A Message For Those Who Have Stumbled | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Good afternoon. I was planning to go into mark today with you, but, we change of plans just for this special occasion. Just want to speak to you from the word of God, not my own ideas or my own experiences. Of course, from the word of God, but something that's been placed on my heart just through prayer that I hope will bless you and encourage you as you pick yourself up and advance into this new year. And so, this is not going to be a structured sermon per se.

There's not going to be three points or five points. It's just going to be one thought that I I pray will be driven into your soul and infuse a strength into your being that, will be able to help you and carry you, not just for this year, but I pray for the rest of your life. I pray that this word will have such an impact on you. And so, I want us to pray and ask the Lord for help. I don't know how long this will be.

It can be anything from twenty minutes to an hour and twenty minutes. I don't know. But I just wanna trust the Lord's leadership and ask you to join me in faith to ask the Lord to lead us exactly how he would to benefit us in our sanctification. Would you join me as we pray? Lord, we thank you that your word has been made available to us, and that it is your voice, the living voice of God.

And Lord, in this moment, you know what we need more than what we know. And Lord, we just humble ourselves in your presence and we express our hunger for righteousness. We wanna be righteous. We wanna know about your righteousness. Rescue us from our slumber.

Rescue us, Lord, from our sin. Deliver us, Lord, from our apathy. Anything that would hinder us from doing exactly what we heard from first Thessalonians four, and that is to go higher in you, to do so more and more. And so, Lord, we just ask that you would have mercy on this vessel and have mercy on all the vessels who are here ready to be filled. We give you thanks in advance for your goodness.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Meet me briefly in Philippians chapter three. Philippians three verse 13.

This is just a launching pad for our time together today. It's a well known scripture. This scripture is probably one of the most popular ones when it comes to this time of the year, but I just wanna pull out one thought for you before we continue. Here's Paul in Philippians three thirteen speaking to the church of Philippi, and he writes, brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Verse 15.

Let those of us who are mature think this way. And if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. So much can be said of these verses, but the one thing I wanna underscore is that Paul, through these instructions, is revealing what spiritual maturity really is, what spiritual maturity looks like. It includes many things.

Yes. Persistence, pressing on, believing God, moving forward, but I love what he says early on. He says, one thing that I do, forgetting. One of the disciplines of maturing spiritually is learning how to forget. I'm not sure if you've heard that before, but it's clear.

It's here. Forgetting. Forgetting what lies behind and moving forward to what God has in store ahead. Now, when we think about forgetting, we often think about our failures, and that is true. But Paul also includes his success.

See, he wasn't like one of the churches in Revelation who had a reputation of being alive but was dead, who was just riding based on what has been or what has been done or what he did do or what they did do for God. No. There's more land to cover. There's more land to explore. There's more things to be accomplished for the glory of Christ.

And we can touch on that, but prayerfully thinking about this, I've realized that one of the most crippling things to people's spirituality is, in fact, the inability to forget. The success part, yes, that's one group, and we're not gonna address that group today. We're gonna address those who can't forget what has been done in terms of their failures and their sin and their shortcomings and their inconsistencies. Name it. Whatever it is.

Whatever it is that does not glorify God. Not being able to forget, not being able to move on, not being able to trust the forgiveness of Jesus Christ is one of the most crippling things to a person's spirituality. There are some believers who are in love with the Lord, but they are they are haunted by things that they have done. I'm not talking about things before you met Christ. I'm talking about the things after you met Christ, after you made those vows of never failing him, never disappointing him, after making all these promises of of the man you were gonna be in your single years, the woman you were gonna be in your single years, the man you were gonna be once you got married, the woman you were gonna be once you got married, the father you were gonna be once you had children, the mother you were gonna be once you had children.

I'm talking about I'm talking about the failures that you know in your heart is extra strong because you never thought you would do it. You never thought that you would fall so short. Those kind of failures. The ones that are nagging, the ones that can't let you go. The ones that have brought you to a place where you have no motivation anymore because what's the point?

I had motivation at one point, here I am. This is just a waste of time. And people look at their sanctification like a New Year's resolution. They get excited, but after after time goes on, after you live long enough, you just stop making resolutions because you just know what's gonna happen two weeks into the new year. And so they just coast along, and they just go through the motions, and they just they just try to survive.

They just they just try not to mess up even more. And even if they do, then what can I do? I already got this far. This could be for one person. This could be for five.

I don't know. I just wanna trust that the Lord will speak to our hearts today as we reflect upon the mercy of Jesus Christ and trust and believe that he is more loving than you can imagine. He is more gracious than you can fathom. He he is beyond good. He is gloriously good.

And to understand that he is he is a God who does not give up on us. We give up on ourselves much easier than he does. And I was just thinking about this. I mean, I know these are not profound thoughts, but I was just thinking about this past week and and just praying, just pockets of time throughout the week. And the strangest text came to mind, a text that you would not consider to find some kind of jewel in relation to the goodness of God, the mercy of God, the God who gives more than second chances, a billion of them.

First Corinthians 15. Would you meet me there in first Corinthians 15 briefly? Let's begin together. There's a buzzing. I don't know if it's me or if it's if you guys hear or if it's buzzing in my own head, if somebody can help with that buzzing sound, that'd be great.

And if somebody can help with that buzzing sound, that'd be great. In first Corinthians fifteen three, we read, for I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

To me. This is a text in which Paul seeks to build the faith of the Corinthian believers to really believe that there is a bodily resurrection. And what he does is he points to a list of names who have been eyewitnesses to that account of how Christ did in fact raise. He did arise. He did conquer death, and he still had the same scars of the body that was nailed to that tree.

And what's so encouraging here is that we have a historical reliability for our faith, and that's what people usually come to this text for to see that there was multiple, multiple, multiple. People who had, with their own eyes, with their own hands, beheld him, recognized him, heard him, seen him. That's great. But what we we can't fail to see is that when Paul is writing this account, when he is making a case, he's doing so in chronological order. He's writing the sequence of the appearances of Jesus, though not including everyone, and there's a reason for that.

It doesn't include the woman who first saw Christ and that we we don't have the time to get into why. He's really trying to authenticate the apostleship of some of the Corinthian believers that they admired, including Peter. And so he's writing in chronicle chronological order, and what's fascinating here is who he mentions first. Who he mentions first in verse five. And that he appeared to Cephas.

That is Peter. And so Paul by the spirit is letting the church know and us know that when Jesus rose from the grave, one of the first people that he was on a mission to manifest himself to was the apostle Peter. To me, it is beyond just the fact that Peter was a leader, not just a leader in the church, but a leader among the apostles. And so it would have been a comforting truth to know that the leader of the apostles had that experience for himself. I think it's it's far greater than that, though that is important.

Out of all the people that you would reveal yourself to, Lord, first, Peter is not on my top list, because we know what Peter did before Christ died, denied him horribly, horrifically. And what's even more painful about those denials is that it was followed by this boast. It was preceded by this this claim of faithfulness, and he fell on his face miserably. And Peter here, apparently, was one of the ones that Jesus made a priority to visit once he conquered the grave. We don't have we don't have that account in scripture.

We don't know the when's and the how. All we know that it was after he revealed himself to Mary and before he revealed himself to the 12. Even those two on the road to Emmaus, when they had their own experience of the resurrected Christ, they ran back to the disciples and they said, he is risen indeed and he has revealed himself to Simon. So somewhere in between those moments, Peter experienced Christ resurrected, get this, alone. We have limited Peter's experience of the resurrected Christ in John 21 when he was on that fishing trip with his boys.

But according to first Corinthians 15, there was this period. There was this appointment that Jesus had with Peter one on one. One on one. Did he deserve it? Here's my honest answer.

No. No. I I could see us thinking to ourselves if we were in the shoes of Jesus. I'm gonna wait till the last person. Peter being the last one that I will reveal myself to.

Let him sit a little bit and think about what he has done. Let him let him simmer and let him be sobered by his failure. Let him wallow in the mire a little bit longer just so he'll never forget and not think that he can just open his mouth whenever he wants to. Let let him just be there, and then I'll come. It makes sense to come to those who are at least a little bit more faithful and then come to the one who really, really, really messed up.

It would make sense to us in the flesh for Jesus to be reluctant to come to Peter, and yet, he was the first. He was the first. He was the first. Did he deserve it? No.

Did he need it? I think so. Think about this. When Christ comes out of that tomb, and when he breaks the chains of death, and when he makes a statement of victory that is resounding today, one of his top desires was I must see Peter, and I must comfort him as he's enduring the pain of his shortcoming and his failure. And he does just that.

And the fact that Jesus appears to Peter as a priority not only emphasizes the grace of Jesus Christ, because that's exactly what we're seeing here. It highlights his quickness, his swiftness to forgive. He's not slow. He doesn't dangle our failures over us and and just cause us to hop and to leap and to try to do anything in our strength to eliminate those memories. He doesn't do that, nor does he withhold the possibility of reconciliation for the repentant.

No. When Peter was shattered in his heart and when his eyes were weary from weeping, Jesus shows up then. I wish we had that encounter in the scriptures. What was it like for Peter to see him alone? What were his words?

What were the words of the master? Doesn't just emphasize his grace, it emphasizes his swiftness to forgive. Christ is so quick so quick to come, to clean, and to restore. And we see it here even in the most unlikely place, in a place where Paul is trying to make a a case for the resurrection. We see also a message of the goodness of God.

And Jesus planned this because Jesus knew what Peter was going to do before he did it. Here's the thing, Christ doesn't just appear to Peter with a priority to restore and reconcile him. Yes, John 21, that's something else. That's his commissioning into the ministry. This is a personal thing.

This is this is for fellowship's sake. But he doesn't just bring him in. He doesn't just draw him close to his heart again. Turn with me to Luke quickly in 22, and I want you to see what Jesus said to Peter Just moments before he would disappoint his master. Luke 22 verse 31.

Simon, Simon. You know, Peter acted like Simon a lot more than he didn't act like Peter. Simon, Simon. Behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

Strengthen your brothers, Peter. You are going to fall. You are going to stumble. And he could've stopped there. He could've just predicted it.

And he could've said, and when you turn again, I'll be right here ready to forgive. Now let me pause here and say this. A message like this will stir the true believer into greater holiness. You know, people get worried of preaching messages like this because they think it will encourage the one who has a false faith to continue in their sin, and that is true. But the difference between the believer who has truly experienced salvation and the one who thinks they have but haven't is that when you hear what I'm about to say, that Christ is ready to forgive when you fail, the believer will say, oh, that I would never fail him.

Oh, that I would love if he is like that, I want to love him with everything within me. The unbeliever will say, well, if this is who Jesus is, then let's eat and drink and be merry. For tomorrow, he forgives. Jesus says, when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. He could have said, when you turn again, I'm right here to forgive, but he goes beyond that.

He says, Peter, when you turn, I still have use of you. I still have a purpose for you. Your brother still needs you. I have put something in you that will bless the others. And so even in the cry in the mind of Christ, his redemptive power, the reconciliation that he offers in those nail pierced hands is able to recycle our failures and bless others through it.

And so he even tells him in advance, it's gonna happen. You will fall, but I am here. And I'm not just here to restore you, I'm here again to launch you and to propel you and to use you for my name's sake. We don't think that when we fall short. That's why it's in here.

And listen, I I know some of you perhaps are are still trying to just fight to stay awake, but bear with me. Okay? Bear with me. There could the failure of your life in the past few years, it it cannot just be like it doesn't have to be this huge gross immorality. It could be the failure to be fervent for him.

It could be just a failure to be zealous and consistent. It could be you finding other loves. You still love Jesus, but you don't love him above all things. I'm talking about any kind of failure that has convinced you to say, I'm done. Like, I look.

It's been a year. It's been two years, three years. I'm not changing. I'm Lord, just put me on the shelf. I'll see you in glory.

I want you to break free from that because here we see a man who monumentally fails and Christ still tells him and consoles him in advance, I I have use of you. I I wanna use you. I wanna do things through you. Strengthen your brothers. Because in Christ's mind, when he forgives and when he restores, even those things that have severed us from enjoying his fellowship or have crushed us or or have hindered us from experiencing ministry, fruitful ministry.

Christ believes that even those things that we dread that that makes us shrink with shame can be used. Go and comfort your brothers. Go and encourage them. Go warn them after you have failed to take heed to my warning. Gather all of those pieces and let me put them together and use it as an instrument for my glory.

And Peter obeyed. He might have forgotten what Jesus said immediately because he did fall. I mean, if you hear that, if you hear such a prophecy where Christ looks you in the eyes and says you're gonna you're gonna fail. You're gonna fall short. You're not gonna totally be destroyed in your faith.

He says that clearly. Satan would love that. Wouldn't that make you fall on your knees and say, Lord, just have mercy on me. Let it not be. Peter doesn't even register that.

He's so self confident that he just brushes it off. But I believe with all my heart that after everything was said and done, he did remember the command of Jesus, strengthen your brothers. Strengthen your brothers. Pick yourself up. Come before the cross.

Lay it at the foot of this cross. And then from that, move on. Go. There are people still need to be touched. There are things that still need to be accomplished.

And when you just take a glimpse at the epistles of Peter, you get the strong impression that he really did take this command seriously from his master. Look with me quickly just to get an idea. In first Peter one, I want you to see with your own eyes. In first Peter, let's go to chapter five very quickly. You know this passage very well.

What does he say here in verse six of first Peter five? Humble yourselves. You know what? You know why Peter failed? Because he didn't humble himself.

I won't deny you. And they might do it. I won't. Here he is. Humble yourselves.

Therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Be sober minded. Peter was not sober minded. Peter wasn't sober minded when Christ predicted his fall, and he wasn't sober minded because of his failure to pray. But be sober minded.

Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Is Peter inspired by the spirit? Absolutely. But the spirit is using Peter's experience.

Peter can remember that night in that garden when his pride caused him to sleep, when his pride caused him not see the necessity to pray and be watchful, and the devil was right there to devour his faith. And so now he writes to the churches, hey, listen. There is an enemy out there. This warfare, it's bigger than you can imagine. Trust me, so be watchful, be sober minded.

And look what he says here in his second epistle in chapter one verse 10. Second Peter one ten. Therefore brothers therefore brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. You will never fall.

Here's a fallen brother who has fallen telling other Christians, I wanna tell you how you you cannot fall. And the preceding truths are there given by the spirit and he he dishes these things out. I mean, what kind of grace are we talking about for a fallen disciple to tell other disciples how not to fall? Peter, when you turn again, strengthen your brothers. I have ministry for you.

I have people in mind that your personal life, your testimony, even the things that you're ashamed of, because you've repented, because you have brought it to me, will do much good. But the extent of Peter's experience, the extent of his willingness to obey the Lord goes beyond just the epistles that he has written. It is more personal than just corporate letters, And we see that in a very interesting place in second Timothy four eleven. Just scroll back in your bibles and go to second Timothy with me. Second Timothy four eleven.

Paul in his dying moments makes final requests. And there's a surprising appeal that he makes to his spiritual son, Timothy, in verse 11 of second Timothy four. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark. Get Mark and bring him with you for he is very useful to me for ministry.

I love the way the ESV puts it. Very useful. Are you sure, Paul? He's talking about the same mark, the same mark that Paul refused to give a second chance to in Acts 15 when they were ready to go on another missionary circuit and Barnabas brings the sheepish young man in the presence of this mighty lion of an apostle and request that we give John Mark another chance and and Paul, a do or die kind of leader. He doesn't play games.

Are you kidding me? Do you remember what he did in Acts 13? Abruptly just left us and you wanna bring him again? And here's Barnabas, I can just imagine the conversation. We've gotta give him another chance, you know, that the son of encouragement.

Let's come on, Paul. Let's let's just he's willing. I mean, look, he's young. We here's Paul saying, no way. This is not Sunday school stuff, Barnabas.

We're going out into the front lines. We can't afford to be discouraged again. We don't know why John Mark left in Acts 13, but it was enough to frustrate this man of God. It was enough for him to say, I've lost all trust in this man. Yes, he's a believer.

He's a young man. He's a fine young man, but he's not cut out for this thing called ministry. And yet it is the same mark where years have gone by and Paul in his final moments looking to be ministered to and to give final instructions for ministry beyond his life says, get that mark for he is very useful to me in the ministry. Many years have passed between Acts fifteen and second Timothy chapter four. What happened to Mark?

Well, the clear observation is that he grew. He matured. And and it was enough to convince the apostle Paul at this time to say, you've changed. You've grown. God has stretched you and you have laid your life down again to allow him to stretch you.

And so there was something observable. There was something measurable to Paul who again did not play games, who didn't flatter, and he says, I want you. Something happened to you. Come. But what was it exactly?

What was the instrument of change? Yes. Obviously, his own personal accountability to the Lord, but could it be that the catalyst, could it be that the launching influence in John Mark's life was how he was poured into, how he received encouragement, and how he received attention and mercy for him to to find the wind and the grace again to say, okay. I'm I'm gonna go for this again. I'm gonna believe God again.

I I didn't just fail God. I failed the people of God. I failed my ministry. I failed my local church. I've disappointed them.

I didn't show up when I was supposed to show up. I didn't serve when I was supposed to serve. I took my ministry lightly. Maybe maybe this is helping now. Maybe this is coming home a little bit.

And so what what happens is, I believe with just the evidence of scripture, with people like Barnabas in his life who who ended up taking John Mark with him, and that ministry team was severed for a moment and said, let's let's do this. I'm with you. But I believe it was more than just Barnabas' influence. I believe it was more than his presence and his encouragement, and I'll tell you why. Go back to first Peter five quickly with me.

And look how Paul concludes his epistle in verse 13. He writes, she who is at Babylon who is likewise chosen sends you greetings and so does Mark, my son. So does Mark, my son. Physical son? No.

Spiritual son? Yes. The same dynamic I believe that Paul had with Timothy, Peter had with this Mark. That's not very hard to see. It seems as though Peter had a special place in John Mark's life.

Even in the book of Acts, you see that Peter knew instinctively how to go to the house of prayer in Acts 12 that was Mary's house seeking the Lord on his behalf for his imprisonment, which was the house of John Mark. Seems as though he was familiar with his family. Seems as though there was a special relationship that this particular apostle had with this unit, which included John Mark. And some believe that it was Peter who led John Mark to the Lord. That is not for certain, but what is for certain that at some point, the Apostle Peter adopted Mark as a spiritual son and raised him up in the Lord.

Raised him up in the Lord where he can say, he's my son. He's my son. And based on this, many if not all have come to the conclusion that the gospel written according to Mark was heavily influenced and supplied by the eyewitness testimony of his spiritual father, Peter. And so you can just imagine here's John Mark, sitting with Peter who would make frequent visits to his home and perhaps even after his failure where he comes back to Jerusalem, aborting the mission, Peter still stays in touch with him. You can just imagine the times together where he would tell him of the eyewitness accounts.

He would tell him of the personal testimonies that would eventually supply and give us what we are studying as a church, the gospel of Mark. And I think that is quite special, and I believe there's internal evidence for that because only Mark has a detail. And if you were there for the first message of the gospel of Mark study, you'll remember this. Only Mark has a detail about the resurrection that all the other gospel accounts omit. And it makes sense.

Right? If Peter was the spiritual father of Mark, and he was getting all that he needed from this man as his main source, then this detail is is just it's heartwarming. It's in the last chapter of Mark. Mark 16 verse seven. Matthew, and we have Mark.

Mark 16, here's the angel. And in verse six, a young man who was sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe, he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here.

See the place where they laid him, but go tell his disciples and who? Peter. That he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. Go tell the disciples and Peter.

Go tell the disciples and Peter. Wasn't Peter a disciple? Absolutely. But I have a hunch he didn't feel like a disciple at this point. And so here's a messenger from heaven who's been given specific instruction, and that instruction was passed along to this group, and he tells this group, when you go to those when you go to those men who are hiding for their life, let them know that he has risen, but make sure that you name Peter separately.

Make sure you say to the disciples, and Peter. Highlight Peter. Why? Because Peter needed to hear his name. Peter needed to know that even as he was sitting in his failure, Christ has him in mind and wants to see him.

Can you imagine what it was like for Peter to share that with Mark when he wrote it down? Mark, listen. When the angel did come, he said, go and tell his disciples. And, Mark, get this. He singled me out.

Make sure you mentioned that he said my name. Disciples and Peter. By the spirit, Mark does so. And all of this is starting to make sense now. I mean, here is Mark at the end of Paul's life who was very useful to his ministry and you see in another place that Peter was his spiritual father and surely there's some kind of connection that the growth had to do with the influence of this man in his life and and it makes sense for Peter to take the time to bring in Mark and to pour into him because he himself was restored.

He himself knew what a second chance can do. He himself knew the power of compassion and forgiveness and mercy and kindness. Do you know who are the Christians who forgive? Those who have been forgiven and know it. You know do you know the Christians that that are willing to open their arms and bring in those who have even disappointed them?

Those who know that they have lost the number of times that they have disappointed their Lord, and yet Christ every time says come back to me. Forgiven people forgive people. Merciful people have tasted mercy. Those who don't give up on others even when they have turned their back on you and rejected you and have failed you are those who live under the revelation, I've done worse to my Lord and he still loves me. And so here we see Mark, very useful because of a man who felt useless was reminded, when you turn again, strengthen your brothers.

Strengthen your brothers. It's amazing how meditating on our own failures can either cripple us into twenty twenty three and just keep us in the same place or even worse than before. Or like Peter, it can make us much more forgiving. Make us much more soft and tender and willing to say, yes. Willing to say no matter what you've done, I'm ready to forgive you.

Peter knew how to patiently work with Mark because he saw the patience of Jesus And the fragments of Mark's life give us the hope and obliterates that cynical attitude that looks at others and says they'll never change. They'll never change. The miracle of mercy is that even the most unlikely can change, and even those who are sitting in the pool of their regret can soar again for the glory of Jesus Christ. 2022, for some of you, perhaps for many of us, could have been a terrible record of how we live for the glory of Jesus Christ. And that can either cause us to just be numb and go back fishing and just do life.

Or it can cause us to say, Lord, are you serious that even even in my idolatry, even in my shame, even in my unfaithfulness, you are still willing to say, turn again, and let me clothe you and empower you and turn you back and push you into a life that is beyond your imagination. Is that really you, Lord? It is him. It is him. So maybe you you didn't pray like you were supposed to pray in 2022.

Maybe in 2022, you didn't know it, but you got a new vacuum and it was your bible because it's just collecting dust. Maybe maybe you have really hurt others, not just the Lord. Like John Mark, you've hurt good men, godly men, godly women, and you just wanna be hidden and sneak in and out and just make sure that you get into those gates even though your clothes might smell like fire. I'm telling you that this Jesus is ready to cleanse you, to look past all of that, to not just hold you for eternal life, to make much of you in this life, make much of you in this life. He's not dangling your failure of 2022 as you enter in 2023, sir.

Yeah. I know you're gonna do the same thing. Look at you. No. Not you.

There was people way more faithful than you in 2022. Thank you, but you just stay there. Stay quiet. Don't mess up more than you already have. I'll see you at the judgment seat of Christ.

That's not Jesus. That's not the Lord. He makes it a priority to restore those who have fallen. He first appeared to Cephas. If that is the heart of Christ as I see it, then who Christ is drawn to in this place, whoever is listening, who does not have much to boast about, we don't at all, who has more to be ashamed of, such as the person that the Lord desires to manifest himself to, and to fill you afresh with the Holy Spirit, and to so cause you to marvel at his mercy, that you would know his strength like you've never known before.

I pray that today, you would forget. Forget in a way that it would not hinder you from growing and maturing in the Lord. Forgetting in the way that Jesus forgets, the omniscient one who doesn't delete his memory, but that never holds what you've done against you ever again when you ask for that forgiveness. I pray that you would grow more and more and let it the revelation of the goodness of Jesus Christ. And how fitting as we come to remember his mercy and these emblems and rehearse over our souls that it's what he has done for us.

It's it's the rejoicing of his love for us and not our love for him necessarily. Could you prepare your hearts with me as we just meditate on these truths together? Oh, Lord. We're just amazed. We are amazed as we are in the presence of Jesus, the Nazarene.

And we just ask for one simple thing. Just a touch of your mercy to heal us again and to motivate us again unto righteousness and faithfulness to you. I just pray, Lord, that if anybody here has been overwhelmed from anything in between gross inequity or just spiritual laziness. We just pray that they would sense the nearness of your presence coupled with the truth that you are beyond us in your willingness to forgive and restore, that you take delight in restoring us, that it actually brings you pleasure to reposition us in you again. And so, Lord, at the beginning of this new year, let faith arise to trust that you have great things in store for each of us, and that you do not hold any sin that has been repented of against us moving forward.

And with that truth, Lord, even as we partake of the bread and the cup, may we, like Peter, extend the mercy that we have been shown, Be willing to forgive others and to believe that our willingness to give others a second chance could be the very thing that causes them to be very useful to you as they experience your love through us. And so, Lord, we thank you for the cross. We thank you that that crimson flow is endless and that it is able to constantly wash us over and over again. That fountain never runs dry. And though our sins may be many, your mercy is more.

It is more. It is always, always more. And so, Lord, this afternoon, we come broken. We come broken, and we confess our failure and our unfaithfulness and our distractions and our idolatry, and we just everything that has been gathered up to this point, and we just bring it to this moment. And we say, Lord, I put it all aside.

I give it to you. I ask that you you just take it all away. And, Lord, please, as I turn again to you, use me. Use me. Use me.

We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. We stand. Let's worship the Lord together.