Used for God's Glory - Peter

21-08-06 Friday Chapel – Peter

Þ Intro

- one of the main things that we missed I think during the past year was fellowship. It got me thinking, do we really know each other as well as we think we do.

- in the past we have been so busy that I wonder if we have failed to get to know each other. It has got some people thinking that maybe we are missing something in what we are doing.

- I was thinking about this as I was trying to figure out what to go through this weekend for family camp. One thing led to another and a concept started to come to mind.

- The fact that we may not know each other as well as we think we do. But the fact that we are sometimes scared to share our lives with each other. maybe we are scared because of the things we have gone through.

- we might be ashamed of some of the things that we have done. we might think people will not want to be friends with us anymore after we share with them some of the things we have gone through. or maybe nothing bad has ever happened, you have had a fairly normal life and nothing bad has ever really happened to you and you feel kinda ba that you do not have a "good" testimony.

- well let us start with a bit of fun to get to know each other a little better. how many of you have played " I have never?" I will ask a question, "never have I ever ..." and if you have done it I want you to raise your hand.

- Never have I ever peed in a pool. Never have I ever killed a pet by accident. Never have I ever killed an animal that was bigger than my hand. Never have I ever read all of the Harry Potter series. Never have I ever worn Crocs. Never have I ever been on TV or on the radio. Never have I ever farted in an elevator and pretended it was not me. Gotten into a fistfight Slapped someone Eaten rotten food Tried to blame a sibling for something that I did Had an imaginary friend Stayed up all night after watching a scary movie

- but getting back to the matter at hand, why are we scared to share our lives sometimes with the people around us.

- As a pastor, I’ve discovered that many people are dying slowly in a secret tomb of shame. Some are ashamed of their poor financial condition, plagued with guilt about their irresponsible spending and debt. Others are ashamed about sexual sin from their past. Many carry extreme guilt with them into their future relationships. Countless people are crippled by the shame of secret addictions. Some people even live with false guilt after suffering as victims of sexual abuse.

- Shame usually follows a pattern — a cycle of self-recrimination and lies that claims life after life. First, we experience an intensely painful event. Second, we believe the lie that our pain and failure is who we are — not just something we’ve done, or had done to us — and we experience shame. And finally, our feelings of shame trap us into thinking that we can never recover — that, in fact, we don’t even deserve to.

- We live lives of private defeat, but God wants to renew our hearts and minds and to send us into His world as lights shining in the darkness. Like Peter, we can become convinced of the truth: namely, that we are not our sins. And we’re also not what others have done to us.

- Rather, we are who God says we are: His children. We are forgivable. We are changeable. We are capable. We are mouldable. And we are bound by the limitless love of God.

- in getting to truly know one another I thought it was important to know these things, how can we be vulnerable with each other so we can help each other through the difficult times.

- but more then that we struggle with whether God will actually use is in spite of all the guilt and the shame that we face over what we have done. this is the main thing that I want to go through this weekend.

- Can God use us, can we be used for the glory of the Lord in spite of all of the things that we have gone through. for that is what it is all about, being used for the glory of God.

- being used by God, being saved and part of the family of God means that we will be living our lives for and using what we have all gone through to help others do the same thing.

- So what I want to do is hear from other people and what they have gone through and go through some people in the bible, what they went through and how God used them for His glory to lead others to Him in spite of what thy have gone through.

Þ Life before Jesus

- Before Peter new Jesus, there is little we knew about His life. We know a few things like how many knew that Peter was married? There is some scripture that shows us this. Matthew 8:14 14 Jesus went into Peter’s house and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.

- Peter had a mother-in-law so therefore through my brilliant deductive reasoning there must have been a wife involved.

- It is likely that his wife would have travelled around with them which can be seen in scripture as well. 1 Corinthians 9:5 (CSB)5 Don’t we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife like the other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas?

- Peter, before he knew Jesus though was a normal fisherman when Jesus came into his life and called him to be fishers of men.

- They had been just going about their lives as normal when Jesus, walking along the beach called them into a life of ministry and they dropped everything to follow this man who must have been very compelling.

- He probably would have been a typical Israelite, follow the right laws and doing what he was supposed to do, following all the Mosaic law. But Jesus met Him and turned his life around.

- This is what Jesus does for us even now. He calls us to himself and through the work of the Holy Spirit changes our lives around and makes us into his children.

- Part of the story we tell people of our lives and How God has changed us we need to let them know what our lives were like before we met Jesus.

- Peters’ life was fairly normal for the time, but it did not end there. After Jesus called Peter to himself, he started to teach them about Him and what they must do to follow Jesus.

Þ Peter’s mistake

- The thing we are looking t though is can God use us in spite of the mistakes that we might make, the times when we mess up, can we still be used for the Glory of the Lord.

- Peter tended to act impulsively, he would often act without thinking and sometimes that got him into trouble.

- We know the story of the apostles, how they followed Jesus around and how they earned under Him and were told that Jesus was going to go away soon and then they would be the ones to carry on the mission.

- On the night when Jesus was going to be betrayed by Peter, and all the apostles would flee they were all told that it was going to happen.

- Matthew 26:31–35 31 Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered., 32 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 33 Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.” 34 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 “Even if I have to die with you,” Peter told him, “I will never deny you,” and all the disciples said the same thing.

- And we know this happened. Peter said not I, I would rather die then betray you Lord. But that is what happened anyways.

- When Jesus was being led to the cross people where asking Peter if He knew Jesus. They had seen them hanging out together they said. But Peter denied knowing Jesus.

Þ After the denial

- How often have we messed up our lives to the point where we feel like Jesus could never forgive us for what we have done.

- We feel like what we have done is so horrible that Jesus can never forgive us? For a while after I turned my life to Jesus as a teenager My life did not turn around right away.

- I still struggled with sin, and I questioned whether God could even love or use a sinner like me. It was a relief to me as a young adult that I was not alone, and other people as well struggled with sin.

- But it took way too many years for someone to finally open up to me and a group of young men that he struggled with the same thing. I was not alone!

- When The disciples were struggling with what to do after Jesus died Jesus appeared to two ladies and said to tell the disciples and Peter that He is risen just as he said he would be.

- Most people understand this to mean that Jesus wanted to make sure that Peter knew that he was forgiven.

- Not only that at the end of Mark Peter is recommissioned and told that if he truly loved Jesus that He would live his life for Jesus after this and tell people of the message of the gospel.

- Peter went on to be used by Jesus to be plant the church. He did many great things for the glory of the Lord. Even though he once denied even knowing Jesus.

Þ So What?

- The thing we are going to be looking at over this weekend, why is it important to share what we have gone through with those around us? Can God use us for His glory even though we have done bad things? How can we use our stories to help other people go through the same things that we have gone through?

- Peter denied knowing Jesus, he denied being a follower of Jesus and Jesus forgave Him and used Him to plant the church.

- One thing we need to remember is that there is no sin to great that God is not greater still. Anything that we have done is not so horrible that Jesus can and will forgive you if you but get on your knees and ask.

- Swallow your pride and ask Jesus to forgive you for all the bad things that you have done. We are going to continue to look into how we should use what we have gone through to help other people deal with the same things we may have gone through.

- How can we form a culture of discipleship where people can learn from what we have done? How can we teach each other to grow closer to Jesus.