He Always Sustains Us | Sermon 05/05/2024

Apologia Utah

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All right, if you would please open your Bibles with me to the gospel according to John chapter 21

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John 21 title of the sermon today church is he always sustains us he always sustains us

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We're gonna be in verses 1 through 14 today John 21. So with that said here now

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The inerrant and fallible words of the living and true God God chapter 21 After these things

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Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias And he manifested himself in this way

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Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathanael of Cana and Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples were together

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Simon Peter said to them. I'm going fishing They said to him we will also come with you

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They went out and got into the boat and that night they caught nothing But when the day was now breaking

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Jesus stood on the beach yet. The disciples did not know that it was Jesus So Jesus said to them children.

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You do not have any fish. Do you they answered him? No And he said to them cast the net on the right -hand side of the boat and you will find a catch

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So they cast and then there were not able They were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish

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Therefore the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter it is the Lord So when

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Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord He put his outer garment on for he was stripped for work and threw himself into the sea

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But the other disciples came in the little boat for they were not far from land But about 100 yards away dragging the net full of fish

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So when they got out on to onto the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it and bread

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Jesus said to them bring some of the fish which you have now caught Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of large fish 153 and although there were so many the net was not torn

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Jesus said to them come and have a breakfast None of the disciples ventured to question him.

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Who are you knowing that it was the Lord? Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and the fish likewise

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This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after he was raised from the dead

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Thus ends the reading of God's Holy and Magnificent Word. Let's pray once more as a church

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God we need you Every single one of us needs you here

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We need you in our lives God I need you to illuminate your word to me and to your people today

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Moved by the Holy Spirit and the power he has Lord we need you

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Lord your people need you They need you to be able to hear it. They need you to be able to understand it

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We need you to be able to hold on to these things And keep them and cling to them and hold them fast

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Lord we need you. We need you today. We need you tomorrow We need you all week. We need you

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Lord for eternity. And so God I Thank you for that. I pray Lord that your people here would be edified and encouraged challenged convicted

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Whatever each person needs Lord May you see fit to do in the hearts and minds of your people.

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Please be with us Lord in this moment Pray this in Jesus name. Amen Well church we have finally come to it we've come to the end of the gospel according to John We're in the final chapter of John chapter 21 chapter 1 was famously called the prologue

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The prologue and many people don't realize that this chapter chapter 21 is called the epilogue the epilogue epilogue is made up of two words in the

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Greek epi is is a After literally after and then log is logos which is word

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And so an epilogue is quite literally an afterword. This is the afterword in John's gospel so The thing is though John intended for chapter 20 our previous chapter to be the culmination of the history and Theology of Jesus Christ that he has been working so hard by the

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Spirit to establish he intended for chapter 20, which we just had gone over to be the premier moment is it is the resurrection moment the the resurrection

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Appearances I told you last week. I called it the eighth sign on the eighth day It is the supreme moment of John's evangelistic work chapter 20.

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Is it it's huge and That's why right before this chapter chapter 21 even starts

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He said this and we went over last week Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book

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But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and Believing you may have life in his name now

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Many scholars have said that chapter 21 doesn't fit. Well Educated men have come forward and said you know what?

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chapter 21 doesn't fit well in this gospel to me, okay, and They say that because they consider chapter 21 so anticlimactic

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Where's the great heroic end to this wonderful gospel?

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They they think that chapter 20 the resurrection of Jesus and his multiple appearances

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That was truly where John ended But I reject that idea.

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I reject that This chapter wasn't added at a later date by someone who wasn't

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John in fact, let me tell you to this day All the archaeologists all the scholars who have looked through old libraries every single

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Manuscript of John to every single one of them that contained not fragments But the whole they all contain chapter 21.

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There's not one that's missing chapter 21 where it stops at chapter 20 There is no evidence

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To support this claim. And so like I said every single thing

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John wrote from chapter 20 chapter 1 I'm sorry in the prologue until now

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Has been thought out Intensely very much. So you see in their culture even

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Jewish writers were influenced by Greek forms of writing at the time so Prologues and epilogues are very much a part of that influence

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John included a prologue which so if epilogue is

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Epilogos an afterword prologue is a before word prologues of before word

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And that's what John included. That's something that not even the other gospel writers included in theirs.

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And so the question is is it possible that John wrote chapters 1 through 20 and then took a break and then came back and wrote chapter 21.

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I suppose I suppose But he would have done it and it was him and it was probably not that long of time after but I don't even think that there needs to be some sort of distance or time in between him writing chapter 20 and 21 an epilogue has a purpose and John has been very purposeful.

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And so this is very much What God intended to have in Scripture, okay?

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This is God's providence God's plan that chapter 21 be included just as much as chapters 1 through 20 and so let me tell you ahead of time this epilogue this after word will

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Serve several purposes. Okay Chapter 21 first of all serves as somewhat of a legal statement to the end of an eyewitness account this

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Acts like the end of an eyewitness account. That's what chapter 21 kind of fulfills that moment what they all saw the prologue included also

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Christ had introduced him to the reader and now the epilogue introduces the ones who continue in the ways of Christ even after he has departed and So chapter 1 connected the the story of Jesus with the people of God Before his arrival into the world before his incarnation.

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That was chapter 1 What was Jesus like before he came? The prologue chapter 1 pulled back the veil we saw into the heavenly room

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We saw that Jesus was eternally God But in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was

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God all things have been created through him And not anything that was made was made apart from him. We got to see heaven the veil

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We got to see it pulled back. Jesus is from eternity past and then he stepped into his own creation

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That was chapter 1 but then chapter 21 what we're in now connects

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Jesus to the people of God After he's left After he's ascended so chapter 1 the connection of Jesus to before he came chapter 21 the connection of Jesus to To the point now after he's left the earth so Heaven has been brought down to earth in Judea That was chapter 1 then the epilogue takes the things of heaven and shows that they're in for there for the entire world

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The mission continues it's not over This eternal son of God didn't come down for 11 men or a couple hundred people the mission continues

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And so this chapter Will wrap things up it'll it'll wrap up even storylines so to speak storylines of like Peter and the

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Disciple whom Jesus loved we've talked about that that that that's John how Peter and John and their stories have intertwined from the beginning

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We saw in chapter 13 at the Last Supper John was laying on the bosom of Jesus Peter was across the table and and Peter's like hey

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Who John do you think is going to betray Jesus who who's

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Jesus talking about and John and Peter are having this communication in chapter 13 and then then we see that John was somehow connected to the priests and In chapter 19 after Jesus was betrayed in the

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Garden of Gethsemane What John was able to open up a locked gate and let

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Peter in to the courtyard of the priests and so you have that dynamic you have

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Peter and John then then Peter and John again, and and that's where You have this juxtaposition where John was at the cross

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John wasn't afraid to go away He stayed at the cross.

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He saw the he saw the crucifixion of his Lord, but Peter had denied Christ three times and ran away you have that difference and Then you have of course that moment in chapter 20 the last chapter where Mary Magdalene comes running to Jerusalem Comes to where all the disciples are staying and says his body's gone

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I don't know where they've laid him and then once again who comes running Peter and John run to the tomb

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Okay, and so this chapter is going to close their dynamic

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We're gonna see that mostly next week for our final sermon and John. We'll see the Peter John dynamic and But of course, of course chapter 20 was the climax

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How could the resurrection not be the climax? but have you ever seen a

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Movie or you've read a book and it ended right at the pinnacle Moment and all of a sudden

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Curtains come the you know, the credits roll and you're like what if only

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That's it That was amazing But if only I could see more right?

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Yeah, you can watch something and you're like I Wish we could see what happened to the characters after this momentous

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Occasion this climax and so a lot of you know that I really enjoy Tolkien Jrr.

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Tolkien so to give you an illustration chapter 20 In John is like the destruction of the ring.

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It's the destruction of the ring It's the structure destruction of Sauron and Mordor and everything comes crashing down.

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It's climatic The heroes have won goodness has won it's clearly the high point of the story in Lord of the

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Rings and then chapter 21 in John is Kind of like the rest of return of the king

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It closes up all the remaining storylines of the characters introduced it shows how things progress forward

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And so what will life be like after the ring has been destroyed? And so here you go

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John gives us that here what happens after the crucifixion and resurrection and where is it going?

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And I would say even the book of Acts continues with that. So with that said let's get into the text verse 1

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Okay We don't know how far into the 40 days that Jesus walked on the earth

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It's been at this point after his resurrection, but some time has elapsed Okay could have been days

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Could have been a week But obviously since the last time we saw

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Jesus appear was one week into the 40 days that's when he that's when he showed Thomas who he was he showed him his scars his wound and That was the

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Sunday after that Resurrection Sunday, so it can't be more than a few weeks at this point and Jesus appears to them again

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So it says verse 1 after these things Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the

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Sea of Tiberias And he manifested himself in this way. This is another appearance

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It's a sudden appearance It's a supernatural and spontaneous manifestation of Jesus Interestingly this word in the

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Greek Phanero can be related to shining. Okay a sudden bright appearance of Jesus Christ the risen

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Christ before his disciples who were at the Sea of Tiberias and John says that he manifested himself in this way

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It was just it was different than someone walking up at a distance Someone who you could see coming across the land and then all of a sudden he stands there at the shore.

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This was different Previously Jesus appeared to them privately in locked rooms or even a small garden but now in these sudden

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Manifestation Jesus appears out in the open He appears out in the world he's even beyond the holy city of Jerusalem and Do you notice something that it's always been

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Jesus that comes to them. It's always Jesus that approaches them He came to them to to take them as his disciples

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He comes to them in all the appearances They're not seeking he seeks them

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Here they are. They're up in Galilee again. He seeks them. That's God.

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That's God He seeks after you he comes after you and I that's that's our

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God and so John chapter 6 told us by the way that the Sea of Tiberias is another name for the

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Sea of Galilee This is the same sea. This is the Sea of Galilee So they've they've left

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Jerusalem which is in the south and they they headed north up to the

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Galilee Region where most of them live honestly, most of them have houses up there

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Their villages are near their Cana and Nazareth and that's where many of them are from.

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In fact in chapter 1, that's where we saw many of them called Many of the disciples were called where they are now in some way

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It ends where it started for them. It ends where it started But this time

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Jesus doesn't just intend to appear before them. He already did that So so what is

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Jesus here for if he doesn't need to prove to them? Look, I'm risen I'm alive if he's already done that sufficiently

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Why is Jesus here? Let's keep going verse 2 Simon Peter and Thomas called

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Didymus and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples were together

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So you have five of the eleven apostles mentioned here five You have

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Peter Thomas Nathanael John and James.

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Those are the sons of Zebedee But there's seven men here

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They don't he doesn't name the two other disciples though. It's possible.

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They could be apostles Of the eleven it could be Philip It could be

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Peter's brother Andrew It could be Matthew the tax collector James the less Thaddeus or Simon the zealot we don't know

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They could be two other disciples who are not part of the eleven But what we do know is that there are seven total disciples of Christ here in this scene seven total disciples verse 3

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Simon Peter said to them. I am going fishing and They said to him we will also come with you and they went out and got into the boat and that night they caught nothing

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So you have the disciples of Christ? They're they're back in the Galilee region and Peter says he's going fishing

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He's simply going fishing and the rest join him Now I want to say something many like to argue

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That right here this shows since Peter was fishing and that was

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Peter's old occupation before His calling with Christ that this demonstrates apostasy that Peter has left the faith that he's

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Started over and he's fishing again. I reject that Because the text doesn't tell us that Some have said that this activity shows them endeavoring upon aimless pursuits in desperation after the resurrection

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I Reject that as well What is most likely let me tell you what is most likely happening?

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Because by the way that makes for really good preaching I guess Wow, these guys were back to where they began they gave up they left

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Jerusalem They went back to their old lives. I don't believe that. I don't believe that That's not the case makes for good preaching, but it's not true.

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Okay, and so What I believe is most likely is Again when when

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Jesus was crucified, it was the Passover weekend And then right after Passover is what the

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Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days and that makes sense because The Apostles were where seven days later.

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They were still in Jerusalem. They were still celebrating They were still a part of it probably celebrating in an even better way once they saw

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Jesus Terribly mourning before they saw him, but they were there nevertheless and so I believe

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That it's possible When they when Jesus revealed himself to Thomas and the rest of the disciples in that locked room.

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He gave them instructions He gave them instructions. He commanded them go north now that the feast is over and wait for me and I will come to you.

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I Say that because And again, it's not something that's certain but it's something that has happened multiple times in the

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Gospels Jesus has commanded them go here go on without me cross the

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Sea of Galilee Do this go there and I'll be there and that has happened before so it's happened again they

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They didn't go back to their old lives They didn't apostatize It says in the previous chapter they rejoiced when they saw the risen

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Lord It says that Thomas saw him and fell to his knees and worshipped him my

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Lord and my God and We have the audacity to think That after Jesus breathed on them and said receive the

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Holy Spirit and with that they believed and that after all those amazing tremendous things in That resurrection moment that they said not

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I'm done. I'm going back to fishing. That is not true. I Don't believe it and so They rejoiced

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When they saw him they were ordered to go back up. They were to wait for their mission instructions

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And in the meantime while you wait for the mission of the Lord, what do you do? But you go fishing

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You're right next to the Sea of Galilee You don't live near the Mount of Olives. You don't live down south.

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You live next to the sea You're a fisherman your whole life. What do you do? But maybe go fishing and that's really how you see it.

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Does it look like in this text? Simon Peter simply came to them and said

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I'm going fishing and they said him we'll come with you Does it really look like? People who've lost everything they've lost all belief.

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They've lost all faith. No, no, they're going fishing they join join in and Sure Do these men not look exactly?

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Precisely like the men in the book of Acts who they become to be. Yeah. Yeah, I can agree with that But they're waiting for that Pentecost moment

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They're waiting for Jesus to ascend when Jesus ascends and Pentecost happens. Boom That's where the mission really begins for them.

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And so that hasn't happened yet the Lord must eventually leave for that to happen this also goes to show that when

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Jesus blew on them in the Previous chapter and said receive the Holy Spirit That was more about their ability to believe or have faith

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And it wasn't the exact moment when they were endowed with the mission of the gospel at that special event of Pentecost That's where everything would change.

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So the focus here in our text isn't really on why?

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Peter and the others went fishing. It's more on how their fishing went How did it go and it went terrible?

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It went awful John says they caught nothing now

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Fishermen know often you go fishing at night and you get some good catches, right? That's that's not that's not a bad thing

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But it's possible that John is employing some of the similar themes that he's used this whole time in this gospel darkness themes

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Night themes when Judas left it was at night You have all these moments where Jesus was betrayed at night

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It's like when darkness falls. That's where evil occurs. That's what John has been trying to show and so Here in this moment for these men they went fishing and it was night and they were without Jesus They're without him, but they must work while it is still day.

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They they have to work When the Spirit empowers them to work the disciples are then still coming to terms with this incredible resurrection

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And they must learn as Jesus said in chapter 15 that apart from him they can do nothing

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They need him They need him and so their nets were empty

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Jesus is going to illustrate this for them apart from me you can do nothing and they go fishing as they await their orders and mission requirements from the

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Lord Jesus Christ and they go fishing and They see in this example, they need him their nets are empty verse 4

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But when day was now breaking Jesus stood on the beach if the disciples did not know that it was

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Jesus Okay Just like the dawning of that Easter morning

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So Jesus is standing at the shore as the Sun is rising the disciples just caught nothing

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And they caught nothing in the dark now They get everything with Jesus in the light. The Sun is rising

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Jesus appears this no doubt speaks to the Transformative reality in which the disciples now live since Christ saved them

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And so it's hard to speculate though if they Couldn't see him

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Because he was so far off They were you know, it'll tell us a hundred yards into the sea fishing and they see a figure on the beach and so we don't know if they're

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Spiritually hindered from being able to see him or it's just because of the distance. We don't know

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I At this point, I don't know why they would be hindered from seeing him because he's appeared to them multiple times now

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But I suppose it's possible. I think he was just far away from them. They couldn't make out who it was

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Go to verses 5 and 6 So Jesus said to them Children, you do not have any fish.

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Do you and they answered him? No, and he said to them Cast the net on the right -hand side of the boat and you will find a catch

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So they cast and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish

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Just as the prologue said Those who believe in his name would be given the right to be called the children of God Jesus calls them as such children

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Because he is the true son We are the true Children of God and the

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Lord then asks a question to which he already knows the answer and he frames it in a negative way You haven't caught any fish.

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Have you? You haven't caught any fish. Have you and this isn't the normal word for fish by the way in the

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New Testament This is specifically Fish ready to eat like fish that's cooked.

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He says you don't have anything to eat. Do you? They were in the dark

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Jesus is in the light Jesus came to them Not they to him

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He recognized the situation for what it was. They didn't they were unable to provide a meal for themselves

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They caught nothing. So what Jesus comes To provide for them

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Cast the net on the right -hand side throw it starboard and you will catch some fish fish

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They don't even verbally respond to his command. They just do it Okay They caught so many fish.

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They weren't able to even pull the net into the boat and The whole point of this is not that they needed fish

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This Account is not because they needed fish, but they needed Jesus They needed him

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It's not that they need to try casting the net a different way. They need Jesus's way always

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One commentator says the magnitude of fish is not intended for a meal Jesus provides fish before they get to the shore

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But this was to symbolize the effective Authorization and promise of the risen one to fulfill the missionary mandate that he has given to his disciples

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This might also explain the willingness of the disciples to obey a stranger's command from the shore because in this moment the disciples were more shepherds than fishermen for they heard and Responded to the

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Good Shepherd's voice boom the Good Shepherd commanded They didn't know to question they just did they just obeyed the results belonged to Jesus Jesus put the fish there but faithfulness

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Was the expectation of the disciples, right? Because we need him to carry out the

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Great Commission We can't spread the gospel of the kingdom in our own power

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Christ provides the catch and Notice that it will be large

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We also see though that the Great Commission isn't that Jesus does everything for you?

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But he did tell them what to do and where to cast and he provided the fish that were already there and they obeyed

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That means that this life this Christian life Is just about obeying him this this evangelism this this

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Great Commission I don't I don't have to make sure that people are saved.

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I don't have to make sure that they're there I don't have to make sure that I'm doing it all perfect, but I just obey and He'll tell me what to do

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And so I go to his word and I look what to do and I do what he says and he'll tell me what to say

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And so I look and I see what he says and that's what I say. I give the gospel I don't give something else and I give that and I'm just faithful and When no one becomes

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Saved I walk away with gladness in that at least

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I obeyed Jesus Christ Do I mourn for the people who didn't turn and repent at the hearing of the gospel?

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Absolutely But I leave it to him. I just put the net out and He'll fill it or he won't that's his prerogative

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And so we need him But in our in our dependence you can see here that we're not inactive.

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We're not inactive We're active verse 7 therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter It is the

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Lord so when Simon Peter Heard that it was the Lord he put his outer garment on for he was stripped for work and threw himself into the sea

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Okay Just like we have seen John the disciple whom

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Jesus loved is quick to recognize or understand Jesus and Peter is quick to act

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John's like it's the Lord and Peter's like say no more putting on a shirt jumping in the water

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He just goes right for it It's the Lord It's the

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Lord is the one who gave that command It's the Lord and so when Peter heard it's the Lord he put on his outer garment and dove into the sea to swim to shore and he put on the outer garment because the

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Greek says here that he was Gumnos or Gymnos, that's where you get the word gym

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G Y M In fact in in Greece the gym is where everyone trained naked

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So the word here means that he was he was stripped Probably not fully naked, but that's that's the word one.

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So when people say I'm going to the gym Historically, it was the place where you go take off everything.

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And so It's strange, huh, and that's kind of how it is nowadays anyways who gets a gym at home

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Right, that's probably better these days Anyhow, he was stripped for work and that word is in italics in my

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Translation it it ought to be for yours and what as well if it's even there for work isn't actually in the

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Bible It just says that his outer garment He put on in his outer garment because he was stripped.

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It doesn't say for work again I believe that he didn't go back to his vocation.

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He was waiting the mission order So I reject I reject that translation edition and so I Don't think

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Peter was naked I I think that he must have had some undergarment thing on some inner garment

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On not and he was missing the outer one Normally, of course someone would take off their shirt to jump into the water right like oh, it's

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Jesus boom Take it off then dive, but Peter's like he's so excited to see the Lord. He's like, let me put on a shirt, right?

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You know weighs him down and everything. It's like dragging him and he's like, ah, you know, it's even harder now, but that's

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Peter Maybe Maybe he felt he was indecent for the

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Lord He had to put on the outer garment and the word here put on is more like girded or wrapped

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So it's possible he put on the outer garment and then he did the thing where they gird themselves and they kind of put it on and Bring it around their legs and tight like a big old diaper, you know, look at up by the way

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That's something they did in the Old and New Testament Girded themselves girded their loins and that would allow him to not be possibly weighed down so much with the water.

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So but There's an element in his jumping That Peter is taking himself in all his possessions to follow his

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Lord Peter loves Christ in times past The other time that there was a moment where Jesus told them to throw the nets out was

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Luke chapter 5 Luke chapter 5 and and they catch all this fish and the nets break but here

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This is different in Luke chapter 5 Peter marveled at the great amount of fish

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This is marvelous. Look at this fish But this time the net is full and Peter forsakes the full net of fish and sees

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Jesus he doesn't care about fish anymore He cares about Jesus his Lord jumps straight into the water after him leaving it all behind verse 8

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But the other disciples came in the little boat For they were not far from land, but about 100 yards away dragging the net full of fish

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So since John wrote this and John was still on the boat He gives the perspective as one who stayed on it posed to Peter who made that 100 yards swim to shore by the way 100 yards is the length of four

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Olympic swimming pools. So he went after it Go to verses 9 and 10.

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So when they got out of on the land They saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it and bread

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Jesus said to them Bring some of the fish which you have now caught

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This really is incredible In the days of Jesus's earthly ministry he washed their feet

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Now as the resurrected glorified Lord He serves them again.

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That's Jesus for you and the disciples have been out all through the night

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They're tired Probably got cold that late spring night

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And they've been trying to catch fish and here the Sun comes up And Jesus prepares a hot meal for them

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When Jesus got the fish Where Jesus got the fish in the bread or how he got it, we don't know

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Possible. He just materialized it the way that he materialized before them and The last time that we see a charcoal fire in the

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Gospel of John was with Peter In fact, this exact word was in chapter 19 when

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Peter had denied Christ and he was warming himself at the charcoal fire with the enemies of Jesus and If you remember at that moment at this charcoal fire

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Peter's warming himself and then Jesus was questioned at Annas Anas's property and then bound and taken after being slapped and spit on Jesus was dragged by the temple officers and He was taken across the courtyard and Peter's warming himself and looks up and saw

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Jesus and it says that their eyes locked Peter went away

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Weeping bitterly. That's the last time a charcoal fire was in this gospel account and It makes me wonder if Peter looked at the charcoal fire when he came up on the beach and Then he looked at Jesus in the eyes

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And he thought about what happened last time I wonder if maybe a brief moment of sadness came to him.

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He sees Jesus with the charcoal fire He looks at Jesus. He remembers the last time that charcoal fire with Jesus was in Happ occurred was when he denied him and so No doubt we can remember

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Painful things Shameful things Things that were ashamed of before the

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Lord and he can take those shameful things He can take this charcoal fire now resurrected and he'll use it for good

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Now Peter is going to remember the way that Jesus provided for him with the charcoal fire

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He's not going to remember the way he denied Jesus with the charcoal fire And you know, it might resonate with you, too

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Who knew that before the Lord saved me? that my addiction to alcohol and the daily consumption of it would give way to mercy and grace and and those things symbolized in the

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Communion wine that we have here that I get to take today and it's different for me Now I look at the wine

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Previously I would have drank so many bottles and and Gotten drunk and fallen asleep and passed out not taking care of my wife and daughter

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But now I can look at it with joy. It reminds me of his blood. It reminds me of forgiveness I see the bread.

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It reminds me that he atoned for those sins that I'm so shameful of What do you need to look at now that Jesus has redeemed?

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I don't need to look at wine now and think of that. I don't I don't I can now look at that as forgiveness and grace

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Christ can take the person who viewed their childhood home as a place of abuse

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Their home as a place of abuse not a place of shelter not a place of safety and He can take that and he can give you your own home now and you can go to that home

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And that's a place of productivity. That's a place of godliness That's a place of protection that's a place of love

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Having a home now is not the home of abuse anymore. Christ gives us good things

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That's redemption he takes what was bad and he makes it good for us now what's interesting is

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Jesus says Bring some of the fish which you have now caught which you have caught as Though he's giving them the credit for the catch, but we all know it was

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Jesus He was the one who brought the fish to them he's told he was the one who told them what to do when to do it where to put it and All they did was put out a net in the mission.

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The Lord is giving them and us He provides It's him

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But he wants us to labor for him. He commands us to bring in what he has already chosen caught and determined as his

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We do it we just throw a net out and It reminds me of Ephesians chapter 2 verses 10 for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus Unto good works that God prepared beforehand that we might walk in them works

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Do you see how? Antithetical that is to a legalistic religion God Prepared the good works that we would walk in them they're his and The same thing goes here

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He provides it we get the privilege to participate in God's plans of salvation for the souls of humanity.

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That's an honor that's a privilege and The last thing we ought to see with this bread and fish meal is the difference to the

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Last Supper before his death The last time that Jesus and the

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Apostles ate together was at the Last Supper in the upper room at the Last Supper is

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Is where Jesus served them the bread and the wine

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Demonstrating what the act that he was going to complete for them To give his body and to give his blood for them.

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That was the Last Supper here at this meal The bread and all the fish demonstrate the meal he intends to serve

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For all the future disciples who will believe through their word Like the bread and the fish in chapter 6

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He's gonna multiply it through the Apostles The Last Supper is over The Last Supper he gave his body he gave his blood now on the beach

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He gives them bread and fish things. He already multiplied because through the Apostles he's gonna

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Multiply more bread and fish that is the gospel disciples the kingdom

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It's gonna spread. That's the image that we're supposed to have You see there's enough to go around The gospel isn't only for these men or or just those in Judea.

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There's so much abundance of salvation It's offer will be extended to the entire world

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We'll see this especially next week when Christ tells Peter feed my sheep

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He even says it feed my sheep and in this way This is more like the true

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Last Supper before he leaves When's the next time we'll have supper with Christ Church The next supper with Christ will be the heavenly feast at the resurrection in which the bridegroom will gather his bride

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And every single believer will be at that supper and it will be glorious Look at verse 11

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Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of large fish 153 and although there were so many the net was not torn

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Now believe it or not this verse has caused a lot of speculation among scholars And not just recently but even with the early church fathers origin

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Augustine and Jerome all of them wrote about this verse in particular

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You know why the fact that the exact number 153 has come up in this verse has baffled students of the

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Bible since the beginning of the church Since it was given the

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New Testament And so the question is why? When so many other times rounded estimates are given in the

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Bible. Why is the exact number? 153 given, okay There are several theories to this and I'm looking at the clock since we have time.

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I'll go through them real quick with you They're interesting stuff here. Okay. Why does it say?

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153 The first theory is this The thought is one of the disciples was simply astounded by all the fish in the net and Because he was previously a fisherman and they would count their fish before and take the fish to market

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Because if you have multiple men in a in a fishing trade, you need to know when you sell the fish

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How much money did give to each guy? so sometimes they would count the fish and and Someone's astounded by the amount of fish and maybe they simply counted the number and they came to 153 fish

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Mysterious Amazing they simply counted them. The next theory comes from the book of Ezekiel You see in both

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Hebrew and Greek Their alphabets and the letters in them were also represented by numbers for counting

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And so the announcement of this Messianic River is Stated in Ezekiel 47 there's going to be this

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Messianic River It's going to flow from the Messiah and Ezekiel 47 verses 9 through 10 says it will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes will live and There will be very many fish for these waters go there and the and the others become fresh

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So everything will live where the river goes and it will come about that Fishermen will stand beside the river from and Getty to any blame

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There will be a place for the spreading of nets Their fish will be according to their kinds like the fish of the great sea very many

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Ezekiel 47 So, let me tell you what astounds people is

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Is that this name and Getty Has letters in its alphabet totaling 17

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Okay, hold on to that and a glame Has letters in its word in its?

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letters totaling to 153 exactly and what's interesting with 17 and 153 is that 17 is the triangular number of 153 in fact to make a an equilateral triangle starting with the number 1 and N53 starting at 1 you need 17 rows

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So people are like and Getty is 17 and a glame is 153

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That's the triangular number 17 of 153 and so those who believe in that theory would say that the water is the message of the gospel it spreads from the

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Messiah the water goes out and and then you have gospel fishermen

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Who stand on the side of the riverbanks of the gospel water and the fishermen throw out nets as Ezekiel 47?

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says and They make disciples they catch more fish fish of every kind and they

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The 153 fish here and John is pointing to that promise in Ezekiel People would say with the the number addition there

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Another theory is that when Solomon acquired laborers to build the temple for God the very first temple of God he needed a hundred and fifty three thousand laborers to build the temple that was in first Kings 5 and So people who believe this theory think that the 150 fish represent the church

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Of course disciples and then the church who is saved Represents what the new temple of God and Solomon was building the temple of God and he needed a hundred and fifty three

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Thousand laborers to do it. So that's another theory One scholar.

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This is just interesting to me. I Think like the Ezekiel one that's kind of it. That's a little bit a bit of its compelling to me

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I don't even think you need to add up the words for the Ezekiel one to even make some sense with John 21

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But this is this one is really interesting Someone went through the Gospel of John they added up the word believe how many times is in the

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Greek New Testament, which is 98 and Then they added the total times that the the name

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Christ or Messiah was in John That's 19 and then they added the word life, which is 36 altogether 98 plus 19 plus 36 is 153 and John that's believe

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Christ life adds up to 153. Okay So what do

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I say about all these? I Simply don't know guys. I don't know. I think there are connections and Symbols and image references in the

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Bible from here to there and there to here that we don't even fully know now The Bible is so intricately connected in so many places.

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It is Unbelievable, but I don't know what I don't know.

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I just can't be sure Very compelling some of those what I do know is that Christ Will never fail to get all the fish

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That's what this is showing Christ will never fail to get all the fish He'll never fail to get all the sheep, which is what he'll refer to them in a few verses

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Christ will never be stressed Christ will never be strained to get all of the fish

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You see in Luke 5 the other time the disciples see

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Jesus tell them to throw out their nets and they catch a multitude of fish based on Jesus's words get this

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That time in Luke 5 When they caught all those fish the nets broke the nets broke and tore but now

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With resurrected power power given by the Spirit and commissioned by Christ The net will never break

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The net will never tear and that's what John says right here in this verse and although there were so many the net was never torn

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So before they catch a multitude of fish in Luke 5 the nets tear they lose fish

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There were so many but now here after the resurrection The net is not torn

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The Nets different now. We must truly understand. There is no limit to the net of Christ Being able to gather everyone whom he desires to gather without tearing

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Won't tear anymore. The gospel will not tear the gospel will not fail the gap the gospel will grab

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Everyone it intends to grab so go to verses 12 and 13 Jesus said to them

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Come and have breakfast None of the disciples ventured to question him.

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Who are you? Knowing that it was the Lord Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and the fish likewise

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So the 153 number is never mentioned again Jesus has always been the one to provide even if the disciples or the church have a role to play in it

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He provides them breakfast as far as we can tell

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These are some of the last words to this to the disciples as a whole from Jesus in chapter 1

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He told them follow me and then he invited them and he said come and see and here at the end

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Jesus approaches the disciples and says not come and see he says come and eat. I Like that It's like of course a

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Baptist pastor would say that right But he says come and eat And no one spoke.

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No one said a word There's something marvelous about his presence among them

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It kind of seems like the disciples were even a bit apprehensive as they came up as they approached

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Jesus They're apprehensive and yet excited to be with him. What will the

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Lord do? What will he say now What's the purpose of this new appearance on the beach?

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And so Jesus sees that with them and he lovingly invites them come eat a meal

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It says though that none of them ventured the word is actually dared No one dared to ask him.

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Who are you? Which kind of shows that they wanted to But they're not like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and Luke 24 who were kept from recognizing him.

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They know They know this is the Lord now. They don't need to investigate his wounds anymore

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They don't need to look at the nail holes in his wrists They don't they don't need to ask any more questions pertaining to his identity.

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Is this the risen Lord? This is their Lord, they know it no more signs are needed

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Nothing he doesn't have to prove himself to them they believe and Really you and I might wonder what's the issue here?

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Why is it that they they no one dared to ask him who he was? What's the problem here?

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And I think it's probably harder to put ourselves in the Apostles shoes than you might think because We read these over and over again, we believe the miracles we believe the signs we believe this stuff but these were men who were with Jesus their rabbi their master for three years every day and They were next to him.

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They loved him. They saw the things he did But then they saw him die

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And not only did Jesus die. He didn't die gently and pass away These men saw

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Jesus die a gruesome death a horrible death, but then he resurrected and The wounds are still there, but he's different to them now.

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He's different. He wasn't simply resuscitated He wasn't simply raised in the same way as Lazarus.

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The risen Lord is different now. He's even Displaying more power.

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He's appearing in places where it's locked and on the beach out of nowhere

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He he's the same Messiah. They've always loved but at the same time he's much bigger than they could ever imagine and so Can you kind of get it now?

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They have this moment of Wonder but also nervousness It's like when someone you haven't seen in a while Or something has happened and you're like, is that really you right?

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It's this moment of wonder even though you you really know who the person is, of course, that's them but you it's it's marvelous verse 13

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Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and the fish likewise this is

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Not like the Luke 24 resurrection appearance when they gave him broiled fish and he ate in front of them

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We don't see Jesus eating here in this moment That's a different occurrence and so the the point you guys

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The point of this appearance has not been to convince them anymore. It's not

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He's done that This meal on the beach is Christ's meal.

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It's about him and it's from him Not for him

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The picture here is showing two things number one Again we're reminded of John 6 when he fed the 5 ,000 followers fish and bread and in that chapter

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He spoke what he said. I am the bread of life John 6 51

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I am the living bread that comes down out of heaven if anyone eats of this bread He will live forever and the bread also which

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I will give for the life of the world is my flesh So in this meal on The shore of Galilee is symbolized what

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Christ has already given the disciples He's given them his flesh.

01:00:00

They will live forever. They have his flesh and blood as an offering for sin and number two

01:00:08

This meal shows that after the resurrection and even the after the ascension

01:00:13

Christ will provide his people with everything necessary to carry on the mission of the gospel and We even see that Symbolized here in our

01:00:26

Lord's Supper every week We have all that we need in Christ by the Spirit of God to carry out what he has commissioned

01:00:35

Excuse me those thousands of years ago So when he gave bread and fish here he's giving himself and he's

01:00:45

Given himself to us our final verse verse 14

01:00:56

Says this is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples After he was raised from the dead

01:01:05

In Judaism three was a number of completion three times

01:01:10

John writes full certainty But as this section is made clear this appearance of the risen

01:01:17

Christ was intended to demonstrate the continuation of his presence and How always even to the end?

01:01:25

Jesus is with his disciples He's with you

01:01:32

He's with the church You and I are never alone The new era of the people of God has started right here in John 21.

01:01:42

The church begins and We can count on his presence Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8 says

01:01:49

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday Today and forever if he was with them, he's with you and me

01:01:57

In another place. It says he continually lives to make intercession for us even to this moment

01:02:05

John says in his first letter. We always have an advocate for the foot with the

01:02:11

Father Jesus Christ the righteous always have an advocate and though many have used

01:02:18

Revelation 3 20 as An invitation for conversion it is not

01:02:24

Excuse me Revelation 3 20 in that context after speaking to the

01:02:32

Laodicean Church to repent Jesus invites them to himself

01:02:39

If that's the case for you

01:02:44

If you've been like the Laodicean Church If you've been far from God if you've been wandering from God if you're considering going more towards your sin than to Christ if if if you've thought about leaving all of this if you've

01:03:02

Thought about leaving God Jesus says in Revelation 3 20 behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door

01:03:13

I will come into him and will dine with him and he with me and Just like Jesus approached the disciples on the beach

01:03:22

He approaches those who are considering turning from the mission and the life that he gave them

01:03:29

He comes to your door and he knocks he comes to them. He comes to the

01:03:34

Laodicean Church He comes to those who are neither hot nor cold. They're lukewarm He comes to those who are waning.

01:03:42

He comes to those who are weak And it says that he knocks on your door

01:03:47

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and will dine with him and he with me

01:03:58

He will enter he will dine with you whenever you and I need to keep going He feeds us

01:04:04

He will feed us. He will renew us because in the end Jesus is the true fisherman

01:04:12

Jesus is the true provider. He is the bread giver Calvin said thus we call the bread which we daily eat our bread

01:04:22

Give us this day our daily bread and Yet by asking that it may be given to us.

01:04:31

We acknowledge that it proceeds from God. It's ours. It's our possession It's our daily bread, but we need him to give it and this is how

01:04:40

You and I continue forward in the mission of the gospel and the mission of this life until we finish the race

01:04:50

We don't have to do this mission in the dark without Christ Like they were fishing at night without the

01:04:57

Lord Christ will be with us as we walk in the light

01:05:04

What do you need to ask Jesus today What do you need to ask

01:05:10

Jesus to feed you with today, what are you starving for? What do you need that only

01:05:15

Jesus can provide you see? There's people who send lanterns up in the sky

01:05:24

There's people who put messages in a bottle and they throw it out to sea and they hope it goes somewhere

01:05:30

But more sure than any of that you today If you're weak if you're waning if you're thinking of wandering or if you already are

01:05:41

More sure than the message in the bottle More sure than the lantern that goes up in the sky.

01:05:47

You can ask Christ what you need right now and he will give it and That's for certain

01:05:56

Guys, this isn't just a sermon. This isn't just a conclusion. I'm telling you I've seen it

01:06:02

I've seen it what you need. He will give What he knows you need he will provide

01:06:10

This isn't a platitude. This isn't for a hallmark card This is the

01:06:16

Christ on the beach who says he'll provide your need always Even to the end

01:06:22

I dare you to ask I dare you to ask tell me about it later I'd love to hear it because that's what he does

01:06:30

That's what he does let's pray Heavenly Father Thank you for the message today

01:06:39

Lord we recognize we need you We see here in John 21 that the

01:06:44

Apostles Although we're waiting for the mission orders One last lesson was given to them

01:06:52

That they would recognize That apart from you they can do nothing They can't spread this gospel without you

01:07:02

We can't spread this gospel without you We can't live this Christian life without you

01:07:08

We can't suffer through what we're suffering without you We can't get to the next life without you.

01:07:18

We have no assurance without you We need you we're dependent on you

01:07:25

God we need you for our very next breath We need you to cause us to rise in the morning we need you

01:07:35

God When we lose our jobs we need you God when we lose our health we need you

01:07:41

God when we lose our loved ones We need you God When we're being chastised by the world

01:07:51

We need you God We need you God to help us to keep our minds focused on the author and finisher of our faith

01:08:00

God there's so many things there's work. There's school There's ministry stuff even that gets in the way.

01:08:07

We need to see you Christ. We need to see you today We need to keep things in the heavenly perspective

01:08:15

Lord help us to do that We need you for another day and another day and another day and another day