Transcript
Podcast Host (0:00)
This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.
Bethenny Frankel (0:04)
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Redfin Advertiser (1:41)
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Steven Furtick (2:13)
hey, this is Steven Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. What I want to do I want to go into the Word of God from Matthew chapter 16. I want to share an encounter Peter had with Jesus while Jesus was still living. This will sort of be a this is us, Jack Pearson flashback effect on the Word of God for us to see something Jesus said while he was still on earth in bodily form that still echoes with ramifications for our lives today. I want to ask that everyone stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God that is physically able to stand. Even if you're watching on a screen somewhere. Just stand up for a moment in reverence and respect for the Word of God. The grass withers, the flower fades, and your outfit goes out of style. But the Word of the Lord endures forever. I modernized it a little bit. I want to look at this scripture. And it's just a conversation Peter had with Jesus. Beginning in Matthew 16:13, when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you? He asked. Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, because he always had something to say. He was that guy. He was that dude. A lot of times everybody in the room benefited from his ignorance because Jesus would correct him, and none of them had to be embarrassed by asking the stupid question. He was that kid in class who would always raise his hand. And the teacher is like, what, Peter? So Peter raises his hand, but this time he gets it right. Because he doesn't identify Jesus just on the basis of miracles or the mechanics or the cosmetics. But he sees the potential Jesus has, and only the Spirit of God could have showed him this. In fact, when he said it, he was so right. Jesus knew that's not you talking. That's not that part of you that comes from the head and from the mind that tries to figure everything out. When he said this, verse 16, you are the Messiah, or the Christ, depending on the translation you read, he identified Jesus at a deeper level. You are the Messiah, the son of the living God. Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. I tell you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he ordered his disciples, keep your mouth shut and don't tell anyone what I just told you. From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the Hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Today I want to speak to you about the potential of pain. The potential of pain. God, we pray for open hearts, pray for focused minds, and we thank you in advance for changed lives. Where your spirit is, there is freedom and liberty. I pray the chains would fall to the floor today. I pray that people would leave this place with a much different perspective on you and themselves that would enable them to overcome. In your name, by the power of your blood and the word of our testimony, we give you praise today. In Jesus name, Amen. On your way to your seat, tell somebody. You must have done something right to sit next to me. I'm your dream neighbor. I probably shouldn't tell you this on Easter because you have your grandmother with you, but I have two tattoos. I didn't get them before I became a Christian, but they're really biblical. One is in Hebrew, so, you know, it's okay. The other one is on my ring finger and it has my wife and my initial. So I was just kind of trying to make sure I had her locked in. So I was like, we're going to get our initials tattooed. And we did it together. So it says H and S. So if she wants to marry somebody else, she'll be narrowed down to the letter S. And I figure it increases my odds keeping her. Anyway, when I went to get the first one, which is on my back, the one that says Kavad or honor or wait in Hebrew, at least I think that's what it says. I failed Hebrew in seminary, so that's what I think it says. It's on a really painful spot and it was terrible. It hurt so bad when I got it. I'm only going to have two. I'm never getting any more. Not because I don't want any more. I mean, I don't know if I want any more or not. I have a very low pain tolerance. When I finished with that one, this was years ago. The guy that took me to get it, he was like. I said, I feel you have so many. This guy had tattoos, just sleeves. I said, I feel so unmanly. How much that hurt? He said, oh, no. The place you got it on is one of the most painful places you can get one. When he said that, I said, why didn't you tell me that before I got the tattoo? He said, because I knew you wouldn't go through with it. I sometimes wonder if the reason Jesus Waited until this point in his ministry to really start explaining to his disciples what it was going to be like to follow him was because he knew that if they really knew what it would mean to follow him, they wouldn't go through with it. I've wondered before if God sometimes in our lives doesn't work in stages, only showing us what we can handle at that point in time because of his infinite wisdom. There's a real tendency for us to judge Peter in moments like what we're about to read. When Jesus proclaimed to his disciples that he was going to the cross, this was the first time they had heard him talk like that. Up until this point, they had heard him say things like be healed. Or they'd heard him say things like bring me the bread. They had watched him do things like multiply it or cause something that was lame to walk. As much as we give credit to Jesus for seeing the potential in Peter, I think we should take a moment and recognize that it took faith for Peter to see the potential in Jesus. He understood at a deeper level that there was something about this miracle worker that was unlike the others who had performed miracles. There was something about this prophet. His words had a different authority than the teachers of the law. There was something about the way he moved, and not only the way he spoke, but the way he prayed and the way he lived and the way he led that drew Peter to believe that this is the one. He believed it not in the kind of way where you tell people, I believe in you. Because honestly, it really means very little for you to say that. If you are not invested in someone's potential, it may be that you just actually are using flattery. It's a different thing when you let Jesus use your boat. Peter had actually been put in an awkward position where he was out fishing one night and Jesus just got in his boat and took off in it. Peter pushed him out and was willing to let him use his boat, which represented his livelihood. It's unique to me that Peter saw Jesus as one who had potential to change everything. In the same way, Jesus saw in Peter a kind of potential probably no one else saw. The reason I know that is because he called Peter a rock while Peter was still very unstable. It seems as if he was judging Peter not according to his performance, but according to his potential. You know what's funny? If I held your phone right now, I couldn't use it to its full capacity because I don't know what's in it like you do. I don't understand all of the contacts, I could have a lot of fun. I could send some text messages that would create weeks and weeks of interesting conversations if I had your phone for 10 minutes. But it is true that the one who possesses the thing has an intimate knowledge of its potential that is unique to the one who possesses it. In the same way, I believe God knows things about your potential. Your mother doesn't know, that your father doesn't know, that your best friend doesn't know. I believe God knows things about your potential that even in your greatest moments of triumph, you can only imagine. I believe he speaks to your life from time to time. Not from the vantage point of your performance, but but from the vantage point of your potential. How many are grateful that God sees your potential when other people want to hold you down to the level of