The God of Restoration: How God Pursues Us With Grace

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] hi everybody welcome to pre-service live a part of our church online experience thank you so much for joining us today my name is melanie davis and i'm joined here today with my handsome husband colin davis hey hey good morning all right guys let us know that you're here by leaving us a comment below and let us know where you're watching from we love to see the different states the different countries sometimes uh we'd love to see where you guys are watching from if you're online yeah this morning pastor matt milan will be sharing the message about how jesus came to restore our lives and how he invites us to follow him so it's going to be a really awesome morning there's some power in it for sure yeah yeah um also don't forget to share this post make jesus big today um you never know who's watching you never know who's gonna be seeing your post who can be impacted with uh worship or the words that pastor matt has to say today so make sure you share that post um and make jesus big yeah and if you're on one of our social media platforms uh maybe you even share this with uh somebody you've recently been in uh let's say a debate a healthy debate or uh you know your frenemies uh you know maybe you share that with them and uh i'm just half kidding but it might be good you know yeah exactly so brooke says good morning everyone good morning brooke good morning brooke thanks for joining us okay guys we have a couple announcements today really exciting and um awesome announcements so activate leadership is happening here at worship center on saturday october 2nd from 10 am until noon activate leadership is a conference for business leaders parents volunteers employees group leaders community leaders or anyone who follows jesus so just about anybody um so visit worshipcenter.org activate to learn more or to sign up yeah and i should add um so eric peoples is going to be one of our main uh speakers there and uh we've had the chance to hang out with eric and get to know him uh and let me tell you like the guy walks into a room and just demands your attention it's like you just want to hear when he speaks you just like want to hear what he has to say there's a lot coming from him and and there's a lot in there so this is going to be great content for anybody who wants to grow or be challenged or stretched uh like eric is gonna is gonna bring that so uh we encourage you to consider it join us on that on that date uh that saturday morning i believe and uh yeah should be great yeah we're gonna have breakout sessions um many different speakers of people here on staff and in the community and there's food and there's food which so if you're happy to be hungry why don't you just come exactly okay so gary thomas the author of sacred marriage is joining deborah fellata author of true love dates here at worship center for a live in person conference you and your spouse can come and hear gary and debra teach meaningful sessions about physical intimacy taking ownership of your love life and you'll also have a chance to participate in a live q a this conference offers a unique perspective of counselor and pastor male and female expanding on their new book married sex refreshments will be provided throughout the morning the cost of registration is twenty five dollars per person or forty dollars per couple you can register at worship center dot org marriage yeah so if you're wondering basically everything she just said we're having a marriage conference about sex and so hey we all that could be awkward but uh i always went with the the uh phrase like it's only awkward if you make it awkward right about the awkward stuff which is good it's real life we know it's real life um and it's important and uh so it should be um it should be interesting to say the least so yeah we'd love for you to join us uh to that as well yep worshipcenter.org marriage also baby dedication is speaking of marriage and sex we're doing baby dedication it's so exciting we'll be dedicating a total of 16 babies this weekend which is so exciting if you would like to connect with um wc kids during the week make sure to follow them on instagram and facebook wc kids on all their social media platforms and check out wc worshipcenter.org i'm sorry worship center dot org slash kids um for more information and then oh we have ethan good morning look at that power couple on there that's so nice oh dustin leed hey friends hey buddy wherever you are and chelsea says hi friends hi chelsea okay so we have a question for you guys um on line and also for colin here and i'll answer it as well so what was your favorite thing about going to back to school as a kid i know with kids starting school here some already started a couple weeks ago some are starting soon so what was your favorite thing about back to school as a kid yeah so this was a fun time for me um but if you didn't know so i grew up uh kind of as that skater kid slash like surfer i grew up near the beach and my brother like skateboarded so i therefore got into skateboarding hates me for that but uh anyway i always wanted to do what the cool kids did so uh but anyway i was a skateboarder and uh any of you out there who are familiar with uh you know skateboarding probably 15 20 years ago gosh i'm old uh anyway tony air walks was a thing and uh their shoes and so basic uh also dc shoes um were really really cool and like specifically designed for skateboarding so anyway i would want uh i look forward to most getting my new shoes uh and heading into school and being like here i am me and my new shoes that's awesome yeah let us know in the comments below what was your favorite thing about back to school i have to say my favorite thing was always back to school shopping i loved all the pens and pencils and the planners i forgot to mention that before the planners and notebooks and backpacks and fun lunch boxes it was just did you get the lunch boxes that had like all your favorite disney characters not disney characters but i always got like my favorite colors or like the folders like the lisa frank folders anybody who grew up in the 90s went to school in the 90s had had you were cool if you had some lisa frank folders or even lunch boxes or the trapper keepers do you have a trapper keeper i don't even remember what that is if you don't know what it was i know the questions are for me but i have a question for you okay um and you online if you'd like to uh join in on this but were you one of those those kids who like when you got there that morning you like laid out your your pencils perfectly in alignment oh yeah and your eraser and then you had like your your three ring binder your five star do you remember those things five star ring binder you you did that oh yeah i had my pencil box all set out and i loved like when we were younger we had the desks that had the thing underneath it that you could store your stuff so i would always make everything all organized in there and yeah it was great oh ethan said the change in the weather was always my favorite feeling that cooler morning air while i waited for the bus to come oh yeah i did like that too i did that my favorite part of that was getting on the bus and i always had pop tarts my parents always hooked me up with the greatest breakfast most healthy pop tarts and like a soda or something it was awful i love it at one point my mom would make us chicken nuggets in the morning because we wouldn't eat and she would make us have protein so we would have to eat chicken nuggets in the morning okay see we're marinating okay we need to move on yes brooke said i loved picking out my new trapper keeper see brook knows what a trapper keeper is way to go brooke thank you i kind of made fun of people who did oh my word okay anyway so this morning pastor matt will be talking about jesus i did love jesus i'm sorry i just want to everybody okay okay this morning pastor matt will be talking about jesus and how he came to restore our lives so a question i have for you guys online let us know in the comments um and i'm also going to ask colin here what do you see god restoring in your life it could be currently it could be what have you seen god restore in your um in your past but what what do you see god restoring in your life sure yeah so i go back to um you know the good days of 2012. uh they actually weren't good days for me um but i was uh in a career uh that i was accelerating in and ended up moving across the country uh for this job took a promotion and um 18 months later i'm like blindsided out of this world and basically told i'm no longer a fit for the company and i'm just like what on earth is happening none of this makes sense right and uh but what's crazy about that is since then um there was a major wound created in a d it cut deep uh i started questioning and and and believing these lies about my worth believing um these lies that like i won't ever uh any up to my next employer or be a good employee etc and yet like i knew that wasn't true but yet i believed all those things right and so um even uh so we fast forward nine years ish and um you know i believe like so god has taken me through this journey and um even to a few months ago is when actually the lord i took the lord to those moments in those dark places and he actually restored the pathway like the thought pathways and those ideas and those lies he actually restored my significance as to where i work and now guess what i'm like operating where i believe is my calling which is of course the church and even recently got it received additional responsibility uh and so like man it was just like a complete 180 uh how i viewed myself even just up to a few months ago to where i'm at now it's crazy but god did something and it's amazing yeah that's awesome it's awesome when we can look back and see how god has restored us and how he's brought us through those hard times and how he can almost help us retrain our brain to not feel those feelings um in your current situation so that's awesome very cool um we oh we have some stuff still about school people are people who are loving this school thing nobody cares about that dustin said his favorite thing was football season yeah okay and he always had a cheese stuffed pretzel and a gatorade at 10 a.m that's great he also rocked etnies i remember yeah that was like skater sprints yeah and brooke said trapper keeper is a super cool in my opinion binder okay all right so quickly colin what are some things that might distract us from living a life of restoration through jesus um sure uh so quickly i would say uh comparison is a major uh distraction and i believe the enemy uses comparison uh to completely distract us from what god's trying to do in our lives and uh because we're focused on um other people or other things around us and we're putting our identity and in those sort of things or at least we're putting this emotional investment in value in those things versus what jesus is trying to get our attention for and trying to restore in our own lives um i'd also say regret so harping on the past and living in the past carrying something that you've been set free from or that jesus has the ticket to freedom and to lay that down and cut that regret out of your life like if you're still focused on that that's tough i mean you know i know what that feels like but um i think that can most certainly be a distraction yeah and grace it can distract us from the grace that god has for us in to make our lives restored yeah so yeah okay guys thank you so much um if you would like to subscribe to our e-news go to worshipcenter.org subscribe if you're new here we would love to meet you um if this is your first time let us know um you can fill out our digital connections card at worship center.org new here and if you would like prayer for anything make sure to text prayer to 717-366-7226 if you need prayer for anything at all we would love to pray for you stand with you believe with you yes don't do this alone exactly don't do this alone so thank you so much for joining pre-service live and enjoy the service [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning worship center it is so good to see you this morning let's worship jesus together [Music] is we worship the god whoever more will be he opened the prison doors he parted the raging seas my god he holds the victory there's joy in the house of the lord there's joy in the house of the lord today and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise there's joy in the house of the lord our god is surely in this place and we won't be quiet [Music] [Applause] [Music] we sing to the god who always makes away cause he hung up on that cross then he rose up from that grave my god away there's joy in the house of the lord there's joy in the house of the lord today and we won't be [Music] out your quiet there's joy in the house of the lord my god is surely in this place and we won't be quiet [Music] we were the beggars and now we're royalty we were the prisoners and now we're running free we are forgiven accepted redeemed by his grace let the house of the lord sing grace cause we were the bankers [Music] let the is help the lord sing praise there's joy in the house of the lord there's joy in the house of the lord today and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise there's joy in the house of the lord our god is surely in this place and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise there's joy in the house of the lord there's joy in the house of the lord today and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise there's joy in the house of the lord our god is sure the end is [Music] there is joy in this house there is joy in this house [Music] [Applause] it is good to be together this morning we are going to have baby dedication so right now you may take a seat a baby is a beautiful milestone in a family story in psalm 127 it says children are a gift from the lord their reward from him children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior's hands it's interesting that solomon begins this by stating that children are a gift a prized possession but his next statement is comparing children to a weapon of war arrows are a powerful tool in a warrior's hands but can only reach their fullest potential when aimed and released towards an intentional target parenting is crafting and developing that arrow so that when it's released into the world that little one can serve god here in wc kids we want to partner with parents as they train up their child to know god love god and serve others baby dedication is one of the ways in which we partner with families the families here today are standing in front of their family friends and church to acknowledge that they choose to invite god into their parenting journey they're making this commitment today to say lord i need your help to disciple my little one to know you and serve you so they can serve the purpose you have for them thanks for joining us today as we cheer these families on in their faithful parenting journey good morning good morning aren't you so honored that you got invited to these baby dedications today oh my word i know i am so honored we are dedicating 16 babies today with i know we are a fertile church praise jesus so it keeps me in business it keeps me in business and we are we have 13 families so my name is sheena scheffel i'm the early childhood pastor here at worship center and i'm just so excited to introduce you to these families today so let's get started this is james and caitlin gresh they are dedicating their daughter today to acknowledge that they are committed to raising her to follow christ their verse for her is number 6 24-26 the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you the lord turn his face toward you and give you peace james and caitlin are dedicating tinsley grace and she is nine months old hi tinsley hi i love your bro you ready to pray all right let's pray and congregation i just invite you to pray with us as we dedicate these beautiful children heavenly father we thank you for tinsley thank you for the gift that she is to this family i thank you for the truth in this verse that says your face will always be turned towards her so we thank you for that today we dedicate tinsley to you that she would grow to know you to love you and to love people in jesus name amen amen [Applause] this is adam and jennifer schaefer they are dedicating their daughter today their prayer for her is that she grows to be compassionate showing god's love to those around her they pray that she knows her worth as a precious child of god and finds peace in surrendering surrendering her life to his plan their prayer is that her mind would be guarded against anxiety and the temptations of this world their verse for her is isaiah 26 3-4 you will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you all whose thoughts are fixed on you trust in the lord always for the lord god is the eternal rock adam and jennifer are dedicating josie larry and she is four months old over here josie's all right let's pray heavenly father we thank you for josie we thank you for the life thank you for her life thank you for blessing this family with her life and so god we are grateful for the truth in isaiah 26 that says when our minds and our thoughts are fixed on you you give perfect peace i pray that over her life from this day forward we dedicate her to you that she would grow to know you to love you and to love people in jesus name amen amen [Applause] this is vladimir and anna kosic they are dedicating their three sons today to acknowledge that jesus is the one true way they are committing to raising them to understand and know this for themselves jesus is the center of their lives and they desire to raise their sons to have jesus as their center their prayer is that they would follow jesus and know they are each a child of god vladimir and anna are dedicating malachi and he is 29 months old this is malachi back here their verse for him is isaiah 26 4 trust in the lord forever for the lord the lord himself is the rock eternal this is timothy and alexander they are 12 months old their verses for them are second timothy 2 1 you then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in jesus christ and 3rd john 1 2 beloved i pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health as it goes well with your soul vladimir and anna are dedicating malachi timothy and alexander so what do you guys do with all your free time i mean [Laughter] try to sleep yeah no free time you'll get some in about 18 years yeah all right let's remember their names but let's pray for each of them lord today we dedicate these three young men malachi alexander and timothy lord i thank you for the blessing that they are their reward from you and i just see this family raising three young men to follow the plan that you have for their lives to be world changers and difference makers so today we dedicate malachi and timothy and alexander that they would grow from this state forward grow to know you to love you and to love others in jesus name i pray amen amen amen this is jeff and kelly king today they dedicate their daughter by promising to raise her in the love of jesus christ their prayer is that she will always know his love and show his love to others their verse for her is ephesians 3 17-19 i pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of god jeff and kelly are dedicating lila k marie and she is five months old she's happy to be here beautiful all right let's pray lord thank you for the life of lyla thank you for the gift that she is to this family daughter a sister and lord we just pray from this day forward that she would experience and understand the truth in this scripture of how wide and how long and how high and how deep the love of christ is to know it deep inside her that she knows how much you love her god we dedicate lila to you that she would grow to know you to love you and to love people and we pray this in jesus name amen amen [Applause] this is alexander and nia santana they are dedicating their son today they are acknowledging and professing publicly that they are committed to raising him in the way he should go and showing him by their example what it means to follow christ their verse for him is proverbs 22 6 train up a child in the way he should go even when he is old he will not depart from it alexander and nia are dedicating alexander lael and he is three months old three months old and what does the shirt say family favorite is this true oh this is true okay good all right let's pray heavenly father we thank you for alexander we thank you for the gift that he is to this family a reward from you to them family favorite god we thank you for the truth that as these parents grandparents those speaking in his life as they raise him in and train him in the way of the lord that he will not depart from it so we thank you for that and today we dedicate him to you that he would grow to know you to love you and to love others in jesus name amen amen [Applause] this is nicholas griffith and leah perez they are dedicating their daughter and son today to honor and glorify god for the wonderful blessing they are that he has given them through their children they want to continue raising them in christ so they may grow up and be a godly woman and man to spread the word and love of christ they have chosen jeremiah 29 11 for i know the plans i have for you says the lord their plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope nicholas and leah are dedicating bria paisley grace and jonah phillip they are 37 months old and 11 months old i'm sorry just kidding he's he's days days 10 days old this is what happens when i just copied and pasted it i made him too old 10 days old he's 10 days old right this mom is up here with a 10 day old baby oh my word praise jesus right [Applause] and big sister is so excited are you able to show this bowtie come on zoom in on that come on all right bria and jonah all right let's pray heavenly father thank you for berea thank you for jonah thank you for the gift that they are to this family well we thank you for the truth that's in jeremiah 29 11. you communicated that you have an incredible plan for each of these young lives so from this day forward we believe and pray that they would know the hope that they have only comes through jesus and they would be people of hope so today we dedicate bria and we dedicate jonah to youth that they would grow to know you and to love you and to love others from this day forward in jesus name amen amen thank god for these beautiful families it's one way or another our church is growing and it's amazing it's incredible not only do we have an amazing environment for kids each and every sunday morning um back our little hallway back there but we also have a ton of resources for families throughout the week our bible story is always on our website you can follow us on instagram and facebook to get updates about other things we have great family events we're hosting we have um blogs to encourage you we have pictures to remind you of god's faithfulness so we have so many great resources that that we have for our families each and every week because we feel strongly that parenting is not to be done on your own and that points to so many people who serve and i just i'm curious to know how many of you currently serve in some capacity either in kids or student ministry can you just wave your hand up in the air like you really do care come on can we thank these volunteers and if you're interested in serving you can certainly talk to sheena yes yes you can go to our website as well and find out more information but sheena thank you so much for all that you do to support our families and we just love our family so much so hey let's stand and continue to worship this morning [Music] oh come on we're gonna have some fun this morning [Music] oh i tried with all [Music] and just when [Music] [Applause] [Music] because he healed my heart he changed forever i'm not the same i've been the master i think [Music] [Applause] [Music] i cannot deny what i've seen got no choice but to believe my doubts [Music] pour my gashes in the wings [Music] you can keep on moving [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] savior because he healed my heart he changed my name forever free i'm not the same i think the master i thank the savior [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello i am free oh i am free yes i am free headlock another one i am free oh i am free come on i am free [Music] oh i am [Applause] [Music] is [Music] i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] heart god you changed my name out forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] you turn me around you place my feet off the solid ground i thank the master i thank the savior because you healed my heart he changed my name forever [Music] [Music] thank god [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] come on in your own words why don't you just thank them if you saved you thank them stir up a heart of gratitude we can't do it for you you got to do it yourself stir up a heart of gratitude this morning thank you for saving me jesus thank you for saving us god [Music] no matter what happens in life we are still saved if we know jesus nothing can separate us from him [Music] talk about freedom that's true freedom if you know jesus you experience true true freedom and if you don't know him i want to encourage you this morning right now in this moment or in this next couple songs that we sing just say jesus show me yourself he will he [Music] will oh you carry our birdies you carried our shade we're never the same [Music] you take our disease our addiction you take our burdens [Music] you take our family problems our relationship drama oh god you restore [Music] you're good you're good you're good come on let's sing that oh you're good you're good you're good [Music] oh you're good you're good you're good oh we know you're good you're good you're you are good jesus oh we've tasted and we see the best oh and it's you jesus [Music] it's you jesus praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life from the dead oh praise the one who paid my debt raise this life up from the dead oh please [Music] oh praise the this lord [Music] [Music] our hearts will praise you our hearts will break and oh [Music] oh praise the lord [Music] [Applause] [Music] raise this life up from the dead oh praise the word [Music] raise this life [Music] is [Music] [Music] slain worthy is the beautiful lamb who was slain [Music] on we sing all the saints and all the saints and angels they bow before your [Music] oh [Music] before [Music] and oh you are worthy of it all yes you are you are worthy of it all all our praise all our worship and far from you are all things and you you are all things jesus you deserve the glory sing all the same [Music] [Music] of god we say you are worthy of it all oh come on we glorify jesus [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] god you deserve glory glory day and night night and day later on day and night night and day let true worshipers rise up day and night night and day [Music] day [Music] day [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] and you deserve the [Music] give rules [Applause] [Music] you are worthy of it all you can have it all jesus [Music] oh can we sing it again every voice lift it up he's worthy [Music] for trump you are always [Music] [Applause] you deserve the glory [Music] [Music] god you're worthy of our worship worthy of our praise and we let our worship and prayers arise like incense the scripture describes it that way it's why we sing let incense arise it's letting our prayers rise don't invite you just to lift up your voice pray for what's on your heart today maybe it's a family member maybe it's a co-worker maybe someone you know who needs healing in their bodies if you know it's praying for a situation just begin to lift your voice and pray and let our prayers rise to heaven so god we do lift up every person who's in this room those are connecting with us god i pray your blessing and protection around them lord would you open our eyes to see truth let us have spiritual insight to see truth because it's the truth that will set us free god we pray for those who may be blinded by false by lies by false thinking that you're against them god but let the truth be known that you are for people you're not against them and you invite them you invite people to come and follow jesus and to live for you so god we pray for that we thank you for it this is uh we're honoring the 20th anniversary of 9 11 yesterday i'm just mindful to pray for our nation i got first off i want to pray for those who have been impacted by that day september 11 2001. we pray for the first responders this might be of a traumatic weekend god i pray that the comfort and the peace of the holy spirit would be so present god i pray for families who have lost loved ones on that day we pray for the peace and comfort in their lives god we also pray for our nation today may we never take for granted the freedom that we experience the freedom to worship the freedom to work the freedom to live our lives the freedom to raise our families the freedom to love the freedom to live but god also know that our nation needs healing it's like i first pray for our leaders we pray that they would our leaders at every level of government from the federal to the state to the local god they would turn to you have a posture of humility and look to you for wisdom and guidance god we pray for your protection around this nation lord i pray for the churches in the u.s the churches would be strong filled with people who are committed to the gospel of jesus christ and i pray for churches in this local community so many good churches where people are gathering today churches like calvary church lcbc victory church lords house of prayer petra god journey church highland presbyterian westminster presbyterian so many good churches the mennonite churches church of the brethren brethren in christ churches people who are gathering together under your name and just proclaim the same thing we're doing here saying you are worthy of our worship and our praise because there's a name that's above every other name and that name is jesus and at the name of jesus every knee will bow that means sickness must bow disease must bow coven 19 must bow to the name of jesus [Applause] god anxiety and fear depression must bow at the name of jesus division racial tension god all of that must bow to the name of jesus we thank you for that we pray all of this in jesus name just as we're here gather together my prayer is that we would grow and our faith would be strong in jesus name i pray we all said amen amen can we give god praise today so good to be together worship this in this moment of worship i want to pray for two families who lost loved ones so i want to invite roger and roger and rhoda martin if you and your family would come please roger's mother passed away ah there they are and people are on the front if you'd like feel free to come and stand with them and then online we have a couple joe and jane mckay joe's mother and father passed away recently very close together and so we're just going to pray over them so let's join together in prayer god thank you so much for the comfort of the holy spirit in this in these moments losing a loved one it's a loss there's just no way around it but god we know that you are present in these moments you are near to the brokenhearted and your grace is made perfect in our weakness and in our law so i pray that over this family the martin family got the legacy that men left would live on i pray that for joe and jay mccabe who are watching i pray the pres that the peace and the presence of the holy spirit would be so present with them and god we do thank you for the promise of heaven maybe we never lose sight that this life on earth is not our final destination and so we're grateful for that today and pray all of this in jesus name we all said amen amen we love you guys [Applause] well are you ready for god's word i know you've been standing for a while but i want you just to remain standing it's a way that we show honor to the reading of god's word if you're able to would you remain standing but how many of you need a word from god today i hope you know my words are going to last maybe a couple minutes maybe even an hour maybe even a day but god's word the word of god endures forever the grass withers the flower fades god's word endures forever and so i felt that god was leading me to this passage in john 21 i want to read verses 15 through 22. let's let god's word speak to us it says after jesus rose from the dead just a little moment when they meaning jesus said the disciples when they had finished eating jesus said to simon peter simon son of john do you love me more than these yes lord he said you know that i love you jesus said feed my lambs again jesus said simon son of john do you love me he answered yes lord you know that i love you and jesus said take care of my sheep the third time he said to him simon son of john do you love me peter was hurt because jesus had asked him the third time do you love me he said lord you know all things you know that i love you and jesus said feed my sheep very truly i tell you when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and leave you where you do not want to go jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which peter would glorify god think about that he just told peter what kind of death he would die and then followed up by saying follow me peter turned and saw that the disciple whom jesus loved was following them this was the one who had leaned back against jesus at the supper and had said lord who is going to betray you when peter saw him he asked lord what about him and jesus answered if i wanted if i want him to remain alive until i return what is that to you and then one more time he said you must follow me today i want to talk from the subject that is my title i want to i want us to get to know the god of restoration he's the one we've been singing to he's been one the one we've been praying to he is the god of restoration lord thank you so much for speaking to us through your word would you have your way in this place in jesus name we all said amen amen you can go ahead and be seated and let's dig into this message it's my observation that as humans human beings we are wired for prediction we're wired for certainty uh it's actually an innate desire in each of us and we see that we see evidence of it in certain things in life like we like to predict or like to know what's the weather going to be like what's the weather going to be like tomorrow what's it going to be like this coming week we like to predict or we like to know how's the economy going to go this next quarter you know how's business going to go uh we like to predict who's going to be the next president of the united states we also like to predict who's going to win the super bowl that's easy it's whoever tom brady is going to play for and even in our personal lives we like to predict what the future is going to hold you know when you're young you wonder wonder what who i'm going to marry and where am i going to live what kind of job i'm going to take what's my life going to look like in the future so we have this desire to predict we have this we're wired for prediction and it's not just something that we do or have a desire for our brains are actually wired for prediction there's something in your brain called the neocortex and that function uses patterns or finds patterns on what you have seen and what you see and helps you determine what's going to come next so when you see something you're not just seeing what's happening you're seeing what comes next when you're predicting things you're actually predicting what comes wow your neocortex needs some work i think you're predicting what comes next yeah thank you it's getting there so we have we're created this way to want to know to desire certainty to be able to predict what comes next but isn't it true that we live in a world of uncertainty so we crave certainty but we live in a world of uncertainty and i mean right now we see evidence of that all around us and for those of us who have decided to follow jesus we we placed our faith in jesus if you're a christian or even if you're seeking trying to figure out what does it mean to be a christian or maybe you're here you're listening and you're wondering uh you know maybe you have some skepticism or some cynicism about faith here's the thing about faith faith is trusting a god that you cannot see so we're wired for prediction and certainty yet we are encouraged to trust a god that we cannot see so how do you know a god that you can't see how do you get to know someone that you cannot see that's a tension in life isn't it it reminds me of this story and this is an old familiar story you've probably heard this before about this little girl who was around five years old she was an art class and she's drawing this picture and the art teacher comes over to her and says oh you know what are you drawing and the little girl said oh i'm drawing god and the art teacher said that's ridiculous no one knows what god looks like and she just answered so calmly oh they will when i'm done with my picture how do you know a god that you cannot see jesus is the expressed image of an invisible god if you want to know what god is like get to know jesus and we discover who jesus is in scripture by the power of the holy spirit opens our eyes to truth we begin to see who jesus is by reading about him in the gospels and he's revealed to us in the gospels and one of my pastoral responsibilities to you on my commitments to you is to help you see and understand the character and nature of god to see uh what god is like and the way that we understand the character nature of god is by getting to know jesus how did he respond in certain situations so we get to know who god is like by getting to know jesus and in jesus how he lived his life we see the god of restoration and i want you to know the god of restoration one of the most powerful characteristics of who god is the god of restoration so restoration by definition is being restored being restored it's it's not a place you arrive to it's this journey it's this step-by-step process you are being transformed being restored being renewed revived and re-established another definition is it's the return to unimpaired condition by renovation have you ever done a renovation project in your home or helped someone do a renovation project it's one of those things where you don't really ever feel like you're completely finished as soon as you finish one project it's like well that looks so good and that's compared to the old part so maybe we should redo this and we didn't quite do this right and you open up a wall and then it's like oh i guess we need to replace the the wiring and the plumbing and that's in the whole house so renovation never quite feels like it's done but it's different with jesus because when jesus came he came to restore what was broken and sin the result of sin was brokenness broken relationship with god and broken relationship with others and if we try to restore that in our own oh we can try and we can have willpower and we can do the best we can but if we just try to restore brokenness the result of sin we're gonna inevitably fall short and jesus came to restore what was broken and he gave this pathway on how to restore he invited us he said repent of your sins that just means turn from your sins turn away from them turn from your selfish ways and receive forgiveness for your sins and that restores this right relation so only jesus can truly restore the brokenness that sin caused it's only found in jesus and the reason i love this story and i wanted to dig into this this moment is because jesus restored peter and we get to see some very specific ways that he did this because our perception of what restoration what the god of restoration is like may be very different than what scripture teaches us and so if you're taking notes i want you to write this down that jesus restored uh peter by addressing three specific areas write these three three words down pride regret and comparison and we're going to start with pride because really pride is dealing with pride if we don't deal with pride it actually leads to regret and comparison so let's talk about pride and let's look at how did jesus address peter's pride his regret and his comparison well pride pride misguides pride is having a superior opinion of ourselves compared to someone else it's basically saying i'm better than you oh we may not admit to that we might not say that out loud but pride has this uh superior view that i am better than the people around me proverbs chapter 16 verse 18 says pride goes before destruction a haughty spirit before a fall i love the message translation of that same verse says this first pride then the crash the bigger the ego the harder the fall if you are a lyricist you should include that in a song somewhere that is a great line the bigger the ego the harder the fall see we don't always know pride and if we don't deal with pride we won't actually see it until we fall and because pride comes before a fall but here's the good news the god of restoration number one the god of restoration pursues us when we fall how many of you are thankful that jesus pursued you if pride if pride caused you to fall he didn't say see i knew that would happen good luck you're on your own no jesus pursues us when we fall that's part of who god is and we see it in this story jesus was always pursuing now there's a lot written in the gospels about this guy named peter peter was a fisherman and fishermen were known to be brave to be strong they had great work ethic they knew how to tell a good story and peter fit all those characteristics uh peter knew success and failure he knew what it was like what it was like to fish all night and not catch anything peter uh was called by a.w tozer the great theologian he called peter the rock that sank this combination of contradictions i think he said it that way right on one hand peter was very courageous and on another hand he was a coward on one hand he was filled with this kind of selfless devotion to jesus on the other side he had this kind of self-centered arrogance but jesus saw something in peter he pursued him and when jesus pursued peter it changed peter's life jesus pursued peter and gave him a new name he said you're simon i'm going to call you peter because that means rock you're like a rock jesus pursued peter and he gave him a new purpose he said you did fish for people i'm going to teach you how to fish or you did fish for fish i'm going to teach you how to fish for people when jesus pursued peter he gave him a new pathway to walk he said come follow me leave your nets behind and follow me jesus invested he pursued peter but then he invested in his life he restored him and peter was being restored but he had this pride issue where he thought he was better than than everyone else yet he still wanted to follow jesus so jesus was very patient with him and jesus was very gracious towards him and he uh empowered peter to be part of ministry and to be part of the miracles and peter went followed him and were very committed to him and he was very bold and very brash and he was very uh saying that i'm i'm never going to leave you in fact there's a many examples of that throughout the gospels the night before jesus would be betrayed he spends these final moments with jesus spends these final moments with his disciples they break bread together they take communion together the very first one before they head out to the garden of gethsemane jesus says these words in matthew 26 31 he said to his disciples this very night you will all fall away on account of me for it is written i will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered but after i have risen i will go ahead of you into galilee now let me just stop there for a moment because imagine if you were peter and the disciples you had just given three years of your life to follow jesus you watched him do miracles you were part of it you had left everything behind and you followed jesus with your whole heart i mean peter and the disciples they saw other people walk away from jesus but they were committed and peter even said you know where else could we go you have the words of eternal life yet this very night jesus communicates to them all of you are going to fall away on account of me and peter right away i mean you just see this kind of wait we've proven that we'll follow you he said even if all fall away on account of you i never will everybody say i never will have you ever said that to somebody oh i'd never do that if i had those kids i would never let them get away with that if i had that kind of money i would never use it in that way what's at the core of that oh i never will peter didn't say um hey can you tell me more about this whole falling apart are you a falling away thing he just said right away oh i don't know i don't know about these guys over here but i will never leave you and then jesus called me says you know truly i tell you i love that he inserted that this very night before the rooster crows you will disown me three times and again peter didn't be like oh wait tell me more about that what is this disowning thing three times look haven't i proved you he didn't ask he just declares unashamedly boldly even if i have to die with you i will never disown you and all the other disciples said the same what was at the core of that was it just commitment that peter was so committed no he was there was something there that had to be worked out of peter this is pride i don't know about these guys over here these other disciples i know they kind of seem like they're on the fence but i will never walk away from you because i've got what it takes i know what it is to stand by someone i know what it is not to leave somebody jesus pursued peter even knowing that peter would disown him that's our god it's got a restoration and that pride that that the pride that peter was in led to regrets i know there's some regrets we'd have in life some are in our control some are out of our control but i want to talk specifically about regrets as the result of our own pride because sometimes those regrets that we have because of our own pride maybe we said something like peter you can identify with him sometimes those can be such distractions they can keep us stuck in life and not only did god of restoration not only did jesus show that he pursued number two the god of restoration gives us grace to deal with regrets how do we deal with regrets in life the god of restoration gives us grace helps us to understand grace peter disowned you after jesus said you're going to disown me three times peter said i never will only a few hours later peter's under pressure jesus gets arrested taken peter tries to follow he's in the you know observing from afar and some people ask him oh do you know jesus and he denied that he knew jesus he denied three times and then you can imagine those words in peter's mind and the text actually tells us if you continue reading in matthew 26 that peter went out and wept bitterly regret how do we deal with regrets i'm here to tell you that the grace of god shows up see god's grace this grace is seen so clearly so powerfully so beautifully when it is shown to the person who is least deserving in jesus we see god's grace see god didn't just say to peter well good luck you're done you messed up we see this beautiful place of grace it shows up because jesus did not come to bring a religion he came to bring a a restoration he came to bring grace and and show us what grace is to restore there's a difference between religion and grace religion religion says uh is all about condemnation right you should have known better should have done better maybe that's the voice in your head telling yourself ah why did i do that i should have known better than that condemnation i'm no good i'm always a failure i'm always once as a failure i'm always going to be a failure condemnation but jesus came to bring restoration that's the grace that he showed us religion is all about second guessing right we think god is second guessing we think our we're second guessing ourselves but grace is appointing to a god of second chances religion is about trying to earn god's love and do this this this and this and kind of line up all of your good works that one day hopefully god will approve me and grace says no you're already approved by god and because you're approved by god then you're saved to do these good works you can sum all of this up the difference between religion and grace religion is all about do and grace is all about done it's done you can imagine peter having a lot of these regrets dealing with his regrets the last thing jesus and peter had this kind of interaction the last thing peter did before he saw him get crucified is that he denied that even knew him imagine the regret of that he goes on he sees jesus being crucified buried in the ground but then on the third day the tomb was empty and that brings us to john 21 jesus after the resurrection jesus appears and reappears a few different times he shows up and then disappears and finally peter's just like i'm going fishing and a bunch of other disciples go with him they go out on the boat they fish all night they don't catch anything and then jesus shows up on the shore while they're bringing the boat back and they didn't realize it was jesus and he said friends did you catch anything and they said no we didn't cat we fished all night we caught nothing and then jesus again they didn't know it was him he yells out why don't you throw your nets on the other side of the boat and i wonder if peter had some kind of memory because this happened before he didn't know it was jesus but he said okay we'll try it they threw the net on the other side of the boat and they caught so many fish the nets could hardly contain it and again god's grace shows up in that moment just think about this they realized it was jesus they come to the shore but think about this the distance between success and failure what's the difference between trying in your own strength and taking god at his word they took jesus at their word they had this blessing that really peter didn't deserve because god was communicating my grace is made perfect in your weakness you didn't earn this blessing it's a gift from god and so they bring this fish in they start to have breakfast together and that brings us to our text that we read sitting in having breakfast and while they're eating jesus says to peter simon i'm sure that got his attention he called him by his old name he said simon son of john do you love me have you ever had somebody question your love for them especially when you've tried to do everything you can to communicate it and they still question your love that kind of hurts doesn't it maybe you've questioned somebody's love jesus said simon do you love me more than these and peter said you know that i love you and jesus said feed my limbs ask again do you love me jesus jesus said do you love me peter said you know that i love you jesus said take care of my sheep ask them a third time do you love me you know that i love you you know all things and jesus said feed my sheep in this moment jesus was publicly restoring and bringing so much restoration and healing because what jesus was saying in essence he was looking i just imagine this moment where peter and jesus were eyeball to eyeball just imagine this because in essence what jesus was saying to peter is just because you denied me that doesn't disqualify you your decision to deny me that you fell short of your own expectations you fell short in that moment denying me did not disqualify you and i think that's a message that you need to hear today someone here needs to know that that your decisions that you've made when you feel like you've fallen short or you stumbled those decisions did not disqualify you from the grace of god that divorce didn't disqualify you that abortion didn't disqualify you getting stuck in addiction drug addiction pornography addiction that didn't disqualify you getting caught in depression anxiety was debilitating and maybe you felt like oh why can't i just pull myself out of that you are not disqualified god's grace is given as a gift to help us deal with whatever we're going through and what i love about how jesus restored he didn't just coddle peter and say you know it's going to be okay it's going everything's going gonna be fine you're gonna be good he said look he gave him opportunity to confirm his love for him he said if you really want to show love to me love and serve one another it's not about how loud and how bold you are and saying how much i love you in front of other people compared to other people you want to love me with your whole heart serve and care for other people with your whole heart that's what communicates love so he gave him this pathway to live and it's a message that jesus gave all throughout the gospels even when peter was like yeah but what about this guy over here you know what's his future going to be you told me about the death i'm going to die what about him jesus said what is it to you i'll take care of that you must follow me a message that jesus gave in luke 9 23 one of these examples he was teaching to the crowds and he he said this to them off crowds casual observers seekers and fully devoted followers of him and he just made it so simple he said whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me and they may not have really understood what does it mean to take up your cross daily until they saw jesus take up his cross and be crucified and then he continues he says for whoever wants to save their life will lose it but whoever loses their life for me will save it so the god of restoration not only pursues us god of restoration not only gives us grace to help us deal with our regrets deal with the the sting of life deal with the decisions that we may have so much shame about the god of restoration gives grace to deal with that but then it doesn't end there number three the god of restoration invites us to follow him as a way of life following jesus it's a pathway to live how do you follow someone that you can't see this this uh phrase you must follow me that jesus told peter it was the very last recorded words of jesus in the gospel of john was jesus telling peter to follow him and only a few days later jesus ascends to heaven how do you follow someone that you can't see it's basically jesus is saying walk in the way that i walked live your life the way i lived my life you got to watch me closely now i want you to live it out and show other people how to do it and he that that message is still going to us today in 2021 follow me jesus gives that invitation to follow him think about the word follow has become kind of a passive word today right social media whether you're on facebook or instagram or twitter or tick tock or youtube any of these sites or you follow news feeds there's always this follow button right you hit follow what does it do it feeds you information so following has become i want to get read this information i want to take in this information because you kind of sit there and whoever you follow it's a celebrity or a news organization or a sports figure you're following them means i'm just going to watch and observe their life and get to know what they're doing get to know what's going on and i wonder sometimes if our understanding is following jesus is the same way i'm gonna follow jesus i'm going to push a button and then i'm just going to read the kind of the information and just kind of take it in be like oh that's nice you know following jesus nice about what peter what he said about peter how you restored him oh that's nice but following jesus is not passive it's active it's a way of life and when we just decide to follow jesus it influences the how we speak to other people it influences our world view it influences how we pray it influences how we uh live in our family with our families it influences how we work it influences our perspective on money on sex on all areas of life following jesus is a pathway a way to live our lives and it's an invitation that he's still giving today for us to follow him and i just picture a church filled with people who have been restored like peter and have now peter was restored and he helped other people follow jesus he helped other people get restored imagine if churches were known to be not just like the god of restoration be a church of restoration a healing place imagine a church i mean i just see worship center this way people who are would pursue those who have fallen not waiting for them to show up but to go after them just like jesus pursued us i see people i see worship center being filled with people that will extend grace just like god extended grace to us to help us get past our regrets to help us move past those the the decisions that we may have made that cause regrets i see worship center being a place of restored people who encourage one another to follow him imagine a place like that imagine the impact this church could have imagined that the impact a church could have but it starts by knowing the god of restoration do you know the god of restoration do you know the grace this gift of grace that jesus came to give i want you to know it and i want you to live in it because it will not only change your life it'll help you be part of how we help other people experience the same god amen would you bow your heads i just want to give us a moment simply quietly say god what are you speaking to us through this message i want to invite you to examine your own life examine your heart there has been pride in your life pride is hard to admit hard to acknowledge i'll be the first one to know that it is hard to admit holy spirit would you help us point out in us there's any pride in our hearts to get rid of it not to get stuck in it to get rid of it and god forgive me when i've allowed pride to shape cloud my view of other people forgive me for being judgmental god forgive us for being judgmental when we have been and thank you for your grace there may be other people here today are listening watching and you will feel stuck in regret stuck in shame and i want you to know that god would say to peter hey denying me does not disqualify you he's saying that to you today your past does not disqualify you your past does not determine your future there are lies in your head telling you that you're done that your life is over you've made too many mistakes let god's word replace those lies let the truth of god's word replace those lies you're not done let god restore you let him set your feet on a new path lord may all of us have the courage to know what it is to follow jesus it's a it's an active word it's an intentional word it's different for each of us because we're all in different places may we have the courage to simply follow jesus i pray all of that in jesus name amen you can all look up if you're here today and you've never made a decision to follow jesus you've never made a public decision to do that i want to invite you to do that today invite you to pray a prayer and the reason why i encourage you to do it publicly is because when you are bold in that kind of stance it it actually is like drawing a line in the sand so i've decided to follow jesus no turning back this isn't something i just thought about in my mind it's a decision you make and when you bring other people in that decision it allows us to support you and walk with you so whatever age you are whatever stage of life you're in if you are ready to make a decision to follow jesus no turning back ready to give him your life you might have some more questions about faith you might have some some doubts you might have some skepticism you're not going to have all of your questions answered this first step is simply say i want to take a step of faith and follow jesus if you'd like to do that i want to lead you in a prayer if you're watching online or listening you can text that number that text the word prayer to that number on the screen allows us to pray with you but i want to lead you in this prayer i'm just going to invite you to repeat it after me we can all say this just so no one is praying alone would you just say heavenly father i thank you for jesus i believe he is the son of god i believe he died on the cross for me and i believe he rose from the dead for me today i repent of my sins i receive forgiveness for my sins because of what jesus has done for me and now my old life is gone and a new life has begun and i choose to follow jesus in jesus name amen amen you can all look up here if you prayed that prayer for the first time if you know you needed to recommit your life to the lord would you just put your hand straight up in the air unashamed with that decision the ushers have a gift for you there's a bible in there with some other material and just keep it up until you see it see your hand over here to my right come on can we celebrate these individuals making decisions if you made that decision or if you have questions about it i want to invite you to stop by connections rooms after we dismiss a great team of people in there that would love to talk with you or pray with you if you'd like this journey of faith following jesus is not meant to be walked alone that's why i love the local church so i love this kind of gathering but there are many people that are not in this room that are part of this church that we get to walk together it's why we do sermon-based small groups don't encourage you get connected in your group we kick off groups this week we we discussed the sermon because the sermon is based on scripture and when you discuss scripture you make discoveries and you learn to grow and you learn spiritual practices and we can learn from one another that's why we take the time to have these good questions for you to discuss god's word so find some people to discuss god's word if you're not in a group you can go still get in one go to worship center dot org slash group finder we'd love to help you get connected all right well are you thankful for god's word today well i pray that it encourages you and challenges you and i pray that you know the god of restoration uh before you go i just want to give you an opportunity to give in our regular tithes and offerings and it's just a reminder that when you give financially here we bring our tithes here it's how we are able to continue to make a difference in this community it's how we can meet felt needs in our community it's how we pay the bills it's how we have staff here and pastors on staff to walk with people and support people and how we have an impact all around the world so when you give you're part of that and i just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continued generosity and supporting the work and the ministry and really the vision that god has given us here if you'd like to give you can see how to do that on the screen and also drop your gifts off at the box at each exit but again from the bottom of my heart thank you for your generosity financially and i just continue to pray a blessing over each of you in the area of finances uh specifically all right would you all stand please if you need prayer for any reason i'm there will be a prayer team down front here on the floor please feel free to come don't leave with something heavy on your heart have someone pray with you and if you are new or newer to worship center make sure you stop by connections those rooms that's our best way of helping you get connected you can reach out to us online as well but we are interested in walking with you so don't forget you are god's masterpiece you've been created on purpose for a purpose go out this week and passionately pursue your purpose have a great week let's stay connected [Music] thank you so much for joining us as a church our desire is for you to follow jesus and find your purpose in him one thing we do is create resources each week to help you grow in your faith so please make sure you're connecting with us on social media by following at worship center pa we are also here and available to pray with you if you have any prayer needs we're just one message away you can message us on social media or you can text prayer to 717-366-7226 to receive prayer from our team thanks again for joining us and don't forget to stay connected with us online throughout the week [Music] you

Channel: Worship Center

Views: 258

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: restoration, Jesus, Peter, faith, comparison, pride, regret, sin

Id: qTfkAFDL0f0

Length: 100min 20sec (6020 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021