Episode 6

Become More in '24 - Godliness (North OC)

We continue our series learning how to go up the "ladder of transformation." Tuan Nguyen shares a unique perspective on how to add godliness to your faith.

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OC Church of Christ

Transcript
Tuan:

Well, first of all, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who

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was very encouraging this morning after

you found out that I was, uh, preaching.

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Um, so hopefully I can encourage you after

you've heard the things that I've said.

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Amen?

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Okay, so, uh, uh, we have, uh, as a

church, uh, been studying out, uh, how to,

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um, go through our transformations, right?

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How, how to How to become, uh, more, uh,

I guess, you know, faithful as a people.

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Uh, how to be, uh, maybe more

present in our relationship with God.

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So, we have this term

called Become More in 24.

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And, uh, my part of this, uh,

kind of series is godliness.

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And I have to tell you that godliness,

uh, at least to me, is It's very

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intimidating to talk about, uh, because

I think, uh, I personally just feel

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the pressure of, uh, defining it,

of, you know, like, Making sure that,

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uh, it's something that, um, kind of

conforms to what God wants me to say.

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Okay?

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So, at the beginning of this

year, I actually started this book

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called The Practice of Godliness.

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And so, when, uh, Marcel, you know,

had sent out a text with, uh, the

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different people who would be, uh,

giving the lessons, I thought, oh,

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Okay, I can just copy the book, right?

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And, uh, you know, I can,

uh, do what it does, right?

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Which is, you know, it defines

it, gives you a few examples, and

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I thought, cool, I got a plan.

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Okay.

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So, fast forward to a couple of weeks

ago, I sat down with some friends, I

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tried out the ideas for the lesson.

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And I think, uh, the Well, they, they're,

you know, they look very confused,

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like what are you trying to say?

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What is, you know, what is the point?

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And I walked away from that thinking,

okay, well, uh, that's not a good plan.

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Yeah, because I definitely

don't want to confuse people.

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And so, uh, I prayed about it, uh,

angrily, I would say, you know, just

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frustrated that, uh, that was not

as clear to them as it was to me.

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Okay, so, what you're gonna hear this

morning Is, I think, the Spirit's

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prompting of me changing my mind

about, uh, this concept of godliness.

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And, and, really, what the Spirit told

me was, Okay, have you ever considered

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looking at this from Peter's perspective?

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What is he really trying to tell us in

the Scripture when he talks about this?

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Okay, so that's what we're

going to be, uh, reviewing.

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Okay, first, let's go through, uh, 2

Peter, uh, chapter 1, verse 3, right?

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And, and we'll go through,

uh, verse 3 through 9.

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So I'll read it.

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It says, His divine power has given

us everything we need for a godly life

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through our knowledge of Him who called

us by His own glory and goodness.

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Through these He has given us His

very great and precious promises so

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that through them you may participate.

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In the divine nature, having

escaped the corruption of the

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world caused by evil desires.

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These words are really, really

rich in detail, I think.

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For this very reason, make every

effort to add to your faith, goodness,

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and to goodness, knowledge, and

to knowledge, self control, to

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self control, perseverance, and

to perseverance, godliness, mutual

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affection, and to mutual affection, love.

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For if you possess these qualities in

increasing measure, they will keep you.

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From being ineffective and

unproductive in your knowledge of

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our Lord Jesus Christ, but whoever

does not have them is nearsighted

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and blind, forgetting that they have

been cleansed from their past sins.

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Okay, so in order for us, in order for

me to understand what's in the mind

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of Peter, I think it's very important,

it was important for me, uh, to

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consider what Peter's worldview was.

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So basically, what was his idea of God,

what was his interpretation of God's

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people as they practiced godliness, right?

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So for that, we'd go to the Old

Testament, because I do think that

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Peter was influenced by scripture and

also by teachings and by the way that

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people lived their life out, okay?

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Now, uh, I have to warn you that you'll

probably see a lot of scriptures, not

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every one of these is going to be,

we're not going to read all of them,

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we're not going to explain all of them.

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I just want you to, to see here

that this is his worldview.

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And when I started to, uh, look at

all of the different variations,

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the ways that, um, you know,

the, the concept of godliness

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appeared through the Old Testament.

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These three stuck out.

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And I think they stuck out

because I really think that Peter,

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uh, was influenced by these.

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Okay, so, the first one.

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And it's also important to note that,

uh, in different versions of the Bible,

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there are different words that are used.

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So, in the English Standard

Version, the word godly is used.

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In the New International Version

The word faithful is used.

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Okay, so, you know, the first

one, talks about, uh, God

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being able to save the godly.

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Uh, the second one, it talks about,

um, you know, God setting, uh,

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setting apart His, His people.

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Uh, people of faith.

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People of godliness.

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So, in the Old Testament, Godliness

wasn't necessarily something that you did.

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Godliness was more of,

like, a community identity.

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Like, we are a people of God.

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Not that, you know, like, Peter was

godly and his friends were not godly.

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Does that make sense?

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Because it was really

associated to your faith in God.

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Okay, the third one I think is

really, really, uh, Very significant.

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Uh, it, it talks about, you know, the

godly who are saved, uh, even when a

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rush of great waters, uh, confronts them.

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Right?

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So, you can think through, you know,

some of the incidents in Peter's life

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where he could be thinking about this.

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I'll make it much more clear as we go on.

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Okay, so, let's see who Peter was.

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A lot of us, you know, see Peter

as someone who was rash, right?

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Someone who was impulsive,

someone who did things before

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he, uh, thought them through.

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I can relate to that.

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Uh, you know, when Simon, uh, and

his name was Simon, when Simon meets

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Jesus, uh, he owned a fishing business.

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Right, so he was an entrepreneur.

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Uh, and he had partners in

the business who trusted him.

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Right, so he at least was the

president or the CEO of this

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fishing, you know, uh, venture.

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Right?

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Uh, he had very, very close relationships.

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People followed him.

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Right?

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Uh, he was a family man.

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He was very close to

his, uh, wife's family.

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We know this because Jesus Prior to

meeting Peter, uh, on, you know, the

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shores of Zebedee, uh, on the shores

of, uh, Galilee, uh, he goes to Peter's

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home and he heals his mother in law.

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So we know that, you know, Peter is,

um, uh, he cares a lot about his family.

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Uh, when Peter follows Jesus, uh, there

are some things that only happen to Peter.

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I don't know if you, uh, you, you know,

like, uh, know that, like, when he sees

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the transfiguration, even though he's

joined by others, he's the only one that

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asks, you know, to pitch a tent, right?

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Uh, he's, uh, recognized, he's the only

one who recognized Jesus as the Messiah.

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He's the only one who rebukes Jesus.

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He's the only one who denied Jesus.

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He's the only one who walked on water.

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And, he's the only one who

sliced Someone's ear off, right?

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Actually, there are many other things

that Peter did that only Peter did.

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Okay, so, uh, Why, why, you know,

am I bringing all these things?

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Because I think I really needed to

understand what he was saying in that,

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you know, passage of scripture, right?

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So, it's important, it's important

to, for me, I like to know

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who it is that I'm talking to.

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Uh, do you ever feel that way?

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Like, hey, I wonder why they are

coming at me with that, right?

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Or, I wonder what they're, uh, I wonder

what, why they're using this approach.

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What do they mean when they

use the words that they use?

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I think that's very important because

I think it helps us to understand

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each other as we're interacting

with each, with each other, right?

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We all have individual.

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You know, like they may, they may

not all be unique, uh, you know,

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ideas or, you know, uh, opinions.

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But they are individual and they

are influenced by some of the things

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that happened to us during our life.

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Okay, so we'll go back and

we'll just take a look at the

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first part, not the second part.

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It says, His divine power.

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Has given us everything we need

for a godly life through our

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knowledge of him who called us

by his own glory and goodness.

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Through these he has given us his great

and precious promises so that through them

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you may participate in the divine nature.

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Haven't escaped the corruption of

the world caused by evil desires.

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Okay, so.

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Oh no!

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Yeah, that's terrible.

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Okay, so, uh, yeah, I had,

I worked on it for a while.

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It was animation.

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Okay, so, Sorry.

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Um, so, so, Peter knows that

there is a human nature, Peter's

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nature, and God's nature.

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And they are distinct.

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They're separate.

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Right?

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Now, Peter knows that if you rely

on your human nature, what happens

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is that you conform to the

corruption of the world because

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it's caused by evil desires.

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Right?

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He knows this.

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Right?

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Okay, so what the slide is supposed

to do is it's supposed to show us

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that faith is what allows us To

move a little bit closer to God.

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Okay?

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But it's God's goodness and

His glory that allows us to

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participate in the divine nature.

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Does that make sense to you?

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So imagine the red circle

coming to the yellow circle and

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of course there's an overlap.

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There's a region of overlap.

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That region of overlap does a few things.

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What do you think it

does to Peter's nature?

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It suppresses it.

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Right?

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Because you cannot participate in the

divine nature and still be corrupted.

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Right?

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You can't do that.

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So, as the divine nature takes over

our nature, transformation occurs.

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And it is this that Peter is

really trying to express to us.

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One, you cannot accomplish it unless you

recognize God's goodness and God's glory.

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And it's not just godliness

to help you do godly things.

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I'll show you why Peter

clearly understands this.

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But, The goal of this, really,

honestly, if the only thing that

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you remember from this is that

the two circles overlap, okay?

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And the goal is for God's divine nature

to take over our nature completely, right?

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But you cannot have that.

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You cannot have that.

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Unless you have a faith that

it's the goodness and the glory

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that allows that to happen.

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Alright, okay.

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So, let's see what Paul

says about godliness.

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Because I think, you know, his writings

are very important to the New Testament.

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Uh, Paul says, hey, we, we, right?

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Not people corrupted by the world.

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We can have a form of

godliness, but deny its power.

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Now, I'm going to leave it up to you.

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To search in the Bible to

see what that actually means.

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Having a form, denying its power.

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But it's possible for us to have

faith, to, to seem to take on

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the form of godliness, right?

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I think part of it is we, we

look like we're godly people.

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We look like we're a people of God.

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But the divine nature is

not suppressing our nature.

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I think that that's what that means.

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Okay.

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Uh, it's a knowledge of the

truth that leads us to godliness.

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Okay.

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So, if we are not studying

God's word, and I think more

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importantly, taking it as truth.

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So in other words, it is more important

than the messaging that we receive from

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the world, or even from other people.

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Right?

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If we're counseling each other without

the truth, we don't get led to godliness.

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Okay, we have to pursue godliness.

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Right?

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It's not something that comes to us.

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We actually have to exert a lot of

energy to make sure that we Now,

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again, I don't want you to think that

I think that this is an effort thing.

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Right?

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It's not an effort thing.

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I think that this is God's glory,

God's goodness, God's precious promises

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that allow us the, the luxury of being

able to call ourselves God's people.

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Okay, now, this is one thing that I

think is really, you know, uh, tough.

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Train yourself to be godly.

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Okay?

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Like, you know, Preaching

is always great on Sundays.

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Your midweeks are fantastic.

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Right?

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Discipling partnerships, they're great.

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But train yourself.

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That is not easy.

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And I think that I'll share

one incident in Peter's life.

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Where I think he really understood

this, even though Paul states

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this, I think Peter understands

that you have to train yourself.

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And the rest of it says there's value for

this present life and the life to come.

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Kind of strange.

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That after we pass this life, and we

go to meet our loving Jesus, that the

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divine nature is still significant.

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Do you know what I'm saying?

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You know, like, we don't just become

perfect when we become disciples.

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And we certainly do not reach perfection

when we cross over to the other life.

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Okay, what kinds of things

in our life can be godly?

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Sorrow can be godly and must be godly.

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Sincerity must be godly.

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Okay, so let's go back to Peter.

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What about Peter's

perspective about all of this?

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Okay?

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Now, remember when I said that,

you know, Paul says that we

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can have a form of godliness.

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So Peter, in Acts 3, at the very, very

beginning, after, you know, Pentecost

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happens, Uh, they go to the temple, right?

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Uh, they see, uh, a beggar, who,

uh, I think was, uh, paralyzed

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or, was crippled, crippled, yeah.

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And so, So, uh, you know, Peter, you

know, he asked him for money and he

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said, you know, money we don't have, but

you know, uh, here's what we do have.

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We have the power to, uh, we have

the power of God, you know, walk.

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And so, you know, he starts walking

and the people are wondering

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like, Hey, what's happening?

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How did you do this?

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And Peter says, when Peter saw this,

he said to them, fellow Israelites,

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why does this surprise you?

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Why do you stare at us as if

by our own power and godliness?

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We have made this man walk.

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Okay, is it possible for you and I in our

yellow circle to have our own godliness?

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Well, according to Peter, yeah.

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Yes.

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It's not easily recognizable.

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But, it kind of fools us, right?

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What he's saying is, hey,

you just saw a miracle.

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Don't think I did it.

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Don't assign me the credit.

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It's glory and goodness.

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Right?

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But he knows that we, as people, of

a corrupt, you know, like, mindset,

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sometimes look at each other and

see godliness where there is not a

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sincere and a truly an authentic.

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Godliness, right?

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Okay, so, uh, remember when we were

talking about Psalms 3 and, you know,

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like, God's people, godly people,

or faith, uh, you know, faithful

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people, they are set apart, okay?

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Peter, twice in his books,

says, live holy and godly lives.

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Now, I think he believes

that these two are different.

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But I think he knows you cannot

have one without the other.

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So in other words, if you have not, if

you cannot see yourself as set apart

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and live a life that is set apart,

then it's really difficult and nearly

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impossible for you to attain a godliness.

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Hopefully that makes sense.

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Okay, uh, this one, I really think, well,

this is the one that Uh, I think the

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Spirit was telling me, is what we need.

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Uh, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 9 says,

If this is so, then the Lord knows

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how to rescue the godly from trials.

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Okay, so remember the rushing

waters, uh, the psalm that

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talked about the rushing waters.

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Uh, I think that Peter

had that on his mind.

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Whenever, He was on the seas,

and fishing, and especially when

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he, uh, interacted with Jesus.

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And, and we'll talk about that.

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Okay.

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So, the only point is the godly, you and

I, if we see ourselves as God's people.

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If we are set apart, if we're holy.

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We need rescue.

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Now, is that something that

you think about all the time?

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I do not.

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Because my first question is,

well, if you're godly, why

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do you need to be rescued?

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What's your problem?

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Are you godly?

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Right?

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I mean, I don't know, maybe I'm, maybe I

have a critical mind, but I think, right?

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Like, if you're being godly, things

should be going well for you.

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So, uh, when did Peter need to be rescued?

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Well, I think the first time that we

see Peter needing to be rescued, his

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conversion, Luke 5, uh, when he's

fishing, large crowds are traveling,

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you know, like following Jesus, Jesus

sees them, Peter and his, Partners had

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already gone through a night of fishing.

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They didn't catch anything.

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And, uh, Jesus says, hey, uh,

can you take me out from shore?

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Right?

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That's all it was.

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That's all, that's all that that was.

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And so I think, you know, Peter Now

remember, you know, uh, Jesus had

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already healed Peter's mother in law.

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And so, you know, Peter, I think,

had Some obligation to this rabbi

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who was, you know, walking around.

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And I think also, Peter saw Jesus

as a different type of rabbi.

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Right?

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Okay.

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So, you know, Jesus is on the boat.

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Uh, they go out.

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Uh, uh, you probably remember this.

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You know, he says, he casts the nets.

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Peter says, hey, we've been

here doing this all night.

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But because you say so, I'm gonna do it.

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He does it.

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You know, they catch.

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A large, uh, you know, uh,

they, they catch a lot of fish.

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And so, um, Peter, um, What, Simon Peter

saw this, he fell at Jesus knees and said,

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Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man.

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Then Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid.

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From now on, you will fish for people.

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Okay, so I think it's important.

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When we're talking about Peter

needing to be rescued to know why it

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is that Jesus said don't be afraid.

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Right?

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What are you afraid of, Peter?

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I think Peter in this moment was afraid

to live for the rest of his life in sin.

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I think that that's, that's what he said.

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Right?

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I'm a sinful man.

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He comes into the presence

of who he knows is God.

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And he's afraid.

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He's afraid that there will

be an accounting for his life.

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I believe this.

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So what does he do?

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He does the natural thing that

a person who is godly does.

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He leaves his nets and he follows.

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That's it.

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Right, now.

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When I learned about this as a,

as a young man, new disciple,

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I thought, yeah, naturally.

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You know, like, what's the big deal?

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You know?

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Like, for me, I didn't have a lot.

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So, it's not much to leave my nets.

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But I think for Peter, it's different.

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Right?

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Peter had a business.

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He had people who were relying on him.

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And I think what he found was,

hey, I only have One real option.

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If I don't want to live the rest of my

life this way, I need to follow him.

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Right?

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So that was the first rescue, I think.

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He had countless rescues.

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The second rescue, uh, was, you know, when

they were, you know, they were with Jesus.

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Jesus said, you know, go ahead of me.

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You know, uh, Jesus stayed behind.

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Um, they were on the Sea of Galilee.

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And, uh, they go ahead, there's a,

you know, there's a storm, you know,

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there's waves, uh, it's night time, uh,

and, uh, uh, suddenly, the disciples

390

:

see a figure walking and one of them

says, oh no, it's a ghost, right?

391

:

Um, and, uh, he comes closer and Peter

says, hey, Lord, if it's you, tell me

392

:

to come out and I'll come to you, right?

393

:

Now, Uh, there's plenty

of people on that boat.

394

:

I don't know why nobody else

said this, except for Peter.

395

:

Well, I think that Peter, as a person, uh,

who strives for godliness, Peter keeps,

396

:

uh, you know, scriptures in his mind.

397

:

I think one of those scriptures

was that god will save the

398

:

man from the rushing waters.

399

:

They'll never reach him.

400

:

Right?

401

:

I don't know that that's true.

402

:

I like thinking that way.

403

:

Right?

404

:

Okay.

405

:

So, Peter got down out of the boat, walked

on the water, came toward Jesus, but when

406

:

he saw the wind, he was afraid, beginning

to sink, cried out, Lord, save me.

407

:

Okay, and I think, you know,

we've heard plenty of things,

408

:

plenty of lessons about this.

409

:

Okay?

410

:

What do I think Peter

needed to be rescued from.

411

:

I think that Peter, when he saw

Jesus, when he thought about the

412

:

scripture, uh, he was untouchable.

413

:

Right?

414

:

That, uh, and I, really, I don't

mean untouchable in the sense,

415

:

you know, in the human sense.

416

:

What I mean is that the forces of nature,

uh, that, that, you know, gravity, that

417

:

time, space, like all those things, Uh,

did not apply to his physical, like, form

418

:

at the time because, uh, he was thinking

simply about Jesus, about the scriptures.

419

:

And when he lost track of that,

he needed Jesus to save him.

420

:

He needed Jesus to remind him that

this is the most important thing.

421

:

I think that that's the thing

that he needed rescue from.

422

:

Okay, and then the final thing.

423

:

So, the final thing is, I think,

really, uh, well, probably

424

:

what I need at this time.

425

:

I've been a disciple in the church here

for thirty, two, thirty, yeah, three.

426

:

Thirty three, yeah.

427

:

Thirty three years.

428

:

Uh, so I've gone from a campus student

to being a single, to, you know,

429

:

and we've, my wife and I, we've led

ministries, uh, large and small.

430

:

Uh, we've seen a lot, we've been through a

lot, uh, we have, like you, endured a lot.

431

:

Right?

432

:

Sometimes, uh, because

of people around us.

433

:

Godly people, spiritual people, right?

434

:

That's, it's okay to say, cause I

think that's what happened with Peter.

435

:

Right?

436

:

And I think Peter also was

someone who caused Jesus, you

437

:

know, a lot of hardship, right?

438

:

Okay, so, John chapter 21.

439

:

Jesus has died, he's, he's, uh, you know,

he was, uh, crucified, he's doing his kind

440

:

of resurrection, like, uh, tour, right?

441

:

So he's appearing to different people.

442

:

Okay, so, important to note, that I'm

just setting up the context, okay?

443

:

Uh, Peter, Peter is not by himself, he's

with his partners, sons of Zebedee, and

444

:

four other disciples, they name them.

445

:

Peter says, hey, I'm going out to fish.

446

:

They say, hey, we'll go with you.

447

:

Okay, caught nothing all night,

very, very, uh, familiar.

448

:

Uh, they see a man from the

shore in the early morning.

449

:

Friends, haven't you any fish?

450

:

Throw your net on the right side, right?

451

:

And of course, I think

this is very reminiscent.

452

:

I think probably in Peter's mind,

he's thinking, Oh, I don't recognize

453

:

who's talking to me, but I recognize

the circumstance that I'm in.

454

:

And of course, I think at the time, just

like when Jesus met him, the temptation

455

:

was, you know, I own a fishing business.

456

:

I know what to do.

457

:

Now, a lot of us, I think, can feel

the temptation to think the same way.

458

:

Why?

459

:

Because we're just, we're a

part of the corrupted world.

460

:

Do you know what I'm saying?

461

:

Like, it's just natural for us to

have thoughts that are opposite.

462

:

Of what Jesus, I mean that's why he

needs to train us, you know, okay.

463

:

All right.

464

:

So says throw your nets on the other

side They catch a large number of fish

465

:

And and in the bible, it still doesn't

say that peter knows who this is.

466

:

He just jumps in the water Notice he's not

walking on the water goes toward the shore

467

:

ahead of the boat Uh, and I don't know

if he swims or if he's just, you know,

468

:

it says they're a hundred meters away.

469

:

Okay, uh, they land and they

see a fire with fish and bread.

470

:

Okay?

471

:

Jesus says, bring some of

the fish you have caught.

472

:

Okay?

473

:

And then, you know, the Bible

gives you a count of how many.

474

:

Jesus says, come and have breakfast.

475

:

No one dared ask, who are you?

476

:

It says, they think they

know that it's the Lord.

477

:

They all have, they all

take bread and fish.

478

:

Okay, so the interesting thing here,

okay, Uh, you know, we're not reading,

479

:

but, but, The interesting thing is,

um, Jesus says, Bring the fish, but

480

:

he doesn't cook any of the fish.

481

:

He just says, Bring the fish.

482

:

Okay, and I think this is

also a lesson to Peter.

483

:

So, I think what happens now is,

uh, You know, Peter denied Jesus.

484

:

It's been

485

:

He doesn't see his lord.

486

:

He's hanging out with his friends.

487

:

They don't know what to do.

488

:

He says, I'm going to go fishing.

489

:

They don't catch anything.

490

:

Someone tells them to

do something ridiculous.

491

:

He does it.

492

:

They catch, you know,

like, they see a miracle.

493

:

So, uh, so, they, they

have this miraculous catch.

494

:

Something miraculous happens.

495

:

Because, uh, He obeyed Jesus.

496

:

Right?

497

:

So he, you know, like Jesus told

him to do something, he did it.

498

:

Okay.

499

:

Uh, Jesus says bring the fish,

but he doesn't use the fish.

500

:

He doesn't cook the fish.

501

:

He doesn't give them the fish.

502

:

Okay.

503

:

This, I think, is Peter's lesson.

504

:

Okay?

505

:

The lesson is, uh, your

nature, God's divine nature.

506

:

Even though you saw a miracle

when you obeyed me, Uh, we cannot,

507

:

I can't use your good deeds.

508

:

Because you need the fish I give you.

509

:

We can't mix the two.

510

:

That's what I think.

511

:

Right?

512

:

Now, the other reason I think That

Peter has to, you know, bring the fish.

513

:

Okay.

514

:

It says, When they had finished eating,

Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son

515

:

of John, Do you love me more than these?

516

:

Yes, Lord.

517

:

He said, You know I love you.

518

:

Jesus said, Feed my lambs.

519

:

Again, Jesus said, Simon,

son of John, Do you love me?

520

:

He answered, Yes, Lord.

521

:

You know I love you.

522

:

He said, Take care of my sheep.

523

:

The third time, He said, Simon,

son of John, Do you love me?

524

:

Peter was hurt.

525

:

Because Jesus asked him the

third time, do you love me?

526

:

He said, Lord, you know all

things, you know I love you.

527

:

He said, feed my sheep.

528

:

Okay, uh, The way that this hit me,

okay, I thought, okay, well, let me

529

:

put myself in Peter's shoes and try

to think through what he was feeling,

530

:

think through what he needs, okay,

and why he needs to be rescued.

531

:

Now, you know, the last time he saw

Jesus, he denied him three times.

532

:

Right?

533

:

And then, he basically is by himself.

534

:

Now, he's, you know, maybe with

some of the other disciples,

535

:

and maybe he's talking to them.

536

:

But he's grieving pretty much on his own.

537

:

And I think, you know, once,

Jesus, you can ask me, and I'll

538

:

say, you know that I love you.

539

:

The second time, I'm tempted to feel

like, you know, you weren't there.

540

:

When I was struggling, when I was

really grieving, where were you?

541

:

Why did it take you so long to come to me?

542

:

Right?

543

:

And also, like, why ain't

you asking these other guys?

544

:

Why are you asking me?

545

:

Right?

546

:

You already know that I love you.

547

:

Why are you putting me

through this torture?

548

:

I don't know if you would feel tortured,

but if someone asked you three times

549

:

and gave you the same answer, like, feed

my sheep, what, what, what about them?

550

:

What, don't they need to feed your sheep?

551

:

Right?

552

:

I think the thing that Jesus was trying

to help Peter to understand, that he

553

:

needed rescue from, he says here to us.

554

:

One, if you possess these qualities in

increasing measure, meaning, uh, when you

555

:

feel like you have become a godly person,

remember that there are increasing amounts

556

:

of these qualities that help you not to

return to the place Where you would go if

557

:

I, if you felt like I didn't go with you.

558

:

Do you know what I'm saying?

559

:

So, in other words, I think

sometimes we want to go back to

560

:

the places where we draw our power.

561

:

Where our nature is

what drives our success.

562

:

Not the divine nature.

563

:

Because the divine

nature suppresses, right?

564

:

It makes us have to submit, right?

565

:

Increasing measure.

566

:

That's the first thing.

567

:

It will keep you from an ineffective,

unproductive, being unproductive in

568

:

your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

569

:

Right?

570

:

When is knowledge unproductive?

571

:

When is it ineffective?

572

:

Right?

573

:

I think the lesson also for

Peter is, Hey, you're not alone.

574

:

You got people around you.

575

:

And it's important for you to

understand that you, whatever

576

:

decisions you make, impact them.

577

:

You wanna go fishing?

578

:

Guess what they did?

579

:

They went fishing.

580

:

You know what I'm saying?

581

:

It's super important for us to remember

that the daily decisions that we make,

582

:

the decisions to worship God, the

decisions to, uh, not listen, We all

583

:

have a right not to listen, right?

584

:

But remember that that makes an

impact on somebody else's faith.

585

:

I think that that is the rescue.

586

:

That's the thing.

587

:

Whether you're a young Christian or an

older Christian, I think the important

588

:

thing to remember is God wants us to have

these qualities in increasing measure.

589

:

So, this week, and for Communion, I'd

like to ask you to meditate about this.

590

:

Because I think this also

was a revelation for me.

591

:

In Hebrews chapter 5 it says, During

the days of Jesus life on earth,

592

:

He offered up prayers and petitions

with fervent cries and tears to the

593

:

One who could save Him from death.

594

:

And he was heard because

of his reverent submission.

595

:

Son though he was, he learned obedience

from what he suffered, and once made

596

:

perfect, he became the source of eternal

salvation for all who obeyed him.

597

:

Jesus cried tears to the

one who could save him.

598

:

Even Jesus himself recognized.

599

:

that he needed rescue.

600

:

Amen.

601

:

I'm going to pray for our communion.

602

:

Father in heaven, we are so grateful

to you that, um, uh, you love us as

603

:

deeply as you do grateful for, uh,

examples like Peter who, uh, help us to

604

:

understand that it's possible for us.

605

:

Uh, to become, uh, a people,

um, who resemble you.

606

:

Uh, a people who have qualities, uh,

that you desire, that you're pleased by.

607

:

Um, Father, I really pray that as,

um, a family, um, as, uh, a spiritual

608

:

community, uh, that we would, um,

be committed to helping each other,

609

:

uh, to grow, uh, in this area.

610

:

And I pray that you help us.

611

:

Uh, not to misunderstand your

scripture, uh, but to, uh, really

612

:

develop a, a, a true sense of worship.

613

:

Um, we love you so much.

614

:

Thank you for forgiving us of our sins.

615

:

Thank you for, uh, providing a

way for us, uh, towards salvation.

616

:

I pray all the saints in your son's name.

617

:

Amen.

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