. Or go start being an usher here. Or help out in the sound ministry. You name it. Because what it'll do is it'll take your eyes off of you. And it'll put your eyes on God. And it'll put your eyes on others. Because that's what God is calling us to do. And so, brothers and sisters, God's ability to restore is powerful. God's ability to restore is incredibly powerful. And I think if you follow these principles, it's going to help you.

And so, brothers and sisters, God's ability to restore is powerful. God's ability to restore is incredibly powerful. And I think if you follow these principles, it's going to help you. In time, God will bring that restoration into your life. Amen? Well, this morning is Communion Sunday. And so I'd like to take just a few minutes to talk about communion before they come in.

And I'll invite the ushers to come on in to get ready to hand out the elements.

They're scurrying to find each other right now. I'd like to take a few minutes to talk about communion before we take part in it.

As always, inside of each of these trays is a couple of elements. There's the juice, and there's the cracker. And in and of themselves, pretty mundane things. And yet, what they symbolize for us is of great power. What they symbolize for us is of great power to restore. Because we're told that it is the blood of Jesus Christ that ultimately brings healing. And so, as always, we're reminded that on that last night of the feast, Jesus took that bread and he broke it.

And he said, this is my body, which is broken for you. Take and eat. And as we partake of the bread, we're reminded that we're not alone. As we partake of the bread, we are reminded that Jesus is a part of who we are. Just like the food becomes a part of who we are, Jesus is a part of who we are by faith. And he has made his home inside of us. And then he took that cup.

He said, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. And so, as we drink of the cup, we are reminded of the blood of Jesus Christ that covers us from all sin. But what we're really doing is declaring the death of Jesus Christ. Because truly, the place of restoration comes at the foot of the cross. And so, I'll go ahead and invite the worship team to come on up.

And so, as the worship team shares this last song with us, I would ask that you would allow the Lord to do the work that needs to be done in your heart and in your life. If there's areas of sin that need to be confessed, then confess those areas of sin. So that that fellowship with Jesus can be everything that it's intended to be. But more than anything, I pray that you would ask the Lord that in those areas of your life where there is still a need for restoration, that he would put his finger on those.

That he would just point those out. And that you would begin to know that restoring power of God. That you would begin to know that he restores your soul. Amen? When you receive your elements, if you'd please stand and then we'll partake together. Jesus Christ that was shed for us. The blood of Jesus Christ that is able to do this. The blood of Jesus Christ that is able to cleanse us from all that.

Thank you for the body of Jesus that was broken for us. Wounded for our and the chastisement of our peace laid upon him. And by his stripes we are healed. And so Father, as we partake together. May we always bear in mind the power of the cross. In Jesus name. Amen. Let's partake. And if you'd bow with me one last time. Father, we come to you now. Praising you for who you are.

Lord, praising you for the goodness that you show to us. Praising you for your power to restore. And God, I pray that you would work in our hearts and lives. Do what needs to be done in us, we pray. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.