{"id":31655,"date":"2024-06-25T22:00:50","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T05:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john-21_1-14-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-06-25T22:04:36","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T05:04:36","slug":"john-21_15-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john-21_15-25\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Not How You Start. It\u2019s How You Finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

John 21:15-25\u00a0 \u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is John 21:15-25.\u00a0 I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

John 21:15-17 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 15-17:\u00a0 Peter\u2019s most shameful moment was when he verbally denied Jesus three times (see John 18).\u00a0 So it is not a coincidence here that Jesus restores Peter by having Peter verbally affirm his love and commitment to Jesus three times.<\/p>\n

In Jesus\u2019 eyes, Peter was not the failure who denied him three times.\u00a0 Peter was the rock on which Jesus would still build his church, and that is why three times Jesus tells Peter to take care of his sheep, that is, his church.\u00a0 Peter had counted himself out already.\u00a0 That is why he had gone back to fishing (see verse 3), but Jesus had not given up on his vision for Peter\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

First, for every one of our failures, Jesus has grace to give to us.<\/p>\n

Second, Jesus\u2019 vision for your life \u2013 what Jesus sees in you \u2013 is more important than whatever you see in you.<\/p>\n

Third, if you want to know what you are meant to do in this lifetime, it begins with understanding Jesus\u2019 vision for your life.<\/p>\n

Fourth, even when you have given up on yourself, Jesus has not given up on you.<\/p>\n

John 21:18-19 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 18-19:\u00a0 Peter was once the one who denied Jesus three times, but over time he would emerge as the pre-eminent leader of the church and a martyr who died for his faith.\u00a0 According to church tradition, Peter died hanging upside down on a cross because he did not consider himself worthy to hang right side up like his Lord Jesus did.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In his final days on earth Peter would not deny Jesus, even if it meant being killed for his association with Jesus.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 It\u2019s not how you start that matters most.\u00a0 It\u2019s how you finish.\u00a0 Do not allow disappointments, failures and setbacks early on keep you from running the race God has called you to run.\u00a0 If you would persevere and not give up, those disappointments, failures and setbacks will become part of a much greater and inspiring story that God will write with your life.<\/p>\n

John 21:20-24 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”)
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 20-24:\u00a0 After hearing about the kind of death Peter was going to die, Peter asks Jesus about what will happen to another disciple John, the writer of this Gospel (\u201cWhat about him?\u201d \u2013 v21).\u00a0 Jesus responds to Peter in verse 22 essentially saying, \u201cPeter, don\u2019t worry about that.\u00a0 Focus on following me rather than comparing yourself to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is good advice for us as well.\u00a0 Don\u2019t play the comparison game, because God has a unique destiny for your life that cannot be compared to anyone else.\u00a0 Learn from others and be inspired by others, but don\u2019t be trapped or controlled by comparisons to others.\u00a0 Your God-given destiny is a pair of shoes that are custom-made for your feet, so don\u2019t bother with unproductive and unhelpful comparisons.<\/p>\n

John 21:25 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 25:\u00a0 John was not trying to write an exhaustive account of Jesus\u2019 life.\u00a0 Rather, aware that others like Matthew, Mark and Luke had already written their gospels, John here was recording some important events in Jesus\u2019 life and significant sayings from Jesus\u2019 lips that John was an eyewitness to, all in the hopes that those who read this Gospel would take seriously the claims that Jesus was making and believe him to be the Son of God.\u00a0 At the end of the day, you can research every possible detail you can find about Jesus\u2019 life, but the most important questions you need to answer are:\u00a0 How seriously do you take what Jesus says about Himself?\u00a0 Do you believe Jesus to be who He says He is?\u00a0 Do you believe that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son Jesus, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)?<\/p>\n

This brings our look at the Gospel of John to an end.\u00a0 Praise God for this incredibly important book through which we can know who Jesus is and what we need to believe in order to have life at its the fullest.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, thank You so much that for every one of my mistakes, there is grace from You to meet me and to cover my shame. Thank You that my failures don\u2019t define me.\u00a0 Rather it\u2019s Your love that defines me.\u00a0 May I not be controlled by unproductive comparisons.\u00a0 May I simply focus on following You, believing You to be who You claim to be: the Son of God, the light of the world (John 8:12), the gate by which we enter heaven (John 10:7), the bread of life (John 6:35), my good shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep (John 10:11), the vine I depend on (John 15:5), the way, the truth, the resurrection and the life (John 14:6 and 11:25).\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is John 21:15-25.\u00a0 I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

John 21:15-17 (NIV)
\n15\u00a0\u00a0When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
\n16\u00a0\u00a0Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
\n17\u00a0\u00a0The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.<\/p>\n

On verses 15-17:\u00a0 Peter\u2019s most shameful moment was when he verbally denied Jesus three times (see John 18).\u00a0 So it is not a coincidence here that Jesus restores Peter by having Peter verbally affirm his love and commitment to Jesus three times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31655"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31659,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31655\/revisions\/31659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}