Encountering Jesus in Uncertainty: Forgiveness, Faith, Commission

Don't let this fire be to warm you, let this fire be to feed my sheep. Your calling, our calling is that we would actually be the ones who go out and carry the message of forgiveness into the world. You see, when when Jesus first met the very first encounter that he had with Peter, Peter's name was Simon, and he immediately renamed him to Cephas, which means Peter, which means the rock. And then in Matthew sixteen eighteen, he says, and I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [01:26:56] (46 seconds)  #FeedMySheepCalling

And and for me, it begs the question, how often in my life have I stayed close enough to Jesus to see what he's doing, but just far enough to stay out of danger? To stay out of him asking me to sacrifice something? I'm just close enough to, yes, I'm gonna do, you know, the Christian thing, but I'm just far enough away to where it doesn't actually cost me anything. And Jesus is going at the at the crucifixion, you were around a fire to warm yourself while I was dying, but now I am asking you at this fire to not let it be about you. [01:26:11] (46 seconds)  #ChooseSacrificeOverComfort

And Jesus is going, you cannot go out into this world with the massive calling I have for you to change the world, to see it turned upside down if you are holding on to bitterness and unforgiveness for the people who put me on that cross. And then maybe even more so, their own Jewish brothers and sisters who yelled crucify him. And now Jesus is going, I know you accepted me and they didn't, but now I'm telling you, go give them another chance. The disciples had to let go of bitterness. The root of bitterness, if left in our hearts will grow up into a forest that will choke us out. [01:08:52] (44 seconds)  #LetGoOfBitterness

But what Jesus was actually doing in that moment was allowing him the opportunity to restore every denial with a confirmation and a confession of faith. But the crazy thing is that Jesus literally as he is doing this with Peter, he's going, but your love for me should not end with you. It should go out to others, feed my sheep. Go tell others about me. Go be the one who builds the church. Jesus meets us in our mess ups. Peter probably wondered if he had missed his calling, if he had lost his anointing. [01:24:53] (48 seconds)  #RestoredAndSent

I think sometimes for those of us who have been believers, it's easy for us to go, oh, yeah yeah yeah, my past before Jesus, I received forgiveness for us, but those moments where we mess up now, we think I should be better than this. This disqualifies me. I messed up again. I treated my kids bad again. I'm not being a good example. I fill in the blank. I fell back into my addiction. I I messed up again. And that has the ability to make us feel like we've lost our calling. [01:22:24] (39 seconds)  #MistakesDontDisqualify

But Jesus meets them in their fear and he brings peace. He says it twice, he says, peace be with you. Jesus comes in with his peace, but immediately, he shows them the proof of who he is. He shows them, you feared that I was dead and gone. You feared that everything you would hope for was lost, and here I am. [01:02:54] (29 seconds)  #ProofOverFear

I really believe that fear is one of the most crippling things for the body of Christ. I think the enemy does whatever he he can to get us to be and to stay in fear. Fear of what other people will think of us, fear of being rejected, fear of making the wrong choice so you don't make any choice at all, fear of, I don't know, to people, fear that when you do speak to them that they're going to reject you or betray you or walk away, fear that you're not good enough, Fill in the blank. [01:01:45] (38 seconds)  #FearIsCrippling

So many of us, I I believe so many people in the body of Christ are being held back from their calling out of fear. Fear that we will mess it up. Fear that our past disqualifies us. Fear that our lack of understanding disqualifies us. Fear that our lack of ability to understand certain things in scripture disqualifies us. Fear that our doubt disqualifies us, fear that our fear disqualifies us. [01:02:23] (30 seconds)  #FearBlocksCalling