I will start my message with these encouraging and expressive words, sent to many in this day:
" He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets, A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory " (Matthew 12 : 19 – 20).
Do you see yourself today like a bruised reed? Or like a smoking flax?
The bruised reed and the smoking flax have a deep meaning, both of them are good for nothing..
Yet, the Lord doesn’t break this reed nor does He quench that flax.. He never loose hope in them..
Don’t forget that He washed the feet of Judas although He knew he is going to send Him to death.. and with tenderness He dipped the sop in the same dish with him, few minutes before he betrayed Him..
So if HE did that with worthless things such as a reed and a flax, and if He washed the feet of the one who betrayed Him and gave Him to be crucified, He will do the same thing with you, even more, no matter what your situation is today.. Because He is:
" … Merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust " (Psalms 103 : 8 – 14).
Don’t be afraid of coming to Him no matter what you did, He knows you, He knows you are from dust, and He wants to take away all your transgressions. He will not treat you according to the evil and the sins you did.. don’t be ashamed if you’ve broken your vows with Him, or even denied Him..
Don’t let low self esteem, or rejection, or falling short, or the guilt you have from what you’ve done, prevent you from coming to Him.. come to Him and let Him heal all your wounds, let Him forgive all your sins, and correct your way again..
Do not fear.. He will not let you loose the call.. do not fear.. He still trusts you !!!
Usually when we open our hearts to the Lord, and receive salvation and the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we would be on fire to His service, this is what we call " first love ", and usually we would be like these two:
" Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him: Lord, I will follow You wherever You go " (Luke 9 : 57).
" Peter said to Him: … I will lay down my life for Your sake. Jesus answered him: Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times " (John 13 : 37 – 38).
But we all know what happened with many disciples who said these words to the Lord, then abandoned Him when the way went harder and challenges, hardships and sacrifices grew stronger, or when Satan came to ruin everything, we all know about Peter’s denial for Jesus, and he left the call for a while, but what we don’t know – as we should – is what the Lord exactly did with Peter.
We might intellectually know what the Lord did with Peter, because we read it in the Word.. but today through this message, I have the full confidence that the Holy Spirit will transfer this intellectual knowledge to our spirits, so it might become a practical experience and a part of our lives, then we can trust God to do with us what He did with Peter, and He won’t let us loose our call and ministry, but like He healed Peter and fixed his way, to go again and be used mightily by God with signs and wonders.. He will heal us, and we can move and be used by God mightily, and bring great fruit..
How did the story start with Peter?
What happened?
What did the Lord do with him?
The start:
The first encounter between the Lord and Peter:
" … And when Jesus beheld him, He said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone " (John 1 : 42).
Jesus gazed.. His eyes broke through time.. to see that this man named " simon son of Jonas " which means " the troubled and hesitated personality " will become " Cephas or Peter " which means the rock and symbolizes perseverance and strength..
Despite all what happened with Peter, from hesitation through the 3 years and a half of his fellowship with the Lord and the denial and forsaking the ministry at the end, still the Lord’s look toward him remained the same, until he came back and became a strong rock, and the Lord granted him the care of His sheep, and brought him back the call which he forsake..
Another encounter:
" When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon: Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. But Simon answered and said to Him: Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking… And Jesus said to Simon: Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men ".
(Luke 5 : 4 – 10).
You are not Simon.. you are Peter..
You are not a fisherman.. but a fisher of men..
And Peter’s journey with the Lord began.. if you take a look at the four gospels, concentrating on Peter’s life and behavior, you would find out that he went through many changes: human excitement.. Counting on his own power to fulfill God’s plan for his life.. Trying to convince the Lord not to go to the cross.. And at the end denying the Lord.. Then going back to fishing with another 6 disciples.
Peter didn’t only deny the Lord.. he also denied his friends.. he cursed.. he swore in vain too: " And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter: Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you. Then he began to curse and swear, saying: I do not know the Man! Immediately a rooster crowed " (Matthew 26 : 73 – 74).
But the Lord.. God of all grace.. do not forsake His sheep when attacked by a wolf.. for He is not a worker, He owns the sheep.. and He gives himself for them.. A bruised reed He does not break, And smoking flax He does not quench:
" … He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, a and that He appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve " (1 Corinthians 15 : 4 – 5).
When He was risen.. He first appeared to Cephas.. to the rock !!!
The bible doesn’t give names by hazard.. each word and letter in it has a meaning..
Despite all what Simon did.. the word says He appeared to " Cephas ".
The Lord still sees him as a rock.. and He didn’t drew back His calling to him.. He still trusts him.. so He appeared to him in the first place..
He went to him to heal his bitter tears that he shed when he denied the Lord.. to heal his wounds and guilt feeling and low self esteem and rejection etc… He went to him to say:
Don’t be afraid.. I still love you.. I forgive you and I want to heal your wounds.. I trust you..
The last encounter:
It seems that the encounter of Jesus with Peter after the resurrection didn’t complete all the results, didn’t finish everything, or maybe like I feel in my heart, it wasn’t an encounter to ask Peter to comeback to the work and the ministry and the call, for the Lord’s compassionate heart was concerned about healing Peter, and curing his wounds.
Believe that the Lord is concerned about you personally in the first place, no matter what you can offer Him.. He wants you to be safe.. enjoying His blessings.. covered with Joy peace and security.. and all that you wish for.. He loves you as you are, despite all what you do.. His love is unconditional.. and I have the boldness to tell you: even if you loose your call, even if you didn’t do anything to the Lord, His love for you will never change or decrease.. He values you so much.. because He loves you with a deep wide immeasurable love that you will never understand !!!
Here comes the last encounter:
" After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them: I am going fishing. They said to him: We are going with you also. They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them: Children, have you any food? They answered Him: No. And He said to them: Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish… Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them: Come and eat breakfast… So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter: Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him: Yes, Lord; You know that I love You. He said to him: Feed My lambs. He said to him again a second time: Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? He said to Him: Yes, Lord; You know that I love You. He said to him: Tend My sheep. He said to him the third time: Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time: Do you love Me? And he said to Him: Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him: Feed My sheep " (John 21 : 1 – 17).
Back to the accuracy of inspiration:
Simon Peter.. not Simon son of Jonas.. not Peter.. but Simon Peter..
The first encounter solved half of the problem.. and this encounter came to solve the other half..
That’s why after going through a crisis or facing a problem and hardships or anything else no matter how hard it was on your ministry and calling, you should encounter the Lord to enjoy His unconditional love for you.. this encounter is crucial, to be certain of God’s unconditional love for you, and of His acceptance to you no matter what you’ve done.. and to be sure that He didn’t and will not loose His trust in you.. He is still waiting to heal your wounds, and solve all your problems.. and then you can have another encounter for coming back to work and ministry and moving in your calling again.. then we can jump to the last phase:
From Simon Peter.. to Cephas or Peter again..
But the Lord always pours His love upon us, He called him" Simon son of Jonas "
To tell him and you: even if you’ve lost everything.. Even if you’ve forsaken everything.. even if you went back to what you were like before coming to me.. you still are my beloved child.. I still trust you.. and I am able to start with you a new to make you Peter the rock..
So..don’t be afraid even if years went by on your calling and ministry and you’ve lost it or fallen.. and returned to be once again " Simon son of Jonas ".. Believe that the Lord still trusts you, and He is ready to give you back the shepherding of his sheep.. don’t you ever think that what you’ve committed of sins and stupidity of neglecting to the calling, will ever be hidden from the Lord, or that He is surprised of what you’ve done, or that He wasn’t expecting you to do so, He is the one who said to Simon:
" … Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren " (Luke 22 : 31 – 32).
He knew everything.. He is the Lord.. but He prayed that Simon’s faith should not fail.. and He prayed and is asking and will ask for your faith not to fail, and He sees beyond.. He sees that you will come and shepherd His sheep again.. and you will strengthen your brethren who will face what you went through..
A special message to many today.. a message from the Lord where He says:
" Don’t be afraid.. I will not let you lose your calling.. I still love you with an unconditional love.. that is not impacted with all what you have done or went through.. I trust you.. and I am still willing to hand you over the care of my sheep.. I still see you " Cephas " rocks and pillars in my house.. I didn’t wait for Peter to come to me, I went to him when I rose from the death.. and I went back another time when he went back for fishing.. and today I am coming to you.. to guarantee you my unconditional love.. to heal your wounds.. to forgive your sins.. to renew my trust in you and my calling to you.. just allow me to do so, and you will never regret it ".
Will we let Him do so?
I encourage you today to allow Him to do so.. and you will see what He can do.. but.. prepare yourself with nets not only with just one net like Peter did.. because the restoration and the great number of fish are waiting for you.. and you will need a lot of nets.. so don’t miss the opportunity.
