| United
Pentecostal Church Mannheim Short Messages |
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Message from the Monthly Flyer from February 2006
| United
Pentecostal Church Mannheim Short Messages |
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|
John 21,21-22 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me!
Forget
it and go on
Here
in these scripture verses we see that Jesus prophesied the death of Peter. Curious
as Peter was, he looks at Jesus and points to John and asks, “What is
going to happen with him?” The answer which Jesus gives brings him back
down to the ground, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that
to thee?” What Jesus meant, when he said that about 2000 years ago, was
simply this, “If I want him to stay alive until I come again to this earth,
what does that have to do with you?”
The first weeks of the new year have already past. Nevertheless, God gives all
of us a key, and with this key we can win the next spiritual battle. With this
key you can overcome the high mountains. He gives a word, and this word will
by all means bring you safe and sound out of the deep valleys through which
you wander.
Also in this case, Peter opens his mouth and wants to know things which do not
concern him. He had a problem and that was his mouth. At one time he denied
Jesus three times, cursed, complained, and acted like a fool. Shortly there
after, he showed regret for his behaviour by shedding bitter tears.
Jesus forgave him for this mistake- for Peter, this was love which could not
be understood. After the resurrection of Jesus, when Jesus requires of him to
feed his sheep, there is an even bigger question mark inside of Peter. “But
Lord, do you not realise that I have betrayed and denied you?” Jesus then
says, “Forget it and go on.” Do not think any more about your mistakes,
I have a task for you. Continue to go on, I have forgiven you. Peter, you will
never be successful nor make it to the end, if you do not forget it and continue
to go on.
Peter forgot it and continued to go on. He was a simple fisherman in the hands
of Jesus. What a great apostle and blessing he turned out to be in the church
because he listened to Jesus. He was grateful that Jesus had offered him the
chance of a new beginning. He forgot it and continued to go on.
When people forgive, it is usually not a 100% thing and is not done in the way
that God requires of them. They forgive and then count how often they forgive
others and say, “I am not going to put up with it anymore.” You
do not have to put up with it anymore, but do not expect God to forgive you;
and you will end up at a place where you will never be able to pay your debts
of sin. When God says, “I forgive you”, then everything is wiped
away as if it had never been there. God no longer sees this sin and the relationship
to Him is then right. However, people often think that God is like them, and
afterwards, they also have mistrust towards God. Yet it is not good to go on
in this way.
Look at Paul. He persecuted the church like someone who was completely out of
his mind, he was a religious fanatic who wanted the death of all Christians.
As he was on his way to Damascus, in order to take the Christians there captive
and to do more evil, Jesus himself stops him. A light, which was brighter than
the sun, blinds him, and Jesus says to him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me?” Surrounded by truth and divine light, Saulus sees himself as
he really is for the first time; and he was shocked about that what he saw and
about the evil way which he was living. He looked for a way of escape, he looked
for an opportunity, he cries out, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
Jesus says to him, “Go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee what
thou must do.” Saulus turns around, his mind is still full of all the
evil deeds which he had committed before; and as he is about ready to leave,
the Lord says to him, “Forget all of it and just go on.” Saulus
ended up forgetting everything and continued to go on. He repented of his evil
way, he abandoned it, and became a great soul winner. 
Depart from the old way, from that what is evil and which causes pain, leave
it behind you and begin afresh with Jesus Christ. The Lord has give us a new
book, the pages are empty, and we ourselves can write this book. Let it be the
case that good things will be written in it; for one day, all books are going
to be opened before God. Revelation 20,12 “And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened,
which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to their works.”
Zacchaeus was a cunning tax collector, he was despised, hated by the people.
He deceived them and demanded more than that which God tolerated, stole the
bread from the table of the poor, and became richer and richer. As Jesus sits
at his table and they are talking with each other, a sudden transformation takes
place in Zacchaeus. He sees himself as he really is, he is acutely aware of
his wicked ways, his greed for power and money, his pride, his unrighteous dealings.
However, due to the presence of Jesus, he sees even more. He sees his striving
for money, wealth and power, he sees his corrupt way before the Living One,
who is God. From now on, he wants to be different, and he promises Jesus that
he will make everything right again. He was willing to change his life from
that very same day onwards. Zacchaeus went on his way and did something - he
asked forgiveness from those who he had cheated, and paid them back more than
that which he had stolen from them before. Jesus offered him this chance, just
like he is offering it to you today, and says, “Forget it and go on.”
rw
