[11:15AM] Welcome to Pursuit LIVE Online!

[Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] um [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] you [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] good morning and welcome to pursuit church worship experience online my name is cliff and my name is emily we're so excited that you are joining us this beautiful sunday morning and the first thing that we want you to do is take out your phones and go ahead and share this experience you might already be on your phone if you're watching on your phone if you're watching on tv pull out your phone it's super easy whether you're on facebook or youtube you can share the experience if you're on youtube just copy the link text it to a friend yeah email it if that's your thing yeah if you're on facebook just hit the share button and click let's just go ahead and show the people how easy it is let's just let's just share the experience it's super easy hop on facebook go to pursue church there will be a little button that says share hit the share button super easy and we are done that's how simple it is and you never know what a share could do for someone's life what the message might mean to someone absolutely or how god wants to work in their life so make sure to share this experience today absolutely i love it look another great way to stay in tune in what we do here at pursuit church is to follow us on social media we are on youtube instagram and facebook and we literally drop content every single day every day every day right and we don't do that just because we don't have anything else to do but it is genuinely to add significant value to your lives and your spiritual walks with jesus christ so again partner with us by following us on social media on youtube instagram and facebook so you always stay connected yeah it's a great way to know what is going on here at pursuit church throughout the week and you might have seen already on social media this week that this wednesday we are having our pre-teen fall party it's gonna be so much fun they're gonna have games food it'll be a good time so if you have a student that is a fifth or sixth grader make sure they're here this wednesday it'll be from 6 30 to 8 30 and don't forget our midweek experiences are back so that's men's women's students pre-teens we're all in the building at the same time and it's been so awesome the past few weeks so if you want to join us make sure you come this wednesday man it's been so good listen mark your calendars october 5th pursuit is hosting a worship night by our very own worship pastor pastor taylor kale and we have the opportunity to actually get his heart and just what he feels the direction of where god is going to take us so here's a short video from our youth or not our youth pastor but our worship pastor pastor taylor kale so here it is check it out now hey guys we're so excited to announce that on october 5th this coming tuesday night at 6 30 we're going to gather together as a church family for a worship night and our heart is just to simply seek the lord to go after him scripture promises that jesus said if you'll seek me you'll find me when you seek me with all of your heart if you'll knock the door will be open and that's our heart it's just to genuinely come in here take time out of our day out of our week to seek the lord to go after him and we believe that we'll find him in that moment he says that if we gather together in his name that he'll be here with us if again for gathered in his name glorifying him worshiping him coming here just to seek him to praise him to lift him up so that's what we want to do as a church family we want to invite you to come join us on that night again it's october 5th at 6 30. we look forward to seeing you then we are so excited about our worship night coming up this tuesday october 5th if you want to join us for worship night make sure you're here it's in a couple days it's literally this tuesday so make sure and invite your friends your family whoever you want to join us there is nothing like getting together in a room full of people who just come to set aside everything and worship god it truly is one of my favorite times so if you want to join us for this worship night it is going to be amazing and we'd love to have you here listen another important announcement mark your calendars october 24 2021 pursuit church will be hosting a baptism service and i love it i honestly do it it gets me hyped because it points to the great things that jesus christ is continuing to do in the lives of his people and we get to express it through the way of baptism so if you feel led by the holy spirit to go public with your faith through the way of baptism reach out to us send us an email at connect pursuitchurch.org and i'm telling you get signed up because i got a feeling i don't know about you him but i got a feeling this service might be jam-packed so again make sure to reach out to us if you want to get baptized and go public with your faith and if you have no idea maybe you're new to the church or new to the denver community and you don't know what a baptism service looks like here at pursuit church we put together a short clip so here it is check it out now [Music] it is going to be an awesome day october 24th we cannot wait to see how god is going to show up and it is so awesome just to see how he moves so faithfully through the people here at pursuit church so if you want to get baptized if you want to go public in your faith we want to support you in that decision absolutely so make sure and email us at connect pursuitchurch.org cannot wait so listen another great way to worship the name of jesus christ and to partner with us here at pursue church is through your giving and there's two ways that you can actually give you can go online at pursuitchurch.org forward slash giving or one of our favorites is actually downloading the pursuit church app and you can set up recurring giving that way your tithes and offerings are always on time so again we thank you for your continued partnership with us through your giving and just let the lord use you in that way yes it's so awesome and that the app is worked out if you don't know just go ahead and download the app because it is so easy it's so convenient and if you're a first time guest this morning we just want to say thank you for being here thank you for joining us online taking time out of your sunday to be here and listen to what god wants to speak through pastor jordan so make sure you check out the comments below there will be a pinned comment yeah you can click on that fill out the form we just want to send you a free gift love on you get to know you get to hear how you got two search pursuit church online this morning so make sure and fill out that form so we can send you a free gift yes share share share you heard emily talk about in the beginning i'm going to talk about here in the end it's very important listen if god can do something through a spoken word or through the way of worship in this video he'll do it in your life i can guarantee you he can probably do it in somebody else's so there's so much power and the ability to share and the technology that god has given us so share this worship online experience right now and now we're coming to what we believe is one of the most pivotal points in this worship online experience and that is the opportunity that we get to call on the name of jesus so wherever you are right now in this moment clear your minds and your hearts and get ready because worship begins now [Music] [Applause] [Music] when all i see is a battle you see my victory when all i see [Music] your love is me [Music] there's nothing to fear now for i am safe with [Music] let's sing this out this morning so when i fight i'll fight on my knees with my hands lifted high oh god the battle belongs to you in every fear i lay at your feet i sing through the night oh god the battle belongs to you [Music] and if you are for me who can't be against me [Music] for jesus [Music] is [Music] with my head [Music] you go before [Music] nothing can stand against the power of our god you shine in the shadow you win every battle [Music] nothing can stand against the power [Music] [Music] you [Music] nothing can stand against [Music] fight [Music] is [Music] this next song we're going into it says jesus you make the darkness tremble so i want to encourage all of us to remember that no matter what life looks like right now if things are weird or just bad around you that the name we're about to sing is not just a name it's a name with power and so sing it with power this morning because that's what he has given us so join me now as i pray and we continue in worship this morning [Music] god we do thank you jesus that your name is a name with power [Music] god that the darkness flees from your name i thank you that your name is holy your name is worthy to be saying is worthy to be praised this morning i thank you jesus for the opportunity that you've given us through your death god to approach a holy and blameless father that we would never take advantage of that that you prepare our hearts now to enter in to your presence father i thank you again god i ask that our worship is holy to you god that it is pleasing to you that you would be in our presence this morning and you will be honored at what you see in what you hear god on this stage and in our hearts today as a church family we thank you for what you've done for us jesus it's in your name we pray amen [Music] please [Music] the storm surrounding me let it break [Music] jesus [Music] you make the darkness jesus [Music] jesus [Music] you make the darkness jesus [Music] jesus you make the darkness [Music] jesus jesus you make the darkness jesus jesus [Music] jesus [Music] your name [Music] is jesus you make the darkness true jesus jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] your name is [Music] your name is [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] is [Music] [Music] in revelation it says that day and night the angels gather around the throne of the lord and they sing holy holy holy is the lord god almighty as a church family today that's what we want to do i want to invite you as we sing this to join him with heaven and worship him today [Music] hallelujah [Music] lord god all my dears [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah hallelujah [Music] lord god almighty hallelujah [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] are you lord god almighty [Music] worthy [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Music] lord hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] worthy [Music] [Music] worthy [Music] [Music] um [Music] a million angels fall face down on [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] angels [Music] help but save with all of heaven forever [Music] is [Music] heart can't help but sing with all of heaven forever [Music] is is [Music] is [Music] is let's sing this out church [Music] a million angels fall face down on the floor all to echo holy is the lord and my heart can't help but sing with all of heaven wrong [Music] is is he holy this morning my prayer over the last few weeks for my life and my family and for our church family is that through the course of this series that we would get a glimpse of that holiness that peter is talking about in first peter because i believe that god's holiness is so great and so powerful and that he is so majestic and so perfect and so beautiful that if we if we just get a glimpse of his glory it changes our life forever we just get a taste of it and that's been the prayer i've prayed from weeks leading up to this this this series out of first peter and it's what i prayed this week it's what i prayed this morning and it's what we're going to pray right now together that that god will give us a glimpse of his glory a glimpse of this holiness a taste of who he really is knowing that that when our lives when our minds our human minds our human hearts see the god who create us and we just get a taste of who he really is we'll just never be the same and that the process of holiness this whole thing that we're talking about through the course of this series is just it just it it takes place the more and more we see and know of god and who he really is and so i'm going to pray that prayer again same prayer i've prayed for weeks and i want to encourage you to pray that with me over your life and over the life of this church over your family and and i believe without a doubt god will answer that now today and and continually even after the series is over we need god we need his glory we need his holiness we need to get a glimpse of him like moses said show me your glory let's pray that prayer today father god i just come before you lord you are so holy god truly father you are you are so set apart god's so powerful so majestic god more than we can imagine god your power is more than we can understand your understanding is more than we can fathom god your wisdom is beyond what we could even gather in our hearts and minds god but we come humbly before you god knowing that you are our creator knowing that you are a savior knowing that you are lifted up above all things that your name is above all names father god and we come humbly before you lord praying god that you will continue to reveal more and more of yourself to us god that you will reveal more and more of your glory to us that you will reveal more and more of your holiness to us god that we will get a taste of you father god so that we will crave you and go after you and chase you and i pray lord this morning god let that let that happen god in this message father let the words god let the truth god let your scripture your living an active word god just reveal just a glimpse of who you are in our hearts and our minds and i pray lord this morning that you will give us a heart to take in a mind to understand ears to hear and eyes to see you father and in a new way i pray lord that your will is done god speak to us change us make us holy like you are holy in your name amen i am uh i'm excited about the message this morning this is uh probably the last message in this series but i do believe it is probably the most important message in this series um you ever just had one of those days where you uh you just wake up and you realize like i think i'm getting older today is one of those days for me uh thursday uh i did some we we've discovered and our our staff a few of the guys have discovered the game of spike ball and spike ball is just a game that you stand around a little net and you just spike the ball but it you have to move quick and jump and dive and you're hitting the ground and and we so every day just about every day this week after work we've been playing this game and thursday i went on a run and did some boxing and then saturday play basketball with with a super fast teenager and uh did some more spike ball and i woke up this morning and felt like it and so my mind is there and i'm ready to roll but i also feel like as i was advised in between the two services to maybe take some ibuprofen and uh but it's it's been it's it's been a good week and i'm excited about i'm excited about this i'm also excited about tuesday night if you don't know what's happening tuesday night i'm going to tell you and i'm going to invite you to it tuesday night here at 6 30 at the church we're going to have a worship night and we've had worship nights in the past this worship night is going to be a little different it's going to it's going to be very intentional over the last few weeks and months really in preparation of this series and just becoming addicted to the holiness of god in in in living our lives according to god the lord has been stirring in in my heart and in the heart of our team and our staff to start creating moments and environments where we can get together and just worship god just to truly adore and worship god i think sometimes there is a not confusion but just a lack of full understanding of some of the intentions of gathering together as a church as a church body on sunday morning for example the bible lays out that there are some powerful things that take place when we gather together in the name of christ the word church is is actually a german word it comes from the word in in greek called ecclesia and it literally just means a gathering it means when we we followers of christ believers of christ we gather together in the name of christ like we do on sunday mornings and we we come together for that purpose to pray and to worship but we also come as like ephesians says that the apostles the prophets the evangelists the teachers the shepherds that they are gifted by the lord and filled with the spirit and anointed to teach and lead in a way that equips you to go out and live your life and thrive and and be alive in the darkness and change the world around you it equips you and encourage you in in your family in your marriage as a husband a father a wife a mother and your singleness and your dating life and your relationships that there is a building up and equipping and encouraging uh as we grow in christ together and that sunday morning is a big part of that there is a lot of ministry to god but there's also a lot of ministry to people and that's okay that's that's the way it's designed but i think one of the things that the modern american culture has forgotten is that although there is a great and high calling to reach people and minister to people and equip people and develop people and to lead people in a growing relationship with jesus christ that the highest calling that every single follower of christ has on their life is to minister first and most to god to serve and worship god and to have moments and environments where you come together and the ministry of people is off the table for a while and it's just about the worship of the lord and that's what we want tuesday night to be we want it to be a moment where we come together and we are not here to equip each other we're here to gather together and to worship god and to praise god there'll be a moment of just acknowledgement of god there'll be a moment where we can prepare our hearts the only focus will be on us in that moment is just to confess and surrender and lay down our lives prepare our hearts to worship god we'll take communion together on tuesday night it'll be very low key almost no production we will not broadcast it so if anybody's in driving distance and and wants to come hang out with us we would love this building to be full but i want to make sure that we know that the heart of tuesday is to worship god and so if you're not in a place where you're comfortable with that it's okay if you don't come you don't have to come if you're at a place where you're you're searching for god you're hungry for god and you're here but you don't think you're saved yet and you're you're god's still dealing with you on stuff and you don't want to be in an environment like that and you don't have to come i want people to know that there's no pressure but if you do come that it it will be about god and solely about the worship and the ministry unto god does that make sense is that okay that we do that as a church is that okay if there's a moment where where it's not about us right and that it's just about god because sometimes we're like it's all about god but like a little bit about me and tuesday it's not going to be about us at all it's going to be about god and i'm excited sorry at 6 30 we'll open up at six there'll be some music on in here and we can pray and start preparing our hearts but we will kick off at 6 30 there will be child care but there'll be almost nothing else and it'll just be dialed down and i'm excited to get in here and to worship the lord in a unique way in a special way and and again the heart of this you know is becoming because over the last few weeks and much the lord's just been leading me just to focus on his holiness and becoming holy like he's holy and and as peter and first peter as we've been the last few weeks he's he's laying out this continual groundwork in our lives that that we have not just faith in god but our hope in god because of his holiness because of him being set apart you have to remember what holiness means holiness means being different being set apart it's his power it's his strength it's his knowledge he's the creator god it's his majesty it's his beauty you know the righteousness and justice are the foundations of his throne his thoughts are above our thoughts his ways are above our ways he is great and magnificent in ways that we can't describe in human language that's what makes him holy that's what sets him apart and that we can not just have faith in him but put our hope in his holiness as well knowing that his holiness is what draws us and what makes him who he is and that there's a calling on our life to be holy like he's holy that as we give our lives to christ and we start to follow jesus and we get involved in this renewing of our minds and this transformation process in the holiness that that the the more that we walk with christ the more separated from the world we've become the the less like the culture we become the more uh unlike the world we think and we start to think more like christ and walk in that and eventually the bible says we're transformed from nature to nature glory to glory into the image of christ and peter's starting to focus on that in in first peter chapter two he's starting to focus on that and he gives two uh imageries two two comparisons to this where he's acknowledging that there is in fact a process of being transformed the process into holiness and and some may call this sanctification at the end of the day the simplistic meaning of sanctification is that it is the process of becoming holy being transformed from the lost sinner that he found us into the holy righteous son and daughter of god that we're called to be and so i want to read this in first peter chapter two verse two and three this is the first imagery it's of a baby like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up look at your neighbor and say grow up wives i'm giving you the opportunity of a lifetime all week long you just wanted to tell him to grow up and i'm telling you right now you have the permission of god grow up bobby stephen sam women you need to grow up too but grow up look to your other say grow up y'all better i'm telling you i better wake up grow up say it grow up everybody get mad let's make a safe stuff make sure you're alive like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into your salvation if indeed you have tasted that the lord is good and so there's a lot in the scripture there's a lot in this verse but for today's purposes i want you to see the two things that he's pointing out to you that whether you give your life to christ when you're 15 or 55 that that day you give your life to christ you are an infant in christ you are a babe in christ you are young in the faith and that there is a process of growing up in our salvation uh that the day you give your life to christ is not the end of it's the beginning of your new life in christ it's the beginning of the way things are supposed to be as you're moving into this this newness this new creature this this calling this holiness this beauty that god has planned for you and he says like an infant crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow up and the thing that i want you to see in this imagery he's saying that if you've indeed tasted that the lord is good so meaning that that no matter if you got saved at 15 or 55 you spent the majority of your life living in this world apart from christ and even as a christian for so long we we live our lives kind of following christ with our faith in christ but still very much dependent on the world ruled by our flesh ruled by our wants ruled by the foolishness of the culture ruled by these things and so we know what life is apart from christ and he's saying that as you give your life to christ and you start to experience the goodness of god and you taste the goodness of god like the first time that you're reading the scriptures and the lord speaks to you and you feel that wisdom and taking over and you feel that peace that comes from that you you know the chaos that's in the world and the anxiety that's in the world and instructions in the world but when you taste that piece of god you know that it's good and he's saying because you taste it crave it crave more of it and go after god crave the things of god we know what the world offers we know the chaos that's in the world we look into the culture we watch the news we see the wickedness we see the evil then we look into the righteousness and the holiness of god and we see that it's good and so peter's saying part of our responsibility is to look at it taste the goodness of god and go this is so much better than what i see and what i felt in this world i'm going to go after god it's basically saying don't be an idiot you see the goodness of god and you see the destruction of the world choose the goodness of god start to crave the goodness of god get into the word go after god chase god grow closer to god that this is part of our responsibility in the process is just to chase god to crave god and go after god this is the first this is the first imagery the second one he's saying as you crave him as you chase him as you go after him he says as you come to him jesus a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of god chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god through jesus christ so he says i want you to know like a baby crave the goodness of god the word of god the truth of god the wisdom of god the knowledge of god the presence of god and all that is god chase him and go after him that's part of our responsibility but he says as you chase after him as you come to christ and as you head that direction he says that there is a a part that god plays a significant part that god plays in your life where he is building you up molding you shaping you and building you up into a holy priesthood into a spiritual house into a kingdom of priests into uh the the man the woman that god has called you to be that he's shaping you molding you transforming you into the holiness and the power and the righteousness and the peace that you've been called to he says that there's this there's this process of transformation and as you chase god and go after god then god is in your life involved in your life actually building you up into something great and magnificent and and i want to talk this morning about the most dominant way at which the lord molds you and shapes you and and we'll start off by just calling it difficulty difficulty and i want to give you a quick example nobody shows up on their wedding day hoping that it is the worst mistake of their life have you ever been in one of those weddings where everybody else knows that it's the worst mistake of their life but they don't right they're like oh you know kevin's good he's just he hadn't had a job in 14 years but it's gonna change tomorrow and he kind of wrote a check in my name and stole from me but you know mercy he'll change he's not gonna change okay you can't change him god can change him it's your only hope but nobody stands up on that day and goes man i hope this falls apart i hope this is horrible nobody nobody everybody gets into marriage hoping that it is as amazing as it says in the movies and really even the way the bible lays out marriage that it it can be an amazing gift it can be crazy powerful on so many levels it is this gift of god it can be that way and there's really no problem with marriage at all it only has two problems the two people involved in it and so when people begin to pray god let's let me have a good marriage let me experience a good marriage let me have the promises okay you know when you do all this stuff and you're just like bless me father and his answer to that prayer is to drive the selfishness the foolishness the laziness the wickedness and the lust and the addiction and all the other horrible things that we don't like to talk about out of your life because if he can do that and out of your spouse's life then you can have that gift that it's supposed to be okay this is this is the heart of what god is doing god has plans for you amazing plans for you the bible says in ephesians he has works prepared for us ahead of time to do that means you have a purpose god's designed you to do something with your life there's a calling on your life there is hope there are gifts in this life like marriage there's gifts in your life like family there's gifts in this life like children there's gifts in this life like calling and careers and purpose there's gifts in this life to experience the beauty of the world there people don't understand that god gave us food to be able to enjoy it that it is amazing that that there are things all through life that we take for granted every day that god said i've given you the world i created the world and i put you in it and all of it can be and should be a blessing to you it should be a gift to you but it's it's not that the marriage is bad and that kids are bad and that family's bad and that jobs are bad and that bosses are bad and careers are bad and and purpose is bad it's that we're bad it's that we jack up the whole thing and so god says i i'm going to come into your life and as i'm as you're growing from this baby in christ up to the man and woman of god you're called to be as i'm shaping you and transforming you and molding you and building you up to be this this kingdom of priests this this sons and daughters these powerful righteous filled with peace and joy men and women of god to live the life that i've actually created you to live that sin destroyed he said in order for me to bless you the way that i want to bless you i've got to get involved in your life and drive some junk out of there and he says this is this is this is what's going to happen peter knows this more than anybody and this is again i've said it every week and i'll keep saying it this what gives me hope on this conversation of holiness in first peter because it's peter writing the words because peter was horrible horrible he he when he first his name was simon he was born simon and when jesus first showed up he said i'm so much a sinner i'm not going to fall you need to leave me and you get away from me and jesus said follow me anyway because jesus loves us even in our sins that's why he came to die for us not to reject us he loves us so as this horrible sinner by simon's own account starts to follow jesus there was never a single moment in time when simon was on the same page as jesus never not once over and over again they argued over basic stuff simon so arrogant so egotistical so just in your face selfish always consumed with what the things of man and not the things of god but eventually through this he starts to see the glory and the holiness of christ like we talked about last week god takes him through a storm so he can reveal the glory of god to him and he starts to realize okay this man jesus is not just a man this man jesus is god and so he gets to this moment simon's actually the first human being to publicly declare his faith in jesus christ and say jesus you are the son of the living god you are the messiah you are the savior of the world you're not just a prophet you're not just a man you are god and in this moment he became the first human being saved by grace through faith in christ and christ did something that is incredibly powerful and incredibly symbolic and should speak to us he looked at simon who declared this and he said you're blessed simon you're blessed this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood this was revealed to you by my father in heaven and he goes in from now on i need you to know you're not simon anymore but you're peter and he said you're peter you're a rock you're a strong you're going to be a leader and on this foundation on this rock on this declaration that i am truly the messiah that i am the son of the living god i'm going to use you and use this testimony and use this moment and use your life to start a movement to start the church the ecclesia the gathering that will grow so strong that not even the gates of hell will be able to come against it and he says i need you to see this he says simon you declared your faith in christ and then he gave him a new name because he was a new person because he was now peter he was a new cr creature a new creation in christ and don't you just wish that that would have been ball game that he would have been holy that he would have been good to go that he would have been ready because some of you think that something like i've been going to church since i was seven who cares you don't understand i taught my sunday school who cares peter then after salvation after faith after this he walks up he gets one of the few disciples to get invited up on the mount of transfiguration which is this moment where god reveals the true glory of christ he sees jesus in this divine form it it you couldn't imagine how great and how powerful it really was then he comes down off the mountain off that and then then after after salvation after declaring he's the son living god after seeing him in this crazy glorified form then he gets in a fight with jesus and rebukes him so much that jesus turns around and calls him satan and says get behind me and he says even now after all of this you still have so much of the things of man in you and not the things of god that you are resembling satan rather than peter who i created you to be so this is important that you understand this that we can just all kind of humble ourselves before this truth and be okay and stop being so fake and because it's so difficult to be fake it's so difficult to act like you don't have any problems it's so difficult to try to uphold this image to all the people around you all the time isn't it hard to lie on facebook every day all day and act like everything's okay and figure out how to turn every conversation and justify everything you do and convince everybody around you that you've made it that you've arrived that you're there that every fight you get in is the spouse's fault it's never your fault you do pray a lot it's just about god saving your marriage by fixing them because you're good to go and should i just keep going it gets i could keep getting real more real if i if i wanted to in it tough sitting in church trying to be somebody that you know that you're not trying to act like you got rid of that addiction been lying to your wife for months and even years oh yeah i used to watch form but i haven't in years i've read it i read it for the articles what were you doing on the computer last night at 2am in the bathroom studying the bible you may keep going isn't it hard to act like you don't have inappropriate relationships developing on social media in in in it hard to act like you're not developing an emotional affair going on with with that person at work and they're hard to act like you got it all together when you don't this this is this this is what this is what christ is trying to break through he's trying to break through this facade he's trying to break through this brick wall in your heart because while you're spending your life trying to hide it and fake it christ wants to drive it far from your life so you can experience the freedom and the blessing and the righteousness and the peace and the power that you've been called to and so he has this moment where he just calls peter out and he says bro i know you're saved and i know you believe me i know you know that i'm the son living god and i know that you've seen me in glorified form and i know that you taught your sunday school class and i know that you did all these amazing things but i still need you to understand despite your ego and despite how far you think you've come you still have so many things in the things of man and things of culture deep inside your heart driving you that you're mimicking following satan rather than following me and he says now i know who you are and i know who you're called to and i know what you will be but i need to make sure that you go through a process that will drive this junk from your life so that you can be who i've called you to be and one of those processes one of those seasons in peter's life comes up in uh chapter luke or chapter luke luke chapter 22. this is the last supper and this is something so dynamic and i we i resonate with this and i think that if we could just all humble ourselves a little bit we could all resonate with this this is so important that we see this in luke uh 22 verse 31 now remember remember that jesus named simon peter he changed his name and after this moment which takes place in matthew 16 after this moments way before this time he referred to him as peter almost every other time and if not peter than simon peter but he was always by his new name the only time in luke that jesus does not refer to him as peter is right here in this moment and not only does he not say peter in luke 22 31 he says simon simon so he doesn't just say peter he doesn't say simon peter he says simon simon he said he's a to me he's making a clear uh notion he's making it clear to simon to to the disciples and to you and to me that right now what we're about to deal with is simon and not peter because you think peter's here and arrived peter's not here yet it's still you simon and we still got to kill simon so that peter can live and so this is what he said he said simon simon satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat now i know not a lot of people know what sifting wheat means but if it involves satan it could be satan wants to take you to the playground it's still not good right any anytime satan is asking about you not good not gonna not gonna be a good season not gonna be an easy season and so jesus says simon simon satan has asked to sift not just you but all of you all the disciples i think it's important to understand that every single follower of christ will be attacked by the enemy in this life that he wants to attack you and he wants to cause difficulty in your life it's important that we get this important that we understand that but more than that what you have to see is that jesus didn't say but i told that old devil to go back to hell where he came from and life's going to be easy it's going to be good i don't know why when i make fun of people i go country i'm sorry i don't want to offend you everybody's like well i they always do that he says i want to make sure you know he is going to sift you like we but i've prayed for you simon that your faith won't fail he said so you're about to go through an immense season of difficulty at the hands of satan and i promise you though your faith isn't going to fail you but it's going to be difficult and it's going to be hard and it's gonna drive you and it's gonna it's gonna it's gonna do some things in you and you can't imagine right now how hard it's gonna be but i probably it's gonna be hard but i promise you i am not gonna let your faith fail you and then he says hopeful when you come back when you turn back strengthen your brothers see simon in this moment he believed that he was ready to be that rock he believed that he was ready to be the leader he believed he was ready to be the husband he was ready to be the father he was ready to be the wife and the mother he was ready to take on the career and find the purpose and do the ministry and and lead the world to christ and he was ready to go out and make something of this life and do something he was ready to go and he's about to find out just how much not ready he really is and but the point that jesus is making you're not ready but when you go through this sifting of the weed when you go through this difficult season when you get back from it and i promise you you will get back from it you will be ready to be the leader you will will be ready to be that strong rock and he goes on just specifically because peter's a like me okay i'm not gonna speak for you he he just can't he just can't his ego just can't handle it and he goes oh no jesus you're mistaken i'm ready i'm so ready lord i'm ready to go with you to prison and to death i'm ready to fight for you i'm the man i'm ready to go let me lead the home let me do this i'm ready to break free i'm ready to do it braveheart moment revolution moment let's go i'm strong and jesus is just like shut it peter he says not only are you not ready to go to prison not only are you not ready to stand up for not only are you not ready to be the leader you're not ready to be the husband you're not ready to be the wife you're not ready to die for me you're not even ready to tell somebody that you even know me he said because later on tonight three times you will deny you even know me he said there'll be a time when you're around a fire and a 13 year old girl will be like then you follow him you will cuss that girl out and say i've never even met the man jesus is saying he's breaking into that that that jacked up ego lies that that enemy tells us that we tell ourselves that we're ready to go and jesus says i need you to see you're not ready to go what sifting of the wheat is uh wheat is very very valuable in this day and age extremely valuable but there is a shaft that surrounds the wheat and it's very unvaluable and so you have to forcibly shake or attack basically this wheat and what it does is the wheat that's heavier breaks off from the shaft the shaft flies away and what is valuable is left behind it's the idea that there is a pressure and a force applied to wheat and everything that makes it invaluable disappears and everything that is valuable is left so that you can use it and it can be what it's supposed to be that's what siphy and the weed is and so the promise here is that he says no matter what satan brings against you and what he means for evil i'm going to use it for good in your life and he moves on to this and i want to read this to you so that you can make sure you understand the heart of what's happening here this is in hebrews 12 where where they're laying out basically a theology of difficulty that here becomes the word discipline and i want to read this to you my son do not make light of the lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the lord disciplines the one he loves and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son so he says because i am a good father and because i love you i am not going to let the sin the evil the wickedness the unrighteousness the foolishness and all of that junk in your life hinder you from living the life that i died for you to live he says we may get lazy at times and not discipline our kids we may get lazy at times and let the school raise them and let the culture raise them and let the church raise them but he never gets lazy he says i love you and because i love you i'm going to discipline you i'm going to rebuke you i'm going to chasten you i'm never going to punish you that's different he said i'm going to discipline you though because discipline shapes you and it molds you and it transforms you and it drives out the junk in our lives he goes on to say this is the the key scripture for the day endure hardship as discipline endure every hardship every difficulty every circumstance is hard to go through endure it as if it is the discipline of god meaning that whether your foolishness caused it i know i'm not speaking to you but the person next to you whether someone else's foolishness caused it whether your sins caused it whether it is a true attack of satan a true attack of the enemy or whether it's just dealing with the pressures of the culture and the government whether whatever it is or if it is truly the hand of god disciplining you specifically he says doesn't matter god loves you so much that every single moment of difficulty every situation of difficulty every circumstance and season of difficulty you need to walk through it and endure it like it's discipline because god is going to take whatever was meant for evil and he's going to make it good he's going to use it to shape you and to mold you this is what needs to give us hope in this life and the truth is let me just break everybody's hearts real fast we all can agree i think because i don't think we're all this dumb life is never going to be easy right can i get an amen is somebody awake have you been alive the last 24 months it's never going to be easy sin creates massive difficulty in itself foolishness creates massive difficulty in itself and what god is promising you even your own sins and your own foolishness and the difficulty that it creates i will use it for your good he says i will walk you through it i'll shape you i'll mold you i'll transform you god is treating you as his children for what children are not disciplined by their father if you are not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline and you are not legitimate not true sons and daughters at all moreover we all have had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it how much more should we submit to the father of spirits and live they disciplined us for a little while as they thought best but god disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in his holiness no discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful that means it's difficult that means it's hard to walk through that means it's not fun it's not lollipops and candy canes it's hard and he says but later on after it's over after you persevere after you make through it and he promises you that you will make it through it however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it so all those bad days and those bad weeks and those bad seasons jesus is making a supremely amazing promise to you i'm gonna use that to mold you shape you and transform you and on the other side of it you will be more like me you will walk in more righteousness you will walk in more peace and more joy and more power and you'll be closer to your purpose you'll be more aligned with me and your life will be better in the end than it is right now that's why james says when you start to go through trials and difficulties start to rejoice because no matter where it came from god's going to use it for your good and that's the end result of the situation with simon he failed in the craziest ways he denied christ he wasn't there the day the the the day that they needed him the most me and pastor cliff were just talking about this the other day that that jesus came to him twice we don't ever look at it like this he came in twice in the garden of gethsemane and he said please pray with me simon wake up please pray with me please wake up please pray with me and he goes back because he knows what he's about to go through and simon falls back asleep then he gets arrested he's starting to get arrested and simon about throws the whole thing off and gets out his sword and gets everybody killed and he gets rebuked right then and there then after that after the crucifixion takes place he's hiding in some house somewhere and he's not there on the third day even though jesus told him that i'll lay my life down and get it picked up again the women went but he didn't go there are other people that went to be faithful but he didn't he was afraid he was scared i don't think he believed jesus was going to raise from the dead i think he thought it was over but as he walked through this immense difficulty as he walked through the pressure of this the fear of this even these failures it exposed to him who he really was it exposed to him the difficulties and the weaknesses and the sins and the foolishness that were still very much dominating his life and as he walked through this difficulty the lord humbled him the lord drove these things from his life and he had to own up to it i'm going to tell you two things about this really fast i'm going to have to tell you a long story in 30 seconds so if you're not familiar with it you need to go read it in the old testament the story of jacob if you don't know who jacob is jacob is he gives birth to 12 sons who become the 12 tribes of israel and eventually bring forth jesus christ into the world god had a plan for jacob that's hard to imagine he had a plan to bless jacob to to give him immense immense blessing in this life his purpose was significant the things that god wanted to do in his life was crazy but jacob jacob was so filled with ego so filled with pride so sinful so leaning on deception and manipulation and trickery that he deceived his own father he stole his brother's inheritance he stole his brother's birthright he deceived his father-in-law stole from him all through his life he was just evil wicked it was all about him he was selfish beyond selfish and he always had a plan outside of god's plan and he was always trying to fix it you know and use it do his thing and god started to call out to him and started to build a relationship with him and even as this relationship was being built god started bringing in difficulty in his life trying to break this because god knew what he had planned for him he knew the blessing that he had on his life he knew the calling that he had on his life he knew what he wanted him to do but jacob just continually wouldn't break under the loving pressure of god the loving difficult of god the discipline of god and he just kept lying and deceiving and she his father names in the old testament matter because they they always depict your character his father gave him the name jacob because it meant deceiver because that's who he was and so he eventually gets in this moment where he's starting to truly kind of follow the lord and he has to go back is to face his brother who he he did incredibly wrong and and and to meet him at the reunion his brother bought brought an army of 400 people which didn't seem like gonna be a picnic in deep fear and anxiety jacob betrays who he really is yet again he sets up he starts his own plan he divides up the people uh he puts the ones that he he doesn't like the most up front so they get killed first he sends them with gifts and he's like well if he likes the gifts and he lets them live maybe he'll let the next ones live the next one was maybe let me live but he was just ready if you're up front you immediately know well shoot i'm on the bottom of the totem pole then he takes the wife that he didn't really like or love puts her up near the front i just always thought that was comical i don't know why then he takes the the wife that he loved then he put her over in this area where they're safe he gives his whole thing and then he leaves her and he goes even farther away can you just say selfishness then after he puts his whole plan in place and he's doing all this and he's trying to take it all on his back and do his thing then he comes to god and he starts to pray and cry out to god and in this moment god comes down he meets jacob in the middle of the night the bible says he begins to wrestle with jacob and he holds him and he's fighting with him and god's trying to break him because he's trying to say listen you keep doing things your own way and you keep deceiving and tricking and manipulating and i'm trying to bless you i have you don't understand who you are you don't understand what i've called you to be and i'm trying to break this pride in you i'm trying to humble you so that i can bless you and he keeps fighting with him and jacob keeps striving and he won't stop and god tells him stop and he won't stop and then he reaches out and he touches his hip dislocates and pulls out that joint makes him incredibly weak and jacob still won't fully break but he's starting to understand who he's starting to realize this is god because he tells god he says bless me now you gotta you gotta understand what he means by this he didn't just say give me a cool gift he's saying bless me turn your face towards me okay whatever you want from my life god that's what i want that's what he's saying your will basically bless me whatever you want to give me that's what i want whatever you want to do in this situation that's what i want i'm submitting to you i'm surrendering to you bless me i get it i get who you are he's saying okay finally the first time in his life your way done my way and then god says something to jacob and this is the some i want you to hear this he says what's your name and you got to understand this remember jacob means deceiver what god's asking him is to come clean at least with god because as he stood before god now weak humbled finally in his life he had to look god in the face and say my name is jacob my name is deceiver my name is manipulator my name is selfish my name is prideful my name is egocentric my name is and then in this moment of humble confession and ownership and he stopped trying to hide this from god god said no longer is your name deceiver no longer is your name jacob but your name is israel you are prince of god you're prince of the people and then he went on from that moment he went on from that moment he never deceived he never manipulated it was god's will after that he surrendered he submitted god blessed him abundantly god brought him into who he was he brought him into his purpose he gave birth to 12 sons those 12 sons became the 12 tribes of israel that dictated and changed history whether you believe christ or not it changed history history's proven that eventually christ comes along saves the world and he gets to be a part of that and that was what he called him to but as god brings difficulty in your life it's to drive things from your life and if you're not careful you will never be able to come to that place of humility with the father and with your relationship with god and with the people around you with your wife your family your husband and be able to say this is who i am and confess it and repent from it and turn it to the father and let him dash of the pieces and drive it far from you we all listen we all have these things in our life every single one of us and you have not arrived you will go through this i just went through six or seven weeks and one of the most difficult times of my entire life and through it the lord revealed my own struggles and my own sins if i'm honest with you we're in the process of becoming like christ there is no process that is worth more than that but there is no process that is more difficult and we have to get to a place to where we're okay where we can be open with ourselves and honest with ourselves and honest with god and honest with the people around us that the more like christ we become the less like us we become and if we would just give ourselves over to it celebrate it be humble as we can and just let the holy spirit work on us and let the difficult seasons and the discipline expose and separate and tear off so that we can be sifted so that what is most valuable in us is shaken away from the junk so that what is left standing is the son and the daughter of god that we were called to be i want to be the first to tell you peter almost didn't come back this is a beautiful end to this the difficulty worked it molded peter it humbled peter it exposed the reality of who he really was that he wasn't ready but it prepared him and it made him ready but peter still didn't come back to christ most people missed this peter didn't run back in fact peter went back to his whole life it wasn't the difficulty that drove him away it was the shame of failure that drove him away and what i see in seasons of difficulty in my own life what i see in so many other people's lives as you go through the season of difficulty and you go through the sin you go through the struggle and god forgives you and he moves it and removes it from your life the last attack from the enemy is shame trying to shame you trying to say listen it's over don't be open don't be honest don't go out and i'm gonna end with this because i've preached way too long jesus made a special trip you gotta understand this is after the resurrection he's only here for of so many days and then he leaves and he goes and he just does jesus stuff but he makes a special trip just to find peter and he makes him breakfast and he fixes him fish and bread and he pulls him up and he takes him then he just gets in his face and he says you love me peter's like yeah and he says i need you to go feed my sheep and he says do you love me and he said yeah he said i need you to go be who i've called you to be and the beauty of this is that no matter how far away you run jesus is never gonna let you go and he's gonna come out and he's gonna find you and he's going to shake you and so i want to end with this thought we will experience difficulty and it's discipline and it will shape us and mold us but be humble before the lord and don't let shame overtake you we've all fallen short of the glory of god we're all in the process of becoming holy that means we're not holy right now that means the lord is going to change us don't let shame drive you away and this morning if you feel like that's where you are you have failed you've walked through sin you've walked through difficulty and you've separated yourself from the people that you love the most you've separated yourself from the church you separated yourself from god this is jesus coming you right here right now in this moment at home at house church telling you i'm not done with you i put you through the difficulty to save you and to make you holy not to drive you away jesus is never going to let you go cast that shame off this morning humble yourself before god and let him love you let him accept you this morning let him just hug on you it is never ever over with christ we will stand before him for all eternity he'll never give up on you if you need to hear that this morning just accept that that is the love of christ in your life i love you guys with all of my heart it's my honor to be your pastor i pray for you every day i wish that we could just take in what god really has planned for us that we could just give into the process and just know that at the end of it it'll be exactly what it's supposed to be and we'll be exactly who we're supposed to be i love you guys let's pray father guys [Music] i just pray lord right now for anybody in this room or anybody at house church or anybody listening alone i pray father that they'll know that any difficult season they go through god that you will use it for their good that it will give them hope to persevere and to endure it but i pray specifically right now in this moment for anyone that father they know that they've walked in sin and foolishness they've been through this season and they just feel like they can't come back to you they just feel like the hope is gone they just feel like there's not a second chance i pray father right here in this moment god let them feel your love let them feel your peace let them feel your comfort god i pray lord let them know that you never ever ever ever let them go that they can keep running but you'll be right there with them father thank you for your grace thank you for your love thank you for your mercy on your holy name amen [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] face [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] holy is the lord we serve a holy holy god [Music] he has spoken today to each and every one of us i am so thankful for that we draw on the service to a close volunteers can be excused and find their places i'll remind you coming up on the 24th of this not the last sunday but the second to the last sunday of this month we're having a baptism if you are interested in being baptized and see somebody connect 10 or send us an email to connecttopchurch.org [Music] and be a part of that aren't you glad you're here today i'm glad you're here and i'm glad you tuned in god spoke to somebody very powerful today don't miss what god's wanting to do in your life no matter what it is it'll end up being good it'll end up being exactly where god wants you to be that's what i want to be don't you join with me some closing prayer oh gracious lord lord i can never thank you enough for saving me i can never thank you enough for coming and finding me in those times holy god seeing her shame just seemed to drive us away i was there and you come and found me i thank you for that lord you're speaking to somebody in this room or in the broadcast today i feel it in my bowls i pray holy god find that person find that person that's out there living in shape find them and call their name holy god and bring them to that place you desire them to be we give you the praise and the glory for being in this house today holy god in the name of jesus amen love you see you next week oh [Music] this is [Music]

Channel: Pursuit Church

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Length: 90min 39sec (5439 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021