Second Chance Cowboy: Marked by Redemption

Amen.We’re gonna be in Mark 14 and John 21, so if you would, turn in your Bibles to Mark 14.We’ll be reading from that.And then also we’ll be in John 21 this morning.The title of our message is second Chance Cowboy, Marked By Redemption.Okay, remember, uh, uh, Christians are like cowboys.Disciples are like desperados.We don’t fit in with the crowd.We’re different.And I hope you’ll let that sink into your life today.We’re not trying to be like everybody else.We wanna be marked by Jesus.We wanna be marked by following the Lord Jesus Christ.We want Jesus to change every aspect of our life, our attitudes, our heart, our relationships, our finances.We want Jesus to be the number one marker, the number one seal.Isn’t it wonderful that in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit seals us in Christ Jesus?You’ve been branded if you’re a Christian.You’ve been branded.You’ve been tattooed by Jesus Christ.Amen?Amen.And, and that’s, that’s important for us to recognize, that we’re not marked by the world, we’re not marked by the things of the world, but we’ve been marked by Jesus.And this morning we’re focused on marked by redemption.Will you stand with me?We’re gonna read Mark 14, and I’m gonna start reading in verse 27 through 31, and then we’ll read verses 66 through 72.Mark 14:27.”You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.””Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today, yes, tonight, before the rooster crows twice, you yourself will disown me 3 times.”But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even I, even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”And all the others said the same.And then turn with me to verse 66, same chapter, Mark 14:66.While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by.When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.”You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.But he denied it.”I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.”Again, he denied it.After a little while, those standing nearby said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”He began to call down curses and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”Immediately the rooster crowed the second time.Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will disown me 3 times.”And he broke down and wept.Let’s pray.Lord, Lord, we do thank you for your Word.And as we read about Peter in these stories, Lord, our hearts are broken with him.We see in him our own failures, our own bad choices, times when we thought we would do right and we do wrong, times when we thought we s- could succeed in life and we failed.Lord, I pray this morning as we let that sink deep into our soul that we would also recognize how good you are, how gracious you are, that you’re always at work, and you’re a God of redemption, and you’re the God of the second chance and the third chance and the 4th chance, Lord, and you’re always at work in our lives.Lord, help us to embrace your grace.Help us to embrace the second chance that we have in you.And we give you the glory, Lord, in Jesus’ name.Amen.Amen.You may be seated.The mi- the mission of Jesus is centered on redemption.When we read through the Gospels, when we read the New Testament, we realize that our God is a God of redemption.In fact, in Mark’s gospel, chapter 10 verse 45, where it talks about Jesus coming as a servant, not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.That Greek word for ransom is lutron, it means redemption price.Jesus, his death on the cross, was the redemption price.It was what satisfied the wrath of God because of your sin and my sin.When Jesus died on the cross, redemption was made possible for all of humanity.And that’s the message of the Gospels.That’s the purpose of Jesus’ mission, is to tell us about redemption and to include us in the, in the, the big story of God’s redemption.Are you redeemed today?I hope you are.Have your sins been washed?Have you been forgiven?That’s a unique message of the cross.That’s a unique message of Christianity.In fact, in the Bible you can read story after story of redemption.The Israelites and the Exodus story is a story of redemption and God’s people being set free from slavery.Boaz and Ruth, Rahab and the spies, Jonah.What a story, Jonah.I’d love to preach through Jonah.Jonah was told to go to the Ninevites, and what was his first step?He went the other direction.He wasn’t sure that he wanted to obey God.But God didn’t give up on Jonah.Have you ever been there?Have you ever been in a season of your life where you realize now, wow, I wasn’t really walking in the direction God wanted me to go.But God doesn’t give up on us.There’s the prodigal son in Luke 15.There’s Zacchaeus in Luke 19.Saul, who was a persecutor of the church, he became The apostle Paul to the Gentiles.Wow.God doesn’t give up on us.If you don’t forget anything this, if you don’t get anything this morning, don’t forget, God doesn’t give up on you.He’s always working.He’s always drawing you unto himself.He’s always leading you to green pastures and to the blessings and the favor that he wants for your life.I love 2 Timothy 2:13 that reads like this, “If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful, because he cannot be false to himself.”I’m so thankful for that in my life, that seasons and times in my life when I wasn’t faithful, when I went to the left and should have gone to the right, uh, God was still working.God is still faithful even when I’m not faithful.Just for fun, I wanna share a football story from, uh, from what, like, the n- early 1900s.On New Year’s Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played the University of California in the Rose Bowl.During the first half of the game, a player by the name of Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for California on his 35-yard line.I’m looking forward to the football season coming up, by the way.Confused, Roy started running 65 yards in the wrong direction.Anybody ever had that?I’m sad to tell you that in 6th grade, right after I jumpedWe used to jump in basketball.You would jump to get the ball.That’s the way they would open the game.Do they still do that?Anyways, I jumped and got the ball.Someone else tipped it.I grabbed it, and I ran as quick as I could to score a basket, and it went in.But I had run the wrong way.So I, I love this story, ’cause I did that in 6th grade.Confused, Roy started running 65 yards in the wrong direction.Riegels was nicknamed, later he was nicknamed Wrong Way Riegels due to this infamous wrong-way run in the 1929 Rose Bowl.You can Google it.It’s there.True story.Because we tend to forget our successes and focus on our failuresI’m gonna read that again.Because we tend to forget our successes and focus on our failures, at first Riegels refused to come out for the second half.His coach, Nibs Price, insisted that the same team that started the first half will start the second half.I like that coach.That’s a coach that believes in redemption.And this, of course, included Roy.Roy played a stellar second half, even blocking a punt.And I wish I could tell you that his effort was enough, but Califor- California lost 8 to 7.But the rest of his story is also really important, as Roy went on in life to become a successful teacher and coach in California, and he served as an officer in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.Roy didn’t allow his failures to overshadow his successes, past or future.It’s an important story as we think about being marked by redemption.I think sometimes in life, one of the things as Christians that keeps us from really embracing the redemption that God wants to bring into our lives is we can’t let go of our failures.Sooner or laterAnd I would encourage you to do this.Get around some successful people.Get around some people that you look at and go, “You know, they have a successful marriage.It looks like they have a successful business.”Look, you know, get around some people who are successful, and begin to talk to them and listen to their story, and as you talk to them for a while, uh, for a while, what you will discover, uh, is they will begin to share about setbacks.They will begin to share about failures along the way.This is true in athletics.If you talk to any wrestler who, who reached, went high into the level of college wrestling, they, they may have a stellar record of winning a lot, but they also learned how to lose with grace.They also learned how to lose a wrestling match, learn something from it, and get back and get going again.That’s just life.In life, we’re going to get bucked off.I don’t know if you’ve ever had that experience, but if you’ve never been bucked off a horse, you’ve missed out on a truly great experience in life.I have.When I was 18 or 19 years old, I had a horse called Vanity’s Black Shadow, and I was able to teach her, and that horse taught me a lot, too, but I was able to teach that horse how to ride.So we had that horse when he was just a few months old, and then when he was about two, two and a half years old, I began to work with that horse.And of course, sooner or later, uh, he bucked me off when I was trying to teach him to accept the bridle, accept the saddle, and thankfully, I was okay.But, you know, getting bucked off a horse teaches you something about life.Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.You can think you’re having the greatest day of your life, and then something can happen and it’s not that great of a day.And that’s life.In life, we fall down, we get back up, we fall down, we experience failures, disappointments, and setbacks, but we keep going.Why?Because we believe in a God who is with us and helping us.He’s the God of the second chance.And so we live with hope.We don’t give up.And so the, the question this morning is not, are you gonna face failure?Are you gonna face setback?Are you gonna have difficulty in life?The answer to that is clear.Jesus said, “In this world, you’ll have trouble.”And so we know that for sure.The, the bigger question is, how will you handle the adversity that comes your way?How will you get back on the horse?Isn’t that what cowboys say when you get bucked off?What do you do?You, you get back on.You get right back on.And that’s a great model for life.If you’re g- if you’ve gone through a setback, if you’ve gone through a difficulty, you’ve experienced a failure, maybe you’ve been fired, maybe you’ve been let go, maybe you’ve lost a relationship, maybe a, a loved one died and you’re upset with God.We go through all of these things.But sooner or later, because of the goodness of God and the grace of God, and our God is the God of the second chance, we’ve gotta look up and put our hope in God and say, “God, I’m gonna get up and I’m gonna get going.”We can’t live in our failures.We can’t live in the setback.God is calling us to be overcomers through the setbacks and the difficulties that we face in life.And so this morning, I wanna share 4 truths, how to embrace redemption in your life.How to embrace redemption in your life.Number one, let’s go back to Mark 14:26.Number one, understand that failure isn’t final.Aren’t you glad that in Jesus, as a Christian, whatever failure you go through, whatever setback you’re experiencing, it’s not the final word because God is at work in your life.Let me just read again about one of the biggest failures in the New Testament, Peter.He was so sure that he wasn’t going to deny Jesus.Verse 27, Mark chapter, Mark 14, “You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written,” and he’s quoting from Zechariah verse 13- I’m sorry, chapter 13, verse 7, “I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.”But then I love verse 28, “But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”You see, failure is sure to come, and Jesus more than once in Matthew 5 and other places, he spoke about persecution, he spoke about trouble.If you’re gonna be marked by Jesus, if you’re gonna be marked by repentance and service and the Spirit, if you’re gonna be marked by your relationship with the Lord, Jesus promised us we will face trouble in this world.Because we- this isn’t our home.We b- we, we, we serve a different God.There’s a God of this world that we don’t serve, and so there’s this battle that’s taking place.And I’m so thankful that Jesus said, “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.”So I have hope even though I know that tomorrow I may face struggles, I may face setbacks, but I don’t have to give up.I don’t have to sit back and just, be in the setback, but I can move forward in Christ Jesus because of the hope that I have in the goodness of God and Jesus in my life.Failure isn’t final.I love verse 28 here because even as Jesus is predicting that his closest disciples are gonna fall away from him, he’s talking about his resurrection.Wow.So even as Jesus says, “You’re all gonna fall away,” verse 28, then he says, “But after I have risen.”Church, there it is.That’s the hope.Jesus is confident of God’s plan.Jesus is confident of what’s gonna happen in his life.And by the way, in the Gospels, more than 3 times, Jesus predicts his own death and resurrection.That’s prophetic.I’m not sure how you would do that and control everybody in history to make that happen.But at least 3 times, maybe more, Jesus predicts his own death and resurrection.I was looking through some examples in Mark’s gospel of times that Jesus claims to be God.Well, in Mark chapter 2, verse 5 through 7, Jesus claims to have the authority to forgive sins.He can raise up a paralyzed man or he can forgive his sins.Everyone there in that context, in that day, knew what Jesus was saying.He was claiming to be God because they picked up stones to, in so many different places, to stone him.Because they said, “You’re blaspheming.You’re blaspheming.You’re, you being a human are claiming to be God.”In Mark chapter 2, verse 28, Jesus claims to have authority over the Sabbath.He’s even Lord of the Sabbath.And then of course Mark 6, he walks on water.I don’t know about you, but anybody who walks on water I’m gonna put up there in the category of something different than just human.Amen.He’s God.And then in Mark chapter 14, actually in this chapter, Jesus claims to be the promised Messiah in his trial before the high priest.The high priest ask him if he is the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed.Jesus answers in, in Mark 14, “I am,” and speaks of the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven.So more than once, Jesus reveals to us in the Gospels that he is the spec- special messenger from God.He’s the Messiah, he’s the Son of David, he’s the Son of Man, he’s the Son of God, and he is God.He has the authority to forgive your sins or to say, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”That’s why failure in my life is never final.Thank you, Lord.Because I’m connecting with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.Because I’m inviting him into my life.You see, without God, f- failure is often for many people final.They, they are never able to get past the financial setback, never able to move past the relational problem, never able to move back the, past the diagnosis or the label that they received as a child or the abuse or the hurt or whatever it is that the person has gone through.You know that most emotional, psychological challenges that we face as adultsJenny and I went to a training, it’s been a few years ago, but I was so impressed with this.They had a re- very thick manual we studied.It was basically like a first aid course on emotional and mental health.And what was so clear as you looked at every disease, every diagnosis, they would say, “Yep, this, this always starts in childhood.”In childhood.Most of, most of our adult ailments of the way we feel and the way we think, whether we’re healthy or not healthy, all go back to childhood.And that’s why this message of redemption is so important, because if you’re still living in the setback of what you experienced as a child, you’re not living at the level of where Jesus wants you to live.Amen.If you’re still being held back because of an emotional something that happened as a 14-year-old, I’m not minimizing the struggle, I’m not minimizing the damage, I’m not minimizing the abuse, I’m not saying it didn’t happen, I’m not saying you weren’t hurt, but if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, he is the King of Kings, he’s the Lord of Lords.He created you.He can redeem you.He can overcome your failures, your hurts, those who have hurt you.You can live at a higher level.Friends, that’s what the gospel promises.See, with Jesus, failure is never final.One other point under that point is I notice in verse 29 through 31 that Peter seems a little overconfident.Have you ever had that in life?Sometimes I think, uh, we’re a little overconfident in our ability to win, our ability to make it, our ability to get through.And sometimes as we go through things in life, it brings in a l- a healthy measure of humility.I remember the first time in my life I went through a major relationship breakup.I was broken in a way I thought I’d never be broken, because why would anybody wanna break up with me?Right?I mean, come on.I’m a likable guy.I just thought, “What in the world?”I was hit.It was such a surprise, and I was broken.I was hurt.And maybe you’ve gone through something like that, or maybe your story is when you were young, a loved one died, your mom, or your dad, or your favorite uncle, or your grandparent, and you weren’t prepared for it, and it hurt.And then suddenly, “God, maybe you did this, and I want somebody to blame, and I’m angry.”And you see, we all go through these, these things in life, and maybe it’s because we were just a little overconfident that, “Well, if I have a relationship with God, everything’s gonna work out for me, and it’s everyone else in the world that has problems.But I’m not gonna have any problems.I’m not gonna have any struggles.”And then life happens.And it’s in that moment that we have to embrace humility.We have to embrace, “Okay, Lord, I can still love you and look to you even when things aren’t going great.I get it now.Just because I’m a Christian, that doesn’t mean everything’s gonna be my way or I’m never gonna have a setback.”A second truth here that’s important to understand if we’re going to embrace the redemption of God in our life is we have to follow Jesus’ example in a struggle.Look with me at verses 32 through 42.This is where Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane.I wanna read it first, and then I just wanna talk about the garden and, and 4 things we can learn from Jesus.I’m gonna pick up and read in verse 32.Mark 14 verse 32, “They went to a place called Gethsemane.”And by the way, that means, uh, like crushing olives.That’s actually what the name means, so it’s a place of crushing.They would crush these olives in order to make oils and wine and other things like that.So they went to a place called Gethsemane, and Gethsemane is like, it’s right across from old Jerusalem, the Kidron Valley, and then it goes up to the Mount of Olives.And back in October of ’25, I got to stand right there on that Mount of Olives and be in the garden, and I’ll- maybe I can tell you a little more about that in a second.”They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.’My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,’ he said to them.’Stay here and keep watch.’ Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him.’Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you.Take this cup from me.Yet not what I will, but what you will.’ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.’Simon,’ he said to Peter, ‘are you asleep?Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour?Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Once more he went away and prayed the same thing.When he came back, he be- he, he again found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy.They did not know what to say to him.Returning the third time, he said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting?Enough!The hour has come.Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.Rise!Let us go.Here comes my betrayer.'” And so if we’re gonna get through a struggle and embrace the redemption of God in our life, we have to do what Jesus did when he was going through a struggle.The first thing we see Jesus doing is he turns to God in prayer.The second thing we see Jesus doing is he seeks out the support and the help of friends or, or advisors.Isn’t that interesting?Even Jesus, the Son of God, when he was going through a struggle, when he was facing the most pivotal moment in his life and he was struggling, he, he was going to do the Father’s will.He wanted to do the Father’s will, but he was beginning to feel the full weight of the wrath of God on him for the sin of the whole world.And so he turned to God in prayer, but he also turned to his friends.That’s a good lesson for us.If you’re going through a struggle today, don’t do it in isolation.Talk with somebody.You know, I know in my own life, sometimes all I need is just to get it out.I just need to talk about it, and then I feel a little better.And so we all have different personalities, but I do believe that this model that Jesus gives us here in the Garden of Gethsemane is important for our health, our mental, emotional, spiritual health today.Young person, if you’re going through something, find a confidant.Find a friend that you can trust.I’m not saying go just talk, vent to everybody you find.That’s not healthy.But find a person or 2 or even a trusted advisor that you can go and say, “Hey, I know this is what I’m supposed to believe, but this is how I’m feeling.”And talk that out.Get some help from some pri- friends.Let them pray with you.Let them counsel you.That’s what Jesus did.Jesus turned to God, but he also turned to his friends.And then I love verse 36.Look with me at verse 36.Because Jesus not only turns to God, but he acknowledges the goodness of God.He acknowledges that God is a loving father.And so here, Jesus, in this passage, as he’s in the gardenAnd by the way, I’ll just share, I think I’ve shared with some of you before this too.It was October of ’25.I got to go to Israel, saw so many wonderful things.But for me, the Garden of Gethsemane was the real spiritual moment.Um, I mean, I was at the empty tomb.I was at many different churches.I got to walk down the Via Dolorosa.Wow, that was amazing.But for me, it was early one morning.There was not a bunch of crowds, not a bunch of people.We got to the Garden of Gethsemane.They said, “Yeah, just walk around and have a spiritual moment.”And we kinda, all of us, uh, kinda dispersed.The garden area was pretty big.There’s places to sit.There were some olive trees that are over, like, a hun- they’re over a thousand years old, so you’re just like, “Wow, this is so cool.”And, you know, you’re kinda praying, having a devotional moment, and so I was already kind of already locked in, I guess, is what I would say.And then there was a church next, right next to the garden across the street.And you walked into the street, and there were some sign things you could read, and it was saying up there near the altar, there was this big expanse of a rock.Kind of a flat rock, not a big rock like that, but just a flat rock.And the sign was saying, “This is where Jesus may have knelt.”Now they know for sure Jesus was on this Mount of Olives.They don’t know for sure that he was right there, but as I began to walk towards the altar, I broke.In that moment, it was like every time I’d ever gone to an altar, every time I’d ever preached about Jesus, every time I’d ever preached about his death, his crucifixion, it all came to that moment, and I just began to weep.I, I knelt.By the time I was kneeling, I was bawling, and I was just saying, “Thank you, Jesus, for my salvation.Thank you for what you’ve done in my life.”It was such a special moment for me to be in the place where Jesus had followed through.He had made it through the struggle victoriously.He never gave up or gave in to the temptation of well, maybe there’s some other way.He submitted that to God, and how did he do that?He did it by recognizing that God is a loving father.He’s a good God who has a good plan, even when you’re going through difficulty.Think about that.Let that sink in.Even when I’m going through a setback, a failure, when life is hitting me right in the mouth, God is good.And it’s that belief, it’s that assurance, it’s that confidence that’ll get you through the struggle, no matter what kinda struggle it is.So Jesus, how did he get through a struggle?He went to God in prayer.He looked for the support of friends, and he acknowledged that God is a loving father.You know, Jesus often called God Father.Luke chapter 11, re- he referred to God as our Father.As I’ve read through scripture, I’m convinced that God, uh, at times expresses himself in masculine and in feminine ways, without a doubt.But repeatedly in scripture, contrary to what other progressives in our world today are trying to tell us, repeatedly in scripture, God is revealed as a father.He is our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.Our God is a loving father who cares for us, who’s all-powerful, who’s mighty, who’s sovereign.And church, I want you to believe that, and I want you to believe that deeply, because when you go out of here and you start to face a struggle or a setback in your finances or in your relationships or in your health, there’s gonna be the temptation and the tendency to just go, “God, I can’t believe you’re doing this to me, and surely there’s another way for this life to work out.”But it’s in the midst of the struggle that we hold on to a loving father who is good, and we hold onto that belief, and we wait on God, and we trust in him.See, that’s really the 4th thing that we see here that Jesus was doing.He turned to God.He asked for the help of prayers.He, he acknowledged that God is a loving father.But he also trusted and committed his life to the Father.If you look again at verse 36, “Abba, Father,” He said, “everything is possible for you.Take this cup from me.Yet not what I will, but what you will.”That’s a hard prayer.’Cause when you’re really going through it, usually when I’ve been going through struggles in my life, I pretty much know how I want it to go.So I’m like, “God, do this.Come on, God, get with it.”And there’s hard things.There’s hard things.There’s babies that are born with difficulties.There’s loved ones who die unexpecte- expectedly.There’s natural disasters.There’s personal tragedies of our own soul that we go through.So I don’t wanna, I don’t want to minimize the struggle.It’s hard.Life can be really, really hard.But maybe, just maybe, if we really trusted our lives to God, our prayers would begin to change to like, “Lord, I don’t get it, don’t understand, but glo- y- I want you to get the glory.Help me through this, to st- stick with you, to be faithful to you, ’cause I know you’re up to something good here.I just don’t see it right now.”I want that kind of faith, and that’s the example of Jesus.So if we’re going to embrace the redemption that God has for our lives, we’ve gotta follow the example of Jesus when we go through a struggle.Number 3, we’ve also gotta resist the idol of people pleasing.Look with me at verses 66 and verse 67.Mark 14 verse 66 through 67.”While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by.When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.’You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus,’ she said.”I’ve always been impressed with this passage of scripture.I, I would have thought it, for Peter, it would have taken the high priest to come and smack him on the cheek or something and say, “Hey, you’re one of those disciples of Jesus.”But in this context, we see how easy it is to be fearful of people when we’re walking with the Lord, because it wasn’t someone with power, it wasn’t someone with prestige, it wasn’t someone with popularity that caused Peter to deny his Lord.It was just a servantIt was just a servant girl.She didn’t have any high place in the temple or in, in the, in the Sanhedrin.But as we read about Peter’s denial of Jesus, she’s a part of that context.It wasn’t anybody special that caused Jesus or, or caused Peter to deny Jesus.It was just a servant gil- girl who noticed Peter, and before long, Peter’s saying, “I don’t know the guy.”I don’t know what it would take you or me to say that, but I know enough in life now to know I’m no better than Peter.I’m no better than Peter.And if Peter, who was so faithful to Jesus, loved Jesus, if Peter in that moment could be tempted like that and fail, then I know that failure is a part of my journey of faith.I’ve got failures in my past.I’ve got some things going on in my life probably that I need to let Jesus change me, and probably in the future, I’m gonna have some trip-ups.So should I lose hope?Should I give up?No, just the opposite.I should run to Jesus.I should get as close as I can to Jesus.I should live with hope every day, knowing that no matter what the failure or the setback, there’s always hope, because God’s at work.He’s good, and He can take my failures and turn them into something successful-something fruitful, something flourishing.That’s what He does.He’s a God of redemption.And as Christians, we’ve been marked by redemption.But as a part of embracing that redemption, we have to learn to resist the idol of people pleasing.You th- This passage, I think, reveals something about Peter.Now, Peter was at times cowardly, at other times ferocious, at other times impulsive.Peter’s an interesting study in the New Testament.But here, I think he let his fear get the best of him.And I bring that out this morning because in our current generation, those who do studies and study sociology and h- human population are saying that this generation is struggling with fear and anxiety more than any other generation.And I don’t know exactly why that is, because other generations have certainly had hard times.But we’re very anxious today.We’re very fearful.We’re very kind of into ourselves and into our own emotions, and we need to learn if those fears are coming, especially if those fears are coming from how other people look at us and how we feel about that, we gotta let that go.We gotta learn to love God so much that it washes out all of that fear.Because remember, Christians are like cowboys, disciples are like Desperados.We’re not like everybody else.If you’re following Jesus, your friends are gonna be different.They’re gonna march to the beat of a different drummer.They’re gonna make different decisions than you’re making as a Christian because you’re following Jesus.You’ve been marked by Jesus Christ.Remember the passage in Galatians 6 where Paul says, “I’ve been marked in my body,” or, “I have m- marks in my body because of my service to the Lord.”I’m not necessarily talking about that this morning, but that’s how far it could go.But certainly in your spirit and who you are as a person from your inside out is marked by Jesus.You’re different than others.And we h- we must resist the idol of people pleasing, of I just want everybody to be happy with me.If you’re gonna be the leader of your home, Dad, Mom, can I just say that to you right now, for those of us who still have young kids in the home?Now, eventually they grow up and they do what they wanna do.It’s their life.It’s not your life.But when your kids are still at home, you’re gonna have to be the bad guy or the bad mom occasionally.Otherwise, your kids are gonna start parenting you.And the very definition of parenting is at times you can’t just be a people pleaser.You can’t just, “Well, I just wanna make sure you’re okay.I just wanna make sure you’re happy.I just wanna make sure you feel good about all this.”No, here’s the rules of this house, and this is how we’re living together.This is what we’re doing.You don’t feel like going to church?I get it.That’s okay.Get in the car, we’re going to church.You don’t feel like doing the dishes this evening?I mean, that’sI understand.I don’t either.I’ll do them for you tonight.You do 25 pushups, okay?And I’ll do the pu- I’ll doMama over there, you know, she used to do that.Uh, we, we would come up with all kinds of creative ways to keep order in the house, including me.I had to do some pushups every once in a while.And I needed them.Yep.But we’ve gotta resist the idol of people pleasing if you’re gonna follow Jesus.Fourth and finally this morning, how do we receive the redemption of God into our life?We embrace our second chance.Look with me.Turn in your Bible to John 21.The story of Peter is an amazing story because he was so close to Jesus.He was one of the first disciples called.He was a fisherman from Bethsaida.Uh, he was, uh, probably a, a hardworking guy with fishy hands and, you know, he, he wasHe coulda come to our Blue Collar Sunday, right?You know.He coulda come to our Blue Collar Sunday.And he loved Jesus.He was close to Jesus.In Matthew chapter 16, for example, he actually gets it right.Jesus says, “Who do, who do people say the Son of Man is?”And there were some different ideas.But then Peter says, “You’re the, you’re the Christ.You’re the Son of the living God.”And Jesus says, “Peter, you got it right and you got it by the Spirit of God.”So there’s times Peter was getting it right, but of course, when he denies his Lord, he is broken.He is broken because he realizes, “I didn’t get it right.I failed.”But one of the beautiful things about Peter’s story is in John chapter 21 when Peter and some of the other disciples have gone fishing, ’cause they, they gotta go back and make some money.They’re not sure what they should do after Jesus has been risen from the dead.Jesus comes to them and Jesus restores Peter and gives him a second chance.It’s a beautiful story.Look with me.I’ll just start reading in verse one, and we’ll read a little bit of this, but then I’m gonna skip over to verse 15.”Afterwards, Jesus,” I’m in John 21.”Afterwards Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee.It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, the sons of Zebedee, and 2 other disciples were together.’I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat.But that night they caught nothing.”And every fisherman knows what that’s like.”Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.He called out to them, ‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’ ‘No,’ they answered.He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.Then the disciples whom Je- whoThen the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the water.That’s a powerful verse right there, by the way.Peter has such respect for Jesus.Peter’s been out fishing, and he’s kind of in his fishing undergarment.He’s just been out fishing.He’s sweating.It’s hot.He’s fishing.And normally, when you would jump in the water, you wouldn’t put your outer garment back on.You’d jump in the water.But he has such respect for Jesus, he knows he’s gonna go to the shore and meet Jesus, so he puts on his outer clothes before he jumps in to swim.Verse 8, the other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about 100 yards.When they landed, they saw a fire burning coals there with fish on it and, and some bread.Well, you know the rest of the story.But it’s interesting to me, if we want to embrace the redemption that God has for our lives, we’ve gotta run to Jesus, or swim to Jesus, or row to Jesus in any way we can.We’ve gotta get as close as we can to Jesus because that’s where our redemption is coming from.Peter chose to jump in and swim.The other disciples rowed, but they were getting closer to Jesus.But I wanna read now from verses 15 and following because what’s really going on here as Jesus reinstates Peter, first to himself, but also to ministry.’Cause remember, Peter becomes one of the great leaders of the early church, and he denied the Lord.Who could have a greater failure than that?I don’t even know this guy, and he cursed, and he said, you know, “Leave me alone.I don’t know Jesus.”That’s what Peter did.How could Peter ever hope to come back and be a leader or a pastor of the church?But that’s what Jesus does here.Look with me at verse 15.When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon Peter, son of John, do you love me more than these?”So Jesus is going to deal with Peter’s heart.See, Peter denied the Lord, I believe because he had fear in his heart, not full, fully devoted love for God.But here’s what Peter says.”Yes, Lord,” he said.”You know that I love you.”Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”Again, Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”He answered, “Yes, Lord.You know that I love you.”Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”The third time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”Peter was hurt because of Jesus ask him the third time, “Do you love me?”I remember a few times in my life, I’ve gone through some setbacks, and I’ve actually said to God, “God, I thought I was humble enough.I don’t understand why you’re doing this to me.”Or, “Why are you, why are you allowing this in my life again?Wasn’t it enough that my fiance broke up with me and how humbled I felt?Why am I now pastoring a church that I planted, pastored for 10 years, and now I have to close this church?Lord, why is this happening?”That seems to be what’s going on with Peter here.Peter’s saying, “Okay, Lord, you ask me if I love you.You know I love you.Quit asking.Jesus, you know I love you.”But Jesus just keeps asking.There’s also something very interesting in the Greek text that’s going on here because there’s 2 Greek words for love.There’s agape and phileo that are being used in this passage of scripture.So Jesus, I wanna read it kind of the way the Greek reads so it’ll help us this morning.So it actually reads more like this: “Simon, do you agape love me?Are you willing to lay down your life for me?”Peter answers, “You know I phileo you.I adore you.You’re the best.I’m glad we’re friends.”That’s my translation.So in other words, Jesus is saying, “Do you agape me?Do you sacrificially”Agape is, in the New Testament, is like this divine love, sacrificial love, where you’re willing to love God above everything else, and that’s what Jesus is asking Peter.He’s saying, “Peter, do you agape me?Are you willing to lay down your life for me?”But Peter’s response is phileo.Peter’s response is, “Jesus, I think you’re awesome.I think you’re great.I’m so glad we’re friends.”So Jesus, he ask again, “Do you agape me?”And finally, Peter gets it.Jesus is not just asking me to have some affection for him, phileo love, like, “I think you’re a pretty cool guy.”Like, “I’d love to have you as my friend.”You know, not affection.No, Jesus is asking Peter, “Will you love me above everything else in your life?Will you let go of your fear?Will you let go of your unbelief?Will you let go of everything else in your life and agape me, love me sacrificially?”That’s what’s going on in this passage.Why?Because Peter had denied the Lord.Even, I mean, in the midst of the greatest painful hour for Jesus, Peter’s saying, “I don’t even know this guy.”Jesus didn’t give up on him.Thank you, Lord.Jesus comes to Peter, and here’s what I see, church.Jesus comes to Peter in Peter’s weakness, and now Peter has to choose to love Jesus.Peter has to choose to love Jesus knowing that he’s failed.Know- he, he can no longer be overly confident in his own ability to do anything, ’cause he denied the Lord.Now he has to choose, “Yes, Jesus, I’m gonna love you and serve you even though I know I’ve failed.”I don’t know if that’s where you are this morning or not, but I wanna encourage you with the, the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, where Paul says, “My grace is sufficient for you,” talking about the grace of God.”For my power is made perfect in weakness.”I’ve always struggled to understand that scripture.Never particularly liked it.Because in my natural self, I just wanna be strong.I just wanna say, “Thank you, Jesus.I’m walking with you.You’ve made me strong.Now I just wanna be strong.”But the reality of what Paul understood, and the reality of that scripture is it, is that it’s in our weaknesses, in our setbacks, in our failures that we invite God into those areas of our life, whether it’s academics, finance, relationships, dreams.We invite God into the struggle.His strength comes in and comforts us, helps us, encourages us, helps us to overcome, and then He gets the glory, and we’re able to walk in His strength.So this morning, let’s embrace the second chance in our lives and in the lives of other people.I know some of you, you’ve been praying for loved ones.You’ve been praying for friends.And sometimes we lose heart and we give up and say, “Lord, are you ever gonna reach this person?”But our God is a God of the second and the third and the 4th chance.God never gives up on people, and that’s the hope that we can live with for our own life and for the lives of those we pray for.So I wanna invite the worship team to come back and help me.Just play something softly andI’m believing that our church is and will become a place of redemption.That’s who we are as Christians.We are marked by redemption.We are marked by the second chance that God gives us in our life.And so I just wanna first speak to each one that’s here and say, if you’ve gone through or you’re going through a setback or a struggle, would you just embrace the goodness of God at work in your life?He is gonna help you get to the other side and be able to walk in His favor and His fruitfulness and flourishing for your life.That’s what God’s up to in your life.Because He’s a God of redemption.He’s a God of a second chance.I’m Pastor Tom Ragsdell.I’m Pastor Ellis Benus.And we’re from Columbia First Assembly of God Church.We are a church that’s on mission with Jesus.Our vision is simple: we wanna make Jesus famous in your heart and in our community.Absolutely.Thank you so much for connecting with us online.We would also love to connect with you in person.We are located at 1100 North 7th Street, right in the heart of Columbia, Missouri, right across the street from Hickman High School.So if you’re in the Central Missouri area and you’re looking for a home church, come hang out with us.If you’re just connecting online and you’re nowhere near us, then please connect with us in the comments.If you have a prayer request, if you have a question, if you’re, if you’re wondering anything about the Lord or Christianity, please let us know, and we would be happy to engage with you in theWe believe God’s doing something special at our church, and we want you to be a part of it.We’re a multi-generational church.We have people from all different backgrounds.We’re, we’re a church of the Word.We’re a church of the Spirit.We believe Jesus can transform your life.That’s why we’re on mission with him, and we wanna help you know God, we wanna help you grow in God, and we wanna share hope in ourSo connect with us, and we wanna connect with you.Awesome.Have a wonderful and a blessed day.