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What happens when a faithful follower runs from God's call, or when a close disciple denies knowing the Savior—does one mistake end their usefulness forever? In this message, explore how God responds to human failure through the stories of Jonah's rebellion and Peter's denial, leading into the early church's pivotal moment of waiting and restoration. Discover why restoration, not rejection, defines God's heart for His people, and see how ordinary believers stepped forward in obedience in spite of their pasts.
📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/after-we-fail
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📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/after-we-fail
#mlcc #church #churchonline
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LearningTranscript
00:00You probably remember the story of Jonah, right? The Jonah story in the Bible about Jonah.
00:05Let me just kind of just briefly talk about Jonah, you know. He was a prophet of Israel
00:10and he, God comes to him and says, hey listen, I need for you to go to a city called Nineveh
00:17and immediately his ears pop up. Wait, those are our arch enemies, the Assyrians. Yeah,
00:21yeah, I want you to go to Nineveh and I want you to preach to them that they should repent
00:25and then maybe I'll spare them. And Jonah goes, nope, I'm not doing that. And it's such a rebellion
00:36against God to the point where he gets on a boat and travels on the ocean. And you say, well,
00:42that's not a big deal. It is for a Jew. The Jews don't like the sea. The Jews in their mind,
00:48sea is equal to chaos. They don't travel on the sea very often. So here Jonah gets in a boat
00:53to travel away from the presence of the Lord. God's asking him to do something he doesn't want
01:00to do. He gets on the boat, the storm comes up and the sailors are going, man, we've never seen
01:05anything like this before. And so who's causing this problem? And then finally Jonah raises
01:11hand, man, it's me, throw me overboard. So they do that, right? They throw him overboard and he gets
01:16swallowed by that fish. And then later on he gets spit up, almost like puked up, but that's probably not
01:22the right term. Spit up on the shore. And he goes and then if he preaches, then at the very end,
01:27he's still a reluctant prophet. He still does not happy that they actually repented. But could you
01:33imagine being in the belly of the great fish? He's called for God for a mission, but he runs to the
01:40sea and he's thrown into the belly of a great fish. And the Bible says in the chapter two, he's praying
01:47in the midst of the belly of the fish. Can you imagine that? He's alive, obviously, conscience.
01:53He's praying in the middle. In fact, three days and three nights he's in the belly of the fish.
01:57Jesus said that's like his burial and his resurrection, three days, three nights. So he's three nights and
02:02three days in the belly of the fish, calls out from the belly of the fish and says this in chapter
02:06two of Jonah. He says, then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the belly of the fish.
02:13Then again, then I said, I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy
02:20temple. Even in the midst of this, in the middle of the belly of the fish, he's saying, I expect,
02:27I, I expect to see your holy temple, to look upon it once again. He didn't think it was out for him.
02:33Leonard Sheldrick wrote, that is the way of recovery, to look again towards his holy temple.
02:44All of us in this room have failed Jesus to one degree or another. None of us are exempt. We have
02:48all failed him in one form or another. Maybe not to the sense of Jonah, where we run away when God
02:53is telling us to do something. Or maybe not to the sense of Peter, where we deny Jesus. But all of us
02:59on one love or another, we have failed God. We have failed him. What's the way of recovery? It's
03:06to look again toward his holy temple. We feel ashamed to look up. We have so greatly transgressed
03:13and have brought upon ourselves so much shame and sorrow that we don't want to look up.
03:18But we must look again toward that throne of grace where our advocate sits at the Father's
03:24right hand to look again toward his holy temple. Somehow we get in our mind that when we fail God,
03:34it's over for us in serving him. It's as if one failure, he just throws us away and says,
03:40I'll just find someone else to do the work. That's not the case with God.
03:47We saw Peter a couple of weeks ago interacting with Jesus along the seashore and Jesus takes
03:52him aside and they're having a conversation. And three times Jesus asked him, do you love
03:56me? Do you love me? Do you love me? And three times Peter responds back. And the last time
04:00he's grieved because Lord, you know all things. It wasn't for the sake of us to know. It was
04:05for Peter's sake that he understood he really did love Jesus. He really did. He really loved
04:12Jesus. And even though he had denied him three times in one night, he knew in his heart that
04:19he really did love him. And so what did Jesus say? Tend my sheep, feed my lands, tend my
04:26sheep. I have a job for you to do, Peter. I'm not going to throw you away. You're valuable
04:32to me and I have a purpose for you in my kingdom, even though you have failed me. Here in Acts
04:39chapter one, as we continue on after the ascension we saw last week, Jesus has returned to heaven
04:44sitting at the right hand of the father. The Holy Spirit has not come yet. That will come
04:48next week when we look at the day of Pentecost. But he's at the right hand of the father and
04:53the disciples are doing what they have been asked to do and that is to wait in Jerusalem.
04:58So the restored Peter fulfills Jesus' calling for him to tend the sheep by leading the disciples
05:04in the selection of a new apostle. Yes, I failed you, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, I do love you.
05:13Okay, I've got a job for you to do. I need you to tend my sheep. Take care of my flock.
05:18Why do we think that we forfeit our chance of serving God when we fail him? Why do we think
05:25that? I think that's the enemy coming to attack us and all of us in one form or another have failed
05:30him. But why does the enemy come along and say, you're not worthy anymore? You can't be used for
05:35the kingdom at all. Just go sit around in your house and do nothing.
05:42That's not our God. He doesn't throw away his people. He comes alongside us like he did with
05:50Peter and he encourages us and he helps us to see ourselves like I had this last week. I got to see
05:56a good insight into my own heart this last week. He helps us to see ourselves. The disciples have now
06:03come back to Jerusalem and they're waiting for the promise of the Spirit. Now, here's the thing. You
06:10and I know that the Spirit comes on Pentecost. We know because we've read the story. But you have to
06:16think about it. They didn't know when the Spirit was coming. He didn't say, remember what he said?
06:20Not many days from now. That's all he says. He doesn't say, oh yeah, it'll be on Pentecost. He
06:25says, not many days from now. They don't know how long that they're going to have to wait. But
06:29they're doing what they've been asked to do. And that is waiting in Jerusalem for the promise of
06:33the Spirit. They don't know when he's going to come. So they're waiting. They're being obedient
06:37to what the Lord has asked him to do. Look with me in verse number 12. So Acts chapter 1, verse 12.
06:44So open your Bible, turn on your biblical device, whichever the case may be. And this is God's word.
06:49We want to look at it together. So verse number 12 continues. Remember, Jesus ascends. The two
06:55angels are standing there. And the guys have their, I mean, again, their mouth's open looking
06:59up into heaven. And the angel goes, why are you looking up into heaven? He's asking you to
07:04do something. Be about what you're supposed to be doing. And so they're doing it now. Verse
07:08number 12. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
07:14a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up into the
07:19upper room where they were staying. Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas,
07:26Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus and Simon, the zealot and Judas, the son of James.
07:32Of course, Judas Iscariot is not mentioned because he has already hung himself at this point.
07:38All of these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer. So while they were waiting,
07:44they're not inactive, they're praying, looking for guidance and discernment from God, together
07:49with the women, those women that followed him all the way from Galilee and all over, women
07:53at the cross, and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers. So they come off the Mount
07:59of Olives, which is east of Jerusalem. And it's always deceptive. We're from the northwest.
08:03When you say mountain, we're thinking Mount Spokane, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams. It's not
08:11like that. It's like a hill. It's not a real big place. As a matter of fact, the elevation
08:16of the Mount of Olives at the top is 2,652 feet. The elevation of this church building is 2,430 feet.
08:25It's not a high hill. As a matter of fact, on the outskirts of town, we've got that hill
08:30that used to be with the Nike side and there's cars up on the hill, that little hill. That's
08:34kind of what it's like. It's just a hill. So they come down off the hill through the
08:37Kendron Valley, back into Jerusalem, back to this upper room or to the upper room where
08:41they're praying and waiting. Luke tells us in his gospel record that they returned to
08:47Jerusalem with great joy. So it's not that they just went back. He doesn't mention it here,
08:51but he mentioned it in his gospel record that they went back with great joy. They were
08:56happy. The Lord has ascended. He's promised the spirit that would be another helper, the
09:00advocate, the one that would come alongside and be there to strengthen them and to help
09:04them. Luke 24, and they worshiped him. This is at the end before he ascended and returned
09:11to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God. So they came back
09:16with great joy. God's about ready to move. He's going to do something great. This is
09:21exciting. We get to be part of it. Oh, it's not, we're not sure exactly if it's the same
09:26place where the Passover was held, but it's some upper room, a large enough to hold that
09:30we're going to find out later, 120 people. So it's larger. I mean, we have about 135 chairs
09:35here. So you can imagine it's about the size of this place up here, right here, about 120
09:40people could gather together easily in it. So an upper room, a place where the family would
09:44get together or students would study. It's an upper large area in a house. Not sure if it's
09:49same as Passover, but it's an upper room here. So the disciples remained together. They didn't
09:56disperse. Remember he told them, go back in Jerusalem and wait. So they didn't go back
10:00to Galilee. They didn't go wherever. They stayed in Jerusalem. They didn't disperse and they stayed
10:04together in the same room. Humanly speaking, thinking about it, Matthew, the tax collector
10:12was in the same room with Simon the zealot. Humanly speaking, that does not happen. Matthew
10:19was a tax collector that worked for Rome. He, in a sense, served Rome and Simon was a zealot
10:24who killed Romans. How could they be in the same room together? Well, if it were not for
10:32Jesus changing their lives, they couldn't be. I mean, how many of us are here together in
10:37this room that if it wasn't for Jesus changing our lives, we would never be together in this
10:41same room? He changes us and makes us a family like we just experienced right now, a family.
10:50Interesting, if you notice in the text here, the listing of the apostles, we're not going
10:55to go back. If you go back and you want to look at Luke's gospel, Luke here reorders the
11:00listing of the apostles. He reorders the listing of the apostles from his gospel and he places
11:05Peter, James, and John at the very first. Peter's always first in all of the, all of
11:09the listing of the apostles. But he puts Peter, James, and John. And the reason why he does
11:13that is Peter, James, and John play the most predominant role in the book of Acts. The other
11:18apostles, not so much. So he reorders his listing, making the three that are the most prominent
11:23in Acts at the very beginning of his list. So all of the disciples were centered on one
11:29important practice as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit, and that was prayer.
11:36They were praying. They weren't just inactively waiting, they were waiting in prayer for the
11:44Spirit of God to come. John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress said this, prayer is a shield
11:50to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan. You know, I don't know about you,
11:58I'll speak for myself, prayer is difficult. It's difficult. How do I know it's difficult?
12:06Because it's often the last thing we do, isn't it? It's the last thing we do. I mean, the
12:13weekday prayer meeting, we don't have one here. We have a prayer email list and a text messaging
12:18list, prayer chain sort of thing. We don't have an evening prayer chain, but typically
12:22churches who have evening prayer meetings, they're the least attendant of all the meetings.
12:26There's something about prayer that we're not really good at. At least I'm speaking for
12:30myself. So we have here an email prayer chain and a text message prayer chain. You say, well,
12:36how do I get on that? Not a problem. Offering plate hasn't gone by yet. Take a piece of paper.
12:41If you want to be on the email prayer list, put your email address down and say, please add
12:45me to the prayer chain on the email. Or if you'd rather do a text message, put your phone
12:48number down there. We'll get it to the people that are Sandy Roloff who's involved in this
12:52and you can be part of the prayer chain if you'd like to be part of that. So email prayer
12:55chain or a text message prayer chain. And actually when the new website comes up, there's going
13:00to be a little box that you can click on and add your prayer request. Yeah. When the new
13:03website goes online. So there's multiple ways you can be involved in prayer and then we can
13:07get better at praying. So there's center on one important practice, they're praying.
13:13So alongside the apostles were several women and they followed him. The women were so
13:17faithful. They followed him from Galilee. They were there at the crucifixion. They were
13:21there at the tomb where the men just abandoned him other than John. The ladies are all there
13:26and they're also there with Mary, the mother of Jesus. They're there and they're all praying
13:31together. If you notice in the text, it says with the women and Mary, all these with one
13:38accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary, the mother
13:43of Jesus and his brother. Notice that they were praying with Mary, not to Mary.
13:53She was part of the group and they were praying together. They were all lifting up their voices
13:57together. And this is the last reference to Mary, the mother of Jesus in the new Testament.
14:01We don't see her again. She doesn't come up anymore in the new Testament. So when he mentions
14:07the women, it's important because he wants to understand that it's both Jew and Gentile,
14:11men and women, all going to be part by faith, part of this covenant that God is going to
14:15make and he's going to do something special with all the people part of this covenant,
14:18which comes and you're going to see in the next couple of sermons. So not just the men,
14:23the women are included in this too. They're part of the worldwide mission of the kingdom
14:27of God on this earth, not just men. And then it says that Jesus's brothers were there.
14:32Uh, yeah. After the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph had other children. In fact, Mark records
14:38it in Mark six is not this, the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Josie
14:45and Judas and Simon and not, and are not his sisters here with us. And they took offense
14:51at him. So after the birth of Jesus, Mary had other children. She was not a perpetual version.
14:56She had other children after the death of Jesus, after the birth of Jesus. So interestingly
15:03enough, his brothers didn't believe until after the resurrection. I mean, they grew up
15:08in the same household with him. They had to have noticed that he was different than everyone
15:12else. They had to have noticed that he was holy. Maybe they didn't like him because he
15:15was holier than thou. That's just his character. He's holy. They didn't like that. He always
15:21was obeying mom and dad when mom and dad asked him to do something and the other kids are
15:24not. I don't know, but they didn't believe until after the resurrection, which is really
15:29interesting. In fact, in first Corinthians 15, we have him mentioning James, his brother,
15:33not James, the apostle, but James, his brother. First Corinthians 15. Then he appeared to more
15:37than 500 brothers at one time. This is after his ascension. I mean, after his resurrection,
15:43500 people saw him, 500 witnesses at one time, most of whom are still alive. So we believe
15:48the eyewitnesses that he truly was alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared
15:53to James than to all the apostles. So you notice that James is not mentioned with the apostles.
15:57James was his brother. He appeared to James, his brother, the person who wrote the book of
16:02James in the New Testament. And they remained in one accord. They remained in one accord of
16:10one mind. It doesn't mean they were all thinking the exact same thing, but they were all focused
16:14on that which God had asked him to do. One accord. In union, there is strength. There is strength
16:21in union. They were united around the commands of God and his mission for the world. So they
16:26had a focus that they were all pointing their minds to as they were thinking about waiting
16:30for the promise of the Spirit, waiting for God to work in this world through the church
16:36that's about ready to be established. So they took the opportunity to remain in one accord.
16:42And that's good for us. Let's take every opportunity we have to remain in one accord to be united
16:49together. Too many things can enter into a church family that can cause divisions and factions.
16:54Let it be about our thinking that we want to keep ourselves united together in union. And to do that,
17:01though, that requires humility. I have to give up my right sometime for another. It requires
17:09forgiveness. If I've been offended, I have to forgive. Or if I've offended, I have to go and seek
17:15reconciliation. It takes a lot to stay in one accord. It just doesn't happen. We're, as I mentioned to
17:21you this week, we human beings are very selfish people. We're pride-centered. We're self-centered.
17:27It takes humility and forgiveness and reconciliation and the willingness to restore those who have
17:32failed God, even perhaps to the point of Peter failing God. So they're sitting in one accord.
17:39They're not arguing anymore who's the greatest. Remember James and John, who's the greatest in the
17:43kingdom? What about the... And Jesus had taken them aside and said, listen, that's not the way we work
17:47the kingdom here. So there's no more discussing who's the greatest among them. They're in one accord.
17:52When brothers and sisters dwell in unity, there the Lord commands the blessing. That's Psalm 133.
17:59Just three short verses. A song of ascents of David. Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell
18:07in unity. It is like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron.
18:13He was the high priest running down on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls
18:19on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing of life forevermore.
18:26Being unified together, dwelling in unity. We have to, we have to make that a focus, not to let things
18:33enter in that would break us up and divide us. So now while they're waiting and praying, they're moved
18:40now by the spirit to replace Judas to complete the circle of the 12. The 12 is a very distinct group
18:47of people. Very distinct group of people. Look at verse 15. In those days, Peter stood up among the
18:55brothers. Remember, Peter's the one that denied Jesus three times. Jesus restores him. Now he's doing
19:01what Jesus is asking him to do. Take care of the flock. In those days, Peter stood up among the
19:07brothers. The company of persons wasn't all about 120. So that tells us about how many people were
19:11present. About. And said, brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke
19:18beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who would become a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
19:24So the spirit spoke in this psalm. Spirit spoke through David, inspired David.
19:28For he was numbered among us. That's Judas. And was allotted his share in this ministry. Think about
19:36it. He was called to go out and cast out demons to heal the sick, to preach the gospel. He was part
19:43of that group. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. Now this man
19:49acquired a field with a reward of his wickedness and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle
19:54and all his bowels gushed out. And they're kind of going, oh, Luke, did you have to tell me that?
19:58That's just, oh, yuck.
20:01And, and, and, and it became known and it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that
20:06the field was called in their own language, that is field of blood. For it is written in the book of
20:13Psalms. May his camp become desolate and let there be no one to dwell in it and let another take his
20:20office. So the 12, the circle of 12 now needs to be completed. There are only 11. Judas has hung
20:26himself at this point. So Peter is faithful to the calling of Jesus and taking care of the flock.
20:33He is doing what he has called to do. Jesus has restored him. He's back in the ministry. He's doing
20:39what God has asked him to do. And the number 120 is significant. Remember the spirit doesn't do
20:45anything arbitrarily. 120 is an interesting number because you need 120 Jews to form a local
20:52Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a Jewish body that took care of the spiritual life of, of the, of the
20:57nation. So it took 120 people to form a new Sanhedrin. I'm not sure if that's important or not. Just an
21:03aside. Interesting. Again, the spirit doesn't do anything arbitrarily. So 120 people. And then this,
21:10then the Bible says the scriptures had to be fulfilled. They had to be fulfilled. They had
21:16to speaks about a divine necessity. In other words, when God speaks, he fulfills his promises
21:21always. If it's open, he's still yet to fulfill it. He always fulfills his promises. So this is
21:28divine necessity of fulfilling scripture. It had to be fulfilled. It had to happen. Now you say,
21:35how, how are they being guided here? Uh, the spirit hasn't come yet. He's going to come. We see
21:40next week when we look at the day of Pentecost, how are they being guided by the spirit right here?
21:45Remember before Jesus left, it says that he breathed on them, the Holy spirit. Let me read
21:50that to you in John, John 20, before he ascended to the father, Jesus said to them again, peace be with
21:56you as a father has sent me. Even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them
22:03and said to them, receive the Holy spirit. It would be like the old Testament prophets and
22:07priests and Kings who received the spirit. Now the spirit could leave at some point in this
22:12because they're not indwelt at that point, not sealed with the spirit. The spirit just comes upon
22:17them. That's what's happening. Yeah. The spirit is there giving them guidance. He's upon them.
22:21He will indwell them shortly on the day of Pentecost. He's guiding them right now.
22:28So Judas information about him, you know, it's almost one of those words, Luke. I
22:33would have been okay if you just didn't give me that information. The last time we saw Judas,
22:36he hung himself, right? He, he took the 30 pieces of silver after denying Jesus, betrayed him with
22:42a kiss. And then when he realized what he had done, he said, this was wrong. He goes back to the,
22:47to the religious leaders, throws the money back at them. They of course can't take the money
22:50because it's blood money. So they take the money and in his name by a field. That's why it says he
22:56bought a field in his name. They bought the field with the 30 pieces of silver and he goes out and he
23:00hangs himself. Well, it seems like this is a little bit different because it says he fell headlong and
23:07burst open in the middle. Does, is that a contradiction in the scriptures? No, it makes
23:11perfect sense. He hung himself on a tree of some sort with a, with a noose, right? He's hanging
23:17there. Either one or two things happen. After he died and was there in the sun exposed for a period
23:22of time, either the branch broke or the rope broke. And when it did, he fell down, hit the ground.
23:28You can imagine hot weather. Yeah, I don't know. You can get the picture. Grizzly. So the Bible
23:34doesn't contradict itself. We're just getting a little more information of what happened to Judas
23:37after he hung himself and died. He fell down and burst open. You know, when, when Peter's talking
23:44about Judas, I wonder if he's thinking about his denial. I wonder if he's thinking about, man,
23:48I denied Jesus. I mean, three times. I wonder if he's thinking about his own denial. So Judas Iscariot
23:55had separated himself from the 12 and separated, he will remain from the 12. The 69th Psalm where
24:01this passage come from is a reference made. David is making about the enemies of God's
24:06anointed, how they're treating the anointed one cruelly. So that's, he applies it now to
24:11Judas who treated the anointed one cruelly. Judas Iscariot had abandoned his position, his office
24:19by his betrayal. So he abandoned his office by his betrayal, not his death. He forfeited his place
24:27among the 12. Again, the 12 is a special group of people and we're going to find out exactly
24:32what it means to be part of the 12. But he forfeited his position among the 12, not by his death,
24:37but by his betrayal. When James, the apostle died, they didn't replace him. He didn't abandon
24:48his office. He died. So they didn't replace James, but they replaced Judas because Judas
24:53abandoned in his office. And now these 12 ones who have seen Jesus from, we're going to see
25:00right now from the baptism of John until he ascended, one was going to be chosen around that
25:05man. These 12 were eyewitnesses to all of those things. And when these 12 die out, there
25:10can be no apostolic secession because an apostolic secession means you have to be an eyewitness
25:16from the baptism of John all the way to the ascension. None of us alive right now can be
25:21an eyewitness of those things. So Peter now details, okay, who are we looking for? Who should
25:28replace Judas? God, give us a little help. We need, we need to know whom you want. So look
25:33at verse number 21. So one of the men who had accompanied us during all the time that
25:39the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John and to the day when
25:45he was taken up from us. So from the baptism of John, all the time he was ministering three,
25:50three and a half years to the ascension to be witnessed with us to his resurrection. And
25:56they put forward to Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justice and Matthias. And
26:03they prayed and said, you Lord, who know the hearts of all show, which one of these two
26:09you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside
26:15to go to his own place. And they cast lots for them. And the lot fell on Matthias. And he
26:21was numbered with the 11 completing the circle of the 12 here. If you remember the 12 is important
26:29because the 12 are going in the kingdom to sit on 12 thrones and judge the 12 tribes of
26:35Israel. That's back in Luke chapter 22. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials
26:41and I assigned to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom so that you may eat and drink
26:46at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. We need
26:5112. There will be 12 now to judge the 12 tribes of Israel. These corresponded to the 12 tribes
26:59specifically and they represented the true restored Israel. These are believers, Israel, believers
27:04in the Messiah, the restored Israel. And more information, if you've seen the text, more information
27:10given to us about Joseph. We know his surname or his name. Very little about Matthias. Just very
27:17little information. We think from the text, if you didn't stop reading right there, you think, oh man,
27:21they're going to choose Joseph for sure. There's more information about him. Well, that's not what the
27:24Spirit wanted. Actually, neither one of these appear in the New Testament again. We don't see their name
27:29ever again in the New Testament. They're just not mentioned. There is a legend though that Matthias went and
27:35died by a martyr in Ethiopia. Possible. It's just a legend. We don't know for sure exactly.
27:40But the disciples turned the matter over to God by praying for divine guidance. They were trusting
27:46God to guide them. Remember, the Holy Spirit is upon them. He's giving them guidance. They're
27:52expecting God to guide them. And they followed their master. Jesus also prayed before he selected
27:58the 12 apostles. They're doing just what Jesus did. Our master prayed up on the mountain before he
28:02selected the 12. We're going to pray too and ask God to select the person whom he chooses.
28:06See, in Luke 6, in these days, he went up to the mountain to pray and all night he continued in
28:14prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them 12 whom he named
28:20apostles. So just like their master, he's, they're going to pray and ask God to guide them. So the
28:25disciples chose the ancient custom of determining God's will by casting lots or lot casting, lot
28:32of casting. It's not about choosing a moral decision. Should I commit adultery or should
28:37not commit adultery? It's not about a moral decision. It's about two people, two people
28:42who are equally qualified. How do I know which one to choose? That's what they're saying is
28:46they're both equally qualified. How can I choose one of them? So what they did is that it wasn't
28:50like they, a ballot where you would vote. What it was, was two stones. One had Matthias's name
28:56on it and one had Joseph's name on it. They put it in some sort of container, shook it up.
28:59And the first one to come out was the one that God chose. You say, well, that seems awful
29:04arbitrary and by chance. No, no, no. This was not a chance occurrence for in the old Testament,
29:10the outcome was always seen to be determined by God in the casting of the lots. How do I know
29:18that? Proverbs 16 says that the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from
29:24the Lord. So they're saying God's going to choose by the first one that comes out. That's
29:28God's choice. This is the one that God wants. What's interesting is before the coming of
29:34the Holy Spirit, they chose to use casting lots to determine God's will. But after the
29:38coming of the Holy Spirit, you don't see them any other times casting lots to determine
29:42God's will. Why? Because they're indwelled by the Holy Spirit who can give them God's
29:46will. There's no reason for us to cast lots today. Oh, should I buy this car? Should I buy
29:52a guy car? I'll put a Ford. I'll put a Chevy in there and just, no, there's no reason.
29:56We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to guide us. If we're willing to obey God
30:01and God will reveal according to his word, his will for our lives. When we walk with
30:06him, he'll make our paths straight. That's exactly what he said in the Proverbs. Trust
30:10in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your
30:14ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. So obey him, do his will in accordance
30:21with his word. The Spirit will guide our hearts and direct us in what we're, what we're to
30:25do. It's God's prerogative to choose this, not the disciples. That's why they left it in
30:32God's hands to choose the next one. So the law determined the divine will and Matthias was
30:39numbered now with the 11 apostles. He came now into the circle of the 12 and now the 12 now
30:44are complete. Peter came to terms with his failure when he realized he really did love
30:51Jesus. He really did. He really loved him. Jesus did not cast him away after his failure,
30:57but set about to restore him, which he did. Jesus knew his plans for Peter and they were
31:03not for him to sit around and do nothing for the kingdom of God. Instead, Jesus gave him directions
31:08to take care of the sheep and Peter joyfully fulfilled his calling to watch over God's
31:14flock. To be restored, not cast away. Again, sometimes we think that when we fail, we're
31:22just kind of cast away like, like something that's, that's broken, never to be fixed ever
31:27again or just not usable whatsoever. You know, in the United States, Craig Larson tells us
31:35there's a lot of business that use millions and millions of pallets. You know, they ship on the
31:39pallets and they put the products on the pallets that goes into the trucks and the pallets. I mean,
31:43you see them all over the place that you can go places and get free pallets if you want to. They're all
31:47over the place. But after a pallet has borne heavy, sometimes crushing weights and taken abuse from
31:53truck travel and forklifts, eventually it can no longer be used. Now cracked and smashed or loose and
31:59floppy pallets are sometimes or something businesses must pay other companies to come and dispose of.
32:05It costs them money. Disposal companies burn the pallets, chew them into wood chips, or dump them
32:10in landfills. Just throw them away. But one non-profit company in New York had a better idea.
32:18It was reported in the New York Times, Big City Forest in South Bronx takes other companies' junk and
32:24turns it into treasure. The raw material of pallets is valuable hardwoods like rosewood, cherry, oak,
32:31mahogany, and maple. Big city forest workers dismantle the pallets, salvage the usable wood, and recycle it
32:38into furniture and flooring. Recycled wood chips are worth $30 a ton. But when used as flooring, the value of
32:45recycled wood is $1,200 a ton and furniture $6,000 a ton. If that is what can be done with lifeless wood, how much
32:55more can people be restored to lives of value? Like big city forest, God is in the business of
33:03restoration. He takes people that seem worthless, people broken by the weight of sin, and transform
33:08them into workers of beauty and usefulness. Do you feel like your failure has disqualified you
33:17from serving the kingdom of God? God restores us when we fail him. He doesn't throw us away, no.
33:26But gives us further direction and asks us to follow him.
33:31It's time today to say yes to God. Throw that failure away. Satan only wants to use it to keep
33:37you back from serving God and his kingdom. Throw it away. It's time to say yes to God and get back into
33:42serving his kingdom. Failure is not the end. Restoration is.
33:51Ask Peter. He knows. Let's pray. Father, thank you that you're a God that doesn't cast us away when we fail you.
34:02We have all failed you, Father, in one form or another. We've all let self rise up and direct our lives and not your
34:10spirit direct our lives. We've all done that. And we are so thankful that you do not throw us away.
34:16We're not like a piece of pallet that's discarded and thrown into a landfill. You make something valuable
34:23out of us. Not because of us, but because of who you are. You're a God who loves his children. You're a God
34:31who's actively involved in our lives. Who's speaking to us and even protecting us when being attacked by the
34:38enemy. You're a God who cares for his people. Please, Father, please, if anyone here today believes that
34:47they, because they have failed you, they are no longer able to serve you in your kingdom. Please show
34:53them otherwise that yes, you can restore and use them for your glory. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
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