cited as the transformed life being a witness to those around us
6 Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel? I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”
referenced briefly as the passage about being light and salt, called to look different
1 Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.
15 Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house.
16 Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
17 “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.
19 Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
21 “You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’
22 But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.
23 “If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.
26 Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny.
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’
28 but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
30 If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’
32 but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’
34 but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
35 nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black.
37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’
39 But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.
41 Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
42 Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,
45 that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
47 If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
read aloud and discussed at length as the passage where Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him
15 So when they had eaten their 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 have affection for you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
16 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 have affection for you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
18 Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself, and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you, and carry you where you don’t want to go.”
19 Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
referenced in the baby dedication prayer asking God for Parker's salvation
1 Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let’s break their bonds apart, and cast their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath:
6 “Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”
7 I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father.
8 Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10 Now therefore be wise, you kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Jay Cummings brought the message this morning, drawing from John 21 to talk about transformation, what it actually looks like, why even people close to Jesus need it, and how we get there. He started with his own story of sitting in church as a teenager, going through the motions, and ending up at rock bottom before something finally broke through.
What was said
Jay opened by making a distinction that set up everything else: Jesus did not come to make bad people better. He came to make something entirely new. The evidence that we actually know Jesus is a life that looks different than it did before. That is not just for people who come to faith out of obvious wreckage. It is for everyone who claims to follow him.
The passage in John 21 shows Jesus appearing to the disciples after the resurrection and finding them fishing, back at the thing they did before any of this started. Jesus had told them to go to Galilee and wait. Instead they drifted back to their old life. Jay pointed out that Jesus addresses Simon Peter as Simon in this moment, not Peter, and suggested that was deliberate, a way of naming where he actually was rather than who he had been called to become.
Jesus asks Peter three times whether he loves him, which mirrors the three denials. Jay walked through the Greek behind the exchange: the first two times Jesus uses agape love, the self-sacrificing kind, the kind that is a choice. Both times Peter answers with phileo, the love of a friend. Jay said Peter was, in a sense, friend-zoning Jesus. By the third question Jesus meets Peter where he is and uses phileo as well, and Peter, humbled, falls back on what Jesus already knows about his heart.
Jay said the people who most often miss their need for transformation are not the obviously lost ones. They are people like Simon Peter, people who are close to God, who know the language, who have been around a long time. Familiarity can be its own kind of blindness. The question Jesus keeps pressing, do you love me more than these, is really asking whether the old way of life still has more of a hold than it should.
On repentance, Jay pointed to 1 John and Psalm 139 together. Confessing known sin is one part of it. The harder part is inviting someone to show you what you cannot see yourself. He asked whether anyone in the room had given another person actual permission and authority to call them out. Several people in the room pushed back, added to, and extended that thought, including a note that the feedback we are least ready for is often the most accurate.
The second piece Jay brought was subtraction. He referenced John Mark Comer's Practicing the Way and the idea that transformation is not about adding more spiritual activity onto an already full life. It is about making room. If there is not thirty minutes in a day to pray, the problem is not time, it is priorities. What needs to come out so there is space for something to actually happen?
Jay closed by bringing it back to the central question of the passage. Transformation is not optional and it is not a one-time event. Every person in the room is already being formed by something. The question is not whether formation is happening. It is what is doing the forming, and whether we are willing to let Jesus into the places we have kept from him.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
Ask someone you trust to point out where you fall short, and give them actual permission to do it.
Spend thirty minutes in prayer at least one day this week, and if you can't find that time, take a hard look at what you can cut to make room.
Pray the prayer from Psalm 139 that Jay referenced: search me, God, know my heart, and see if there is any offensive way in me.
Come to the Israel rally on the town square this Sunday, March 3 at 5PM.
If you are going through the motions at church the way Jay described himself doing in high school, sit with the question Jesus asked Peter: do you love me, and what does that actually look like the rest of the week?
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Jay shared that he sat in church for years going through the motions while thinking he was close to God. Have you ever been in a season like that, and what did it take for you to recognize it?
Jesus asked Peter three times 'do you love me?' and the Greek shows a shift between agape love and phileo love across those exchanges. What do you think the difference between those two kinds of love looks like in everyday life with Jesus?
Jay Cummings predicó sobre la transformación, partiendo de su propia historia: en la secundaria se sentaba en la iglesia semana tras semana sin que nada cambiara en su vida, hasta que llegó a un punto de quiebre en una escuela terapéutica para jóvenes en Texas. Allí escuchó algo sencillo pero directo: no eres una víctima. Esa frase le abrió los ojos y comenzó un proceso real de cambio. Su punto central fue que la transformación no es solo para los que están lejos de Dios, sino que los creyentes, igual que Simón Pedro, son quienes más fácilmente se acomodan y vuelven a sus viejos hábitos sin darse cuenta.
El pasaje principal fue Juan 21, donde Jesús le pregunta tres veces a Pedro si lo ama. Jay señaló que las primeras dos veces Jesús usa la palabra griega para el amor de Dios, amor que se da por elección, y Pedro responde con la palabra para el amor de un amigo. Jesús no lo rechaza, sino que lo encuentra donde está y lo llama a servir. También destacó que Jesús llamó a Pedro por su nombre antiguo, Simón, justo cuando lo encontró pescando otra vez, es decir, volviendo a su vida de antes. La pregunta que quedó en el aire fue: ¿amas a Jesús más que estas cosas, más que tu antigua manera de vivir?
Para experimentar transformación, Jay habló de dos caminos concretos. El primero es el arrepentimiento genuino, que incluye pedir a otros que nos señalen nuestros puntos ciegos, no solo esperar reconocerlos solos. El segundo es restarle cosas a la vida en lugar de agregarle más actividades religiosas, hacer espacio real para estar con Dios, practicar el Sabbat, orar sin prisa. Varios miembros de la congregación compartieron sus propias experiencias, y la conversación terminó con una invitación a preguntarse honestamente por qué se está siendo transformado en este momento, porque ese proceso nunca se detiene.
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Pasajes bíblicos usados
2 Corintios 5:17
Isaías 49:6
Mateo 5 (la sal y la luz)
Juan 21:15-19
Juan 13:37
Efesios 4:22-24
1 Juan 1:8-9
Salmos 139:23-24
Levítico 8:22-29
Salmos 2 (citado en la oración de dedicación del bebé)
Read the full transcript11,573 words
You. Today, we thank you that we can come freely. We thank you that you take dead things, and you bring them back to life. But I just pray right now for anyone in this room cry in their heart. Renew us today.
We could search the whole world, but it's only true, true forgiveness, true freedom. Actual real lasting joy comes from you. Thank you for that this morning. As we reach out to you, we just don't sing these songs as just lyrics or words, but we actually are singing to the true and risen savior who hears our prayers and is inhabiting our worship right now. So we sing this next song, Jesus, just we just fix our eyes
Lord Jesus. Search
those hidden places, those dark places that we think we have hidden from you. Search those places where we have taken our relationship with your time with you, and we've placed it aside, and we've put something else in its place. Show us those places today Yeah. So that we can be quick to repent, quick to put you back in your rightful spot. Because there is nothing, nothing that compares in this world to you.
Yes. Yes. To your presence, to your forgiveness, to feel your closeness and to have intimacy with you. Let everything else just fade away. We fix our eyes on you today.
Just take one more minute before we move on to the next form of worship and just, with your eyes closed, just talk to him today. What is it that you're holding back from him today? Just talk to him. He loves to hear you. He loves to hear Lord, we declare that today.
Prepare our hearts for what you have for us in your word today. We continue to worship you by giving you our affection and our attention today. Set our hearts on fire anew today of the promises in your word. And as Jay brings the word today, Lord, we ask for your words. Thank for thank you for his faithful heart.
We ask that you believe your change We're name of of gonna be in name
How about Good morning. About animal on drums this morning? We always have been one of, like, those kind of churches, but but we just haven't we we don't have the drums too often. But, yes, we are one of those kind of churches. Do they still even identify churches as like, oh, that's a church with drums?
Maybe we all have drums these days. I don't I don't know. We got two exciting things for you this morning. Three things. Number one, I'm not preaching.
That was a test. Jay Cummings is bringing the word this morning. And we have another baby dedication. This is like our receipt as a tribe family. Whenever we get to grow through birth, It's always a special time for us, and it's like a receipt for our tribe fam to be able to see and love on the new baby and the addition to a new family.
And so we've got we got a whole cast that's coming up this morning. So let's do this. I'm gonna stand over here. Mom and dad and baby Parker, you come right here. So mom, you stand right here.
Dad, you tuck in behind. Come close because we got we got a lot. And then what? Aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, like
If you wanna come up, you
can Yeah.
Who else who else is coming on up? Get on up here and tuck in. Yep. Godparents. Yeah.
Let we'll do some quick introductions. We have godparents and grandparents of Parker. Right? Okay. And auntie and cousins.
Auntie and cousins. We can we can all fit up here. Yes.
Okay.
So would you do some quick introductions so we could see who's all up here? Screw you up. Should I scoot over a little more? Boy, this is great. Alright.
Squeeze in. Squeeze in. Okay. Do some quick introductions.
Okay. Godparents on the end, Sophie and John. Grandparents, Trevor and and Jen, and auntie and cousins.
Nice. And then And little baby Parker. Yeah. And little baby Parker. So when we do a baby dedication here at Tribe, I'm not quite sure the denominational or church background that you came from, but when we do a baby dedication at Tribe, here's what we're doing.
In just a moment, I'm gonna read some bible verses, and we're gonna pray over baby Parker. But the prayer that we pray over baby Parker is not a prayer of salvation for baby Parker. This does not seal her unto salvation because as as romantic and as nice as that sounds, it's just not scriptural to pray for and seal a a baby unto salvation. It it's just not in the Bible. But what is in the Bible is being able to bring a baby, present them unto the Lord, dedicate that child unto the Lord, and and praying that at the earliest possible age, that little Parker would give her heart to Jesus.
And there's also a role that that godparents, parents, aunties, cousins play, and that we play as a tribe family. We commit to doing our part to love Parker, to support mom and dad, and to rally around them to help raise that child in the fear and admonition of the Lord. And by fear, I just mean that she would have a respect and admonition, meaning that she would admire the Lord. She would honor the Lord with her words and with her life. Does that make sense, y'all?
Mhmm. So with that in mind, I wanna read a verse really quick to you. Oh.
You're hot. Don't start
with
I love you too. Sometimes it is. Alright. So I'm gonna read from Leviticus chapter eight, and I'm gonna start at verse 22. K.
We'll get right
to it.
And and what I read might not quite make sense at at first as I read it, but it will shortly. Okay. Leviticus chapter eight verse 22, it says this, then Moses presented the other ram, which was the ram of ordination. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram's head. Then Moses slaughtered it.
Moses took some of its blood and applied it to the lobe of Aaron's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot. Next, Moses presented Aaron's sons and applied some of the blood to the lobes of their right ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toes of their right feet. And when you read that in the book of Leviticus, there's bunch of other things that are happening and that goes on. And this seems a little odd and out of place, like, why are we doing this? But there's some really cool deep spiritual meaning behind it.
The Bible says that some of the blood which was for the purpose of consecration was applied to the ears, and the ears represent being able to hear the voice of the Lord. The right thumb Yeah. That's right. The right thumb, which is symbolic and indicative of that the work of their hands would be consecrated unto the Lord. And then finally, their right toe, their big toe to indicate that their steps would always be led and ordained by the Lord, that she would walk in the fullness and Yes.
Calling that the Lord has for her. So with that in mind, let's do that right now. And I just take a little bit of this. And we'll go to your right ear. And touch you right there.
We don't have any blood because we have drums, but no blood. We're not that kind of a church. And you've been chewing on your fingers a lot, so I'm just gonna go right here in case that wants to go back in your mouth. Yep. Just like it
is. And
then right here. Oh, you already have that toe ready for me. It's the shoe rink somewhere. And with that in mind, why don't I pray for you? And as a tribe family, we'll pray and join our faith together.
Okay? Lord Jesus, we thank you so very much for this bundle of joy that has been brought into the world. We thank you and we praise you. Your word says that children are a gift from the Lord. So, father, we pray for baby Parker.
We consecrate her life and place her in your great and loving, caring hands, Lord. We thank you that you have given her just the perfect mom and dad to raise her because you made Parker. You know how she's wired. You know every breath that she's gonna take and every step that she will take long before she was even born. We pray over the purpose and the destiny that you have for her, Lord.
And we say yes and amen to the plans that you have. God, we ask you according to Psalms two, ask and I'll give you the nations as your inheritance. So, father, we ask for Parker's salvation at the earliest possible age. You would reveal yourself to her. She would bend the knee of her heart and make you the leader of her life.
Yes. Yes, Lord.
And, God, we pray for mom and dad. Lord, we ask that that you would impart a special grace over their lives. Tyler and Ellie, that you would that you would bless them. You would give them patience. You would give them financial resources.
You would protect their marriage, and that you would with with today's modern blended family, that everybody would just come together in a sense of family. We pray for the godparents that you would help them to keep a watch ful eye and steadfast commitment over this family. We pray for their parents and their blessing that the distances they've traveled to get here and auntie and cousins that you would knit our hearts together as family. Yes, Lord. We pray these things in the beautiful, matchless, wonderful name of Jesus.
And everybody said Amen. Amen. Bless you guys and thank you for letting us be a part of this special day. And we can clap for them.
Hi. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Jay. Hopefully, most of you guys here do. I don't like to go to
a church with a lot of
strangers, so I will typically find me at the doors greeting people. And a lot of you guys know me because I lead the young adults here at Tribe. So Tuesday nights, we have our life group, and it is incredible. So if you're a young adult,
you have been on one
of those, come. They're awesome. 6PM. Didn't know I was giving announcements.
That's probably what I do.
Cool. So for today's discussion, we are gonna be talking about transformation. We can throw up the first quote here. Jesus didn't come to make bad people better. He came to transform us into something entirely new.
Before I married Nina right after college, my lovely wife here in the program, Nina, for those of you that know her. She probably won't raise her hand because she's shy, but she's okay. And I was I had the privilege of serving a year at a therapeutic boarding school for troubled teens. So I got to encounter a lot of these young boys that were anywhere from 13 to 18 years old, and I was kind of their dad. And so I got to hear all of their stories about where they came from, like, where they're at.
A lot of them hated Jesus because they grew up in a household that loved Jesus, and they hated everything about their parents and how they were raised. So Jesus was the last thing that they wanted to deal with. And every week, I was able to bring these guys to church, and a lot of their favorite hobbies to do at church consisted of throwing things at the pastor when we would start to pray and close our eyes or dumping their coffee on other people and writing funny things on the connected prayer cards and putting those in very promiscuous places. So I had the privilege of doing that for a year, and I wanted to begin with a story about one of these boys that was kind of, yeah, lost. So one of these weeks when he was sitting in church, he for whatever reason, something the pastor said kind of triggered him.
It opened his eyes, and for the first time, he
was kind of able to
hear things clearly for the first time. He didn't exactly tell me or remember what exactly the pastor said, but essentially, this is what led to his transformation, taking a boy and turning him into a man. For the first time, he was open to accept the responsibility in the mantle of responsibility for his life, to accept where he was at and realize things aren't going right. His parents had settled away halfway across the country to this place in Texas where he was basically at rock bottom. And for the first time, he was presented with the choice to, okay, do I actually I I claim to know Jesus.
I've I've been a Christian my whole life, and I've I've sat in plenty of church services just like this. And I'm just kinda going through the motions. And where has that gotten me? It's gotten me to rock bottom. And so for those of you that that know me very well, this boy was actually me.
I, in high school, sat in church just like this, going through the motions every week, talking about God, being raised with good values. And yeah, I was basically rock bottom. I was just like one of these boys at his boarding school that had a terrible relationship with his family, was living in rebellion and disobedience, and was so far away from God, but he had no idea. So for this week, we're gonna discuss the importance of transformation, the kind of transformation that takes a boy from a man, the kind that takes a a worm and turns it into a beautiful butterfly. And I think it's the most similar to a fire that passes through a valley and brings about new life.
So why transformation? Why transformation? Well, evidence. I think we might have a slide for this too. The reason for transformation is that it is the evidence that we know Jesus.
I think it was back one more. It is the evidence that we know Jesus. In second Corinthians chapter five verse 17, it says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.
If we are in Christ, we are a new creation. This this is speaking of that transformation, that inward transformation that we should live. Our lives, when we truly accept and follow Jesus, should look completely different than what it once was. If you were a little worm, you should now look like a butterfly now that you actually have a know that you know Jesus and you have a saving relationship with him in your life. Another verse is in Isaiah 49 chapter six.
It says, I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. One of the other reasons for transformation is that it is a witness to all those around us. Don't know about you guys, but the stories that I hear about people that went through a crazy transformation when they met Jesus, that's what inspires me. It's pretty rare that you hear someone being like, oh, yeah. Like, I I met Jesus and nothing in my life changed.
Like, does that is that something that really inspires you to go out? And I'm not I'm not ragging on people's testimonies that maybe have been more gradual. I'm not saying that everybody needs to have this pivotal transformation point. However, the fruits of our transformation and our saving relationship with Jesus should yield fruit and should look entirely different than before we knew Jesus. Another one is in Matthew five talking about being the light to the earth, being salt.
A lot of you guys know that verse. And the whole point is that we are supposed to be different or for millennials that were were built different as Christians. Right? We're supposed to not look the same as your everyday person. So we're gonna turn in our Bibles to John chapter 21 verses 15 through 19, and we're gonna discuss the struggle of living this transformed life.
So, Kat, you can start to queue up somebody to read for us. Some context before we read the passage is two weeks ago, Jesus was arrested and crucified. And now where we are at John is that he has resurrected. He's conquered death, and he has already appeared twice to many people, including the disciples. And this is his third appearance.
In his second appearance, he told the disciples to go to Galilee and to wait for him there. So where we pick up in the story is Jesus had just finished cooking breakfast for them and is now meeting them in Galilee. This is the third time that he appeared. Cool. Yeah.
Cactus, we have someone who's
wanna read. Our base takes away. After breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter. Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord.
Peter replied, you know I love you. Then feed my lambs, Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question. Simon, son of John, do you love me? Yes, Lord.
You know I love you. Then take care of my sheep, Jesus said. A third time he asked him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, Lord, you know everything.
You know that I love you. Jesus said, then feed my sheep. I tell you the truth. When you were young, you were able to do as you like. You dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go.
But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and others will dress you and take you where you don't want them to go. Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, follow me. Peter turned around and saw behind them.
I think we're good to saw the magic. We're done. That's perfect. Yeah.
I'm just so excited.
I know. Good. I love it too. I would love to hear from you guys what particularly stands out from this passage. What are you guys seeing here that maybe you haven't seen before, something that jumps off the page to you guys?
I can start.
Go for it, Kat.
Yeah. I just find it interesting that he denied Jesus three times,
and then Jesus asked him three times, do you love me? I just find that connection interesting.
Yeah. I loved when I first noticed that. And I specifically didn't put it in my notes because I was hoping one of
you guys would see that.
Love that you see that. Good job, dad. Yeah. Was always asking myself, why, like, why would Jesus ask Peter three times, do you love me? Is one not enough?
And that was one of the things that stood out to me. Anything else stand out to you guys? Why why why would Jesus ask, do you love me three times? Looks like Lily's got her hand raised.
I was just gonna comment that I think for myself, it's one thing for me to say I love Jesus, which is true, but it's another thing when I'm really put to the test and I have to prove that. It's a different feeling.
Right. Right. Yeah. So, yeah, Lily absolutely nailed it. The reason one of the reasons why I'm speculating here that I think you just asked him three times is similar to denying him three times.
He's like, okay. Like, do you really love My parents used to always ask me before I went to bed, did you brush your teeth? Because now I say, yes. I brushed my teeth. They would ask me again.
Did you brush your teeth?
Yes. I brushed my teeth.
It was typically on the third time that they asked me if I brushed my teeth that I would I would concede, no. I did not brush my teeth. So I would eventually go, I know. I know. And I would have to go and brush my teeth after the third time.
Right? So I think similarly, this is one of the reasons why Jesus asked John or Jesus asked Simon Peter three times, do you love me? Just like Lily said, is almost as a test of seeing, when I ask you three times, can you really look me in the eyes and say, yes. So something really interesting that when you get into the Hebrew of or sorry, the Greek is they're actually using different kinds of love as they talk. So every time or not every time.
The first two times that Jesus asked Peter, do you love me? He asked using agape love. So a lot of us know agape love is basically the form of of God's love. It's like this perfect love. It's self sacrificing.
It is laying your life down for another one just as Jesus did for us. That is the agape love. It actually is in the verb form. And one of the quotes that said to define is agapeo. It says a free and decisive act determined by its subject.
It's a choice. Right? You have a choice. And when Jesus asks the first two times, Simon responds using a different kind of love, phileo love, which is, in a sense, the love of a friend, somebody outside of your family. So one might say that Simon was friend zoning Jesus.
Right? Jesus is trying to define the relationship. How much do you love me? Right? And Simon's responding, I love you like the love of a friend, the first two times, which is hard.
I'm sure that's hard to hear as Jesus. And Jesus knows. He's like, you denied me three times. I I know that your love for me is not perfect. I know it is not this godly self sacrificing, lay your life down for me kind of love.
So the third time that Jesus asks, do you love me? He also uses phileo love just as Simon had. And p and Peter responds a little bit differently. He says, God, you are all knowing. You know my heart.
You know that I love you using the same kind of phileo love once again. And I just think that's so interesting and so powerful that Simon Peter, was once so so prideful and so boasting of of of what he would do for Christ. He used to say, oh, Lord, I would I would lay my life down for you. In John thirteen thirty seven, he says, I will I will give my life for you. And when he was put to the test, like Willie said, he denied Jesus three times.
Something else that I think is really significant from the passage is when Jesus dresses Simon Peter, he dresses them as Simon. And a lot of you guys know that I take names pretty seriously. There's a couple of us, maybe even here today, that I have begun calling by a different name for a specific reason. What might one of those reasons be? Why might I call somebody a different name?
Right. I would I would guess because it's either their transformed name or they've, you know, come into a a new place in their life where they're looking to have that identity shift away from who they once were to this new transform transformed person.
Right. Yeah. So what Chris said was essentially to commemorate or show the changing from an old creation to a new creation, that you're stepping into a new life. And this name is your new creation. Alyssa also said a fun nickname.
That's another thing too. I I don't know about you guys, but a lot of my friends have fun nicknames. I one of my nicknames in middle school was PECS, and that was Why did you? Yeah. Why did you?
It was PECS because I had some muscles that other middle schoolers at the time
weren't able to use, and
that was symbolic of my transformation into a man. Yep. Alright. All that to say, I think it's really significant that Jesus called him Simon in this time. Mhmm.
As as they came as Jesus came to Galilee, he found the disciples doing something. If anybody read just a little bit earlier, you can look back in the previous verses just above 15. What were the disciples doing?
Fishing. Fishing.
They were fishing.
Fishing eating breakfast.
And for those of you that know Simon back in Luke chapter five, what did Jesus find Simon doing?
Fishing. Fishing.
Fishing. Right? So Jesus told us the disciples to go to Galilee and wait for him there. And the disciples getting a little antsy started going back to their old way of life. They could have been doing so many different things.
They could have been out preaching the gospel and making disciples like Jesus told them to do or just waiting there for him to come back. But what were they doing?
Perfect.
They went back to their old way of life. And so I think even in this passage, you see you see Simon Peter called Simon. You see him called addressed as Peter. But Jesus specifically I I some suggest that the reason he called them Simon was to call attention to the fact that he was returning to his old way of life. And so similarly, for some of the people that are in this room, I will call them by their their old creation name when I see them backsliding into their old way of life.
Or when they are becoming their new creation, I I called them by that name as well. Something you guys may not know about me is that my real name is actually Jonathan. All of you guys probably know me here as Jay, and that actually was very symbolic. I didn't know it at the time, but I changed my name to Jay when I went to college right after I had found rediscovered God and embraced this transformed faith from that story I told you guys earlier. And now Nina and her whole side of the family knows me as Jay.
My family still will call me Jonathan. They're, like, trying to make the the change, but I think it's really symbolic that I've entered into that new creation phase of my life. Jonathan is is, in a sense, dead, and Jay has come alive and really embraced this faith in me. One more thing stands out to me from this passage. There's a lot of things that stand out to me from this passage.
In the first the first response that Jesus asks when Jesus asked the first time, he asked it in a specific way. Can anybody point out exactly, like, why that ask was different? There's a word that he uses. I think Kate's got it. There's a word that he uses that's a little vague.
Well, maybe I haven't seen it.
It's okay. Yeah.
I did notice this earlier that in the first one, he says, do you love me more than these?
Yes. Nailed it. What's he talking about? What is what are these?
I know. I'm I'm like the other just cycles. The other that is sort of what I'm like, do you love me more than thieves?
Right. Couldn't be a fish. He's totally A fish. You go. So those are those are kind of the two two main options we have here.
Right? One of
the other Two horses.
Jesus is asking Simon if he loves him more than these fish or, like, pointed out, more than these disciples. And so there's arguments for both. The disciples is interesting to think about considering that Simon used to boast all the time. Like, right? Him and John used to go head to head about, oh, who
did Jesus love the most?
Oh, I'm I'm better at this, that. I've fasted, whatever you wanna talk about and how they compare themselves. But I think after denying Jesus three times, Simon Peter's been a little a little humble, kinda tail between the legs. And so in this passage, the fact that he was caught fishing by Jesus on the shore makes me think that he's comparing him to the fish. Interesting.
Saying, do you love me more than your old way of life? Mhmm. Right?
That's really good. Yeah. Yeah. His boat.
And so you might be asking, okay, Jay. This passage is talking about love. What does this have to do with transformation? Are we going off in the weeds already? And I think this is a big big piece of what has to do with transformation is do you love me more than your old way of life?
It's not hard for people who are lost or maybe don't know Jesus to to maybe see that they have a need for a savior. They're living in they're they're tangled and wrapped up in all sorts of addictions. They have a whole whole history of broken relationships. A lot of them themselves can see that they need a savior. But I think the people that really have the hardest time knowing and understanding that they need to experience transformation is people just like Simon Peter, who are close to God, who walk with him, who claim to love him.
Those are the people that often forget that they are in need just as much as those lost people, that they need transformation just as much. Not even Jesus' closest followers were immune to forgetting this. It's so easy to backslide into our old habits. It's so easy to boast of our faith. Jesus, I'll lay my I'll lay my life down for you.
But what does that look like when it's actually put to the test? Are we those same hypocritical Christians that when we are put to the test, we our our love grows cold. Are we the same Christians that that boast of this and get caught living just like the world when we're called to live a completely transformed life. It's so easy to not love God the way that we should. So when I was in high school and still now, I needed to wake up to this reality.
And one of the questions that helped me to realize this was, how much do I love Jesus? Do I need to be asked three times to actually allow the scales from my eyes to be removed, to allow the the covers over my ears to actually be able to hear what Jesus is trying to say to me. What level are you on with Jesus? Do you just like Jesus? Are you guys just texting?
Are you just chilling with Jesus? Or do you love Jesus? Right? Are you are you are you past the friend zone? Is he really the Lord and savior of your life?
Or I love that Brian says, the leader of your life. How committed are we to him? Is our is our faith just an an accolade that we like to wear on our little Sunday morning. Oh, yeah. I I I go to church sometimes.
Or are we really sold out? Are we all in? When I leave this room, it might be easy in this room right now. I mean, in the evenings, it might be a little bit harder to be a Christian. But right now, in this room surrounded by Christians and people who claim to love Jesus, it's not too hard to say that you love Jesus if you were asked.
But what does it look like the rest of this week? Is that transformed life obvious? Can people see the fruit of that transformed life? An awesome example of this that Nina gave me last night was thinking about people that play board games. Those that know me know that I love cardboard games.
And there's kind of two different types of people that play board games. There's one person who is kinda like not that interested. They're kinda on their phone. They don't really care who wins. They just and these people infuriate me.
I'm like, I'm more buying a game. Like, take it seriously. And they just like they let other people win because they're just ready for the game to be over. Right? Yeah.
They'll flip the game. They'll just expedite the game. And the other camp is kind of the people that that take the game extremely seriously. You know, those those hyper competitive people? The people that would lay their life down for when this can get out.
So that's kind of what I'm asking is how committed are we to our faith? How committed are we to Jesus? Are we the person that, yeah, I'll play it if my friends are playing it. It's not that serious. Or are we are we all in?
Are we does your life depend on your faith? Like, workings. Do you need to win? Right? So how committed are you to them?
And I think one of the one of the ways that helps me to experience this transformation and to really encounter this is to recognize where I am in my in in my process, in my faith journey. Where am I? Are you a Pharisee? Somebody who knows the word and and is blinded to hearing and responding to the holy spirit? Are you the prodigal son?
Are you far off? Are you just living your life the way that you want want it to? And then you come back with your tail between your legs just asking for grace and mercy all the time and experiencing the cheap grace of God, taking advantage of that gift that he's given to you? Are you the rich young ruler, the one that lived faithfully for most of his life and is eager to encounter God even more? And when Jesus presents you with an opportunity to grow even closer to him, you walk away deeply saddened and grieved just as Simon Peter did when he was asked the third time, do you love me?
Given an opportunity to sell everything you have and follow Jesus. Where are you at in the spiritual journey? Are you like one of the disciples? Are you just like Simon Peter here? Are you like James, John, doubting Thomas, Judas?
Right? Where are you at in your journey? Or are you like me, the boy that was sitting in church, going through the motions, listening to what the preacher says, singing the same songs, not realizing what Christianity is all about and what it really looks like to love Jesus. We're all in need of transformation. In Ephesians four verse 22 through 24, it says, put off the old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.
And be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Put on the new self. So here's where rubber meets the road. How exactly do we experience this transformation that I'm talking about? How am I really supposed to walk in the likeness of God and righteousness and holiness?
It's pretty tough, especially here in Jackson surrounded by a valley filled with things that just worship creation instead of the creator. So what does it actually look like to experience transformation? We can go to the next one. Number one, Lisa and Ryan already talked about it, repentance. That is the number one way to come back to the feet of Jesus.
In first John chapter one verses eight through nine, it says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. We deceive ourselves. All of us are broken and fall short of the glory of God. And there is not truth, and the truth is not in us. Verse nine says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It's easy to be the boy in church that just sits there and and goes through the motions. Just sits through another Sunday and keeps going. What does it look like to truly experience repentance? Because all of us need it. Doesn't matter how long you've been here.
Doesn't matter if you're Brian and you pastor a church. We are all sinful and fall short. If you are knowingly living in disobedience, it's a great opportunity to come. Like the prodigal son, you know that you're astray. You know that you you're lost.
Come before the throne. Come before the feet of Jesus and experience this repentance. For those of you that unknowingly are living in sin, this is this is where it's tricky. I think similar to to Simon Peter where Jesus has to ask him, do you love me three times to really get him to understand where what level he's on with Jesus. Am I am I do I love you as a friend, or do I love you this agape love where I'm willing to lay my life down for you?
In Psalm one thirty nine verses 23 through 24, David says, search me, God. Know my heart. Test me and know my concerns. See if there's any offensive way in me. Lead me in the everlasting way.
How recently have you asked somebody else to point out where you fall short? This is where we encounter sin that we may unknowingly be living in. I think this is some of the the hardest things for us to encounter. Have you given someone permission and authority to call you out in your life and to call you higher? It's tough.
This could be this could be a coworker. This could be a close friend. A lot of our spouses do it without us asking, but it's important. Right? It's a sanctifying process.
Sanctifying process. And I encourage all of you, if you are able to work up the courage, if you are able to pray one of those bold prayers of like David did, Lord, point out any offensive way that is in me. This is how we experience that transformation and walk in God's true righteousness and holiness for our lives. As when we are able to invite people to sharpen us as iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another. This is what it looks like.
Are you willing to take that step? Are you willing to be vulnerable and put yourself on the line and say,
where do I fall short?
He's got something.
Yeah. I got a comment.
Go for it.
For me, one of the most difficult things is not when I give someone permission to describe a fault, but when they just boom, it just comes out. Right. Now that is tricky because pride and defensive comes up.
Right.
And I haven't mastered this. Colin's really good at doing this. Catch me short, which is great. But one thing that I've learned, and and she can see things that I can't, is that if if okay. The defense mechanism, the pride kicks in, but I can't entertain it.
I can't linger with that attitude very long. I've gotta flip the switch and at least quietly in my mind say, okay. I can't see this. I think she's crazy, but but maybe there's something to it. Yeah.
And let yeah, and she can she can see the difference. She can see me she she can see the anger dissipating, and then she will pray. And it's it's taken a lot of years to get there.
Mhmm. Definitely. Lee brings up a great point. Oftentimes, similar to those of us that have spouses, our feedback on where we fall short comes when we are not ready. It just counts.
Right? And how we respond to this? Our knee jerk reaction is the human's response to put up walls, to get defensive, to say, nope. That's not me. Nope.
That's not you. We can name off a list of excuses. We can do whatever. Our knee jerk reaction is not to accept responsibility. The thing that the pastor said that led to my transformation was you are not a victim.
Uh-huh.
And when that said in and when I stopped just like pointing the finger and saying like at the time, my parents had caught me living in sexual sin and deceit and everything like that. And I was
like, oh, you guys don't understand. Like, you guys are the worst parents. Take away my phone and not let me drive. Oh, man. Like, you guys are the worst.
And no part of me was willing to accept responsibility for where I had fallen short. I was defensive.
Yeah. I
was putting up walls. I was trying to protect myself. My parents were wrong. They were too hard on me. They punished me too hard.
Abusive parents, I might have tried to say at the time. But it was when I accepted responsibility for how I had fallen short. That's when I was able to experience transformation. And so similar to what Lee was describing, and I think Chris has got a comment too. Similar to what Lee was describing is sometimes it takes time to let those things sink in.
I remember when I was back in Texas, my mentor out there, I was I was wakeboarding behind the boat and I'm I'm jumping the weight and stuff like that.
I'm like, man, like, I I really
just need to, like, get more air and man, like, I'm just I don't I don't know what I'm not doing right. Like, I'm not getting enough air to be able to do certain tricks. And he was like, oh, it was like, you need to cut harder. And I'm like, I'm cutting as hard as I can. Like, you literally can't cut harder than the way that I'm doing.
This this guy's and he can do backflips and everything like that, and I'm telling him that I know better than he does. And he's while he's driving the boat, he's watching me behind the wings. My pride and my arrogance prevented me from being able to level up and to go to the next level in my ability. A lot of us have probably encountered those prideful athletes that are so stubborn and stuck in their ways, and they cannot improve because they're not willing to listen to feedback. Yep.
And it was later that night that I realized, oh, I totally missed it. In that moment, my pride distracted me from being able to accept the feedback and realize that it was accurate. I didn't understand what he was offering me. Chris, you got a comment.
Yes. Ajay, I've been trying to put myself in in Peter's shoes and kind of the real relationship that he had with Jesus when this could have been the next direct address that Jesus talked to Peter after he had, you know, said that he would follow him to death. Mhmm. And so Peter's dealing with the guilt and the shame of having denied the Lord, and Jesus was still fully man at that time. So coming from the Lord's point of view, Jesus is probably still wanting to hear Peter say, I'm sorry, and Peter's denying the fact that he didn't choose to love Jesus when it came down to crunch time.
And and Peter continues to you know, nowhere in this does it show that Peter repented and said, I'm sorry. I failed you, Lord. Like, I'm not worthy. So he's dealing with this identity crisis of, like, I saw this vision of the kingdom of how this was gonna go, and now Jesus is asking if I love him. And he's telling me to take care of his sheep, feed them, and care for them.
Like, this is totally blowing Peter's whole vision of having lived with Jesus for years. Right.
Yeah. Yeah. I don't I don't see anywhere where where where Peter comes to Jesus and and says, oh, I'm I'm sorry for denying you. Like, I'll I'll I'll try better. Please forgive me.
Jesus is just asking, do you love me? Jesus is of course, I love you. Of course, I love you. As a friend. As a friend.
What
does it look
like to embrace that repentance? Where do I fall short? We all do. Just like that that verse in first John. If we say we have no sin, if we say that we are perfect, if we are just like Christ, which we are called to strive to be.
Don't get me wrong. We are called to strive to be like Christ. We shouldn't just sit and wallow in our sin and and submit to it. Are we confessing sin? Are we being confronted by our sin?
Hopefully, we can do that internally. Mhmm. But if we are not doing that internally by ourselves, are we asking others to confront us with that? Where do I fall short? Giving them permission and authority.
Because when you're able to ask that question and ask people to bring that to you, it's not gonna take you by surprise. You are going to be more open. You you're like, I asked for this. Yeah. Am I ready to hear it?
How do you prepare your heart to really come before Jesus on your knees and repent for where you fall short? Whether it's it's knowingly and you're you're living in rebellion or unknowingly. The second way we can experience transformation is through a study that I've been doing through practicing the way. For those of you that know John Marco, he he's released all these awesome studies on how to live just like Jesus. And what stands out to me is subtraction, not addition.
A lot of people are I would go so far as to say most of us live extremely busy lives. All of us. We're we're going from a and b. Our days are packed full of stuff. I got work.
I got relationships I gotta take care of. There's people I gotta provide for, things I gotta do. And on top of that, there's hobbies that I want to do. There's dreams that I'm trying to chase. To experience transformation, it's not about adding more onto our already busy lives.
It's not about, oh, pray harder and read your bible more and and do more good works and serve more. That's not necessarily where you experience transformation. Those things are good, and we should do those things as Christians that love Jesus. But that's not necessarily going to transform you. What John Mark Comer encourages us to do is to take things out, make room for that transformation.
One of the one of the recent challenges in his study was if you don't have time to pray 30 a day, you need to seriously reconsider how you spend your time. You need to take an audit of your life. Because I'm like, thirty minutes. Like, you think I just have time to sit down and just have thirty minutes of prayer? I'm like, I already I already do all these other things.
Like, I already I already spend a lot of time with you. I already read your word. I go to church, like, three times a week. Thirty minutes a day on top of that is that you need to seriously reconsider your priorities if you don't have time to do that. Or maybe or maybe we just don't want to do that.
We'd rather keep scrolling on our phones for thirty minutes. That time goes by real quick, and we can't get back. Does a tran does a does a butterfly transform overnight? No. No.
No. I I don't know. I don't does anyone know how long they stay in a cocoon before they transform? I don't know. About eleven days.
Actually? Wow. Eleven days. That's pretty quick.
She's pretty spooky.
How much is that? Oh. Kayla Kayla brought up a great point. How much is eleven days in comparison to the whole lifespan of a butterfly from a worm
How long?
Caterpillars or butterflies? So butterflies living the transformed life. Let's just fact check this. Butterflies live one to two weeks?
Yes. It's fifteen to twenty nine days at most.
Wow. What about the monarchs that do that?
I know. Half of their life.
Half of their life is trans.
Half of
their life
is yeah. Wow. Tyler just just just said plainly, half of their life is transformation. As Christians, we're called to do that for our entire lives. We're called to be transformed our entire lives.
Like I said earlier, it's so easy for us to point the finger and be like, oh, that person's lost. They don't know Jesus. They need to encounter him and be saved. We, as Christians, who maybe already have a saving relationship with Jesus, just as much need to be transformed in our lives. And one of the ways is to make room and take things out to really encounter that transformation.
Because when we're running from a to b, on days that I'm I'm I'm fasting, I can't even I don't even have time to spend with the Lord. That's not transformative for me because I'm so distracted. I'm not spending time with Jesus, which is the whole point of fasting is that act of worship. Right? And and and something that John Markover really encourages you to do in taking that time and subtracting and making more time is to practice things like Sabbath.
One of the commandments, Jesus' Sabbath, whole day. Jesus oftentimes walked away, removed himself to go and spend time with the father and just pray. Do you have time for that in your life? I feel like I don't. So I need to subtract.
What can I cut? What can I pull out so that I can experience this transformation?
I had to I don't have the microphone. Yeah.
Go to mic and just listen. If you wanna talk for me. Start playing.
I had to rewind the table a little bit. I know you said John twenty one fifteen through 19, but I needed the rest of the story. Yeah. And in verse six, he tells them to throw the net on the right hand side of the boat, which is basically telling them to do a one eighty. Like, turn around and transform and try something else, something that hasn't been working for you.
So that was that was pretty telling for me. Tyler,
you you wanna come up here? You're doing great. That's another great example
Yeah.
Of how Jesus calls us to live the transformed life. What we think we know how to do, Simon Peter had been a fisher. He knows how to fish. It's not like he's just out there screwing around. He's a fisher, and he's not catching no fish.
So what does Jesus tell him to do? Throw the net on
the other side of the boat.
My ways are so much higher than yours. Man tries to plan his ways in life, but nothing comes in comparison to what he has for us. I just wanted to leave a little bit of time at the end here to see if anybody had any last comments, any things that that stood out to them, any ways that powerful stories of ways that they've experienced transformation, how they've come to encounter God, regardless of how long you've been walking with them. Whether you you know him and you feel close to him or he feels far away and distant. I just love to create a little bit of room to subtract from our time here, enough of hearing Jay to battle on and just create some space for Jesus to work in our lives to really encounter you, to point out any areas in our life where we are living in sin.
Ask, where
do I fall short?
Is there any offensive way in me, Lord? And give him permission to come in into your life and to transform you from a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.
Confession time. I always have a good intentions, but there's something else. It's, oh, put on that laundry. Oh, set up the vacuum cleaner. Oh, gotta feed the horses.
Gotta gotta gotta gotta gotta. And I keep I hear him call and say, just just come sit with me. So there's more than one time that he wakes me up at two in the morning, and I get to spend two hours with him. But that's not what I've given up. It my time during the day is important for him as well as waking me up in the middle of the night.
Jesus will find it one way or the other. Yeah. No. No. He does.
If you're not gonna make room or time for him
Squeeze the hard time. He might
he might orchestrate some circumstances Yeah. Against your will. Might need to be a burning bush. Might need to be, for someone like me, a ski instructor, season ending injury because I've been spending too much time out skiing, working too hard. I worked twenty three days in a row over Christmas rush thinking that I needed to make a lot of money.
Alyssa said, make hay while the sun shines. I was like, oh, yeah. Okay. You know, I'm working really good because I'm unemployed for, like, four months out of the year. I thought I was doing a good thing.
But all that time, I was neglecting. I wasn't able to come to church. I wasn't able to love my wife the way that she needs to be loved. I wasn't spending time. I was waking up so tired that I couldn't give the Lord my best first thing in the morning.
Glad you have a word.
So going through the cancer treatment that I went through, I had a lot of time to spend just reflecting. And I will quote Winston Churchill here, never, never, never, never never give up. I've been Christian for forty eight years or so I thought. Trying to put some bad things behind me. And we can never stop trying to transform, subtract, to to make the corrections that need to be made to to repent and turn away.
It's hard. Some things take a lifetime. Now, we're not promised tomorrow, so don't don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that we need to live our lives and then put it off to the to the end. That's that's I think the worst thing you could do.
But I do wanna encourage people to continue to transform, to continue to turn inside and look at yourself and be honest with what needs to be taken away and what needs to be the steps towards Jesus and your repentance and that journey that you're on. It's it's don't let anybody try to tell you that it's an easy journey because it's not.
The disciples were out all night fishing, trying to trying to catch something. Just like Peter, when Jesus first found him, was by. He spent the same thing. Spent all night trying to fish, not catching nothing. It's hard.
It's hard work, especially when we're living in active disobedience. It's hard to be transformed in that place, especially when it's the last thing we wanna hear.
Go for it, Joy. Another aspect of transformation or or spiritual formation is the reality that we're not starting from a blank slate. So to start today and say, okay. I'm gonna be transformed into something new. Like, we've already been transformed into something coming up till today.
We've all been formed by our habits and the people that we live around and the life that we've lived and the choices that we've made. And so that transformation is something that's already happened. And so it's not something that we can put off and then decide, okay. Well, I'm gonna keep going for a little bit longer, I'll really work on my transformation. Actually, you're being formed all throughout that.
And so the choice the choice is now, it's not a matter of what do I wanna be transformed into. It's what have I already been transformed into? And to take that and and then make those subtractions or additions and some and this part of the subtraction is that active resistance to what's already been transforming you and cutting those things out that are already trying to have already had an influence of forming you and then choosing a different way.
Something that Joy actually got us job our homework by practicing the way. And what he says there is, it's not a question of if you are being transformed. It's what you are being transformed by. Mhmm. So as PB comes up and does some offering announcements, next week, he's going to wrap up our series on clarity and complexity.
It's the same ask again this week. Come back to the simple gospel. Jesus, I need you in my life to change me,
to encounter me?
Do you love me?
I'm like, this is the second week in
a row. Wanted to share this. And so I'll just go off of memory. But last week,
we were
talking about when Jesus spoke, I am. He spoke his name, the self existent one, to a large group of people. The only people that were knocked on their butts by the reality of his presence and his glory were heathens, people I didn't even know who he was. But the people that were familiar with him, his disciples, and the people that were religious, they stood. They were not impacted by his presence.
And so I just proceeded to self analyze, like, okay, Lord. Is that just for me? Like, is there a religious spirit in me that's preventing me from experiencing your fullness? Is it my familiarity with you? Because, I mean, we've said it a few times today.
Like, I I spend all this time with you. Like, get up every day and spend hours in the word. But am I being transformed? Maybe not as much as I could. And then as I was reading, I brought two bibles today, my NIV, and I brought my passion translation.
And although I can't read as well as Schuller, I mean, basically, you know, in the scripture we read today, it was saying in the Aramaic, the word for love that he used meant to burn with passion. And I think in a moment of self reflection, like, every day, if we if we pray for thirty minutes, if we read our word for two hours, it whatever it is, are we burning with passion from it? Is that the result of of our subtraction? And I think that's our end goal. I mean, we all came to Christ.
Well, those of us who did come to Christ in this room came to Christ because we had a revelation of his self sacrificing love for us when we don't deserve it. And so my prayer for myself and everyone in this room is that we burn with passion and are transformed by the revelation of that love. Yes.
Oh my goodness. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Jesus laid down all of his life for us. Out of thankfulness and gratitude, we're invited to do the same thing. Woah. You love me so much. I can go through the motions of religious activity.
But Jesus, he sees right through that, causing every human heart, especially mine, to respond like Peter did. I don't know, Lord. You know my heart. And in that moment of vulnerability, Jesus didn't, like, whack him with the Bible. He met him where he was at and loved Empowered him by saying, feed my sheep.
In the midst of Peter's failure, that's the kind of guy that I want to lay my life down the floor. And he's been the leader of my life. I haven't always been perfect, messed up plenty of times, plenty of ways. But as an expression of telling him, thank you, and I love you to make you the leader of my life. He's in control of every single aspect of my life, including my finances.
So let's just take a moment as we transition from one type of worship to another type of worship. We worship the Lord when we open our mouths and sing the songs this morning. We worship the Lord when we honor the word that was preached. We also worship the Lord when we bring our tithes and offerings to him. And so as we get ready to bring our tithes and offerings to you, just one quick item of, like, family business.
The Virginian doesn't give this place to us for free. Keep praying that way, but that's not usually how life works. It costs a significant amount of our operating budget to be able to have this space and the space for tribe kids. We feel like senior pastor Jesus has led us to be here, and Chris Baxter is a member of the board of trustees. Like, we could never fit this many people in two or even three services at the TMC, the space that we own.
So Lord has led us here. I'm not looking to anyone or collectively all of you to provide financially for this space nor for my salary or for the salary of any of the staff. That that's that's not your job nor am I asking for that. That's the Lord's job. Now oftentimes, chooses to operate through you and your tithes and your offerings.
And it's just another opportunity to be obedient, to tell you, Jesus, we love you, and we trust you, and you're the leader of our life. So the Lord uses you. You you get to partner with him as he provides for his church here in Jackson. And you guys are such great faithful tithers and givers. I'm blown away by that.
So if you'll pray with me, we'll pray over the offering, and I'll share with you a couple of ways that you can give. Lord Jesus, thank you so much. You gave your whole life for us so that we might experience transformation. Lord, we ask that that you would use our lives as a fragrant offering, including portion of our finances. God, I ask that you would receive these finances, use them to make your name famous, and to evoke the beauty of the bride here at tribe in Jackson Hole, the surrounding region into the uttermost bounds of the earth.
Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. We don't pass buckets here at Tribe, but there's a a little box in the corner just by the saloon doors that you can jam all your hard earned tip money in. You can also give by check. Also, a lot of people are generous through their smartphones.
You just open up a new text, 84321. And in the message field, you type the amount, press send. If it's the first time you're giving, you can enter in your bank card information. After that, it's as easy as Amanda says as texting a friend. So the Lord bless your giving today.
Several announcements before we get out of here. Sunday, March 3 at 5PM on the town square, there is going to be a rally in support of Israel, and we, as a tribe family, are joining that. How many of you have been to one previous on the town square? So take a look at the hands around you. So I'd like to see triple those hands at the end of the rally next time I ask.
I'm asking you to consider making a physical declaration by standing with Israel. When you when we rally, we gather at the town square, we are not condoning all of their actions. We are not saying that they are righteous and pure, and it's binary like these guys are good and those guys are bad. What we are saying is we're standing on the Lord's side, and the Lord has picked Israel as his firstborn to demonstrate his love, his kindness, and his covenant that's available to anybody that would enter into his family. Israel is a nation surrounded by enemies.
And I would suggest have you ever had the teacher say this? Like, hey, you should sign up to to deliver your presentation first because it only gets, like, harder, like, if you wait to sign up. Right? Mhmm. Come to this rally because I'd like to think that it will be more and more challenging in the days ahead to come to a rally to support Israel.
Get you credited now. March 13, we're having a worship night, ecumenical oh, man. That's a little churchy word. Meaning, several churches are coming together in the valley for a worship night that's gonna be at Gateway. And for our tribe fan, that's a big deal to be invited there, and it's gonna be a wonderful time.
Lissa will be and her team will be helping lead worship for that. So I would really love to see a strong showing of that March 13. And then last couple of things, buy the yummy snacks that you grab on your way out the door. There are a couple of clipboards. Those are opportunities for you to serve, not just to give up your finances, but you can contribute your culinary skills for either bringing a snack Sunday morning and or a meal on Tuesday evening.
We meet on Tuesday evenings at the TMC, which is the tribe ministry center, and that's just down the road. And we do a service for young adults, like a a life group service, and so you can bring a meal to that. Last thing is this. There's a connect card in your seat. We'd love to have a record of your visit.
If you're passing through, we'd love to know, like, where you're coming from, where you're going back to. If you call Jackson Hole home and you're looking for a church, why you can fill this out. We also do periodic text blasts so we can let you know about all the tribe things that we have going on. So you can stay in tune with the five of tribe. Stand up.
Let me pray for you. Alright. Not a polite little, like, oh, that was nice golf clap, but this is Wyoming, y'all, and we can be a little rowdy. I mean, it's a saloon. So I'm gonna give you permission to be a little bit rowdy.
And you tell me, and you tell Jay, how did he do today? Well said. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for our tribe family here. God, I command a blessing over each and every person here today and all of those families that are watching the livestream. Lord, like Peter, I don't know, Lord.
We just surrender to you. Yes. Enable us. Empower us to live a transformed life. It's the cocoon time that's the real time.
And we ask that of ours that we ask that of you that you would impart that gift to us in our life this week. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God. And everybody said Amen. I love you so very much. John and Kate, wave your hands really quickly.
I'm gonna invite you guys to slip out of your seats. Go back to that booth. If there's anything that you need prayer for, our prayer team, John and Kate, would love to meet with you, agree with you in prayer. I love you guys so very much. Thanks for being here.
