Sifting Season - Part 1 | Beth Moore

living proof with Beth Moore is sponsored by the friends and partners of living proof ministries we can't depend on anybody else's unwavering faithfulness except God himself and Peter can't you hear I'm ready I am ready he's going you ain't ready if anywhere near ready and in fact I think maybe it was that point exactly why he was ready for a sifting is he thought he was ready to follow Jesus anywhere and do anything he asked follow him all the way to the death [Music] the story we are about to retell never ever gets old to me you know how some stories you could just hear it over and over again and it probably has to do with the fact that somewhere in your journey you had such need of it that it became such life and breath and hope to you that every time you hear it it just reaffirms again that season of your life that you think maybe you might not have made it had you not heard it there are places like that there are moments in the scriptures that are so defining and they may only show up one time some things there are accounts of several times and in first and second kings and first and second Chronicles a few overlapping things in ezra and nehemiah so much agreement and congruence between all four gospels some things that are told in acts that are also mentioned in the epistles but there are occasionally stories in the Word of God that you only find that one time on that one page in those few scriptures moments that are of such hope to us that make us sit up and think that's me I can see myself on that page and I want to believe that this is what Jesus could do for me too I'm thinking of moments like when Jesus said to the thief that was hanging next to him on the cross today you will be with me in paradise do you know what hope all of us have found that there could be those last moment confessions of true faith in Christ what would we do without that moment and I want to remind you of that that everything in the Word of God was I planned meticulously to be on the page by God but I do also want you to understand and I mean press into the fact that every single detail revolving around the hours coming up to the cross and then to the resurrection are so crucial I don't just mean that everything means something I'm almost willing to say no everything means everything that when it comes to the moments leading up to the cross on the cross and after the cross waiting for the resurrection then Sunday morning comes and the grave is empty all of this this is the foundation of our faith and so we're going to go to that particular evening we're on a Thursday evening in the Word of God way back when around 30 31 32 AD Jesus is sitting at the Passover meal so it's Passover weekend Thursday evening they have been told Peter and John to go and make arrangements at a certain place they are in a large upper room in Jerusalem and they have been partaking of the Passover meal the entire Passover not just the bread and the wine as we think of it for the Lord's Supper that's when he instituted that that the New Covenant and that is what we celebrate that is what we remember that is what we come around over and over again as one of the most important remembrances and actions of our faith but at this point in the evening they have had the entire Passover meal he has introduced the New Covenant through his blood that he is just about to pour out on their behalf in just hours he will be arrested and the next afternoon he will die on the cross so all of this is culminating in this Last Supper where he will speak to them tell them things that are eternal importance some things that they cannot even receive while we're there so I want you to picture it with me they're all seated at the table Judas has just departed they have just been told about the new covenant he has told them what their authority is to be like not like the Gentiles lording authority over people but a servant to all and they have broken out in a dispute over which one of them we'll be the grater you talk about poor timing and so in that moment it says in verse 31 Luke 22 verse 31 Jesus looks over at Simon Peter and he says Simon Simon look out Satan has asked to sift you like wheat but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and you when you have turned back strengthen your brothers so Peter answers him in verse 33 Lord he told him I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death and so Jesus looks at him and says I tell you Peter the rooster will not crow today until you deny three times that you know me you talk about a moment and wondering if it even sunk in what Jesus had just said what all you see happening here at this table is of cosmic proportions because we've got God the Father who is ordained every single detail we have Jesus the Son of God seated at the table fully God fully man right there at the table with him eating the Passover meal we've got his followers that are the closest to him right at that table and we have got Satan somehow involved in this storyline in that he is looking to get every single last one of those followers at that table and pick them off one by one by one you know we needs Peter so badly in the New Testament if you know much about him you know how imperative it is that we have him because in him we have a guy that we can relate with in so many levels because you search his life in the Gospels and you find a guy who was talking when he should have been listening is that sound familiar to anybody else slept when he should have been praying I know that that's familiar to somebody besides me sinking when he should been walking on the water and then rebuking Jesus to his face when he should have been doing absolutely anything on the earth but rebuking Jesus to his face I mean waxing his boat working on his fishing line cleaning fish playing horseshoes anything but rebuking Jesus and here's Peter and he goes listen up I will go with you to prison and to death you know what Peter I know you better than you know yourself I thought this evening that would really be a great title for the lesson the one who knows us better than we know ourselves and with all our boasting is going you know what actually this is what I'm seeing down the road you could stand a little humility Simon Simon and I love this rendering right here pay attention pay attention is that somebody's word I mean couldn't we leave right now I mean that's just like all I need to know is the word if I could just pay attention to what you're doing pay attention to what the enemy is trying to get away with if I could just pay attention Simon Simon pay attention Satan has demanded to have you all to sift you like wheat but I have prayed for you Simon that your faith may not fail look at that with me because in the pronoun it is a plural the first time around now we Texans know exactly how we would translate that Satan has demanded to have y'all to sift y'all like weeds so he goes into the plural pronoun there but then he says but I have prayed for you Peter suddenly the pronoun is now singular again Satan has asked for all of you but I have prayed for you Peter Simon Peter that your faith may not fail and when you turn back that you will strengthen your brothers so why on earth Peter because the inference here there's a lot of things we could take from it but the inference here is not only that he is really the leader among all of the apostles that are sitting there that once Jesus has been ascended to the right hand of the Father that he really is in so many respects going to be a chief among them and leading them in the charge of humble service before the Lord and man is he by that time ever ready for doing exactly that but at this point I think it's more than that I think in some respects that what is happening here is that Satan has asked for all of them but Jesus knows that one in particular could probably use a little sifting does anybody know what I'm saying why Peter why Peter so I want to pitch some answers just this is just for for food-for-thought just some ideas some notions why it might have been Peter when he said Satan has asked for all of you but I'm praying for you Simon that your faith will not fail and that when you've turned back you'll strengthen your brothers so what I want to suggest to you is that it might be fair to assume that Peter had some things that needed sifting that if God ever allows us to go through a sifting season and that's the name of this particular lesson then it probably is because something needs sifting now I need to know that because I don't want that to be a random experience for me if I go through an increased time of warfare if I'm really going to be somehow harassed by the enemy and I am going to really have a season of struggling and finding out who God has made me in him then I want it to be because it has a very specific divine purpose and I can tell you that for Peter part of that was he had some things that needed sifting and let me see if I can explain a little bit about the sifting process here because this is the imagery of a sieve so what what would happen in that ancient culture with the wheat is that it would be cast up in the air over a threshing floor so that the husk would come loose from the rest of the grains so that what was grain would be separated from the husk and that the parts of it that were not wanted would fly away in the wind that was part of the process but then after that process it was put through a sieve that was made for grain and it was shaken and shaken and shaken and shaken and what was meant to happen is kind of the reverse of the way I always pictured it that it would that whatever was not good grain would fall through and the grain would be left no no not in in the way that this particular custom worked what was going to fall to the ground was the actual grain in the threshing floor like they wanted it what was gonna stay in the sieve was anything that would have been trash or rubbish it would have been like clumps of dirt or tiny little stones and so the whole image behind Satan trying to sift Peter like wheat is so that by the time he has shaken him and shaken him and shaken him all that is left of him is a few little stones and clumps of dirt and there is nothing else of value that was what the enemy was after now we know what God was after because he's after exactly the reverse so that that wood stayed in the sieve would then have been completely disposed of and what was left would have been used as grain to make bread hi friends during this series Beth explains that sifting happens when God begins to pick apart strong holes in our lives that the enemy may use to pull us down if this message about Peter during his sifting season is resonating with you then we want to encourage you to pick up a copy of Beth's book when godly people do and godly things where she's gonna go so much deeper into this object of sifting in the book Beth addresses the question many of us have why would God allow Satan to sift us or someone we love maybe you are the one that feels like you are being attacked from every angle or maybe you are feeling a spiritual numbness of sorts oh those sifting seasons are so hard Nathalie I know that we have all been there those seasons where we just feel like our lives are in a mess one thing is certain though there is hope for you found in Jesus Christ right now as a thank you for your donation we are offering when godly people do ungodly things let this book be a guy to walk you through authentic repentance and restoration and let's open up our hearts and allow God to bring healing and we will see you next week [Music] [Applause] it doesn't matter where you are from if you will give the time and space to this event this weekend if you will lend your heart to it and don't really pay attention then it's gonna come right back around because some of the things we're talking about this weekend simply could not be more practical we're gonna be talking about divine power the God exerts on the behalf of people just like you in need and we're gonna see God do something that we could not have thought to ask him Lord we want all that you have for us to sweep you every little did come join us in a city near you I want to throw this out to you because it is very easy for us to accidentally somehow have formed some substantial faith in our own faithfulness like we can really get it in our heads that we've got the thing and we just have a lot of confidence that we're going to be faithful and and here's what I'm suggesting to you the only wise thing when it comes to the matter of faith and faithfulness is having faith in the faithfulness of God that really is the only solid immovable truth that we have when it comes to being sure that somebody's gonna be faithful you you have no way of knowing what someone is going through when you think no my daddy will always be faithful listen you is not your daddy not your mama not your auntie not your grandparents not your pastor we can't depend on anybody else's unwavering faithfulness except God himself and Peter can't you hear I'm ready I'm ready he's going you ain't ready if anywhere near ready and in fact I think maybe it was that point exactly why he was ready for a sifting is he thought he was ready to follow Jesus anywhere and do anything he asked follow him all the way to the death I was thinking smiling to myself today that I have some good news and bad news for you who are younger in Christ it's always good to hear the bad news first and so the bad news is you will not turn out nearly as good as you hoped oh I wish I could say something differently but I think I can with some amount of confidence tell you that we really we picture how this thing is going to go and it just does not go quite as well as we thought and we thought it would go smoother than I mean I just nothing could have prepared me for how it was really gonna go down and so I can just tell you that that's the bad news you will not turn out as well as you hope not in this lifetime but the good news is and I think you can take this to the bank Jesus will turn out a thousand times better than you dreamed that's what happens is no it's a lot harder than you expected it to be you will probably not turn out to be that stellar a moveable servant that you pictured you that you surrendered yourself to be but Jesus he is going to be everything you would hope he would be and a thousand times more because he is going to be faithful to you I was thinking to myself you know it's it's pretty safe to say any morning that we get up that there is no day beyond being that day see that morning when Peter woke up he could not have seen that day going down with him denying Jesus three times before the next sunrise he could not have even wrapped his mind around it and he really saw himself through a whole different set of eyes I mean he was gonna rain and Jesus had just told him you will sit on the thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel and I don't know you have to wonder did did Peter look a certain way what was it that caused Jesus right after he told them that they would indeed have Authority but it would they would not get it the way that they had seen Authority attained you have to wonder did it look come over his size what happened or was it just that moment that was right that Jesus looks at him and says Simon Simon you'd better pay attention was he not paying attention what was he thinking what was in his heart at the time something that caused Jesus to point out to him listen Satan has asked to sift all of you like wheat and I just want you to know Simon I'm praying for you I'm praying for you that your faith will not fail you know I just want to get some of the rough news over with so that we can get to the good news because the rough news for us older servants is it's never too late to do something remarkably foolish and one of the things that we have to understand is that what can happen we might think well I mean but we can't really picture them doing all the big things let me tell you you are know the biggest thing the biggest thing the very biggest thing the very biggest affront you wonder what God wants most from us is our faith so there is really nothing that competes with faithlessness now we could grow old and go you know what at this point I'm just gonna I'm just gonna do right things for the rest of my life I'm not really gonna practice faith I'm just gonna do right things I'm just gonna do good works and he's going like you know what without faith it is impossible to please me I'm counting your faith as righteousness he says to us so it could be that we just end our lives in faithlessness it's pretty safe to say there is no day beyond being that day unless it is 11:59 p.m. and you're sound asleep and I'm sound asleep still time in that day want to show you where it says that the rooster will not crow today until you deny me three times today when he says today notice that he says it all plants back with you and he says in verse 34 I told you Peter the rooster will not crow today until you die three times that you know me so this is evening so what does it mean by today okay in Jewish reckoning a day went from dark to light and I love that I love that they get it all the way from creation because if you notice in the days of creation it says and and the this was the and the evening and the morning was the first day and the evening in the morning was the second day in the evening in the morning was the third day that that that the day always goes from dark to light instead of light to dark which is such a gorgeous gorgeous reality so that's how they see the day so the day had begun at dusk around the time they would have begun that dinner and it was going to end the next afternoon which would be really really soon after Jesus dies on the cross and when he's reckoning today he means through the course of that night and on into the morning that day being those next 24 hours I just I'm not saying this to scare us this is just to make us aware that roosters still crow I know that for a fact because I hear him over and over again and by that I mean the enemy still wants the Saints he still is looking to pick off the followers of Jesus particularly those that have enough faith to sit at the table with him to dine with him to want to be close to him just gonna do anything he can to pick us off and I'm gonna tell you something that if he gets any leash there is a good reason for that and there's something there's something in that process that God is getting toward us losing so that what we win instead is our confidence in Christ himself and the fullness of his Spirit and the power of his word - you know one more reason why I think that that was all happening to Peter is because Satan had been successful with Judas already happened and see here's the thing this is this what the enemy loves is when he can go for a group of people and just start picking them off one by one know what I'm saying because it works with one will then boom the moment it works with one the rest of them start getting a little bit shaky and then he starts going for the next one and he starts going for the next one he starts going for the next one he starts going for the next one so he said who's next who's next he loves a whole domino thing to chip just one he's lazy in a lot of respects he's a lot of things a lot of things very very powerful scheming methodical all of those things ruthless place mean and dirty but he's not very creative God is the creator and so he's just trying to think how many birds can I take out with once how much damage could I do just was one person how many perfect persons could I take down with him and then I'll go for the next and how many persons can I take down with them that's what he loves to do Satan is not only the accuser as though his only aim were to detect faithlessness rather he inspires faithlessness he is the one who supplies occasions for failure who is active in resisting God's plan and God's people some powerful thoughts right there he's not just trying to expose our weaknesses he's trying to give us weaknesses we did not even know we had he's starting to capitalize on everything we've got every Achilles heel we've got he is aiming straight for one of the things I think about over and over again is that we're told in Ephesians chapter 6 that he comes at us the metaphor that is given is in flaming darts or flaming arrows of the enemy and keep in mind that we cannot read our minds nor can he enter us when we're in Christ one thing he can do is that he can read a whole lot from the outside because he has been watching man for thousands of years thousands of years so he knows a whole lot about how we work how we'll reason things and this is this is what I could really bank on for a reaction out of this person right here so I mean he's just looking for that a setting us up for failure over and over and over again and that's exactly what we see happening in the scripture so he's a good shot he's not gonna aim at us where we're already well covered he knows he shot so many arrows in his existence that he knows how to go for the place where the armor is not quite all the way in case together living proof would like to send you a thank-you gift for your donation visit Beth morgue today thank you so much for watching today it is our joy to serve you at living proof ministries we do not take a single one of you for granted click subscribe so that you don't miss a moment of our time together in Scripture you

Channel: Living Proof Ministries with Beth Moore

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Length: 27min 28sec (1648 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 31 2020