Time To Rise & Shine

TL;DR Summary

Pastor Larry Brey from Elevation Church delivers an inspiring message about the transformative power of faith and the call to rise above our failures. Drawing from the story of Peter in the Book of Acts, he encourages believers to recognize the moments when God calls them to stand up and shine despite past mistakes. This sermon is a reminder that even when we drift away from our purpose, God’s grace is always present to guide us back.

The sermon centers on the pivotal moment in Acts 2:14 when Peter stands up to address the crowd during Pentecost. Pastor Brey highlights Peter’s journey from denial to bold proclamation, illustrating how Peter’s faith was strengthened by Jesus’ prayers for him, as seen in Luke 22:31-34. Despite Peter’s earlier denial of Christ, his story is one of redemption and purpose, showing that God’s plans for us are not thwarted by our failures but are fulfilled through His grace and our willingness to rise again.

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on areas in their lives where they may have sat down in shame or doubt and to hear the call to rise and shine for God’s glory. The message is a powerful reminder that success in faith is not about perfection but about recognizing and responding to God’s unwavering hold on us. As believers, we are invited to embrace the Holy Spirit’s guidance, allowing it to lead us back to our purpose and to stand up as witnesses of God’s love and power in the world.

Full Sermon Transcript

Hey, welcome to Elevation Church. My name is Larry Brey. I’m one of the pastors here at Elevation. And everybody calls me LB. So in the chat, if you wanna call me LB, we’ll be friends. I love it. And, uh, my wife and I had the privilege of being one of the original eight families that, uh, sold their homes and quit their jobs 19 years ago to start Elevation Church. And surely one of the biggest honors of our lives to have a front row seat. But every time I get up in the pulpit, there’s a couple things that I’m always encouraged by. One is, Pastor Stephen, you do this every week. My goodness, thank you for standing in the pulpit every week- … faithfully preaching the word of God. I honor you. We love you. And it makes me grateful for our church. 19 years ago, we had eight families, and now we’ve got 19 physical locations. Come on, Valentine, let’s welcome all the other locations- … joining us today. It’s amazing. Roanoke, I love you. And then our very first Sunday, we had 121 people joining us for church. Now, today, the team told me on this, a weekend like this, an average weekend, there will be 180 countries watching Elevation Church. So let’s welcome everybody joining us from countries all around the world, Denmark and Sweden, Kenya, the country of California, the country of Texas. And, uh, we’re grateful you joined in today ’cause we believe God’s got a word for you. Let me give you one verse of scripture to set off where we wanna go today. This is in Acts 4:14. It says, “Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice.” Let me say it again. “Then Peter, he stood up-” “… and he raised his voice, and he 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.'” I think Peter’s got a sermon he’s gonna preach for us today, and we need to listen to the words of Peter, but not just the words he’s gonna preach with, but he’s gonna preach with his very posture. Because it says if he stood up he, he was sitting down. And I think there’s some of you that have sat down in some things that God’s calling you out of and so he’s not just gonna preach with his words, he’s gonna preach with his posture. And the title for today, I got it from my mom, Dorothy. She’s 4’11” on a good day. And when I was a kid, I would not wanna get out of bed. Like, the curtains were closed, I love it dark, I’d be curled up in my blankets. And my mom would walk in, with all authority of heaven- … and she would throw open the windows and the light would flood in, and she says, “Time to rise and shine, Larry.” That’s the title I got for our message today, Time to Rise and Shine. How about you look at your neighbor tell ’em to rise and shine. Worship team, thank you for leading us today. You guys can have a seat. This text that we’re jumping into, this character, Peter, uh, in Acts 2:14, it’s the day of Pentecost. It’s kinda the birth of the church, the promise of the Holy Spirit had showed up, a- and they started to do profound things. They were filled with the Spirit, and it spills out of a little room into the street, and this is like 9:00 in the morning. And all the people who didn’t quite understand what was going on looked at it and said, “These people gotta be drunk.” And then it says, “Peter, he stood up, he raised his voice,” because there was a murmur in the crowd trying to drown out what God was doing. And there’s always a murmur in the crowd that’s trying to drowned out what God wants to do in you and through you and all around you. And Peter recognized the situation ’cause he was, he stood up out of something and he raised his voice. That was not just him going . I think that is the Holy Spirit saying, “Peter, you are prepared for this moment. Stand up, lift your voice, and now speak something over these people.” And he got up out of something. But we don’t appreciate Peter standing up as much if we don’t actually know where he sat down. Because if you only see the second half of the movie, you don’t appreciate as much if you don’t understand where it began. So as we look at our character, Peter, some of us are gonna identify, “I love Peter. I so relate to Peter,” and so do you, ’cause Peter’s the guy who would always say some dumb things at the wrong time. That’s, “Just call me Peter. That’s, that’s me.” But if we rewind just a couple months, in fact, 53 days, just flip over a couple chapters. In Luke 22:31-34, it says, “Simon, Simon…” This is the moment at the Last Supper that Jesus is gonna have with his disciples before he goes to do what he was created to do, and he’s got this moment with Peter. Pastor Steven actually preached on this a couple weeks ago in a sermon called The Prayer That Repairs. Go back and watch that. That is so good. He said, “Jesus says, ‘Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will, may not fail. And when you turn back, strengthen your brothers.’ But he replied, ‘Lord, I’m ready to go to, to go to, to, I’m ready to go with you to prison and to death.'” Peter’s loud. He’s like, “I’ll take a stand for you. I will, I will take a stand in front of everybody.” And Jesus is like, “Yeah, surely you will.” Because he’s, he says, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” And so at the Last Supper, Jesus gives this parting word to Peter and then they go out to the garden. And Jesus knows about what’s gonna happen after that moment. The disciples had heard Jesus talk about, “Three times you’ll be crucified,” but now they start to see the story unfold and it’s a little bit of disbelief, I think, as they go around with this. But if you go to midnight, just a few hours later, Luke 22, it says this, verse 54, it says, “Then seizing him,” him being Jesus, “they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest.”… and Peter followed at a distance. Now, it’s really interesting to see the story unfold like this. Remember Peter, “I’ll never deny you. I’ll go to prison with you, but you’ve just got to rest, like, well, just a little bit of distance.” I don’t know if I want all that. I signed up to follow you, Jesus, but maybe just not quite that close. And you know, sometimes we don’t understand what we sign up for until we see it in front of us, and like, “I don’t know if I signed up for all that.” But before we beat Peter up, I think we need to celebrate him a little bit. Because Judas, he betrayed Jesus. Where are the other 10 apostles? They left, they deserted Jesus. Peter might be following at a distance, but praise God for Peter. He’s at least following. Can we celebrate Peter just a little bit? He’s at a distance because there’s somebody watching this sermon right now, and you’re afraid that your parents might hear it, so you got tone, you got the volume way down. You’re following Jesus, it might be at a distance. And we got brothers and sisters around the world, that if this sermon were to be played in public, they would be persecuted for their faith. They might feel like they’re following at a distance, but they’re doing the best they can. And for those of you who took every ounce of energy to click on the link, praise God, you’re following at a distance. For every one of you that had everything you could do just to get in the car to get to church today, praise God, you’re following at a distance. But Jesus said, “You’ll deny me three times,” but Peter doesn’t realize the denial has already started. ‘Cause the destination of, of denial starts with just a little bit of distance. The devil doesn’t need, need much space to work in your life. I wonder where you’ve got some distance in your life? You just got a little bit of distance from the word of God. You got a little bit of distance from your small group, you just haven’t gone in a couple of weeks. A little bit of distance from, from your small group. A little bit of distance at work. Maybe the path you would normally take to get to your desk at work, you’re going just a little bit of a longer way because the person, the guy at work gave you a little bit of attention, and he noticed your haircut and your husband didn’t. And now you’re just adding a little bit of distance, trying to fulfill something that God wants to fill, just not that way. Just a little bit of distance, and then… “And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard,” and had sat down, “Peter sat down with them.” It’s 2:00 in the morning. Peter’s been following at a distance. “I want to, I want to be right close with you, Jesus, but, but I don’t know. I don’t know.” And he’s dismayed and he’s discouraged. And he sees them making a fire in the middle of, of the courtyard and it says, “And he sat down.” We love talking about Acts 2:14, “He stoled up, he stood up, and he preached boldly.” But he sat down. 53 days earlier, in this situation, he doesn’t know that he’s gonna deny Jesus. He said, “I will never.” And now he sits down. In something that in a sane moment he would have never gone close to. Why did he sit down in that moment? Well, it’s 2:00 in the morning. Temperatures would have been in the high 30s. It’s a fire, he’s cold. He just, the guy who’s been following for three years just got arrested and he’s like, “I don’t even know what’s happening around me.” And sometimes you get punched in the face and you sit down in something that you wouldn’t have picked, but it’s just there. And he sat down in it. And what I want you to understand, the denial is already in motion. It started with a little bit of distance, and then he sat down. I, I, we live in North Carolina now, and I didn’t, I didn’t see the ocean till I was 25. I was born and raised in Minnesota, and I had all these images in my head of what the ocean’s gonna be like and the surf and the… Oh, and then I went there and I hate it. I hate the ocean. I hate all of it. Oh, my soul, they paint this picture and it’s gonna be amazing. And you go out there and you bake and you just lay there and you have dirt all over you, and you feel filthy. Gosh, I hated it. And then when the kids are little, you got to take all this stuff out there. Oh, painful. And then the kids are out playing in the water and the, the waves are coming in. But the waves come in at a little bit of an angle. They don’t come straight into the shore. So they’ll go out and they’ll play in it, and then the waves will push them up shore just a little bit. And then they go back out and play, and having their fun in the boogie board and the surf is pushing in and the waves are just, pushes them up shore just a little bit of distance. And they go back out, they’re just having a grand old time, 20, 30, 40 minutes, and now they’re way up shore. And they look up and they go, “How did I get here?” No one of these movements is significant. But when you add them all together, it creates a significant distance from where you started. And what I want you to understand, denial is a drift. Because the drift wants to push you away from the purposes of God. And it’s so subtle, it’s so slippery. And you’re just out there having fun, you don’t even recognize how far you’re drifting away. So when the kids were really little, I would take one of the orange tents from Elevation. And I would put it right on the shore. One, because I didn’t want to bake in the sun, it’s horrible. But what I told the kids is, “Every time you play, and you’re gonna get pushed.” The world wants to push you away from the purposes of God. All you do, “Oh, there’s my dad,” take one step over, “and now I’m in alignment.”But what happens with the drift of denial is some of you have drifted so far because you don’t realize you’ve drifted, often until you go, “How did I get here?” And now that little bit of distance is a massive mile of shame, and the enemy wants to drown you here because you don’t feel like there’s any way I could ever get back to there. That’s what denial wants you, but it’s a drift. It starts as just a little bit of distance. Holy Spirit, show us where we’ve allowed little bit of distance- little bit of distance in our relationships, little bit of our distance in our relationship with you and others and meaningful relationships. And it says, “He sat down.” I wonder, what did you sit down in? Holy Spirit, show us where we sat down in situations we would have normally avoided. Where did you sit down? Why did you sit down in that? ‘Cause you were cold and it was a warm body? Why did you sit down in that? Not because you wanted it, you were led to it or you were lied about it. Maybe it was fun or it was familiar. As the story will unfold with Peter, you’ll see him go back to the very fishing ship that he said he was gonna leave to follow Jesus. Why would he go back to it? Because it was familiar. Some of you sat back down in it. God called you out of it, but you went to it because you were so discouraged, you went back to what was familiar. What did you sit down in, and why did you sit down in it? As we look at the story of Peter unfold, you already see the denials in motion. Little bit of distance, and then he sat down. Then Matthew chapter 26, verse 69. It says, “Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came to him saying, ‘You also were with Jesus of Galilee, weren’t you?'” She comes up and she asks Peter a question, “Don’t you know him? D- don’t- don’t you… You were one of his guys. You’re from Galilee, aren’t you?” In verse 70, “But he denied it before them saying, ‘I don’t know what you’re saying.'” Here’s what he did. He deflected. “Girl, you crazy. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” If somebody in your life who loves God is trying to get you back into alignment, but you are deflecting and blaming them. You see what happens when somebody tries to call you out of the slippery slope of denial? It’s this drift that gets in motion, and somebody comes to you with a question. They says, “Hey, weren’t you… Uh, w- don’t you go to Elevation?” “No, you’re crazy. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You see how he’s gaslighting her because the shame is starting to seep- he- seep up inside of him? That’s a projection of the shame that he’s carrying because he’s unaware of the distance that’s been created between him and Jesus. “And at 9:00 PM, I will never deny you.” It’s about 2:00 AM now. Look how much distance has been driven there, and then the story continues. “And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, ‘This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ So what you see now is the… it’s not just a girl asking Peter a question. It’s a girl making a statement to the crowd. “Hey, yo, guys in the crowd, that guy was with Jesus.” You see how the enemy is increasing the size of the waves, trying to push you away? You see the attack of the enemy trying to steal your purpose just one wave at a time. This has been in motion. This is happening and- and how does Peter respond to this? But he says, “He denied it with an oath.” I promise you, on the name of Jesus, I don’t know Jesus. He’s- he’s now defending it with an oath. The first time he was just deflecting. Are you aware of your drifts? Are you aware of when you start deflecting things that God’s trying to bring into your life? And now you start defending your things with an oath. “On my mama’s grave.” So a servant girl turns to the crowd. Isn’t it funny how we’re so easily swayed by the crowd? We love the applause, but then when the criticism comes, the crowd is very fickle. But what you see is the start of the servant girl asking him a question. Now it’s another girl talking to the crowd, and here’s the third time. “A little later, those who stood by…” This is going to be at, like, 5:30 in the morning. You see, he sat down at the fire at 2:00, and now the third denial’s at about 5:30 or 6:00 AM because that’s when the sun comes up and that’s when the rooster crows. “And a little later, those who stood by came up and said to Peter…” Now, this is the crowd. They’re all murmuring with each other, like, “That guy? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ba-da-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta.” And Peter’s trying to escape it. He’s just trying to find a safe place to stay warm. He should have gotten out of the courtyard. “A little later, those who stood by came up and said to Peter, ‘Surely you are one of them, for your speech betrays you.’ See, you’re from Galilee. That’s up north. We’re in Jerusalem here in the south.” Now, I was raised in Minnesota. Once upon a time, if you would have heard me talk, I would have said things like, “Oh, yeah, sure. Don’t you know?” “Yeah. Yeah, I go out and about. Oh, yeah, you betcha. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Uh-huh.” And when I moved to the south, I went to a grocery store and asked a woman, “Where do I buy the pop?” And this woman looked at me. She’s like, “Boy, you ain’t from around here, are you?” I said, “No, ma’am.” She says, “Do you know- we kno- Do you know what we call you northerners?” I said, “No.” She goes, “We call you Yankees.” And then she says, “Do you know what we call you Yankees that moved to the south? Those darn Yankees.” That’s because shame was rising as the pressure was mounting, and something’s leaking out of Peter that’s betraying who he really wants to be. And it says, verse 74, “Then he began to say, ‘Those darn Yankees.'” He began to curse and swear. The first denial was a deflection. The second one was a defense. Now, the third one is a disgust. It’s a disgust in himself. It says, “Then he began to curse and swear, ‘I don’t know the man!’ And immediately, the rooster crowed,” verse 75. “And Peter remembered the words that Jesus had said to him.” It was only nine hours earlier. How quickly we forget. Just nine hours, he forgot what Jesus said to him. But he remembered the words, “‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.’ So he went out and he wept bitterly.” I think he sat down at this point and he said, “How did I get…” You see what shame wants to do? It wants to get you so far away from purpose, you feel like the only way out is to do what J- Judas did. And for some of you, your, your, your speech betrays you. You kiss your mama with that mouth? You’re acting like you don’t belong to Jesus. Because here’s the reality, you’ll drift far enough that your tongue will become a Judas and betray the allegiance to Christ. Why are you acting like that? Why are you behaving like that? It’s not because you love Jesus. I’ve just drifted so far away. And that’s what happens, and that’s what the enemy wants to do, is to get you to drift so far away. And Peter doesn’t realize it until he remembers what Jesus said, and he says, “How did I get here?” And as I thought about Peter sitting in that place, I wonder what he felt after he realized he had denied Jesus three times. The shame, the weight. I believe he felt like the complete and utter failure. And I often thought about that story, and I would always assume, of course Peter failed. Look at what he did. That’s… What an ultimate failure. Like, it’s easy to see his failure in that light. But did he really fail? And I went back to the text, and this is the part that God really showed me in this sermon. If we go back to the encounter with Christ at 9:00 PM, Luke 22:31 says, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.” I so skipped over that ’cause I like to focus on the dysfunction of man. I so identify with the denial, I couldn’t even consider Christ’s prayer. I wonder what Jesus was praying? I wonder what it sounded like? I wonder if He prayed out loud right in front of him, or said, “I prayed in back and I got all prayed up and then I came out to you”? But Jesus prayed for Peter. And what did he pray? “That your faith would not fail.” Your behaviors failed. Your actions failed, but the faith, “I prayed for that. I didn’t pray for your behaviors. I didn’t pray for your actions. I prayed for your faith.” The Bible says, “The prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective.” Jesus is righteousness. He gives us His righteousness. So, the prayers of the righteous, the prayers of Jesus are powerful and effective. And if Jesus is praying for you – Woo! Maybe there’s something greater than just me. Maybe it’s not based upon what I think failure and success is. ‘Cause I always thought that Peter failed. What’s your definition of success? ‘Cause you won’t often know what a failure is until you’ve defined success. I think most of us walk around feeling like a perpetual failure ’cause we have a bad definition of success. Who gave you your definition of success? Who are you trying to impress that even, isn’t even watching? Who spoke a word over you that you have been trying to prove them wrong, and they can’t even remember they said it, but you’ll never forget it? Who gave you that definition for success? Because when I don’t define success correctly, I will always feel like a failure. And when I look at Peter sitting in that place of weeping bitterly, he felt like such a failure, but did he really fail? It all depends on your definition of success. Because Jesus would leave that moment at The Last Supper, and Peter would get i-… Would, would, would go through this thing till 6:00 AM and then he’d deny Jesus at 6:00 AM. And then at 9:00 AM the next day, on Friday, is when P- Jesus would be nailed to the cross. And as the story continues to unfold, in Luke chapter 23 it says this, in verse 44, “It was about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until 3:00 in the afternoon.” And what that darkness represents is the wrath of God being placed upon His son. There must always be a penalty paid for sin. And in that moment, the, the, the wrath of God, the sin of humanity and the shame of the world. And the darkness represents that shame of the world. And for three hours, Jesus sat underneath that. Not just for three hours until he died physically, but for three days, he sat in a grave underneath the weight of that condemnation that should’ve been placed upon us. And that darkness represents the shame, and it’s coming on the world. And it’s interesting because the scripture says this, it says, “Till 3:00 in the afternoon,” verse 45, “For the sun stopped shining.” The sun was created to illuminate so everybody else could see, but it stopped shining for a couple hours. This was not an eclipse. This is a movement of God. And it represents the shame of the world. The sun was created to do something. And when Jesus said, “I prayed for you that your faith would not fail,” the word fail there is only used a couple times in the Bible. One of the places where it’s used is right here. So, when it says, “The sun stop shining…”… it means the son failed. It did not operate according to its original design. It failed to glorify, it failed to illuminate, it failed to shine. And here’s what I’m taking from the text. We were created in the image of God. We are the image-bearers of God. We are called to receive and reflect the glory of God in the world. Oh, you didn’t catch it. So w- when, when Jesus said, “I prayed that your faith would not fail. I created you, Peter, ’cause I picked you. I chose you. I knew you were gonna deny me, and yet I still picked you. I knew you were gonna do all that stuff, and yet I still picked you. I knew you were gonna have all these questions, and yet I still picked you.” “And my picking of you is not based upon your behavior, it’s based upon me.” “Because I know the world is gonna try to make you drift, and the waves of anxiety and the chaos of… the current of chaos will try to push you away from the promises of God.” But when I think Jesus prayed for Peter, here’s what I picture, is that boat out on the lake being tossed about by the waves, and then Jesus says, “I just got on your boat.” “Jesus, I am an anchor.” “And I will go straight through the bottom, through all of that depression, through all of that anxiety, through all of that stuff, and I will get to the bottom and I will anchor your soul.” And a good anchor only has so many feet of rope on it. “And when the rope gets to the end of it and the anchor does what it does, that boat will go no further.” Jesus says, “I know you’re gonna drift, but I have set, by my grace, how far you will drift.” “Because I am in control of the boat, Peter. I’m in control of it. I know it feels like the anxiety is sweeping you away, but I am an anchor for your soul.” And the faith that Jesus is talking about is not Peter’s faith to Jesus, it’s Jesus’ faith to Peter. “So that faith,” he prayed, “that would not fail. It’s that remnant of why I picked you. And I gave it to you.” Because, you see, we were created to be the image-bearers of God. Saint Irenaeus says it like this, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” In Romans chapter three, verse 23, it says this. It says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I always fir… focus on the first half of that verse, “All have sinned.” It’s easy for me to identify with humanity. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And I think, when I look at that story of Peter and the failure and the success and all those things, he says, “Peter, when you’re sitting down in shame, you’re not standing up giving me glory.” And so to me, failure is to stay seated when God gave you the opportunity to stand up. A couple years ago, my son was doing a video shoot. His name is Corbin. And he was doing a video shoot for our youth, and I’m watching him do the video shoot and I’m like, “Oh, you’re… Oh, I’m so proud of him.” I’m just beaming with excitement. Just, “Come on.” And then we got in the car, and he sat down after we finished, and you could see in his face he was defeated and dejected. And he says to me, “All right, Dad, give me some constructive criticism.” And my heart broke. And I’m like, “Son, I’m sorry. I need to apologize ’cause you got that definition of success from your dad.” And because he had the bad definition of success, he felt like a failure, and he could not share his father’s pleasure. You see what sitting down in shame does? It robs you of sharing in your Father’s pleasure. And he’s not making you aware of where you sat down to rub your nose in it like a puppy to throw you in the closet because he’s trying to punish you. He’s wanting to make you aware of where you sat down because he wants you to recognize, “I sat down with you.” “‘Cause Peter, I know you’re gonna deny me.'” But Jesus says, “When you are faithless, I will remain faithful.” “So when you have no faith, I’ve got enough for both of us-” … is what Jesus was saying to Peter. And so when we read about him, “And he stood up!” Yeah, we like that. And often we’ll preach a message of, “You just gotta stand up!” Meaning, “I’m just gonna do it my own strength, my own power, in my own way. And I will give you about six hours, but after that I’ll forget, because I grow tired and weary and I sit right back down.” How many times do I go through the cycle of doing it in my own strength and sitting back down, own strength, sitting back down, before I get so exhausted I just settle for here? And I’ll paint a smile on on Sunday mornings, “I’m blessed and highly favored.” You just cussed your wife out in the parking lot- … because your speech betrays you. Some of you, the reason you’re talking like that is you’re so disgusted with yourself that rather than recognize how far you’ve drifted, you blame everybody else around you. What have you sat down in? What have you settled for that the grace of God is saying, “But I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail”? So success, success isn’t dependent upon my behavior. Success is my recognition that Jesus still holds onto me. And if he is still holding onto me, I’m successful. That’s what it means. I wonder if your definition of success even includes Jesus. And so what I want you to hear at this point is all of us are gonna sit in things, because that’s the natural flow of humanity, but the grace of God is another wave…. wave after wave after wave of grace. And to truly stand up, to truly get up, it’s not you doing it better or trying harder, gosh darn it, New Year’s resolution, I’m gonna do it. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about a real faith. And you need two people to help you stand up. There are two key people in this whole story ’cause the last s- scene we had of Peter was him sitting, weeping bitterly. And in, in one of the other Gospel accounts, it says he saw Jesus in that moment, the one he just denied. He saw a face and he wept bitterly. And that represents Peter moving forward. As some of you have been sitting in this place for 22 years, you gave a part of yourself 22 years awa- uh, a, a part of yourself 22 years ago, you said you were gonna keep sacred till marriage. And because you compromised that part of yourself, you’ll feel so unworthy that you are settling for sitting down in shame. And I want you to know that God sees you and he’s not disgusted at you. He’s not looking at you with a furrowed brow of disappointment, just waiting for you to try harder and do better. No, he’s coming to you. ‘Cause if this were the end of the story, how depressing would that be? But the great God that we serve, Jesus shows up. Jesus comes back for him. Jesus remembers, oh, I am tied to his boat, he’s not tied to me. And so Jesus is resurrected from the grave because you need three people, you need two people to help you get up. We believe in a, a God that’s f- a trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit. Each one is fully God. God the Father always has been and he always will be, God the Son always has been and he always will be, and God the Son took on flesh and he made his dwelling amongst us. And the sin that should’ve been placed on us was placed on him. And he gave up his life and he went into a grave and he sat down for three days. And after three days, the Father looked at the Son and said, “Son, I created you for something. It’s time for you to rise and shine.” And Jesus heard the voice of his Father calling him from the darkness he had sat in for three days. And because Jesus sat down in it for three days, you and I don’t have to settle for sitting down in it. And that same Jesus, that same Jesus, now shows up three days after he’s resurrected, and who’s the first disciple he appears to? Who was the first apostle he appears to? Peter. And when Jesus shows up on the shore, he looks out, and where does he see Peter? Sitting in a boat. I thought you left that boat to follow me, Jesus. I thought you left that to come after me. And why did Peter go sit back down in it? He didn’t know what else to do and it was familiar. And I hope that gives you encouragement to realize today that Jesus sees you going back to the thing you said you would never do. “I’ll never deny you,” until he did. And God said, “I knew it was gonna happen all along and I still picked you.” “You’re my first shot at fantasy of selection, Peter. I won’t deny you because I’d be denying myself because my name is on you, because I am the anchor on your boat and I will only let you go so far.” And why haven’t you given up to this point? Because the grace of God has been an anchor to your soul. He says, “I will only let you drift so far. I will only let you get so far away from me, but because my grace is holding onto you.” Success is realizing that he is holding on to me. And to fail is to think I gotta do it in my own strength. So the Father looks at the Son and says, “Jesus, it’s time to rise and shine.” And Jesus kicks the end out of a borrowed tomb ’cause he was made to glorify the Father. And then Jesus shows up and he sees Peter out on the boat that he was supposed to walk away from, and he says, “Hey you, come back in.” So Peter makes his way back into the shore, going through the same waves of chaos that he was drifted away by. Isn’t it funny how God comes to you? All that stuff in your life will have purpose when you see him face to face. And he calls him in to the shore and he has this meal, and three times he asked him, “Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?” One for each of those denials because God’s love is always greater than your denial. And he needed Peter to hear that for every one of those denials. I’ve got something greater. I’ve got something greater. I’ve got something greater, because I picked you for a purpose. I picked you to show my love, to receive and reflect my love. We were made to glorify God. But when I sit in shame underneath this space here, I don’t bring him glory. So when you go to work tomorrow, are you sitting down in something old or are you hearing the voice of God saying, “Stand up and glorify”? So in Acts 2:14, “Then Peter stood up.” I wonder if he remembered the bitter tears he wept when he denied Jesus. I wonder if that was the soundtrack playing in the back of his mind on some level going, oh okay, maybe this time I’ll get it right, but maybe I won’t. I wonder if Peter, Peter was d- dealing with some doubt and, like, could you really use me, God? But something about it, the voice of God, the Holy Spirit resonating in him, made him stand up, and he spoke loudly and clearly, and he said, “Let me explain the goodness of God to you.” And who better to explain the goodness of God than a man who had just disappointed and denied Jesus 53 days earlier? He didn’t need to go to a class. He didn’t know he’d need to go to a 12-step program. Those are good. But he said, “All I need is Jesus on one side and then the Holy Spirit on the other.” So in, in Acts, here’s the way it begins. Here’s the second person. Acts 2, verses one through four.So that day that Peter gets up and speaks, that day that he boldly proclaims Jesus, here’s the other person that comes into him. Starting in verse one, it says, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly, this sound, like the blowing of a violent wind, came from heaven. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire separate and come to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” So, some of you have not placed your faith in Jesus, and you are dead in your sin. And what I would want you to do is to hear the voice of Jesus calling you from the grave, say, “Rise and shine. It is time to rise and shine. It’s time for you get up out of that grave clothes. It’s time for you to come into relationship with me.” Some of you have been following at a distance for so long but God says, “I still got you and I’m still calling you.” And today is the day that you’re gonna hear Jesus’ voice calling you from the boat of doubt. Follow… Calling you from the boat of disappointment and despair and disgust. And the grace of God wants to wash over you and clean you and make you a new creation. And when you come into relationship with Jesus, when you place your faith in him, it says, “When you believe in your heart that he was raised from the dead and you confess with your mouth that he is Lord, the Holy Spirit, the person of God, comes to live inside of you.” This Holy Spirit’s not a power or an energy. He’s not a vibe or a feeling. It’s a person. And the Holy Spirit desires to lead you. So to get up out of that grave, it’s hearing the voice of Jesus. But now, once we come to Jesus, we also wanna sit right back down in that place. And if success is about you trying harder or doing better, or if success is more square footage, or if success is, you know, a corner office or certain amount of money in the retirement account, you may or may not be successful. But if success is based upon what Jesus did for me, and if success is that he came back for me, if success is recognizing that the Holy Spirit is tied to me, living inside of me, and though you’re gonna sit back down in something, here’s what I believe. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He’s not gonna kick down the door, but he’s gonna knock and say, “I’m still here. I’m not, I’ve not left you. I’m right in this thing with you.” Would you respond to that voice? Just as that voice was so tender with Peter, saying, “Come here, Peter. Get out of that boat.” I know you were sitting down feeling disqualified and you feel like you’ve got nothing to say, but to rise and shine is to hear the Holy Spirit saying, “Come forth.” To, to respond to that. Now, the waves are gonna be loud. The waves of disappointment and doubt and disgust, they’re, they’re just crashing. They’re crashing. But the voice I’m talking about, it’s a whisper. “Simon, Simon.” It’s a Hebrew term of intimacy. Because I’m close. And the Holy Spirit’s inside of you and he’s whispering to you, “Rise and shine. I put you in that job to give me glory. I put you in that school to give me glory.” And when you sit in shame, you don’t operate according to what you were created for. The sun stopped shining. It was created to shine because of the shame that was in the world. You were created to glorify God. Don’t let the shame rob you of giving him the glory. Would you stay on your feet at all of our locations? What we wanna do at this point is offer an invitation for somebody to place their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And what I wanted you to hear today is of a good God who sees you sitting down in something, that he says, “I still picked you. I love you, and I’m here.” Will you respond to it? Will you come out of the grave and say, “I need to give him glory”? Will you receive the gift of salvation that’s found in him? The Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that he was raised from the dead, you will be saved.” Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes at all of our locations and everybody online? And if you need to place your faith in Jesus, this is your prayer. I’m not talking about a commitment to try harder or do better. I’m not talking about a resolution to say, “I’m just gonna give it one more chance.” No, I’m talking about confessing you are dead in your sins and you cannot save yourself. That is why Jesus had to die. And if that’s you, I wanna lead you in this prayer. In the church family, I want us to say this prayer together out loud for the benefit of somebody who’s making this decision to follow in Jesus. Pray this with me, church family. “I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who died on the cross and rose from the grave to forgive me of my sins. I give you my life. I give you my sin. I give you my shame. Forgive me. And I’ll spend my life following you.” With your heads still bowed and your eyes still closed, if you just placed your faith in Jesus for the first time and you’re recognizing, “I need to be forgiven,” if that’s you, I’m gonna count to three, and when I get there, without hesitation, I want you to boldly shoot your hand into the air. One, two, three. Shoot your hand up. All across this auditorium. Come on, church family. No, let’s celebrate that. Hey, thank you for watching the Elevation Church YouTube. I want you to subscribe. That way, you can know when we go live and post new content. Make sure, leave me a comment. Let me know what spoke to you today, where you’re watching from, and what we can pray for you about. And if you’d like to support the ministry financially, you can click the give button now and help us continue reaching people around the world for Jesus Christ. Thanks again. I’ll see you next time.