God’s Invitation Question

Donald E Coleman 0:21

All right. Welcome back. Welcome back. I am excited to be here. I'm kind of thrilled to be here because I realized something. I didn't realize it. I it came before me as I was just getting ready to sit down. And the question was that came up was more about how do you recognize an invitation from God? And I'm going to throw that question out at the beginning of this episode because I'm going to share with you some information here. But in talking about it, I want to share how we got here to this point. Because in the last couple of episodes, we we talked about Jesus and Agapow. We talked about Agapow in the book of Acts. We talked about Agapow with Paul and his epistles. And then we went to John and his epistle. And then in between Paul and Peter, I mean Paul and John, Peter's kept showing up, kept coming before me. And as I was talking, we were talking more about Peter. And in the last episode, I mentioned that I might have to go in and do some work on Peter to bring Peter into this discussion. And I present that to you as that was an invitation. And I want you to start to really hone in on identifying invitations that are coming from God. I really want your spiritual eyes and ears to become more opened and illuminated to sense and know when God is inviting you into something. For example, how did you get here to this podcast? Was it of your own thinking, of your own understanding that got here? How

Desire As Evidence God Desires You

Donald E Coleman 2:56

did the desire come to get here? Because I know this podcast was started out of an invitation almost six years ago. It'll be six years in October. In the middle of COVID, a question was given between my wife and I. We were just having this question, and it was more about hey, why don't we start a Bible study during COVID? And that's what started it. That was the invitation. Hey, why don't we? We didn't create that desire. And this is one of the things I think that we are losing in our walk with God. We're thinking, we're forgetting that the desire that burns within us is a desire that is planted by God that reaches out of us. That desire reaches above us and out of us. So when we're desiring God, it is an exact, it is an understanding, an exact understanding that God is desiring us. Therefore, that desire for us is burning within us to reach out towards God or to reach out and to discover what God is doing. So every burning desire for God is an understanding that God is desiring us. But the only way that we get to truly understand this and to comprehend it or to grab a hold of it. I don't even want to use the word comprehend because sometimes when you think about comprehend, it goes all mind. No, this is spiritual, it's in the depths of our being. But every desire that we have as believers for God is in reality God's desire for us, drawing us closer to himself. So I want you to really hone in here. And here's what I what I'm what I'm what I want to say. And I think about Peter now. We're going to spend the next few episodes on Peter because when I go into this, this becomes more than I ever thought it was ever going to be. But that's how God is. When you let go of your perception and your ideas of what things are or who God is, and just worship God for who God is, not for what God is, but worship God for who God is, just being present with God, not for what he can do, but for who he is. And I said this months ago, even last year. Stay in being in expectation, not expecting. Being in expectation is that we let go of what we perceive that needs to be done or how we want it to be. And we trust in God, the Father, our Father, Christ the Word, and the sustainer and the Holy Spirit, which is guiding us and fulfilling and filling us. We trust that in the in this, in God, we are going to receive what is needed, and God is going to provide for us what is needed and how it is needed and when it is needed. This is what is important. So we are being invited into something deeper because I didn't originally plan to spend time on Peter. But as I began recording the episodes, Peter kept popping up. And as a result, whatever we receive from these next few episodes, it's ordained by God for you and for me, and whoever is ever who will ever listen to this episode. God is inviting you into this moment. So here's what I want to see. So in the last episode, we sat with John, and it was beautiful. The apostle Jesus loved, the one who leaned closest at the table. He put his head on Jesus' chest. And we heard his great declaration in his epistle. He says, We love because he first loved us. Well, let me let me say that. Let me go back now and let me replace love with what it is. We agape

The Four Movements Of Agape

Donald E Coleman 8:08

because he first agape us. That single sentence is the most compressed expression of the four movements of divine love in all of Scripture. Let me say that one more time. That single sentence, we agape because he agape us, because he first agape us is the most compressed expression of the four movements of divine love in all of Scripture. Agape gives first. It gives, it goes forward, it pursues. Right? Agape gives, pursues. It's constantly, always moving, it's always going after us. It never gives up. We receive it as agape tos, as the beloved of God. We are formed into agapitan, formed and shaped into the vessel that God desires to use or can use. And then agape flows through us towards others. The vessel is then filled, and the agape we receive flows out of us as agapeo to others. We love because he first agape us. But as we listen to John, or I just talked about, as we listen to John, Peter kept showing up. The fisherman, the man who had also been close to Jesus at the same table, perhaps the closest in terms of sheer

Why Peter’s Story Won’t Let Go

Donald E Coleman 10:37

intensity of relationship. We see that Peter was pretty, he was not pretty, he was very intense. A man who swore he would never leave him, and who left. A man who had been asked three times on the shore of the lake at dawn a question he could not fully answer. And that man is Peter, the rock. And in the next several episodes, we're going to take a deeper look at Peter. Because Peter did not just reflect on the theology of Agapao. He lived it all the way through its most painful arch. He received divine love. He lost his footing at the most crucial moment. Right? He denied Christ. He was found again. And then from the other side of restoration, he wrote two letters to scattered suffering communities. Letters that carry the weight of everything he had been through. There is no voice in the New Testament quite like Peter when it comes to Agapau, the divine love flowing outward to others. Because Peter writes about love from the inside of having failed it and having been called back. So Peter is writing from a comeback story, but not in his own strength. So in the same way that we broke down the last one, we're going to take Peter in movements. So movement one is the man behind the letter. John 21 as the formation of Peter's agapow. We have to read John 21, and I want you to really, really dive into John 21 as we go into this study, because what transpires in the gospel shapes everything about Peter moving forward. Everything about Peter was shaped in the gospel, in his failing, and Jesus coming and searching out, agape searching out for him and then restoring him. I want you to see this, man. I want you to see the failing was the emptying. Jesus searching for him was letting him understand and know that look, you're the vessel. You just need to be formed and shaped. And as you read this, you'll see the whole Bible comes alive. All the gospels where Peter is in, it just all comes alive. I'm so excited about this. I'm I'm beyond excited. And whoever this is, whoever you are that you asked for this, whoever the person is that prayed for a deeper understanding of this, I want you to know God loves you. God loves you beyond anything you could ask, think, or imagine. Because Peter's story is also our story. Let's jump in. So before we open 1 John or 2 Peter, we need to stand for a moment at the shore of the Sea of Galilee because the letters Peter writes to the scattered communities under persecution cannot be fully understood without what happened in John 21.

John 21 And The Shoreline Return

Donald E Coleman 15:15

You just can't grab it. Let me set the scene for you. Peter has denied Jesus three times loudly, publicly, and he curses, uses foul language. He has seen the look on Jesus' face after the third denial. You know the look. He has wept bitterly, you understand the shame. He has watched the crucifixion from a distance. And then, astonishingly, he has encountered the risen Christ, who is still carrying the womb inflicted the night Peter ran. Now Jesus is standing on the shore at dawn. A charcoaled fire, the same kind of fire around which Peter had denied him. Jesus calls across the water, and when Peter comes to the shore, the question begins. You know it. Simon, son of John, do you agapow me? Do you love me? Notice the name, not Peter. I want you to get this. Not Peter. The rock name, the apostle name. Simon, the name before the calling. You gotta you gotta see this. The emptying, Simon. Simon to Peter is the emptying. The name that belongs to the unformed man. Jesus is not beginning this conversation with the man Peter has become. He is beginning it with the man Peter still is beneath all of it. He's going to the roots as the way only God can go to the roots. Now, watch this. Peter answers, Lord, you know I love you. But here, the word Peter uses is filio, warm affection. So you see the difference here. Let me go back and read it. Peter answers, Lord, you know that I have affection for you. I have a friendship love for you. Not a full stretch self-giving agaphow, Jesus had asked about. Right? So you understand now you're getting agapho is a love that goes beyond what we can give in ourselves. Look at this, man. I want you to see this. I'm laying a foundation. I just want you to understand this. It says, in reality, not the full stretch, self-giving agape Jesus had asked about. Not yet. Not yet. He's still not empty. Jesus asks a second time the same agape question. And Peter gives the same filial answer. And then, and this is the moment everything hinges on. Jesus changes his question. Did you catch that invitation? The third time he comes down where Peter is, the posture is changed. The moment is changed. There's a threshold about to be crossed. I'm letting this settle. He says, Simon, son of John, do you filio me? Do you see the difference? He chains the Gapow to Filio. He does not insist on a Gapow. He meets Peter in his filio. He asks for what Peter actually has. Not what Peter promised he had. Not what Peter believes he should have. But the real present wounded love of a man standing in the ashes of his own failure. I want to pause here for a moment because I want you to see this. I want to read this again. Simon, son of John, do you filio me? Jesus doesn't ask Peter to give something he doesn't have. Jesus is teaching us a principle of holding space for a gapow or agape or unconditional love on behalf of someone else. He doesn't demand it. To hold that place because if we have a gap pow, God can use us to pour it out onto someone else. And Jesus says, feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Not later, not once you have proven yourself, not once you have graduated from your failure. Feed my sheep now as you are. Restored and commissioned to the in the same breath. See, feed my sheep is the command or the invitation. It's all right here. Not once we get there. God sees in us what is already present that we can't see. And he asks us to start where we are. Like today, I was really pondering on the thought about it is better to obey God than to please man. We know that statement. We've heard it a thousand times. Obedience over sacrifice. But yet, in the heat of the moment, what does our inner man do? Or what does our will do? How is it distorted that we please man before pleasing God? And God is He's changing us, He's shaping us, He's forming within us this conversion, this transformation that our desire becomes to please God in spite of everything else or anyone else. So what happens in John 21 is not merely Peter's restoration. It's just not about restoration. It is his formation into Agapitan. Peter receives

Belovedness Before Believing

Donald E Coleman 24:28

his identity. And here's what I want you to truly understand here, guys. I want you to grab a hold of this. Peter walked with Jesus for three years and still didn't live in his agapitos. So give yourself grace. Receive the grace of God because God is there with you. He said he'll never leave you or forsake you. The Holy Spirit is always present to guide us and to lead us. Don't allow our minds to distort what God is doing. Don't focus on what you are. Focus on the fact that you are. Let me say that again. Don't focus on what you are, but focus on the fact that you are. What does that mean? That you are. You are the beloved of God. And nothing could ever change that. And nothing is ever going to stop God from pursuing you, his child. And remember, I said, belovedness comes before believing. You are beloved before you believe. And I know, forgive us. If you're listening to this and belief has been banged into your head, please forgive us for getting this wrong. Release us. Let it go. Because God is saying that the world, you are, every human is beloved of God. And as a result of belovedness, you then come into the position to believe. So let's keep going here. I'm not going to do long episodes here. I just want to really flow in on this one. These might be short and impactful because I want you to sit with this. I really want to hammer in on what's happening here. So again, what happened in John 21 was not merely Peter's restoration. It was his formation into Agapitan, the vessel through whom agape will now move into the world. And the manner in which it happened through encounter rather than achievement. Look how it did. It happened through encounter rather than achievement, through being found rather than proving himself, will shape every word Peter writes afterward. When Peter says to the suffering communities, love one another deeply, he is not giving them a command, he has only thought about. He is giving them a command. He has lived from the inside of failing and being found. Now I want to take a moment to just flow into reflecting. Let's go into a contemplative pause here. Really sit with this. So pause here with me. Peter could not offer what Jesus

A Guided Pause For The Heart

Donald E Coleman 28:51

asked for at full strength. He only had Philio, his wounded human best, and Jesus met him there. What is Jesus asking of you? He only wants what you have, not what you propose to get. Is there a relationship, a calling, or a season in your own life where you are offering your filio right now? Where you're only offering what you, your filio, that's all you have. Your warm affection, your genuine effort, but not yet the full stretched agape you believe you should have. Is it possible that Jesus is not asking why you cannot do more? But simply, Simon, do you love me with what you have? Let's sit with this for a moment. And as you inhale, ponder on these words or reflect on these words. Agape meets me where I am, not where I should be. And as you exhale, I offer what I have and receive what I cannot produce. Your authentic beloved self. You offer from your beloved self, not your protective self. Let's sit with this. Agape meets me where I am, not where I should be. Know that over these next couple of episodes be in expectation, knowing that God has something in store for each of us. Until then, keep living daily for Christ.