Faith Alive Church: Welcome to the Faith Alive Sermon Podcast. This is a replay of a past sermon from Faith Alive Church. Whether you missed it, want to hear it again, or share it with someone you know, we're glad you're here. This sermon is by Jordan Waggy, lead pastor at Faith Live Church. Amen, amen. Come on, somebody, do they love Jesus in the house? How about that time of worship here this morning? Come on. God is good. God is good. And we are thankful that you are here with us today. My name is Pastor Jordan. I have the pleasure to lead this church alongside my beautiful, amazing what other things? awesome, smart, intellectual. Keep going. I'm trying to buy a round of golf here. what else we got? Amazing Mother. yeah, so very much appreciated, W baby. And we're so excited that you guys are here today, and both in person and online. man, it means so much that you are here. and we know that God is here. Somebody say amen. God is here and he is moving at Faith Alive Church. And we know that he's got great things in store for us. We can't even comprehend them. We might not even know what it looks like, but we know that it's coming, amen. Amen. God is faithful. God is good. And we're excited you're here. let's jump right into this thing. I want to pose a question to you today. rather just a statement that says, Who in here knows that life can be tough sometimes? Just a couple of you. Life can be tough sometimes, somebody say, Yeah. Life can be unfair sometimes. You know, in fact, I had a conversation with my little boy who's four years old just the other day, and he told me, Dada, that's not fair. I might have told him something that he needed to go and do something. And he said, Dada, that's not fair. And I said, Life's not fair, kid. Get used to it. Some of you are like, that's a little harsh. Some of you are like keep going. Amen. He's a good boy. He's a good boy. But life can be tough. Life can be unfair. We could also say that life is messy sometimes, yes? Life is messy. And, you know, when we think about our life, when we think about the mess that either we've made or that we're in or that we might be going toward, you know, the source isn't always the situation. The source isn't always the circumstance. Is it the source a lot of times is us sometimes? We create those messes. Do we not? Come on, we can be vulnerable in the place today. Let's be honest, we're all a little messed up. We're all a little messed up. We've seen some things, we've experienced some stuff, and if we let it, those things, that stuff can define. who we are and what we are to become if we let it. This morning I want to share with you something that is difficult for me to share. But I love this church and I love all the people within it. And I think it's appropriate. I think it's time for me to share the entirety of my testimony. Is that okay? Yeah. Now, I want to share this this testimony not not because of anything but besides the goodness of God and how he has moved in my life. I think we have to be careful, not just as preachers, but as Christians, when we're sharing our testimony, to share the best part about it. Yes? We don't celebrate the past. We don't celebrate the craziness that happened, the mess that we were a part of. No, we celebrate how good God has been throughout it and what he's taken us through. Yes. We celebrate God. We celebrate God. For most of you, this will be the first time that you've heard this testimony. And I gotta be honest with you, I debated on telling it. I actually just got lunch with Anthony this past week and I shared with him. I said, listen, I'm I'm debating on sharing my testimony. I don't know if I should, because to be honest with you, it's quite embarrassing. He proceeded to share with hit with me his testimony, and I go, I'll take that as affirmation. The Lord wants me to share it. God has been good in my life, but it wasn't always good for me. When I look back over my life, I can see something that in the moment I couldn't see, and that was that God was pursuing me. God was coming after me. He was pursuing me in the midst of the mess that I had made. He was pursuing me while I was running from him, and he continues to pursue me today. You know, I knew from a very young age that God was calling me into full-time vocational ministry. I did. I knew that God was calling me even in high school. I knew that he was calling me to preach. I knew that he was calling me to teach. I knew that he wanted to use me to help other people know about Jesus and how to love him better. It's the reason that I stand up here every Sunday and say, Are you loving Jesus more today than you ever have before? Because that's my story. I love Jesus today more than I ever have before. I knew that I was called to preach. I knew that I was called to teach, but the problem with it is that I didn't want it. I wanted Jesus, but I didn't want him to dictate my life. I wanted to live and forge my own path. I wanted to love him. I I did love him, at least in the moment I felt like I loved him, but I wanted him on my own terms. I didn't want to be tied down by church. Rules. I didn't want anybody telling me how I was supposed to live. I wanted to do my own thing. So I ran from it. I ran hard from it. You know, God sent preachers, He sent evangelists, He sent prophets to the church that I was attending, and they would speak affirmation over me. They would encourage me that God was calling me. Into ministry, and they would say things to me like, God is calling you to great things within the church. They would say things like God has great plans in store for you. They would say things like God wants you to be a leader within the church. And I want you to know that I heard them. I heard what he was saying, and yeah, there was annoying. Inside of my spirit, but that meant giving up all the things that I wanted to do in order to follow him. And I didn't want to do that. So what did I do? I ran the other way. I partied hard. I drank more than I should have. I made decisions I'm not proud of. I was living a life that looked nothing like the life that God had laid out for me. Eventually I came to the moment that I would consider the lowest point. in my life and I think it's important to be vulnerable and transparent with my church family here today. So I'm going to share One of the most embarrassing, one of the craziest, one of if not the lowest points in my life. My rock bottom, if you would. Would you have grace with me as I share? Yeah. It was several, several years ago, more than ten years ago, I was at a girl's house that I shouldn't have been at. I was drinking way more than I should have, and in my ignorance I got behind the wheel of my car. I knew that I shouldn't be there, I knew that I shouldn't leave, but I put the car in drive and I sped off. It was three AM when I turned onto a road that I thought would take me home. But when the other cars began speeding by me on the left and then the right, I finally realized that I had turned on the oncoming traffic. When I came to my senses, I spun the car around and I can remember thinking, okay, I'm good. Okay, I I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna make it home and it wasn't long after that that I looked in my rearview mirror and I saw police lights. They pulled me over, they gave me a breathalyzer, I failed. They gave me a field sobriety test, I failed. And I'll never forget the officer said, sit on the ground and wait. And I sat and I waited. I waited and I waited. All while thinking in my mind, what have I done? I just threw my life. what? Another officer showed up and they began talking and I could hear whispers from the area that I was and I could hear things like, What are we gonna do with this kid? I played it over and over and over in my mind. What have I done? The embarrassment, the frustration, the anger. Eventually the officer came back and he said, Get a friend on the phone, I want to talk to him. So I called and they talked for what seemed like another eternity. After he got off the phone. Fifteen, twenty minutes later, my friend showed up and picked me up and took me home. Somehow, some way I was free to go. Now, I don't tell that story to share with my church family how lucky I was. No, I share that story because what I see in it is the grace of God. That night. I have to live with that night for the rest of my life. What if? I asked that question a lot of times. What if? What if I would have hit somebody? I could have hurt somebody. I could have killed somebody. I could have killed myself. But God. In his mercy. Let me walk away that night. I wish. I wish I could share with you that in that moment everything changed. I wish I could share with you that I that very next day I ran to the church and gave my life, surrendered my life to Jesus. But the fact of the matter is, is that I was still messed up. I was still messed up. I still wanted my own thing. I still wanted my own way. I still wanted to forge my own path. God had given me another opportunity, and I was still missing it. You know, when I think back on that. Say how God provided another opportunity for you. How could you not love him back in that moment? But I know that several of us have a story just like that. See, this is what I love about my God, is that even after the second, even after the third, even after the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, the eighth time, God never stopped pursuing me. There were more moments. There were more, what am I doing with my life moments, more moments where God was trying to get my attention, more moments where I had to wrestle with the reality that my life, this life that I was building, wasn't the life that God had called me to. And then And then God brought me somebody. That would change if He brought me somebody. And I fell in love with He brought me my jotty. He knew that I needed her. See, God brings people into your life to help you. God brings people into your life to encourage you, to move you from where you were to where you can become. Throughout our relationship, the calling became clear. It started, the muddy waters began to part. And this thing that God was calling me to, this thing that I was running so hard away from, the thing that I had been squandering wasn't going away. The ca the passion that God had put inside of me wasn't going away. And eventually I had to stop running and say, God, I'm done. Trying to do this on my own. I'm done trying to fix my own mistakes. God, I surrender to you. I'll do what you've called me to do. And can I tell somebody in the place that there is nothing more freeing than fully surrendering to Jesus Christ? There's nothing more freeing. Now you fast forward more than ten years later, and here we are serving Jesus in a way that I could have never dreamed of. Serving Jesus in a way that I couldn't even imagine. Serving Jesus is the greatest calling of any of our lives. Thank you, God. You know, I want you to notice that I didn't have it altogether, but God was still pursuing me. I wasn't the perfect candidate. In fact, I was far from it. But hear me, but God. I said, but God. But God kept pursuing me. Listen, we're all a little messed up. We've all come up short. I don't care what your testimony looks like, whether it looks like mine or it looks like somebody else's, God is pursuing you. God is calling you. Maybe it's not full-time vocational ministry, but it's something that God wants you to do. But here's the point. The story might not look the same, but the narrative remains the same, and that is that his grace is sufficient, his mercy is overwhelming, his love is matchless. why I'm excited for this next month in a series that we're calling messed up. We're going to talk about Scripture's most messed-up people. People who failed, people who made terrible decisions, people who ran from God, people like me. But people that God used to accomplish his mighty mission. And here's the good news: if he did it for me, he can do it for you. Maybe you've got a messed up past. Maybe you're in a mess messed up present. Maybe you walked in here messed up. Can I encourage you today that that does not scare God? That does not scare God. It doesn't matter what you've done in your past. It doesn't surprise him. Why? Because the crux of your story, like mine, isn't that you were messed up or that you are messed up. No, the crux of your story is that God was and will always be faithful within your mess. Listen, he was pursuing you before the mess. He's pursuing you in the mess, and he will pursue you long after the mess. See, God doesn't need perfect people to accomplish his mission. He just needs surrendered people. He needs people that say yes. I finally got to that yes moment. I finally said, This life isn't worth living without you. So I got on my knees. And I surrendered all. Of it I am. So listen to me here. If he can take some kid from the Detroit metro area and turn him into a preacher, he can do it for you. He can do it for you. Father, we thank you. Thank you, Jesus, for who you are. Thank you, Jesus, for moving in the lives of your people. Help us to see the grace and the mercy in a fresh way. That you protect us, that you move us. Where we need to go, we just simply need to say yes. So Lord, we say yes to you today. In the precious and holy name of Jesus, somebody say amen. Amen. Turn with me in scripture to John chapter twenty-one and verse fifteen. John chapter twenty-one and verse fifteen. This portion of scripture focuses on a man named Peter. Peter, if you know anything about him, perhaps is the greatest example of a mess. He talked too much. He was angry. A lot of the times he had a temper issue and he was impulsive. And when Jesus needed him most, what did he do? He ran. He denied. Peter messed up several times in private and in public. Yet Jesus pursued him. Jesus pursued him. Verse 15. This is post-resurrection. Jesus appears to seven of his disciples, and the Bible says that when they had finished breakfast, they were sitting around a fire when Jesus said to Simon, Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Can I stop right there? You know, I do believe that Jesus is asking us that question. See, so many times we think we know best, we want to walk the direction that we feel that we should walk when in actuality it's not the walk or the path that God has laid out for us. And we get into trouble with that. And so Jesus is simply saying to all of us, Do you love me more than these? Do you love me? More than the scripture tells us that during this interaction between Jesus and Peter, Jesus and Peter are speaking around a fire. They are by a fire in this moment. Now that might not mean much to you, but it is significant. Why? Listen, Peter denied Jesus in front of a fire, around a fire. Now we see Jesus restore Peter around a fire. See, God is intentional about where. And when restoration takes place, Jesus, during this interaction with Peter, doesn't avoid the mess that Peter has made. In fact, he recalls it: See, your healing, listen to me, doesn't take place by pretending that the mess you made never happened. We don't just deny the past. We don't deny that. See, sometimes Jesus takes you back to the place where you failed to reveal to you that the worst moment isn't where your story ends. See, we get locked up by the past. We get locked up on what we've done when Jesus is saying, I got more for you. To do. Don't get stuck in your past. Don't get stuck in the mess that you've made. But remember that God is restoring you. God is building you. God is still writing your story. God ain't done with you. God ain't done with you. That's a word for somebody in this place that is so fixated and locked up by the past. God's not done writing your story. This is not where your story ends. You're battling with yourself, your mind, your heart. How could I? While Jesus is saying, Just surrender to me and I will take you through it. Between verses 15 and 17, Jesus says, Do you love me three times? He asks Peter three times, Do you love me? And each time Peter says, Lord, you know that I do. Then Jesus responds and he says, Well, then feed my lambs. He says, Take care of my sheep. He says, feed my lambs. Sheep. I want you to notice something in this moment. Jesus doesn't say, Peter, prove yourself. Peter, do it better. He doesn't say, Show me that you're different. He asks simply, do you love me? Listen, your life, Faith Alive Church, should never be a never-ending quest to prove that you're good enough. Let me help you. You'll never be good enough. You'll never be good enough. And that's an encouragement in this place. Why? I know it sounds like it's not, but it is. Why? Because Jesus can do it so much better. God can do it so much better in your life. We think we know best we don't. We'll never be good enough, but by the grace and the mercy of our King Jesus, he will lead us through. Your life should be about loving Jesus enough to obey him. Jesus ain't looking for people who have never failed, people who have never messed up. He's looking for people who love him enough to get back up, to fight back. He's looking for people that understand the grace of God is greater than the mistakes that you've made. Don't ever put God in a box. Don't ever think that your past mistakes, your current mistakes, are greater than the grace of God. Don't put God in a box. He's bigger than that. He's bigger than your mess ups. He's bigger than your anxiety. He's bigger than your failures. He's bigger than that. Peter's character And his arc, his story is something really to be studied. He went from I don't know him. He went from the denial of Jesus to feed my sheep. He went from denial to take care of my people. This is Peter's call to pastoral ministry. Jesus was calling him to be a minister of the gospel. The man who was afraid to admit he belonged to Jesus now becomes one of the greatest voices in the proclamation of Jesus Christ. This is how God works. This is why I feel so connected to Peter. I ran like Peter ran. I failed like Peter failed. I denied like Peter denied. Yet, like Peter, I refused to let the past mess define my future blessing. God's grace is greater. His mercy is overwhelming. And his love is awesome. His love is awesome. Thank you, Jesus. Trent, you can come at this time. See some of us. Listen to me. Allow one chapter of our life to become the title of our entire story. Pastor, you don't get it, I failed, yeah me too. I cheated. Yeah me too. I lied, me too. I walked away, me too. I got addicted, me too. Can you hear me in this place that that ain't your story? It's not who that's not what defines you. That's not what defines you. Your validation and your character doesn't come from what you've done in the past. No, it comes from who Jesus Christ is in you. And Christ is in you. This ain't where your story ends. Jesus is telling you, even in this moment, let's keep writing. Let's keep going. I got so much more for you. Would you stand with me in the house today? Man, I don't care where you've been. I don't care what you're doing. It ends today. Christ wants to do a work in your life. So with every head bowed, every eye closed. We're gonna first make sure that we are good with God. So if you are in this place and you feel far away from Jesus, you don't feel that He is your Lord and Savior, I just want you to shoot up your hand. Wherever you're at. Maybe you feel far from him. Maybe you knew him at one point. You feel like you don't anymore. Maybe you've never known him. Just shoot up your hand. Nobody's looking around. Nobody's looking around. Thank you, Jesus. I want everybody in this house to pray this prayer after me. Say, dear Jesus, I love you. Forgive me. Make me new. Make me whole in you. I believe that you died for me. I believe that you rose again just three days later. I believe you're with me. Guide me, direct me. I give my life to you. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Can we celebrate those that said yes, Jesus? Come on. Yeah. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Now, before we close out this service, I just think it's important for us to spend time and Can we just acknowledge that we we screwed up? We're a little messed up. And just give it to God. No I'm gonna pray. And you're free to move about this sanctuary. I don't whatever. You gotta move, you gotta move. If you wanna come to the altar, come to the altar. If you need prayer, just raise your hand. We'll have somebody come pray for you. Spirit of God is moving. Spirit of God is moving. So Lord, we come before you and we thank you for who you are. Thank you, Lord, for the character of God. Thank you, Lord, for moving in our lives. Thank you, Lord. That our past doesn't define us because you are greater than it. So, Lord, we come before you today and we surrender our lives to you. We believe, Lord God, that you are here, that you are moving, that you are directing. We pray that the greatest things in our lives are still to come. For we know that you are good and worthy of our praise. Spirit of God, would you fall upon Faith allied church? God, we cry out to you. We need your help. We cannot do this alone, but we serve a mighty God. The Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end. Jehovah Rapha, the healer. <unk>Hova Nisi, our banner, our victory. Jehovah Shalom are peace. El Shaddai, the Lord God Almighty. We thank you, Lord, for what you're doing. Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord. We surrender our lives to you today. It's in the mighty, in the precious, and in the matchless name of Jesus Christ. Faith Alive Church, if you believe that, can we erupt with praise in this house for Jesus? Come on, come on, come on. Thanks for listening to the Faith Alive Sermon podcast. We hope this message encouraged you. If it did, be sure to subscribe or share it with someone else who may need it. If you want to get connected or reach out to one of our pastors, go to our website at faithalive.church. We'll see you next time.