WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:02.060 you 00:30.000 --> 00:33.060 you 01:00.000 --> 01:03.060 you 01:30.000 --> 01:33.060 you 02:00.000 --> 02:03.060 you 02:30.000 --> 02:33.060 you 03:00.000 --> 03:03.060 you 03:30.000 --> 03:33.060 you 04:00.000 --> 04:02.000 you 04:07.000 --> 04:10.000 Good morning, welcome to Shur Foundation Baptist Church. 04:11.000 --> 04:15.000 If you could find your seats in a hymnal, we're in the red and green hymnals. 04:16.000 --> 04:18.000 Red or green hymnals. 04:19.000 --> 04:24.000 We're going to open with a song, Only Trust Him, 277, in the red or the green, 277. 04:30.000 --> 04:37.000 I've been singing out of words from every song. 04:38.000 --> 04:43.000 By the process, most venerable. 04:45.000 --> 04:53.000 And you're so magnanimous, I trust in you. 04:53.000 --> 04:56.000 I trust in you. 04:57.000 --> 05:00.000 I trust in you. 05:01.000 --> 05:04.000 I trust in you. 05:05.000 --> 05:08.000 I trust in you. 05:09.000 --> 05:12.000 I trust in you. 05:13.000 --> 05:16.000 I trust in you. 05:17.000 --> 05:20.000 I trust in you. 05:21.000 --> 05:23.660 Until save Forgotten 05:32.660 --> 05:34.000 Witch 05:34.000 --> 05:37.680 Let us hold Him, 05:37.680 --> 05:40.320 All we know is that 05:40.320 --> 05:42.880 He chose them, 05:42.880 --> 05:45.440 Who made us come, 05:45.440 --> 05:47.760 To Him. 05:47.760 --> 05:50.400 He will save you, 05:50.400 --> 05:53.120 He will save you, 05:53.120 --> 05:57.680 He will save you now. 05:57.680 --> 06:01.280 Yes, Jesus is Lord, 06:01.280 --> 06:03.920 We are all in Him, 06:03.920 --> 06:06.720 The true, the true, 06:06.720 --> 06:08.480 He is, 06:08.480 --> 06:11.360 The living, the new, 06:11.360 --> 06:12.960 The whole, 06:12.960 --> 06:14.800 And we are, 06:14.800 --> 06:16.160 You are, 06:16.160 --> 06:20.080 All we know is that 06:20.080 --> 06:22.800 He chose them, 06:22.800 --> 06:25.440 Who made us come, 06:25.440 --> 06:28.080 Who made us come, 06:28.080 --> 06:30.560 To Him. 06:30.720 --> 06:33.440 He will save you, 06:33.440 --> 06:36.080 He will save you, 06:36.080 --> 06:39.280 He will save you now. 06:39.280 --> 06:40.800 On the last, 06:40.800 --> 06:44.240 Come then and join us, 06:44.240 --> 06:48.960 By the name of the Lord, 06:48.960 --> 06:51.440 We do. 06:51.440 --> 06:56.960 O come, in the time of joy, 06:56.960 --> 07:03.120 Where joys before us flow, 07:03.120 --> 07:06.080 You may trust Him, 07:06.080 --> 07:08.640 You may trust Him, 07:08.640 --> 07:13.840 You may trust Him now. 07:13.840 --> 07:16.560 He will save you, 07:16.560 --> 07:19.360 He will save you, 07:19.360 --> 07:24.480 He will save you now. 07:24.720 --> 07:25.840 Good singing. 07:25.840 --> 07:27.920 Brother Robert, can you open us with a prayer please? 07:55.440 --> 07:56.400 Amen. 07:57.680 --> 07:59.680 Alright, next song is 412. 07:59.680 --> 08:01.680 412 in the red or the green. 08:03.680 --> 08:05.680 Onward Christian soldiers. 08:06.720 --> 08:08.720 Kohath, are you locked in for this one? 08:08.720 --> 08:09.520 Alright. 08:17.520 --> 08:19.520 Alright, sing it on the first. 08:20.240 --> 08:25.280 Onward Christian soldiers, 08:25.280 --> 08:30.240 We raise our voices, 08:30.240 --> 08:35.440 With the voice of praise, 08:35.440 --> 08:40.480 Over yonder plain, 08:40.480 --> 08:45.600 Rise the very first, 08:45.600 --> 08:50.640 With the things we do, 08:50.640 --> 08:55.680 Come then and join us, 08:55.680 --> 09:00.800 By the name of the Lord, 09:00.800 --> 09:05.840 Onward Christian soldiers, 09:05.840 --> 09:10.960 We raise our voice, 09:10.960 --> 09:16.320 With the voice of Jesus, 09:16.320 --> 09:22.000 Glory known before the world, 09:22.000 --> 09:27.200 God bless our new children, 09:27.200 --> 09:32.400 Saved and blessed are they, 09:32.400 --> 09:37.680 Onward Christian soldiers, 09:37.680 --> 09:43.040 Onward Christian soldiers, 09:43.040 --> 09:48.240 God bless our new children, 09:48.240 --> 09:53.440 God bless our new children, 09:53.440 --> 09:58.640 God bless our new children, 09:58.640 --> 10:03.840 Onward Christian soldiers, 10:04.000 --> 10:08.960 Onward Christian soldiers, 10:08.960 --> 10:14.080 Oh Jesus, the Lord, 10:14.080 --> 10:19.440 We come from the Jesus, 10:19.440 --> 10:25.120 Glory known before the world, 10:25.120 --> 10:30.400 Like a life-alarm ring, 10:30.480 --> 10:35.520 Rise the very first, 10:35.520 --> 10:40.880 With the things we do, 10:40.880 --> 10:46.160 With the things we do, 10:46.160 --> 10:51.520 God bless our new children, 10:51.520 --> 10:56.720 God bless our new children, 10:56.720 --> 11:01.920 One in hope and all in joy, 11:01.920 --> 11:07.200 One in charity, 11:07.200 --> 11:12.400 Onward Christian soldiers, 11:12.400 --> 11:17.520 Watching as we go, 11:17.520 --> 11:23.040 With the voice of Jesus, 11:23.040 --> 11:28.560 Going on before the last, 11:28.560 --> 11:34.480 Long may the new people, 11:34.480 --> 11:39.680 Join our happy song, 11:39.680 --> 11:45.040 And with the new voices, 11:45.040 --> 11:50.400 In the triumph song, 11:50.400 --> 11:55.600 Glory known before the world, 11:55.600 --> 12:00.800 And you Christ the King, 12:00.800 --> 12:06.000 The true Congress praise, 12:06.000 --> 12:11.280 The land angels sing, 12:11.280 --> 12:16.480 Onward Christian soldiers, 12:16.480 --> 12:21.600 Watching as we go, 12:21.600 --> 12:27.520 With the voice of Jesus, 12:27.520 --> 12:33.440 Going on before the last, 12:33.440 --> 12:36.160 Amen. Great singing. This time we'll have some announcements. 12:36.160 --> 12:48.480 All right, good morning everybody. Welcome to Scher Foundation Baptist Church. At this time, we're going to go through our bulletins. 12:48.480 --> 12:52.160 So if you don't have a bulletin, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will provide you with one. 12:53.040 --> 12:59.920 Any takers? No? Excellent. So on the front cover there, you can see our verse of the week. 12:59.920 --> 13:06.000 Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. 13:06.080 --> 13:17.120 Psalms 46 10. And our pastor is away right now in Seattle, so we will have brother Alex preaching for the morning service. 13:17.120 --> 13:23.040 And on the inside cover, you can see our service times. And of course, you're here for Sunday morning service. 13:23.040 --> 13:28.400 Come back for Sunday evening at 3 30. And below that you can also see the soul winning times we have throughout the week. 13:28.400 --> 13:35.680 And below that is our praise report. Now, as for events, the Seattle anniversary at the top, 13:35.680 --> 13:40.240 that's what Pastor Thompson's away at. Pastor Anderson preached Friday night. 13:40.240 --> 13:47.360 Looking forward to seeing that one on YouTube. And April 24th, there's a West Virginia University 13:47.360 --> 13:53.680 soul winning marathon going on. So please get in touch with one of the men in the church after service if you're interested in that. 13:54.400 --> 13:59.760 And May 8th, there's soul winning at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. 14:00.400 --> 14:09.360 May 17th to 18th in Sacramento is Red Hot 2.0. That Friday, Pastor Mejia will be preaching at 7 p.m. 14:10.080 --> 14:16.800 And on Saturday, they will be having soul winning throughout the day. There will be lunch in between. 14:16.800 --> 14:24.480 And then after a whole day of soul winning, Pastor Jonathan Shelley will be preaching at 5, I believe. 14:25.120 --> 14:31.360 Then they will have a little break for dinner. And then Pastor Anderson will be preaching at 7 p.m. that day. 14:32.000 --> 14:37.600 And on that Sunday, everyone will be visiting some of the IFB churches that are in that area. 14:38.640 --> 14:44.640 And then May 20th to 24th, Marching Design Conference is at Steadfast Baptist Church in Texas. 14:45.360 --> 14:52.960 July 23rd, Pastor Anderson is preaching Thursday night right here at Scherer Foundation Vancouver. 14:53.600 --> 14:58.640 And of course, the mission trip to Alaska. We are a family integrated church. Children and infants are 14:58.640 --> 15:02.960 always welcome in the church services. And we of course have mother baby rooms and dad baby rooms 15:03.680 --> 15:10.560 available for any unruly children. And please reserve the back rows for families of young children. 15:11.360 --> 15:15.920 Please silence your cell phones at this time. Don't bring your breakfast and lunch into the 15:15.920 --> 15:23.680 assembly area, please. Keep it clean. And let's see. On the back, we have a birthday, it would seem. 15:23.680 --> 15:34.080 Who is Isaac S.? Anybody know Isaac? Must not be here. All right. That saves me one song. 15:34.080 --> 15:37.520 And so we will now have a couple more songs and receive the offering. 15:37.520 --> 15:45.520 All right, find your song binders. 15:48.080 --> 15:49.200 Preaching to myself there. 15:53.520 --> 15:58.080 Psalm 150. Psalm 150 in your song binders. 16:04.480 --> 16:06.800 Praise ye the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary. 16:08.400 --> 16:15.780 Praise dan preached unto thee God 70 societalSuérêt 16:15.780 --> 16:20.780 Praise Him alone! 16:20.780 --> 16:30.780 Praise God and His sanctuary, Praise Him and God! 16:30.780 --> 16:50.780 For all the of His brother, Praise Him for His mighty acts, Praise Him of glory through His works, For that greatness! 16:50.780 --> 17:19.780 Praise Him with all, Son of God, from whom praise Him with all, So dearly unborn, Praise Him with all temple and ones, Praise Him with spring and flowers, 17:19.780 --> 17:29.780 And organs, Praise Him alone! 17:29.780 --> 17:39.780 The love's emeralds, Praise Him alone! 17:39.780 --> 17:59.780 The ice, the wings and the rocks, Everything that has grown, Praise the Lord, Praise Him alone! 18:09.780 --> 18:13.780 Amen. 18:13.780 --> 18:17.780 It's great to sing the Psalms, Amen. 18:17.780 --> 18:25.780 All together on the first. 18:47.780 --> 19:15.780 Jesus did it all, All to Him I owe, Sin and death through criminal strain, He washed it white as snow, Lord, now indeed I find, I pour and mine alone, 19:15.780 --> 19:44.780 And changed all the poop's heart, And milked the heart of stone, Jesus did it all, All to Him I owe, Sin and death through criminal strain, He washed it white as snow, 19:44.780 --> 20:04.780 For nothing could have I, Whereby thy grace to claim, I'll wash thy go'ning's vine, In the blood of Calvary's Lamb, 20:04.780 --> 20:33.780 Jesus did it all, All to Him I owe, Sin and death through criminal strain, He washed it white as snow, And when before the throne, I stand in Him complete, 20:33.780 --> 20:58.780 Jesus died, I so to save, My death just to repeat, Jesus did it all, All to Him I owe, Sin and death through criminal strain, 20:58.780 --> 21:04.780 He washed it white as snow. 21:04.780 --> 21:10.780 Amen. At this time we'll collect the offering. As Yoshua's come forward, Brother Mikey, can you bless the offering? 21:58.780 --> 22:00.780 Amen. 22:28.780 --> 22:52.780 Thank you. 22:58.780 --> 23:14.780 And now at this time, as is our custom, we will read through the whole chapter of John chapter 21. Please open your Bibles. At this time we will read the whole chapter. 23:14.780 --> 23:24.780 That is John chapter 21. Just follow along as we read silently. 23:24.780 --> 23:36.780 John chapter 21, the Bible reads, After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and on this wise showed he himself. 23:36.780 --> 23:46.780 There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. 23:46.780 --> 23:56.780 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They said unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. 23:56.780 --> 24:08.780 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. 24:08.780 --> 24:17.780 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it out for the multitude of fishes. 24:17.780 --> 24:30.780 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he gird his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked, and did cast himself into the sea. 24:30.780 --> 24:38.780 And the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits, dragging the net with fishes. 24:38.780 --> 24:49.780 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon and bred. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. 24:49.780 --> 24:59.780 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, and hundred and fifty and three, and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. 24:59.780 --> 25:12.780 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou, knowing it was the Lord? Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. 25:12.780 --> 25:18.780 This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead. 25:18.780 --> 25:34.780 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Joseph, son of Jonah, Lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto them, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 25:34.780 --> 25:46.780 He saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonah, Lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 25:46.780 --> 26:01.780 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, Lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. 26:01.780 --> 26:18.780 Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 26:18.780 --> 26:26.780 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, Follow me. 26:26.780 --> 26:42.780 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? 26:42.780 --> 26:49.780 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. 26:49.780 --> 27:03.780 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die. But if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? 27:03.780 --> 27:21.780 This is the disciple which testifies of these things, and wrote these things. And we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, though which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the word itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. 27:21.780 --> 27:23.780 Brother Bill, would you pray for us? 27:23.780 --> 27:40.780 Thank you for the reading of the Word, and thank you for this chance to get it here together. 27:40.780 --> 27:56.780 I'm going to be preaching here again, and I want to thank Pastor for encouraging men to preach, and giving us the opportunity to study God's Word, and hopefully show you wondrous things from the Bible this morning. 27:56.780 --> 28:17.780 And so look down in John 21, verse 21, and the Bible reads, Peter seeing him sayeth to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? And Jesus sayeth unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to me? Follow thou me. 28:17.780 --> 28:30.780 And that's the title of my sermon this morning, is Follow Thou Me. So we heard in the reading earlier that Jesus was asking Peter to feed my sheep, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. 28:30.780 --> 28:45.780 And so that's Peter being commanded to be a pastor. And because remember Jesus, this is in the 40 days of after he was resurrected, and then he's going to be taken up. 28:45.780 --> 28:57.780 And so with Jesus gone, now there needs to be leaders to step up and take that place of leading the disciples. And so that's what Peter is being commanded to do, is to step up as a pastor. 28:57.780 --> 29:21.780 And so in verse 21 and 22, it's an extension of that same commandment, Follow Thou Me. And so he's commanding Peter to be a pastor. And Follow Thou Me also means to keep the commandments, to keep his words, everything that we're commanded to in his book. 29:22.780 --> 29:36.780 And of course, in the Bible, it's written that what I say to you, I say to you all. And so those verses was Jesus talking to Peter, but it also applies to us today. 29:36.780 --> 29:49.780 And so Jesus is commanding us, then Follow Thou Me. And keep the commandments in his book. And try to serve him as best as we can. 29:49.780 --> 30:08.780 Okay, now look at Acts 1, verse 3, just a page over to the right in your Bible, where the Bible reads, To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. 30:08.780 --> 30:23.780 And by the way, Pastor Thompson has a sermon that he preached April of 2020 called the Many Infallible Proofs of the Resurrection. And that's on our YouTube channel. 30:23.780 --> 30:36.780 And so because we're in these 40 days, this anniversary of these 40 days, the infallible proofs is what he did during those 40 days. 30:36.780 --> 30:48.780 And I think that 40 day period was also a trial or a test of the disciples. Would they continue the work and the ministry started by Jesus? 30:48.780 --> 30:55.780 Which disciples would step up and continue to serve the Lord and take on more leadership? 30:55.780 --> 31:12.780 And pass that test, that trial of 40 days, and which disciples might go back into the life that they had before they were gathered up by Jesus and were part of his three and a half year ministry? 31:12.780 --> 31:17.780 And would they fail the test? Would they go back into their previous lives? 31:18.780 --> 31:29.780 And the reason why I think that 40 days was a trial and a test of the early disciples is because there's other examples in the Bible about 40 days being a trial or a test. 31:29.780 --> 31:38.780 For example, the 12 spies when they searched out Canaan, the promised land, they were 40 days in the land. 31:38.780 --> 31:46.780 And the Lord had told Moses in Numbers 13, 2 to pick those 12 spies. 31:46.780 --> 31:54.780 And what he said was, of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send the man, send everyone a ruler among them. 31:54.780 --> 32:00.780 So this just wasn't just like 12 guys picked at random. These were supposed to be the heads of those tribes. 32:00.780 --> 32:04.780 And that's what Moses said. He said he picked them. Every one of them was a head. 32:05.780 --> 32:10.780 But of course, we know the spies brought up an evil report of the land. 32:10.780 --> 32:19.780 They said, oh, there's giants and men of stature and we're like grasshoppers and walled cities and we can't do this. 32:19.780 --> 32:26.780 That was the 10 spies. Of course, Caleb and Joshua gave a good report. 32:26.780 --> 32:29.780 They said, we can do this. Trust the Lord. 32:29.780 --> 32:36.780 But because of the 10 evil reports, the people overall were turned against that and they failed the test. 32:36.780 --> 32:42.780 Those leaders, those rulers failed the test and the majority of the nation of Israel along with them. 32:42.780 --> 32:49.780 And so the result of that was the nation of Israel, God had them wandering 40 years in the wilderness. 32:49.780 --> 32:55.780 And the Bible tells us it was one year for each day that the rulers had searched the land. 32:56.780 --> 33:06.780 And so why did they fail? Because the rulers of the tribes had little faith that God would defeat those heathens in that promised land in the nation, 33:06.780 --> 33:10.780 even though he told them over and over and over, I will give you this land. I will give you this land. 33:13.780 --> 33:23.780 And so in Deuteronomy 8, 2, the Bible says that the nation of Israel was 40 years in the wilderness to prove thee. 33:23.780 --> 33:32.780 And so again, that's telling us that 40 years was a test to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. 33:32.780 --> 33:37.780 And so that 40 years is a test of the next generation of the Israelites. 33:37.780 --> 33:47.780 And all of the men of age had died in the wilderness before they could enter into the promised land except for Joshua and Caleb. 33:48.780 --> 33:53.780 And that generation, that next generation that wandered those 40 years, they passed the test. 33:53.780 --> 33:57.780 And the Lord took them into the promised land under the leadership of Joshua. 33:59.780 --> 34:12.780 And so another example of another test, that's 40 days. In 1 Samuel 17, verse 16, the Bible says that Goliath presented himself 40 days as a challenge to Israel. 34:12.780 --> 34:18.780 Remember he said, send your best man to fight me. If you can beat me, then the Philistines will give up and go home. 34:18.780 --> 34:26.780 And nobody took him up on that except David, the stripling. And he had faith in God. 34:26.780 --> 34:34.780 And he killed Goliath and he passed that test, that 40 days that was put forth as a challenge. 34:35.780 --> 34:43.780 Another example of the 40 days being a trial or a test period is Jesus himself. 34:43.780 --> 34:51.780 After he was baptized, the Bible says the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness to be tempted to the devil, 40 days. 34:51.780 --> 34:58.780 And the result of that, of course, was passed, you know, 100% score, extra credit if there was such a thing. 34:58.780 --> 35:06.780 And why did Jesus pass? Because he was full of the Spirit and he was full of faith and he used God's word to rebuke Satan. 35:06.780 --> 35:14.780 And we just know those last couple, that last day where Satan tempted him. But the Bible says he was tempted all 40 days. 35:14.780 --> 35:18.780 And so the Bible doesn't record all those goings on, but you can imagine. 35:18.780 --> 35:26.780 You know, there's a lot of things that happen that aren't recorded in the Bible, but we're told that parts that are essential for us to know. 35:28.780 --> 35:36.780 And also notice Jesus's 40 day trial was the start of his ministry as a humble servant. 35:36.780 --> 35:46.780 And so 40 days at the start and then the 40 days at the end of his ministry was to try and test the disciples and to prove them. 35:46.780 --> 35:52.780 And so his three and a half year ministry is bookend by these two 40 day periods. 35:53.780 --> 36:03.780 And I think that's just sort of another thing that kind of shows that Jesus was tested and tried for 40 days and the disciples were also tested and tried for 40 days. 36:03.780 --> 36:10.780 And then and so Easter was April 5th this year. 36:10.780 --> 36:17.780 And so the 40 day period from April 5th would end in midday. 36:17.780 --> 36:22.780 And so today we're in the midst of that yearly anniversary of those 40 days. 36:22.780 --> 36:37.780 And so I think it's a good time for us to meditate on what happened in those 40 days and what Jesus said to people and the examples of Peter and John and James and how that applies to us today. 36:37.780 --> 36:45.780 And so getting back to the book of John now, the chapter 20 ends with the 11 disciples in Jerusalem. 36:45.780 --> 36:52.780 Remember, doubting Thomas saw when Jesus came the second time and then he and then he believed in the resurrection. 36:52.780 --> 36:56.780 So the 11 disciples were in Jerusalem at the end of chapter 20. 36:56.780 --> 37:00.780 And now look at John 21 verse one. 37:00.780 --> 37:07.780 And the Bible reads, After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. 37:07.780 --> 37:10.780 And on this why showed he himself. 37:10.780 --> 37:23.780 There were together Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Canaan and Galilee and the sons of Zebedee, which of course are John and James, their brothers, and two other of his disciples. 37:23.780 --> 37:31.780 So the site, the Sea of Tiberias, Tiberias is a city on the southwest shore, the Sea of Galilee. 37:31.780 --> 37:48.780 And so between chapter between verse the end of chapter 20 and John and the beginning of John chapter 21, the disciples had walked from Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee, which is about 100 mile walk. 37:48.780 --> 37:54.780 And and that I would guess that was probably like a seven or 10 day walk. 37:54.780 --> 37:59.780 And so that would give them some time to think about all the doings that were going on. 37:59.780 --> 38:08.780 And and in John 21 3, Simon Peter sayeth unto him, I go a fishing and they say unto him, We also go with thee. 38:08.780 --> 38:12.780 They went forth and entered into a ship immediately. 38:12.780 --> 38:15.780 And that night they caught nothing. 38:16.780 --> 38:26.780 So he said, I when Peter said, I go fishing, I think that means Peter is planning to go back to his old life before he joined the ministry. 38:26.780 --> 38:33.780 And he would just be a fisherman and no longer work full time for the Lord. 38:33.780 --> 38:36.780 You know, and the Bible doesn't explicitly say that. 38:36.780 --> 38:43.780 But but I'll show you a few things now and to kind of maybe show that I think that's the case. 38:43.780 --> 38:48.780 And of course, the Sea of Galilee is where Peter, James and John were all from. 38:48.780 --> 38:55.780 You know, that's where they had worked as fishermen before they forsook all and followed Jesus. 38:55.780 --> 38:59.780 You know, and Peter had a house there, the Bible tells us, and a wife in Galilee. 38:59.780 --> 39:07.780 So it would have been very tempting for him just to go back to that easiest life, to that previous life of just being a fisherman, you know, 39:07.780 --> 39:20.780 especially after seeing Jesus brutally murdered, crucified, tortured and all just even the three some three and a half years of the ministry. 39:20.780 --> 39:28.780 You know how Jesus was was hunted and persecuted and in knowing that if he continued in that ministry, 39:28.780 --> 39:36.780 you know, all all of those attacks would now start to fall on the new leadership that took the place of Jesus. 39:36.780 --> 39:40.780 And so, you know, there would be a lot of reasons for him just to go back fishing. 39:41.780 --> 39:44.780 Now, the other possible explanation was that Jesus wasn't planning. 39:44.780 --> 39:51.780 I mean, sorry, Peter wasn't planning to quit the ministry and they were waiting for Jesus to come to Galilee. 39:51.780 --> 39:53.780 He said he would see him there. 39:53.780 --> 39:57.780 And so they're waiting for Jesus to arrive and they thought, well, we might as well go catch some fish. 39:57.780 --> 40:05.780 And in the meanwhile, and but again, I think that Peter was saying, I'm going to go back to my previous life. 40:05.780 --> 40:10.780 And and and one reason why is because they caught nothing that night. 40:10.780 --> 40:19.780 I think Jesus showed them, hey, if you choose not to follow me and choose instead to go back to your old life of fishing, you're not going to catch any fish. 40:19.780 --> 40:24.780 And and so this is kind of maybe similar to the story of Jonah, right? 40:24.780 --> 40:29.780 Jonah refused to go to Nineveh after the Lord told him to go there. 40:29.780 --> 40:32.780 And eventually he ended up in the belly of the fish. 40:32.780 --> 40:35.780 He was there for three days and three nights. 40:35.780 --> 40:39.780 And so after three days and three nights, you would start to think, well, I haven't died yet. 40:39.780 --> 40:41.780 You know, how long am I going to be in here? 40:41.780 --> 40:43.780 It could be for like a long time. 40:43.780 --> 40:46.780 And so that was that was the choice that Jonah had. 40:46.780 --> 40:59.780 Stay in the belly of the whale for who knows how long or or say, oh, oh, Lord, I'll do your work, you know, and and go on to Nineveh, that great city and preach unto it the preaching that the Lord bided him. 40:59.780 --> 41:00.780 And that's what he did. 41:00.780 --> 41:02.780 And many people in Nineveh got saved. 41:02.780 --> 41:04.780 City wasn't destroyed. 41:04.780 --> 41:09.780 And I think the reason why was Jonah was exactly the right preacher that those people needed to hear. 41:09.780 --> 41:11.780 He gave them that hard message. 41:11.780 --> 41:13.780 He didn't like the Ninevites. 41:13.780 --> 41:22.780 And so I think also here and back in Galilee, you know, Jesus had picked those twelve disciples and one of them was a devil. 41:22.780 --> 41:24.780 But the other eleven were saved. 41:24.780 --> 41:28.780 And so he picked those men knowing that they would go forward and do great works. 41:28.780 --> 41:38.780 And so he's making Peter kind of an offer that's like, yeah, you know, if you don't want to go in the ministry, you're not going to really have a good trade catching fish anymore. 41:38.780 --> 41:40.780 So it's kind of like Jonah. 41:40.780 --> 41:51.780 He had a choice of go and follow Jesus and do the work or, you know, suffer a terrible life, perhaps. 41:52.780 --> 42:00.780 And I think John 21, 15 also implies that Jesus was planning to go back to his, I'm sorry, that Peter was planning to go back to his old life. 42:00.780 --> 42:02.780 And I'll show you that later. 42:02.780 --> 42:04.780 So Peter said, I go fishing. 42:04.780 --> 42:07.780 And the other disciples reply, we go. 42:07.780 --> 42:09.780 We also go with thee. 42:09.780 --> 42:13.780 So six other disciples went with Peter. 42:13.780 --> 42:17.780 And remember that Peter, James and John were like the top three disciples. 42:17.780 --> 42:19.780 And so here's an application for us today. 42:19.780 --> 42:29.780 You know, one person backsliding can take others with them, you know, take others with them, even top guys like James and John. 42:29.780 --> 42:44.780 But likewise, on the other hand, you know, a person that's following the Lord and doing the works and stepping up to serve God can take others with him on the way up to encourage and inspire others. 42:44.780 --> 42:48.780 OK, now look at verse four, John 21, verse four. 42:48.780 --> 42:54.780 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. 42:54.780 --> 42:58.780 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? 42:58.780 --> 43:00.780 And they answered him, No. 43:00.780 --> 43:04.780 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. 43:04.780 --> 43:11.780 They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. 43:11.780 --> 43:16.780 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. 43:16.780 --> 43:19.780 And now notice that word therefore, right? 43:19.780 --> 43:28.780 So it's explaining that because there was this multitude of fishes being caught, that's why John figured out that it's Jesus on the shore. 43:28.780 --> 43:30.780 And so how did he figure that out? 43:30.780 --> 43:43.780 Well, if you remember back in Luke five, there was a passage where the when Jesus was coming to the disciples in Galilee when he was first picking them and taking them to follow him. 43:43.780 --> 43:46.780 They fished all night and they caught nothing. 43:46.780 --> 43:51.780 And then Jesus came and told them, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets. 43:51.780 --> 43:54.780 And they caught a great multitude of fishes. 43:54.780 --> 44:02.780 And so I think maybe John was remembering back to that moment in time where they fished all night, they didn't catch anything. 44:02.780 --> 44:06.780 Jesus comes to them, tells them, Cast your net into the deep. 44:06.780 --> 44:10.780 And in John 21, he said, Cast your net on the right side of the ship. 44:10.780 --> 44:16.780 And so I think when John saw that, he says, It's the Lord. 44:16.780 --> 44:18.780 It is the Lord. 44:18.780 --> 44:23.780 And that story is told in Luke five and we'll preach a little bit of that later in the sermon. 44:23.780 --> 44:35.780 OK, now when Simon and now continuing now when Simon and Peter heard it was the Lord, he gird his fishers coat onto him for he was naked and did cast himself into the sea. 44:35.780 --> 44:38.780 And people always kind of wonder, it's like, well, what is this? 44:38.780 --> 44:42.780 And people always kind of wonder, it's like, well, what was he doing being naked in a boat fishing? 44:42.780 --> 44:46.780 You know, and I think there's there's plenty of harmless explanations. 44:46.780 --> 44:55.780 You know, for example, maybe he just got finished washing his clothes and he was hanging him out to dry, you know, on the ropes and the gunnels of the ship or whatever. 44:55.780 --> 44:57.780 And he was just drying him. 44:57.780 --> 45:02.780 And so now, you know, skip down to John 21 verse 11. 45:02.780 --> 45:17.780 Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes and hundred and fifty and three for all there were so many yet not the yet was not the net broken. 45:17.780 --> 45:20.780 And remember in that story and Luke, the net actually break. 45:20.780 --> 45:27.780 And so in both of these stories are kind of parallel passages because it's giving us some information about the net. 45:27.780 --> 45:31.780 And so I think that also kind of ties them together. 45:31.780 --> 45:43.780 So one hundred and fifty three great fishes, you know, so a great fish to me, I think it's talking about the size of it, you know, like like a like a three pound fish or a four pound fish. 45:43.780 --> 45:48.780 And and maybe we can get a witness from Brother Tony. 45:48.780 --> 45:54.780 Would a four pound fish be a great fish out of a lake? 45:54.780 --> 45:56.780 Yeah, well, and I looked it up. 45:56.780 --> 45:57.780 And I looked it up. 45:57.780 --> 46:02.780 They have Tilapia in in in Lake Galilee. 46:02.780 --> 46:06.780 And they also have a thing called a Jordan barbell. 46:06.780 --> 46:12.780 And the barbell gets up to like 13 pounds, 15 pounds and the Tilapia get up to four or five. 46:12.780 --> 46:16.780 But let's just use the conservative estimate of three pounds each. 46:16.780 --> 46:25.780 So if all seven disciples were fishing and they caught these hundred and fifty three fish and they split them up amongst themselves, that would be at least 70 pounds of fish each. 46:25.780 --> 46:35.780 You know, that so catching 70 pounds of fish each in just one draw in the space of a couple of hours, you know, that one net drop, that would be pretty good wages. 46:35.780 --> 46:44.780 And and so, you know, I think there's an application here, you know, if you're working for God and you're serving him, he can cover your needs and then some. 46:44.780 --> 46:49.780 OK, and then notice it says, yet was the not the net broken. 46:49.780 --> 46:52.780 And so this is, you know, another miracle, right? 46:52.780 --> 46:56.780 You know that that I think it's saying that that net should have broken, right? 46:56.780 --> 46:58.780 It's four hundred and fifty pounds of fish. 46:58.780 --> 47:00.780 That's like two of me in a net. 47:00.780 --> 47:07.780 And and, you know, these nets were they didn't have like nylon cordage and and carbon fiber. 47:07.780 --> 47:10.780 I mean, they they had like flax and maybe hemp. 47:10.780 --> 47:14.780 And, you know, and after a while, the water would kind of start to deteriorate them. 47:14.780 --> 47:16.780 They always needed to be repaired. 47:16.780 --> 47:20.780 And so it was just a miracle that the net did not break itself. 47:20.780 --> 47:23.780 Now, and please always keep a marker in John 21. 47:23.780 --> 47:26.780 That's our text for tonight for this morning. 47:26.780 --> 47:32.780 Keep them always keep a marker in John 21 and turn to Luke 10 for Luke, Chapter 10, verse four. 47:32.780 --> 47:37.780 And while you're turning, I'll start reading at Luke 10, verse one. 47:37.780 --> 47:46.780 After these things, the Lord appointed other 70 also some 70 more disciples and sent them out to and to before his face into every city and place, 47:46.780 --> 47:48.780 whether he himself would come. 47:48.780 --> 47:55.780 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. 47:55.780 --> 48:00.780 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. 48:00.780 --> 48:02.780 Go your ways. 48:02.780 --> 48:06.780 Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. 48:06.780 --> 48:15.780 And so Jesus is sending out the 70 disciples to to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God and get people saved and and to hear the gospel. 48:15.780 --> 48:18.780 And and to heal the sick. 48:18.780 --> 48:31.780 And so in verse four, carrying neither purse nor script nor shoes and salute no man, by the way, and into whatsoever house he enter first say peace be to this house. 48:31.780 --> 48:35.780 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. 48:35.780 --> 48:38.780 If not, it shall turn to you again. 48:38.780 --> 48:47.780 And in the same house remain eating and drinking such things as they give for the laborer is worthy of his hire. 48:47.780 --> 48:49.780 The laborer is worthy of his hire. 48:49.780 --> 48:52.780 So Jesus is telling them, don't take any money. 48:52.780 --> 48:54.780 The laborer is worthy of his hire. 48:54.780 --> 49:00.780 Jesus saying the Lord will provide food and rain and shelter along the way. 49:00.780 --> 49:05.780 And back in Luke nine, three, I'll just read it for you. 49:05.780 --> 49:10.780 Jesus sent the 12 disciples and said unto them, take nothing for your journey. 49:10.780 --> 49:24.780 Neither staves, which is like a short sword, I think, or a staff nor script, neither bread, neither money, neither money, neither have two coats of peace. 49:24.780 --> 49:26.780 So neither have two coats of peace. 49:26.780 --> 49:28.780 Trust God that somebody will put you up for the night. 49:28.780 --> 49:30.780 They'll they'll lodge you in their house. 49:30.780 --> 49:31.780 You won't be sleeping outside. 49:31.780 --> 49:34.780 You won't need two coats to stay warm. 49:34.780 --> 49:37.780 And so again, Jesus saying, you know, trust God. 49:37.780 --> 49:39.780 He'll provide what you need. 49:39.780 --> 49:52.780 Food and rain men and also read for you out of Matthew six, 33, where Jesus said, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. 49:52.780 --> 49:58.780 All these things in Jesus is referring to food and rain men mentioned in the previous verses. 49:58.780 --> 50:00.780 Now, he didn't say he'd give you a house. 50:00.780 --> 50:03.780 He didn't say he'd give you a fancy car. 50:03.780 --> 50:08.780 He didn't say he'd give you a vacation home somewhere. 50:08.780 --> 50:11.780 Food and rain men, basic necessities. 50:11.780 --> 50:21.780 And so as believers, we should trust God for that physical salvation that he will provide us food and rain and just as much as we trust him for our spiritual salvation. 50:21.780 --> 50:22.780 Right. 50:22.780 --> 50:27.780 We know we're saved because the spirit itself bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. 50:27.780 --> 50:33.780 And so with that same level of faith and spirit, we can believe in faith that God will give us our physical needs also. 50:36.780 --> 50:45.780 OK, so so back to this this at the Sea of Tiberias and John 21, you know, it seems like the disciples were not following that council. 50:45.780 --> 50:50.780 You know, they didn't have the faith and they decided, well, we should go fishing. 50:50.780 --> 50:52.780 We need to go fishing. 50:52.780 --> 50:53.780 They were trusting in their own power. 50:53.780 --> 50:58.780 They were trusting in their own skill and man's skill to provide that food instead of trusting in God to provide that food. 50:58.780 --> 50:59.780 Why? 50:59.780 --> 51:01.780 Because they were of little faith, I think. 51:01.780 --> 51:04.780 I mean, it always comes back to faith. 51:04.780 --> 51:06.780 Oh, ye of little faith. 51:06.780 --> 51:14.780 You know, they didn't remember the miracle of the five thousand and the four thousand that were fed, which was actually in Galilee. 51:14.780 --> 51:20.780 And and so now please turn to Luke five, verse four. 51:20.780 --> 51:32.780 Luke five, verse four is when Jesus comes to the Lake of Gennesaret, which is Gennesaret, a city on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, which is like maybe three miles from Tiberias. 51:32.780 --> 51:33.780 You know, it's pretty close. 51:33.780 --> 51:35.780 Lake itself is not like a huge lake. 51:35.780 --> 51:40.780 It's eight miles east, west and like 13 miles north south. 51:40.780 --> 51:45.780 Now, when they had left speaking, so I'm in Luke five, verse four. 51:46.780 --> 51:50.780 Now, when they had left speaking, so I'm in Luke five, verse four. 51:50.780 --> 51:59.780 Now, when he had left speaking, he is Jesus speaking, said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft. 51:59.780 --> 52:05.780 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. 52:05.780 --> 52:10.780 Nevertheless, at thy word, he's taken him for his word, his faith. 52:10.780 --> 52:12.780 I will let down the net. 52:12.780 --> 52:17.780 And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. 52:17.780 --> 52:23.780 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship that they should come and help them. 52:23.780 --> 52:27.780 And they came and filled both ships so that they began to sink. 52:27.780 --> 52:37.780 So in verse eight, when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knee saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 52:37.780 --> 52:45.780 And for he was astonished and all that were with him, so all the disciples were with him were astonished at the multitude of fishes. 52:45.780 --> 52:47.780 And so this is a miracle. 52:47.780 --> 52:50.780 At the draft of the fishes what they had taken. 52:50.780 --> 52:55.780 And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. 52:55.780 --> 53:02.780 And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 53:03.780 --> 53:07.780 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. 53:07.780 --> 53:10.780 So they followed Jesus. They joined his ministry. 53:10.780 --> 53:14.780 And in that verse it says, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 53:14.780 --> 53:19.780 And that was Jesus' main ministry to save the lost. 53:19.780 --> 53:24.780 And Jesus is telling Peter, James, and John that they're going to be preaching the gospel to get people saved. 53:24.780 --> 53:30.780 And this was the ministry that Jesus started more than three years ago. 53:31.780 --> 53:34.780 His ministry lasted for three years in sum. 53:34.780 --> 53:40.780 Now notice this miracle in Luke 5 is the same miracle as it was in John 21. 53:40.780 --> 53:51.780 And so Peter recognizes that I think also in John 21, because Jesus repeats that same miracle. 53:51.780 --> 53:59.780 I think he's stirring up Peter, James, and John to recall that commitment and that zeal that they had at the beginning. 53:59.780 --> 54:02.780 When they said they forsook all and followed him. 54:05.780 --> 54:12.780 And so the application for today is, you as a believer, if you've lost your zeal and your commitment to serve, 54:12.780 --> 54:18.780 remember back to those days when you had that zeal and when you first started out with that commitment. 54:18.780 --> 54:24.780 And maybe right after you were saved or maybe after you started attending a good church. 54:24.780 --> 54:32.780 And what your joy was in those days, great joy, and your enthusiasm and your commitment. 54:32.780 --> 54:41.780 So go back to those days just like Peter is taking the disciples back to that point in time when they forsook all and followed him. 54:41.780 --> 54:55.780 And so also notice in verse 4 in Luke 5, Jesus tells them to let down their nets, plural, nets, more than one net. 54:55.780 --> 55:02.780 And in verse 5, Peter let down the net, singular, one net out of several. 55:02.780 --> 55:08.780 And in verse 6 it says, their net break, because too many fish were in one net, too much weight. 55:08.780 --> 55:15.780 And so I think this passage is showing us, if they had let down all the nets, 55:15.780 --> 55:21.780 the weight of the fish would have been distributed amongst more nets and none of the nets would have broken. 55:21.780 --> 55:28.780 Because why would they put that detail, why would God through the Holy Spirit and through Luke put that detail that their net break? 55:28.780 --> 55:30.780 I think there's a significance there. 55:30.780 --> 55:36.780 And the reason is that their net break because they didn't follow Jesus' instruction completely. 55:36.780 --> 55:41.780 They let down just, his instruction was to let down the nets. 55:41.780 --> 55:47.780 And because they didn't follow the instructions, the net broke, some fish got away. 55:47.780 --> 55:52.780 And because they didn't follow the instruction completely, the net itself broke and needed repairs. 55:52.780 --> 56:00.780 And so in the metaphor of fishing to catch men's souls, 56:00.780 --> 56:04.780 a fish that got away is somebody that could have got saved and they didn't get saved. 56:04.780 --> 56:09.780 And so the application today is follow what the Bible says. 56:09.780 --> 56:17.780 For example, all the soul winning instructions and models in the Bible. 56:17.780 --> 56:22.780 And right now, pastor is preaching three sermons about soul winning do's and don'ts. 56:22.780 --> 56:27.780 So he's already preached the do's and he preached the first of two of the soul winning don'ts. 56:27.780 --> 56:33.780 And so study those. This is his guidance to us. This is the rules. 56:33.780 --> 56:39.780 Follow those rules fully, not like the disciples where they just let down one net instead of three nets. 56:39.780 --> 56:44.780 Else you might break the net or worse, let fish get away. 56:44.780 --> 56:48.780 And again, the fish that get away might not ever get caught. 56:48.780 --> 56:53.780 And they'll die of old age and sink to the bottom of the lake and their souls go to hell. 56:53.780 --> 56:56.780 And so the stakes are very high. 56:56.780 --> 57:01.780 Follow pastors soul winning instructions. 57:01.780 --> 57:06.780 Okay, Peter says in Luke 5, 8, depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 57:06.780 --> 57:11.780 And Jesus said unto Simon, okay, you're too sinful. I'll just go pick somebody else. 57:11.780 --> 57:16.780 No, he didn't say that. He said, Jesus said, fear not, fear not. 57:16.780 --> 57:19.780 From henceforth thou shalt catch men. 57:19.780 --> 57:22.780 Jesus is saying, fear not, have faith in me, trust me. 57:22.780 --> 57:28.780 You will be able to do these good works. Yes, you're a sinner. We're all sinners. 57:28.780 --> 57:33.780 And I think in some ways that's a credit to Peter that he acknowledges that. 57:33.780 --> 57:38.780 That he says, you know, I'm a sinner. I'm not worthy to do these works. 57:38.780 --> 57:46.780 And if you think about it, a person like that is more likely to be a good disciple than somebody that's kind of high minded and holier than now. 57:46.780 --> 57:49.780 And, you know, I do such great things. 57:49.780 --> 57:55.780 And so Peter was humble and just like Jesus was a humble servant. 57:55.780 --> 57:57.780 And we know that Peter did much to build the church. 57:57.780 --> 57:59.780 You know, we see that in the first part of the book of Acts. 57:59.780 --> 58:04.780 And Paul maybe even did more works than that to further the kingdom of God. 58:04.780 --> 58:06.780 And we see that in the latter half of the book of Acts. 58:06.780 --> 58:15.780 And if you think about it, Paul, certainly before he got saved, was way more sinful than Peter. 58:15.780 --> 58:23.780 You know, in Acts 26, 10, Paul said that before he was saved that many of the saints did I shut up in prison. 58:23.780 --> 58:26.780 So this is Luke recording Paul's words. 58:26.780 --> 58:32.780 Many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests. 58:32.780 --> 58:37.780 And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. 58:37.780 --> 58:41.780 And so Paul is saying he was testifying against believers. 58:41.780 --> 58:43.780 And then they were put to death. 58:43.780 --> 58:46.780 I gave my voice against them. 58:46.780 --> 58:48.780 And so that's pretty bad. 58:48.780 --> 58:50.780 You know, again, we're all sinners. 58:50.780 --> 58:55.780 And, you know, Peter often said foolish things. 58:55.780 --> 59:02.780 That's kind of his one of his characteristics in the Bible. 59:02.780 --> 59:09.780 And so out of his zeal, you know, or lack of knowledge, you know, but so do we. 59:09.780 --> 59:12.780 We say a lot of foolish things, too. 59:12.780 --> 59:17.780 But God would still use Peter and Paul in ways they could have never guessed, I think. 59:17.780 --> 59:21.780 And likewise for us sinners today. 59:21.780 --> 59:28.780 You know, God can use us in ways we can't even imagine if we have faith enough to forsake all and follow him. 59:28.780 --> 59:32.780 Okay, please go back to John 21, 15. 59:32.780 --> 59:35.780 John 21, 15. 59:35.780 --> 59:44.780 So when they had died, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these. 59:44.780 --> 59:48.780 He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. 59:48.780 --> 59:53.780 He saith unto him, Feed my lambs, feed my lambs. 59:53.780 --> 01:00:01.780 And so a shepherd who keeps the sheep, he feeds that flock by leading them to the greener pastures. 01:00:01.780 --> 01:00:06.780 And so like, you know, in the summer months when it's hot and dry, 01:00:06.780 --> 01:00:09.780 there's going to be more rain up in the mountain meadows. 01:00:09.780 --> 01:00:11.780 And so he'll lead the sheep up there. 01:00:11.780 --> 01:00:15.780 And after a few years, he probably knows all the different meadows and the trails. 01:00:15.780 --> 01:00:21.780 And he's skillful at feeding his sheep by leading them to the right meadows, to the right pastures. 01:00:21.780 --> 01:00:25.780 And the word pastor means shepherd. 01:00:25.780 --> 01:00:33.780 And so Jesus is telling, commanding Peter to be the pastor of the first New Testament church, of the early church. 01:00:33.780 --> 01:00:39.780 And he asked them, Peter, I mean, Jesus asked Peter, lovest thou me more than these? 01:00:39.780 --> 01:00:43.780 And I think the these he's referring to is the 153 great fishes. 01:00:43.780 --> 01:00:48.780 And Jesus is asking me, do you love me more than what you could earn as a fisherman? 01:00:48.780 --> 01:00:54.780 Do you love serving God and following in the ministry more than being a fisherman? 01:00:54.780 --> 01:01:01.780 And Jesus said in another passage, you cannot serve God in mammon. 01:01:01.780 --> 01:01:04.780 And mammon is riches personified, right? 01:01:04.780 --> 01:01:10.780 You've got to have your priority in serving God or your priority in making money. 01:01:10.780 --> 01:01:13.780 One of those has got priority over the other. 01:01:13.780 --> 01:01:14.780 It can't be both. 01:01:14.780 --> 01:01:19.780 And I'm not saying that we shouldn't go out and make an earning for our family, but it's a question of priority. 01:01:19.780 --> 01:01:24.780 You cannot serve God in mammon. 01:01:24.780 --> 01:01:32.780 So Jesus in this passage then in John 21, I think Jesus is slapping Peter with a reality check. 01:01:32.780 --> 01:01:39.780 It's like, do you think catching fish for more money is more important than preaching the gospel and saving souls from hell? 01:01:39.780 --> 01:01:52.780 Really? You know, and to execute the great commission that Jesus gave us, you know, people need to go to a church, a real church with a candlestick that's still standing and with a pastor to lead the church. 01:01:52.780 --> 01:02:00.780 And so in Romans 10, Paul wrote, And how shall they preach except they be sent? 01:02:01.780 --> 01:02:04.780 And so the church sends us out to knock people's doors. 01:02:04.780 --> 01:02:10.780 And that's one of our main functions in our main ministry here is to train and send soul winners. 01:02:10.780 --> 01:02:15.780 And it's the same thing today as it was thousands of years ago. 01:02:15.780 --> 01:02:25.780 You know, we need to have a church that's serious about soul winning and it's training people to be soul winners and sending them out and organizing it. 01:02:25.780 --> 01:02:29.780 And so same thing today as it was then. 01:02:29.780 --> 01:02:31.780 There's no new thing under the sun. 01:02:31.780 --> 01:02:46.780 And so and I think this verse also shows that when Peter said, I go a fishing, that was Peter planning to quit the ministry and go back into his old life. 01:02:46.780 --> 01:02:54.780 Because if you look at it, it says, Love us thou me more than these. 01:02:54.780 --> 01:03:01.780 And so I think Jesus knew that in Peter's mind, he had already kind of made that decision of, well, I'd rather just go fishing. 01:03:01.780 --> 01:03:08.780 And Jesus is saying, Love us thou me more than these. 01:03:08.780 --> 01:03:12.780 And so he's asking him to look deep inside himself. 01:03:12.780 --> 01:03:14.780 What is your priority? 01:03:14.780 --> 01:03:23.780 And so I think that kind of shows that Jesus that Peter was planning to quit the ministry to go back into his life just because Jesus asked him that question. 01:03:24.780 --> 01:03:28.780 OK, now look at verse 16. 01:03:28.780 --> 01:03:33.780 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me. 01:03:33.780 --> 01:03:37.780 And he saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. 01:03:37.780 --> 01:03:40.780 And he saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 01:03:40.780 --> 01:03:46.780 And he saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me. 01:03:46.780 --> 01:03:51.780 And Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me. 01:03:51.780 --> 01:03:54.780 And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. 01:03:54.780 --> 01:03:56.780 Thou knowest that I love thee. 01:03:56.780 --> 01:03:59.780 And Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 01:03:59.780 --> 01:04:05.780 And so Jesus had led the disciples for over three years. 01:04:05.780 --> 01:04:09.780 But in a few weeks, he's going to be taken up into heaven. 01:04:09.780 --> 01:04:19.780 And so Jesus is telling people, you need to take up this leadership role as leader, as pastor of the disciples of the early church. 01:04:20.780 --> 01:04:29.780 Now notice that Jesus didn't command Peter to be the pastor of the leader until after Jesus asked him the question, lovest thou me. 01:04:29.780 --> 01:04:32.780 So he's asking the question first. 01:04:32.780 --> 01:04:36.780 Peter says, Yea, yes. 01:04:36.780 --> 01:04:40.780 And then Jesus says, Feed my sheep. 01:04:40.780 --> 01:04:43.780 And so I don't think this is a rhetorical question. 01:04:43.780 --> 01:04:48.780 I think Jesus is asking Peter again to look down deep inside himself and where's his priority? 01:04:48.780 --> 01:04:58.780 Are you going to prioritize the things of God in serving the Lord over your fishing and your family and everything else in life? 01:04:58.780 --> 01:05:03.780 And the way he phrases that question is, Peter, do you love me enough to be a pastor? 01:05:03.780 --> 01:05:05.780 And why is that important? 01:05:05.780 --> 01:05:10.780 Why is it important that you have to love Jesus and love the Lord to be a pastor? 01:05:10.780 --> 01:05:15.780 Because being a pastor brings many trials and tribulations, many hardships. 01:05:15.780 --> 01:05:23.780 And if a person doesn't have that kind of love to stick it through, they're going to falter and maybe fail. 01:05:23.780 --> 01:05:30.780 And so the important thing is, lovest me, lovest thou me. 01:05:30.780 --> 01:05:44.780 And remember again, Peter saw how Jesus was continually hunted and attacked, eventually betrayed, captured, beaten, tortured, and murdered on the cross in a horrible way. 01:05:45.780 --> 01:05:47.780 Horrible, horrible, cruel, horrific death. 01:05:47.780 --> 01:05:52.780 He had just seen that a couple of weeks before. 01:05:52.780 --> 01:06:06.780 And again, Peter knew that if he stepped up to take leadership, he'd be stepping into that similar life of pain and beatings and cruel tortures and even his own death. 01:06:06.780 --> 01:06:13.780 Because Jesus even told him that in verse 18 in John, that even his own death when he is old. 01:06:13.780 --> 01:06:21.780 And so I think Jesus is asking Peter, do you love me enough to carry you through 30, 40, or even more days of pain and suffering? 01:06:21.780 --> 01:06:24.780 We don't know how old Peter was. 01:06:24.780 --> 01:06:26.780 Let's just guess in his 30s. 01:06:26.780 --> 01:06:29.780 But then if he died when he was old, maybe that's 60. 01:06:29.780 --> 01:06:33.780 And so Peter's got many years of ministry ahead of him. 01:06:33.780 --> 01:06:41.780 And Jesus is saying, do you love me enough to carry you through all those 30, 40, or more years of pain and suffering? 01:06:41.780 --> 01:06:43.780 Because the storms are going to come. 01:06:43.780 --> 01:06:48.780 And a great love for the Lord is a house built on a solid rock. 01:06:48.780 --> 01:06:50.780 And what does love mean? 01:06:50.780 --> 01:06:55.780 Love is more than just a warm and fuzzy feeling about another person. 01:06:55.780 --> 01:06:58.780 It is keeping his commandments. 01:06:58.780 --> 01:07:01.780 Because Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. 01:07:01.780 --> 01:07:07.780 And apostle John wrote in 1 John 5.3, I'll read it for you. 01:07:07.780 --> 01:07:11.780 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. 01:07:11.780 --> 01:07:19.780 And so, love us thou me is also asking Peter, are you going to keep to the commandments? 01:07:19.780 --> 01:07:22.780 Are you going to do all the words that I've told you? 01:07:22.780 --> 01:07:26.780 All the teachings that Jesus had in those three years that he was with the disciples? 01:07:26.780 --> 01:07:30.780 And of course, all that's captured for us here in this book now. 01:07:31.780 --> 01:07:41.780 And so, and it's a heavy burden on a pastor, right? 01:07:41.780 --> 01:07:51.780 Not only just the trials and the tribulations and persecutions, but everything about the church. 01:07:51.780 --> 01:07:54.780 And Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11.28, 01:07:54.780 --> 01:08:02.780 Besides those things which are without, which cometh upon me daily the care of all the churches. 01:08:02.780 --> 01:08:04.780 The care of all the churches. 01:08:04.780 --> 01:08:11.780 And this is right after the passage where Paul tells about his three shipwrecks and his stripes above measure. 01:08:11.780 --> 01:08:15.780 And three beatings and being stoned. 01:08:15.780 --> 01:08:18.780 And another passage that tells us left for dead. 01:08:18.780 --> 01:08:23.780 And all kinds of perils and hunger and thirst and cold and nakedness. 01:08:23.780 --> 01:08:28.780 And so, on Paul then, I think he's saying the care of all the churches, 01:08:28.780 --> 01:08:34.780 that those problems in those churches weighed more heavily on Paul than all of his physical pains. 01:08:34.780 --> 01:08:39.780 And in Acts 20.31, Paul said, 01:08:39.780 --> 01:08:44.780 By the space of three years I ceased not to warn you every one, night and day with tears. 01:08:44.780 --> 01:08:46.780 Night and day with tears. 01:08:46.780 --> 01:08:48.780 I don't think this is hyperbole. 01:08:48.780 --> 01:08:52.780 I think Paul truly did have a heart for all the churches. 01:08:52.780 --> 01:08:55.780 And he was, in that passage, he's talking about, 01:08:55.780 --> 01:08:59.780 Grievous wolves shall sneak in, not sparing the flock. 01:08:59.780 --> 01:09:05.780 And he's also saying, even amongst yourselves will rise up those that seek to draw away disciples. 01:09:05.780 --> 01:09:10.780 And so these are things that Paul was warning them about with tears in his eyes. 01:09:10.780 --> 01:09:12.780 Because he loved the church so much. 01:09:12.780 --> 01:09:17.780 And so that's one of the major, major, major burdens on the pastor, 01:09:17.780 --> 01:09:22.780 Is just the care, the daily care of the church. 01:09:22.780 --> 01:09:30.780 And you know, today we're aware of some of the trials and the hardships that Pastor Thompson has endured over the years. 01:09:30.780 --> 01:09:35.780 But I'm pretty sure we're probably not aware of everything, all the trials and tribulations. 01:09:35.780 --> 01:09:39.780 I imagine he's kept some of those things to himself. 01:09:40.780 --> 01:09:46.780 But even the ones that we know about, you know, over the years, 01:09:46.780 --> 01:09:51.780 I don't think we can fully understand what it was like for him. 01:09:51.780 --> 01:09:56.780 I don't think we understand all the details and what some of the consequences could have been. 01:09:56.780 --> 01:09:59.780 We don't know the half of it. We don't know the quarter of it even, maybe. 01:09:59.780 --> 01:10:05.780 You know, and the daily care and feeding, you know, we're not in his shoes every day. 01:10:05.780 --> 01:10:08.780 And they're big shoes to fill. 01:10:08.780 --> 01:10:18.780 And so that's another thing that a pastor has to have, a love for the Lord to get him through all of this. 01:10:18.780 --> 01:10:22.780 And it's a brutal, brutal spiritual war that we fight out there. 01:10:22.780 --> 01:10:26.780 It's not physically brutally brutal. It's brutal spiritually. 01:10:26.780 --> 01:10:32.780 With all the false prophets and they're, you know, so close to the truth gospel. 01:10:32.780 --> 01:10:35.780 But yet it still has works being snuck into it. 01:10:35.780 --> 01:10:39.780 And that's the spiritual war we fight today and the stakes are infinitely high. 01:10:39.780 --> 01:10:42.780 You know, eternal souls going to heaven or hell. 01:10:42.780 --> 01:10:49.780 And 1,200 people die in Washington, in the state of Washington every week. 01:10:49.780 --> 01:10:51.780 1,200 people die every week. 01:10:51.780 --> 01:10:55.780 You know, we can save some of those before they end up in hell. 01:10:55.780 --> 01:10:59.780 And the Bible says there is no new thing under the sun, you know. 01:10:59.780 --> 01:11:04.780 And so pastors today, again, they need to love the Lord enough to carry them through all those decades 01:11:04.780 --> 01:11:08.780 of pain and suffering as they serve God and they serve the Lord. 01:11:08.780 --> 01:11:15.780 And if a man doesn't serve the Lord enough, he's going to be likely to fail as a pastor of a true church. 01:11:15.780 --> 01:11:23.780 Now, I'm not talking about a church like, you know, the Compromiser Community Church or Bogus Baptist. 01:11:23.780 --> 01:11:26.780 And I mean, these churches don't preach the word. 01:11:26.780 --> 01:11:28.780 They don't send out soul winners. 01:11:28.780 --> 01:11:30.780 They're not getting a lot of persecution. 01:11:30.780 --> 01:11:33.780 And so it is kind of a cushy job for them. 01:11:33.780 --> 01:11:38.780 To be the pastor of a true church, that's a different story. 01:11:38.780 --> 01:11:45.780 And so being the pastor of a true church is also hard on the wife and the children of the pastor. 01:11:45.780 --> 01:11:47.780 And so respect that. 01:11:47.780 --> 01:11:52.780 And thank pastor and Mrs. Thompson and their family for their sacrifices they've made over the years. 01:11:52.780 --> 01:11:54.780 Appreciate them. 01:11:54.780 --> 01:11:56.780 Appreciate our church. 01:11:56.780 --> 01:11:59.780 If it wasn't for a pastor, we wouldn't have this church. 01:11:59.780 --> 01:12:02.780 And where would any of us be without this church? 01:12:02.780 --> 01:12:10.780 And in the area, I haven't really checked around, but I'm pretty sure the next best church is going to be several notches below our church here. 01:12:10.780 --> 01:12:12.780 And I'm not saying that to be bragging. 01:12:12.780 --> 01:12:14.780 I'm just stating it's a fact. 01:12:14.780 --> 01:12:16.780 You know, we're right on the gospel. 01:12:16.780 --> 01:12:20.780 We're serious about soul winning. 01:12:20.780 --> 01:12:27.780 And just think back to the churches that you used to go to yourself, what it was like there before you came here. 01:12:27.780 --> 01:12:33.780 And for me, you know, those other churches weren't even in the same ballpark. 01:12:33.780 --> 01:12:38.780 And looking back, I think most of those pastors weren't even saved. 01:12:38.780 --> 01:12:46.780 And going on their websites and looking at their statement of faith, they're like, yeah, this sounds pretty bad. 01:12:46.780 --> 01:12:48.780 This isn't the gospel. 01:12:48.780 --> 01:12:51.780 There's work being snuck in here. 01:12:51.780 --> 01:12:54.780 And so now look at John 21 verse 18. 01:12:54.780 --> 01:13:00.780 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, had thou girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldn'tst. 01:13:00.780 --> 01:13:14.780 But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldn'tst go, wouldest not. 01:13:14.780 --> 01:13:18.780 This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God. 01:13:18.780 --> 01:13:23.780 And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. 01:13:23.780 --> 01:13:29.780 And so again, Jesus is telling Peter to commit himself, to count that cost before you make that commitment, and then follow me. 01:13:29.780 --> 01:13:33.780 And that cost will include your eventual death at some old age. 01:13:33.780 --> 01:13:36.780 Now please turn to Luke 14, 26. 01:13:36.780 --> 01:13:38.780 Luke 14, 26. 01:13:38.780 --> 01:13:47.780 And this passage tells us that even being a disciple has a high cost. 01:13:47.780 --> 01:13:49.780 Luke 14, 26. 01:13:49.780 --> 01:14:01.780 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and his mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 01:14:01.780 --> 01:14:06.780 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 01:14:06.780 --> 01:14:11.780 And so Jesus is saying, you know, bear my cross, and hate his own life also. 01:14:11.780 --> 01:14:15.780 He's saying, be prepared, die, in the service of the Lord. 01:14:15.780 --> 01:14:17.780 You know, be okay with giving up your life. 01:14:17.780 --> 01:14:32.780 It may come down to that point sometime where, you know, either you're going to stick to the Bible and follow what God says, and you'll end up losing your life, or you compromise and you give in. 01:14:32.780 --> 01:14:41.780 You know, and we don't have a lot of that today, but when the end times comes around, that's going to be business of the world, right? 01:14:41.780 --> 01:14:45.780 The Bible says that it's going to be tribulation such as never been seen before. 01:14:45.780 --> 01:14:56.780 And so, you know, back in Luke, then, Jesus is, I'm sorry, in John, again, Jesus had forewarned Peter about his death. 01:14:56.780 --> 01:15:05.780 Now it also says, and hate not his father, and his mother, and his wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters. 01:15:05.780 --> 01:15:07.780 Now, he's not saying you need to hate your family. 01:15:08.780 --> 01:15:15.780 He's just saying that if it comes down to a choice between your family and serving God, you're going to need to give preference to serving the Lord. 01:15:15.780 --> 01:15:20.780 And ultimately, it could come down to that. 01:15:20.780 --> 01:15:24.780 And that's part of being a pastor is being in such a difficult situation. 01:15:24.780 --> 01:15:36.780 But again, you know, it, it, it, loveth thou me, would he follow the commandments and the instructions that the Lord is giving us as giving pastors. 01:15:36.780 --> 01:15:40.780 Okay, so now look at Luke 14, 28. 01:15:54.780 --> 01:15:59.780 So being a pastor or a deacon or evangelist is going to have even a higher cost than being a disciple. 01:15:59.780 --> 01:16:03.780 And we saw that in verse 26 and 27. 01:16:03.780 --> 01:16:15.780 So being ordained and put in being as a leader, you know, there's going to be even more attacks on the world of them by the world, you know, to prevent them from finishing their work. 01:16:15.780 --> 01:16:19.780 And we've seen those attacks increased greatly over the last 10 years. 01:16:19.780 --> 01:16:25.780 And, you know, and unfortunately, some pastors will fail and but some will persevere and tough it out. 01:16:25.780 --> 01:16:31.780 Why? Because they loved the Lord and they had faith and they put and trusted in him. 01:16:31.780 --> 01:16:38.780 And besides the world attacking leaders, the rulers of the darkness of this world will also attack our church leaders. 01:16:38.780 --> 01:16:48.780 And, you know, Satan might even desire to sift them like wheat, as was mentioned in in Luke 22. 01:16:48.780 --> 01:16:59.780 And and so now please turn to that Luke 22, 31, Luke 22, 31. 01:16:59.780 --> 01:17:08.780 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he might sift you as wheat. 01:17:08.780 --> 01:17:15.780 So Satan sifting you like wheat. I think that means taking Peter out of the service, putting in roadblocks and temptations and 01:17:15.780 --> 01:17:23.780 to to take him out of the serving the Lord and sifted into the pile of wheat that's not working. 01:17:23.780 --> 01:17:31.780 Right. I mean, there's a lot of believers in this world and the vast majority really aren't doing any work for serving God. 01:17:31.780 --> 01:17:43.780 And so that trial of Peter, his test, you know, started when when Jesus was captured and and Peter failed that test initially. 01:17:43.780 --> 01:17:49.780 Right. He denied the Lord three times. But then that test also continued through the 40 days. 01:17:49.780 --> 01:17:56.780 Can I look at verse 32, Luke 22, verse 32, But I have prayed for thee that they faith fail not. 01:17:56.780 --> 01:18:05.780 And so Jesus is saying that he prayed for Peter. And likewise, we should pray for our pastors and our leaders of our church that their faith fail not. 01:18:06.780 --> 01:18:13.780 And and then the verse also says, And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 01:18:13.780 --> 01:18:20.780 And so I think Jesus is is predicting that Peter would commit himself. And that's what that means. Converted. 01:18:20.780 --> 01:18:28.780 He's not talking about a spiritual salvation. He's saying that at that point in time, in in John Chapter 21, 01:18:28.780 --> 01:18:34.780 at the Sea of Tiberius, Peter would come to that moment in time in his life when he said, You know what? 01:18:34.780 --> 01:18:40.780 I'm going to stick this through to the end. I'm I'm I'm in it for the long run. 01:18:40.780 --> 01:18:46.780 I'm committed and to lead the church. And so I think that's what that means by when thou art converted. 01:18:46.780 --> 01:18:50.780 Now, of course, the word converted is also used in the Bible to talk about spiritual salvation. 01:18:50.780 --> 01:18:56.780 So just like anything, you have to read the context of the passage to understand the meaning of the word, 01:18:56.780 --> 01:18:59.780 just like sanctified sometimes mean spiritual salvation. 01:18:59.780 --> 01:19:06.780 Sometimes it means setting your life apart, following the commandments, walking with the Lord to separate things. 01:19:06.780 --> 01:19:15.780 And and so in verse thirty three, and he said unto him, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. 01:19:15.780 --> 01:19:24.780 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. 01:19:24.780 --> 01:19:28.780 And so Peter thought in his heart, he said, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee, even unto death. 01:19:28.780 --> 01:19:34.780 And so Peter thought he was ready. He really did, I think. But but Jesus knew better. Why? 01:19:34.780 --> 01:19:40.780 Because Jesus knows that the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. 01:19:40.780 --> 01:19:44.780 Peter's spirit truly was ready, but his flesh was weak. 01:19:44.780 --> 01:19:49.780 And so that's an application today is, you know, don't don't get overconfident like Peter. 01:19:49.780 --> 01:19:53.780 You know, remember that in your flesh dwelleth no good thing. 01:19:53.780 --> 01:20:00.780 And another verse that applies is wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 01:20:00.780 --> 01:20:07.780 Don't be overconfident. And and and it's good to be you have to be humble to serve God. 01:20:07.780 --> 01:20:14.780 And and wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 01:20:14.780 --> 01:20:22.780 OK, now please turn back to John 21, verse 20, John 21, verse 20. 01:20:22.780 --> 01:20:37.780 Then Peter turning about seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, which is talking about John, and said, Lord, which is he that I'm sorry, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee. 01:20:37.780 --> 01:20:41.780 That's the point in time when John was leaning on Jesus's breast. 01:20:41.780 --> 01:20:45.780 He was asking who's going to who's going to betray him. 01:20:45.780 --> 01:20:52.780 And then so Peter seeing him, Peter seeing John sayeth to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? 01:20:52.780 --> 01:20:59.780 And Jesus sayeth unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? 01:20:59.780 --> 01:21:01.780 Follow thou me. 01:21:01.780 --> 01:21:06.780 And so Peter asked, Well, what shall this man do? 01:21:06.780 --> 01:21:11.780 So Peter's asking, you know, what's John going to do going forward? Is he going to continue in the ministry? 01:21:11.780 --> 01:21:13.780 What's what what's he supposed to do? 01:21:13.780 --> 01:21:16.780 And then Jesus replied to him and said, What is that to thee? 01:21:16.780 --> 01:21:23.780 Follow thou me. You know, worry about your own walk and not somebody else's walk. 01:21:23.780 --> 01:21:26.780 Focus on on on getting your service to the Lord right. 01:21:26.780 --> 01:21:30.780 And and Jesus will will work with John on his own. 01:21:30.780 --> 01:21:32.780 You know, what is that to thee? 01:21:32.780 --> 01:21:34.780 It's none of your business. 01:21:34.780 --> 01:21:41.780 Follow thou me. You know, worry about yourself, how you will serve and not worrying about how others are serving. 01:21:41.780 --> 01:21:49.780 And the Bible tells us Peter did lead that church at Jerusalem, and later he he was the pastor of the church at Rome. 01:21:49.780 --> 01:21:53.780 And then and John also was a pastor. 01:21:53.780 --> 01:21:58.780 We saw that in in his epistles, the second and third epistle. 01:21:58.780 --> 01:22:02.780 He says, John, the elder unto the elect lady. 01:22:02.780 --> 01:22:06.780 And so elder is another word for pastor. So John was a pastor. 01:22:06.780 --> 01:22:12.780 And of course, the Bible tells us that James, the half brother of Jesus, was a pastor and Timothy and Titus. 01:22:12.780 --> 01:22:20.780 And so there's been hundreds of thousands of men that have stepped up to be pastors of the New Testament church since then. 01:22:20.780 --> 01:22:30.780 And and, you know, that unfortunately, though, you know, that's that's never there's enough true good pastors to go around, you know. 01:22:30.780 --> 01:22:35.780 And it's so true today, even there's very, very, very few qualified pastors today. 01:22:35.780 --> 01:22:41.780 Very few. Why? Well, first of all, you have to be a child of God before you can become a man of God. 01:22:41.780 --> 01:22:48.780 You know, the vast majority of the graduates of the Bible colleges, hundreds of them are not even saved. 01:22:48.780 --> 01:22:51.780 You know, we knock their doors all the time. 01:22:51.780 --> 01:22:57.780 I think over the last several years, at least there's been like five of them that were from Multnomah College. 01:22:57.780 --> 01:23:00.780 None of them were saved. They're all trusting in their works. 01:23:00.780 --> 01:23:08.780 Zero for five. You know, apply apply that statistical method to the rest of the population and you get a pretty small number. 01:23:08.780 --> 01:23:15.780 And, you know, and and not just people that say, oh, yeah, I went to Multnomah Bible College. 01:23:15.780 --> 01:23:24.780 You know, we've not I've knocked a lot of doors that people say they're pastors, you know, and I don't think I remember any of them being saved. 01:23:24.780 --> 01:23:30.780 And I'm thinking like, you know, 10, 12, we usually knock, usually knock a couple of them every year kind of a thing. 01:23:30.780 --> 01:23:33.780 And none of these guys are saved. 01:23:33.780 --> 01:23:38.780 And so I always like to look at some of the Baptist Church's websites. 01:23:38.780 --> 01:23:41.780 I think I've looked at like like 50 of them over the years. 01:23:41.780 --> 01:23:46.780 And and the vast majority of them are have just open, damnable heresy. 01:23:46.780 --> 01:23:51.780 You know, usually some sort of Calvinist thing like, oh, perseverance of the saints. 01:23:51.780 --> 01:24:03.780 And they'll say stuff like, well, an obedient faith is the the grand mark of of of true professors and not just super superficial professors of the faith. 01:24:03.780 --> 01:24:13.780 It's like, oh, OK, so you're you're saying a person gets to heaven by their works and no, no, no, no, no, it's not by works. 01:24:13.780 --> 01:24:17.780 Faith alone. But if you don't have the works, then you're not saved. 01:24:17.780 --> 01:24:19.780 OK, well, then you're saying that you're saved by your works. 01:24:19.780 --> 01:24:22.780 No, no, no, no. And it comes down to this. 01:24:22.780 --> 01:24:29.780 You know, Paul said by the works of the law, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. 01:24:29.780 --> 01:24:33.780 That's not taking any kind of consideration of past or future. 01:24:33.780 --> 01:24:35.780 It's counting all time. 01:24:35.780 --> 01:24:39.780 Right. So by the works of the law, shall no flesh be justified. 01:24:39.780 --> 01:24:48.780 And so people that think that they're justifying their salvation because they have good works like the Calvinists, they're not saved because they're trusting in their own words. 01:24:48.780 --> 01:24:57.780 And and these and Paul wrote in Galatians five, four, he said Christ has become of no effect unto you. 01:24:57.780 --> 01:25:02.780 Whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. 01:25:02.780 --> 01:25:04.780 He's not saying they lost their salvation. 01:25:04.780 --> 01:25:08.780 He's just saying that that grace is not available because they're not believing in the free gift. 01:25:08.780 --> 01:25:12.780 You got to believe in the free gift of salvation before you can ask for the free gift. 01:25:12.780 --> 01:25:16.780 And so if you're trusting in your words, you're not believing in that gift. 01:25:16.780 --> 01:25:29.780 And and so and Pastor Thompson, the a while ago, he preached a sermon about, you know, are one of the goals of our churches to grow the next generation of believers. 01:25:29.780 --> 01:25:33.780 Right. And so we also have to then grow the next generation of pastors. 01:25:33.780 --> 01:25:35.780 Right. The shepherd are scattered. 01:25:35.780 --> 01:25:38.780 The sheep are scattered if there's no shepherd. 01:25:38.780 --> 01:25:42.780 And so, yeah, we need to grow the next generation of believers and pastors. 01:25:43.780 --> 01:25:45.780 And so so here's an application. 01:25:45.780 --> 01:25:49.780 You know, men this morning, examine yourselves. 01:25:49.780 --> 01:25:53.780 You know, do you have a love for the Lord enough to become a pastor? 01:25:53.780 --> 01:26:06.780 You know, are you walking with the Lord in your life and following his commandments and and and and being a spiritual person to be able to lead a church enough to become a pastor? 01:26:06.780 --> 01:26:10.780 You know, do you love the Lord enough to hold fast to the Lord's commandments? 01:26:10.780 --> 01:26:15.780 You know, do you love the Lord enough to hold fast to that for 20, 30, 40 years? 01:26:15.780 --> 01:26:21.780 You know, it's quite a commitment, you know, and and then so besides that, could you also meet the qualifications? 01:26:21.780 --> 01:26:25.780 And Pastor has preached sermons based on Paul's epistles. 01:26:25.780 --> 01:26:31.780 You know, for example, the husband of one wife having children in subjection, not a novice. 01:26:31.780 --> 01:26:33.780 And there's other things, too. 01:26:33.780 --> 01:26:49.780 But again, I think as Jesus points out in John 20, I think the main thing is, you know, do you love the Lord enough to hold fast to that job despite all the trials and tribulations and persecutions and and maybe even death in the future? 01:26:49.780 --> 01:26:56.780 And and so, you know, we so man, examine yourselves if you've got it in you. 01:26:56.780 --> 01:26:57.780 This is something you should think about. 01:26:57.780 --> 01:26:59.780 Talk to Pastor Thompson about it. 01:26:59.780 --> 01:27:03.780 We need more pastors, especially young men. 01:27:03.780 --> 01:27:05.780 And and we should be encouraging those men. 01:27:05.780 --> 01:27:07.780 They're already working to become pastors, right? 01:27:07.780 --> 01:27:12.780 We have such a dearth of qualified pastors as a famine for the word of God today. 01:27:12.780 --> 01:27:21.780 And and so and pray for those men that their faith fail not. 01:27:21.780 --> 01:27:27.780 And also ask the Holy Spirit and Jesus to make intercession for them with prayers for them also. 01:27:27.780 --> 01:27:34.780 And and remember what Jesus said, I am with you all the way, even unto the end of the world. 01:27:34.780 --> 01:27:46.780 And so pastors and people that are working to become pastors, when you get into these tough times, remember, Jesus said, I am with you all the way, even unto the end of the world. 01:27:46.780 --> 01:27:53.780 And and remember that initial love you had when you said, you know what, I'm going to I'm working toward being a pastor. 01:27:53.780 --> 01:28:03.780 Just like when Jesus took Peter, James and John back to Galilee, back to where they started, back to where they first took all and follow Jesus, they had that zeal, they had that commitment. 01:28:03.780 --> 01:28:11.780 And so, you know, as a pastor or somebody working to be a pastor, if you start to falter, go back to that point in time. 01:28:11.780 --> 01:28:22.780 And again, in going back to John 21, 22, Jesus said, Follow thou me, you know, and this comes to pass. 01:28:22.780 --> 01:28:28.780 And this could also apply to all believers, not just those seeking to be pastors or deacons or evangelists. 01:28:28.780 --> 01:28:32.780 You know, there's different levels of serving God, of doing spiritual works. 01:28:32.780 --> 01:28:35.780 Follow thou me applies to everybody. 01:28:35.780 --> 01:28:39.780 You know, and and so you can be a believer, do no works, no service to the Lord. 01:28:39.780 --> 01:28:41.780 You're still going to heaven. 01:28:41.780 --> 01:28:50.780 First Corinthians 315, If any man's work shall be burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved. 01:28:50.780 --> 01:29:00.780 He himself shall be saved, even if he has no works, all his works are burned up, no value of no eternal value, no rewards in heaven, no rewards in the millennium. 01:29:00.780 --> 01:29:05.780 And of course, you know, somebody that's not doing works, you know, expect chastening. 01:29:05.780 --> 01:29:10.780 He's not going to send us to hell for not doing the works, but he's certainly going to chase in us on earth. 01:29:10.780 --> 01:29:14.780 For whom the Lord love it, he scourgeth and chasteneth every son whom he receive it. 01:29:14.780 --> 01:29:17.780 Emphasis on every. 01:29:17.780 --> 01:29:22.780 And and also the Paul wrote, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 01:29:22.780 --> 01:29:25.780 It's not talking about do good works to be saved. 01:29:25.780 --> 01:29:27.780 Otherwise, you fear hell. 01:29:27.780 --> 01:29:30.780 He's saying now that you're saved, do the good works. 01:29:30.780 --> 01:29:37.780 And if not, you better have some fear that God's going to come down on you because you're not doing his works. 01:29:37.780 --> 01:29:39.780 And what are those works? 01:29:39.780 --> 01:29:44.780 Well, the first works is preaching the gospel door to door to family, friends, coworkers. 01:29:44.780 --> 01:29:47.780 And so that's the first level of service for any believer. 01:29:47.780 --> 01:29:49.780 All believers are called to preach the gospel. 01:29:49.780 --> 01:29:53.780 And the next level of service is to is to feed the sheep with. 01:29:53.780 --> 01:30:07.780 And I think sometimes that means preaching the word, you know, and even newbie preachers like me and novices can can have the Holy Spirit show them things out of the Bible and preach it. 01:30:07.780 --> 01:30:09.780 It may not come off as the smoothest thing in the world. 01:30:10.780 --> 01:30:16.780 And I might be just kind of sitting there reading my notes someday and not be very engaging or telling any jokes. 01:30:16.780 --> 01:30:21.780 But there's going to be something in there from the word of God. 01:30:21.780 --> 01:30:25.780 And then so that's the next level of service is preaching the word behind the pulpit. 01:30:25.780 --> 01:30:31.780 But then going beyond that is being ordained as an evangelist or a deacon or as a pastor. 01:30:31.780 --> 01:30:38.780 And and and all that comes with that, that that pain and suffering and count that cost. 01:30:38.780 --> 01:30:51.780 And so the takeaway and and the wrap ups are, you know, we're in this yearly anniversary of that 40 days from when Jesus was resurrected to when he was taken up. 01:30:51.780 --> 01:30:54.780 And so consider what happened then. 01:30:54.780 --> 01:30:56.780 Consider how that applies to your life. 01:30:56.780 --> 01:30:58.780 You know, what does that mean to each one of us today? 01:30:58.780 --> 01:31:03.780 And remember Jesus's words, follow thou me. 01:31:03.780 --> 01:31:06.780 He's saying, follow the Bible, the commandments. 01:31:06.780 --> 01:31:08.780 Do what I tell you to do. 01:31:08.780 --> 01:31:15.780 And and and in the 40 day trial was like a test of the disciples, especially Peter. 01:31:15.780 --> 01:31:18.780 Satan desired to sift him like wheat. 01:31:18.780 --> 01:31:20.780 Well, that can be true today also. 01:31:20.780 --> 01:31:24.780 And that's why we got to be in the Bible and be a spiritual person. 01:31:24.780 --> 01:31:30.780 And the events of Peter and Paul and all the other disciples are an example in the Bible for us to follow. 01:31:31.780 --> 01:31:43.780 You know, and he hit a Peter hit a low spot, but he was converted and then recommitted at the Sea of Tiberius and apparently served the Lord for the rest of his life. 01:31:43.780 --> 01:31:45.780 You know, and so in our lives, that same thing can happen. 01:31:45.780 --> 01:31:51.780 We can get to a low point like that, but you can come back and still do great things for the Lord. 01:31:51.780 --> 01:31:55.780 And of course, pray for the pastor Thompson and his family. 01:31:55.780 --> 01:31:56.780 Be thankful for him. 01:31:56.780 --> 01:32:00.780 Thank him and for the family and the sacrifices that they made. 01:32:02.780 --> 01:32:13.780 And and men, you know, look to yourselves to see if you have that love of the Lord and the zeal and the commitment to become a pastor. 01:32:13.780 --> 01:32:15.780 We need more real pastors. 01:32:17.780 --> 01:32:22.780 And and if you're not a sole winner, step up. 01:32:22.780 --> 01:32:24.780 You know, you can start as a silent partner. 01:32:25.780 --> 01:32:30.780 And, you know, we a lot of times we have a team of three people. 01:32:30.780 --> 01:32:32.780 One more silent partner comes. 01:32:32.780 --> 01:32:34.780 Now you've got two teams instead of one. 01:32:34.780 --> 01:32:41.780 And and you learn along the way and and have training. 01:32:41.780 --> 01:32:44.780 And eventually you'll be able to preach the gospel. 01:32:45.780 --> 01:32:53.780 And then think about all that, what that means to you when you're trying to reach your loved ones, your family, your friends, coworkers. 01:32:53.780 --> 01:33:03.780 You know, if you've got a couple of years of experience of preaching the gospel at the door, you're going to be much more able to show them a coherent gospel presentation and get them saved. 01:33:03.780 --> 01:33:07.780 When when somebody asks you, hey, I know you're a Christian. 01:33:07.780 --> 01:33:09.780 What does the Bible say about going to heaven? 01:33:09.780 --> 01:33:12.780 Why do some people go to heaven and some people go to hell? 01:33:12.780 --> 01:33:14.780 And it's a very simple answer. 01:33:14.780 --> 01:33:21.780 Even an eight year old can believe in the free gift of eternal life that God can never take away because he promised it to us. 01:33:21.780 --> 01:33:23.780 He promised us eternal life. 01:33:25.780 --> 01:33:32.780 And and so and and whatever level you might be in your service as a believer, remember that Jesus is with us all the way. 01:33:32.780 --> 01:33:41.780 And and he's going to get us through those trials and tests, whether that's a 40 day test or a 40 month test or a 40 year test. 01:33:41.780 --> 01:33:42.780 And it's kind of interesting. 01:33:42.780 --> 01:33:44.780 You think about Jesus's three years. 01:33:44.780 --> 01:33:48.780 If you take a couple of months away before and after, it ends up being 40 months. 01:33:49.780 --> 01:33:54.780 And and so and encourage each other, pray for each other. 01:33:55.780 --> 01:33:57.780 And with that, I'll close us in a prayer. 01:33:59.780 --> 01:34:04.780 Jeremy, Father, thank you for your word and and all the instruction and counsel it gives us. 01:34:05.780 --> 01:34:11.780 Thank you for our church here and thank you for pastor and his family and the service that they've done in keeping our church decently in order. 01:34:12.780 --> 01:34:25.780 And I pray you send laborers to the harvest today for our soul winning time and you open those doors and have people say yes when we ask them, can we show you from the Bible and keep us safe as you have in the past. 01:34:25.780 --> 01:34:26.780 In Jesus name, amen. 01:34:34.780 --> 01:34:35.780 Great preaching. 01:34:35.780 --> 01:34:38.780 It's a blessing to have layman that can preach in the church. 01:34:39.780 --> 01:34:42.780 Close with a him 130 130. 01:34:42.780 --> 01:34:43.780 The red or the green. 01:34:44.780 --> 01:34:46.780 Yesterday, today, forever. 01:34:54.780 --> 01:34:55.780 Altogether the first. 01:34:56.780 --> 01:34:57.780 Fisher 가서まぁ 01:34:57.780 --> 01:35:04.780 All together in the verse. 01:35:04.780 --> 01:35:09.780 O how sweet the joyous message sin, 01:35:09.780 --> 01:35:13.780 Who fades me clean. 01:35:13.780 --> 01:35:17.780 Yesterday to day forever, 01:35:17.780 --> 01:35:22.780 Jesus is the sin. 01:35:22.780 --> 01:35:26.780 Still he loves to save the sin, 01:35:26.780 --> 01:35:31.780 For he'll the sick and lame. 01:35:31.780 --> 01:35:33.780 Share the martyrs, 01:35:33.780 --> 01:35:36.780 Share the tempest, 01:35:36.780 --> 01:35:40.780 Glory to his name. 01:35:40.780 --> 01:35:45.780 Yesterday to day forever, 01:35:45.780 --> 01:35:50.780 Jesus is the sin. 01:35:50.780 --> 01:35:53.780 Only change what Jesus, 01:35:53.780 --> 01:35:59.780 Jesus, over glory to his name. 01:35:59.780 --> 01:36:04.780 Glory to his name, 01:36:04.780 --> 01:36:09.780 Glory to his name. 01:36:09.780 --> 01:36:13.780 Only change what Jesus, 01:36:13.780 --> 01:36:15.780 The Lord, 01:36:15.780 --> 01:36:20.780 Glory to his name. 01:36:20.780 --> 01:36:24.780 He who hardened, bearing, 01:36:24.780 --> 01:36:30.780 Bitter, never needs the fear. 01:36:30.780 --> 01:36:35.780 He that came to eat the stonest, 01:36:35.780 --> 01:36:40.780 All thy doubts will clear. 01:36:40.780 --> 01:36:46.780 He who left the love disciple, 01:36:46.780 --> 01:36:51.780 On his bosom rest. 01:36:51.780 --> 01:36:56.780 And he's filled with all the tender, 01:36:56.780 --> 01:37:02.780 Rain upon his face. 01:37:02.780 --> 01:37:07.780 Yesterday to day forever, 01:37:07.780 --> 01:37:12.780 Jesus is the sin. 01:37:12.780 --> 01:37:16.780 Only change what Jesus, 01:37:16.780 --> 01:37:22.780 Over glory to his name. 01:37:22.780 --> 01:37:27.780 Glory to his name, 01:37:27.780 --> 01:37:32.780 Glory to his name. 01:37:32.780 --> 01:37:37.780 Only change what Jesus, 01:37:37.780 --> 01:37:39.780 The Lord, 01:37:39.780 --> 01:37:44.780 Glory to his name. 01:37:44.780 --> 01:37:50.780 He who in the raging billows, 01:37:50.780 --> 01:37:55.780 Walked upon the sea, 01:37:55.780 --> 01:38:01.780 Still can hush our wildest tempest, 01:38:01.780 --> 01:38:06.780 As the God of all name. 01:38:06.780 --> 01:38:12.780 He who often prayed and anguished, 01:38:12.780 --> 01:38:17.780 In Gethsemane, 01:38:17.780 --> 01:38:20.780 Trains with us each, 01:38:20.780 --> 01:38:23.780 Hope of trembling, 01:38:23.780 --> 01:38:28.780 In our agape. 01:38:28.780 --> 01:38:33.780 Yesterday to day forever, 01:38:33.780 --> 01:38:39.780 Jesus is the sin. 01:38:39.780 --> 01:38:43.780 Only change what Jesus, 01:38:43.780 --> 01:38:50.780 Never glory to his name. 01:38:50.780 --> 01:38:55.780 Glory to his name, 01:38:55.780 --> 01:39:00.780 Glory to his name. 01:39:00.780 --> 01:39:04.780 Only change what Jesus, 01:39:04.780 --> 01:39:07.780 The Lord, 01:39:07.780 --> 01:39:10.780 Glory to his name, 01:39:10.780 --> 01:39:12.780 Unleash, 01:39:12.780 --> 01:39:16.780 As a whole he walked, 01:39:16.780 --> 01:39:18.780 Through the layers, 01:39:18.780 --> 01:39:23.780 With him to abide. 01:39:23.780 --> 01:39:25.780 So through our hope, 01:39:25.780 --> 01:39:28.780 By faith he walketh, 01:39:28.780 --> 01:39:33.780 Over near our side. 01:39:33.780 --> 01:39:36.780 Soon again shall we, 01:39:36.780 --> 01:39:38.780 Behold him, 01:39:38.780 --> 01:39:39.780 His son, 01:39:39.780 --> 01:39:40.780 The Lord, 01:39:40.780 --> 01:39:43.780 For thee. 01:39:43.780 --> 01:39:45.780 But we'll still be, 01:39:45.780 --> 01:39:48.780 This same Jesus, 01:39:48.780 --> 01:39:53.780 As he went away. 01:39:53.780 --> 01:39:58.780 Yesterday to day forever, 01:39:58.780 --> 01:40:03.780 Jesus is the sin. 01:40:03.780 --> 01:40:07.780 Only change what Jesus, 01:40:07.780 --> 01:40:13.780 Never glory to his name. 01:40:13.780 --> 01:40:18.780 Glory to his name, 01:40:18.780 --> 01:40:23.780 Glory to his name. 01:40:23.780 --> 01:40:27.780 Only change what Jesus, 01:40:27.780 --> 01:40:35.780 Never glory to his name.