There is a familiar definition used for the word ‘insanity’ which explains it as ‘doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results’. I hate to point this out here today, at the risk of sounding pompous and haughty...but friends...our churches are full of a lot of ‘insane believers’.

Yep...I said what needs to be said because the sooner we come to grips with this truth, the sooner many of us can be restored and brought back to our ‘right minds’...after...God does some cleansing and deliverance in His church (Mark 5:15). Let us never forget that it was God’s people who were always in ‘captivity’ and in need of being ‘set free’. (Jer. 13:17; Isa. 5:13; Luke 4:18; John 8:32-36; 2 Tim. 2:25-26) A lack of knowledge is not a good thing-(Hosea 4:6).

Our efforts...in ‘trying harder to do better’ in our walk of faith with Jesus...is what many continue to fail at; and it’s because we keep trying in our own strength to please God. It has nothing to do with our efforts...and has everything to do with simply coming to Him in complete surrender and allowing Him...to do what He wants to do in us, and through us. Moses tried at a point in his life when he thought he had it figured out to help God out...and it backfired on him, so off to the backside of the desert he went for 40 years. Then he has an encounter with God, in the form of a burning bush...and the last forty years of his life is forever changed.

The same could be said about Peter after his epic fail (yesterday’s message), and after three years of wanting to help and please Jesus, he too...crumbled in his time of testing and back to his fishing boat he went. Yet once again, he has another encounter with Jesus (2.0) on the shores of the Sea of Galilee...and the beginning of a new chapter is about to be written that would also change the course and direction of his life too.

Can I just tell you ...what I know to be truth, not only from what scripture teaches, but from personal experience as well? God knows how to bring folks back from the shadow of death, and ‘raise up beauty from the ashes’. But let there be no mistake in understanding this one fact: It is ALL Him...who does it, and it begins with coming to Him...with ALL our hearts. Jesus even made the point to tell Peter just prior to his fail, when he denied knowing the Lord three times...that ‘after he returned to Jesus’...he would be used to ‘strengthen the brethren’ (Luke 22:32). At that point, Peter would have been the first to refute the idea that he had even ‘left’, let alone could ever devolve to such a place. And yet he did, as we all know.

So what was the genesis of this new life of restoration that Peter would experience? It began with one question...asked three times by Jesus: “Peter...Do. You. Love. Me?” (John 21:15-17).

If you recall from our studies this past week, Jesus pointed out to the church at Ephesus that a grave thing had happened to them in that they had ‘forsaken their first love’...and were in desperate need of ‘repenting...and doing those first works’ again (Rev. 2:4-5). We’ve been looking at this with the hopes of helping who knows how many people who would be quick to admit that somewhere along the way...they too...’forsook their first love for God’(Heb. 2:1); and like Peter...they too...need to ‘return to Him’...with all their hearts. Which is why Jesus asked Peter this importantly profound question (#4 in our study) of ‘Do you love Me’?

If/when we first came/come to Jesus, it cannot be underscored enough that we do this with the full understanding that we are surrendering our lives to Him. I know we mutter the words about ‘giving our hearts to Jesus’; but where we usually end up falling short...is when God tests our hearts to see how serious we are about following Him. That really is a ‘thing’,this 'testing'... you know- (Deut. 8:2; Judges 3:4;1 Thess. 2:4)

Three verses I want to leave you with today that would be good to spend time meditating on as you ‘be still before Him’. The first one is found in John 14:15 where Jesus makes it known: “IF...you love Me...keep My commandments (do what I say)”.

“Why call Him, ‘Lord, Lord’...and not do the things He says?” (Luke 6:46)

And the final one is found in John 2:5 where we get the most powerful lesson from the mother of Jesus Himself...Mary. For those of you who truly desire to see a fractured relationship with Jesus restored...and want to find that place of peace and joy and refreshing that comes only from returning (repenting) and then abiding in Him (Acts 3:19) ...it has to start with Mary’s advice: “Whatever He says to you...do it.”

Now I don’t know who needs to hear this...but let me assure you here and now...God is not interested in testing your faith or obedience by asking you to do strange, odd, or peculiar things that make no sense to you ...or anyone else, for that matter. That’s not to say some of those ‘requests’ might not sound a bit ‘radical’ to you at the time, but leaving a life of sin is radical... especially since it’s been the only way of living we’ve ever known.  Join me tomorrow?