The Key To Real Transformation

Today we’re focusing on the transformation of Peter, an everyday person chosen by Jesus. He went from a fisherman, to a “fisher of men.”  The Holy Spirit is pivotal in transformation. It’s about the relationship and abiding in Him, surrendering our lives to His presence and guidance in our lives. 

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Show Notes:

Peter’s Story

Abide and respond

The Before: no to drop nets, no to Jesus going to the cross, walk on water and sinking, transfiguration idea, three denials, sliced off Malchus’ ear, etc

The Restoration: A message from God and the angel, recommitment, return, receive grace.

The Holy Spirit: Pentecost, filling, fruit, relationship, Ephesians 5:18 Luke 11:13

The After: Boldness, thousands saved, wrote Scripture, Cornelius, Gentiles, etc

Application: Confess, Surrender, Ask

Filled with the Holy Spirit and your soul on fire

1. Benevolence and legacy
2. Faithfulness to God

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Special thanks to World Concern for sponsoring The Bonfire Podcast.

Transcription:

Welcome to The Bonfire. My name is Jesse Bradley and The Bonfire is all about God’s presence. We gather together and we grow in our faith. We’ve been looking at inspiring stories straight from scripture, and as we look at those stories, there’s also our stories and there’s an overlap. The way God works then, we learn from it. It’s the way God works now. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, and there’s a parallelism. Now, your story’s not going to be exactly like Peter, but it’s very relatable and it’s very relevant. As we think about Peter’s story, first of all, Peter’s an everyday person and it reminds us, God chooses everyday people. Jesus didn’t choose those who have been through seminary, the religious elite of the day. No, he chose a fisherman. That’s what Peter did. He caught fish.

And Jesus said to him, “Follow me and I will make you a fisher of men.” Follow me, that’s the relationship and abiding. For all of us, that’s where it starts. It’s closeness to Jesus, nearness, reliance, abide. That’s our most important role during the day. And then respond, catching people, not fish. If you catch a fish, a fish is alive and you catch it. Now it’s dead. But people are dead spiritually, and when they’re caught, they come alive because God takes us from death to life. And Peter, you’re going to go on this adventure that you had never planned or imagined. Have you ever felt like God said that to you? Like, I’m going to take you somewhere and you’re going to do some things that are going to blow your mind. And now as we track Peter’s story, I really want to think about the before and after and what has God done in your life when you compare the before and the after.

And as we do that, we’re going to focus on really the core of the transformation, the fire in Peter’s soul, and what can we glean from that. And it’s the same fire today. Jesus says, “I’m going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” And God wants to do a transformative work in our lives. Sometimes we need to know where we’ve come from before we can appreciate and realize where God’s taking us. And when you think about Peter, he has a lot of strengths. For whatever reason, with the disciples, he’s the one that God chooses to really share in scripture a lot of his mistakes. And that might be encouraging because if you’re around a lot of people that you feel like, man, they just always nail it. They’re flawless like, am I the only one messing up? Peter is the guy that might be refreshing. Peter’s the guy who says what everyone else is thinking. And Peter’s the one who dives in and then debriefs and realizes later, okay, maybe there’s a different way.

I want to give you some examples to start, and this is important in Peter’s story. Now, Peter initially doesn’t want to lower the nets. When Jesus says, “Drop the nets,” he says, “We’ve been fishing all night, haven’t caught anything. What’s the point? Look, Jesus, we’re professional fishermen like, what do you really know about fish? This is our expertise.” We can all relate because we all feel like we’ve got a career, we’ve got some things figured out. God don’t come in here and tell me what to do. And yet Peter, to his credit, says, “Jesus, because you said so, fine. We’ll lower the nets.” And the massive haul of fish, the catch of fish is astounding. And then Peter’s so humbled, he’s like, “Get away from me. I’m a sinful man.” Peter started to recognize that God’s ways are higher than his ways. And with Jesus, Jesus knows every area of our lives, including our jobs, our expertise, our profession.

For Peter, it was fishing. Now from there, there’s going to be a lot of moments between Jesus and Peter where we’re going to see Peter’s just in the flesh, not the spirit. Every day, every moment you choose, am I going with the Spirit or the flesh? And Peter relies on his own thinking, his own plans over and over again. He tries to convince Jesus, “Don’t go to the cross. That’s not a good idea. You don’t need to do that.” Now, that might be well-intentioned, he cares about Jesus, but Jesus absolutely will decide to and needs to go to the cross for our salvation. In addition, when Jesus wants to wash Peter’s feet, Peter says, “Nope, can’t wash my feet.” And then Jesus continues to talk to him and Peter says, “Fine wash my whole body.”

It’s like, “No, Peter, we’re not going to ignore your feet. We’re also not going to wash your whole body.” And Jesus washes Peter’s feet and that picture of serving is so powerful. I can’t imagine what that would look like to really look down and see Jesus washing your feet, the savior of the world, the sinless, Messiah, and very humbling in all these instances, extremely humbling. To Peter’s credit, he wants to walk on the water. But then what happens after he starts to walk? Well, he looks over and he stares at the waves. That’s a lifelong lesson for Peter. If you stay fixed on Jesus, keep your eyes on Jesus. When the storms of life come, financial storms, health storms, relationship storms, stay focused on Jesus, continue to abide, but don’t get caught up in the problems. If you stare at the waves, it’s going to be bigger in your mind. The problem’s going to grow in your mind and you’re going to have fear instead of faith.

We choose faith over fear that happens when we keep our eyes on Jesus. There were moments where Jesus included Peter like the transfiguration, and it’s almost like Peter doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know what to do, we can all relate. And he’s like, “Let’s build a shelter.” It’s like, “Peter, we’re not doing shelters right now. That’s not what this is all about.” In the glory of Jesus and in his presence, Moses and Elijah are there. So there are these moments that continue throughout Peter’s life where in one that’s really powerful is that Peter says, “I’m never going to deny you.” Jesus is prophesied accurately that before the rooster crows three times, Peter’s going to deny Jesus three times before that rooster crows and Peter’s just like, “No way. Never me. I’ll never do that. I’m fully committed. I’m all in for Jesus.” And what happens in Jesus’s moment of pain, of being betrayed, of the disciples scattered, Peter has an opportunity to recognize Jesus, to share Jesus, to associate with Jesus, but he’s scared.

And even these young girls that are talking to him, he’s denying that he’s associated with Jesus in any way, denies three times the rooster crows and then this powerful moment where Jesus makes eye contact with Peter and they look at each other. The rooster crows three times. Can you imagine what Peter felt? The guilt, the shame, let his savior down before the crucifixion, this hour of need, he said he would never do it, but he did it. Have you ever ended up in a place in life where you didn’t want to be, didn’t think you would be there, but you made some bad choices and you didn’t keep your word? And what’s most important to you, you chuck those values, you chuck those priorities, and that’s where Peter sits. I mean, there were so many moments in Peter’s life where you might think, oh, Peter’s done.

He’s disqualified. His story’s over. God must have a better choice. But look what happens. God continues to pursue Peter, gracious to Peter, kind to Peter, and then restores Peter, and he does it in a few different ways. And one of them is through the angel and the resurrection has now happened. Hope. Hope abounds through the resurrection of Jesus. There’s nothing more hopeful in our lives than the resurrection, that reality, that fact, that evidence. And what happens? The angel says, “Tell the disciples and tell Peter. Specifically Peter.” Even after he’s blown it, God still caress. See if you’ve blown it, God still caress. God still pursues you. He knows you. He wants to restore you. If you feel like too much has been lost, the fire has leaked like you’ve given up on yourself, God hasn’t given up on you. And intentionally they let Peter know Jesus has risen.

We’ve seen Jesus and now hope starts to spring up. There’s a possibility that for Peter, he could apologize, he could reconnect, he could abide again, he could serve the Lord again. And all of this is starting to grow because of the good news Jesus has risen. Those words in scripture ministered to me for years. Tell the disciples and tell Peter because Peter’s not making it right now. Peter’s really down right now. Peter’s really discouraged. He’s got guilt and shame. The devil’s at work in Peter’s life and mind. And so we’re going to bring some good news to Peter. And in that good news, Jesus then has a conversation with Peter, asks him three times, “Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? More than anything else, do you love me?” And three times Peter says yes. There’s a lot of complexities to that conversation.

All that to say, very humbling. And a reconfirmation recommitted peter to Jesus. And there’s grace that’s greater than Peter’s rebellion, mistakes, and errors. And as that happens, now we lean into Pentecost. And when you think about Pentecost, you think about fire and the Holy Spirit. We had a church at that time that was waiting for the Holy Spirit. They were gathering, they were praying. Some of them were discouraged, they were scattered. They lost Jesus in the sense that they’ve witnessed the death of their savior. But now also there’s hope and there’s a resurrection, ascension, and they know they can’t do it alone. See, it’s no different then than today. We can’t do it alone. We can’t live the Christian life. We can’t have the mind of Christ. We can’t have the attitude that honors God. We don’t have the perseverance. We don’t have the boldness.

We don’t have the words to say. We don’t have the clarity. We need supernatural power. That’s how God made us for all of us. We are not self-sufficient. We shouldn’t be self exalting and we desperately need God. As you grow spiritually, you don’t reach a point where you need God less. In fact, you become more aware and realize just how much you need God. And the Holy Spirit is given, one God, three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, couldn’t be more intimate in terms of relationship. And the Holy Spirit is active in many ways in our lives. First of all, there’s comfort. If you’re going through a hard time right now, the Holy Spirit will bring you comfort, give you the comfort that you need. Also, there’s conviction for the different ways that we’re off track, that we’re not aligned with God and His word.

There’s conviction through the Holy Spirit, a loving conviction to help us return home. There’s also a boldness that comes from the Holy Spirit. There’s an empowering that comes from the Holy Spirit and equipping as well. And the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, “You receive power when you receive the Holy Spirit.” This root word is like dynamite from that word, dynamite, dunamis, power, supernatural power. And Peter experiences this. We all have jars of clay. We all have this temporary tense. Our bodies, human, flawed. We wrestle with sin every day.

We have sickness like our bodies. We need God and Peter in his body is going to receive the Holy Spirit. For generations, children and families in the poorest places in the world have struggled to find clean water, food, and a chance for a brighter future. But all that can change in this generation. You can be part of the solution. Go to worldconcern.org. As you participate, this is what will happen. Villages will be transformed far beyond where the road ends, and children and families will receive the love of Christ. You can make a difference. Go to worldconcern.org. Let’s be part of the solution together.

How do you receive the Holy Spirit? Here’s three things to remember. First, confess your sin. Because if you have sin in your life that you’re harboring, you’re holding onto, you grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. You’re not making room in your life for God. And the Holy Spirit wants to reside fully in every part of your life. And it’s not just one day or one hour or it’s not just when you’re at church or just when you’re reading the Bible or just when you’re with a couple friends. It’s throughout the entire week, this relationship, 24/7. And so confess any sins and then the next part is yield. Surrender. After you’ve turned from sin, now you offer yourself to God. This is worship. This is your spiritual act of worship to say, “Here I am, God.” And then ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit.

Luke 11:13, “How much more will that our Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?” And that is something just every day, “God, I’m turning for my sin. I’m surrendering to you right now. I can’t control it. Figure it all out. Do it in my own power. I get discouraged, I get distracted. And God, fill me with your Holy Spirit.” May that become a regular prayer for you and in your worship, God wants to fill you with His presence. Nothing’s greater than God’s presence and He wants to fill you. You won’t have the same spiritual fire if you’re not filled with the Holy Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit will be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That’s how you know that you’re surrendered to the Holy Spirit filled with the Holy Spirit. You see that kind of fruit, but also you’re going to use your gifts.

Peter is a change man. It’s the same Peter and a different Peter. And when you’re filled with the Spirit, it’s going to look like you, but it’s you at your best. It’s you with God moving through you. You don’t become God. You never will, but God dwells in you and there’s a supernatural power and you can receive the Holy Spirit. So what happens for Peter after he receives the Holy Spirit? Well, remember how he was again denied Jesus three times. Embarrassed about that. It’d be nice if he could go back and redo that. God and His grace will give you opportunities where you’ve blown it. The things that you’ve stumbled over, didn’t step up, missed opportunities, God will often bring you back to a similar setting and enable you to have a second chance to rely on Him and when the power of the Holy Spirit, it’s going to be so different, Peter this time has a boldness greater than his fear.

First time, fear was greater than boldness. And when you think about that dynamic, boldness and fear, it’s not like your feelings of being scared ever maybe completely go away, but the boldness is greater than the fear. And there’s a boldness where Peter brings the good news of Jesus, thousands coming to the Lord. So the very same person that didn’t even have the courage to quietly tell a little girl, yeah, I love Jesus, is now proclaiming it, risking his life and boldly with huge crowds, many who are opposed, telling people to repent and turn to the Lord and they are cut to the heart. There’s a piercing of their soul. And now thousands are coming into Jesus. This is the same man with and without the Holy Spirit. You say, “Well, what else did Peter do full of the Spirit?” He wrote the Bible, two books in the Bible, First Peter and Second Peter.

Those are books that shepherd, that encourage, that strengthen people, people going through trials. Peter can relate. He brings a good word, a timely word. He becomes God’s instrument. He’s an author for the timeless word of God, the perfect scripture. Peter is that instrument. And you think, wait a second, God is using this guy who’s often stumbling over his words, saying the wrong stuff, like the wrong ideas. God’s going to trust him with scripture? Yes, the Holy Spirit works through Peter. So if you feel like you’re not a great communicator, you made a lot of mistakes, it doesn’t come natural to you like you’ve blown it a bunch. Listen, the story’s not over and the fire that God wants to bring, He’s going to communicate things through you and it’s going to be amazing and lives are going to be changed. So in addition to that, Peter takes a huge step of faith.

And at the time, there was so much hostility between Jews and Gentiles and a lot of ministry happened and Gentiles weren’t even on people’s radar. They were just thinking, reach the Jews, serve the Jews. God loves the Jews. But the truth is God loves Jew and Gentile. There’s going to be people from every nation, tongue and tribe in heaven. And God wanted to do a breakthrough. So who did he use? Peter. How did he do that? Well, there’s a man named Cornelius, a Gentile. He prayed some, but he wasn’t born again. He didn’t have a relationship with Jesus, and yet he was a seeker. And God made it very clear to Peter that he can trust some of Cornelius’s assistants who have come to his door, go with them, go to Cornelius, and Peter’s just thinking, wait a second, Gentiles, unclean. All these different thoughts are going through his mind.

And God says, “No, no, no. Don’t call unclean what I call clean. Trust me in this.” The Holy Spirit leads Peter to Cornelius’s House. Cornelius trust Jesus. And now the floodgates are open and the Gentiles are going to start receiving Jesus, going to start receiving the Holy Spirit. See, God will often do massive works through one conversation, one relationship, Peter and Cornelius. If Peter’s not listening to Holy Spirit, he’s probably missing that opportunity. During the day, God gives you so many different opportunities. You need to be in step with the Spirit. God communicates primarily through His word and the Spirit, and we need both. They’re in agreement. They’re like railroad tracks. They’re going the same direction. They work together. We need both. So spend time in God’s word. That could be a habit that you develop. The fire inside your soul is going to grow because God’s word fuels that fire.

It’s just like throwing more logs on the fire, right? You don’t put any logs on the fire, the fire dies down. You keep bringing scripture into your soul like the fire grows and then also the Holy Spirit through that confessing, that yielding and that asking, you’re going to be filled with the Spirit and you’re going to be tuned in. People who have the Spirit, they communicate things that wouldn’t be said if you weren’t walking with the Spirit. They go places that you wouldn’t go otherwise. On the other side of, yes, God does miraculous works. He changes lives. He continues to do that today. And He will use His flawed people to take a step of faith and it’ll be one person, one conversation, one moment. Peter didn’t know at that time when he talked to Cornelius, that this is part of God’s greater plan and that God is now going to move in amazing ways through the Gentiles.

He didn’t know the fullness of that. And then Peter helped lead the church through that to realize what God was doing. But he said yes to the Spirit. When you say yes to the Spirit, you’re not even going to know all the things God’s going to do. You’ll have no idea that all these lives ended up being touched and changed. All you know is you said yes to this job, yes to this role, yes to this project, yes to this invitation, yes to this person, yes to this conversation. And those yeses, they’re small initially, but the results, God multiplies them. So when you think through Peter’s life, you would never think, oh, that’s my leader. He’d be great. Peter throughout his life and trying to figure this out, an everyday guy trying to figure out what spiritual, trying to figure out how to live for Jesus, trying to figure out how do we change the world?

What does it mean to reach men and women? What does it look like? He’s just going through life trying to figure that out. And as that’s happening, we can see what he’s thinking and relate, learn from it. And at the heart of Peter’s life, the before and the after are so different. And what happens in the middle, that’s always key in before and after stories. Okay, I see it before and I’m seeing what he’s saying and doing, and now I’m looking at it afterwards and I’m seeing all this fruit. Okay, let me hone in on what exactly is going on with the core. And here’s the core of it. At his lowest points, God still sees him and cares. You got to let that sink in today that God still sees you, pursues you, cares about you, and then God extends grace, greater than your sin and shame, greater than your mistakes.

And Peter receives it. It’s very humbling to receive God’s grace. It’s one of the most humbling things. If there’s pride in your life, you’re not going to receive His grace. If there’s pride in your life, you’re not going to receive the Holy Spirit because you’re going to think, I’ve got this. I don’t need God. I got it figured out. My mind, my intellect, my just self-help is better than my God help. And that’s completely false. God’s help is so much better than self-help. And Peter has to see failure. And because he sees the failure, smells the failures, aware of the failure, he’s hungry for what God’s offering and God is offering the Holy Spirit. I remember when I graduated from seminary, I was so grateful for those years and they were four intensive years in Dallas of studying God’s word. And I didn’t grow up with the Bible.

I needed this food, this nourishment. I knew if I’m going to be teaching people about God and sharing truth in the rest of my life, I need to have a reservoir. I need to go deep in scripture. That’s true for all of us though. Go deep in scripture. Let the word of God dwell in you. Not only go deep in the word, but let the word dwell deeply in you. And after seminary, I was so grateful for that. And then in addition, I just knew I needed more. And that’s when my relationship with the Holy Spirit really began to grow. I started to want to hear that voice. In relationships, you either want to listen well or you don’t. Either tune out or you’re doing your phone and listening or you’re really listening. When you really listen, you’re listening to someone with your heart, with your mind, you’re listening with your ears.

You’re paying close attention. The Holy Spirit communicates to us, speaks to our thoughts and our heart, always guiding us in truth, reminding us of Jesus. And I started listening closely. I started surrendering. What do you want right now? What do you want me to do to say? Where do you want me to go? And then the joy of the Holy Spirit, one God, three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We worship the Father. We worship the Son. We worship the Holy Spirit. Now, by design, the Holy Spirit is going to bring glory in like a spotlight on Jesus. So sometimes we overlook the Holy Spirit. Let me tell you, the Trinity is not the Father, Son and the scripture, the Trinity is the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, absolutely no God’s word. It’s eternal. It’s perfect. It’s a gift. But the scripture, the words are not God.

And we need the Holy Spirit. The scriptures are designed to lead us to Jesus. Jesus would confront religious people, say, “You study the scriptures, but you don’t come to me.” We need the fullness of God. And Pentecost reminds us that the church is dead without the Holy Spirit. See, today across America, if the church doesn’t have the Holy Spirit, the church will be dying. The church will be distracted. The church will be going backwards, watering down scripture. The church won’t reach locally and globally. The church will just be a fraction of what she’s designed to be. And we, the church being the people of God need the Spirit of God. And that will never change. And I believe the best thing right now for the church in America would be to say we need the Holy Spirit and we need to be filled. We need to be in step with the Spirit.

We want to rely on the Spirit, and we’re going to see the fruit of the Spirit as well. We have no greater need than the need for the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit also brings healing, brings restoration. There’s no limits to what God can do. So let me ask you today, right now, how’s your relationship with the Holy Spirit? Are you in step? Are you relying? Are you filled? Are you trusting? Are you asking? Are you listening close to the Holy Spirit? If Peter could sit down and we could have a conversation right now, I think he’d be very clear to say, “Jesus was gracious to me. His mercy is greater than my failures. And God is so gracious to me. He filled me and He empowered me and He did things in me and through me far beyond what I could have imagined or planned. But the key was He gave me the Holy Spirit.”

And at Pentecost we saw Peter filled with the Spirit, many others. That’s the core of Peter’s story, and that’s the core of our story. That’s the story of the church. And it’s true for churches local, it’s true for the church global. It’s true for every individual. When you look at the fire of God, you’re going to focus in on the Holy Spirit, the feeling of the Holy Spirit. Maybe you’ve got some bad experiences with some false teaching around the Holy Spirit. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying and experiencing an incredibly good relationship with the Holy Spirit. Maybe you’ve just knew the whole concept of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not an it but person, God, and this is a closeness in a relationship. So there’s trust. There’s a living dynamic there. Maybe for you, a Bible study on the Holy Spirit would be awesome.

We’d just start to look through the verses of the Holy Spirit, start to study those passages, and most of all, open up your life. Robert Munger wrote a book, My Heart, Christ Home, and this is true when you think about that metaphor, your house, your life, open up all the doors, give the Holy Spirit access to every part of your life. And that’s your thoughts, your attitude, your Friday night, your Monday morning, your work, your friendships, your dating, your marriage, your parenting. Just say, “Come in, Holy Spirit, and take over.” And when that happens in Peter’s life, you look at the difference between the before and the after. Trust God today. That’s the message from The Bonfire today. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “I will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Spirit.” And that goes together because God is love.

God is light. God is a consuming fire. There’s no greater gift God has than His presence. God couldn’t be more gracious. He’s not only a transcendent God, but He’s an imminent God. He’s a close God. He couldn’t be more personal. He dwells within us. The Holy Spirit is in you when you put your trust in Jesus. And as we close today, I want to encourage you, if you’ve never decided to follow Jesus, make the decision today to follow Jesus as your savior and Lord a relationship because he died for your sins. He’s risen. And when you decide to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells in you. And now you’re part of God’s family forever. Your sins are forgiven and the Holy Spirit’s a seal guaranteeing your inheritance, even eternal life. This is the relationship we have with God. Let’s not rely on ourselves. Let’s keep in step with the Holy Spirit.

And that’s why we gather on The Bonfire, God’s presence growing in our faith. The fire of God grows in our lives as embers come together, and that blaze, that consuming fire is so good. We’re alive with purpose, with passion, and we’re trusting God as we take the next steps forward, as we say yes to God, we trust God on the other side of yes. Love it if you could subscribe, comment, rate, I love to hear from you. Check out the bonfire.org and let’s keep growing in our faith together. Thank you for taking time to meet up at The Bonfire. We’ll see you next week.