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The Resting Place
We are a community of believers coming together to establish a new wineskin of renewal in the Midwest. Come and join us as we adventure into the unknown, with hands open to following the wind of Holy Spirit, and hearts hungry for community and to experience an outpouring of the love of the Father.
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The Resting Place
Trading Safety for True Comfort
Gandalf's timeless wisdom to Frodo echoes profoundly in our chaotic world: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." When cultural divides deepen and violence erupts, believers face a critical question—how do we faithfully respond to what the Holy Spirit asks of us in this moment?
The answer comes with striking clarity: follow Jesus. Not just in theory, but in the radical, uncomfortable, boat-leaving way that transforms ordinary fishermen into miracle workers. This episode traces Peter's remarkable journey from a man who begged Jesus to leave him because of his sinfulness to one who would eventually walk on water, raise the dead, and willingly face martyrdom.
Jesus promised in John 14 that anyone who believes in Him would do the same works He did—and greater ones. But this promise isn't merely about supernatural power; it's about carrying His light into darkness and allowing His kindness to drive us into confrontation with broken systems. But the power of God must be paired with the kindness of God or you're left with mean-spirited believers no one wants relationship with. Yet His kindness married with His power changes everything.
We've embraced a dangerous lie in American Christianity: that Jesus would never ask us to be uncomfortable. Yet the Comforter consistently calls us out of what we perceive as comfort into true comfort—often found in seemingly impossible places. Peter discovered this truth watching Jesus heal on the Sabbath, stop for bleeding women while important men waited, and dine with tax collectors while religious leaders scoffed.
What would happen if we stopped rowing against cultural headwinds and instead stepped out of our boats at Jesus' invitation? When we follow Him into uncomfortable places—whether through healing prayer, kind conversations with strangers, or standing against injustice—we discover He's already prepared a way for us to walk on what should sink us.
This episode of The Resting Place podcast will challenge your perception of following Jesus and inspire you to embrace the fullness of His invitation—even when it leads where you'd rather not go.
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Hi everyone. I'm Ben and I'm Logan and we're the Robins. Welcome to the Resting Place Podcast. Alright, we're gonna go open up to John 14. We'll start there, then we're gonna go to Luke 5, and we will see after that.
Speaker 1:I have about 17 pages of notes that I have voluminously put together for our gathering today. Debbie come on, don't be looking at me that way, deborah, I am so full of it. Here we go, but what I'm going to do before we start is I'm going to pull this up. I have something to pull up here. I want to share some wisdom. I have the quote pulled up, all right.
Speaker 1:All right, I'm going to pull some wisdom as kind of public events have played out and I'm really not going to make a statement on all that's going on in our culture and the murder of Charlie Kirk and all of those things. It's not my intention to make a statement about that today and I don't know if I'll ever make a public statement about that. We've got enough voices that are making statements that I want to be careful that I just don't add to the noise and say something that's not useful. So if I have something that I feel like is useful to say at some point I may. But my heart has been really really heavy all week, spent a lot of time really wrestling deeply with what's going on in our culture and the state of our culture, in that you can be murdered and people will celebrate because you thought differently. And there are a bunch of folks out there making claims and saying things and trying to be useful, and there are some out there trying to manipulate people. And I find that generally the people that respond very quickly are trying to manipulate people into seeing something a specific way, and it is never my heart to do that. So I, I, uh, I'm going to refrain from doing that, but I do want to start with some wisdom from Gandalf the gray before we get started.
Speaker 1:And if y'all have yes, lance, that's right. And if y'all have never read Lord of the Rings, it is the singular greatest work of fiction ever written. It's not close Singular greatest work of fiction. The Hobbit, not far behind Tolkien, is just an absolute masterpiece at what he does. Close friends with CS Lewis, and they were both strong believers. Obviously, if you've never seen the films or never read the books, this will not make a ton of sense to you, but they were in the fellowship of the ring, in the hearts of the minds of Moria trying to find their way out of the dungeon.
Speaker 1:And Frodo's sitting down on the endless staircase with Gandalf and makes a statement. He says, speaking of the One Ring that they're there to destroy. He says this I wish it need not have happened in my time. I'm going to cry reading Gandalf. This is ridiculous. And then Gandalf's response is this so do I and so do all who live to see such times.
Speaker 1:But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. And I think I can resonate with that, because I deeply love my country and have a best friend who still has PTSD from two war tours in Iraq and so have lived with the for years now, have lived with the results of serving our country and having family members go overseas and the whole process of watching my older brother go off to war and go off to the Marine Corps graduate boot camp at the Marine Corps and then go off to war. And not that we love war, but we love our country and seeing it in the state that it's in. It has been here for some time, and I think it's been. We've been getting to this point for some time. You don't get to a moment like we're in randomly, you don't get there all of a sudden. There are many steps along that journey and I'd say you know, we've been at this place for some time. We just haven't had someone be murdered like that so publicly for many years, probably since Martin Luther King was shot, murdered like that so publicly for many years, probably since Martin Luther King was shot. And I'd say you know, the congressional softball game shooting years ago was another moment that could have been a turning point for us, but we would not as a nation, would not take the lesson.
Speaker 1:But I've been wrestling with you know what does my, what is my responsibility in all of this? I don't want to know what everyone else's responsibility is in this. That does me no good. And to speak to the larger we makes it very impersonal and not very practical. Larger we makes it very impersonal and not very practical. And a lot of the voices that are out there trying to clamber and gain followers from a man's murder, which is disgusting to me, um, trying to get famous cause they got there first and made a statement as soon as he died. Get a life. Um, no, seriously, get a life, get off Facebook and get a life.
Speaker 1:Um, I've been wrestling in a way I've not wrestled for some time in my interior world with what is my job, what is my response, what is my responsibility and how do I faithfully respond to what Holy Spirit is asking of me in this time. And I wrestled with it and wrestled with it, and I'm still wrestling to some degree, but felt like on Thursday I got somewhat of an answer and Holy Spirit spoke very clearly to me. I was actually in the middle of getting my workday started and Holy Spirit spoke really, really clearly to me and I heard this. I heard Him say you follow me. My only job in all of this is to follow Jesus. So what I want to do today is just take a real brief look and I haven't prepared a ton of writing on this. I've got some thoughts and I really don't think that I'm going to belabor the point today.
Speaker 1:Being called to follow him, to actually following him, being invited into following Yeshua, being invited into covenant with Yeshua, and then what following looked like for Peter. So John 14.12 through 14 says this and this is the promise of Yeshua to his disciples before he goes before Caiaphas, before he goes before Pilate, before he goes to the cross, before he's buried in Joseph's tomb and then resurrected and ascended on high and the Holy Spirit falls at Pentecost. In John 14, 12, he says this I tell you the truth anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works because I'm going to be with the Father, and even greater works because I'm going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name and I will do it. All right.
Speaker 1:The context I want to just kind of yeah, please get that crinkling sound out of here. Good Lord, she'll bring them right back bud. So the context that I want to frame everything I'm about to say through is Yeshua's promise of if you believe in me, you'll do the same things that I have done, and greater things, because I go to be with the Father, and anything you ask in my name, I will do it. That's how he starts his final teaching to His disciples Don't be afraid, you know where I'm going. He says how do we know where you're going? Show us the Father and it will be enough. Have I been with you so long and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. And then he goes into John 14.12, the Father. And then he goes into John 14, 12,.
Speaker 1:And that statement hit me in another way as I was thinking about it, because I've always kind of used that to be kind of like an anchor point for my faith for signs and wonders, and an anchor point for my faith for signs and wonders and an anchor point for my faith in the supernatural work of Yeshua. But if we think about John 1, or 1 John 1, and John saying this is the message that we heard from him and it's still ringing in our ears and we now share it with you in him as light and there is no darkness at all, with you in him as light and there is no darkness at all. And then we go back through his encounters with darkness and we go back through Yeshua putting himself purposely in the middle of the darkest places and just unveiling who he is in the middle of that darkness and watching transformation take place because of the light inside of his interior world, that if you believe in me, you'll do the same things that I have done, in greater things than I have done. That hits me in a different way when I think of it that way, because we carry the same light that the risen son of Yahweh carries and he's asking us to do the same thing. So he's asking us to look for the woman at the well. He's asking us to look for St Veronica, who's trying to find a way out of brokenness and destruction in her life. And, yes, bring healing, but not just bring healing. Bring her out of her brokenness through kindness. The power of god is not enough if we don't also have the kindness of god, the kindness of god. The power of god is the kindness of God on display, but you have to marry His kindness with His power. If you don't marry His kindness with His power, you'll be a mean-spirited Pentecostal who no one wants to have relationship with. We've got enough of those. We don't need no more of those. I can talk about my people. I can talk about my people, pentecostals. I can talk about my people.
Speaker 1:I don't need to lob shots at the Baptists, although there are plenty of shots to lob over that direction. Somebody was texting me earlier this week. Somebody was texting me earlier this week talking about Orthodox and Catholics praying to saints and things like that being heretical and I was like, yeah, yeah, all right. Well, it's less heretical than cessation. It's far less heretical than cessation and the stopping of all apostles. You can't find that in the Bible, but at least Hebrews talks about a great cloud of witnesses who are waiting on us to bring completion to the thing they started. Very clearly stated in Hebrews so do I pray to saints? No, I don't. I don't. But I'm not mad at somebody who talks to somebody who's not dead. Jesus is very clear. They're not dead. Though he dies yet he shall live, all right. But we're gonna make things up and say cessation's a thing. Okay, all right. Maybe we don't make fun of catholics and orthodox for something that we don't understand and accept our own heretical thought processes Everywhere.
Speaker 1:So Jesus, all powerful, everything, everything he touched, everything he prayed for Came to pass. Everything he prayed for came to pass. Everything that he said came to pass and was the kindest man to ever live. But did not then, because of kindness, shy away from confrontation. Rather, his kindness drove him into confrontation. There's a difference between being nice and being kind. We like to teach our kids to be nice and that means don't get in any confrontations with other kids. I'd rather teach Samuel to be kind. And if a boy comes along and starts to pick on his sister, he punched that boy in the eye. Have, his kindness, drive him into a confrontation for good and y'all can raise your boys however you want to, but I'm going to teach my boy that nobody's going to put a hand on your sister, and if they do, they better answer to you. And if your teacher has a problem, they talk to me. Get a better handle on that little boy over there who thinks he can terrorize girls. Well, that's not popular. All right, I'll move on. I'll move on. I'll move on. Lucy's over there like ah, you're getting into some waters you might not want to get into. Oh, an example. I'll give an example.
Speaker 1:Yeshua, his kindness drove him into confrontation. He would go into synagogue and heal people who were sick in the middle of synagogue, and that would cause confrontation with a religious system that would rather people stay in bondage so that they could obey the law. Law, and Jesus came saying there's a higher law. I'm the completion of the law, and there's a higher law that I'm inviting you into and I'm going to confront you in order to invite you into it. Does that make sense? Well, what about the law of Moses? I am the law of Moses.
Speaker 1:They didn't like that, buddy. They did not like that, but that was as much kindness we have to see it this way that was as much kindness as him sitting at a well with a broken woman and bringing her into complete and total restoration. That was as much kindness as him stopping in the middle of a dusty road surrounded by people and saying who touched me? Someone touched me. And then there's someone here that needs to be brought out of a broken mindset that would keep them in bondage to a degree that it would be worse for them if they got healed and didn't get free from this mindset.
Speaker 1:I have to take a moment. I'll heal Jairus daughter in a moment. I'll raise her from the dead in a moment, but I'm going to stop in the middle of everything and bring scandal to myself in order to bring wholeness to this woman. That is such, that is such a degree of kindness that we don't understand it. I don't know that I've ever experienced kindness to that degree, or at least had kindness in my heart to such a degree. It's an astounding level of kindness. But that kindness is equal to tear down this temple and I'll build it again in three days. Tear down this temple and I'll build it again in three days.
Speaker 1:And we like to separate kindness and confrontation. And all of Yeshua's interactions were kindness. It's the goodness of God that draws men to repentance. It's His kindness that draws men to repentance and he's constantly calling people into repentance men to repentance, and he's constantly calling people into repentance. And it required different tools to call different sects of people into repentance, and he was a master at doing so. Boy, I did not mean to get into all that. That was all for free. You're welcome and I'm done. That's all. That's all I had today. I told you it wasn't gonna be long, luke 5. We'll go to Luke 5.1. Okay, luke 5, verse 1. And I'm reading out of my grandma's Bible, so it's the NLT.
Speaker 1:One day, as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen had left them there and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, jesus asked Simon, its owner, push out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon now go out to where it is deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish. So he's cleaning his nets. He's done for the night or done for the day. He's caught nothing, been completely unsuccessful. Jesus asks him to allow him to use his boat as a podium and when he gets done he says hey, let's go catch some fish. So Peter says Master.
Speaker 1:Simon replied we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. You know you don't fish at night. I mean safety would be a big protocol at that time. They didn't chosen, that's true. That's true. They did a good job of juxtaposing why he may be fishing at night and chosen yeah, no, no, you're okay. I was thinking that there's more bugs at night and they were probably only doing that out of desperation. I would imagine Chosen did a good job. I don't know, I'm just speculating. Why would you be out there fishing at night, very early? That's true. Maybe that was it. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again.
Speaker 1:And and this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear a shout for help, brought their partners the in the other boat and soon both boats were filled with fish, on the verge of sinking. And on the verge of sinking when simon peter watched this. When simon peter realized what had happened, he fell on his knees before Jesus and said oh Lord, please leave me, I'm too much of a sinner to be around you. When Simon realized what had happened, he said get away from me that little boy, good Lord. When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said oh Lord, please leave me, I'm too much of a sinner to be around you. He realizes what happens and says I can't be around you, I'm too much of a sinner to be near you. And this is jesus, for he was awestruck by the number of fish he had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, james and john, the sons of zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to simon, don't be afraid, from now on you'll be fishing for people. Let's look at Luke 5.27. Now let's look at Luke 5, 27. So he comes to a sinful fisherman and gives him the invitation to follow him. Now let's look at the next invitation in Luke 5, and it says this Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his collector's booth.
Speaker 1:Tax collectors, the most despised Jews in their day, the people that were helping the Romans rob the Jewish people. They were hated, they were outcasts. No one liked them. And watch what Jesus says Follow me and be my disciple. Follow me and be my disciple. Follow me and be my disciple, jesus said to him. So Levi got up and left everything and followed him. Later, levi held a banquet at his home with Jesus as his guest of honor. Many of Levi's fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. The most hated people were there.
Speaker 1:But the Pharisees and their teachers and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus' disciples why do you eat and drink with such scum? That is a really good thought process of how they would have thought. Why are you eating with these people? You can't even talk to them, let alone break bread with them, and you're sharing a banquet with them. What are you doing? Jesus replied healthy people don't need a doctor. Sick people do.
Speaker 1:I have come to call, not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent. That's who I've come for. This is my target audience. It's interesting to me that the man who would have been acceptable to his culture got the same invitation as the tax collector got. Follow me, follow me, and then you can go down. You can go down the line, you can go down through the list of all the apostles.
Speaker 1:They all received the same invitation Follow me, follow me, follow me, don't worry about how he's following me. You follow me, don't worry. Don't worry if I call this zealot over here, Levi, it's going to be all right. I know your tax collector and he's a zealot and y'all should, by rights, go rounds. Really, what should have happened when he called the zealot and he called Levi the tax collector? They should have made a big circle. We should have done what we used to do in football make a big circle and let them go rounds and just let them have at it until they were done. That's how you solve the, that's how you solve the grievance, right?
Speaker 1:And Jesus said no, no, no, his invitation is the same as your invitation and you don't get to dictate. You don't get to dictate who I call to follow me. Your job is follow me. And I heard Holy Spirit say you don't have to worry about what everybody else is doing, saying or how they are responding. Son, you keep your eyes fixed on me and you follow me, follow me. You follow me, and the end result will be John 14, 12 through 14. If you, anyone who believes in me, will do the same things that I have done and greater things will they do, because I go to the father and anything you ask the father in my name, I will do it for you. This is the end result for the believer. You want to know what the ultimate form of the believer is. It's John 14, 12 through 14.
Speaker 1:And it's not just the signs, wonders, miracles. It is those Absolutely. I'm very excited about those and those things are absolutely going to happen. But it's also the kindness of God washing over your heart, until kindness starts to pour out of you and you're willing, for the sake of kindness, to put yourself in uncomfortable situations. This is what following Jesus really looks like is being willing to make yourself uncomfortable, being willing to come out of yourself and make yourself uncomfortable, and I hate that part of it. I hate that part. I want to be. I tell my wife all the time just I want to be left alone, that's all. That's like my C. It feels like that's my singular goal.
Speaker 1:Some days, between work and my children and everything else going on, I'm like God dang man. I just want to be left alone. Just somebody, leave me alone for five minutes. Just quit it. Everybody, go away. Let me close my door, let me turn off all the lights, let me sit in a dark room and sit in a dark room with no noise for five minutes. That's what I want.
Speaker 1:Yeah, logan got me sauna appointments for my birthday this year and it's the best gift. I haven't finished them all out yet. I've been four times. I've been four times Sauna appointments. Yeah, yeah, like a red light sauna, yep, and it's the best gift. It's been the best. I haven't been able to go recently. My schedule has been too busy, but I'm going to go this week and it's the best. I just sit in there and it's quiet. I sit and no one's bothering me, no one's asking me for anything. Somebody tries to text me, I just ignore it. I get 40 minutes of being left completely alone. I'm pouring sweat and you get uncomfortable by the end of it, but that's fine, it's all right. It I'm pouring sweat and you get uncomfortable by the end of it, but that's fine, it's all right, it's healthy for you, that's right. Asanas are great for it. Let's go to Matthew 14. No, asanas are great, I agree. I think everybody ought to try it. And if you don't like that, maybe do a cold plunge. I'm not about that. Life All right. Matthew 14, 22. This is after Jesus feeds the 5,000. I want to just see Peter's progression in following Jesus.
Speaker 1:Immediately after this, jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. So they're doing the will of Jesus. And in doing the will of Jesus, they come up against a heavy wind and are now fighting waves. Notice, jesus don't come to them right away, he lets them get good. And stuck in the middle of it, he lets them get themselves worn out, beating themselves against these waves. Worn out, beating themselves against these waves. He was in a sauna. Leave me alone. I'll come get you, just give me a second. That's what I tell my kids sometimes. I'm going to do it. Just give me a second. Good Lord, you're okay?
Speaker 1:I saw a little bit of a description about trying to weather through it and figure it out ourselves. And then he's like have you done enough of your own trying yet? I still have yet to learn that. So Jesus, lets them get good and worn out and lets them discover that their effort against these waves is useless. They will not, by design, be able to get through these waves alone. Brings them into the middle of isolation. A wind rises up against them. It says a wind rises against them, up against them. It says a wind rises against them Almost like guys. It's almost like there's spiritual resistance coming against them, and Yeshua knew it would happen to them. So I'm going to let them learn a lesson. And in the middle of being worn out by their own effort, he comes to them walking on the waves. And this is what happens.
Speaker 1:When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out it's a ghost. It's a ghost, but Jesus spoke to them at once. Think how delirious they were with fear and worn out through their own effort. Jesus comes to them, the one they're following, and they can't recognize him. He came to them in a way through their trial. He'd never come to them before and they did not immediately recognize that it was him.
Speaker 1:He will, at times, come to you in ways that you're uncomfortable with, in the middle of your discomfort, In the middle of our discomfort. He'll come to us in an uncomfortable way and make an uncomfortable invitation, bringing us out of the perceived safety of the thing that can't get us to our destination. Anyway, guys, they weren't gonna get there in the boat, they weren't. The safety net ain't gonna get you there. It's not getting you there. And he comes to you in a way that you're uncomfortable with, and their response was to try to stay in the thing that was failing them. It's going to sink. Maybe go join hands with the man that's walking on the thing that's sinking your safety net. You're walking on the thing that's sinking your safety net, don't be afraid. He said, take courage, I am here. Then Peter called to him Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you walking on the water. Yes, come, Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. It's like what CJ said while he was here Sometimes you're going to have to take a step with no earth beneath your feet and let the earth rise to meet your feet as you step.
Speaker 1:This is the way of following Yeshua. Peter takes a step onto a thing that cannot scientifically support his weight. This is suicide. We're going to find out he's not a very good swimmer. In a second Suicidal to get out of that boat and go walk with him.
Speaker 1:But is that boat going to get you there? And everybody in the boat is going to tell you it's suicidal and ridiculous and you don't need to go that far. You're taking it too far, you're being too literal. You can't do that. It's not necessary. He would never ask you to do those things and he has always asked us to do those things.
Speaker 1:The primary sin one of the primaries, not the prime, there are plenty of primary sins One of the primary sins of American Christian living is the lie that he would never ask us to be uncomfortable, to be joined to him. We seek our own comfort and he's seeking to bring us out of comfort, to find true comfort. It's what Pop always says. Pop always says there's this cliche inside of the prophetic camp that he wants to bring us out of our comfort zone. Well, the problem is he's identified as comforter.
Speaker 1:The problem with coming out of your comfort zone is the one that's calling you out of what you call your comfort zone is the one called comforter. What you're being asked to leave is your own perception of comfort in order to find true comfort inside of something that should be impossible. You were designed to do what other people call impossible. It's innate in you. You are designed to be people that do things that no one else can do, and everyone else will tell you it's impossible. The whole time you're doing it and all you've got to do is swing your leg up outside of that boat and watch the earth rise up to meet your feet as you go. Do it. This is what Christian living looks like. You're going to die if you do that, peter. You're not going to make it.
Speaker 1:Well, the issue I have with that is the one who called me to follow him is walking out there, and he said for me to do it, so I think I'm going to believe him, not you walking out there, and he said for me to do it. So I think I'm going to believe him, not you, and the opinions of well-intentioned loved ones, well-intentioned friends, well-intentioned religious folks will try to tell you it doesn't take all that Well. Maybe not, but he asked me to follow him. I can stay here and still be okay, but he and I both know if I stay here, I'm not following him and I'll still get to heaven if I stay here and I'll get to remain in what I perceive as a comfortable place for me if I stay here. But he asked me to follow him and there's a narrow road called the kingdom that few people find, and the reason that so few of us find it is that we refuse to leave what we think of as comfort and never know what true comfort is.
Speaker 1:You ask me man. You ask me man. You ask me man. You ask me. You ask me those martyrs in the Colosseum at Rome. You ask me if they'd trade places with the more comfortable. John Hus followed Jesus till he got burned at the stake. You ask me if John Huss would trade places with the theologians in their libraries teaching people a watered-down gospel, and there's not a chance in the world that man would trade places with them. Ask me if Heidi Baker, living in Africa, would trade places with any of us, wouldn't. Wouldn't for a second even think about it, because when you find it, when you find it, you wouldn't go back if someone offered you the world, but you've got to be willing to leave the boat first. So how did Peter go from? I'm a sinful man. You have to leave me.
Speaker 1:Think about the dramatic shift that took place. He's the only apostle that got out of the boat. Yeah, he sank a little bit. People want to call him. He didn't have very much faith because he sank down to his knees and if he actually had faith he wouldn't have sank. Shut up. You didn't get out of the boat. Yeah, shut up. The only reason he sank at all is because he took the chance to walk.
Speaker 1:And we do this thing, we do this thing in following Jesus. We do this incredible thing where we talk ourselves out of the things that Holy Spirit is asking us to do, because we might be wrong. I might be wrong. And it shows too that even trying to follow, we can stumble in the midst of it. Baxter Kruger gives a profound example for that Perfect walk, because I like follow Jesus Like he's still experienced. Well, listen, baxter Kruger does an incredible job, giving us an example of this. He says would you ever scold a baby who's taking its first step? Because they didn't walk perfectly the first few times they tried no first step because they didn't walk perfectly the first few times they tried no. You pick them up, you jump up and, if you're like me, you throw them in the air and you jump up and down and you tell them how perfect they are and, oh my God, that's the best thing I've ever seen and you're the best walker in the whole world and nobody walks better than you. You're gonna. You're the best at what you do and there's no one better than you with this. And we can't transpose that onto the image of the father, because we've got such a marred image of who he is. And he's just down there celebrating that. We tried, are just up there celebrating. We tried. He's just up there, my God. They tried.
Speaker 1:Somebody dared to believe to follow a whisper and, yeah, maybe they didn't get it right and maybe they didn't get it perfect and maybe they had an awkward interaction with somebody, because maybe that person wasn't, it wasn't exactly right and I don't care. I'm just glad somebody had enough. Enough of something on the inside of them to say I believe Jesus is asking me to follow him right there. And if Jesus is asking me to follow him right there, and if Jesus is asking me to follow him right there and start that conversation, I'm going to follow Jesus and I'm going to start that conversation because I believe he's asking me to. And if it's not perfect, at least they'll know someone loved them enough to stop and say something thing. It's not about being perfect, it's about following In a really great way. Guys, listen, if you feel like you've got something for somebody in like a public setting, a really great way I've heard people use before is like hey, I'm practicing hearing the voice of God, and I know this is a little bit weird, but this is, I feel like this is does this make sense to you? Something real simple like that will open people up and at the very least, at the very least, guys, you can be kind to them.
Speaker 1:We had an interaction with folks at the Mexican place here in town. We went on a date on Friday. We had an interaction with folks at the uh Mexican place here in town. We went on a date on Friday. We had an interaction with folks. There was a little boy had a birthday and we had $3 in cash. He's three years old. I had Logan had three bucks in cash in her wallet. We were leaving. I was like God, I wish I had some cash, I'd go throw it at that kid and she's like I think I got a couple bucks and I handed nothing. $3 is literally nothing to these people and you should have seen the way their faces just were like blown away that someone would take the time and care enough to say, hey, happy birthday, buddy, it's a huge deal, didn't know them, huge deal, huge deal.
Speaker 1:Things like that or interactions with people where you can share the kindness of Yahweh with them, will make an impact, regardless of whether you get every word and everything exactly correctly. They'll know I hear Randy Clark say this and it makes so much sense. At the very least, anyone we have an interaction with should know two things by the time we're done, whether we get it right, whether we get it wrong, whether it's way out in left field and it doesn't make any sense at all. They should know two things One, that God loves them and that we do too. One, that God loves them and that we do too. It's a really practical thing. It's a really practical way to do those sorts of things.
Speaker 1:But it's going to require being willing to make yourself uncomfortable and, again, that's my least favorite thing to do is make myself uncomfortable. I promise I'm not sitting here like I love to make myself, even those stories where I tell like, hey, I walked up to these you know trailer parks and this happened. I was so uncomfortable the entire time I was doing that Half the time I left my car open and the door on, or the car open and the car open and the door. The car running and the door open. There we go, I got it out. I got it out. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. That's all folks. Um, um, the car on and the door open so that I could make a quick getaway If something went south.
Speaker 1:So how did Peter go from? I'm a sinful man. You can't be near me to Lord. If that's you, I'll follow you out there. This rowing thing ain't working anyway. So if that's you, I'll follow you out there. These other guys can keep rowing if they want to, but that ain't getting us anywhere and I'd rather get somewhere and I'd rather follow you. And it looks like you're having more success with this thing that's kicking my tail than I am, so why don't I come out there to you? How did he get there?
Speaker 1:Well, between Luke 5 and Matthew 14, we have Jesus feeding the 5,000. We have Jesus healing a paralyzed man. We have Jesus healing lepers. We have Jesus opening blind eyes. We have Jesus showing kindness to people that Peter knows a rabbi has no business showing kindness to.
Speaker 1:And Peter got introduced to something. He got introduced to the character of Jesus and Peter realized he wouldn't invite me out onto something if he had not already prepared a way for me to walk on the thing that he was inviting me out into. If he's out there and he says, come on, he's already made a way for me to be able to walk on this thing that's been kicking my tail. So I'm going to go join him on the water and the standard I've said this before the standard for orthodox faith is to kick your feet up over the side of that boat and jump out on the waves and go be with him. And you can apply that to a thousand different situations in your personal life, in our culture. You can apply it to a thousand different situations. It seems like we're not making much progress against this great wind that has risen against us. Maybe I ought to ask him if he wants me to go join him out there. And Peter didn't get it right, but he still got to the other side, didn't he, didn't he?
Speaker 1:Acts 5, verse 12 says this. So, peter, following Peter's journey, we're just going to follow it just a second longer and then I'm going to quit yelling at you. I'll be done. Acts 5.12. Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord, crowds of both men and women. As a result of the apostles' work, sick people, as a result of the apostles' work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter's shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. So this is after the chapter. This is after yeah, this is Acts 5. This is Acts 5,. So this is after. Yeah, this is, this is. This is acts 5. This is acts 5, so this is after.
Speaker 1:So, in the, in the, in the chronology of things, matthew 14, we go on to john 14, where we started, john 14. How we're viewing the end, the end, the highest end of the believer, right, the highest, well, the highest end of the believer, john 14, 12, the highest, well, the highest end of the believer, john 14, 12 through 14,. Those that believe in me will do the same things that I have been doing in greater things, because I go to be with the Father. And everything that you ask in my name I will do, because I go to be with the Father. The Father will do anyway, the Father will give you everything that you ask in my name is what he says. So we go there.
Speaker 1:We go immediately from there to Peter failing the greatest failure in church history, denying Yeshua around the fire when his testimony could have freed Jesus from the kangaroo court in the high priest courtyard. It says. It says in John. It says that John was known to the gatekeeper so that he went out and brought peter into the courtyard. John then went in to the trial and peter stayed outside by the fire. It took the witness of two or more for a witness to be established and the prosecutors couldn't get any of their false witnesses to agree on anything. So they couldn't get Jesus on any of the false witness. So they then had to ask him to blaspheme himself by saying tell us the truth. Are you, the son of God. Had Peter gone in to be with John, they both could have witnessed to the truth and by Jewish law, jesus would have had to have been set free. Peter failing around the fire would have carried more weight because Peter failed when he could have freed him. He would have felt at least a high degree of responsibility for Jesus being crucified.
Speaker 1:We go from I'm a sinful man, get away from me. If that's you, I'll follow you out there. I don't know him To ongoing fishing, actually, to sprinting to the tomb to see if he actually got up getting beat by John. John is such a little jerk. John's like I was faster than that old man. I had wheels, son, I had wheels, and that old man didn't have what it took. I outran him, got to the tomb first. But Peter goes in and sees the shroud and sees the face covering folded and we go back. He's with the 11. Jesus appears to them. Peace be to you.
Speaker 1:And then we see him at the fireside on the Lake Galilee, on the shore, where they have their meal with Jesus. And Jesus restores Peter and says Simon, peter, do you love me? Calls him Simon, simon, do you love me more than these? Yes, lord, you know all things, love me. He calls him Simon. Simon, do you love me more than these? Yes, lord, you know all things. You know that I love you, simon. Do you love me more than these? Yes, lord, you know all things. I love you, simon. Do you love me more than these?
Speaker 1:And it says that Simon was grieved because the Lord had asked him a third time. But he asked him three times in the presence of those that knew his failure, and he restored him for every time he failed. And then we go into Pentecost, where Peter stands up and says you crucified the Lord of glory. It's so ridiculous how Jesus does this. He takes them, he takes the one who fails the most, fails the worst, and then elevates him to be the chief voice on the day of Pentecost and says you crucified the Lord of glory. I wouldn't do it around the fire, but I'm not going to fail to follow him again. You crucified the Lord of glory. And this is that that was spoken by the prophet Joel your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions. And he goes on in.
Speaker 1:3,000 were added to the church on the day of Pentecost and we go forward to the Gate Beautiful, where Peter and John are going to the temple at the hour of prayer. And there's the lame man at the Gate Beautiful and Peter and John say Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And the man goes. It's this old song we used to sing in Sunday school. He of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And the man goes. It's this old song we used to sing in Sunday school. He goes leaping and walking. And he goes dancing and leaping and praising God. And the crowd starts to gather around Peter and John. He says why are you looking at me as though through my own power I've made this man Well? It's through the name of Jesus, whom you crucified, that he has been made well.
Speaker 1:And he gives another sermon and thousands more are added into the kingdom, to the point that the high priest has them arrested, brought in there, questioned. He doesn't hurt them, he can't do anything to them because there's a disagreement about what to do with the message. They go back to the believers and they pray. The Holy Spirit moves so strong in the house, when they pray, that the whole place where they're in is shaken and they're all filled with the Holy Spirit and they go out doing miracles. Peter, in his prayer says Now see their threats and grant that miracles would be done. It's amazing the more they got threatened, the more Peter pressed in for the supernatural, the more they got threatened. The more Peter said for the supernatural. The more they got threatened, the more Peter said we can't just do this with words. There's a lesson there. We can't just do this with words. It has to be with the divine help of the one who is himself comfort. We have to have him with us. So, father, grant that by the hand of your son, jesus, miracles would be done at the end of our hands. Grant, by the name of your servant, that we would be able to do miracles in order to preach the whole gospel. That's the whole gospel. The whole gospel is Jesus rose and you're no longer dysfunctional and sick. That's the whole gospel and the more.
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, I've gone on longer than I intended to, but it's okay. This is great. This has been so good. Good job, ben. High five. My God, I'm powerful. Here we go.
Speaker 1:I saw Damon one time. We were. This is an aside, this is a story we were at. It was my days at the ramp when we were still doing conferences every other weekend and I'm a student there that's barely eating anything and getting used for basically free labor for the ministry and they're calling that volunteer hours. And it wasn't voluntary, it was compulsory, not volunteer. There was nothing volunteer about it, there was compulsory service. I would have done it anyway, but they made it compulsory. I saw Pop Pop. We had had a fire tunnel and it was just mass chaos.
Speaker 1:Kids are laid out all over the floor and there was this one girl who was in our first-year class who was especially susceptible and she was an easy target. You know who else Luke Fulcher is an easy target. You ever start to feel like you're not anointed target. You know who else luke folcher is an easy target. You ever start to feel like you're not anointed. You just pray for luke folcher and if you can't knock luke folcher to the ground, you're probably not anointed. Logan knows it's very true. Anytime you start to feel like you've lost the hand of god on your life, just go lay hands on lu and faith and flying everywhere and go out like a light. It'll look like my God, I've still got it. So, this girl, I once I once watched Luke.
Speaker 1:I once watched Luke sit on a pile of chairs. We had had a prayer tunnel in South Carolina in the revival and we had had to y'all that were there, and Lance and Debbie y'all visited once. It was very tight in that sanctuary so we had to stack chairs up before. So everybody had to stand up and we're all running to stack chairs so that we can have room for the mass chaos that's going to take place when we're just pushing the chairs together and we'll push them to the back of the room and there's a stack of like eight chairs.
Speaker 1:Luke somehow has gone through the fire tunnel and now is sitting on top of a stack of eight chairs. I'm fairly confident he can't even climb that high. I don't know why we did it. And he's sitting on top of it. He's sitting parkour, like the office. He's sitting on top of these chairs and the Holy Ghost hits him and he starts laughing. And I watched him laugh for a half hour sitting on top of a pile of eight chairs till he fell off that pile of eight chairs.
Speaker 1:That's one of the best things. It's one of the best things I've ever seen in my whole life in the presence of jesus is luke folcher sitting there slumped over like he's just completely dead to the world and then just starts laughing at the top of his lungs until he rolls out of that chair. It was one of the best things ever. Oh man, I've completely lost where I was. Oh yeah, so this girl, thank you, thank you, this girl, pop has, we have done our, we have done our fire tunnel and Pop walks past her and she goes whoa, and Damon looks over.
Speaker 1:Someone's like my God, I'm powerful. So I come by it honestly, guys, I come by it honestly. It's not all me, I promise. Oh man, the whole gospel. Paul said I have preached the whole gospel to you through signs and wonders, jesus said before he went to the cross had they not both seen and heard, the guilt would not be with them. But because they have both seen the miracles I have done and heard my message, their guilt remains and I want to propose that the whole gospel is not being preached sufficiently because we have clung too tightly to our oars and have not let the earth rise up beneath our feet and catch us when we step over the side, eyes up beneath our feet and catch us when we step over the side. We have to be willing to follow him into places we don't want to go, and I'm not just talking about laying my, because my bent is to just lay my. God, we're going to lay hands. Sometimes it's be kind, sometimes it's have a conversation, sometimes it's hey, let me buy that for you. Those are the ways of Jesus and these are ways that we can begin to impact the culture around us.
Speaker 1:So Peter goes on In Acts 10, and I won't get too far into this, it's actually Acts 9, so it's Acts 9, 32. You can look at it 32 to 42. I'm not going to read it, but it says that Peter travels from place to place and he comes to visit the believers in the town of Lydda and there's a man named I'm going to call him Aeneas, because I'm not quite sure how to pronounce that and Aeneas Williams was a football player. He was real good back in the day. He played safety, um, uh, but I'll call him Aeneas. Hall of Famer, nfl Hall of Famer, aeneas Williams. Aeneas who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. Peter looks at him and says Aeneas, jesus Christ heals you Get up and roll up your sleeping mat and that sparks a renewal where two cities come to know Jesus, because Peter followed him into a place where his wholeness could impact someone else's brokenness.
Speaker 1:Later in this group of verses it says that there was a woman who was dearly loved by the believers because she used to sew cloths for them. Her name was Dorcas. She dies and the believers hear that Peter's not all that far away. So they say let's not bury her, let's not do any funeral rites, let's lay her in an upper chamber and let's call that man who just raised up Aeneas from his sick bed and let's. Let's see if Jesus might use him to raise this woman from the dead. And I have believed with people for people to be raised from the dead before and have been unsuccessful in doing that. And there's a level of intimidation in trying to do that that is hard to describe. And these people call Peter and say, hey, someone just died, I want you to come pray for her. And we have this tendency to dehumanize the apostles. We have this tendency to be like, of course he was a man of faith and he said of course, I will come immediately upon my burrow and I'll ride. I'll ride over to the house and jump off and in one leap I'll jump into the upstairs window and I'll lay hands on her and she'll be healed and the glory of God's going to fill the house. He got the news that she died and they wanted him to come pray. And in the invitation he heard Jesus say follow me, even into this Peter. And Peter followed Jesus into that bedchamber and raised that woman up out of her grave. I'm going to begin to close it here. We're going to take communion here in a second. But Peter's story ends.
Speaker 1:Church history records that Peter's story ends in crucifixion in Rome and I've heard theologians teach that persecution broke out against the believers in Rome and Peter was on his way, migrating out of the city with the rest of the believers inside of Rome that could get out. They were all migrating out and, as the leader of the church in Rome, the Catholics looked to him as the first pope who would have been the leader's Peter. Yeah, that's where the pope traces his lineage, all the way back to Peter. They call Peter the first pope. He was the first leader of the church at Rome and Peter, on his way out, guiding the people out, has a vision of Jesus carrying his cross back into Rome. Jesus turns and looks at Peter and Peter turns around and follows him.
Speaker 1:They said, peter, where are you going? He said I just saw Jesus and he asked me to follow him back into that city and I'm not going to miss him this time. And how do you go from? I'm a sinful man. You don't need to be associated with me, teacher, because it'll hurt your reputation. That's what he was trying to tell him. He wasn't just trying to tell him I'm a bad person. Maybe don't? You don't know the things I say and do, don't? Maybe I'm a bad guy? I shouldn't be your disciple. No, what he's saying is, I will harm your reputation with the rest of the rabbis. You don't want to be associated with someone like me, because they all know who I am. Be associated with someone like me because they all know who I am. And Jesus looks at him and says, yeah, peter, I know who you are too and I want you to follow me. I know who you are. They don't know who you are. I know you, peter. I want you to follow me.
Speaker 1:And in receiving the invitation, he got to know his character and in knowing the character of Jesus. Peter then begins to do exploits because he understood the character of the one who invited him to follow. And he's kind and he's good and there's no darkness in him. And he's kind and he's good and there's no darkness in him. And he's kind and he's good and there's no darkness in him. And he's kind and he's good and there's no darkness in him. And he's kind and he's unlike anyone that we've ever known. And he's kind and he's good and there's no darkness in him. And he sees me and Lou, st Lou over there, and Lucy and Bethany and Gina and Levi and Jared and Deborah and Lance and Logan, and he sees all our babies and he sees everyone who's going to be connected to the resting place in the days to come.
Speaker 1:And I've just made a decision. I have made a decision. If it's only ever the 10 of us in my house and all we ever do and we never advance, we never grow, nothing ever really substantial comes out of the resting place. We're going to raise the dead, heal the sick Jesus, cleanse lepers, cast out devils, and we're going to follow Jesus. That's who we're going to be.
Speaker 1:If you're going to follow me as I follow Jesus, get ready, because we're going to heal the sick, cast out devils, going to heal the sick, cast out devils, cleanse lepers, raise the dead, and we're going to let the kindness of Jesus invade situations that look really, really ugly.
Speaker 1:That's who the resting place is.
Speaker 1:That's who we're going to be.
Speaker 1:That's who we're going to be, and if it's only ever 10 of us, I'll be fine with it just being the 10 of us, because in the days to come, what we're going to be and if it's only ever 10 of us, I'll be fine with it just being the 10 of us because in the days to come, what we'll get to do is we'll get to huddle up on the gatherings that we have and we'll get to tell the stories of the way that we're following Jesus into uncomfortable situations and we'll allow one person's testimony to become the spirit of prophecy and another person's testimony to become the spirit of prophecy and another person's testimony to become the spirit of prophecy, and what will happen is the power and glory and kindness of Jesus starts to invade a culture because 10 people just decided I'm done rowing into this wind that has risen against me and I'm going to step up out of this boat because I hear him calling Come and follow me. I've already made the way for you to step out onto the waves. This is who we are.