read from Matthew chapter 26 verse 56 verse 58 then we'll jump to verse 69 and the children are dismissed but all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled then all the disciples forsook him and fled and they had They that had laid hold of Jesus led him away to Vesuvius, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace and went. and sat with the servants to see the end. Now Peter sat without in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, also waste with Jesus of Galilee, but he denied before them, all saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, Another maid saw him and said, unto them that were there, this fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again, he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him, they sat. They that stood by and said to Peter, surely thou also art one of them, for thy speech betrayeth thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the croc grew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, before the croc grew, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for this passage of Scripture. Lord, out of fear, a man named Peter, one of your disciples, Lord, denied you three times. He told him that he will do that. And Lord, we too, how many times we have denied you in our daily lives, with our actions, with even our very thoughts, and with our own mouths. Lord, help us, Lord, as we go through this journey of life. Help us always to uphold Your name as a great thing in our hearts, that we show the world that we love Jesus. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You may be seated. The title of the message this morning is, Can They See Jesus in Me? I know I'm starting like a quarter of 12. It's like, Pastor, are you going to be able to preach? Yeah, we will. Okay, hang in there. So, can they see Jesus in me? Can they? Whose they? The lost. When we walk in the streets, when we go to the grocery store, when we go to any store, when we go to the workplace, can they see Jesus in me? By the way I behave, by the way I talk, by the way I live my life. It's not to say like, you know, I want people just to see me this way, but I'm not really this way. No, that's who I am. Can they see Jesus in me? I think that's an important thing because we Christians have to be more and more like Christ. We as we mature as we we get saved and we grow and we study our Bibles and go to church and all that Is one purposeful of this that that we turn more into the image of Christ That we reflect more our Savior But is the question can they see can the world see Jesus in me? Did they see in me something that they want for themselves because ultimately let me put it this way folks life is short and Even the loved ones that we love so much, they will come to the end of life like we will if Jesus doesn't come first. And what happened to those we love the most and we don't even take a second to tell them about the love of Christ, the love of God. God loves them and God wants those people in heaven. But the thing is, you and I might be the only Bible they ever read. The only true Christian am I ever seen. So can they see Jesus in me? It's not foreign to any of us Christians here this morning that we live in a very sinful world with temptation on every side. Listen, whenever you get out of bed to the time you go to bed at night, is temptation always going to follow you? He's always going to hit you. It's what you do with the temptation that comes your way. Can you overcome temptation? I can do all things through Christ to strengthen me. The Bible says any temptation is going to be put aside. You can overcome it. You know why? Because the Spirit of God is in you to give you the strength to overcome those things. Not only that, but we have a sense for nature which have a great appetite for the pleasures of this world. You know, sometimes our pleasures, we crave so much that we say, I can't help myself. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Keep in mind that we are citizens of heaven living in a foreign land, and our way of life should reflect who we are, should reflect who we are. Listen, I can't help myself. You say, why? Let me put it this way. I grew up in a different country. And as much as I try to be different, I can't. There's some things that are stuck with me. My accent doesn't go away. It denounces who I am. Oh, you were not born here. door you know you know you think different yeah you know because I'm come from a different country look if I'm a citizen of heaven I gotta speak different I have an accent oh yeah I think different you follow what I'm saying here because I just come from a different place I can tell you things that I think and do, like what planet you came from? I'm from another country. But that's the truth. Look what it says in Philippians chapter 3 verse 20. For our conversation, or our way of life, or our citizenship is in heaven. From hence also we look to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So the word conversation means, is a word polyumeth, which means in Greek, it means a community that abstractly, a citizenship, means we are citizens of heaven. The moment you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him as your Savior, you become a citizen of heaven. I remember when I became a citizen of USA. I remember going to the federal building in Providence. I remember During the Pledge of Allegiance, I remember singing the National Anthem, and I remember, you know, we all swear, you know, things that I said, we repeat after me, and I remember giving my green card. And I remember telling the ladies, like, well, they just shred it. She said, no, you are a citizen of USA. I've been for many years now, almost 30 years. Well, praise the Lord for that. But let me tell you this. We are citizens of heaven by a new birth. and we are citizens of heaven but you say pastor but uh uh you're a little americanized or more than you think for an example i went four years ago i went to visit portugal i didn't realize how much of an american person i have become even though i still think different different but there's many things which have influenced me here in this land same thing if i'm a citizen of heaven The Bible is going to speak to me differently. God's going to speak to me differently. And yes, He's going to transform me to be more like His Son. Let me give you an illustration. One day a woman was crossing a street at London station. An old woman stopped her. And he said to her, excuse me ma'am, but I want to thank you. She looked up and explained, take me. She replied, yes, ma'am. I used to be a ticket collector. And whenever you went by, you always give me a cheerful smile and a good morning. I knew that smile must come from inside somewhere. Then one morning I saw a little Bible in your hand. So I bought one too. And I found about Jesus from that Bible. Now I'm too, I am saved. That man saw something in that woman that touched his heart. What did he see? He saw Jesus living through a life. Each of us who are saved should live in a way that people see Jesus in us. Our text, Jesus has been arrested. He had taken to the home of a high priest. Simon Peter follows him at a distance and winds up outside the house of the high priest sitting beside a Roman fire. That night by the fire, Peter was as the greatest failure, so to speak. He had been put in a position where his light could have shined brightly, but it was invisible at that moment. No one was able to see Jesus in Peter that night. Peter was a saved man. Peter was a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. Peter was a living new creature. But unfortunately, that night, you couldn't tell if Peter was a believer or not. You couldn't tell if Peter was a citizen of heaven because Peter was not reflecting his citizenship. I want to ask you a question, and I want each one of you to ask it to yourself. Here's the question. Are people see Jesus in you? Let's look at our text this morning and see about this. Is people seeing Jesus in you? Number one, the wonder of a new life. Look what it says in 2 Corinthians 5, 17. It says, Therefore, as a transitional word where he says, if any man be in Christ, look what it says, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And in verse 18 says, And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation. So, if any man, the Bible says, is in Christ, he's a new creature. He's made new. Their old life passed away. Behold, I'm new right now. So now, all of us who are born-again believers have been transformed by the power of the gospel. We have been made new. We have been transformed. We are new creatures in Christ Jesus. God has become our Heavenly Father. We have a new master. We have a new king. We have a new Lord. Why am I going back to the old life when I can live my new life in Christ? Listen, we always think the grass is always greener in the other side of the fence Until you get to the other side and you look to the other side as you planted that grass. It's your grass You forgot where you came from listen We think we missing out as Christians sometimes missing out in life if we live the Christian life. No, you won't miss out You know what? You don't you don't miss out on anything Folks, all this happened at the moment you received Jesus as your personal Savior, become a child of God. But let me tell you this. You still have to get off or get up in the morning and go to work. You still have to pay your bills. You still have to live in this sinful world. You're still responsible for your own actions and your own decisions. The only difference is that you're saved. Now, the man in our text, Simon Peter, was no different than me and you. Even though he was an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and a believer, he was a sinful creature just like me and you. He experienced fear and doubt just like I have and you have. He was a sinful creature just like you and me. But like all of us who are born-again believers, Simon Peter was not the man he used to be. He had been radically changed, but at that moment, he failed. When we sin against the Lord, do you feel bad? Lord, I let you down. I failed you. It hurts, doesn't it? It hurts. But praise the Lord, we have a great Savior. You forgive us. So letter A, you see our former way of life. Peter was a fisherman. That's what he was. That's what was straight. Fishermen were notorious for their vulgar way of speaking and wicked lifestyles. By Peter's own admission, he was a sinful man. Luke chapter 5 verse 1a, he admitted he was a sinful creature. Listen, if we don't admit they're sinful creatures, how can we get saved in the first place? We have to admit, I'm lost, I'm a sin, I'm a sinful Christian, I need salvation. Peter, at the past, he was not proud of his past, he didn't like of his past, but at that moment, right there, he fell back into what he used to be. He denied his very Savior. Why? Because of fear? Because of fear. Are you a Christian? Oh, no, I'm not one. You go to church? Oh, no, no, no. I don't do those things. It's not like you know your Bible. You read the Bible, right? Oh, no, no, I don't do that. You know what we're doing? We're denying our Savior. That's what we're doing. Friend, do you remember where you were when the Lord found you? How long has it been since you looked to the pit from hence you were digged out? Isaiah chapter 51 verse 1. We may not want to remember, but can you remember life before Jesus? I tell you what, this is my life before Jesus. Me, myself and I. I didn't care about anybody. I'll be honest with you. I was not a bad person. Believe me, I didn't think I was that bad of a person. I didn't do drugs. I was not an alcoholic. I was not committing adultery. I was living my life, going to work every day, living my life. But I tell you what, there was something about me that was pridefulness. I was a very pride and arrogant person. The Lord had to break me down. But what was life before we met Jesus? Where were you? Do you remember the days, the day as light shine in the darkness of your heart? Do you remember the day where you were doing before you got saved? Let me remind you where we were. Go to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 and it gives you a clear picture of where all of us were before we got saved. Look what it says, and you had be quickened, you were dead in trespasses and sins. We read in time past, ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the princeton of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation, is that word again, our way of life in times past in the loss of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." See, that's where we all were before we got saved. That was our life. I mean, you know, you have a lifestyle different than mine, but we were dead in trespasses and sins. And we were lost. And God says, but you were quickened from the dead. Let it be our faithful profession. When Peter bowed down before Jesus on that fishing boat, he called Jesus Lord in Luke 5.8. But we know the depth of Peter's profession when we read what he said about Jesus in Matthew 16. Again, we can read this profession in John 6.64. Peter was a saved man, no doubt. Peter was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me tell you this. There's been a moment in your life when you bow before the Lord and receive him as your Savior. Have you believed in his name by faith and got saved by faith? If so, praise his name. If so, praise his name. Actually, I believe that every Christian should have a salvation testimony. If we, you and I, don't have a salvation testimony, we got a problem. I remember the day I got saved. I remember what I did. The pastor, I was actually going to marriage counseling. And the pastor said to me, he said, when are you going to receive Christ as your Savior? I said, I don't know about that. He said, why don't you walk up in the church? Because I was not about there in that moment. I was not ready for that. And I said to him, he said to me, he said, why don't you do that tomorrow morning service? I said, everybody's looking at me. That's a very dreadful thing to do. He says to me, everybody's praying for you. that all that statement overwhelmed me I could people that didn't even know me could pray for me you know you don't understand that thing because me I didn't pray for anybody I was prideful and arrogant I was there just just as my thing that I'm doing here you know what it hit me so hard and he said this is what you do put one leg out and the eye on the other one will follow I was like yeah you know what and I could see right there in the invitation time he looked straight at me and I was like and the other one went and forward I went and then this man standing there with the Bible brought the page and he said what can I do for you I said I want Jesus He opened his Bible in Romans chapter 10 and led me to Christ What a transformation I never looked back. I was joyful Walking back. I was joyful. I had I knew what I did, but I didn't know what was this was ahead I had no idea was ahead. I was a new-born believer Then I want to tell everybody about what I did. Then I realized that people looked at me like you did what I? Received Jesus as my Savior I walk of faith folks fate produces fruit and solid rock faith produces much fruit You can see can you see fruit in your life my friend the presence of fruit is the badge of our salvation Do you have the proof if you have the proof it comes in fruit God comes and transforms our lives and we can help ourselves we begin to produce fruit You begin to think different. You begin to get bothered by certain things. You begin to flip the channels on the TV. You begin to want to change the music. What happened to you? You know how many times I used to sing, I'm in my, my hell, highway to hell, you know, whatever that song goes. And I was like, at the top of my lungs, I would listen to that song and sing it out loud. And suddenly, that song bothered me. It begins to bother me with no end. I was like, what in the world? And I went and searched the lyrics, and I said, oh my word, am I singing this stuff? No, it bothered me. It bothered me to this day. And I tell you what, every time I hear that song, I hear people sing and say, you don't want to sing that. You don't want to sing that. So, there are three basic types of fruit that the Lord bears in the lives of His children. Let me give it to you. The fruit of sanctification. That is, we become more like Jesus on a daily basis. One day at a time. Three steps up, one step down, four steps up. You know, our mind is totally concentrated on Him. We want to please our Master. We want to live for Him. That takes a life long. the fruit of spirituality. That is, we behave more like Jesus. We clean our mouth. We clean our lives. We clean our feet. We clean our hands. Because it doesn't fit. You follow that? People say to me, oh, you never swear. It's not in my vocabulary. Oh, but don't you get angry? Oh, yes, I do. Don't you get frustrated? Oh, yes, I do. But it doesn't mean my tongue have to spill those words. because it's a bad testimony of who we are, especially if people are listening to. They look at you and say, what kind of Christian are you? You're not supposed to talk like that. Listen, they know how we're supposed to behave. They know how we're supposed to talk. And they want to do the mockery of us. Number three, the fruit of souls. This becomes a burden in our hearts about telling others about Jesus. Let me tell you this. Before I got saved, Really? Knocking people's doors? You're kidding me. Tell people about Jesus in the public place? Talk about Jesus in the workplace? You must be kidding me. But you know what? Where that came from? Spirit of God in you, go tell that person that I love them. Go tell that person that I love them. Go tell that person that I love them. He followed their new life. Letter D, we see our problem. In spite of all that Peter had in his plus column there, he fell into sin. He denied the Lord three times, not one, three. And at one point he does so by cursing. He sells foul language. God only knows what he said. He's trying to push them away and say, Oh, look at the way I am. I'm not one of those. And for him, it was very common just, boom, spread it right out. Because that was the lifestyle that he had before. Now, note this. Regardless of the changes we have experienced through Jesus, it is always possible for us to fall back into sin. Why? Why is it possible for us to fall back into sin? Because we still wear the old, falling, wicked nature. And it never gets better. It progressively gets worse if we don't stop it. You follow that? It's like eating fried food. The more you eat, the more you like it. The more you like it, the sicker you get. But I love fried food. I really do. And your arteries get all blocked up. Then you have a heart attack. Is that simple? I think it's that simple to understand, okay? But you say, not me, preacher. I would never do those kinds of things. Look at me, friend. You are a prime candidate for it. All of us. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 12. Wherefore, that's a word of warning, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. No one can say, I arrived. Oh, no. We had a man in our church, he was close to 90, Brother Kinstead. Now David Kinstead, it was his father. Funny story. I know I'm running out of time, but I'm gonna... Brother Kinstead used to sit, our church had three areas, a middle area, one section, one other section. It was a big church. So he sit on this part, towards the window side, towards the street. And this other lady sit in the opposite side. I mean, I had no clue. I never see him talk with each other. So I thought, brother Kinstead. It would be nice if you, I forgot her name, and he smile, smile, and I said, what's so funny? I said, that's my sister. I said, I am so sorry. So I never forgot that. But one time we approached him and said, Brother Kinstead, at 89 years old, do you have bad thoughts? He said, they live with me. So take heed. At least he fall. Okay? So I would never, you're a perfect candidate for that. Just when you think that you are under control and put that old nature away, be careful. That's what happened to Peter. Peter was following the Lord, what they're doing to the Lord. And before you know, the question came right at him. And in a spare moment, he denied the Savior. It happens. He felt that he was in danger out of fear. He tried to protect himself. Fear causes us to do all kinds of things that we don't even think about. Get this, the wonder of the new life in Christ is the transformation that it brings to the new transformed life. But the seeds of sin still dwell within the heart of every believer. So we are to be careful of how we walk, how we stand, how we speak, and how we behave. Point number two, the witness of a new life. Every life of every redeemed person is a living, walking sermon about the Lord Jesus Christ. Your life either says, Jesus saved me and radically changed my life, or your life says, yay, I'm a believer, but Jesus hasn't changed me at all. Peter at this point in his life is demonstrating a very poor testimony. Why? He not only denies to know the Lord Jesus, not only once but three times, but he goes to deny Him over and over. Why would Peter do such a thing? Why would Peter deny the one he called Lord? Several factors. Number one, he was in the wrong place. You follow that? A lot of times what happens is we find ourselves in the wrong places. See, there are places that Christians should not go to. Because when we go to, oh, I'm a big guy. I'm a big girl. I can handle. No, you cannot, and you will fall. You afraid of heights? Oh, yeah. Why you go to high altitudes? So you can panic? Oh, maybe the fear will go away from me. No, you're going to get afraid. Yeah, I'm just using a silly example here, but there are places that we Christians should not go to. Oh, but if I go there, I'm going to win that person, that person. Wait for them to come to you. You follow that? He find himself in the wrong place. He was uncomfortable and when he was asked the question, the first thing came out of his mouth, I don't know him. See he was in the wrong place and we Christians sometimes we have places we should not be to. I'm not going to use examples here but frankly you we can all think about it. There are places that on this earth are places we shouldn't go. Why? Because we might find ourselves doing what Peter did, denying the Lord. Number two, let it be. He's with the wrong people. Honestly Jesus has been arrested. I know he's trying to find out what's going on, but one thing right there. Should he bend with the other disciples, be an encouragement to them and say, guys, he sat around the fire to warm himself up. He sat with the wrong people. Bad friends corrupts your character. Everything that mom and dad taught you can be put to the side when we sit around with the wrong people. Oh, but they're just my friends. Are they your friends? A friend will accept you for who you are, not what they're trying you to be. Listen, I'm a Christian, accept me for being a Christian. Otherwise, we're not friends here. You follow that? You see, hanging around with the wrong people, we begin to do the wrong things. My father was very particular with me. One time he told me, I don't want you to hang around with that person and that person. Why dad? Don't ask me questions. I'm just saying, I don't want to see you with them. Obviously, he saw things that I didn't see because I was naive. But he didn't do that because he didn't like me or love me. He loved me. He wanted to protect me. Maybe there's still something in there that I didn't see. But sometimes, you know what? We're hanging around with the wrong people, and we begin to do the wrong things like they're doing. There are people that are in drugs and we hang out around with them. Am I doing the same thing that they're doing? Who's getting hurt? You are. I'm talking about alcohol. I'm talking about all kinds of other things that can be done. You know what? When we hang around with them, we say, I changed them. No, they will change you. Because it happens like this. Sometimes we try to fit in. And when we try to fit in, we, we willing to do anything to fit in. That is Peter right here. He sat around the fire warming himself up. He's sitting with the wrong people. And when the question came about, I believe he was afraid for his life. One time I sat with the wrong friend and I told him no more. Don't knock on my door anymore. for what he did to me that day. I said, no more. He goes, I told you a friend. I said, no, I told you a friend. So we sit with the wrong people. We need to be careful with them. Let us see, it gives the wrong performance. Luke says in Matthew 26, 74, Listen, he got, he lied once, he lied twice, he lied a third time, and the third time he had it, he just went. Can you imagine when it hit him? The Bible says he cried bitterly. He realized what he had done. There's another passage of the Bible that says after he did that for the third time, his eyes met with the eyes of Jesus. The Lord looked at him like saying, I told you, Peter. How many times the eyes of the Lord met with our eyes after we did something wrong? The eyes of the Lord just, oh, hits our heart and we... How many times? It gives the wrong performance, folks. May we understand that. Let's go to point number three, you see, the way of a new life is victory. The Lord never meant for the Christian life to be a doomsday. The Lord meant the Christian life to be lived with the joy of the Lord, gratitude of heart, and a profound understanding of the life that we live. Look what it says in John chapter 10 verse 10, I am calm that they, who's they? Believers, may have life and they may have more abundantly. You see, Jesus came and gave us salvation so we can appreciate the life that we live. Isn't that great to be a Christian, a child of God? Isn't that great to know I am saved, I'm going to heaven? Isn't that great that we have someone that loves us enough to care about us? You know one thing that just hit me just a couple weeks ago, maybe a month ago or whatever. You know what? I'm an orphan. My mom and dad went to heaven. But you know what? I still have a father, my heavenly father. I can still talk to him about my ups and downs and my discouragements. You know, I can still go to him and praise the Lord for that. Oh goodness, isn't that a great thing? To say, Lord, look what I did today. Lord, are you proud of me? Look what I did. Oh pastor, that's silly. No, it's not silly. Okay. Yesterday I went outside. I have some bushes outside, and it's like, for the longest time, I want to cut those things. They look cute. They're not cute anymore. So I said, I'm just going to cut it down. So my thing is, I want to get the roots out of there. It can be really hard work. So I thought, maybe I got to chain it to my car. Then I began to think, I might leave the bumper behind. I don't want to do that. You're going down the driveway, and boom, there goes the bumper. I don't want to do that. So I find myself with the shovel. Lord, I need all the strength I need to get this thing out of here, Lord. I'm talking with my Heavenly Father. So He puts in my mind, cut the thing first and leave the root. So I cut everything out and leave the root. You know what? I took four out, which I didn't even know. The Lord just gave me the strength. Boom, boom, boom, come out. I'm like, oh, Lord, thank you. So I sat in my stairs with a glass of water yesterday. It's like, Lord, you're so good to me. I didn't use the cart, I didn't use the chains, I used the shovel. And you know what? It was not that bad. I was done in about an hour work or two hours or whatever that is. But you know what? Then we find ourselves talking with Him. Isn't that good? That's what I'm trying to say here. The little things of life, the things that we do. One time I was like frustrated in the highway. Lord, where in the world these people are going? I'm stuck in traffic. What is the purpose? The Lord just put in my mind, they're human beings just like you are and they have a purpose like you do. Okay, Lord, I sit right here and stay in traffic and be a good testimony. But it's easy, the thing is just us. But what I'm trying to say here is the blessing that we have to talk with our Heavenly Father. It happens when we Christians. The way of new life is a victory. Listen, we have meaningful living and we understand what life is. Amazingly Peter remembers that he denied the Lord three times after the fact before that he totally forgot about it That's not the way we do it sometimes we forget who we are We forget who we are Children of the king we forget who he is Until we come to the end of ourselves and say oh lord. I did it again. Forgive me. I Let it be, you see, there's repentance in a new life. I think this is a great thing. You know, we don't have a God in heaven that says, psst, psst, on us because we failed. We ask him, Lord, Father, forgive me. You know what? He forgives us. I think that's one of the greatest things of being a Christian. He's not a God in heaven which is like a judge towards us. Some people might picture Him that way. He's not. He's a loving God. He loves us and cares about us deeply. He cares about what we do, about the little things you do, the big things you do, the pains and the discouragement. He cares about those things. That's why we say sometimes only God knows. What am I going through? Only God knows what I'm dealing with. You know why? Because we have our conversations with Him. There is repentance in the new life. Praise the Lord for a forgiving Savior. Because the Bible says right here that Peter went out and wept bitterly in verse 25. No doubt he confessed his sins and called out. But you know what? In his heart was troubled. He was hurting when he realized that he denied his Lord. But look what it says in 1 John 1 verse 9. 1 John 1 verse 9. This is a great, great verse. It brings comfort to our hearts. If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Let us see, we see there is restoration in a new life. Peter fell, but the Lord forgave him and restored him. I talked to a Christian brother one time, and he said, I've been a bad Christian. I did so many things, God would never forgive me. I grabbed him by the arm, I said, brother, sit down, sit down right here. He said, you've been a bad Christian. OK. God will never forgive me. That's not Bible. God can forgive you and restore you. He can do that. That's the God that we serve. You say, God will never forgive me. Yes, he will forgive you if you ask with a genuine heart. But here's one thing, as we grow in the Lord, may we not want to keep going to the same cesspool of sin. We ask forgiveness, but may we want to walk away from that form of life, from that form of way of life, the way we used to talk and behave and say, Lord, help me not to go there again. You know what a cesspool is, right? If you fall in the cesspool, how are you going to come out? I'll tell you one, when the guy came clean my cesspool one time, And this is amazing. It amazed me, because he opened the thing up, and I kind of walked away from it. And he said, what's the matter? I was like, well, what's the matter? You're used to this stuff. I'm not. Then he puts his pipes in, then stops, puts the machine on, goes in his truck, brings a big sandwich. And I look at him, I said, really? And he goes, I do this all the time. I'm like, oh, goodness. It just get me in the Jackson right here. Oh, good night. But anyway. But what I'm trying to say, this is restoration in a new life. Look what happened to Peter. What happened to Peter? Did Peter say, I'm done for the count? No way God can use me anymore. You preach the sermon on which 3000 souls got saved. It was the same Peter that denied Jesus. For us to say, oh, God will never use me anymore. We are lying to ourselves. God can use us in any moment. Look, the same Peter that denied the Lord three times was the same Peter that asked forgiveness, was the same Peter that cried bitterly. He's the same Peter that preached the gospel and people got saved. Not just two or three, 3,000 the Bible says. See, if you fell into sin, God can still use you. Because you know what? You are one of His. Get this, regardless of what you might have done, or the level of what you have fallen, if you will repent, I'm talking about repent, the Lord will restore you again. The Lord will forgive you and use you for His glory. With Peter, it looked like it took some time, John 21, 3, but the same came when the Lord put His blessings back on Peter, and Peter was the one preaching, and souls got saved. I put it this way, it's better to live for Christ than to live for ourselves. I live long enough, I've been saved long time enough to say it's better to live for Christ day by day than live for myself. I don't want to even think about if I continue to live the way I was, where I would be today. Because I was a very arrogant person. Actually, if I put that person next to me right here, I probably wouldn't even recognize that person. But that's the way I was. You know why? It was God doing that work in me. I could never even imagine talking in front of people. Because, listen to me, I didn't care about anybody but myself. I was very arrogant and prideful. It was God working. I conclude with this. Let me give you some food for thought. Don't you know that you can't be the only Bible to your family members, your co-workers and your friends? Can they see Jesus in you? I don't know about you, but when I got saved, I got a greater treasure than 10,000 mountains of gold. Like those old things that we had, I should be beaming because Jesus is on the inside. If he's there, he should be visible in our lives. If he's Lord in my life, then I'm going to let him shine in a life that I have. Please, my Savior, to live for him. Tell others about the great love of God. Because I tell you what, here's the problem of humanity. They need Jesus. It's that simple. If anything is going to change the heart of man, it's Jesus. They need Jesus. Or people don't care anymore. Don't lie. People never listen anymore. You did. People never do. You did. You see, you here this morning or you online listening, if you're a believer, you are a testimony of what God can do in your life. You are a living miracle that God did in you. It's not my mistake that the heavens rejoice when the soul gets saved, because it is a miracle. I never forgot the preacher that said to me, I was listening, he said, you know what? If you have one person come to church, it's a miracle. If you have two people, it's two miracles. If you have a church full, it's full of miracles. I'm like, wow, I never thought that way, but it's true. And he said, if you come to church by yourself, you are a miracle. I said, if you have to preach to yourself, then preach to yourself because you are a miracle. You know, we might think it's silly, but it's true. God reached in our hearts and saved our soul. And guess what? We have an opportunity to live this glorious Christian life. To tell others, you know what? My Jesus is great. If you ever meet him, you're going to love him. If you ever meet Him, or you want to commute with Him every day, you're going to say, Jesus, want a cup of coffee with me? Just kidding. You know, but it's the truth. You know what? It is the truth. You want to commute with Him. You want to meet with Him every day. I'm reading a book right now called Draw Near to Him. I'll tell you why. It is a book that causes me to search my heart and want to cry. Because I say, Lord, I'm not this close to you. I want to be this close to you. Oh, it's a very explicit, I'm not saying a bad way, very to the heart book. It catches your heart and say, what are you doing? How are you living your life? I'll tell you folks one thing you might be living for yourself We might be living the Christian life or in a living for Jesus, but I tell you from my own experience It is better to live for Jesus than to live for self. I Hope you want to grab this so when you live for Jesus people see Jesus in you the hope of glory Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, so much for this special weekend on which we remember those who have fallen for the liberty that we have. But Lord, may we not forget that we've been set free because you went to Calvary's cross and paid a price that you and I can never pay. Thank you, Lord, for freedom. Thank you, Lord, for liberty. Thank you, Lord, for Calvary's cross. And thank you, Lord, for those in our country who pay the price of our freedom. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. If you could stand, please. Let's sing a song of invitation this morning. What a good opportunity to do. Business with the Lord page 337 is an altar here. If you want to pray we can pray where we are What a good place to do business with the Lord. Am I reflecting Jesus? Jesus is people see Jesus in me once for all page 337 Oh Jesus has bled and there is remission. Cursed by the low and bruised by the fall. Grace has redeemed us once for all. Once for all, all sinners received. Once for all, all sinners redeemed. Clink to the cross, the burden fall. I'll tell you friend, we don't have to sit with the wrong people. We don't have to go to the wrong places. We can sit with the right people and go to the right places and please Jesus. Because that should be our life. A life that brings glory to our Savior. May our life be a big thank you to Him who saved me. Because think about it. I'm gonna be with him a lot longer than I'm gonna live in this earth Eternity is a long long time. Maybe we stop practicing here Then when we get to heaven, we already know is it's just a continuation of our godly living on earth We've been saved. Isn't that great? We've been cleansed. God is so good to us The verse number two Are we afraid? There's no condemnation Jesus provides a perfect salvation Come unto me, oh, hear His sweet call Come and He saves us once for all one for all the sinner receiving one for all the brother believing cling to the cross the burdened who fall Christ has Amen. Let's pray. We'll pray for our food. I encourage you to stay with us. There's plenty of food. There's a lot of good food there. New England potluck dinner. I hope you enjoy it. I think we'll have a good time together. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the blessing of being in your house today. What a blessing, Lord, for us to meet with God's people, to be in God's house, worshiping you together. Thank you, Lord. I pray for the fellowship that follows that you will bless it. Bless our conversation. Bless our time together. Bless the food, Lord, as nourishment for our bodies. We thank you for the food in Jesus name. Amen.