B (12:01)
He says, I fixed it. I fixed it. I said, john, for real, this thing is still broken. Or it's ran out, but it's boiling hot in our room. He takes me by the hand, which, I'm not gonna lie, felt a little weird. And we walked across the entire resort where he's protesting to me all the time. Mr. Luke. Mr. Luke. I fix. I fix. And now, holding his hand, we walk into our hotel room where he very proudly presents to me something that he had done in our bathroom. And he points this out to me that I just had to Take an image of. And this is what he's showing me. There are 13 tubs of hair conditioner in my bathroom. I said, john, it's the air conditioner, not the hair conditioner. If there is one thing that I don't need in my life, John, it's the hair conditioner. And the truth is, I was not expecting that. You know, Emma and I were church planters. And planting church in England is quite different to maybe what it could look like here in America. Less than 2% of the population attend church. And in fact, it took us nearly four and a half years just to grow to 100 people. At times it felt incredibly difficult and challenging. But I remember after about five years or so, six years in, we'd hired this great big theater in town, and we were so excited and expectant for hundreds of people to come to church that night. And they did. And people responded and decided to follow Jesus. It was this landmark moment in our life and in building this church, it felt like we were on the highest point ever that Sunday evening. But the very next day, on the Monday, completely blindsided. Emma and I were sat down with the senior consultant of hematology at our local hospital where he broke the news to us. And he said, emma, I'm sorry to tell you, but you have stage four blood cancer. And in that moment, it felt like somebody had picked up our entire life and poured the entire contents of it upside down. Because that was a moment that I can honestly say I was not expecting. In fact, we embarked upon the worst two year period of our life. It felt like we just lived in and out of hospital all the time. Emma had to go through a really aggressive form of chemotherapy. And for us, it felt like our life became violently turbulent. It just felt like everything that was previously certain was now all of a sudden not certain anymore. I mean, it just felt like this is the worst season ever. And truthfully, we were struggling to keep it together. In fact, if you're a part of Red Rocks Church today, maybe this is the first time that you've come in, or maybe you came at Easter and now this is the Sunday that you're here checking things out. If you've ever wondered, like, what's it really like? If we were to peel back the curtain and look in at what it's really like behind scenes, or if we were to lift up the bonnet or the hood, as you guys would call it, to try and find out, like, what's it really like and what are the leaders really like. You know, I remember Ringing up Shaun on a Tuesday, and I was in a mess. Emma had gone through chemotherapy. It felt like this is just the worst season ever. And by Thursday, him and Jill were in our house. He got a flight the next day. He said, let me carry the weight. Let me preach for you in the church. Like, let me just help. So if you really want to know what it's like being a part of Red Rocks Church, it's exactly that right there. People who just want to love broken people. And I find it an absolute honor and privilege that I get to be with you today. You know, the thing about when your life can feel aggressively turbulent, like something's taken place that maybe you're blindsided and just surprised by, like something just took place that you didn't see coming, is that that can really affect how we all follow Jesus. And if we're going to be honest, it can be difficult to remain faithful to Jesus when life feels aggressively turbulent. What's even more surprising is it's incredibly complex to think that you could ever be used by God, let alone remain a follower of Jesus, when your life feels aggressively turbulent. And some of you might know exactly what that's like, because some of you, maybe even in this season, you've had the diagnosis, or maybe someone that you've loved has been given some bad news on a health front, and it feels to you like someone has picked up your life and turned the whole thing upside down. For others, it's not a family thing with a diagnosis, but it's a financial matter. Like, something's gone wrong in the business, and everything that felt certain five years ago all of a sudden is now thrown up into the air. And you've no idea what this is going to look like for you in your future. Financially, it just feels aggressively turbulent. Maybe for some of you, as a parent sometimes or a grandparent, you can feel like, man, why are the kids making such dumb decisions? And they're just facing a train wreck. And you can see that they're walking towards the edge of the cliff, but of course they don't want to listen to you. And you're just like, this feels aggressively turbulent in our family unit and dynamic right now. You know what it feels like when life gets aggressively turbulent, but you know what the reality of it is, is in those seasons, whilst it can be difficult to remain faithful to Jesus in them, I am so glad for God's Word, the sacred scriptures, that when we get to open them up and turn the pages together, it gives us so much insight into the lives of those that followed Christ before us, that when we lean into their lives, it can help us navigate our own. So I think that that's really my goal today. I want us to navigate through some scriptures and almost try and find out what is it that we can learn from them. When it feels to us like life gets violently turbulent. In a moment, we're going to jump into the book of Acts, chapter two. And just to kind of give you some context of exactly what's going on here, Jesus has been arrested and crucified on the cross. He's been resurrected, and then he came down and he does breakfast on the beach with all of his followers. And then at some point, like, he gets ascended to be with the right side of the Father. And now what happens is Jesus is now in heaven and there's one guy that is being charged with the responsibility of leading the way for the launch of the early church, which is a pretty big deal, as we're going to find out. So let's jump in to Acts, chapter 2, verse 14. The text reads, Then Peter stood up with the 11. He raised his voice and addressed the crowd. Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you. Listen carefully to what I say. Now, in the interest of time, we're not going to be able to navigate our way through the entire passage of text. But in essence, what happens is Peter goes on to give this clear and concise Gospel presentation of all that God has been up to in the earth. He talks about how Jesus has put on flesh and walked amongst us and about how he was arrested and crucified and brought back to life so that people who are not perfect can today have a real and authentic relationship with him. And it was just this amazing speech that Peter goes on to give. But what the result of his speech. Speech is is highly interesting to me because by verse 41, it tells us this. Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. 3,000 people became part of what we're now a part of here at Red Rocks, the local church. 3,000 of them were added to the church that day. Off the back of Peter's brilliant, concise and clear gospel explanation, you could describe it like this. This was a landmark moment for Peter, you know, in the way that you know what it's like to have a landmark moment in your life, like on the day that you give birth to your first baby. It's a landmark moment on the day that you pass your driving test or you get the grades in college or university. It's a landmark moment. Well, this was a landmark moment for Peter on this day. But it wasn't just a landmark moment for him. This was a landmark moment for the entire early church. Like, this is a big day. This was a speech that changed everything for even all of us that are gathered in church today. Because people who thought that they would never be given a chance or accepted by God believed. And there were 3,000 of them that believed that there was a loving God in heaven that had given his one and only Son, so that we who put our faith in him shall not die, but have everlasting life. It's a landmark moment for the life of the church. And yet it is highly surprising to me that this landmark moment award is given to Peter. Because the reality of it is there were 12 disciples, and there are only really two of them that made epic failures. And it certainly didn't end well for one of them in Judas. And the other one that really made a mess of things was Peter. And yet it was Peter that was called by God in Acts 2 to boldly and courageously lead the launch of the early church. And I just wonder, how did that happen when you consider Peter's life? Because when you consider the context of Peter's life, what you may know is that there was a season where everything became violently turbulent for Peter also. So I want us to jump into that passage of text that's recorded in Matthew's Gospel, Matthew 26:33. It says this, Peter replied, and he's speaking to Jesus. They're having a dinner where Jesus has just let them know about everything that is going to come their way. And Jesus is letting them know, hey, guys, some of you are all going to fall away from me. And Peter replied, even if all fall away on account of you, I never will. Truly, I tell you, Jesus answered, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times. But Peter declared, even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. And all the other disciples said the same. Now, those of you that might be unfamiliar with the life story of Peter, he did in fact go on to deny Jesus three times. He did the very thing that Jesus said he was going to, that he swore he would not. And the Scriptures recount it, because in verse 69, it says, Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. You were also with Jesus of Galilee, she said. But he denied it before them all. I don't know what you're talking about, he said. Then he went out to the gateway where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, this fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 72 goes on. He denied it again with an oath, I don't know the man. After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, surely you are one of them. Your accent gives you away. Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, I don't know the man. Immediately, a rooster croaked. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly. And those two words are words that I've highlighted and underlined and underscored in my Bible. Because this is a moment that Peter recognized that he's really screwed things up. This is a moment where Peter had just been claiming to Jesus, I will follow you anywhere. And now he's the one that's done the exact opposite. Peter is crying. He knows that he's dropped the ball. He knows that he's let the team down, he's let Jesus down, and he's let himself down. And as far as Peter is concerned, in this Gospel account, Peter is now done. Peter is finished. As far as Peter's concerned, this is not recoverable from. Peter is completely broken. So my question is, what was it that happened? Because in Acts Chapter two, he boldly, courageously leads the way, and he's the mouthpiece of God as he's used by God to launch the early church. Yet in Matthew 26, just a few books earlier, we find him weeping bitterly. He's broken. He's ruined everything. In England, we play a game called football. Now, this is what I would describe as real football, because we play it with our feet, okay? Now, I know you guys think you play real football, but it originated in England. Now, a few years ago, I got a call from the school nurse. She rings me up and she goes, hey, Solomon has hurt himself playing football. We think that he's maybe broken his arm or he's broken a wrist. We really need to get him to hospital. Are we going to call a paramedic or do you want to come quickly and take him? I said, I'll be there in two minutes. I'm just round the corner. So I get Solomon in my car and he's like, crying and he's in pain. He's in anguish and agony. And we get him into the ER and they X ray him and they try to figure out what it is that's gone wrong with him. And you might wonder, what is it that an English pastor would be doing in those moments when their son is in A and E with a suspected broken bone? Did you lay hands on him? Did you pray for him? Did you pray for everybody else on the ward? Well, truthfully, that's what Pastor Sean would do, okay? But for me, I took photographs. And here's the image because I thought I might use this in a preach one day. So here is Solomon, and he's being treated. And they turn around and say to him, soldiers, you've broken this really particular bone in your wrist and we can't cast it. So what we're going to have to do is put you in this, like, plinth device and you're going to have to wear this for the next six to 12 weeks before we can X ray you again. But in the meantime, you can't do anything with your wrists. Now Solomon turns around and what you might not know about Sol is that Solomon has played drums since he was like, before he could walk. He drums for hours every single day, and he drives us crazy. So he's been a drummer his entire life. So his question to the doctor, when the doctor was saying, hey, Sol, you can't do anything. He says to the doctor, yeah, but I can still play my drums, right? And the doctor's like, no, absolutely not. So I drive him home, and whilst we're in the car, I decided to have one of those parental chats with him. And I'm laying it on thick. I'm saying, hey, soldiers, for real, like, you are banned from playing the drums, okay? Like, you can't go up there. I don't want you playing the drums. And he's got like a music room of the third floor of our house. And, you know, it's kind of. It's out of the way. I said, look, I don't want you going on those drums. Like, if I find that you've been on the drums, like, I am going to be so cross with you. I'm going to be so mad. We get into, like, three days gone by, and I'm downstairs in my kitchen having a cup of tea, and then all of a sudden I can hear this low frequency drone of the kick drum going and then the rest of the drum kit. And it is like, sounding like he's getting ready for a concert up there. And I can hear him playing the drums. And I am so angry. So I did what any dad would do. I go running up the three flights of stairs And I'm about to go barging in. But I had to get my breath first because I didn't want him to realize that I can't hack the three flights of stairs anymore. And I'm about to go barging in. And rather than me tell you what happened, he was like 16 at the time, which means he knows everything. He had decided to record in anticipation of me coming in. So this is what happened. This is for Dad's purpose, so he doesn't think I'm not drumming with two hands. So I'm just going to record my drum session. Right. I don't understand why you're drumming. I've recorded the whole thing to prove I have used one hand the whole time. So it is just here. You just. You. Well, just look how many minutes. Look how many minutes are on the video. Three and a half minutes, one handed. Haven't touched the stick with my left hand the whole time. I'm not acting. I'm a good drummer with one hand to prove what I was doing yesterday.
