Jesus and Peter

Ballard Church                                          9-11-11 Pastor Mark Driscoll
Tags:
Luke 22:24-30
Jesus and Peter
Peter was a business man in the fishing industry; he leaves all of this and follows Jesus
God sometimes gives business leaders particular experience so it can be used for kingdom service
Jesus knows who will Fail Him
Jesus prays that Peter's faith will not fail
Jesus calls him Simon (his old name) because He knows Peter will go back to his old ways
+Jesus is prophesying Peter's failure
Jesus literally is saying that Satan wants to tear Peter apart
Is this from my enemy?
Satan works through the World, the flesh, and the Devil
+The Flesh is a predispoition toward failure, death, and sin
+The Devil comes with accusations, temptations, 2nd person statements, lies, condemnations--attack on my Identity in Christ
++There is now no condemnation in Christ, Greater is he that is in me than he who is in the World
++Jesus declares that there will always be a way out of temptation
Even the Best Among us fail Jesus
Peter is the best, he is the Senior Leader, he writes books of the Bible, after Jesus he is the highest spiritual authority on the Earth
+He is one of the closest people to Jesus on the Earth
+He is the first one on Earth to recognize Jesus as the Messiah
+Peter is not even facing certain punishment, he is facing potential suffering
Not forcing my religion on someone else is saying it's okay for you to go to Hell as long as you
Peter made a vow and he is totally broken over facing his God who just heard him deny Hiim
Judas
He only has remorse not repentance
He hang's himself
The Non-Christian only has remorse so he runs toward destruction

This is utterly without hope, totally dark
+We are at the place like Solomon, just looking at everything under the Sun

Jesus Fails No One
Even thought we're faithless he is faithful
My relationship is held to Jesus by failthfulness, not my faithfullness, Jesus' faithfullness
Peter should have gone to the cross to die, Not Jesus
+Jesus goes to the death that Peter deserves because He loves his friend, It Is Finished
Peter hears that Jesus is gone, so he runs all out and gets there first
Jesus doesn't fail me, I fail Him
It is finished is Good news, we don't need theraputic garbage that is good advice we need Good News
I've failed God so many times, how can I ask Him to take me back?
It doesn't matter what I've done, Jesus cannot lose a Christian

Though our feeling come and go, Jesus' love is quite relentless to end our sins despite the cost to me and to Him.
The Remedy for failure is Friendship with Jesus
Jesus prophesies Peter's future repentance
In order to tell the Good News we need to tell the whole story of our failures
+I failed, Jesus did it all, Yeah Jesus.
Peter is not the hero of his Life, he is the villian, Jesus is the Hero
John 21
Jesus had breakfast (He physically rose from death--JW are wrong)
Jesus Restored Peter by asking him three times if he loves Him, and tells him what to do
Sin is not just the breaking of God's laws, it's the breaking of Jesus' heart
+I am breaking the heart of my Friend
If you love Jesus:
+You won't live for the approval of others
+You won't lie
+You won't deny me

PM Going back to their first Church where he was baptized
Jesus not only loved people, but allows them to feed his sheep

Peter's end
As an old man he is arrested for preaching Jesus
He is Given the same opporunity to sin to deny to fail again but after years of Jesus' faithfullness to him
He doesn't deny him

The Parable of the Fig Tree

Ballard Campus 8-21-11 Pastor Tim Smith
Tags: Grace
Luke 21:29-38
The Parable of the Fig Tree

Portland
8 groups up and running
20-30 groups by January
Need a new biblical families pastor

Sermon

This is it, Jesus is only a day or two away from his execution
Jesus' words are increasing in urgency and force - A strong challenge to live in light of these strong realities
+To live in light of the return of the King
+What is at the front of my mind day in and day out, what consumes my attention?
++My desire to control my little part of creation.  This is shown in my PP/OP/CC, my mental and physical protocols, my lists, my plans, my sleeplessness, my nails, my meals, my blogs
Jesus has already said that the kingdom is already here and yet still is to come fully in Jesus' second coming
The Father is so kind that he uses even us to expand his Kingdom in our own little spheres
A Tough Verse
Which generation? All of which things will be completed before a generation passes away?
Can my three pound (really it's only like 2.4 pounds, My Cranium is pretty small) brain really get the heavens into it
Possible interpretations
+There will be a future generation that will experience all of Rev's craziness and it all be accomplished in one generation
+The generation of sin, rebellion, and evil against God will not pass away (no utopia is possible) before Thug Jesus returns and ends it
+
Dissipation means that your might miss the coming because you are hungover
Don't let that day come on you
+It will come like a trap catcihing an animal who will certainly die - very strong image

Do I live a life focused on whatever is right in front of me? Is a potential relationship appearing soo much bigger than God's Kingdom? The project of the house? Are the details of my life dwarfing my Kingdom focus?  God Help me. I can't please you by planning and focusing on perfecting my little universe.  You already love me fully in your Grace. Help me glimpse you Kingdom, be caught in the image of it and live this life until the wheels fall off.
The danger is real, if I live for the pleasures of this life I will miss Jesus, I will not live in Joy, I will drown in the anxiety of this world which is passing away.
Don't get lost in the tyranny of life.
Jesus' Last Days
Jesus is razor focused on his mission
So with only a few days to live he goes out camping on the Mount of Olives to be alone with his Father, he didn't let the cares and details and demands of his life instead he focused on the Father's Kingdom and the Father's Will.
Observations from this text
Jesus' Work is all that is needed to live happily in his kingdom. I can't do anything to earn God's favor I already have it
1 - Pray so that my independence is broken down; with God's violence in my soul breaking down my walls my attempts to build my own kingdom are ruined gloriously
+Prayer is a declaration of war on my independence, a declaration of was on self-importance, a declaration of war on my focus on the details of this world, a declaration of war on my anxiety, a declaration of war on the frantic pace of life (which I love), A declaration of war on works based righteousness, a declaration of war on cynicism and unbelief
2 - Worship the giver rather than his gifts - Romans talk of worshiping the good things that become God-things making them bad things
3 - Steward everthing for the Kingdom - My stuff, talents, and time are all God's possesions, these things are not mine
+My identity is not based on my roles of gifts, I am image-bearing disciple maker who was created to worship God not to obsess over all the detail of life - Everything I have been given is to be used to make disciples and bringing glory to him
4 - Anticipate his return with a sense of urgency
+Do I believe the lies yelled at me by this world (Just wait to tell that guy about Jesus,
.....