God Encounters / The Final Installment

Today is last post in a 6 week series of posts on God Encounters.  I hope this series has encouraged and uplifted you.

As we finish it out will look at the encounter that God had with Saul who later becomes the apostle Paul. Look to Acts 9 and get picture of what happened and how God encountered Saul.  Click here to read Acts 9:1-25.  We have  looked at that we should never forget that unbelievers can change and be converted and once someone is converted it should become “not I but Christ”  and that should show clearly in our lives.  Our lives should also reflect the fact that Jesus wants us to know Him intimately and when that happens we are transformed by knowing Him.   We also saw that there are times when we look foolish to others because we are following the wisdom of God.  That then leads to these last few thoughts.

Something else that we need to focus on; an encounter with God should take away our pride and humble us. Every person wants to sit upon the throne of their own life. We are all driven by selfish or egotistical goals – that is all of us – and that is what happens when Jesus is not where he should be in your life or mine. However, Jesus Christ wants to sit upon the throne of our life – He wants you to allow Him to be in control and drive. Jesus needs to be in the drives seat – we are NOT his co-pilot and He is NOT ours – we need to be in the backseat saying nothing and enjoying the ride! The arrogant Saul who met Jesus Christ could say for the rest of his life, “Not I but Christ” which is what he said in Galatians 2:20. For all of us – we need to rid ourselves of saying me, my, and I but make it about Christ and others! Pride is a self focus and humility is an others focus! How many times do you say me, my, or I each day? I dare you to count and I promise you will be astounded by the number times you say them and the subjects you say me, my, and I about. Me, my, and I pushed God out of whatever you use those words with! What are you pushing God out of?

Something else here I want you to notice and that is Saul was not the only one who was encountered by God in this story! God has some people who will help to explain to us our encounter with Him. There was a believer in Damascus called Ananias that was not previously mentioned in Scripture and interestingly he is never mentioned again. Apparently, Ananias is encountered by God and raised up for this one shining moment in life. Ananias was to help Saul in his crucial encounter with Jesus Christ. Ananias was a man whose main stage moment in life was this one thing and it was so very important! He had to step in and show Saul the meaning in what happened to him. Here is the thing – it is not an easy thing to do and in order to do it you must be one who is read up in the Word of God and one who is prayed up in the power of Christ. I believe Ananias to be a very godly man and one who is faithful because he was called to do something powerful in his encounter with Christ and something that was extremely hard!

I am reminded in some ways of Phillip and the eunuch in Acts 8:30 -31 where we read: 30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Are you connected with Jesus to the point where you could sit with someone and help them find Christ? Are you a person who has a positive reputation among people to come and talk with – without them feeling judged or condemned? Are you someone who has an open heart and attitude for God to encounter you and call you to speak with someone? Ananias was and God called him to do something very hard.

Ananias was initially afraid because he had heard about the reputation of Saul. He knew what Saul was like and what Saul had done and was going to be doing but now God encounters him to go and meet Saul and lay hands on him and pray for him. God is asking him to do something that was unpleasant and potentially deadly because he did not know if Saul was faking being a Christian to just learn who the Christians were or not! We can learn a lesson in this and that is: in an encounter sometimes God gives us a task that is unpleasant. God gave Ananias a task that was for certain unpleasant but in that task God gave him the strength and courage to do it and great blessing came as a result. We see that Ananias obeyed and went to Saul and then laid hands on him and prayed for his healing. God used Ananias to deliver a message to Saul that he was to be the apostle to the Gentiles. We see an example of someone we need to be like! I challenge you to think about yourself – are you willing to do the hard and unpleasant task if God encounters you to do so?

Has God ever encountered you to do something unpleasant?  How did it work out?  Any thoughts on the series?

God Encounters / Foolishness

We have been looking at the encounter that God had Saul who later becomes the apostle Paul in the last couple of posts. Look to Acts 9 and get picture of what happened and how God encountered Saul.  Click here to read Acts 9:1-25.  We have  looked at that we should never forget that unbelievers can change and be converted and once someone is converted it should become “not I but Christ”  and that should show clearly in our lives.  Our lives should also reflect the fact that Jesus wants us to know Him intimately and when that happens we are transformed by knowing Him. That then leads to these next couple of thoughts.

Sometimes we can’t explain the experience of what happened in an encounter, we can only testify to the transforming power of Jesus Christ. It is all about the transforming power of Christ in our lives! On two occasions in his life, Saul gave testimony of his conversion on the Damascus road. In neither of those testimonies did he try to explain what happened in the experience. He emphasized the radical transformation in his life. Before he was converted, he was a Christ-hating Jew who wanted to persecute the Church and after he met Jesus Christ, he became a preacher of the gospel and proclaimer of Christ. Saul became someone focused on the right things in life and that is what a transformed life is – it is going from a wrong focus to a right one. Paul writes this so well in Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” That is the right focus because it is all about Christ!

That brings about this point: People around us don’t understand what is happening when we encounter Christ. The people with Saul did not understand what Saul heard or saw. Acts 22:9 records Paul saying this; “And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.” They knew something happened but what happened they did not know. When we meet Jesus Christ, we march to a different drumbeat. Our friends who do not know Jesus Christ – should do not understand our motives, or our objectives. If you have people who are not believers in Christ understanding everything you do then you might not be living like you should! If the world understand every decision that the church you attend and I attend then we might be making worldly decisions and not faith decisions. Consider what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:18-27  – NAS -18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”

20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.

So if people understand everything that we are doing as individuals or as a churches, then we need to begin to rethink where we are getting our wisdom and what it is we are doing! We need to do things God’s way and not ours and God’s way will look foolish to those who do not know him.

What do you think?  Do you think people should understand the things we do as individuals or churches?  Why or why not?

God Encounters / Transformed

We, in the the last post, started looking at the encounter that God had Saul who later becomes the apostle Paul. Look to Acts 9 and get picture of what happened and how God encountered Saul.  Click here to read Acts 9:1-25.  In the last post we looked at knowing that unbelievers can change and be converted and once someone is converted it should become “not I but Christ”  and that should show clearly in our lives.  That then leads to the next thoughts along these lines..

Here is the truth of the matter; Jesus wants us to know Him for who He is. When Jesus encountered Saul on the road to Damascus, He did not give reasons nor did he try to re-interpret Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus simply told Saul in verse 5, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting “. Meeting Jesus was enough to transform Saul’s life and it is enough to transform yours! Jesus encounters us so that we can really get to know who he is! Paul writes in Philippians 3:10 – that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. Do you know Him like this? Do you know His power? Do you see his power in your life? If someone were to ask you to prove you know Jesus like this, what would you say? Would you say you go to church? Would you say pray and read the Bible sometimes? Would you say you listen to Christian radio? Those things are all good but I do not think they are proof of knowing Jesus – a transformed life is proof – you are different today than you were yesterday because of the power of Christ in your life! You speak differently, you talk about Christ and not other people, you have the joy of the Lord in your heart and written all over your face! That is how people will know you have been transformed! Again I ask – could someone look at your actions, words, behaviors and see that you know Him and that you have been transformed by Jesus? If you are a believer in Christ, I pray so!

Here is the real deal; after an encounter with Jesus, our life is pointed in a different direction. Obviously, Saul was coming to Damascus to arrest Christians. But after encountering Jesus Christ, he began preaching as we read in verse 20, He was preaching “immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God “. Saul did the opposite in Damascus for which he came – he came to arrest but then preached. Are you living in the opposite manor as you were before you met Jesus? Are you living a little bit different or are you radically different! We need to be radically different from what we once were – that is transformation and that is the transformation we see here with Saul! He is radically transformed! Have you been radically transformed by Christ?

What would you say are evidences of a transformed life?  Any other thoughts to share?

God Encounters / Not I But…

We have been discussing God encounters over the past six weeks or so of posts and we will finish this series up this week. Before anything else let me remind you that the most important God encounter you can have is where you meet Jesus and you understand His work on the cross. It is an encounter where you are transformed and changed by the power of God. It will change everything and give you a purpose in life. After that there are other encounters we can have with God where He shows us things like direction in life or seeing Him in fresh and new ways or where he confronts sin and sinful attitude or pushes us reach out beyond our borders to new people or where He restores us or where He completely transforms our lives. God encounters are where we have an overwhelming sense of the presence and power of God in our lives and they happen when we have an open heart and attitude toward God.

We have talked about a number of people who had encounters. We talked about Jacob and how he encountered God and left being reminded who God was and what He has done for him. We talked about Elijah who was discouraged and who encountered God and God reminded of the future in front of him and the hope that was in front of him. We talked about Ezekiel and his encounters and how God called him to do some seemingly crazy things and how Ezekiel’s dream died but how God gave him a new dream, new vision, and a new passion which he got because of his trusting God. We talked about the woman at the well and how she encountered Jesus and how he transformed her life and how she told everyone she could about Jesus and encouraged them to encounter Him for themselves. The last week we talked about how Jesus encountered Peter after he denied Christ and backslid and how in the encounter with Jesus, Peter was restored to his ministry because of his repentant heart and honest response to God. We have seen that God encounters people for a variety of reasons and it always radically changes the person and they are always better people because of their encounter with God.

Today we are going to start looking at the encounter that God had Saul who later becomes the apostle Paul. Look to Acts 9 and get picture of what happened and how God encountered Saul.  Click here to read Acts 9:1-25.

This is a passage that many, if not all of you have read before – so let me remind you – do not lose the wonder of what happens here. Saul a Jewish member of the Sanhedrin became Saul the Apostle to the Gentiles – his name had not yet changed to Paul. Saul persecuted Christians, after his conversion, the Jews tried to kill him in Damascus and then in Jerusalem. He went everywhere planting churches, and Jews followed him to criticize . . . arrest . . . stone . . . and attempt to assassinate him. Without a doubt, the man who encountered Christ on the road to Damascus became the most influential name in the spread of Christianity. The encounter with Christ motivated him to sacrificial service. He preached the gospel, wrote letters, trained disciples and influenced the future direction of all of Christianity.

What can we learn from his encounter Christ that will help us? What are the important lessons for us to learn so we can encounter Christ in this way?

The first thing is this: An unbelieving person can encounter Christ and be transformed. Before Saul took the trip to Damascus, he was not converted. But in a transforming experience he met Jesus Christ, and was transformed. Not only was his personality transformed, his theology was transformed, and his purpose in life was transformed. This shows us that an unbeliever can be transformed and we need never lose sight of this and it is a sad time if or when do.

The thing is this; the call for all is tell those who do not know Christ how to find Him. Sometimes we have been believers so long that we forget what it is like to be an unbeliever. So instead of reaching out to the unbelievers in love, we condemn them. Instead of shining our light into the darkness, we condemn the darkness. We, many times, forget that an unbeliever can encounter Christ and will be transformed when they do. It is our calling to help them by pointing to Christ so that He can encounter them. We are many times like those around Saul and think that there is no way that God could save this person or that person! Then we do not trust that they are transformed and question it when they do not make the changes we think they need to make in the time we think they should be making it. We need to remember what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Paul who was Saul was a walking example of this and it is our calling to help others to see that they can be someone new in Christ and not discourage it or put road blocks that are not in Scripture in the way! It is our job to encourage an encounter with Christ.

Then we come to this: The basis of encountering Christ is not grounded in logical explanations or empirical proofs, but rather in an experience with Jesus Christ. Saul, who was trained in logic under Gamaliel, could easily argue against Christianity, and had rational arguments to defend his faith. However, Saul didn’t have any defense when he met Jesus Christ. In the same manner, many atheists and skeptics doubt the Word of God but when they meet Jesus Christ, no one has to prove to them that the Bible is the Word of God because they know it too be true when they encounter Christ! When they encounter Jesus Christ, they inwardly know that God exists, and that His Word is true. How about you, have you met Jesus? Have you encountered Jesus? Do you know Him from experiencing his love, power, presence, grace, and mercy in your life? Do you know that He is real? Are you living like it? Are you showing others His love, His grace, His mercy or are your lips saying one thing but you actions something else? When you truly meet Jesus, what Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, becomes your life – he writes: I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Is it no longer I that live in you but Christ – again is that seen in your life daily?

If someone asked you how do you live a “Not I but Christ” in me life?  How would you answer them?  Any other thoughts on this post?

God Encounters / Do You Love Me?

In the last few  post we have been looking at the encounter between Jesus and Peter after Peter denied Jesus three times.  We talked about his intentions were not to deny Christ but he did anyway and how we are like this – we think others should be impressed with our intentions.  We looked at being sorry and about what it really means to backslid.  We are going to continue today by looking at Christ calling us and questioning us.  We saw the excitement in Peter when Christ came to visit him.  We are gaining all this by looking at John 21 – click here to read it.  We will now finish up on this encounter by really looking closely at the interaction between Christ and Peter.

Something else for us to learn in all this is that: we must serve Christ with our talents, even though He could perform our task without us. The Lord obviously created the fish in the net by a miracle. There were 153 large fish in the net when previously there were none. When the disciples got to shore, they found a charcoal fire with fish cooking for their breakfast. Jesus told them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught“. Jesus had them add their fish to the ones already on the fire. Christ could have provided enough fish on their fire so the disciples did not need to add theirs. Jesus could have waited to eat their fish without providing His on the fire. Why fish from two sources? Perhaps the answer is in the law of the division of labor. God will do His part to assist us in serving Him, but we must properly use our talents in service. All too often we believe that Jesus should just do everything for us – we do not think that we need to do our part when we serve Him. We need to be serving Christ with faith be active. Let us be reminded of what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:1 – And working together with Him. Paul is saying what Jesus showed us – it is about serving with Christ. It is not about serving and doing what we want and not about having Christ serve us but it is all about doing it together. Christ could do it all but His desire is to have us involved! Do you have the faith to step out and allow Christ to work with you?

Then we need to consider this when we have an encounter with Christ, we must honestly express our love to Christ. Jesus knew Peter’s heart when He asked Peter, “Do you love me?” The Lord when saying this used the deepest word for love, a word that meant sacrificial love. The Lord wanted to see how honest Peter would answer because the Lord knows the truth and knows how we really think and feel. To the surprise of many, when Peter answered, he did so with a shallow word and not a word of his deep love. In essence the Greek gives the idea that Peter responded to Jesus by saying something like: “I like you a lot.” There are many of us who like to tell people how devoted we are to Christ but I see it as we must be like Peter because Peter’s response was honest. Just think, Jesus is asking Him if he loved and three times Peter responded, “I like you a lot.” While we might wish that Peter would have used the deeper word, at least we know he was honest. How honest are you with Jesus? How honest are with others about your love for Christ. Sadly, many will not be honest about their feelings. I challenge you to honestly look at how you really feel about Christ. What is the truth? What is your relationship really like with Him?

Here is the point of an encounter with Christ and restoration: we can only be restored to service after we honestly submit to Jesus Christ. The Lord asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” When Christ got the right answer, He told Peter, “Feed my lambs.” I see and believe this was Peter’s restoration to his former place of leading the disciples and then to go on and lead the church. He had his area of failure or backsliding but honestly submitted himself to Christ and that is what leads Peter to be able to be to be completely restored, His repentance and turning himself over to be used by Christ. Because of his restoration, Peter was able to preach the powerful sermon on the day of Pentecost. God restored him after his backsliding.

What do you think about this interaction between the two?  How do you think Peter felt after this interaction?

God Encounters / Excitement for Christ

In the last couple of  post we have been looking at the encounter between Jesus and Peter after Peter denied Jesus three times.  We talked about his intentions were not to deny Christ but he did anyway and how we are like this – we think others should be impressed with our intentions.  We looked at being sorry and about what it really means to backslid.  We are going to continue today by looking at Christ calling us and questioning us and we are gaining all this by looking at John 21 – click here to read it.

Sometimes we don’t realize when Christ is calling to us. The disciples had been fishing all night and caught nothing. In the morning Christ came to them and they saw him on the shore, but they didn’t recognize Him. This was not the first post resurrection appearance of Christ, they should have recognized Him; but they didn’t. Perhaps it was their sin, or their pre-occupation with their nets, or some other reason that they did not recognize Him. Perhaps we have missed Christ when He has called to us because we were preoccupied. What is it that you are preoccupied with? Maybe you are pre-occupied with good things but they are not the best thing. Are you preoccupied with family, or church, or sports, or something else that is a good thing? When we are preoccupied with these sorts of things and not Christ we miss what Christ is trying to say to us. The best thing to be is preoccupied with is Christ and when you are preoccupied with Him you will not miss what he is saying to you. What kind of things does Christ say or ask?

When we encounter Christ, He asks questions to get us thinking about failure and success. When Christ appeared on the shore, He asked, “Have you caught anything?” It was a question to reveal that the disciples efforts did not work when they were done apart from Christ. Then after breakfast, Christ asked Peter, “Do you love me?“ Again, it was a question that made him think about his failure. We have to think about our backslidden condition before we will do anything about it. Let me ask you – have you ever had Christ ask you questions? Do you think about your failures? Are you one who then thinks about your failures and then changes them or do you just keep repeating them? What is it you need to change to be successful in Christ? If you have something you are doing that is sinful and you know the right thing to do – when you do not do the right thing – you are sinning according to James 4:17! Let us not live in sin but let us do the right things!

Something else to consider: We do impetuous things when encountering Christ. Think about the story and how impetuous Peter was when he saw Jesus. When Peter realized that Jesus was standing on the shore, Peter first put on his tunic, while most would remove heavy garments when attempting to swim a long distance. Then he dove into the water to swim to shore. He probably didn’t think about what he was doing, if anything, he was not thinking about his actions. He just automatically did what was natural. It was an impetuous response of love and excitement. When was the last time that you simply got excited about what Christ was doing or about Christ showing up were you were? If we cannot be excited about Christ – what can we be excited about?

What happens when we get excited about Christ and the encounter we have with Him? We do extraordinary things when we are excited about Christ. As we just saw Peter swam to the shore wearing his long tunic, then when the boat reached shore, Peter ran to pull the net filled with fishes to shore. John 21:11 tells us Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. This was an amazing feat, because previously seven men in the boat had a hard time hauling it in because of the great number of fish! Some say this was a miracle, others think it was simply Peter being so excited that he pulled the net to shore with a sudden burst of energy. Again, I ask you when was the last time you got excited about what Christ was doing. When was the last time you got so excited about what Christ was doing that you got involved in what He was doing? When was the last time you got so excited that you encouraged others rather than discouraged them? When was the last time you were like Peter and so full of excitement that the Lord was able to do something amazing through you?

What are the things that really get you excited when it comes to Christ?

God Encounter / Backslid

In the last post we started looking at the encounter between Jesus and Peter after Peter denied Jesus three times.  We talked about his intentions were not to deny Christ but he did anyway and how we are like this – we think others should be impressed with our intentions.  We looked at John 21 – click here to read it.

We will continue along those lines of intentions because  there is something in this encounter and that is;  being sorry does not automatically restore us to service. Here is what we know, Peter was sorry for denying Christ after he did it. Obviously, God forgives us after we confess our sin and ask for cleansing. But that does not necessarily restore us to our previous place of service. We think many times that all we have to do is say we are sorry and then move right back where we were but that is not the case. Sometimes trust has to be rebuilt in order for service to be restored. Just because you say you are sorry does not mean that someone will allow you to have their complete trust – sometimes you have to earn the trust back that is broken. When we say hurtful things to people – they may forgive and may try to forget what you have said but it is hard. To get that trust you have to take time and consistently do the right things, the right way. You need to practice obedience to Christ to earn the trust back.

When people do not get returned to service right away they make the mistake out of anger or ignorance or out of heart that is not in the right place and return to their old ways in backsliding. I used the term backsliding a few times so let me just take a moment and define backsliding for you – it means turning back to the old and sinful ways. A backslider is a saved person who falls into sin. A lost sinner cannot be a backslider. You have to go somewhere before you can slide back. But one, who is truly born again, a child of God who falls into sin, is a backslider. It may be outrageous and gross sin known to everyone or it may be merely coldness of heart, a lukewarm heart instead of the burning fire of love for God that one has had in the past. But when a Christian loses any of his joy, or loses part of his sweet fellowship with God, or falls into sin, then they are a backslider. Peter by his denial of Christ backslid into his old way of thinking and then went back to fishing but Jesus as we have see was not done with him. I am reminded of what of Hosea 14:4 which says in the New King James Version; “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from him“. God will heal your backsliding. If you have backslid – you have a gross sin, or grown cold toward God, or you have become lukewarm – God can and will heal it but as always you must come to Him and repent of it.

Peter backslid, he lied to people around the fire the night Jesus was being tried and denied Christ which is part of the way he used to be – even though he thought he was stronger than that and even though his intentions earlier were not to do it. After this backsliding and Jesus resurrection, Peter decided that he wanted to get away from ministry and go back to what he knew. Peter told the other disciples in John 21:3 “I am going fishing” and being a leader others followed. He went back to fishing because that is one thing that he could do and one thing he felt comfortable doing. However, as I see it, God in His sovereignty moved upon the waters and as John put it “that night they caught nothing“. Peter went right back to what he knew and was comfortable doing and that was fishing but the Lord had other plans for him as well as the other disciples.

In his mind Peter, was going to be going right back to where he was before he ever met the Lord which was fishing but Jesus was calling on Peter to go back and do something for Him. The call was to return to the Lord because He is calling all of us to come to Him and look to Him and trust Him! Have you slid away from God? As I have said before – If there has been a time that you were closer to God than you are right now – God did not move! Is it time for you to get back to doing what you know you are to do. You are not to go back to the old ways but to move forward in Christ, of which He is calling you too. Christ calling you to be doing something and it is not the comfortable thing that he wants you to do but the right thing.

Have you ever found yourself in a place where you had backslid?  What did you do about it?

God Encounters / Good Intentions?

We are going to continue with the series of posts on God Encounters.  This week we are going to look Peter and how Jesus restored him after his denial and/or backsliding.  The first thing to see and remember is the Jesus predicts Peter’s denial of Him in John 13:36-38 which says: Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.

Then we see Jesus prediction coming true. John 18:15-18, 25-27 – Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in. Then the slave-girl who kept the door said to Peter, “ You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself. Verse 25 - Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.” One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” Peter then denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.

Imagine how Peter must feel having denied the Lord three times and then Christ dying and raising again and he would still have these guilty feelings even though he is excited about what Christ raising meant. I imagine as passionate of a guy as Peter was – the guilt was probably eating him up inside and so he thought he should just go back to fishing and leave the ministering behind. The Lord though had other plans for Peter and came and approached Peter – look at John 21:4-8, 15-17: But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.” And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of 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 is the Lord.” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about one hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish.   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.” ¹⁶ He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” ¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “ Tend My sheep.”

What we see here in this is that Peter was restored to his previous place of leadership after backsliding. He went on and preached the sermon on Pentecost that became foundational to building the church. Peter was the leader of ministry to the Jews, while Paul was leader of ministry to the Gentiles. Peter had a profitable life of ministry after he denied Christ and was restored. Tradition says he died in Rome sometime between 64-66 AD Peter’s reported last words to his wife, “Remember the Lord,” are certainly consistent with his message to Christians in difficult times which we read in 1 and 2 Peter. So then the question for us is this: What can we learn from this encounter that Peter has where Jesus restores him to ministry after he denied Christ and backslid?

First thing is before a God Encounter we need to realize that: Good intentions are not enough to keep us faithful to Christ. Peter told the Lord that he would never deny Him. He even boasted in the passage, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You. Yet human strength alone was not enough, Peter denied the Lord three times. How often do we do the same thing? We think everyone should just be impressed that we did something with good intentions. We think our good intentions will keep us faithful to Christ. We believe that be we are strong people that we can stand because of good intentions. We have all heard the old saying – the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We need to be reminded of 1 Corinthians 10:12 which says, So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! Our good intentions will never hold us up – only Christ will. Your good intentions will get you nowhere, just like they got Peter nowhere, so stop trying to convince yourself and others about how good your intentions are and do things God’s way. It is always God’s way over good intentions – ALWAYS.

Have you ever struggled with thinking good intentions were what you needed?  Have you ever had someone who thought you should be impressed with their good intentions?  How did you handle it?

God Encounters / Leaving Water Pots

The last few  posts we have been dealing with Jesus and His encounter with the woman at the well.  What we saw was that Jesus went through Samaria because He had a divine appointment with the woman at the well.  Jesus was reaching out to this woman who was an outcast in a whole region of outcast.  Jesus was willing to defile himself so that he could reach out to this woman.  Jesus encountered her with the truth in live and then shared with her that she needed to worship in spirit and in truth.  If you do not know the story click here and read it.

We ended with Jesus revealing to the woman that He was the Messiah and the woman at this point comes to realize that Jesus is the Messiah. What happens then is we see that when God encounters happen, things that were important then seem insignificant. She was so excited when she realizes who Jesus was that she left the water pot! She was so excited that she went and began telling others about Christ! What happened to her? She got transformed and when that happened she got a whole new perspective on life. All the sudden getting water was the last thing on the list when there were lots of other people who needed to hear what Christ had to say and be transformed by Him. Let me ask you – are the things that you think are important in life – are they really important? The things that you argue and fuss and fight over – the things that frustrate you and make you mad – are they really important things or are they water pots that need to be left so that you can tell others about Jesus? Please leave the water pots behind and tell others about Him!

That then leads to this: God encounters cause people to have to share who Jesus is and what he does for them . Christ encountered her and she could not contain herself. She left the water pots and told the others to come and see! It was not a choice for her – I see that she was so excited about Christ that it just poured out of her. She wanted others to know the joy and the excitement of finding Christ! Have you been a believer in Jesus so long that you lost the excitement and the joy? Has it become more about you getting water for yourself than is about bring others and telling others about the living water? Have you lost the joy of seeing others come to Christ and your focus is now on insignificant things? Have you found the living water and have you allowed Him to change you from the inside out? I pray that you have!

What we see is this woman is a real woman. She cares enough about others at this point that she is willing to go and tell them about Jesus. She cares enough about others that she trying to get everyone she can to come with her to meet Jesus! What we see is that the Bible tells us that many believed because of her testimony – her changed life and her telling them about Christ. After that they believed not because of her but because they then met Jesus face to face! What we see in all of this is: when God encounters one person it can lead to many having God encounters and having their lives transformed. When was the last time you saw someone transformed by the power Christ? When was the last time you told anyone about Jesus and His powerful and amazing love? It is our job to be like this woman – the woman at the well.

What are your thoughts on this?  Do you have any water pots that need left behind?  Are you excited about the things of Christ?

God Encounters / True Worship

The last  post we began to  will deal with Jesus and His encounter with the woman at the well.  What we saw was that Jesus went through Samaria because He had a divine appointment with the woman at the well.  Jesus was reaching out to this woman who was an outcast in a whole region of outcast.  Jesus was willing to defile himself so that he could reach out to this woman.  If you do not know the story click here and read it.

Let me pick up from the last post and ask: why was this woman considered an outcast among outcasts? Why would she have to come in the heat of the day to get water? It comes down to her sin which Jesus addresses – she has had five husbands and is now living with a man who is not her husband. What we understand from this is she has been engaged in a series of illicit relationships, and she was not married to her current lover. Sexual relations outside of marriage are forbidden in both Testaments and by the way this has not changed and Jesus addresses this issue with this woman.

In Jesus addressing this we see that in God encounters, God tells the truth in love (17–18). What happens when Jesus tells her the truth in love? She does not react defensively and it is very significant that she does not react defensively to Jesus’ knowledge of her broken relationships. After Jesus confronts these relationships she then calls Jesus a prophet which affirms Jesus. What the woman does is focuses on who Jesus is because of what He says to her and does not get defensive. So her attention remains on Jesus’ person even though her sinful life is being confronted by Jesus. This focus on Jesus is a key characteristic of true faith. When you are confronted about your sin – how do you react? Do you immediately point out the sin of the other person or look to Jesus? She looked to Jesus and realized her sinfulness.

I believe this all happened because Jesus encountered her with the truth in a loving way and he did not judge her because of her past – he just pointed it out in a loving way that what she was engaged in was wrong. Do you treat people with love? Do you tell people the truth in love? Consider for a moment this quote by Warren Wiersbe – “Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.” Are you brutal with people? Are practicing hypocrisy? Let us all tell the truth but do it in love as we are told in to Ephesians 4:15.

Something else that we see in this story with this woman is that God encounters bring about true worship (23). First thing we need to realize is that in verse 20 the woman is asking where should she worship, in Jerusalem which is where the Jews worship or on Mount Gerizim which is where the Samaritans made their offerings. Jesus reveals to the woman that where a person worships is unimportant. It is not limited to a place but we should worship in spirit and in truth. Jesus is letting her know that the worship of the Father is not confined to a place but is an action of heart. Jesus also is letting her know that all worship must be in keeping with the truth of God’s revealed Word. Jesus tells her and tells us that God is spirit and those who worship him must worship Him in spirit and truth. You cannot worship in any other way.

To worship in spirit means you are concerned with the spiritual realities, not outward sacrifices, cleansings and how beautiful things look or what is done around you but what is happening inside. It is not about what is on the outside but what is going on in the inside – the Pharisees looked great on the outside but were filthy on the inside according to Jesus. Are you a Pharisee when it comes to worship? To worship in truth means you worship according to the whole council of God’s word, especially in light of the New Testament revelation of Jesus. We worship in the truth of what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. Let me ask you – are you worshipping in the spirit and in truth that God says to or are you worshiping what you want to think is right? We must worship the way God says not what our preferences are!

What do you believe that it means to worship in spirit and in truth?  How are you at telling the truth in love?