Sunday Morning Sermon Series - Pastor Jeff Shipley (10/10/2022)

Whitten Baptist Church

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Now, I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military size.

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It wasn't the type of people. Jesus, when they got on shore, Jesus said this,

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Come and have breakfast. Guys, I want you to tell you three things from these, just these two or three verses, 12 through 14.

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I want to tell you three things. Number one, the invitation of Jesus Christ is still there for you. Number two, the provision of Jesus Christ is still there for you.

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And number three, the grace of Jesus Christ is still there for you. First thing is this, the invitation is still there.

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How many times have you walked down an aisle and repented? Guys, there's always room one more time.

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No matter how many times you have failed, no matter how many times you have jacked up, the call and the grace of God is universal and is not meant to be bound by the number of times you have to repeat it.

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God's call is this, look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for I am

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God and there is no other. You keep trying to find either codependent relationships or drugs or religion to fill that void in your life to find the peace of God and it keeps burning you.

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You reject it. You go numb for a while. Then you come back and try it again. You get burned again.

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No matter how many times that happens, Jesus still says, come unto me. All you that are heavy laden,

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I will give you rest. The invitation is always there, but look at this next part.

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It's not just the invitation, it's the provision. They had 153 fish they just caught, and no matter how much work they had to do when they got to shore face to face with Jesus, Jesus already had breakfast ready.

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No matter what you bring to Him, it does not matter. Without grace, you're going no further.

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God needs nothing of yours. You have nothing that He wants or needs.

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Jesus paid the price for your salvation. There's nothing you can do to offer anything to Him to extend it any further.

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God's provision is already made. And then the last thing is this part right here. It says, and this is the third time.

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It repeats it again from verse 1. This is the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples.

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How many of you ever heard this statement? Or this question? How many times do

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I got to tell you? Let me answer that, ask that another way.

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How many of you parents have ever had to say, idiot, how many times do I got to tell you?

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I raised five children. Now, my daughter was perfect in every way, but them four boys? Son, turn right.

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Jeremiah, don't touch the grill. This really happened. Don't touch the grill.

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Son, you touch that grill, I'm going to smack you. Smack. Jeremiah comes right back, puts his hand up, and this is what

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I did. All right, man, touch it. He had a blister the size of his palm.

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And here's what I did as dad. You ready? Gwen remembers this. Here's what I did. You are such an idiot loser, dude.

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I really did that. At that point, all right, man, I thank God. God has more grace with me than I had with my kids.

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Jesus, even after Peter rejected Him three times, even after Jesus had appeared to Him twice already, and Peter says,

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I'm going back fishing, it says here again, you need to understand and receive the understanding that Jesus Christ's grace will bring

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Him right back into your life again. Last thing and I'm done. Even though you reverse your commitments and fail

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Christ, even though some of you are trying to remember the good and the bad and measure it out, you need to stop doing that.

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You need to understand and comprehend the fact that God's grace,

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His provision, His absolute awesome forgiveness is always going to be there.

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But the last thing is this. You need to recognize something. And guys, this is where a lot of us get jacked up.

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This is how we actually get in that bad place to begin with. We don't understand.

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We cannot comprehend what the call of Jesus Christ is to.

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How many of y 'all understand your salvation is so that you won't go to hell? Y 'all are so, stop being churchy.

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Okay? Stop being stupid Baptist churchy people. Okay? How many of you at some level of your salvation are grateful that you are not going to be flaming in hell like a rotisserie chicken?

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There we go. Right away. That's got to psych you up. I mean, personally,

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I have brands on me. Okay? I got brands. I understand what it is to be burned. That is minuscule compared to what you're going to do roasting in hell.

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Yeah. Well, deacons, it doesn't matter. But the rest of us, hell is going to be horrible.

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You know why it's going to stink? It's because of this. There ain't no parole. Ain't no recess.

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Ain't no weekend. I remember a guy telling me once, man, I'm going to be partying with my friends. No, you won't.

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You won't. Well, I don't really believe in hell. Okie dokie.

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Cool, man. Well, you can't see it. Well, I can't see COVID either.

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Don't be stupid. Do not be fooled. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will reap.

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It's good that you have a sense of peace, that you're not going to hell. But guys, ask yourself, if you're a mature

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Christian here today, ask yourself, is that enough to give you peace? I'm saved.

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I'm not going to hell. Life's going to be good. Doesn't work that way, does it?

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Why? Is Jesus broken? Why didn't it work?

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Well, because of this. Because you're not called to salvation to escape hell. You're called to salvation to glorify

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God. And when you're not doing that, here's what happens. You and God start doing this.

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At least that's how you feel. You'll actually be one of those Christians that go, prayers are getting further than the ceiling.

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Well, hey, idiot. They don't have to go up. Christ lives within you, right? So, right away, you're jacked up to begin with.

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You probably listen to too many stupid preachers and religions and not enough Scripture and the Word of God, okay?

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Understand this. Look here and read this last passage that I got for you. It's quite long. Starting in verse 15.

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When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, you want to talk about awkward? Oh, my gosh.

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Have you ever been to a... I remember I went into a McDonald's one time and this girlfriend that I had lived with was in the line right next to me when

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I walked up. And I was like, hey, Melissa. And we both did the same.

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I was not Fred Astaire. There was no smooth in me. I was like... It was so tense and awkward.

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It was just icky feeling, right? Think about Peter, James, John, and Nathaniel and these other guys that are sitting there and the resurrection...

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Jesus said, hey boys, you all want to eat? They sat there and ate like this. Awkward to say the least.

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Jesus looks directly at Simon Peter. Now, here's what's really cool. And I love the

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King James version better. King James actually gets it a little bit closer here in the

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Greek. Jesus looks at Peter and says, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?

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Now, here's what's interesting. For those of you that don't know, Peter's given birth name was Simon.

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He was born in Bethesda. Jesus met him in Capernaum. And when Jesus met him,

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Jesus told Peter, your name's no longer Simon. Your name's Peter. And that was really an awkward way for Jesus to start out a relationship.

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It would be like me walking up and just going, hey, your name's no longer John. Your name is

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Bob. Peter went, okay, my name's Peter. So for three years,

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Jesus had been calling him Peter. But now, he doesn't call him Peter. He calls him his old, worldly, self -unconverted name.

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It's a stick, okay? It's a stick. And Jesus looks at Peter in front of everybody.

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He goes, hey Peter, do you love me? Peter's response is this.

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Yes, Lord, I love you. Then what did Jesus say? Shepherd my sheep.

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Feed my lambs. Peter's like, okay, this wasn't the lecture

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I thought I was going to be getting here. This wasn't the omnio

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Deus, the Spiritus Sancti, go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God. So far, nothing that I thought was going to happen is happening.

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So Peter goes back. He's probably sopping up his fish juices with his bread.

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He's feeling a little bit ashamed right now. Jesus goes, hey Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?

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Now Peter's awkward, embarrassed, but now he's feeling guilty and convicted.

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And he looks at Jesus and he said, yes, Lord, I love you. Jesus said, hey, feed my sheep.

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Twice now, Jesus has asked, do you love me? When Peter said yes, Jesus' immediate response was this, take care of my people.

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I don't have to go to church. I can worship God on a lake just like I can in a building. You are an idiot.

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Come here. And if that offends you, you're exactly the idiot I'm talking to.

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Okay? Listen to me. Dork, you're not here for what you receive.

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You're here on what you give. To be a Christian is not to be some fat, spoiled baby at a

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Chinese buffet going, what kind of children's program do you, what kind of youth program do I, I don't like that preaching,

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I don't like that music. You are a fat, lazy, good for nothing, spoiled brat

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Christian. The question you should be asking is, here is a fish pond and a mission field, who can

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I minister to today? Who have you ministered to today? Is it all about your comfort?

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It's too hot, it's too cold. My people don't even say it anymore because they got tired of me making fun of them. But I don't care about the air conditioning.

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If it's too cold, dork, wear a coat. If the music's too loud, get some earplugs.

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If it's not loud enough, get an ear hearing aid. I don't care about all that. What you need to be caring about is, who am

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I serving today? And if you don't have peace in your life, even though you have been saved, guess what the answer is.

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It's not another praise and worship song. It's not another stupid sermon by an idiot, fat pastor.

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It's about you submitting and humbling yourself and actually doing what God has called you to do.

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He asked Peter for the third time. Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?

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Peter breaks here a little bit. Peter goes, dang, Jesus.

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You know, Lord, you know everything. You know I love you.

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Here's what's really cool. Peter recognized this and this recognition is probably what helped him over the hump.

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Because the first time he answered Jesus in a fact of affirming his deity.

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He said, Lord, you know everything. Hey, control freaks out there. Come on.

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I saw Angela look right up. Guys. She and I both have that problem. Char? Where's Rebecca?

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God, she needs to be out here. Alright, listen. Control freak Christians. Come here. Michelle, all you guys.

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Come here. Why am I the only male control freak? Shut up.

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Alright. Guys, here's the reality. Sometimes we want to work for Jesus as long as it meets our criteria for what proper work or proper planning call for.

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That ain't working for Jesus. Here's the reality. For those of you that played football, you remember that time?

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You know, you're a freshman, you're a sophomore. Game day. Lights are on.

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500 people are going. Your girlfriend's in the stands. And the only thing you care about doing is two things.

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Getting on the field and not screwing up. That's the only two things you care about.

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Because you're going to go home and kiss the prom queen, right? That is your goal in life. And then you hear the voice.

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Simply. Yeah, coach him right here. Alright, we're going to run 41 trap.

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Make sure you pull and look down the line. Keep your head up. Knock that DT out. We're going to score.

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Yeah, coach. I'll kill him for you. No problem. Down. Set. Hut. 41.

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You're supposed to pull that way. You're over here in the crowd going, what happened? The whole play.

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Bill, it was kind of traumatic, okay? I'm still in counseling over it. I pulled the wrong way.

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I could have played for UT. Guys, you feel like a bum?

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You feel like a moron? You feel like an idiot? You're totally jacked everything up.

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You know everything, Lord. You know that I love you. And son, stop focusing on your failures and start focusing on my call.

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Go and feed my sheep. Now, I'll close with this.

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Listen. Brother Jeff, I've already done that. And I've failed. I've already done it.

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Music people, come on up. I've already done it. I've already failed. Keep reading if you want to.

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Here's what happens. Jesus said, hey, feed my sheep again. Peter says, yes, sir, I'm going to do it.

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I'm going to do it this time, Lord. I'm going to do good. And they turn to walk away.

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And as they're walking away, he stops Jesus, the resurrected Lord. He stops

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Him and goes, all right, Lord, me and you are all sorted out. What about Mickey here? I mean, because I want to be number one.

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I want to be your BFF. I want to be in you. I just want to be me and you.

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What about Mickey? What are you going to do with him? Jesus looks at Peter and goes, hey, if I want him to remain alive until I come back, what's that got to do with you?

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As for you, you follow me. Now, here's what's so beautiful about this.

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Peter jacked up. Jesus restored him. And literally three seconds later, he's screwing up again.

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Can anybody else identify with that besides me? Holy mackerel. So what did Peter do? Peter got back up on the horse and he went again.

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Now, if you read the rest of the Gospels and you read in Acts and Romans, Peter kept screwing up.

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Peter would do this. Peter would sit there and go, hey, was anybody looking? All right,

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I'll eat with the black folk. But if any white folk show up, I ain't eating with no black folk. Now, I only said that in the air so you would understand the racism.

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I don't believe in racism, but that stuff right there, he would eat with Gentiles until Jews showed up.

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But when Jews showed up, he was like, can't touch that. Okay? Right?

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Okay? Paul had to call him out on it. And then a couple of other times, Peter would get arrogant and get haughty.

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He had to get called out again. Man, again and again and again in Scripture we see him failing.

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Thirty -four years later. Thirty -four years later after John 21,

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Peter's an old man. And he's pastoring a church in the capital of the Roman Empire, Rome.

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And he's in Rome. And Nero, by the way, for you enlightened millennials, you can go look this up on Google.

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Nero is the Roman Emperor. And he is basically wanting to reconfigure

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Rome in his own image. So he starts fires, and he burns down half of Rome, and he blames it on the

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Christians. And he has Christians arrested left and right, and he's blaming it all on them.

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And disciples and the deacons and the people of Peter's church said, Peter, we've got to get you out of the city.

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And so they literally get Peter, and they get him out of the city. And it says he was walking down the

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Via Appia. And Peter stopped, and he heard Jesus said, Peter, where are you going?

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Go back and feed my sheep. Tradition tells us that Peter turned right back around, went back in the city, a couple of days later was arrested.

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He's led the Colosseum. It hadn't been built yet. But he was led to the Circus Maximus where they were killing all the

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Christians. He led him to there, and his wife was with him. Yes, Peter was married. We took him in there, and they crucified

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Peter's wife first. And at some point, she's crying out saying, my husband,

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I can't do this. Peter said, steal your soul, for tonight we dine with Christ.

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When it was Peter's turn, they led him to the pre -sunken posts.

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Peter said, can you all do me a favor? Can you take the crossbar and put it down here?

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Crucify me upside down, for I am not worthy to be killed in the same manner as Jesus. The centurions laughed and nailed him upside down.

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And Peter died right then. Guys, your

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Christian spiritual life is going to constantly be an ebb and flow of success and failures.

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But you need to remember this. In no way will Jesus ever forsake one of His children.

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2 Timothy 2 tells us this. For He will remain faithful even though we are faithless.

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And listen, for He cannot deny Himself. I am a child of God, not by my works or my righteousness, but by the grace of Almighty God.

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And even in my failures, because I belong to Him, He will never deny that which belongs to Him.