Don't Mistake a Moment for a Season | Judah Smith

Turn with me to John chapter 13. John and chapter 13. And hello to Seattle from the Sabon. We are live here at the Sabon. And we love you today. Happy Sunday to everybody in Seattle who are watching this. John chapter 13 and we're going to begin reading in verse 36.

If you don't have a Bible, it's uh no no big deal. We've got a sky Bible right behind me so that you know I'm not making it up. Okay, you ready? John John 13 and verse 36. Simon Peter says to Jesus, "Lord, where where are you going?" Keep in mind, this is now the last supper.

We've just entered into the most famous dinner in human history. Judas has just left. He has prepared his his betrayal of Jesus. We now have 11 disciples sitting around a table and they're again partaking in the most famous dinner in human history. It is here that Jesus is reiterating to his 11 handpicked guys that I have come not just to live.

I have come to die. And he literally says to the disciples, where I'm going, you can't come. Peter says, Lord, where where are you going? Jesus says, where I'm going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow after. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now?

I will lay down my life for you. Right? Here's Peter the fighter. Jesus answers, will you? Will you lay down your life for me? Truly. Truly, Jesus says. Now, in the original text, u we don't believe that Jesus actually said two words truly. Truly. But because of the original word and its emphatic nature in the transliteration in the English, we add two words to emphasize how emphatic.

Jesus is essentially saying, "I am about to bottomline this for you. Listen up. Truly, truly, I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times." Now, that kind of shuts Peter down and we do not hear from Peter again until John chapter 18.

So, Peter kind of takes that to heart like, "Ouch." You know, like, "Actually, Peter, you're going to lay down your life for me?" Not really. Tonight, in the next few hours, you're going to deny me three times. One of them will be in front of a very young girl at a bonfire.

Um, so it's going to get bad before it gets better. Would you join me in prayer? Jesus, thank you for the moments that we share. We thank you for your reality. I'm I'm asking that you would take this average and ordinary evening and you would make it extraordinary by your grace and by your presence, by your reality.

I thank you that each and every person under the sound of my voice, whether here in LA or there in Seattle, are of infinite value to you. You love them and you made them for profound purpose. Help us to remember that today. Thank you, Lord, that you're preparing the Seattle Seahawks to continue to win win win in Jesus name.

And everybody said, >> Everybody said, "Amen." I uh I love being home. Are you a homebody? How many are home bodies? Loud and proud. >> That's a large contingency. Do you guys ever get out? I mean, my word. No wonder you're single. But um come on, relax. It's a joke.

It's not real. Um, I'm a homebody and I I love being home with the family and the last few days we've been home quite a bit. It's been awesome. And one of my favorite parts about being home is our wood burning fireplace, right? And and and wood burning fireplaces uh uh almost went extinct, but they have survived.

Okay, the gas fireplace movement. Not many of you were not born when that started, but but we are in a house that has a wood burning fireplace. And I am very proud and particular about my wood burning fireplace. Okay? And I go I I stack the wood or I go to Safeway and get the Saran Wrap wood, but I I stack it in the garage.

In fact, we found recently at Ace Hardware, like I'm like throwing out names. They sponsored us tonight and they have handles around the saran wrap the wood and so like it's gotten easier and easier for me just to just to go get firewood. So I stack up the firewood and um I like honestly I could I could get the fire going at like 10:00 a.m. and I want to keep it going all the way till 10 p.m.

That's been a bit of a challenge. We we've had this wood burning fireplace for about a year and almost from the beginning Chelsea has has been emphatic. She's my my my dear dear wife. She has been emphatic about me getting this this thing called a grate. And if you don't know what a grate is, a grate is like something you put in the fireplace that apparently lifts the wood off kind of the the the the ground of the fireplace for some particular reason I'm unaware of.

And Chelsea kept telling me, "You need to go get a grate for the fireplace." Now, I have a screen, you know, so that when it crackles, it hits the screen, doesn't hit your children. I'm a grown man. I'm not an idiot. Don't look at me like that. Right.

But she kept saying this great. And I'm like, I I don't I'm fine. I'm fine. For a year, we enjoyed robust fires. Like I don't mess around. I'm not It's not like little fires like I want fires that make people sweat when they're in the living room. Okay.

So, I would I would feed the fire. I mean, I would feed the fire about, and Chelsea will back me up, about every 15 to 20 minutes, I needed a new piece of firewood. And Chelsea would tell me over the course of the last almost year, that's not normal.

You're burning through too much firewood. You don't need to. You need a grate. And I'm like, you need to submit. Okay, relax. Come on, guys. Tough crowd. Um, I'm like, I don't need it. Great. Like, I'm fine, right? And I enjoy the fire. I like to interact with it.

If I If you're really into fire, you kind of I kind of sit there and we'll be watching sports, but I just kind of look at the fire and if it's a really good moment for the fire, I'm like, man, I'm pretty good at this, you know? Like, I should have stuck with the Cub Scouts.

I quit after four days. I lost in the little derby that, you know, you drop the car down. I lost. I'm like, mom, we're out. I lost. Um, I'm pretty good at fire and then I'll like stoke it, you know? I love doing that. When it kind of calms out, I'm like, I get it going again.

It's It's great. But Chelsea kept saying over and over, "If you'll get a great, it'll burn better. It'll burn better. It'll burn better." Babe, seriously, relax. So, over the course of the last several months, I've started to think, may maybe she's right. Like, it is kind of weird.

And and like I would go get firewood and I would tell friends, "Hey, how fast do you burn? like I'm burning through stacks of wood, man. Like, is that normal? And they're like, "What? What do you mean?" And the conversation would kind of dwindle cuz it wasn't that interesting.

And we would move on. You know what I mean? Like, there's certain conversations you start and you're like, "You don't even want to finish it." Like, "Hey, man. How much firewood? Never mind." You know? So, Monday, Chelsea comes home with a great, right? She takes things into her own hands.

Welcome to my life. And she's like, "I got you a grape and some more firewood." And I'm like, "I could have done that. It's fine." All right. Well, thank you very much. Okay. So, I get up early one morning, which is not totally the norm, but I got up early, like 6:00 a.m.

And I had the thought, I'm going to go get the grape, and I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to try this out with no one around. All the kids are asleep. Chelsea's fast asleep. I'm up as a man of the house, the provider, up early taking care of the homestead.

Like, these are real thoughts that I have, too. Like, I'm not making this up. I actually think I'm a great person cuz I'm up at 6:00 a.m. Like, that's weird, bro. Grow up. Okay. But I'm like, 6:00 a.m. I'm such a provider and a protector. So, it's true.

I really think that. So, I go get the grate and I put it in there and I I get two pieces of wood and a little fire starter. Like, I'm not like I'm not like that sophisticated. Like, you just light both ends of this little fire starter and it it gets the the other firewood going.

And I'm I'm watching it and and I like I read my Bible app. Not a ton of verses. Relax. So I read my Bible app. I go through my prayer list. It's not that long, but you know, I mean, I prayed for it four hours. And um I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. You remember preachers who would tell us how much they prayed. Everyone just feels bad. You're just like, "Oh, read the New Testament last week. Oh, you know, so it's never encouraging." So I promised myself I'd never be that preacher. So, you know, I read a verse a day.

But um so I'm I'm reading my Bible app and and then uh and then I I turn on um I actually listened to Pastor Steven Ferdick. He was on TV and uh a good friend of mine. And then I and I turned it to ESPN and watched First Take and was listening to Stephen A.

Smith. And I I looked over at the fire and it had been it had been quite some time. And those two pieces of wood were still burning. And I'm like, it can't be right. The Lord has multiplied not only the loaves and the fishes, but he's multiplied the logs.

I'm like, this is not true story. Chelsea comes down at like the crack of noon and I'm kidding. I'm kidding. It's like 8:30, whatever. It's like hours after the provider protector was up. And um she comes downstairs and I go, "You would not believe this. You would not believe this.

I got up at 6:00 a.m. Now, it wasn't like 6:00 a.m. when I lit the fire, but it's like 6:30ish. And I'm like, "Babe, I swear it's like I haven't even added to the fire." She's like, "Are you serious?" I'm like, "This is extraordinary." And I'm like, "That great is amazing."

And she looked at me with the only look that your wife can look at you after 18 years. And the look actually says what she doesn't even need to say anymore. It's called efficiency in marriage. And the look just says it. It's like, "Yeah, I told you so.

Right again." Right. Super annoying. And I started to think back. What took me so long to get a great? Like, let's do the math. Do you know how far the store is from my living room? If I get up from my couch, I grab my key. I get in my car.

I go to the local Safeway. I bet it takes me 11 minutes. All right, I timed it. 11 minutes. Like, I'm like, who guesses 11? All right, I timed it. Leave me alone. 11 minutes. 11 minutes and for an entire year I used my wood burning fireplace for do you know how many times I would get up to get more firewood for one year.

Do you know how much money I spent getting more stacks of firewood and 11 minutes of effort would have made my fire apparently four times as efficient. What's my problem? I'll tell you exactly my problem. It's not complicated. It's very basic. I would sit on my couch. It would dawn on me, oh wow, I want to make a fire.

So, I'd get up from the couch and then I would go, wait, will this be the time I get in the car and get a great? Nope, not today. Right. It was like, fire now, go get great, fire later, fire now. Right. And instead of making an 11-minute drive, this overachiever, this provider, this protector chose to take 10 steps to his garage and light an inefficient fire for a year.

I think that fire is still going right now. Those two little logs, I tell you what, I'm so proud of them. Aren't we funny creatures? We're funny. We are so prone to the now. We're so I can't spare 11 minutes. I would rather have a whole year of inefficiency than take 11 minutes that might rob me from the instant gratification of a fire right now.

Right? Are you like me? Do you shop on Amazon? >> I don't get anything unless it's Prime. It's not even an option. I'll be like, "Oh, wow. Oh, it's not Prime. Not for sale, but it is actually. Yeah, but it won't come tonight. Like, oh my word, I am addicted.

Right. It's so exhilarating to just turn on the Prime button. You just slide it over and all that shows up is Prime. Can be here in 12 minutes. Purchase now. It's so exhilarating, right? It's It is. My dad used to make jokes. It's the microwave generation. Now it's the Amazon Prime generation.

We like things now. And if we're honest, often times we will forfeit far much better for right now, right? I just I just need it now. 11 minutes. Ah, I just But I could have it now. Or I could have way better for 11 minutes. No, I'll take it now.

Now, we can all sit here today and go, "Oh, man. It's so true. We're so bad. We're so, oh my gosh, we're so now. We're so immediate. We just need to slow down. And we can all feel bad for about 15 minutes and then just go back to our regularly scheduled program.

Like, let's be honest. Like, is anyone going to go home and be like, you know what? I'm going to consider nonprime items just to practice patience. Like, no. That's dumb. Why would you do that when the prime is right there, you know? So, then what is our recourse?

What is our response? Are we maximizing our human experience by living in this desire for immediate and and and now? I like Peter. I can relate to Peter in a lot of ways. And tonight is one of those nights. Peter is a now kind of guy. And I can prove it to you in our passage tonight. something very interesting happens that happens in only one other passage and we'll land there in a little bit but in John chapter 13 Jesus uses Jesus says now and Peter says now but they're two different nows Jesus says to Peter in verse 36 I believe it's verse 36 he says you where I'm going you cannot follow me now Peter responds Lord why can I not follow you now' They could not be any more different nows.

They sound the same. You think they they're the same and I think they're the same. But when you look up these ancient Greek words, John wrote in two different Greek words. Jesus now means a period of time or a season, right? So, in in other words, uh if you were at a party and you're there with your boyfriend or your girlfriend or your spouse and all of a sudden they start arguing with you at your friend's party in front of everyone, oh my gosh, you would say to your girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse, you would say, "Not now."

And that doesn't mean five minutes later they start up the fight again at the same party. It means not at the party. In fact, probably not tonight. We're going to table this till the morning, right? Not Now Jesus says you can't come with me now. He he doesn't mean seconds.

He means a season. Peter responds, "Why can't I come with you right this very second?" Peter goes, "Look, I'm strong. I'm I'm handsome. Conditions are perfect. Why can't I come with you right now?" Jesus says, "You can't come now." Peter says, 'Why not now?' And their nows are on completely different pages.

Jesus says, 'You can't come with me in this season. And Peter says, 'Why can't I come with you this second? And Peter is prone to exactly what you and I are prone to, to live by seconds when God calls us to live by seasons. Amen. >> Now, this is going to be really helpful if you're going through a tough time because if you're going through troubling times and just a few moments later, Jesus will look at the remaining 11 disciples and he will say, "Let not your heart be troubled.

Let me on let me let you in on a little hint." One of the ways you cannot get shook and troubled and shaken to the core is not living by seconds, but choosing to live your life through seasons. And I'm going to try to explain this to you.

God works through seasons. H how do you how do how do you know God sees life in seasons? Look at the universe. Look at the universe. Look at the sun. Whoop. Look at the moon. Look at Look at Look at trees. Look at their leaves. Look at the tide.

Tides in, tides out. Watch the waves. Look at the rhythm. Listen to hip-hop. You know, it's like Judah. Come on, man. Look at the soil. Look at seeds. Look at the four seasons. Now, I know LA's confused right now. This is a really tough explanation, but it's the result of hairspray.

You know that, right? It's the ozone. It's like I I don't know what that means, but the Bible says for everything there is a season. It's a It's a season. Dad used to say life comes in waves. That's just a metaphorical way of saying life comes in seasons. >> But the problem is and the complexity and the wrinkle is that we see life often times in seconds.

And when you see life in seconds and yet you're designed by a God who designed them in seasons, you are prone to make some really dumb decisions. cuz all you can see is the second. Now, now, now, now about this time, if you're a thinking person and you like philosophy, you're thinking to yourself, "Yeah, but Judah, what about living in the now?"

That is true because the Bible does say, "Hey, tomorrow will take care of itself. Today's got enough worries. Just focus on today and live out today." But the Bible always assumes that your ability to enjoy the second is because you understand it is connected to God and his control and his seasons and his grand plan.

See, the reason I can enjoy my second is because I know it's connected to a bigger story. And God is in control of that story. And every season has a purpose. But I can't get tunnel vision and start living life by the second. Who lives life by the second?

Usually people oftent times going through troubling times. One of the reasons we live by seconds is man we are so overwhelmed. We are so frustrated. We're so stretched. Life is so full. I can't see past the next second to make sense of this season. So I Jesus sees seasons, but all Peter can see is seconds.

Peter's going to learn though. Peter's going to learn. You know what's so beautiful about understanding the season is you can start the word. Your words have power. You can start speaking right even in the midst of seconds that baffle you. >> See, that's the secret. If I can understand my seconds are connected to a bigger season and my God controls winter and he controls fall.

I I prefer autumn. Falling is just a bad term. So, he controls winter and autumn and spring and summer. That's that's my God. He works in a rhythm. He works with sustainable seasons. He does not give me more than I can bear. That in the moment that I'm feeling overwhelmed this second, I can declare, "Hey, this is just a season." >> And people will think you're in denial.

No, I'm not in denial. I know the God who controls the tide of every ocean. And as sure as the tie is the tide is high and the tide is low, seasons come and seasons go. And you think I'm losing my mind, but I'm telling you right now, I'm fighting something in my body or I'm fighting something relationally or I've lost my money financially.

But I'm here to say it's just a season. That's all. That's all. It's just a season. It's just a season. You don't have to trip. It's just a season. When's the last time somebody said trip? You don't have to trip. Someone's like, "What does that mean?" It's from the early 2000s.

You don't have to trip. It's just a season. But but but but how many know then there's other seasons that your statement is this is my season. Sometimes you got to be this is just it's going to be all right. It's just a season. And then there's other times you you're like this is this is my season.

This is our season. You know what I found is sometimes both can happen at the same time. >> Have you Have you been through this? >> Have I am literally right now as we're speaking personally, I'm going through a this is just a season. But with you as a community and a church leader, I'm going through this is our season.

Isn't it crazy how many times in your spiritual journey with God, you'll go through the dichotomy of both at the same time? >> It'll be like professionally, this is my season. Relationally, this is just a season. >> But isn't it crazy? You can get them confused and then you get confused and you get all frustrated.

You got friends who think they're doing you a service by being negative and speaking ugly and talking mean about people like that's going to produce any progress in your life and help you make any steps towards the right direction. Well, I think to be honest, I think I think you're fine, but I was that person that is not helping me. >> This is just a season.

Can you and I learn to live sometimes in one season that has a little bit of both? >> Because what I have found is when often times it is your season, there is resistance personally that requires you to exercise your faith and say, "This is just a season.

I'm going to be all right. I'm going to be all right. Don't ask me how I'm doing. Just give me a minute. >> This is just a a season. You ever you ever driven somewhere and you had to stay in your car till the song got done and you're in here in a parking lot and people like walking by and you're like just ((applause)) I'mma be I'm fine.

I didn't ask. who I am. It's just a season. It It'll It'll pass. It'll pass. It's It's just a season. I know right now these seconds don't make sense. And if I've learned anything about God is when you when you try to zero in sometimes on the seconds, um they're never going to make sense.

Right? >> I got seconds in my life, a whole collection of them that I'm like, "Lord, what was up with these seconds?" And I get nothing. Well, you take those seconds and you put them back in their season and you put them back in perspective. And the older I get and the more I follow Jesus, I'm not saying it all makes sense.

Who Who am I fooling? But I look back and go, "What? I'm starting to get the hint. I think maybe he's faithful. >> He's true. >> It all amounts to him. >> This is Okay. So, you were Wow. I did not see that in 2008 at all. But now that I'm over here in 2017, I can Oh, okay.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It was just a season. It was just a season. It's crazy. Talk to your kids when they're really young and you're like, "Now, now now Hell Dog or or Zy or Grace, we're going to go to Disneyland next month." And when they were really little, they would say, they would say, they would say, "Is that today?"

And you would say, "I said a month." That's what that's what you tell them. A good dad. We think a month is spell it out. M O N T. You know, like, no. But that brain's trying to figure out timelines. That little brain is like, "Is that is that today?"

You'd be like, "This summer we're going to go to Disney World. Is that today, Daddy? What part of next summer do you not?" You know, I love that about God. You know, God's like, "I'm going to do something great with your life." Is that Is that today, God?

What part of I'm going to do something with your life do you not understand? Sorry, my bad. No, he says when he's if you think your earthly fathers are good, Matthew 7:11, how much more your heavenly father will give good gifts to those who ask. When he says, I'm going to use you.

I'm going to I'm going to deliver you. I'm going to heal you. I'm going to set you free. We're naturally go, is that today, God? And he's like, well, that's not really how next month works. But I think you're so cute for asking. God works in seasons where, man, we're all going to get to eternity someday and go, "Oh, man."

Like, that is for dramatic emphasis. That Wait, that and I I I promise you God's going to be standing next to us like Right. No. Oh man. Right. It all make it kind of make it does man. You crazy. I mean, you're good. You know what I mean?

This is this is just a season. This is just a season. I think what's happening in in my life personally and tonight is not you know Judah's night to share about his personal life but if you would divulge if you would indulge dulge if you would indulge me just for a moment I think what's happening in my life might be happening to a lot of people in our community that that that dichotomy that irony that that personally Chelsea and I even physically like what we're doing and we're going to be fine and all is well but there's been so much difficulty personally and and Chelsea will tell you this that together we've been just keeping say hey it's just a season that's all it's just a season and there's no progress oftentimes without resistance >> it's just a season but simultaneously I am trying to tell you as a part of this community this is our season God is setting things in motion giving us opportunity to tell the story of Jesus Something's happening.

And together, if we will trust one another and trust Jesus, we can do some things that can make a difference in people's lives. >> Peter, I'm grateful for Peter. Someday I'm going to get to heaven and I'm gonna be like, "Thanks, man. I know sometimes you like had some really bad scenes recorded, but you made me feel really good on my low days.

Really good on my good days, too, actually. Right. Peter Peter kind of has his moments. This particular moment we've read tonight, Peter is well, frankly, he's kind of rebuked, isn't he? And he kind of goes quiet. I think he kind of goes gets a little sheepish like, "Wow, that was a little harsh."

Jesus says, "Really? Will you lay down your life?" "No, you won't." in the next few hours, you'll deny me three times. So, how do you like them apples? And Peter's like, "Okay, time out." There's a second place where Peter, actually, Jesus and Peter say the same word, but it's not the same word.

Do you know where that is? It's in John 21. It's there that Peter has gone back to his old job. He used to be a fisherman. And in John 21, the Bible says, "He and a few disciples said, "We're going to go fishing." They were discouraged. They were distraught.

They were confused. They were frustrated. They were troubled. Jesus is gone. He said he would come back. I thought we were going to establish a new government, a new kingdom. What What's going on? And the Bible records that Jesus went out of his way to appear to Peter and some of the guys.

Jesus is there on the shore and Peter and the guys fished all night. And Jesus, they don't know it's him yet. He says, "Hey, did you catch anything?" They said, "No." He says, "Cashing it on the other side." They catch 159 fish and all a sudden it dawns on them.

Wait, we've heard this, felt this, seen this before. Oh my word, it's Jesus. Peter jumps in the water, swims to shore. No one says anything. By the way, Peter says no words yet. No words. He's Everyone's just quiet and they're looking at Jesus and they're probably checking for scars and they're like looking and sure enough, the Bible says no one said a thing, but they knew it was him.

And Jesus says, "You got any fish? I'll I'll cook it for you." This is a pretty good setup. Jesus, the resurrected Jesus is cooking you breakfast and it's gluten-free, sugar-free. And Jesus looks at Peter and he says, he says, "Do you love me?" Peter Peter's not the same Peter he was in John 13, is he?

He's a little He's a little timid. He He said, "Um, yeah. Yeah, I I love you." He It's funny. He's not the Peter going, "I'm gonna die for you." Now he's he's soaking wet, by the way. He's sitting in the sand. Yeah. No, I No, I love you, Peter.

Yeah. Do you love me? Yeah. No, I I I love you, Peter. What? Do you love me, Lord? You know, the Bible says he's grieved. You know that I love you. Every single time Jesus says love, it's agape, which by definition is unconditional. It's love that is toward you that needs no reciprocation.

Every time Peter says love, it's felo or felos, which is friendly, brotherly love, which is why people get married, right? Do are you going to be committed to me? Then I'll commit to you. Okay, then I'll commit to you. Okay, that's called a deal, right? Nobody marries someone who's like, ah, no, I do.

You know, like it's kind of like the premise of love, right? And Peter every time says to Jesus, "I conditionally love you." Jesus says, "Do you unconditionally love me?" John seems to be, he likes to use this approach. He's telling us that in John 13, they're not on the same page.

They don't understand. It's not the same now. And now they're telling us, John's telling us, the writer John the beloved, they they don't understand the same kind of love. That's crazy that God's understanding of now and love is so different than our understanding of now and love. Can you imagine if we thought about now in seasons and love unconditionally?

Think about the earthly experience. But what do we do? We think about love conditionally and now immediate. And that's our life. Wait, you hurt me. My word, I feel so broken. Oh my god. Right. And that's and life just kind of has these moments and Jesus like Jesus came to show a completely different way of existing and he uses Peter to prove it.

Peter says, "I I do love you." And I think G Jesus was saying, "I know. I just want you to know that you do love me because I put the love you have for me in you. I gave it to you." >> Oh. And then Jesus says the meanest thing.

Listen to this. Seriously, this is Listen what he says. He says, "Truly, truly." That's weird. He said, "Truly, truly in John 14 after they totally had different meanings for the same words." It's like they're truly truly I say to you when you're young you used to dress yourself walk wherever you wanted and and when you're old you'll stretch out your hands and other will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.

Oh that is great conclusion to our breakfast. When you were young you had it great. You had it fun. It was great. When you're old people are going to have to put your clothes on for you. You're going to be so old and they're going to take you places and you're going to beg not to go but you're in a wheelchair.

Like what? Like Jesus, what? But the next verse says, "And he said this to to show what kind of death he would die to glorify God." Wait a second. What did Peter say in John 13 again? I will die for you. Jesus response at that moment was what?

Will you? Will you? Yeah, I will. I'll do it. In John 14, Peter wants to die for Jesus, but he can't. He's not capable. He was weak. In John 21, Peter wants to follow Jesus. He's not just sure if he can. But what he doesn't know is now by the grace of Jesus, he's actually going to finish the way he wanted to finish. >> And I'm going to tell you what I believe Jesus is saying.

And I believe when you take John 13 and you take John 21 and you put them side by side, Jesus is telling a message, not just for Peter, but for all of us. He's saying this, and I want to read it exactly the way I wrote it. Peter, you will finish well because in every season, my love will sustain you.

And if I could encourage you with any message right now, whether you are Peter in John 13 or you're Peter in John 21, whether you think you're capable and you're able and God is telling you in this season you're not, and you're like, "What?" Or you're in John 21 and you've been through enough pain and enough loss and enough life that now you're starting to wonder, "I don't even know if I can do this."

Come on. >> Either way, the message remains the same. You can't die for me, but you can because I will sustain you. In John 13, Peter thought he had the goods. Oh no, Peter. You're just as fragile and weak as any other man. You are prone to seconds kind of existing. >> But I'm going to take you through some stuff, young man.

And I'm going to meet you on that beach. And when I meet you there, I am going to show you that I will sustain you through every season >> through my love. My passion for this community is that we're still going to be around. Give us another decade.

Give us two more decades. I think it's overrated. I think it's overrated. We're talking about, well, we should grow. We should do this. I'm telling you, I just want to last. I want to finish well. I want to be a better man. I want to keep loving Jesus.

I want to keep honoring this woman. I want to love my three children. I want to love and I want to serve you. The results, let God take care of those. But let's let God's love in every season. Sustain us. We're not going anywhere. I'm not going anywhere.

How can you be so sure? Because he loves me, man. And his love never stops. It never stops. He just keeps loving me and he keeps loving me and he keeps loving me. I think Peter didn't even understand when Jesus says this is what's going to happen to you.

It sounded so dramatic and Peter said what about John the beloved? Jesus Peter Jesus like Peter don't worry about John. I think Peter missed that God was giving him what he desired. He says, "Peter, you're going to die for me." Wait, what? You're gonna finish well because my love is going to sustain you.

Wherever you are right now, remember his love will sustain you. This too shall pass. This is either just a season or this is my season. But whatever it is, don't you dare when seasons are going great, think that it's you sustaining you. It's still his love sustaining you when you're up or when you're down.

When you feel like you're in the spotlight or you feel like you're in the dungeons, it's all still his sustaining love seeing you through. And I promise, I'm preaching to myself and it feels good. We're going to keep going. That's what we're going to do. We're going to keep going.

I'm not saying we're going to be the fastest and the brightest and the quickest and the most gifted in the mottown, but we're going to stay the course little by little. We're going to get you. Hey, hey, hey. You okay? Yeah. I'm It's just a season. It's just wow.

God is just doing great things in your life. It's it's my season, but it's just a season. I just It's It's It's all him. Oh, man. I got on that plane today. I feel encouraged. I'm like, "Jesus, I needed this. I know people in here under the sound of my voice.

I know people I'm speaking to right now in Seattle. You are my friends and I know what you're going through." And I felt like God told me to tell you, "This is just a season. Don't overreact. Don't Don't let it get bigger than it is. It's just a season.

The tide is up, but the tide will go out. And his mercies are new every morning. We're going to be all right. We're going to be all right. Would you pray with me? Jesus, we thank you so much for your grace and for your sufficiency in every season and in all seasons.

We love you and we trust you. Help us to remember, Lord, that you think in terms of seasons and your love is unconditional. We love you, Jesus. And the only reason we can love you is because you love us so much. If you're here today and you say, "Judah, I'd like to follow Jesus.

I want to be a Jesus follower. That's what I want. I want to know Jesus. I want to follow Jesus. The Bible says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life." If you would like to believe in this Jesus, to believe is to freely receive the forgiveness that only he offers.

If you'd like to do that, I want to pray for you right now in this moment right now. In fact, on the count of three, if you say, "Judah, I believe in Jesus. I receive the forgiveness that only he offers. I want to follow him. I want his love to define my life, to sustain my life in all seasons and all challenges and all difficulties.

I would like to identify with Jesus. If that's you, on the count of three, I'm going to ask you to lift up your hand and then put it right back down. And I ask you to respond physically, externally, because I believe it makes what's happening internally all the more real to you.

So you know who you are. God loves you so much. On the count of three, one, God loves you. Two, I'm telling you, I believe with all of my heart Jesus can change our existence. Three, if that's you all over the room today, all over the room, just lift up your hand and you can slip it right back down.

Lord, I thank you. You see these hands, you see these hearts. You see these souls and you love, you love each and every person here endlessly and relentlessly. And I thank you that forgiveness fro flows freely from you by simply believing and receiving. I thank you. We'll never be the same again.

Never be the same