The Community Church: Sermons and teaching

Can I just ask how many were not here last Sunday? Raise your hand, please. Okay. Thank you. It's on video. What we're looking at is if we're going to represent I say represent Bill Johnson says represent the present again, the living Lord Jesus. He came as a baby in a manger 2000 years ago. He comes today through the words and the example and the encouragement of you and me and millions of others around, the world.

If we are going to represent Jesus to needy people. There are lessons I believe we can learn from. SIMON Peter. And we looked at things last week and we're going to look at some more today. Some of Peter's learning happened as he was just one of the crowd, one of the 12. Sometimes there were occasions when it was Peter, James and John, like on the Mount of Transfiguration.

It's not made clear why it was those three, but they were singled out. And then, of course, there were other occasions when it was just Jesus and Peter, and then when Jesus died, Risen ascended to be with the Father. The Holy Spirit came, and Peter had to learn again in the sense a different sort of dimension of his walk with God, listening to his spirit rather than to a visible, tangible person.

The tests that Peter passed last week, well, he didn't pass them last week. I'll try again. The tests we saw last week, which Peter passed, they were all important strategic moments for Kingdom Advance. The first was leaving everything. When Jesus first called him, the second was leaving the comparative safety of a boat on a lake to step out and actually walk on water, in other words, stepping into the supernatural.

And the third was leaving behind the obsolete Jewish laws that he'd grown up with and accepting the fact that Gentiles, as well as Jews, would come to faith and be filled with the Spirit and live with Jesus. And from those examples, you might see that everything went smoothly in the development of Peter. We said last week he was a very down to earth, ordinary bloke, and I use the word bloke advisedly.

He wasn't super spiritual, he wasn't sophisticated in any way. He was a down to earth bloke, but because of that he was still human. He made mistakes and we're going to look at some of the mistakes we made, not to condemn him because we can't condemn him. We wouldn't condemn him anyway, but just so that you and I can identify with him, because I'm assuming everybody in hearing of what I'm saying, has made and does make mistakes.

Yes. Good. We're on common ground. For example, after the resurrection, shortly before Jesus ascended to be with the Father, Peter and the others were still thinking the kingdom meant Israel and Jesus had to put them right on that. No, it's not just Israel, it's the all nations come to know salvation and faith and kingdom life making mistakes. I made a mistake last week.

At the end of the meeting I had those words of knowledge. If I give a word of knowledge, I one person to respond. I gave two words of knowledge last week and about eight or nine people came forward and foolishly I tried to pray for them all myself. I should invited others to do that. I'm going to correct that mistake at the end of today.

But it's through various circumstances that sometimes our mistakes are highlighted and there was a quote from Nikki Gilmore. Somebody struck me as on Facebook just this week, Nikki Gumbel saying, God is shaping you. He often uses the difficult issues and challenges in our life like sandpaper to smooth the rough edges. He uses them to strengthen your character, change you and advance his purpose in your life.

We may not relish the thought of being rubbed with sandpaper. It's metaphorical, of course, but the process I'm sure we can identify with in Peter's case number of times. He was too quick to speak when he should have kept his mouth shut. The man's of Transfiguration. Good example. Peter, James and John. Jesus is there with them and suddenly Jesus is appearance changes.

He's clothed with the glory of heaven and with him appear Moses and Elijah. And it's an awesome moment. And Peter has to get his two pennies in. It's good for us to be here. Lord, let's build three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. What a great idea. God, the father has to come in and say, This is my son.

Listen to him. It's not for you to butt in. And I think if Peter had had a mobile phone, he would have been videoing the event. You know, wanting to preserve it forever. But that wasn't the case. It was a one off special moment and it had to be recognized as that. So that was the father interrupting Peter.

And then there's a situation in Matthew 17. We needn't turn to it or read it and. Somebody asks Peter if his master pays the temple tax, and Peter said, Yes, of course he does. And he goes in the house to talk to Jesus about it. But the record in Matthew 17 says, But before he had a chance to speak, Jesus asked him So I think Jesus knew that Peter was going off on a rant about the authorities and their taxes and their abusive behavior towards the ordinary people.

And Jesus just jumped in because he saw what was coming and took control of the situation. So the father interrupted him. Jesus, the son interrupted him, and we saw it last week when he was ministering in the house of Cornelius, the Gentile, the Centurion Peter, going full blast with the message of Jesus and salvation and forgiveness. And the record says that even while was still speaking, the spirit descended on the assembled company.

I'd love to have been there. It must have been a wonderful moment. They were all filled with the spirit. They're all speaking in tongues. The first group of Gentiles ever to do that, someone has said that we have to is a one mouth. So we should spend twice as much time listening as we do talking. I don't know if that's mathematically correct, but the principle is one to bear in mind.

There are times when we should just be listening rather than speaking. There are other moments in the life of Peter, which I feel can help us if we're going to become the people God wants us to be in serving His purposes. If you've ever been ever went to a Billy Graham rally, you've probably heard the choir singing just as I am always seem to be that song.

When Billy Graham had made the appeal and the hundreds and thousands were coming forward, the choir would be singing just as I am. Just as I am. I come, which is fine for the first commitment of our lives to Jesus. But it's not just as I am after that. It's just as I. I'm going to be just as you are going to meet me.

And we've got to be prepared for that not to stay as I am. When I first come to Jesus. There's some growing to do to some developing, to do to some change needs to be made. We saw last week the first real encounter that Peter had with Jesus, the miracle Catch a fish and Jesus gets down on his knees in the boat in front of the other fisherman, in front of the crowd, still on the beach.

That took some doing, but he was so aware of the Holiness, the awesomeness of this person Jesus, that he was beginning to come to terms with on his knees and saying, Go away from me, I can't stay in your presence. You're too holy. But Jesus reassured him, Don't be afraid. Come alongside me and you'll learn how to do things.

It's a good thing to recognize our unworthiness, to serve the living God, unless that becomes an excuse for not doing anything. That's the danger. We say, Lord, I'm not good enough. I can't speak well enough. My testimony doesn't count. We discount ourselves. And that's not good. You find many number of people in the Scriptures who do exactly that Moses, Gideon, Isaiah, Jeremiah.

And here's Peter. But they were none of them discounted. God dealt with whatever it was that was lacking, and they went forward. Turn with me. Pleased to Matthew, Chapter 16. If you have your Bible with you and we'll just have a look at another situation. Matthew 16 in verse 13, I'm reading in the New Living translation when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say that the son of man is?

Well, they replied, Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others say Jeremiah. Oh, one of the other prophets. Then he asked them, Who do you say? Simon? Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the son of the living God. That's a wonderful declaration. And Jesus commends him in front of the other disciples. And he goes on to say that Peter's declaration and commitment is the sure foundation for the church, which God is going to bring into being.

And I wonder if at that point Peter felt a little bit of pride, did he think he was really making progress as a protege of Jesus? Was he feeling a bit smug that he was the one who spoke up and was commended? We don't know. But what we do know is that pride comes before the fall, and if he had any sense of pride, the fall came very quickly.

Jesus goes on to tell them what's about to happen to him. Arrest, beating, mockery, crucifixion. And again, it's Peter who speaks up and he protests, Heaven forbid, Lord, that's never going to happen to you. And the response of Jesus, get away from me. Satan seems so harsh, doesn't it? So strong. He's just been commending Peter and now he's calling him Satan.

I think the reference there is there's a parallel between what Satan did said to Jesus with the temptations in the wilderness. You don't need to go through all the harassment and the pressure. You can go straight to heaven. But Jesus knew he had to go via the cross. So that's really why he's identifying Peter with Satan, I think.

But he says, You are a dangerous trap to me. You're seeing things merely from a human point of view and not from God. So if there was any pride, if there was any smugness that, has been well and truly punctured and Peter experiences another rub of the sandpaper, then we can look again in Gethsemani. That's in Matthew 26.

Again, we're not going to read it at the moment. You'll be familiar, I'm sure, with the story of Judas leading the officials and the soldiers to where Jesus has been praying in Gethsemani and they're about to arrest him. And when they see Jesus, it's actually John's gospel that tells us that it's Peter who has a sword and he draws the sword and lashes out and cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant.

Jesus tells him to put his sold away. He says, If I want to defend myself, I can call on thousands of angels. But how would the scriptures be fulfilled if that were the case? It's the wrong style of leadership. It's the wrong kind of reaction to an adverse situation. The Kingdom of God is not to be achieved or defended by being macho or militaristic.

You know, we're the Christians. We've got the good news. Hey, hey, Hallelujah. We wonderful and sinners, you know, never, never, never lie that the power that God gives us is the power of self-sacrifice and love and compassion. And then there's another situation. It's necessary. This one, Matthew 26, verse 33, Matthew 26, verse 33. Well, we'll pick it up in verse 31, actually, tonight all of you will desert me.

Jesus, Tell them for the Scriptures, say God will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I've been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there. Peter, Who else declared? Even if everyone else deserts you? I never will, Peter, Jesus replied. The truth is, this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

And as we read on in the story, we're not doing it now. But you'll know that that is exactly what happened. The Gospel record shows that he was three times challenged. He was outside the house where Jesus was being dealt with inside. And it's interesting, on one occasion, one of the challenges is you must be one of his followers.

A Galilean Galilee, of course, was the north of the country. They were in Jerusalem, which was in the south. So they recognized Peter by his northern accent. So he was a write down ordinary bloke from up north. Alright, It wasn't a posh southerner, they were a down to earth northerner, which I hope again we can identify with many of those three denials.

Jesus was gracious enough to erase one by one. If you read in John 21 after the resurrection to another miraculous catch a Fish. And I sense that Jesus is replicating what happened when Simon Peter first came to him. But Jesus says to Simon, Do you love me more than this? Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Three times they asked him the same question, and three times Peter is able to declare his love and his commitment to Jesus, to resurrected Christ.

And to me, that's just, you know, three times wiping out the three times he said he didn't know him. So by that stage, Peter is as ready as he's ever going to be for Pentecost Jesus was about to ascend, to be with the Father. The next significant event was Pentecost. 120 people gathered together, awaiting whatever it was that God would bring.

And Simon, the down to earth fisherman, is becoming Peter the rock like apostle who will be an important part, a leading part of what God is going to do if you and I are going to advance God's kingdom and fulfill his purposes. We have to accept, as we've already said, that the sandpaper may need to be applied if there are areas of our life that need to be broken, removed, replaced.

We have to accept that and God will deal with us individually. We needn't get hung up about that. It will just happen if we are open to the Lord himself. But we in turn can't be smug or pleased or proud if we are operating invisibly seeing things happen, particularly in the supernatural, there's always a danger of the feeling that, Oh God, use me to bless so-and-so, God use me in healing that person.

And it's so easy to try and siphon off even 10% of the glory. But as 100% goes to God, we must never forget that. So let's be ready to be used. But let's not be ready to feel smug in any way. If we see inverted commas, success for the Kingdom. Scripture tells us in Hebrews that God disciplines those He loves.

Yes. And are we willing to be disciplined? I used to have to discipline people when I was a headmaster. Honestly, I did not enjoy it, but I did it because it was necessary for us. It's never a question of power for its own sake. The power is given to us, as we've said for manifest Sting, the love and the presence of Jesus.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses. It's all part of the package. And likewise, when we see you, as I believe, we will increasingly see manifestation of signs and wonders. It's not for our entertainment or amusement. It's not for showing off what a wonderful church we think we might be.

A sign points away from itself to something else as a sign that says toilets. You don't go to the sign. I hope you don't. You go to where the sign is pointing. And that's important that we recognize signs and wonders are specifically given for the church to grow, and we need to embrace that possibility, as I believe we are.

There are a number of other instances, particularly in the Acts of the Apostles. Josh, could we have the slide? I've got two slides here. I don't know how big that is. Is that big enough to read yet? I'm not going to linger over these. I'm just going to point out to you significant moments that we haven't really time to look at, but these are elements of the life of Peter.

We've had the one, the declaration that Jesus made about that, that Peter made about Jesus being Messiah. Acts two, He's the spokesman, Pentecost, Acts three Peter and John, seeing the man healed. Acts five This is a curious one, isn't it? Sick people placed so that Peter's would pass across them. It doesn't say that they were healed, but there was that expectation that even his shadow, because he was so filled with the presence of God, even his shadow could have a healing effect.

And then it was Peter and John who went to Sumeria when the church began to move out from Jerusalem as Jesus told them to do in Acts 11. There's a good one there because in Acts ten it's the Cornelius episode. And when Peter gets back to Jerusalem, there are complaints. What do you think you're doing going to the Gentiles?

So Peter goes through it all and explains Cornelius. His vision, his own vision, and how the Holy Spirit just came upon them, and the matter is resolved satisfactorily. Acts 12 James is executed by Herod Peter's next in line. He is not executed. An angel comes, releases the James opens locked doors, and Gates takes him away safe and sound.

Miraculously, there's reference in Galatians and Paul's letters to a disagreement between Peter and Paul. I like the Bible's honesty. Yeah, I know we're not smoothing things over and saying everything was tickety boo, but things went wrong and when they went wrong they sort of demurred. They talked it through, they prayed together and they came to an agreed conclusion in one Peter one.

Are we on page two yet? Yes, we are. Thank you. Josh Well done. Two letters of pieces that we have, of course, in the New Testament. And he's writing to if you look whether these places are they're all in northern Turkey. Paul's ministry was mainly in southern Turkey as well as a lot of other places beside and then the last one that we mentioned last week, Peter, was married because there's mention of a mother in law.

But Paul, writing to the Corinthians, talks about these fellows who have wives, are able to travel with their wives, and he mentions Peter by name. So it's interesting that the Apostle took his wife with him on his missionary. So, yes, we come to the point where we say, Well, this bluff down to us ordinary man is suddenly letters that are included in the scriptures.

He's come a long way, hasn't he? He has come a long way. In the second of those letters, Chapter three verses 11 and 12. Peter writes, Since everything around us is going to melt away, what holy, godly lives you should be living, you should look forward to that day and hurry it along looking forward and hurrying it along.

There's an urgency about kingdom. There's an urgency about getting the word out. There's an urgency about sharing the love and the life of Jesus. And we're part of the privileged people who were able to do that. And looking forward to that day, those of us who were the one vision, one voice conference heard David know it was Matthew Lange talking about, He's coming back, he's coming back, He's coming back.

And Matthew actually referred to this verse. You should look forward to that day and hurry it along because in The Passion translation, it's read that anticipate and hasten. To anticipate means get ahead of the beat. Yes. To be looking ahead. It's kingdom now and kingdom to come. We have a foretaste we enjoy the good things have gone now, but in the fullness they will come at a future date.

But to anticipate that and Matthew, use the I think he spoke to what the drummer of the band that been leading worship and asked him what anticipate means if you have a regular beat, that's fine. And some of our old hymns and songs just like that. But if it's only like that, it gets pretty boring after a while.

So it's nice when you get something that comes across the beat and it's Give me a song that will sung. But to be glory unto him. BE Oh, is that right to wit, whatever it is, you get the point, anticipating the beat, being ahead of the beat. And that needs to be the signature tune, if you like, of our lives.

We are anticipating a return of Jesus, which could be tomorrow. Could be today. We live in that expectation and all that we do is, in a sense, hastening the return of Jesus. So Peter us in his letter, what kind of people ought to be? Well, we ought to be the kind of people like Peter aware of our failings and faults, but not held back by them.

We need to be those who are the people of demonstrate nation as well as proclamation. Yeah, that's right. Declaration demonstration, as well as proclamation. People have a right to say to us, Don't just tell me, show me, show us, show me. And that's where I'm so grateful for the testimonies we had today, demonstrating the impact that God is already having on people's lives.

The demonstration. The proclamation will probably not have a trumpet fanfare. It'll probably be just a quiet conversation with a work colleague or a neighbor, and we feel a nudge or we hear that quiet voice that sounds exactly like our voice. And we recognize it's the voice of the spirit. And we need just to respond and say, as Peter said when he first met Jesus, If you say so, I will.

I'll just share this with you. It was I was mowing my lawn the other day. And as I look across while I'm in the front lawn, the house directly opposite this had a for sale sign outside on and off for probably two years. At one stage it was sold subject to contract, but it obviously fell through. But then they changed the estate agent, so they're pretty desperate to sell the house and.

I sense the spirit say to me, You need to go across the road and pray for those people that that house will be settled.

I said, Well, just let me finish mowing and cool down because I was all sweaty. So I just took 5 minutes. I wasn't saying no, I was saying I will, but just let me get ready. And I went across the road and I knocked on the door. The lady came to the door and she said, Oh, hello, how are you?

I said, I'm very well, thank you. How are you? She said, Oh, I wish we could sell this house. I said, Well, it's interesting you say that because that's why I'm here. I reminded her that I'd put a note through six of my neighbor's houses two or three years ago saying that I was praying for them. I pray for them regularly.

So I said, you know that I pray for you and I just want to pray that this house will be sold soon. Would you allow me to do that? So don't be wonderful. So I very, very briefly prayed by this time that the man had come, he'd be mowing his lawn at the back and he realized somebody was at the door.

So he came and he heard the end of the prayer. Very briefly, Lord, show your love for these people by allowing their house to be sold as quickly as possible. And she was very gracious. She gave me a hug and I said, There are no strings attached as far as I'm concerned. The only stipulation is, please, when you get sold, you must come and tell me.

She said, We'll do that. And that was it. So it wasn't, you know, trumpets blaring. It was just a sense of God speaking to me. And I responded accordingly. There are all kinds of things that God might ask us to do. Some of them very, very simple, some of them perhaps more demanding. I heard a podcast of Terri Virgo not long ago, and he said that when he first became a Christian, he asked God wanted him what God wanted him to do with his life.

One of the things was pray for revival. So every day of his life for over 50 years, he has prayed for a revival. Now you may say, Well, we ain't seen revival. Well, Tony Virgo's ministry is worldwide, and believe you me, there are that have been revivals in all kinds of places around the world. We've not necessarily seen the same here.

But please, God, one day we will. If we're desperate enough, we will give God no rest if we really mean business. We're in this month of prayer and fasting. Now where are we? Date wise 24. There's another six days of this month. Let's really get to grips with it. Let's take it seriously and believe God that he wants a movement of his spirit.

And if we're desperate enough and expectant enough, we let God root out or smooth away any smugness, any pride, any complacency. The first requirement is that we hear the voice of the spirit. It was Matthew Lang a few weeks months ago now reminded us that the voice of the Spirit usually sounds exactly like our own voice. And it's not a big booming out of their voice.

It's. It's here. It's me. All right? Yes. Thank you, Lord. As easy as that Scripture says over and over again, he that has ears to hear. Let him hear what the spirit is saying. We need to listen. We need to hear what God is saying. I can't think what else is A for this or not for listening. Well, apart from holding classes in place, I suppose.

Yeah, but there's a there's a warning, a caution that comes from the Old Testament, and it's quoted three times twice in Hebrews three and again in Hebrews four today. If you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. That's the danger, isn't it? We hear God's voice. We just put it to one side. I'm too busy. Lord, that's not my thing.

I don't fancy doing that. And we have no hearts against what God is saying. Let's not be those who do that. The Israelites in the wilderness specifically said that they did not want to hear direct from God. They said to Moses, You go on up the mountain, you hear what God says, and you come back and tell us, but we don't want to hear him.

He is too awesome, too holy for us. Sadly, to succeed in generations that became the norm. People didn't want to hear from God and therefore they couldn't hear from God. And it was just the prophets, the officially recognized prophets. They were the ones that hear from God and they bring God's message. Well, since Pentecost guess what? We're all prophets, we are all capable of prophesying.

Let me put it that way. That long standing limitation was broken. The reference was to all may prophesy sons, daughters, women men, sophisticated, illiterate. It doesn't matter any and all can hear from God and can speak his word. He or she who has is to hear. Let him, let her hear and let that not be just from a preacher or from those who go to the front.

It's wonderful to hear you. Thank you for all those who came this morning. Bless you all. But it's not just that. It's hearing me hearing personally from the Holy Spirit in my life. Okay. So we've seen with Peter how an ordinary life can become in some respects extraordinary. We've seen how the natural takes a step into the supernatural and the super increasingly becomes natural.

That's why we need to get to folks that the supernatural becomes natural. We're not surprised when there's a manifestation of the Holy Spirit either in a 1 to 1 conversation or in our private talk with God or in a big meeting. Don't be surprised by the supernatural. As I've tried to stress all the way along, it doesn't have to be spectacular.

With a trumpet fanfare, it may be just those seven words that Peter uttered in the beginning of his journey with Jesus. But if you say so, I will. Yeah. And that's the key that opens it up. The alternative is to stay where we are, to perpetuate the status quo, which in effect is to say, Thank you, God for all you've thus far.

That's enough. Well, I'm not up for that. I don't know if you are, but for me, that would be accepting mediocrity. It will be accepting a subpar Christian religion. I'm not into religion. I don't believe you are. But that's what it will be. We're saying thus far, God and no further. Everything defined by my convenience in my complacency.

That's not what we're about. It's time to get out of the nest, spread our wings and find that we can fly. It's time to out of the boat and surprise ourselves by actually walking on some water. Metaphorically speaking. It's a great adventure. I am more excited today than I have ever been about what God is going to do, not what He may do, what he's going to do, and I want to be part of it and I want to hear from God.

I want to respond to God. And yes, I will make mistakes. We all do. But that doesn't win me out. All right. That just means I learned to do the stage and I build on that and I go forward in that. I said I would correct a mistake that I made last week. And what I want to do is to pray for any people who came out last week in response to those words of knowledge I would like other people to be able to pray for you, not just be me.

That's what the problem was. Eight or nine people be praying for them. It took so long. But the second part of that was I didn't have a chance to check with anybody. Now, are you noticing any difference? And Harris graciously reminded us of that in recent weeks. It's important that when we pray for people to be healed, if there is some way in which they can say either straight away or soon afterwards, here's a difference that we know that and I don't know part from Joe.

I spoke to Joe when we were coming in this morning. I said, has there been any difference since last Sunday? And she said, Yes, but I don't know about the rest of the people. If those people are still here I can't remember all of you who were here. If you would like to come forward again. And I would we ask other leaders to stand with me and pray for you.

Meanwhile, the musicians are coming up and I think we're going to sing Way Maker. That reminds me, we've twice been told in recent months it's not just God who is the way maker and the promise keeper on the Miracle Worker. It's his church as it is that says you and I can be the way makers, the Promise Keepers.

What was the other phrases? The wall lights in the darkness? Yeah, like almost like a miracle worker. Yes. All we have for that, we're going to sing it. And as I say, those people who came out last week, if you would like to come again, we'll pray for you again. Amen. Thank

you.