John 21: Jesus and Restoration Fishing!

TVCC Students,

It is always a blessing to be with you all on Wednesday nights to study God's Word and worship Him through song. Last night was a wonderful message of the restoration that Jesus offers as the disciples had left Him and returned to their former ways of life. How many time do we try and return to those things that never satisfy only to find the Lord calling us faithfully back to Him. What a patient and faithful God we serve. Here is a recap!

~John 21:1-3: The disciples decided to "go fishing." This was not just them deciding to do some recreational fishing- it was the fulfillment of the Words Jesus had told them in John 16 (verse 32). Jesus had told them that they would all fall away and return to their former ways of life and this is exactly what they were doing. Peter had been a fisherman before called by Jesus and now in his impatience he returned to that former life that was literally empty. 

~Verse 3 lets us know that they caught nothing. This is an amazing thing. Jesus, who ordains all things, allowed them to catch nothing in order that they might soon see that trying to sustain their lives apart from Him would leave them empty on more than one level. John 15 reminds us that apart from Him we can do nothing. Oh how true this is. 1 Corinthians 6:19 also gives us great wisdom in teaching us that believers are not called to live for themselves. If we profess that Christ is our Lord, we are called to live for Him. Our life is His! He paid for us with His blood on the Cross!

Q: How many times do we get discouraged like these disciples and try to turn back to our old ways of life thinking that they might offer us fulfillment? What is the last time you caught yourself trying to do this? How did the Lord convict you and remind you of the emptiness of that old life?

~John 21:4-5: When Jesus talks with the disciples from the shore they do not recognize Him. This is huge. Jesus HAS to be the one who allows people to really know who He really is. Romans 9:16 reminds us that salvation does not depend on the man who runs or wills but on God who has mercy. If Jesus does not open a person's eyes to see that He is the Risen Lord, they will not be able to believe in Him. Jesus asks them about their night of fishing and lets them again see how fruitless it was.

Q: Do you see Jesus for who He really is? If you are unsure about your salvation we encourage you to get alone with the Word and spend time praying and reading- asking Him to open your eyes to see Jesus for who He really is.

~John 21:6: This is the second time that Jesus used fishing to show Peter how wonderful He is. In Luke 5, Jesus helped Peter go from catching nothing to being overwhelmed by the amount of fish caught. This caused Peter to fall down in worship of the Lord. His eyes were opened to see the majesty of Christ and this led to him and the other disciples leaving everything to follow Jesus. Now in John 21, Jesus is bringing Peter back to that first time where Peter was brought to bow in awe of the Lord. Jesus tells the disciples to cast their nets out again and they are again overwhelmed by the great catch the Lord provides. This caused Peter to again see Jesus greatness and he actually dove into the water to go and meet His Lord.

Q: Have you lately been brought back to the first time that you recognized the greatness of Jesus? It's so healthy for us to remember where we were before Him and to realize how empty and lifeless we were before He revealed Himself to us. 

~John 21:9-14: It is refreshing for us to see in these verses the patience of the Lord. He did not yell or scold the disciples here for returning to things that didn't satisfy. He came to them where they were and purposed to let them see that life without Him is empty. He came to them and even served them breakfast!

~John 21:15- Jesus called Peter by his old name- Simon. This was reminding Peter that he was going back to his old ways. Jesus asks Peter two times if Peter has unconditional, intimate"agape" love for Him and Peter responds with saying that he just has brotherly "phileo" love towards Jesus. Finally Jesus asks Peter if he even has brotherly, "phileo" love for Him and Peter responds in saying that yes, he does have at least brotherly love for Jesus. This whole ordeal was for Jesus to offer complete restoration to Peter. Earlier Peter had rejected Jesus three times and Jesus was restoring Him three times. Jesus paid it all! On the cross all of our shortcomings and sins were completely paid for. We can rest in that complete restoration. No matter how far we are from the Lord and how much we feel that we have disappointed Him, we can cling to the cross and find rest in His restoration!

Dear Students,

We are so thankful to see you all every week and love getting to worship with you. We pray that you will meditate this week on the faithfulness and patience of the Lord and really see how much He desires intimacy with you despite your faults. Find rest in Him and what He has done for you on the Cross. This is our hope and our joy. We pray you will meditate on that this week. We love you!

With hope,

~Sonny and Casi

John 19:16-30: Crucifixion

Dear TVCC Students,

It was sobering to be brought through the crucifixion last night as we were in John 19. It is so incredibly important that we continually revisit the Cross and are reminded of the agony that our Lord went through on our behalf. It was also encouraging to be reminded that Jesus fulfilled every prophecy about Himself that was proclaimed in the Old Testament. What a great God we serve! Here is a recap from last night...

~John 19:16-18: Jesus was led away to be crucified. The Romans had perfected the process of crucifixion to make sure that the one dying experienced the most excruciating pain for the most amount of time and stayed awake to experience all of it. The nerve that is hit when we hit our "funny bone" was pierced with thick nails and this pain was so horrific that it prevented the person from passing out. The one crucified would eventually die of asphyxiation (suffocation) because the way they would hang on the cross would prevent air from getting to the lungs. In order to get air, they would have to push down on the nails in their feet but could only do this for a second or two because of the horrific pain in their feet. They would, after many hours of unbearable pain, eventually not be able to stand the pain of pushing on their feet and would suffocate.

With all of this said, it is so sobering to remember that the physical pain was not the main concern of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:42)- His main concern was experiencing the full wrath of God that He would be paying for the penalty of sinners. This spiritual pain would be more than He would ever experience physically. He did this for us- that we might be forgiven and our penalty would be paid.

~John 19:19-24; 28-29: Jesus fulfilled every single prophecy about Himself when He died on the Cross. We looked last night at Psalm 22 and 69 and how King David was prophesying of the coming death of the Messiah. Isaiah 53 is another great passage of Scripture that foretells the death of the Messiah. To see a list of all of the Old Testament Messianic prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, click here. Even the smallest detail was completed as Jesus the Lord GAVE UP His life for us. How incredible is our Lord!

~John 19:25-27: Jesus, in the midst of unfathomable agony, makes sure that His mother is going to be taken care of after His death. This is simply amazing. His whole life was characterized by serving others and we can see this even in His death.

Q: We are called to walk in the ways of Jesus. Philippians 2 calls us to live humbly and selflessly as Jesus did. Is your life characterized by selfless love for others or do you continually think about your own comforts and satisfaction?

~John 19:30: "It is finished." The most amazing three words. Our forgiveness was completed. Matthew 27 reminds us that Jesus yelled in a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. We must always remember that His life was not taken from Him. HE GAVE so that we might be credited with His righteousness. Sonny gave the analogy of a plane breeching the sound barrier when explaining this scenario.  Just as a plane experiences extreme turbulence as it is approaching the speed of sound and then experiences overwhelming peace after the sonic boom and the speed of sound is breached, so too with the Cross. Until the death of Jesus, mankind was in a state of turbulence- waiting for the coming freedom that the Messiah would bring when He would die for His people. After Jesus uttered those words, "It is finished," indescribable peace was offered to all who put their faith in Him and His sacrifice. In this peace we are able to live continually as He died once and for all and canceled the certificate of debt that was against us by nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:14). 

Q: Are you living a life of thankfulness to the Lord who gave His life for you? He experienced the most horrific physical and spiritual torture so that you might be credited with His righteousness. How is that affecting your daily life?

Dear students,

We pray that the Cross will continue to change all of us- that we would live lives of thankfulness to the One who was crucified on our behalf. We pray that you will evaluate your lives this week to see if the Lord is calling you to make any changes in your life so that His glory might proclaimed in you. Remember that this life is so short and temporary. Just as Jesus was able to look beyond the cross to the glory that was coming after (Hebrews 12:1-3), so we need to remember that this life is so short and what really matters is us living with eternal mindsets. Please spend time with your King this week, meditating on His Word and asking to be molded daily into His image. We love you and are praying for you!

With hope,

~Sonny and Casi

John 18:33-19:16

TVCC Students,

We hope that you are having a wonderful week and that you are continually remembering your King who laid down His life for you. This past Wednesday we looked through the trial of Jesus and His response to His accusers. It is so crucial that we remember that He laid His life down- no one took it from Him. He had the authority and power to call down thousands of angels to help Him if He wanted BUT He chose to go to the Cross and experience physical and spiritual wrath in our place so that we might be credited with His righteousness and be able to again have intimacy with Him and the Father. What an incredible God we serve!! Here is a recap from Wednesday...

~John 18:33-40: Jesus is questioned by Pilate about who He is. Jesus reminds Pilate that His kingdom is not of this world. We are again reminded that Jesus was able to go to the cross because He was able to look past it to the eternal glory that was awaiting Him after the resurrection (Hebrews 12:1-3). Jesus was not living for earthly comforts or pleasures but lived with a heavenly mindset and was thus ready to endure the Cross on our behalf. He knew (verse 37) that He was born for the ultimate purpose of bringing the Father glory through His own death and resurrection and He was thus ready to fulfill that purpose.

Q: Do you feel that your mind has been set on heavenly things or earthly things this week? What changes do you need to make in your life so that you can follow in the footsteps of Jesus and live with an eternal mindset?

~John 19:3: The scourging of Jesus would have been a horrific scene of 39 lashes with a whip filled with pieces of bone and other sharp scraps. Just as the Passion depicts this scene, it would have been excruciating and bloody. This was just the beginning of Jesus being led to death SO THAT we could be forgiven. Again, what an incredible Savior we have.

Q: Are you willing to suffer with Jesus if He called you to that?

~John 19:6: Pilate tried 3 times to get Jesus off but to no avail. His good intentions towards Jesus were not enough. Even though Jesus was destined for the cross we still need to realize that Pilate was swayed by the pressure of the crowd to do nothing and stand and watch as the Savior was crucified. Pilate was just as guilty as the others because he did nothing.

Q: Are you like Pilate? When you see unrighteous or unjust things going on around you, are you swayed by the crowd and your own pride to do nothing or do you stand up for what is noble and honorable even if it means that you look "weird" or "extreme?" Are you willing to look "radical" and "different" in order that Christ might be proclaimed in your life?

~John 19:10: Pilate again is seeking to find out more about who Jesus is and where He is from. In this situation, Jesus fulfills prophecies about Himself being silent before His accusers. Isaiah 53 is an incredible depiction of Jesus prophesied hundreds of years before He came and it is fulfilled to the very smallest detail. 1 Corinthians 2:8 says that if the crowd would have really known who Jesus was, they would not have crucified Him. He was silent in order to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies and to allow Him to go to the Cross.

Q: Are you someone who listens intently to the Lord about when you are to speak and when you are to be silent? There could be times where we may be called to be silent when we are being accused in order to represent the Lord well.

~John 19:11: We see again that Jesus knows His own power and authority and the authority of His Father. Pilate and all other earthly authorities are all ultimately under the authority of the Lord in heaven. There is no authority that has not been authorized by the Lord (Romans 13:1). All of the trial of Jesus was ordained by the Father with a purpose: that we would be brought back to Him. We can look back to John 10:17 and see Jesus encouraging His disciples that He would soon be laying down His life for His people. HE GAVE UP HIS LIFE FOR US!

~John 19:12-16: Jesus was led to be crucified. We can look at Colossians 1:19-23 to see that Jesus was fully God and came with the purpose of reconciling the world to Himself. While we were enemies of the Lord, Jesus came and died on our behalf. We had nothing to offer Him. All of our righteous deeds were like filthy rags before Him (Isaiah 64:6). He came and died to make us pure and acceptable to the Father.

Q: How is the truth of the gospel affecting your life this week? Are you living a life of thankfulness to the Lord who GAVE UP His life for you?

Dear students,

We pray that you will really be meditating on the gospel this week. We were enemies of the Father and destined for eternal wrath and condemnation. Jesus left intimacy with the Father to give up His life for us. He was tortured both physically and spiritually on our behalf so that we could be declared righteous. Meditate on that this week. We pray that this truth would encourage great affection in your soul for the One who both created and saved you. We love you guys!

With hope,

~Sonny and Casi