A Message for A Messed-Up Mind

Sunday was a blessed day in the Lord for me for two reasons. 1) It was the first time in four weeks that I was back in the pulpit God entrusted in my hands to preach. I started last week preaching in the area but Sunday was my first back home. I had nasal/sinus surgery and a uvalectomy that rendered me without a voice for 10 days and no solid food for longer than that. The church has been good to me, taking care of me and nursing me back to health and my older members have enjoyed bossing me around praying that this will slow me down.

2) After church I got on a plane and went to Oklahoma City to bring my girls back home. They went to see their mother for fall free days and spent the week in OKC. I am a single father raising three girls with the aid of God. It's not easy but I can say, they are my gift from God and my saving grace here in South Bend. It is so wonderful watching them grow in the knowledge of the Lord and Sunday service is not the same if I look out and I don't see them there.

Please pray for me as I enter into a three day revival for Pastor Issac Culver Jr., and the Jerusalem Baptist Church of Gary, Indiana. We pray that God will be pleased with our efforts in trying to be an instrument for him.

Sunday we dealt with Mark 16:1-7 and specifically verse 7

7But go, tell his disciples and Peter that(A) he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you."

I hope you caught it, in fact because many of you who read and blog are much more astute than I am, you already saw this but I never had. When I saw it I shouted and have yet to stop. Max Lucado in his Book, Cast of Characters says in our rush to the Resurrection we miss it but it's like discovering a ten dollar bill in a drawer full of envelopes. Happy to discover it but shocked to find it there.

But go, and tell his disciples, AND PETER that he is going before you to Galilee My mind had to ask, "Why was Peter so special that he deserved a shout out from the angelic messenger? Why not, And Matthew? And Thomas? He was the Doubter. And James or John? What ranks Peter to be so important?

It goes back to Mark 14:27 when Jesus says "All of you will be made to stumble because it is written I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter". Peter stands in verse 29 to tell Jesus he is wrong because "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be"

We all know how it ends up whether you like the Matthew 27:75 account or the Luke22:62 account they both end the same, "So Peter went out and wept bitterly"

Where did he go? Where did he run? Better question, where do you run after you mess up? Where do you go to get away from the guilt of your mistake and the haunting memories of your past? Since I have been there, I can answer it doesn't make a difference where you go, you just run, run as far away as you can. Run from your past, run from your pain, run from your problems, RUN, RUN, RUN.

Since God knew that we were going to run he sent an angel to deliver a message to the ladies, go and tell the disciples, AND PETER. It's alright. Jesus still loves you. it's alright he already knew. Change the name you fit in the story, And John, And Tony, And Steve, And Eugene, And Wendell, And Kevin, And you, those of us that have been messed up by the pain of your mistakes, messed up by the realization you haven't quite reached perfection yet.

Messed up because that sin you thought you had conquered came back to knock you down, messed up by that temptation that you thought you were past, messed up by the knowledge you still have bad thoughts, impure motives, unspoken desires that even when you have pushed them to the outside of your home, seemingly it crawls back in the cracks like roaches who know the way back in. God has a message for you:

Your Failure is Not Fatal
God gives Peter and we A Personal Invitation

What happened to you Peter won't kill you because I died for it. You don't have to die because I died for you. Sin must be punished, the debt must be paid, a sacrifice must be offered so I gave my life in your stead and now here is your personal invitation to come and see. After Peter receives the blessed news that he is not an outcast, he is not a leper or a wanderer, he runs as fast as he can to come and look for himself. God gives us all a personal invitation.

Your Failure is Not Final
God gives Peter and we A Purposeful Indication
Go look Peter and although you won't find me, I left you some clues that I am not lost. No one stole me, I woke up and removed what was no longer necessary and left them for you as something to hold on to until I see you again. Strips of linen/cloth may not mean much to other people but for you Peter they will be an indicator that I am not dead but I am yet alive.
Every Sunrise is God's indicator that He is not dead.
Every Sunset, Every Rainbow, Every bird that sings, Every flower that stands in attention to God's sunlight, Every star that twinkles in the sky is God's indicator, He is not dead.

Finally God gives Peter and we A Powerful Inspiration
God is not the God of a second chance but God is the God of another chance. Noah got another chance, Abraham Got another chance, Elijah got another chance, Rahab got another chance, Sampson got another chance and thank God, I got another chance.