Embracing Our New Beginnings

Jesus Is Risen and Alive!  What’s Next?  That I May Know Him and the Power of His Resurrection! As we think further upon the time period after the Resurrection of Christ and before He ascended back to heaven, there were many meaningful events.  He made several appearances to His disciples, His family, and many others saw Him. He went out of His way to present Himself personally to a couple of His disciples that were struggling after His crucifixion.  He appeared and personally spoke to Thomas who had doubted His resurrection and He also appeared to Peter who went back to fishing for fish rather than fishing for men as Christ said He would.  Peter seemed discouraged and disappointed and went back to what he used to do before the Lord called him into the ministry.   I want to consider the appearance of the risen Christ in which he asks Peter three times in John 21 whether Peter loves him. Peter offers strong responses in the affirmative to all three questions, and each time Christ responds that Peter should then feed or nurture Christ’s sheep. This was a direct intervention by Christ to restore Peter who was discouraged and disappointed in himself for denying Christ, after stating he would fight, and even die for Christ if that was what was required. As background, Peter had not too long before just as strongly denied Christ three times, an event that Christ said would happen (John 13:38). Now, in the presence of the risen Christ, a new all-defining moment is opened up for Peter. He has been given another chance. With all three affirmations of Peter's love for Christ, he was granted the privilege of reliving those crucial moments of his three denials. The Peter who turned from Christ to save himself becomes the Peter who turns from himself for the cause of Christ. In so doing, he discovers the person he was always meant to be.  I'm sure Peter had to leave his former self behind in embracing the grace that now redefined him. It couldn’t have been easy, but it was only then, that his grieving would turn to joy as Christ predicted it would (John 16:20). The Resurrection of Christ becomes a time to reflect on letting go of all of our failures so as to embrace the joy of forgiveness and of new beginnings.  It truly solidifies the truth presented by the apostle Paul to the church at Corinth, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).  We have been given life through Christ, an opportunity to put our past behind us and press forward towards our higher calling and purpose, to know Christ and the power of His Resurrection personally in our lives.  

Much Blessings & Love, Amazingly Graced, Your Servant, Pastor John Masis Let's keep our: Faith Level above our Fear Level Our Worship Level above our Worry Level Our Praise Level above our Panic Level We declare in Jesus Name: No evil shall befall us, nor any plague come near our dwelling. Psalm 91:10 He will keep in Perfect Peace, whose mind is stayed on Him! Isaiah 26:3 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will trust in the Name of the Lord Our God! Psalm 20:7 Let’s keep praying for each other, wisdom for our gov’t leaders, God’s healing virtue to flow to the sick, the church to respond with God’s compassion & heart & an eradication of this virus once & all