CHS Downtown sermon | Steve Henderson

Yes, we're the Hendersons. We've got a lot of mics going on, but that's alright. They sounded really good singing. They were beautiful. Praise the Lord. Corey, Lathan, and Kate, I'm so glad you were here and you brought that guy with you—Jeff. That's alright. Praise God. Give God some praise. He's worthy of it this evening.

God is phenomenal. He's the only one that stands on that stage. Oftentimes we call things awesome. We say, "Man, those are some awesome shoes. Man, that's an awesome car. Man, that's an awesome hat." And then we say, "God, you're awesome." Wait a minute now. Do my shoes and my car and my hat compare to the awesomeness of God? I'm going to challenge you: if anybody's going to be awesome, it's going to be God and him alone.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for my brothers and sisters who are here. Thank you that you are here. Thank you that you speak to us and we believe your word. Your word declares that it shall not return to you void. You said, "My word shall not return to me void. It shall accomplish what I've sent forth to do." God, speak to us, please, individually and collectively as your people. We want to hear from you. We want your word to be real to us, and we want to stand on it. We love you and we thank you for loving us. In Jesus' name, amen.

I want to share with you a guy that we all know. We know him by Simon. Sometimes we've heard him called Simeon, but most of the time we've heard him as Simon Peter. Simon Peter was one of the apostles of Jesus. He walked with Jesus and hung out with Jesus. Simon Peter had some great moments and some not-so-great moments. Let me look at just a few of the great moments we see in Simon Peter.

He was that outspoken guy. In Matthew chapter 16, verses 13 through 18, Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi and asked his disciples:

"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." Jesus said, "But who do you say that I am?" — Matthew 16:13-15

Isn't he looking for a personal relationship with us? Yes. He's been walking with his disciples for three and a half years, and he's asking, "But you—who do you say that I am?"

Simon Peter replied:

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." — Matthew 16:16-18

Simon declared by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. Jesus lets it be known that flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, Simon, but my Father who is in heaven. Jesus is so excited, he says, "You know what? Your name is no longer going to be called Simon Bar Jonah, but I'm going to give you a new name. Your name is now going to be called Peter." Peter is where we get the name, and sometimes you might have heard him called Cephas—an Aramaic term—which gives us the Greek name Peter or Petros, meaning "the little rock." Petros meaning stability, stable. Jesus tells Peter that you are stable in your faith. That's a great moment.

Let me look at another great moment. In Matthew 14, verses 22 through 32:

Immediately he made the disciples get in the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. And after he dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. — Matthew 14:22-25

The fourth watch of the night would be between 3:00 in the morning and 6:00 in the morning. These disciples had been out there in that boat—probably in a dinghy, trying to get across to the other side. There was a storm, the winds were high, and the storms were beating against them. They were trying to get over to the other side, and now Jesus comes walking on the water.

Listen to the scripture. In the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they cried in fear, "It is a ghost." And they cried out in fear, but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, "Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid."

And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it's you, command me to come to you on the water." Jesus said, "Come." So Peter got out the boat. Man, this is blowing me away. Peter got out the boat, walked on the water, and came to Jesus.

I wish I could say, end of story. Man, because that's a great moment. Right? Nobody else in here, nobody else in the whole world has a testimony that they walked on water. These guys had all been walking with Jesus for three and a half years. They've seen miracle after miracle. They've seen him raise the dead. They've seen all of these things. But nobody else said it. James didn't say, "Jesus, if it's you, get me to come." John didn't say it. Only Peter said, "Lord, if it's you, bid me to come."

I wish I could say that's the end of the story, but it's not. Because we know he took his eyes off of Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, Peter was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out his hand, took a hold of him, and said to him, "Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt?" — Matthew 14:30-31

And when they got back into the boat, the wind ceased. But I still declare to you that was a great moment. Right? You with me on that? It was a great moment. But here's a not so great moment for Peter.

Peter's Denial Foretold

Jesus had changed Simon's name to Peter—the little rock, the one that's stable. But then in another moment, he calls him Simon again:

"Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he might sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren." — Luke 22:31-32

Peter said, "Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death." And Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you would deny three times that you know me."

Peter is now saying, "Not me, not gonna be me." He said, "All these folks right here might deny you. Tim might fall away, Quig might fall away, Brian might, but I'm not falling away." In another scripture, Jesus tells his disciples that all of you are gonna fall away. Peter even says in that portion, "Yeah, these guys might, but I'm not."

But we know the story. He fell away. He denied Jesus three times, just as the scripture said, just as Jesus had prophesied over him. And Peter was broken, and he was hurt.

Finally, Peter sees Jesus again, and once he has a chance to talk one on one, Jesus asks him, "Peter, do you love me?" They go through this transition, and Jesus tells him, "Feed my sheep, feed my lambs." Peter is restored. And the next time we see him is on the day of Pentecost, and scripture records that about 3,000 souls were saved.

So Peter, from experience, comes now and he wants to write back and speak to us and tell us some things about tests, tell us some things about trials, because we all go through them. We all go through tests. We all have trials. Peter wants to speak to us from experience.

A Question About Tests

I want to ask you this: Remember when Jesus addresses Peter as Simon—his old name, not as Peter? Could this mean that Jesus knew that Peter wasn't gonna do too well in this test? Could this mean that when the test came knocking on Peter's door that Peter was gonna open the door with his flesh and not with his faith?

Let me ask you that question. When tests come knocking on your door, how do you answer? Do you answer in flesh or do you answer by faith? When you go through a trial, do you run in fear or do you stand in faith?

When you have issues and trials that come against you, do you look at your own abilities and your resources thinking, "I've got this, I can handle this"? Or do you kneel in prayer and say, "Lord, I can't do this on my own. Lord, I can't handle this situation. I need your help. Regardless of how much money I have, regardless of how good I think that I can handle situations, Lord, I need you"?

Is that you? Or do you look at what you have and you try to work it out on your own? Peter wants us to know, don't get in the way of the work of the Lord in your life. Let God do the work in your life.

What baffles me is that Jesus didn't ask Tim, he didn't ask Peter—this is how it's addressed. Jesus says to Peter, "Satan has desired to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail." And then Jesus tells Peter, "After you have returned to me, strengthen the brethren."

Now, hold up. If Peter would have been listening—and my wife often tells me, "You're not listening to me. I told you to do that. You ain't listening to me." I'm thinking, "Well, don't tell on Jeff, please." I'm thinking Peter was exactly like me. Sometimes I don't listen. Because if he would have heard Jesus saying, "Look, Satan wants to sift you as wheat, and when you return to me"—hold up, Jesus, where am I going? When I return to you, what are you saying? When I return, what am I gonna do? Help me so I can get through this test. We don't hear that conversation. We don't hear that at all.

Peter now is in his own feelings. He's like, "No, Lord, they might fall away, but I'm not going. I'm ready to go with you both to prison and death." Not going to happen.

So I wonder, are some tests and trials meant to benefit us? I wonder sometimes, going through a test and coming out on the other side, you say, "Lord, I thank you for getting me through this." Because I can tell you that I hated to go through some of the struggles and the trials that I went through in my life, but I'm grateful now that God uses what the enemy meant for bad to turn it into good. Amen?

I am so grateful that even through the test, Jesus stood up. Jesus pursues his people. He pursued me. I was not looking for Jesus. I was not looking for him snorting cocaine up my nose, didn't want to have anything to do with him smoking reefer every day. Jesus came looking for me in my mess, and I'm so grateful for his deliverance through the test. He found me, and now I just want to be used by him.

Understanding the Enemy and Our Defense

And that's what Peter says here. He says in 1 Peter 5:8-9, he tells us a few things that we need to be mindful of:

Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. — 1 Peter 5:8-9

Peter addresses us from experience. From my experience, we need to know that we have an enemy, and we have a common enemy. His name is Satan, and he wants to destroy your faith. He wants to destroy your trust in God. But he gives us some points.

He says, "Be sober minded." Now, sober minded is not just saying don't be drunk, because sometimes being drunk can make you not want to follow God either. But he's not only speaking about the sober minded aspect in the physical—he wants you to be spiritually minded.

And when I think about minded, I think about the mind of Christ that we see in Philippians, where he says:

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 2:5

And when you see that mind of Christ, you see what comes with that mind is how Jesus was humble. He thought about the cares of people. Humble doesn't mean think less of yourself, it means think of yourself less. Think of others first, and try to minister to their needs. That's what we see in Jesus.

So Peter says, be spiritually minded, be sober minded. But he doesn't only say that—he says, be self-controlled. And when he's speaking of self-control here, again, he's not talking about being controlled by your flesh. He's saying he wants you to be self-controlled by what the Holy Spirit gives us when we see the fruit of the spirit. Self-control is one of those qualities of his fruit.

And that means simply, not "Do I have the Holy Spirit?" but "Does the Holy Spirit have me?" We get all confused and wrapped up in that, and you gotta speak in tongues, and you gotta do this to know that you got it. Let me tell you, if the Holy Spirit has you, you're going to start doing what he says do, from the least of the things to the greatest of things.

So many times I've heard the spirit of the Lord just tell me things—just little simple things. I've been pumping gas or standing in line at Kroger's or Walmart, and he says, "Ask them, do they know me?" I'm like, "I don't know them people. What?" So every now and then, I'm bold enough to ask them, "Do they know Jesus?" But I've missed the mark so many times. I've missed it, and I've had a sense of denial.

But when the Holy Spirit is so prevalent in your life, and he starts blessing you to the point where there's no shame—there's no shame in your relationship with the Lord. Peter says, take the mind of Christ, be sober minded, be spiritually led, be spiritually minded, and be self-controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Yield Signs and the Holy Spirit

I think of this as yielding to the Holy Spirit. Man, this is one of my pet peeves. I'm here to tell you about yield signs. And I can't talk to y'all because I get mad when I start talking about these yield signs, man.

People taught us in driver's ed that when you see a yield sign, you come up to the yield sign, you slow down, you let the traffic go, and if there's a flow of traffic coming, you stop. That's what they taught us. I don't know what they're teaching people these days because I've come to see three lanes of traffic going down the interstate, and there's folks trying to get on with a yield sign coming off the ramp. They're coming in doing 55, 65 miles an hour, and they want to zoom in. I'm like, "You had a yield sign, man."

A yield sign means stop if you can't get in. It says yield to stop. And that's what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives. We have to know so much that he has our lives right in the palm of his hands, and he wants us to yield to him. He wants us so much that when tests come, he wants us to yield so that tests won't get us, so that temptation won't get us, so we won't run through the Holy Spirit stop sign.

Because sometimes we run through. He'll say, "Don't do that, don't do that, don't say that." Right, Linda? He says, "Don't say that, don't say that," and we'll end up doing it. We've just run over the Holy Spirit stop sign. He wants to speak to us.

Being Vigilant and Mindful

Peter says, be sober minded, be spiritually minded. He says, have the mind of Christ. He says, let this Holy Spirit control you, but then he tells us also to be vigilant. Be vigilant. And vigilant can mean being watchful and not careless. Don't be secure in your own strength.

And who else can tell us that but Peter? To not be secure in your own strength because he was outspoken. He was the one who cut off that guy's ear when they were coming to arrest Jesus. Peter went and cut the guy's ear off. Peter was just outspoken, and he says, "I've done a lot of things in my own strength. I want you to be vigilant. I don't want you to rely on your own strength. I want you to be careful in this life that you're living."

There are people looking at you. And that's one of the things that I did, you all. I looked at you church folks, and I said, "I don't want to go in no church because they're not loving like they're supposed to. They're not living like they're supposed to," and I used you for an excuse for me not to come into the church house. There are folks that are looking at us, and we're examples of Christ.

So Peter's giving us some warnings now. Your adversary, the devil, wants to destroy your faith. He wants to destroy your testimony. He wants to destroy your trust in God. But he says, you can handle this. You can handle this if you'll be sober minded, if you'll have the mind of Christ, if you'll be humble.

The Mind of Christ

Another thing that I see in this is that the mind of Christ—he was always wanting to have the presence of God. He always had oneness. The scripture says, "I and the Father are one." When Jesus said, "When you've seen me, you've seen the Father," they always had this oneness. Jesus always went off to pray. He always had this sweet fellowship with the Father.

And that's what we ought to have with God—that sweet relationship with him, knowing that there's a consciousness of him being with us all the time.

I wonder when Peter walked on the water, and when he sunk, and he cried out, "Lord, save me," the scripture said that Jesus reached down and grabbed him by the hand and picked him up—got him up on his feet.

The Bible does not say that Jesus carried him back to the boat on the water. The Bible does not say that they swam back to the boat on the water. Remember, there was still a storm going on, the wind was still blowing, the waves were still moving. The Bible didn't say that they swam back to the boat. Didn't say Jesus carried him back to the boat.

I'm going to emphasize this one. Use my own mind. Can I do that? I'm going to emphasize this one. And I wonder if when Jesus got him up by the hand, if they walked hand in hand on the water back to the boat. In the midst of the storm, in the midst of the test, did they walk back to the boat?

And I suggest to you that that could be a physical example of a spiritual reality. In other words, when we go through tests, find the hand of Jesus. When you go through storms in your life, find the hand of Jesus because he will walk you through the test. He'll walk with you through your sick bed. He'll walk with you in your hospital room. He'll walk with you in any area of your life. Find your faith. Find the hand of Jesus. Bless you.

Pray with me, please. Father, thank you so much. Thank you for allowing us just to be able to share your word and for opening up our understanding. Would you please continue to speak to us, God? If there are any here tonight that are not saved, God, would you save them? We know that you're still saving today, you're still delivering today, and we thank you for how much you love us. Help us now as we've shared your word. Help us to take these words and apply them to our lives. We love you and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.