Matthew 4:18-20
And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
> There's always something that you're gonna leave behind when you have made up your mind to follow the King.
John 21:1-3
After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”
> How do you go from being called to be a fisher of men and then later going back just to be a regular fisherman?
How do you go from being called by Jesus to later being right back in the place where Jesus called you out of?
Something hit the heart of Peter (between year 1 and year 3). Something hit the heart of Peter from the called to the crucifixion.
> There's a course that the educational system left out. There's this particular thing that we're all gonna be touched by it. Doesn't matter if you try to avoid it or run from it. PAIN.
Pain has caused some people to end their life, has caused some people to walk away.
What do I use to treat my heart?
> What do you do when you're not doing anything but pain has choose you? A lot of us are running. Relocation doesn't serve pain an eviction notice.
Pain is tied to our arrival. The arrival of your existence is tied to somebody else experiencing pain. Your mother experienced pain carrying you, birthing you and healing from birthing you.
And since we live in a fallen world, and we're flawed and imperfect people - it's going to happen. You're going to be touched by somebody else's imperfection, flaw, inadequacy. Somebody's gonna hurt you. Some of us are hurt from somebody. Some of us are hurting ourselves. Something's gonna hurt you.
Pain is gonna pay all of us a visit. But we have to be so secure that we know how to never allow pain to be a tenant. Let it just be a visitor. We're not allowing it to move in. When pain shows up, I don't allow my heart to provide room and board it. We need wisdom to navigate life. How do we go through life with allowing pain to visit me when I don't expect it - thru loss, grief? And I don't allow pain to become a tenant.
For a lot of us, your pain is bleeding out. You're trying to hide it, cover it up, but your pain is showing. It bleeds out, in your posts, with the way you talk, in the way you father / mother, husband or wife.
If you're a pastor, your pain is bleeding out in your sermon. If you're an artist, your pain is bleeding out in your art / lyrics.
If we don't have the proper healing and we're not seeking out intentionality - emotional pain could cause somebody to be stuck for the rest of their life.
If we don't know how to handle pain, if we don't know how to handle abrupt endings, our hearts can become so callous where we stop fighting for joy, to win souls for people to come to Christ, purity, godliness. We stop fighting for ourselves.
Concealed pain bruises hearts. THE BLOOD STILL WORKS. It can heal you from the pain. It can turn your life around.
Isaiah 53:5
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
WOUND - is a cut that you can see
BRUISE - when blood vessels burst underneath the skin
Jesus is saying - my blood is not just gonna heal you and cover the stuff that you can see. It's not just gonna set you free from the stuff that you can see, it's not just gonna set you free from the stuff that you could see. My blood is powerful enough to go underneath the surface, the depths, to touch the things you're ashamed to talk about. Because shame doesn't come from me.
The spouse of pain is anger. And once pain and anger gets married, they'll have a baby called bitterness.
The person who hurt you, the person on who broke you is not gonna come back to fix you.
One of the most crippling things we could ever do is look for the peace in the same place we lost it.
It may not be even your fault that happened, but it's your responsibility to heal. Healing comes from Jesus and our intentionality.
We don't get even. We get healed.
Desire for closure is holding you hostage. Emotionally kidnapped, hijacked by the terrorism of an explanation that you'll never get. Stuck -because you want them to come back and own what they did.
How did Peter, from being called to be a fisher of men, to going right back to being just a regular fisherman? Can you just imagine how mentally and physically exhausting it was to be a disciple during the last week of Jesus' life? Can you just imagine how to be Peter during the last week of Jesus' life?
Jesus took off His garment then puts a towel around Him and washes every disciples feet and take the dirt off the disciples on the towel - this is symbolic.
Jesus standing up, taking off His heavenly self, coming in earth, wrapping Himself in flesh, taking on our sin, our stain, our dirt by washing us with His blood - taking on the dirt of humanity - dirt from our mind, conversation, choices.
Jesus last earthly miracle before the crucifixion - He puts the ear right back of the high priest's servant. So if they try to convict Peter of assaulting an officer, they couldn't because He specializes in erasing the evidence. I don't look like what I've been through, because He specializes in erasing the evidence.
When Peter denied Him, Jesus looked at Him in the eye. He couldn't love me because of what I've done, so Peter just went back to fishing. There's no way could Jesus want me.
The crazy thing about this painful process, is it was all for Peter being processed.
What do you do if pain is part of your process?
God allows pain sometimes, He prescribes it.
1 Peter 2:21
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
1 Peter 4:1
Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
What do you do when God prescribes pain for your becoming?
You don't think God allows pain? Ask Abraham. When he waited 25 years for something and then God tested him, "Go kill it."
Don't you think pain hits heart when he heard the instruction?
Ask Joseph. When God gave him a dream and his brothers throw him in a pit, took him out of the pit, sold him into slavery, and then gets lied on by Potiphar's wife and then thrown into prison, and then meets a butler, and a baker, interprets their dream, and then said when you get out of here, don't forget about me, and they leave out, and for a while forget about him. Don't you think Joseph was in that prison cell wondering, "Why am I going through this?" AND IT WAS ALL PART OF THE PROCESS.
THERE'S A PURPOSE IN YOUR PAIN.
What do you do when God gives you pain in the form of Judas?
And part of your process is for you to be betrayed. Matter of fact, you wouldn't be able to level up if you didn't experience the pain of that betrayal.
Your destiny is tied for you to get betrayed. Your destiny is tied to pain.
God gives you a Judas. And you're hurting but there's a blessing somewhere in this problem. The difficult thing - the blessing is always at the exit. Never at the entrance.
If Judas was never chosen by Jesus, Judas could not betray Jesus. And if Judas never betrayed Jesus, Jesus would never gotten to the cross. If Jesus never gotten to the cross, and never would have died for our sins, there will never be such thing as salvation. If there's no salvation, there's no gospel. If there's no gospel, there's no good news. If there's no good news, this message is dead.
Blessing is when you come out of the storm.
A lot of us are praying the wrong prayer. "God get me out of this." Your prayer should be, "God, what am I supposed to get out of this?" So that when I get out of this, I learn from it. And if I don't learn from it, I may go back in it. And I don't wanna get back in the hallway.
Problem - entry
Blessing - exit
In between - heart rehabilitation
Matthew 5:43-44
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
The purpose of Judas - something has to die
The purpose of pain - something has to die
When you work out and you feel pain, weaker muscles are dying, weaker muscles breaking down, so stronger muscles can develop.
HOW TO HANDLE PAIN?
1. TALK - The mouth is the ventilation system of the heart. Some of us are dying because you're not talking. Be careful where you bleed, not everybody can handle your mess.
2. ACKNOWLEDGE IT - God can't heal what you don't give Him.
Luke 6:6-11
Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Arise and stand here.” And he arose and stood. Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?” And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
These people are looking to see if Jesus is gonna heal somebody from something painful. Their hearts are so callous that they don't want Him to heal anybody.
Jesus tells him to stretch out his hand, but never tell which one. God can't heal what you won't give Him.
A lot of us would have stretch out the hand which seems to be okay. Unless you give out the withered hand, that did hurt - what's the purpose of this - He can never restore back to its original state.
Some people want to bound you pain better. Why? So that at least we have something in common. And if you want to be free from pain, then I try to get a way to give you pain. This is why some people keep bringing up your past because you are a new you, but they're still an old them.
3. RELAPSE PREVENTION - constantly pray for people when they hurt you, pray for them. Forgiveness frees the prisoner and once you forgive you'll discover that the prisoner was you.
4. TEMPLE CARE - (Practical Solution) The way a lot of us handle pain is we overeat. We try to eat our pain away. You can handle pain by going to run a mile. Go to the weight room. Some weights are released when some weights are lifted. I have some pain because I'm housing it versus practically working it uot.
5. THE LOVE OF JESUS -
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?”He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
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