Transformation (Do You Love Me)

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

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 connect and 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 and the mantle of responsibility for his life, to accept where he was at and realize things aren't going right. His parents had sent him 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 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 at rock bottom. I was just like one of these boys at this 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, kind of 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. Mhmm. 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. I 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 met Jesus and nothing in my life changed. Like, 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 we're we're 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 in 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. Kat, do we

have someone this one to read? Alright, Bates. Take us 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 liked. 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 stop at nineteen. We're done. That's perfect. Yeah. Great job.

I'm just so excited.

I know. The word of God. It's good. I love it too. I would love to hear from you guys what particularly stands out from this passage.

What do you guys see in 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. I was like, yes. I love that you see that.

Good job, Kat. Yeah. I was

always asking myself, why why 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 Jesus asked him three times is similar to denying him three times. He's like, okay. Like, do you really love me? My parents used to always ask me before I went to bed, did you brush your teeth? And I would say, yes, I brushed my teeth.

They would ask me again, did you brush your teeth? Yes, I brushed my teeth. And 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. And 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, it's agapao. It says, a free and decisive act determined by its subject. It's a choice.

Right? Love is as a choice. And when Jesus asked 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 here. 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 asked, do you love me? He also uses phleo love just as time it had. And 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 phileo love once again. And I just think that's so interesting and so powerful that Simon Peter who 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 Lily said, he denied Jesus three times.

Something else that I think is really significant from the passage is when Jesus addresses Simon Peter, he addresses him 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?

Jay, I would guess because it's either their transformed name or they've come into 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 Pex and that was YJ. Yeah. YJ was Pex 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.

Anyways. Yep. Right. All that to say, I think it's really significant that Jesus called him Simon in this time. 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? They were fishing. And for those of you that know Simon back in Luke chapter five, what did Jesus find Simon doing? Fishing.

Right? So Jesus told the 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? They went back to their old way of life. And so I think even in this passage, 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 him Simon was to call attention to the fact that he was returning to his old way of life.

And so similarly, with 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 call 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 have 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'm seeing it. It's okay. Yeah. I did notice this earlier that in the first one, 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 disciples. The other that is sort of what I'm like, do you love any more than these? Right. The fish.

Oh, there we go. So those are those are kind of the two two main options we have here. Brian pointed out the other is Jesus is asking Simon if he loves him more than these fish or, like Keith 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 does Jesus love the most? Oh, I'm I'm better this that. I'm fasting, whatever you want to talk about and how they compare themselves. But I think after denying Jesus three times, Simon Peter's been a little a little humbled, kind of 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. Saying, do you love me more than your old way of life? Right? 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 my I like I'll lay my life down for you. But what does that look like when no one is 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 in an accolade that we like to wear on our little Sunday morning? Oh, yeah. 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, 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 card and board games. And there's kind of two different types of people that play board games.

There's one person who interested. They're kind of on their phone, they don't really care who wins, just And these people infuriate me. I'm like, I'm like, we're playing a game, take it seriously. And they just like, they let other people win because they're just ready for the game to be over. Right?

Right? Sometimes they'll they'll do that to yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They'll flip it.

They'll they'll just expedite the game. And the other camp is kind of the people that they take the game extremely seriously. You know, those those hyper competitive people. The people that would lay their life down to win this game. Right?

And 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 those board games. 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. Experiencing the cheap grace of God. Taking advantage of that gift that he's giving to you?

Are you the rich young ruler, the one that's 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 this 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? 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, Lissa and Brian were already talking 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 is 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 could be a co worker. 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'd 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 irons, 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? Lee's got something.

Yeah, I got it.

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.

Colleen's really good at doing this, catching me short, which But is one thing that I've learned, and she can see things that I can't, is that 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 maybe there's something to it. And then 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 taken a lot of years to get there.

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 comes. Right?

And how we respond to this, our knee jerk reaction is the humanist response to put up walls, to get defensive, to say, 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. And when that set 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. Like, taking away my phone and not letting 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. 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 was wakeboarding behind the boat and I'm I'm jumping the wake and stuff like that. And I'm like, man, like, I I really just need to, like, get more air and, man, like, I'm just 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, he's like, you need to cut harder. And I'm like, like, I'm cutting as hard as I can. Like, you literally can't cut harder than the way that I'm doing. And this this guy is he can do back flips and everything like that and I'm telling him that I know better than he does. And he's he's driving the boat.

He's watching me behind the wake. 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. 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. So Jay, 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. 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 Peter continues to, you know, nowhere in this does it show that Peter repented and said, I'm sorry, 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, like, 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? And he's and Peter is saying, 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 submit to it. Are we confessing sin? Are we being confronted by our sin? Hopefully, we can do that internally. But if we are not doing that internally and 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 going to take you by surprise. You are going to be more open. You're like, I asked for this.

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 Mark Comer. 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 alright. 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 to b.

Our days are packed full of stuff. I got work. I got relationships I got to take care of. There's people I got to provide for. Things I got to 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 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 thirty minutes 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? I said 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 it back. Does a tran does a does a butterfly transform overnight? No. Nice. Good job.

No. I 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. That's pretty good.

How did you know that? Okay, gotcha. Alright. Caleb brought up a great point. How much is eleven days in comparison to the whole lifespan of a butterfly from a worm to being a butterfly?

Caterpillar. Sorry. There's a little there's a little little like camp song about wormy. Anyways, okay. Anyways.

I know. They'll they'll roast you. They'll catch you on everything. Yep. Welcome.

Sorry about the worm. Caterpillar. Caterpillars or butterflies? So butterflies living the transformed life, Lisa just fact check this. Butterflies live one to two weeks?

Wow. Tyler just just said it plainly. Half of their life is transformation. As Christians, we're called to do that for our entire lives. We are 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, is the whole point of fasting is that act of worship. Right? And and and something that John Markromer really encourages you to do in taking that time subtracting and making more time is to practice things like Sabbath.

One of the commandments. Jesus Sabbath. A 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? Yeah, let's grab the mic.

Alyssa, if you want to come up and start playing.

I had to rewind the tape 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 want to come up here, dude? You just dang, dude. Just You're doing great. Spitting the facts. That's another great example 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 here in J, Babylon, 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. Colleen's got a word.

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, 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. Mhmm. 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. If you're not gonna make room or time for him, he might he might orchestrate some circumstances against your will. Might need to be a burning bush. Might need to be for someone like me, a ski instructor, in a 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.

Lissa said, make hay while the sun shines. And I was like, oh, yeah. Like, I'm yeah. 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, 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.

Clay, do 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 a 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 want to 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. In 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 in Luke five. 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 and then 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 is 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 John Mark Comer's book, practicing away. 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. So as PP 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?

Well, I had all my books open. I just closed. I'm like, this is the second week in a row I 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 that 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, I 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 it 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.

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 fam 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. 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 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, 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. And remember, you got this.