God Is Not Done With Me Yet - Andrew Selley (San Clemente)

My name is Andrew, as you heard, I lead the leadership team and yeah, I've been struggling this week with a bit of, I think the man flu has been hitting us. They say that the multi-stosteron you have the more hard flu hits you, so I've been hit hard because I'm really grateful that I can preach. My head feels about as thick as a brick wall, so I trusted in my weakness. The Lord is going to do something beautiful. But just as I was again before the Lord, Lord, what do you want to say to your people? Were you taking us? I really, again, felt the Lord lead me to, in some ways, bring another lens on last week, but also to show us the wonder of how God is working and what He's doing. And so the title for this preach is God is not done with me yet. God is not done with me yet. And really what I'm hoping to do in this preach is to show us from the Bible, from the scriptures, and from the Lord how there is this incredible interaction that happens as we start this journey with the Lord of our wholeness and healing. And that's a journey that happens at starts with our salvation. And then how the Lord starts to dig deeper into us, to heal us, and to make us like Himself. I'm going to look at how the devil is involved in that process, which is going to be an interesting little preach. And ultimately how God works to form cross in me and cross in you. That's the end goal, is that we will be like Jesus in everything. And so when we start this journey of salvation, it's kind of like, we'll look at it in a bit of detail now, but it's a bit like I use a picture of an anions, could you put up my picture? So anions, and what this is, you can see an anion, as you cut it, it is layers. Each layer is another part of that anion. And in many ways, as human beings, I think we are a lot like anions. We kind of come to the Lord, and there are layers to us. And so the Bible tells us, if you just leave it up, well, maybe look at the scriptures. You got that picture? Let's look at the scriptures. 2 Corinthians 3, 18. The Bible talks about these layers of processing that God does as He matures us. And it speaks of again, we, we Christians, we who are now in Jesus with unveiled face because we now can see the Lord, because our ears have been open, we're hearing Him, we're experiencing Him because the veil has been torn, and we can come into the very presence of God. So we, those kind of people, are being transformed, are being changed, from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit, and so it's like the layers of the anion. The Lord kind of brings you into His kingdom, He brings the anion into His kingdom, but not every layer in the anion is properly surrendered to Jesus. Not every layer in our lives is properly understood that He's king and Lord. Not every part of us has come into wholeness, not every part of us reflects Jesus. Would you agree with me? Yes. It's good to look at your husband and wife and go, yeah, you got a lot of layers to go through. It's like because we are on this journey, we being transformed into the image of the one who now has saved us, our God. And this is what, you know, God called progressive sanctification, we made holy, it's this process that happens. So here's what's an interesting question, and we're going to dig a little bit into this, not too deeply. But so when I come to Jesus, I was once, the Bible says, before I was in Jesus, a son of the devil, I did the things my father did, and the Bible says the same of you, that we all did what I fathered. The devil was more interested in himself than God and anyone else, and we were like him. Now that I've come to Jesus, God's got to get that out of me. And at the same time, while something has happened to me, does the devil still have access to me? Is the devil still going to be involved in my life? And yes, many are nodding, because we know the Bible tells us that we have this adversary, and we mustn't give them a foothold, footholds become strongholds, et cetera, et cetera. So we're going to look a little bit of it, how God works to peel those layers of the onion, and to bring every layer of us to be subject to Jesus. And every single layer of us to start to reflect Jesus. And this is the journey, and I'm going to hopefully show you how the devil will be involved in your lives, to finish what God started. And this is something that we don't often grapple with. But actually, it's quite clear in the Scriptures, and we will see this in, I think, my favorite Bible story at the end of this, as I try and wrap up the theology of the principles that we're going to look at. So here's what's in the Scripture. Colossians 1.13 seems to say differently to what I've said. Colossians 1.13, "For he, God, has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear Son." So this seems to be saying to us, "Well hang on, I was rescued from the kingdom of darkness, and I was transferred, I was taken from that kingdom, and I was lifted up by Jesus, and now I was put into the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God." And maybe to explain it, if this was an onion on this side, it was under the Satan's rule, and God came and rescued the onion, picked it up, and moved the onion out of the kingdom of darkness, and positioned it in his kingdom. That's what that's saying. But what it's not telling us is the layers inside of that onion that still need to experientially come into what's just happened. In other words, your position moves. You are once belonged to the devil, and we're all once belonged to him. Now we belong to God, we're children of God. We're coming to his household, and we positioned in the kingdom. That's where we are. When I get my life to Jesus, no matter how messed up I was, and I was a mess, in that moment that I said, "Jesus, forgive me for my sin, I believe in what you've done for me." I was taken out of that kingdom and put into God's kingdom. The problem was I had layers in me. And while I was judicially, in other words, I was legally put into God's kingdom, there was a lot in me that wasn't in God's kingdom. Think of this. The dagger had saved. That happened. But I'm a fornicating, a telterous, drugs, sex, selfishness. I am now in the kingdom of God, but there's a lot in me that doesn't look like God. There's a lot in me that's not yielded to God. In some ways I hadn't properly even understood that my life wasn't mine yet. I still kind of thought I could live a little bit, that I could hold on to my life. And so there's layers that start to get cut away, and God starts to do this process of taking me from what has happened judicially. Do you understand judicially? I'm no longer in that kingdom. I've now been rescued now, but now the process happens. And maybe to explain it, and maybe if I don't explain it well, I'm just going to help me because I'm a bit brained. And maybe to illustrate that is the United States history. In the United States, there was a four-year war in which 700,000 soldiers died, mainly the main principle was to end slavery. People were held in slavery in this country, and a lot of people thought that was wrong, rightly so, and so a war was fought between the North and the South. And after four years and 700,000 lives, slavery was abolished, and this happened, and Abraham Lincoln gave the emancipation proclamation in 1863 and said, "Handsforth from this day onward, all slaves are declared free." Here's what's interesting. Something happened. But in the experience, it was only in June the 19th, 1865, two years later, that the lost slaves were actually set free. Something happened judicially, but the experience of that, the freedom that that was supposed to give them, wasn't yet theirs. There was a sense that people, and I'm pretty sure the grapevine, the network of communication, these slaves heard, "We free men!" But in experience, they still work up to a master, they still work up to go and work fields, they still work up as though they had nothing of their own for two more years. And I think that picture is maybe one of the most helpful pictures as I look at us. Christ has declared us free, but parts of our lives are still trapped in bondage. And God wants to go from the emancipation proclamation. This is what has happened. You are now free to actually us experiencing the freedom that He paid so dearly for. And the price He paid was the God Himself dying on the cross to seek and save us who were once slaves to sin and slaves to Satan. Does that make sense? So that maybe is a helpful picture, and he has what's interesting. People amongst us, right here, that are in cross saying, "I'm free," but actually there's little parts of them that are still in slavery. And I would ask you, can you recognize any areas of slavery still to sin and to in your own life? You see, the layers God wants to go through each layer, and He wants to set you fully free. And so this is a process of, and Philippians 1, 6 can't it tells us, it's being confident of this, that He who began a good working, who is that? Jesus. Will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. In other words, God started a working, He got you, and He said, "I'm declared freedom over you. You're now a son of God, you're now a daughter of God. The oldest God in the New is come, and we go, "Yes, Lord!" And then this is a, now there's a process of work to get the slave out of you and the son into you, to get the freedom that I've died to give you, that you'll come out of broken as into wholeness. And so that process is the layers of God as He works in us. And here's the thing, not one of us here have got every single layer fully surrendered. Some of us look at more than others. Some of us are still in the atahascan. Some of us are like, "We all in the kingdom, God has taken us out. We don't look at one another and go, "Well, if you're in Jesus, you're in the kingdom. But some of us have allowed the kingdom to come more into us than others have." Does that make sense? And it's so important that we understand this. It's not just semantics. We can't read our Barbos properly if we don't know how to hold the tensions together here. And so there's this process of us being made like Him and it's surrendering to Him. How many of you find you surrendering deeper and deeper and deeper parts of yourself as you walk with Him? It's like the Lord is touching each layer in your life and saying, "I want to be Lord of that too, because I want to be Lord of all." And the Bible tells us that right now, even though Christ is Lord of all, the Bible tells us very clearly that right now we don't see every knee bowed to Him yet, even not every part of me is fully bowed to Him. There's still parts that are, you know, me holding on to my life. I'm in the kingdom, but I'm not yet fully formed into the one who saved me. And so the rest of the thoughts as God starts to teach me that I can't hold on to my life. I've got to yield it. I can't hold on to my strength. I've got to surrender it. I can't continue in the things I once did. They're damaging and destroying me and keeping me in slavery. I need to repent and be renewed into the image of the one who called me on. This is the journey that we're all on. Not one of us here has fully arrived when He returns and the trumpet sounds, or that's when we are finally fully like Him. And that's going to be a glorious moment to be like Him. But right now we're on this journey and some of us have got stuck at the level. Some of us kind of start with the journey and just, well, this is who I am now. And I'm like, if you stuck where you are, if you're not changing, I said this last week. If you're not changing, you're not walking with Him. Change is the norm for the Christian, which means if you enjoyed the comfort of what your life was, say goodbye to it because the road into cross-lakhness is a road out of what you know into what you don't know. Raking patterns of how you've survived to learn God's survival ways. To learn God's ways that don't just lead you to survive, but to thrive. And I mean, I'm off my notes now, but even sometimes shyness is a survival mechanism. Something happened growing up, and you've thought, well, I'm just going to hide because if people see who I am, or if I open my mouth, I might look stupid, whatever it is. So you formed something in yourself. And now you're in the kingdom and you struggle to make friends and you think it's everyone else's problem, but it's actually you because you keep people at bay because you too scared to let them in. And so you're living in this perpetual space of like, I feel like I'm in church, but I don't know anyone I know knows me. And you think it's everyone else's fault, but it's something in you. And so the Lord is trying to wrestle and break that thing out of you and say, I've called you, I've called you out of the darkness into the light, I've called you to become a reflection of my son. People need to see who I formed you to be. And so come on, repent, come out. And so living 30 or 40 years of shunners and becoming not that is extremely difficult. And normally you do it a little bit and you think, okay, Lord, I'm going to try and you kind of get out of your little bubble and you can greet someone and they ignore you and walk away. Nothing that again because that just confirms everything I ever believed. And the Lord's like, no, no, no, no, come on, go at this again. You're freedom, you press into the pain, go through this. Get through this. You'll never be free until you break the patent. Stop going into the hole, stop coming up, come up. Does this make sense? The other side, some of us are super like all, yeah, with the other side, we're like, I am the victor, I am the Hollywood star, I can do all things who cross Jesus, he strengthens me. And now the Lord's going to come and he's going to go, well, the problem is you're quieting scripture when you say that, but actually deep down inside, you think you can do this. And I'm going to teach you, okay, I'm going to humble you. That one I'm going to lift up, this one I'm going to humble. And so we're all on this journey and it kind of sucks, but it's beautiful if you see the end goal because you realize he's working, he's not finished with me yet, he's, I am in progress and process. So don't get stuck and you'll get stuck when the Lord starts praising something and you don't listen. We just say, this is too hard, I don't know if I want to do this, I've got hurt now, Lord, I don't know if I want to do this and you'll get stuck until, unless you keep on keeping on. All right, so normally you'll know there's an era of bondage because you've lost joy or peace or life. In other words, if there's any part of your life that's not living in the joy of the Lord and I can say that you could live in the joy of the Lord while you're dying of cancer. You can live in the joy of the Lord when you lose everything. You know the scripture, I can do all things through Christ Jesus, he strengthens me which is used by every athlete in Hollywood star. Do you know the reality of it is that scripture is not talking about, I can, because I can't do all things, that's not what it's saying, I can't fly, I wish I could, it's one of those things. I can't run 100 meters or 100 yards in 10 seconds, I just can't, to say that I can do all, it's not saying that, Paul actually she's saying here, what he's really saying is I've been shipwrecked, I've been beaten, everything's gone, it's, but you know what? No matter what comes at me, I can stand firm in Jesus. I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. And this is not the victor's bell, this is the survival bell, this is the, I will survive. No matter what you throw at me, I will keep the joy of the Lord. No matter what you throw at me, I will reflect the love of God because I am growing to be like him. Unshakable, that's what the Bible says, he makes us unshakable, all right. And so to see this beautifully, this thing of how the Lord starts to peel the onion, I want us to dig into my favorite character, one of my favorite New Testament characters, the life of Simon Peter. Simon was one of 12 men that Jesus called initially to follow him, for those of you that don't know, he was a fisherman. And how he becomes a follower of Jesus, this isn't Luke 5, tells us a story, I'll just tell you it for brevity for him. He's a fisherman, he's been fishing all night, he's heard about Jesus, this miracle worker that's doing stuff and Jesus is actually, I've actually stood on the shore that this happened in Jerusalem. You can actually go, they found the remains of his house, it became a church. So he's harses right at the lake, see of Galilee and there's a little beach in front of it. This is where this is going down, Peter's fished all night and he's caught nothing. In Israel the fish come to the surface at night and you can catch them and during the day when it gets hot they go down deep so you don't fish during the day, you fish at night. So they've fished all night when they should've got fish and they've caught nothing. And he's a seasoned fisherman, he knows, thumbs up, it's not going to happen until tomorrow maybe. He's fished all night and caught nothing. It sucks. It's just depressing and it's nets and so you can imagine he's sitting there mending his nets and Jesus walks down the beach, crowd with him and he starts teaching. And then he says, "Hey Peter, could I use your boat?" Peter's like, "Yeah, sure. Pushes the boat out and Jesus preaches from the boat and then Jesus says, "Have you caught anything?" He says, "No." He says, " Okay, throw your net out again." Now it doesn't make sense to fish during the day, I've just cleaned my nets, I've been working for the last few hours, but because you say it, I'll do it. And as he throws his nets over board, he gets so many fish that he can't pull them in. And he realizes this is a miracle, this doesn't make sense, fish don't come to the surface during the day. And so he actually gets overwhelmed as a fisherman who knows that area well, he's growing up fishing it. He realizes this man is not just a man. And so he lychee says, and I love what he says, he says, and this is in Luke 5-8, but when Simon Peter saw this catch, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, "Depart from me for I am sinful, Lord." In other words, you're holy and I'm not. He has this revelation of his own sinfulness. He has this revelation that God is different, that Jesus God, and he falls at his knees. And there's a deep humility in this moment. I am a sinful man. Yes, I think. Because it's an interesting thing, when you get saved, grace normally causes you to cover all your broken areas, because Simon is actually not a humble man, it's actually pretty arrogant. But in the revelation of the presence of the Lord that arrogance falls away, and he says, "I am not with you being in your presence, Depart from me, Lord." And the Lord calls him and says, "Come follow me, and I'll make you, fishes of man." And Simon starts this journey, he gets properly saved, he starts to follow Jesus. And it's amazing. He leaves everything and he's walking with the Lord, he's doing miracles, Jesus is sending them out there, you know, raising the dead, they're healing the sick, they're watching him transform cities, and they just with him for three years. And the challenge here is, though, that as much as his salvation, the broken part of him almost was gone, there were layers here. And so deep down inside when the glory of that moment left, the inner old Peter started to surface, and you'll find the same thing, you'll find when you're in his presence, it feels like you're just free, that's the promise of what's to come. And then you leave his presence, and it's like, "Man, I feel like I'm fighting this thing, like I just want to go back to the presence, because in the presence it was so amazing and easy, and what the Lord is giving you a foretaste of what it's like and what you're going to grow into, and it's to encourage you, you can't just stay in the presence, you've got to go beat the dragon out there." And then the journey starts, and so Peter, Jesus starts a journey of dealing with Peter's root, which is pride, he's pretty arrogant. But he's in the kingdom, he's following Jesus, he's a son of God, and so the layers start to come off. He's going to show you his pride, as Peter's got this deep internal self-belief, and I think to God on the sea of Galilee, vicious storms, and he's a captain of the boat, you've got a deep down inside, think, I can do this, I can do this, I know how I'm, you know, he's, if you've got to watch the Bible stories, he's the guy always speaking out first, he's, he deep down inside believes, like the scripture, I can do all things to cross Jesus' strength, and he's probably, would be his little fridge, fridge scripture, if you stick it on his refrigerator, because it would be like, that would be something that would be very easy for him. Yes, with Jesus, I've done miracles, he raised it, I can do all things, and he's not understanding the layers of the Lord properly. And so we know he's arrogant, because in Luke 22, 24, it's not only him, it's something that all of the 12 are battling with, and this is something, this is church, and we need to see this, this is church 101, this is, the layers coming off within the community, a dispute arose among them, that's the 12 apostles. I mean, these are the leaders that God has appointed, he's breathed on them, and they have this argument, who is going to be the greatest, and they're not doing this just false humility, well I know it's not me, it's you, which is what we learn to do here in America, they just being honest, I think I'm the greatest, like I'm the guy that, you know, did this, and they're arguing, who's the greatest, and there's not a Christian deferring yet, this is a deep down inside I think I met, I think Jesus needs me to extend his kingdom. Haven't if you've looked at someone, if that guy only got saved, imagine what God would do, you're not understanding the ways of God, God doesn't need superstars, he needs those with faith and humility, the meek will inherit the earth, not the strong, in fact if you strong God's got a weak in you, and if you weak then God will strengthen you, but that's the process of sanctification, God's got to break the strong, not crush them but break them, and he's going to break Simon, we'll see it just now, the process of sanctification is extremely difficult, it's extremely dangerous, it's like surgery, but God knows exactly how to finish what he starts, and so Jesus rebukes him, God's, you don't understand the ways of the kingdom, you're acting like heathen, the greatest must be the least, and he teaches them, but he has the thing, do you know that we are very good at hearing and not hearing? I mean they've got Jesus rebuking them and saying God's, you're missing it, and I bet that at the end of that preach they all took notes and went wow that was a very profound preach, really move me, the greatest will be the least, that it didn't get to hear, it didn't cut through the layers, and God knows that, he knows that you hear, but the Bible says you can hear not here, and so very often most of us hear like that, we hear things we don't know, we don't actually know how to plow them in our lives, and so the Lord sees, oh come I'm giving you an understanding of how this is supposed to look, but now I've got to make that real in your life, and so the Bible tells us in James 4 6 that God opposes the pride, but gives grace to the humble, that means if you have an issue with pride, God is fighting against you, and he's doing it because he loves you, something because he hates you, but he is opposing you, how many of you have thought it was the devil all the time making you laugh difficult? Satan I bind you, this is the third time this has happened, actually sometimes it's God, sometimes it's the Lord resisting us, he's causing our world to collapse so that we can learn to death faith, we remember messed up bunch on tree, we really are, it's like man, but God gives grace to the humble, so once he can get you humble now he can pour out grace on you in favor, and so Peter gets the preach, doesn't get it, a little bit later Matthew 16, 18 to 18, Peter has this hard moment of faith, Jesus is asking the people, hey who do people say I am, they've seen the miracles, what are people saying about me? And Salman says, this is Jesus, who do they say I am, Salman Peter replies, and again we can see the Salt the Leaf here, he's the God that speaks out, the others are like, you're the Christ, the Son of the living God, this is the first time that anyone has said that, this is deep revelation, and so Jesus says, blessed are you, Salman, why Jonah, for flesh and blood is not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven, so this if you're Salman and you've got a pride issue, it's not helpful, because you're the God, the others didn't get this, no one else got this, you got it, Salman, this was revealed to you by my Father and I can only imagine Salman's internal radios just going, like I feel so amazing, that was the best meeting we ever had, he's walked out of that kind of moment with like, yeah, I did it, I got it, God, like wow, I got honored, and just after this, Jesus, now that you heard that, let me tell you what's going to happen to me, and he literally in this same conversation goes, okay, now that you know that I'm the Christ, I am about to die, for the sins of the world, literally that's the conversation, and Salman is on this high point now, every little thing in him of pride is now like screaming, Salman, you're the man, you're the man, so Jesus, I'm about to go on your crucified, and Salman says this, Matthew 16, 21 to 23, we lit you a few verses on, and he must go through some stuff of many things from the elders, and Peter took him aside, so Jesus, you're the Christ, the Son of God, which means effectively you're God in the flesh, and God in the flesh says, okay, I'm about to die for the sins of the world, and Salman goes, what is he, he's so wrong, he's so wrong on this, like he does not understand the scriptures, because isn't he going to be triumphant, isn't, aren't we going to feed our enemies, and so Salman and his arrogance now thinks he knows better than Jesus, and so what he does, is he takes him aside, I don't want to listen in front of others, because I'll think less of you, Lord, let me help you a little bit, yeah, and he doesn't come with this posture of, help me understand what you're saying, he comes with a rebuke, you are so wrong right now, and it's a rebuke, a rebuke, he's been rebuked, a rebuke is like it is in your face, it is you are so wrong, and what it is, is it's the same that layer hasn't been cut through yet, Salman's in the kingdom, but there's a part of him, and he's just at hop, and this is the interesting thing, he has this deep revelation in one sentence, and a few sentences later, there is just flesh, don't be surprised when you look at your brothers around you, and they're singing with the angels one moment, and the next minute they're acting like the devil, because they're a work in progress, God has not finished with them yet, this will never happen to you, I mean this is strong language, and it's deep arrogance, and then Jesus starts ramming the sword in, but Jesus turned to Salman, and he didn't say this, Salman I know you love me, and I know you mean well, I know you don't understand, let me explain to you why you missing the point, Jesus just cuts him, turns to him and says, get behind me, Satan, you're a hindrance to me, I mean this is like church hurt 101, like there's counselling happening, there is counselling happening after this goes down, Peter's starting a blog about how you was hurt by Jesus, for you're not sitting your man on the things of God, but on the things of man, the cut is sore, the cut is deep, he goes from blessed are you, this was revealed to you by my father too, well you just spoke from God and now you just spoke from the devil, the devil just spoke through you, and Jesus addresses Satan who is speaking through one of his apostles, he literally addresses Satan, in other words the one revelation you got was from the father, the father spoke through you, and one revelation you got was from hell, the devil spoke through you, and he's an apostle, and what do you think that did to Simon, you see there's two worldly, two things being touched here, comfort and convenience, worldliness, you got the things in mind, but pride is being touched, Peter's rebuke in Jesus, I mean who rebuke is God, like you go ahead and know you're wrong, you can't do that, and so Jesus cuts him, but he doesn't learn, I mean that would have been, I would have carried a wound off to that, like I'm not good as he called me Satan, like he could have said that a lot gently, like I only meant well, like I was trying to help him, like I love him, I was trying to stand for him, you know, like why did he, and the Lord is prepared to crush us, to save us, we just don't understand it when he does, and so we get angry, I remember in my own life is arrogance, I was, when I was born again, I mean I came out of a drug, I was a mess, and I got radically saved, and I was so ready, I saw the Lord, he appeared to me, I had these deep, deep God moments, I mean when I prayed, heaven opened, every time I started praying heaven opened, when I opened my Bible it felt like Jesus was speaking to me from every letter of everything that I, it was like, everything was so real, it was like, I could pray for eight hours because heaven was so easy to see and to experience, God was so close, it was so beautiful, and then I would go to groups, and people would be in the group, and they would say, I'm really struggling to pray, and I would go, oh you're even saved, like I was a young Christian, I was like, how are you struggling to pray, it's so easy, like you got this open veil, this open heaven, people say I'm struggling to read my Bible, I would read my Bible eight hours a day, easily, I couldn't put it down, it was like oxygen for me, and I couldn't understand what do you mean, you don't know how to read your Bible, come on, like what's wrong with you, and I got this little prophetic arrogance, I thought, well I'm going to be a prophet, you know, bunch of sinners, you don't even, and I became a bit like Peter, I really thought I'm something, I'm special, I knew I was special, God loved me, and then the Lord decided, okay, I've got to kill you now Andrew, because you're getting, I've got to get through some of that, and what he did was, well he married me first, and that was one of the tools that he used, I got married, but the second thing he did was, he left me for two years, when I say he left me, I did not hear his voice for two years, my Bible went from every time I opened it, it was like Jesus was speaking to me personally, to it felt like I was reading another language, like I'm not getting anything out of this, just as dead, I would try and pray, and heaven was brass, couldn't find his face, I'd try and worship, I used to come into the presence of worship, and like I could see him, I could see his grace, and for two years, for two years, I would sing songs about him, but I felt like I didn't know him, I wanted to have I sinned, what have I done, what's going wrong, well actually I hadn't sinned, the Lord was just killing me, and then after two years I remember being in a group, and somebody said, I'm really struggling, to read my Bible, and I went, "Me too!" Like I get it, I know what it's like to struggle through your Bible, and God taught me, this is where most people live, Andrew, and you've got to learn that it's, you know, I was gracious to you because you were so messed up, if I didn't give you all these heavenly encounters, you probably wouldn't have survived, but now that you're growing up, I've got to teach you to get a little bit more hand, and so I'm taking my presence from him, and for two years I didn't hear his voice, two years, you know, long two years, it's like I did not stop serving him, I did not stop coming, for two years I did not encounter the Lord, heaven was brass, but I held on, because I knew where do I go, he's got the words of life, I don't know where else to go, and those two years I looked back on now, and I'm like thank you Jesus, you knew just what you were doing, because my head was exploding, as we share in his suffering, we'll share in his glory, Peter's not learned his lesson, Luke 22, Jesus takes it a bit deeper, Salmon, Salmon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, in other words, Salmon, in the presence of my Father, Satan has stood and is asked to sift you like wheat. I want you to imagine that, that Satan has stood before God about you, and said, he's not, he's not, he's the accuser, remember, Satan sees the pride, he sees the arrogance, Satan goes, he's still proud, and you said, you'll resist the proud, and you've graced the humble, you said it, so you need to resist your servant, and the Lord knowing the end from the beginning, here's the Alpha and the Omega, he's faithful to finish the work that he starts, goes, for Salmon to learn this lesson it's going to take a deep, deep cut, I've cut him but he hasn't learned it yet, so I'm going to go a little bit deeper, the knife's getting a little bit further, it's like a cancer that he's trying to get out, another layer that I've got to take this, so what he does, and then he says this, Satan is asked to have you to sift you as wheat, but I've prayed for you, that your faith may not fail, in other words, not God didn't do this, Satan can't touch you, he's like, Satan's going to have you, and when Satan has his hands all over you, I want you to remember me, and I want you to remember who I am, I want you to remember that your weakness is exactly what I'm looking for, I want you to have faith when you are in the deepest trial of your life and it's all falling apart, and it's going to fall apart, he says when you have turned back, oops, strengthen your brothers, Peter this is going to destroy you, you're going to run away, you're going to want a backslide, you will backslide, you're going to turn away from me, because of the trial you're going to go through, it's going to get that sore, you're going to decide this is too much, but when you turn back, you see, I know the infant beginning God says, I know the pain you're going to go through, I know the process, I'm doing this for your good because I work in all things for the good of those who love me, even Satan is my tool for you. And you said come on, Paul said the same thing, didn't he? I thought one of the flesh was given to me, to keep me from becoming proud, and I asked the Lord three times, please take this away, and there's a message from Satan, that's the Bible says, and the Lord said no, I'm not taking that, Satan away from you, my strength is my perfect in weakness, so therefore Paul says, I will therefore boast even more in my weakness. So if God allows this in some way, do you think you might allow it in your life? Some of us think I'm sparse, I'm Satan. Some person in the church or some guy at work, my boss is Satan incarnate, he's so evil, he tears into me because I'm a Christian and I'm like, maybe the Lord has put you there to teach you something. Peter said to him, and again, this is Peter's arrogance, Simon, Satan's also sift you when you've turned back, so your brother's Peter replies, doesn't hear, Lord, what do you mean? Like I'm Peter, like I'm ready to go to prison with you, and even to die with you, I'm not going to fall. Like, do you know who I am? Like I'm the rock, didn't you say that? You're going to build your church on me? Like I'm not going to fall. Jesus says, well I tell you Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you denies three times that you know me, and it's fascinating, Simon doesn't get it. Like it's not that Jesus is a bad teacher, it's just that the heart is sometimes the heart is really stubborn and doesn't fully understand what the Lord is doing. But we will get it eventually, we just slow. It's interesting picture, and he has a, you know, you're being sifted, he has a, you know, it's a devil, how you know, well both are God, but he has a, you know, it's God or it's the devil that being used by God. Satan is asked to sift you as we do, you know what a sift is? When they were, and this is helpful for you as you grapple with your own conscience in your own sin, a sift is something that you would take wheat and they needed to get the chaff from the good stuff. And so what they would do is they would throw it onto a sift, which is basically your modern sift would be like a mesh, and then you shake it. And what happens is as you shaking it, is all the good stuff falls through onto the ground, and when you look at your sift, all that you see is the chaff, the bad stuff. So when the devil's going at you, you'll look at your life, and God's working, and when the devil's speaking, you'll look at your life, and you'll be sifted, you'll go, I'm just saying bad stuff, I'm such a loser, I'm never going to get this right. I'm only seeing the bad, I'm not going to make it chaff. But the Bible tells us that Jesus has got his, we're knowing fork, and this is in Matthew 3, 12 is in his hand, and he will clear his rushing floor and gather his wheat and to his pond. A we're knowing fork is interesting. It's a fork with three prongs, and they would put it into a veil of the hay, and they would throw it into the air, and the wind would blow the chaff away, and all the good stuff would fall. So when you look down, you just see the good stuff. And so when the Lord's convicting you, it's like he lifts you up, and the whisper blows the bad stuff away, and you look at your life, and it's just a good stuff, and you're going, wow, God's doing amazing work in me. But if you don't let him work that way, then he does it the other way. Okay. We're going to win in the end. I'm faithful to finish what I start. You're a little bit stubborn, but I know how to get you out and need you to be. Chaff. Remember God works in both of them. He wants to save you. He doesn't want to hurt you. It's just, the process is the end the same. It's just one's nice and one's not nice. So someone has still got his issue of pride, he hasn't learned, and then in Luke 22, 60 to 62. Again, we see Peter just messing it up. Luke 22, 60 to 62. But Peter said, oh wait, sorry, again, let me give you the background. You're going to deny me this very not. Three times, when the cock grows. And when you've turned back, strengthen your brothers. The night comes. Jesus has had coming prey. It's a mess. Simon denies Jesus three times. And the third time that this happens in that same night, just like Jesus said in verse 60, but Peter got to Luke 22, 60. But Peter said, that somebody said, went you with him. Peter says, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know this man Jesus. So he's denied. This is the third denial. A few moments before, Lord, I'm ready to die. I go to prison moment. I don't know who this guy is. I've never seen him in my life. And while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. He's just denied it three times, just like Jesus said. And then this. And he went out and he wept bitterly. Peter went from, I will stand no matter what. I can do this too. I have totally failed. I've denied my Lord. Jesus said, if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my father in heaven. I can only imagine those words echoing over his own soul. And he weeps bitterly as he realises actually what he learned on the day he could say, but it didn't go through properly. Get away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. You see, he thought deep down inside, he wasn't that bad. And so he gets sifted. And you know he's being sifted because this is what he remembers. Peter remembered what the Lord had said to him. This is what he remembered. Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. What did he forget? And when you have turned back strengthened, your brothers, he remembered the condemnation, the failure. He didn't remember that the Lord was gracious and kind. I knew what he was going to do. And so what does he do? Well, he backs lights. He falls away. He goes fishing because back to his old life. Next time you see him, he's on a boat, back where he started fishing for the night and has not caught anything. And like a good Christian, he's taken some friends to backslide with him. People always want to take people with them when they're backslide. So he's got a couple of the other apostles with him when they're all backslide. They're all sitting out in the lake and was like, what was that all about? Jesus is dead now. Like, what is going on? And they fish all night and they got nothing. And then Jesus, and again, I've stood at the beach where this happened in Jerusalem and in Israel. See of Galilee. There's a little beach where Jesus restores Peter. And as they're fishing off shore, again, a whole not catching nothing. Jesus shuts. Hey, have you caught anything? It's too far for them to see that it's him. I mean, they think he's dead. And we fished all night man. We got nothing. And he says, throw your net out again on the other side. And you can imagine at this point, they're like, this feels strangely familiar. That's kind of what happened to me three years ago when he called me. Pomegranates from my net out again. So they throw their net out and they're so many fish again. They can't pull it into the boat. And at this point Salmon realizes the Lord hasn't forsaken me. The Lord hasn't cut me off. The Lord is still for me. And so what he does is he, the boat's going to be too slow. He darts off the boat and swimmers to the shore. Jesus got bread and fish there and they have a little beach barbecue. And Jesus has a conversation with him. It says, Peter, three times he denied. He says, three times, Jesus, Peter, do you love me? Yeah, Lord, you know, I love you. Feed my sheep, Peter, I knew you were going to fail. I knew before you were born that you were going to deny me. And I called you anyway. I'm able to finish the work that I started. I've started the layers of the onion, but you didn't let me touch that issue in you abroad. I tried to touch it, but you just couldn't hear. And so I've orchestrated all things and I work in all things for the good of those who love me who've been called according to my purposes. Even the devil has been an instrument that I've used to form myself in you. And Peter is restored. Grace. And there's a humility that now is cut deeply into the fabric of who he is. A layer's gone. And we see this. You're one of the miracles. One of the first miracles he does is a man begging any silver and gold you don't have. We give to you. And the man's leap. And everyone's raving about amazing. It was what they've done. And they say this, why are you looking at us? This wasn't us. This was Jesus of Nazareth who you crucified. It's no longer about Simon. It's no longer about pride. God has got that layer down and formed his image and transformed Simon so that he can build his church in and through him. And what happened to Simon is very much what happens with us. In our own unique ways, the Lord has unique ways of forming his image in us, but he's determined to do it. In fact, the Bible says that the King James says he lusteth earnestly. Kind of an interesting word. It's like he burns with passion to form himself in you, to have every single part of you surrender to him. And so God uses the devil and uses all these different things to break the man so that the man can be humble. And so in his humility, the Lord says, now I can raise you up. Now I can preach through you. And now it's not about you, it's about me. For each of us, Peter's issue is pride, for each of us have our own issues. And the Lord loves us too much to leave us where we are. And so what is it that the Lord is pressing in your life? Because I guarantee you, if you in him, the Lord is wrestling with you to form his image in you. He's working. He died on a cross to save you. This is not a light, cheap thing. He is determined to finish and able to finish the work that he starts. And so all of us right now are on this journey. And so David said this in closing. Psalm 139 verse 23. And this is a prayer that I regularly pray as I'm with before the Lord. Because I've got to be honest, I watch Salman and I've seen my own life where I didn't listen. And I'm like, like it kind of sucks to learn it's where Salman learned it. It's extremely painful. There's this old song, killing me softly with his song. I think that is so true for us. It's like he calls us with this beautiful song and then he kills us with it. Like killing me softly with his song, changing my whole world. I don't know how the song goes, but it's so like, oh, because he's finishing what he starts. He's working. And so David says this, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any offensive way in me and lead me in the way of the everlasting. God, search me, Lord. And so here's the thing, what is Jesus pressing in you right now? What's he wrestling with you over? What is he speaking to you about? One layer of glory, one degree to the next. For you to walk in the rest, you've got to win this battle. The Lord's not going to let you escape it. You know, some sharp people think they can run away from this. And so they think they can find the problem is you can't run away from God. You can leave this church because no one loves you. I hope we do love you, but you think we don't. Here's the thing, you're just going to face that demon again. Because the Lord is passionate and jealous for you. And so grow. Let him do what he wants to do in and through you.