Evidence

The evidence Peter was looking for.

Recap:

What is behind what Jesus says to you?

Jesus wants to renew your mind, and for you to know Father’s will.

Peter thought he had to prove his worth to Jesus.

Peter was unaware that he did not have what it takes on his own.

Peter was learning that trusting Jesus in him is what matters.

Peter was learning to get behind the will of Father for Jesus and His people.

Peter was so concerned in proving his worth by doing the right thing by Jesus. Peter could not see how that misled his will against Father’s will.

Jesus knew what was in Peter’s heart and will before Peter did.

What is going on behind the surface of what Jesus is leading us into?

He is leading us into coming into agreement with Father’s Will.

Last Week’s Activation:

Are you stuck on what God told you?

What is beneath the surface of what God told you?

Peter was told buy a sword and what was beneath that was where Peter finally found his salvation.

Another look at Peter:

Luke 22:31–32 NASB95

31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Jesus had faith in who Peter would be even knowing all the hard moments Peter still had to overcome.

I believe that Jesus rewarded Peter with affirmation and more every time Peter walked in is true identity and motives.

I also can see that Jesus disciplined Peter with hard words when he was living from his false identity and hidden motives.

Luke 22:60–62 NASB95

60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.

When Peter looked into Jesus eyes as he was betraying Jesus, Peter finally saw what Jesus was trying to help Peter see. He finally saw that his hidden motives were to save his own life.

Jesus is trying to help us find our hidden motives.

They are hidden is the problem.

The evidence of these important moments will show what is hidden.

Jesus wanted the evidence of Peters life to match his true hearts desires.

It just happened to be that Peters fears over riding his true heart and identity.

The problem with hidden motives is they seem to mostly hidden from you but not others.

Follow the evidence:

Where you park

What time you show up

Listening or mostly talking

Dont want to rest

Dont want to work.

When no one is around what do you opt to do.

When your friends are not with you what do you find yourself saying about them.

If what you want to be does not match what you live out when you dont have to then your hidden motives are being reveled to you.

What did Peter find?

He found that his motives were different that he thought.

He found that his will was not lined up with Father’s will.

He found that with power of Grace and Holy Spirit he could be transformed into what he thought he was not.

He was able to lay his life down for others and he even asked to be hung differently on the cross so as not to be the same as Jesus. He did not feel worthy to dye the same exact way.

The evidence of our beliefs will be displayed in how we live and love.

If the evidence does not look like the same evidence Jesus displayed with His life then we have some adjustments to go through in our belief and motives.

Let’s look at the evidence Jesus was looking at for Peter.

Jesus picked Peter.

He seemed to almost always pick Peter. When it was an important healing or quiet time with God it was Peter, James and John.

When Peter was brave Jesus encouraged and affirmed him.

When Peter was brave and spoke out what he heard from Holy Spirit, Jesus gave Peter is true identity.

I believe that if Peter had looked at the stacked evidence Jesus had for him, something would have shifted in his heart. This would have changed his motives the easier way.

Good news, Jesus wants our evidence to match our true identity so bad that it can happen both easy and or hard ways.

When looking at your own life, what Evidence do you tend to look at?

Why?

That why is what Jesus is healing in the current move of God.

We all have these things we are hoping will happen.

I just need people who will believe me

I just need people to want me

I just need to make money

I just need to get rid of this pain

I just need to get healed

I just need to prove I can do this

I just need my husband to quit...

I just need my wife to trust me or listen to me

I just need to find the right person

I just need to find the right place I fit in

I just need to show that I can do this.......

I just need to prove God is evil or does not exist..

I just need my kids to know I will protect them.

I just need my parents to trust me.

I just need people to hear my wisdom.

I just need people to know I care...

If these needs and solutions are what is driving us (hidden motives), we will be looking for the wrong kind of evidence.

What if you give that thing you think you need to have up.

What if you stop looking for evidence you think matters most.

What if you say, “ok, what is the evidence Jesus, You have on me?”

The evidence of being of the way:

You and I will be one.

If you see me you see Father.

The Evidence Peter was looking for was I need to prove to Jesus picked the right person. I need to prove myself to Jesus.

The Evidence Jesus was leading Peter to was you will turn and lead other to follow our Father’s will.

A good example of Peter’s evidence matching his true identity. (Act 2:14-36) Peter stood in front of a crowd that was starting to complain that what was happening in the upper room was not of Father’s will. Peter stood and declared with confidence that this is what the prophet Isaiah Jesus said would happen. He lead people to believe.

What if that ‘I JUST NEED’ phrase is a distraction and we can replace that with and ‘I AM’ because He says I am.

What kind of evidence are you looking for?

Is this evidence of what Jesus gave you or the kind you think you need to have?

This Week’s Activation:

Give Jesus the I Just Need _____.

Ask Jesus what evidence do You see?

Declare that with I AM _____. Add what Jesus told you to that phrase.

Psalm 51:10 NASB95

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Luke 6:45 NASB95

45 “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

Acts 2:14–36 NASB95

14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; 18 Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. 19 ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. 20 ‘The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. 21 ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ 22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25 “For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. 26 ‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; 27 Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. 28 ‘You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ 29 “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 “And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. 32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”