Standing on the Promises or Sitting on the Premises?. James W. Moore
means "to put the heart in." The word discourage means "to tear the heart out." In John 21, we see Christ graciously putting the heart back into Simon Peter, giving him encouragement. No stern lectures here. No blame placing or finger pointing here—just words of encouragement.
The Risen Christ is saying, "I still love you. I still believe in you. I still trust you, and I want you to take up the torch of my ministry. I want you to take care of my sheep." These words of encouragement were the wakeup call Simon Peter needed, and as we read on in the Scriptures, we see that he became one of the courageous leaders and martyrs of the early church.
The Risen Christ came to Simon Peter that morning with words of encouragement, and when we need encouragement, he will be there for us as well. If we would hear those words and respond to them in faith, as Peter did, we could turn this world upside down.
When We Need Forgiveness, He Is There
Simon Peter needed forgiveness, and that is precisely what Christ came to give him.
A minister friend of mine recently shared with me a true story which underscores the power of forgiveness. It happened some years ago. A young man we will call Eli, a member of his church, pulled into a service station, and while there, he became involved in an altercation with an older man, a fellow church member. The older man had been drinking and tried to pick a fight with Eli.
Later the young man said, "I don't know why I didn't just get in my car and drive away. I had been fussed at and cussed before. But he just kept on and on, and I lost control and I pushed him."
The older man, in his drunken state, fell over a curb when he was pushed, hit his head on a concrete bench, and fell dead. Well, as you can imagine, it traumatized the whole town. Everybody knew everybody in that little village, and as the word spread, people began to choose up sides. Tension was crackling in the air.
My minister friend received a call from Eli, who said, "Reverend, I've got to go see his wife. Will you go with me? If you don't want to be seen with me, I understand. But I have to go and tell her how sorry I am."
The minister and Eli went to the home of the older man to see his widow. As they walked up, people were everywhere—in the yard, on the porch, in the living room and the kitchen, and no one spoke to them. When the recently widowed woman heard they were there, she called them into the back room. Eli was scared to death, but he was ready to tell her how sorry he was. He never got to make his speech.
As soon as she saw him, she ran to him, took his hands in hers, and said, "Eli, I have known you all your life. I remember the night you were born. I know you didn't do it on purpose." Then she hugged him and healed him— and with that hug, she healed the whole town!
Now, where did she learn the kind of compassion and forgiveness? You know, don't you? She learned it at church. She learned it from Jesus Christ! That's what Christ was doing for Simon Peter on the seashore that morning long ago. He was giving him the healing hug of forgiveness. And he has a hug like that for you and me. When we need encouragement and when we need forgiveness, he is there.
When We Need Direction, He Is There
Simon Peter and the other disciples had been waiting around, wondering, "What next? What are we supposed to do now?" Then the Risen Christ came to give them a new direction.
He said, "If you love me, feed my sheep." What he meant was, "Take up the torch of my ministry! Go! Be the church for this needy world!" The world is starving for Jesus Christ, and we have him. Our task is to feed his sheep, share him with others.
I have a good friend who is one of the finest Christians I have ever known. Dedicated, capable, effective, one of the most respected churchmen in America today. He grew up in a Methodist parsonage, but he tells us that at one point, when he was a young man, he drifted away from the church.
During that period, he fell in love with a beautiful young woman. He asked her to go on a Sunday morning picnic with him.
I love her response: "If you want to be with me on Sunday morning, we will be together in church!" Well, he wanted to be with her, so he went with her to church that Sunday morning, and they have hardly missed a Sunday since.
She brought him back to God and to the church. She knew how to take up the torch, how to share Christ, how to feed his sheep. And God's church has been blessed by this great couple ever since—all because she had a sense of God's direction and the courage to go in God's direction.
The Risen Christ is here with us right now. He has some incredible promises and some special gifts for us. Won't you receive them? Won't you accept them? He promises to be with us in every circumstance of life, and he promises to give us encouragement, forgiveness, and direction.
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The Promise of a Rock-Solid Foundation
Building on the Rock
MATTHEW 7:21, 24-27
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. . . . Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall."
Some years ago, in a small town in Central Europe, a visitor saw something that fascinated him—something that seemed very strange to him. He noticed all the native villagers performing the same highly unusual ritual. As they passed by a certain ordinary looking wall, they would nod casually in the direction of the wall, then make the sign of the cross as they walked on by.
Some would be walking briskly, others more slowly, but they all did the same thing. They would nod at the wall and make the sign of the cross as they passed by. When the visitor asked why they did this, no one knew. "We've always done that," they said. "It's a tradition, a time-honored ritual in our village. Everybody does it! Always have!"
The visitor's curiosity got the best of him and he began chipping away at the layers of whitewash and dirt that covered the wall until, underneath the grime, he discovered a magnificent mural of Mary and the baby Jesus! Generations before, the townspeople had had a beautiful reason for bowing and making the sign of the cross at that place. It had been an altar of prayer in the heart of the village.
But succeeding generations didn't know that. They had only learned the ritual. They continued to go through the motions without knowing the reason behind them. They performed the practice, but it had absolutely no meaning for them and made no impact on their lives at all. That's an appropriate parable for many people today, in their approach to religion, isn't it?
Their faith experience is not much more than a vague nod in God's direction. They casually perform some of the rituals of faith, but they don't really know why. And the rituals have become so routine, so casual, so matterof-fact, that there is no power, no strength, no inspiration in them at all—a little nod here, a token gesture there, but no depth, no spirit, no life!
But in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows us dramatically that this kind of shallow, nonchalant approach to faith won't work. There are storms ahead—the rains of trouble will fall, the floods of stress will come, the winds of challenge will lash against us. Shaky, unstable, wavering, casual routine faith won't hold together. The storms of life will rip it apart and smash it to the ground. We need a strong and stable house of faith, built on a rocksolid foundation!
Here's how Jesus put it. He said: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' [i.e., not everyone who makes a casual nod in my direction] will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. . . . Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and