Signs & Wonders: Wreck it Ralph

every tuesday we meet we plan for the weekend but we would rather have the spirit of god move and maneuver in this place and in this space then at the end of a service go we hit every note hit every time metric we would rather meet with god encounter god than to operate as business as usual so know for the next several weeks we're going to create more space for things like this i love the fact that our camera guy is yelling at that our keyboard player it's awesome that's what i love like i don't know if you heard that he was just encouraging him to i don't know if did y'all hear that right here on this our camera guy with his ears like covered looks at our keyboard player and was just going you're amazing you want to know what kind of church we are the camera dude encourages the piano player and the piano player encourages the camera dude that's who we are we're not a perfect church we just serve a perfect god no i love you i listen smoke you walked up to me you put your arms around me you said i feel the weight you're carrying right now you said it to me and i love what you said to me you go ed and this is a personal conversation i'm just putting out here in the public but you don't care i know i know you well enough to know you don't care you go ed not everything you have done i have light but i love you see that's the difference right that's the difference that's and he's and he and smoke's the one that i call him smoke because he's an incredible girls man i nicknamed him smoke and um he said i feel the weight i've carried a weight that i can't even put into words but it's not me carrying the weight it's honestly you coming alongside of me lifting me up it's the lord who carries the weight but i unfortunately put a weight on myself every single day that i have to walk in perfection i have to make the right decision at the right moment i got to navigate the cultural dynamics of what our country has gone through i got to navigate well through the pandemic i got to navigate well through the immigration crisis i got to navigate well just in making an announcement concerning mask and do you hear what i'm saying to you tonight i carry a weight and i'm not going to stand in front of you and tell you that it doesn't cause anxiety i walk in perpetual anxiety and the lord and i have a lot of moments where i go why i'll just be honest with you i didn't wrestle with anxiety until i became the pastor of this church that is a true story that is a true story because when you're an evangelist and you travel around 200 days preaching at everybody else's church if they don't like you they just don't invite you back that's how that works but there's something different about when people get their feelings hurt that i know and i love and i do life with and they leave the church it cuts me so deep so deep in little things along the way cause people to go i'm out mask no mask i'm out yeah thank you listen to me i will get emails this week of why we're helping at frema coliseum and someone will share their immigration policy with me even though i said it's a crisis i said it it's a cri they didn't hear that it's just it's the seat i sit in but i promise you from the depth of my soul i have a calling to this church of a calling to this city i feel like my whole life led me here i feel like my family my four children sitting on this front row next to my wife we have we have rooted our family in this city we won't always get it right we won't always get it right but i i promise you i will not stand on the stage and try to parade like i'm perfect i will not stand on a stage and pretend like i got it all together i i don't know why you're walking up on me right now but yeah come on you coming to lame yeah i saw this uh i saw the video of a kid that was left abandoned as a parent it hurts yeah yeah i don't like what's happening right i don't agree with a lot of what's going on yeah but i'm blessed to have my kids yeah thank you but i know that you can do more with that than what i could come on thank you thank you thank you thank you sis no man thank you i appreciate you i appreciate you we're in this together we're in this together for those of you that are uh throwing money on the altar here's how this works i don't touch the money just you just need to know that people try to hand me money and go hey give it to i'm like no i don't touch it thank you bro but we will we will put that towards specifically finding a way to love and lift our city all right so i just need to know that okay well um phil vega's probably laughing backstage right now and here's the reason why because um we prayed this on tuesday we prayed we prayed that every service god would do something we literally prayed this he would disrupt the service that's that's what we prayed um and so yeah and and phil's backstage shouting he did it yeah he did it again yeah you're right you're behind me yeah [Music] hey man yeah [Music] yeah yeah [Applause] let's um let's let's do this because you have a pastor who's 80d and this doesn't bother me okay so if you got if you got yeah come on make it did you just make it rain up here yeah oh that's so good you tell me at church you tell me a church where a dude walks up to the stage is like for jesus so let me let me show you this yvette miller i saw you where you at event yep i'm watching you wipe tears from your eyes a bit yvette let me read this to you but i'm reading this to everybody else john 20 says this now jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book but these are written so that you might believe that jesus is the christ the son of god let me stop we did a series called the evidence we looked at the signs of jesus that pointed to the fact that he is the resurrected savior but then the rest of this verse says and that by believing that you may have life in his name so we did a series on because the reason i'm talking to you because there was a major shift in our church in 2016 and you helped me when we did a sermon series on the holy spirit and you help me because you have a prophetic gifting a very unique gifting that the lord has used in my family and because of being around you in 2016 it awakened in understanding of the holy spirit in my own life and my family's life in a way honestly that a baptist boy didn't really understand until he got to cbc and um which is why i say i needed cbc more than cbc ever needed me because what i've learned here by doing life with you is the fullness of what jesus has called us to and i thought about you um on friday night because we're learning as a family not as a pastor but as a family to live in the fullness of who jesus is and there was a moment and you taught us this event indirectly my daughter liv has a gluten allergy and we're at alamo cafe and there was a moment where she ordered quesadillas and but midway through the quesadillas she realized they were flower-based and there was a panic at the table and because there's a reaction it's not it's not catastrophic but it's painful and there was a moment at the table chips queso guac quesadillas celebrating my son's birthday and just when we discovered this it was a moment where we just stopped prayed at the table that even though there's flower in her body right now that by the power of the name of jesus he would transform that flower tortilla into a corn tortilla in jesus name and then my wife reached in her purse and got out her anointing oil and my teenage daughter was like mom don't put it on my forehead don't put it on my forehead and just put it on but in faith and stephanie we didn't get a chance to talk about this but i was thinking about this morning reading my bible [Music] reading that verse prepare for this message no complications none whatsoever and it was just [Applause] and the jesus we're talking about tonight is a jesus who cares about when flower tortillas go into a body that can't process it but by the powerful name of jesus things happen and change so we we've been planning this series to go okay the evidence signs and wonders and in the mary you're you're our graphic designer you intentionally put signs and wonders small and the evidence big and now on the listener guide you'll see the evidence is small and the signs and wonders are big because we want to walk as jesus people in signs and wonders i want to seek the signs i want to see the signs and i want my heart to be sensitive to the signer to the sign i want my heart my charro to be in tune with what the spirit of god is saying to us and we as you have texted me many times wrestle with it but yet be obedient to it and real quickly in john 21 you'll see that jesus appears to the disciples now three times [Music] in verse 3 john 21 it says simon peter said to them i'm going fishing they said to him we will go with you and they went out and got into the boat but that night they caught nothing if you have a listener guide real quickly we're just going to go through this quickly and just so you know i won't preach the full message i'll just give you the points but but there'll be a moment this week where this message will be posted online and who knows i may not preach this sermon to other services either so but i'll say this in verse three point number one just write this down there was a boat that was out of reach there was a boat that was out of reach there's a phrase that i highlighted in verse three it says they caught nothing they called nothing these disciples have walked with jesus for three years everywhere he went jesus went they gave up their relationships their resources and their own reputation to follow jesus they gave up everything now watch this everywhere they went jesus was walking in front of them they followed him wherever he went they followed so the chief priest who hated jesus i mean think about this and this is how i download stuff i'm just trying to put myself into the story you're simon peter the disciples a group of individuals that jesus elevates the chief priests hate jesus the religious leaders hate jesus and the roman officials hate jesus and these disciples walking with jesus they feel untouchable because of jesus like i'm picturing this like simon peter looking at the chief priest going can't touch me roman oppressors can't touch me but then jesus dies and he's resurrected but he's not here anymore and now these guys are walking alone and they're going what are the chief priests going to do to us there's already conspiracy theory they stole the body romans were saying chief priests were fabricating that these men are walking in fear not only they walking in fear but they're overwhelmed by the sentiment of failure the guy i'm talking about named simon peter denied jesus three times at a charcoal fire [Music] at a charcoal fire are you with jesus he goes i have no idea who you're talking about the man he followed for three years you now it's one thing to deny it's another thing to denounce i have no idea who you're talking about that was his sentiment three times and jesus predicted it he said before the rooster crows three times you would have denied me and now these disciples by the way matthew 28 verse 16 come on i'm just teaching out of the overflow right now matthew 28 verse 16. jesus would tell the disciples in the upper room he would say stay on the mountain wait for me on the mountain he'll give the great commission but guess what happens i so relate with simon peter he's impatient he's like been waiting on the mountain jesus simon peter's like let's go fishing but it was more than a statement of let's go fishing it was a statement of we've lost everything and let's go back to the one thing we know let's go back to familiarity our finances come from this this is our family bit let's just pick up right where we left off but do you remember the call of jesus was not about fishing it was about soul fishing and all of a sudden there they are out there in the water and you'll read this in verse six jesus now standing on the shore cast the nets to the right side and you will find some so they cast their nets verse 6 would say and they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish now when we talk about a boat out of reach these these guys are about 100 yards off from shore but this phrase they caught nothing was more than the fact that they didn't catch anything sometimes we find ourselves in a space and place where we are distant and disconnected from the lord we're confused we're disillusioned we're going god where are you you're not on time you told me to do this but this seems difficult and challenging and frustrating to say the least but would you be obedient to stay faithful to what jesus calls you to do but if not know this that the love of jesus will chase you down and jesus goes on the shoreline and they don't even know it's him it's like the ceo that shows up in a room and nobody knows who he is and he asked for a seat and someone goes no that seat saved but you just declined a seat for the ceo and then he didn't even know who he was because you didn't even know his picture and jesus standing on the shoreline throw your nets to the other side for those of you fishermen in the house and i'm not going to claim to be a fisherman the boat is possibly four to six feet in width i don't know a whole lot about fish but if you if you're throwing a net on one side it's really just six feet right it's just six feet see but when you choose when i choose to disconnect from what jesus is telling us to do and walk and the faith that he's called us to walk in we can be throwing nets in spaces and places and getting nothing and you and i got a choice to do things in the flesh keep doing what we do throwing nets and catch nothing or listen to the voice of jesus it goes throw those nets six feet in this space i don't want to be a pastor i don't want to be a preacher to lead this church and go let's just keep doing what we're let's just keep doing what we're doing i want to wake up every day in my own life leading my family leading my wife leading my kids and going no no jesus i'm here but if you tell me to go here i'll go here i'll pivot i'll quickly move i'll lead it i'll lead our church if we're doing this but if you say this this is who we're going to be and that makes a lot of people feel uncomfortable i'm telling you i would much rather walk and live in the fullness of the resurrection power than just to preach about it on one day a year and by the way it's easter every day it's easter every weekend and that same resurrection power that we celebrated this past weekend is the same resurrection power that jesus wants us to walk in today but we cannot walk in resurrection power when we just keep doing the same old same old saying just going back to the familiar jesus wants to take you to a new space a new place to the deep water but you've got to hear what he's saying to you and when you look at this moment that felt like there was a boat out of reach but if you have pushed back from jesus i promise you he stands on the shoreline calling you speaking to you but what's so amazing about this he's talking to a group of dudes that have denied him walked away from him and went back to the family business and forgot everything that jesus was calling them to do if you as a boat feel out of reach jesus and his reach spans the distance and pulls you back in to this love and grace and mercy that he continues to pursue you with and bring you to the point number two write this down not only do we see a boat out of reach but number two we see breakfast on the beach [Music] breakfast on the beach come on i'm rhyming a little bit tonight bowed out of reach but yet there was breakfast on the beach i love verse 12 and jesus said to him come and have breakfast see one of the big questions for the disciples was provision i mean they follow jesus follow jesus and he provided all their needs think about that jesus provided all their needs and now jesus is gone it's about protection and about provision and now jesus ain't here no more so where do we get our protection where do we get our provision but jesus shows up resurrected body breakfast on the beach he says come and have breakfast where did jesus get the fish where did jesus get the bread but there's a charcoal fire you could read this for yourself by the way the only two times in the bible where the word charcoal fire is used is when simon peter denied jesus by a charcoal fire second time it's used is right here in this section of scripture where jesus is having breakfast on the beach holy absolutely but in this moment as he is saying to them come dine with me come eat with me he he uses this phrase he says y'all got any fish but they just drug in 153 fish simon peter's soaking wet he's jumped in the water swam to the shore i'm summarizing here he knows it's jesus but he also knows what he's done charcoal fire charcoal fire luke 5 jesus found him on that shoreline jesus luke 5 1-11 jesus says throw your nets to the other side almost identical scenario and now he's standing here going oh jesus you're so intentional charcoal fire charcoal fire the first time you called me to lay down my nets and follow you right here and now you have come after me with forgiveness in your heart but simon peter doesn't know it [Music] all of a sudden he's asking this question jesus does do you love me he does it three times you can read this verses 15 through 17 but let me just summarize this quickly in the greek language the word agape means unconditional unrelenting love the word fellaio means brotherly love and so jesus interchangeably uses this word two times when he asks simon peter do you love me he uses the word agape do you love me do you love me he would say to simon peter feed my lambs tend my sheep feed my sheep which means that i'm asking you not to be a mutton farmer i'm asking you be a shepherd smell like sheep now watch the spirit of god dropped a message in my mailbox they're gonna follow you simon peter [Music] the sheep need a shepherd guide protect they need someone to follow but you can't be the shepherd that i've called you to be if you don't follow me so in order for us to be the shepherds that we've been called to be we have to follow him and when he asks this question do you love me simon peter goes i love you but he uses a different word in verses 15 through 17. you can read this for yourself simon peter goes do you agape me unconditional love simon peter responds and goes i filet o you lesser love you go why wouldn't he say agape come on he did at the lord's supper remember that i'll die for you and in less than 24 hours he denied jesus so simon peter's not real quick to go i agape you he did that and denied jesus three times so he's like phileo simon peter goes the third time when i ask the question do you love me because simon peter hears jesus go not do you agape me agape me because the third time he's asked that question jesus flips the word and goes to you fellaio me and the bible says in verse 17 you can read this for yourself peter was grieved broken his heart shattered he knew his failure he knew his faults but jesus was not trying to somehow some way just remind simon peter of his past but was calling him to a future feed my sheep feed my lambs tend my people that's what he was saying now here's this moment when we talk about breakfast on the beach charcoal fire charcoal fire three questions do you love me do you love me do you love me do you watch what can you see what jesus is doing watch this simon peter denies jesus three times jesus asked the question three times do you love me do you love me do you love me it went from this moment of feed my sheep take care of the people that i'm giving you calling you from fishing to shepherding i'm calling you to be a leader you'll now begin to notice simon peter every time the disciples are mentioned he's the first one he's stepping into a space of leadership but in verse let me just go back to my notes here and i highlighted this in verse 15 real quickly when they finished breakfast jesus said to simon peter simon son of john you ever been called by your full name like birth name like so my full name is ronald edward newton jr grew up being called edward played peewee football i was a left guard i know for some of you going there's no way but i was a left guard but i was one of the tallest young men at that time and my coach in orlando florida was a dallas cowboys fan and so he called me ed two tall jones and that's how i got the nickname ed so i went from edward to ed but when my mama and my daddy call me edward i know i'm in trouble [Music] so like when solicitors call you and they call you by the full name you know they don't know you like so it reverses but jesus calls him simon son of john you know why because he would first call him earlier on in john 1. he would go simon son of john your now new name is cephas rock but simon peter in this moment was a sinking rock you know what jesus was doing he was just picking him up [Music] no matter your faults no matter your failures no matter the moments you go this was a tremendous mistake there there's a jesus that comes to you he meets you in this moment you may feel as if you're a boat out of reach but he brings you in to breakfast on the beach and breakfast on the beach is dine with me eat with me allow me to ask you the question do you really love me and jesus is just driving deep into the heart of simon peter worth acceptance calling to something greater and then all of a sudden you'll see this prophetic word that jesus gives by the way jesus would predict the denial of simon peter but he also would predict the death of simon peter you'll see this in verse 18 truly truly by the way when any time jesus says truly truly you better pay attention because it's about to happen truly truly i say to you when you were young you suggest yourself and walk wherever you wanted but when you're old you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you don't want to go do you hear that phrase stretch out your hands many historians would say that simon peter died on a cross upside down 30 years later from this moment he would never deny jesus ever again what would cause simon peter to never deny jesus ever again breakfast on the beach come on you hear me breakfast on the beach dine with me know how much i love you do you love me simon peter yeah i love you you where did he say that feed my sheep he was saying listen i'm calling you i've called you for so much more this leads down to this third point there's a belief that'll preach there's a belief that'll preach so simon peter hears jesus said you're going to die and then verse 19 this he said to show about what kind of death he was the glorified god and after saying this he said to him follow me follow me follow me there's a belief that'll preach the first follow me happened on that that seashore line in luke 5. the second follow me would take place on that same shoreline follow me there's a third follow me that would take place in verse 22 that would say jesus said to him if it is my will that he remain until i come what is it to you you follow me because simon peter when he hears he's about to die by the way a death that would be so gruesome flipped upside down because he did not want to die the same way as jesus died because he felt unworthy fox book of martyrs would say someone even said that simon peter's wife was crucified on a cross and then her dying breath says don't deny come on fellas look at me if there's ever a moment to deny jesus is it not the moment your wife's being crucified to a cross does that make sense like if there's ever a moment to tap out it's your wife being crucified on a cross but what holds a man so to the call of god a follow me with a love so unquenchable that would cause him to die his own wife today is because when you and i know that we have a reason worth dying for then you'll really have a reason to start living [Music] you'll have a reason to start living and when you have a reason to start living then there's singularity of focus and purpose and there's a belief that will preach because there's that moment simon peter goes what about this guy is john gonna die and jesus goes stay in your own lane you follow me and here's what i say to you if we're not careful we'll measure our success by the metrics of everybody else in the moment you start doing that you've settled and you've lowered the bar because what if jesus wants to do something in you that he's never done with anybody else on the planet what if jesus wants to do something in you in your workplace in your school space on your team in your circle of influence that has never been done before living in signs and wonders walking in the miraculous gods looking for a willing vessel that will say these words i yield to your will i will yearn for your word and i will say yes to your way i will say yes to your way and there might be somebody in the room today that just feels as if you've made a mess of it all and jesus can't use you but here's a takeaway statement your story may include chapters you may wish never happened but your story is not done it's only beginning it's only beginning good news is you don't have the pen in your hands there's a sovereign god who's writing the story there's an urban legend which means it's still you know kind of in hearsay but i think it's a really cool story thomas edison spins his life's work various inventions [Music] discovers the light bulb it said it took 24 hours to form the light bulb and in that moment of finally producing the light bulb he would hand it to a young man working in the lab with him and that little fella began to walk holding the light bulb this incredible life transforming invention with his eyes on the light bulb walking up the steps he stumbles and falls and breaks the light back to the process of 24 hours straight of reproducing the light bulb second light bulb thomas edison you can only imagine don't give it to him that moment of like hey i'm like i'm right here you don't have to talk about me in front of me but thomas edison as the urban legend goes takes that second light bulb and puts it in the hands of the same young man to do what give worth value significance but here's the phrase redemption can i tell you your story and my story [Applause] jesus takes all those broken pieces puts it back together again and looks you right in the face and goes that's what today's message is about so get up wake up live out this jesus mission that he has put on your life your boat is not out of reach because there's breakfast on the beach and there's a belief that will preach and what's that belief follow me let's stand together if you don't mind as we stand today i believe we've met with jesus [Music] heads up eyes open let's do this you want this jesus i'm talking about i'm not talking about easy believism i'm not talking about just going through the motions saying some prayer i'm talking about giving your life to jesus it is about a prayer but it's about your heart but the heads up eyes open what does it mean to be a follower of jesus you admit that you're sinner not perfect we've all made mistakes the bible calls that sin missing the mark it's repentance turning from what you've been pursuing turning to jesus calling on his name calling on his name means that you're giving him control you're gonna follow him won't be perfect nobody is it's pursuing jesus follow him that's what it means you yield to his will yearn for his word say yes to his way he tells you throw your nets on the other side that's where you go you just do whatever he tells you to do read the bible do what it tells you to do jesus follower if you want this jesus heads up eyes open listen the gospel that i preach is real and the gospel that i preach is raw if we can't stand up for jesus in here it's gonna be hard to stand up for jesus outside of here listen that's why they're clapping because because the world will not clap for that but we will we will and if you want to give your life to jesus in this space i i'm listen i'm not going to stand up on a stage and try to convince you to do something you don't want to do but if you want to give your life to jesus heads up eyes open just raise your hand you're going to head i've never done that before but i'm ready this jesus you're talking about i want this i'm looking across this way anybody in this room going i want this jesus anybody with their hand raised in this space anybody in this space thank you ma'am anybody else in this space let's do this it's tremendous boldness and courage for this sweet sister right here for those of you online let's say this out loud and by the way this prayer is not a magical formula your faith is in the person of jesus so say this to him lord jesus i'm not perfect i believe in you save me change me i give you my life if you prayed that sister we say to you welcome to the family of god and to all of those of you i did that online we say thank you jesus and look this way for those that have made that decision we say welcome to the family of god but for those of you who have already made this decision you know how we know we've met with jesus because he starts asking us questions like do you really love me you really love me we know we've met with jesus but when all of a sudden the conviction of god on our heart all of a sudden goes thank you jesus for your conviction [Music] repentance coming back to a heart of worship is about repentance your way is better that's how we know we've met with jesus he speaks we move so may what we have done in this space fill this space out here

Channel: Community Bible Church

Views: 3,017

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Community Bible Church, Community Bible, CBC, San Antonio, San Antonio Church, Texas, Texas Church, Christianity, Bible, Ed Newton, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Nondenominational

Id: TB7iYiHh84E

Length: 39min 11sec (2351 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 11 2021