Alliance Christian Church
February 15 2026

      • 2 Corinthians 9:7GS-NETBIBLE

      • Psalm 46NIV2011

  • I Believe
  • I love you, Lord
  • Beloved
  • This is My Commandment

  • Feed My Sheep

    John 21 “After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. Now this is how he did so. Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael (who was from Cana in Galilee), the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples of his were together. Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they replied. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. When it was already very early morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, “Children, you don’t have any fish, do you?” They replied, “No.” He told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they threw the net, and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” So Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, tucked in his outer garment (for he had nothing on underneath it), and plunged into the sea. Meanwhile the other disciples came with the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from land, only about a hundred yards. When they got out on the beach, they saw a charcoal fire ready with a fish placed on it, and bread. Jesus said, “Bring some of the fish you have just now caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was full of large fish, 153, but although there were so many, the net was not torn. “Come, have breakfast,” Jesus said. But none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. Then when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these do?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus told him, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus said a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd my sheep.” Jesus said a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” and said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the solemn truth, when you were young, you tied your clothes around you and went wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will tie you up and bring you where you do not want to go.” (Now Jesus said this to indicate clearly by what kind of death Peter was going to glorify God.) After he said this, Jesus told Peter, “Follow me.” Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. (This was the disciple who had leaned back against Jesus’ chest at the meal and asked, “Lord, who is the one who is going to betray you?”) So when Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what…”
    INTRODUCTION
    Imagine you are looking for a missionary
    What Qualities would you look for in that person?
    Educated
    Steady in their Faith
    Good with people, maybe even a good public speaker
    Rational, not impulsive
    Consistent
    Good Rapport
    Maybe even someone who has been a believer for a long time.
    I want to paint a picture of the type of Disciple that Jesus chose. Our Text today is going to be John 21. A Conversation Jesus has with Peter. And we’re going to get there.
    But before we do, much like last week we painted a picture of Pontius Pilate, I want to paint a picture of the Apostle Peter.
    John 1:40–42 NET 2nd ed.
    Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is translated Christ). Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
    John tells different details of the account of Jesus calling peter to be his disciple.
    I want to draw in from the other three gospel accounts to paint a fuller picture here.
    If we look over at the book of Luke we see luke telling the story from a bit of a different angle.
    Luke 5:1–11 NET 2nd ed.
    Now Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing around him to hear the word of God. He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then Jesus sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing! But at your word I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets started to tear. So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they were about to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For Peter and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s business partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people!” So when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
    A couple of interesting details to note about Simon Peter before Jesus called him.
    Peter was not one of John the Baptist’s original followers. From John 1 we see that. Andrew was, but peter, for whatever reason wasn’t
    John’s ministry was meant to pave the way for Jesus, it was meant to point to the reality of Jesus. Those who followed John the Baptist were most likely to “Get it”
    But Peter isn’t one of those.
    And then if we add Luke’s account into it, we have this account of Jesus calling Peter and the other disciples while they are fishing.
    and I’m not exactly sure how to fit these two accounts together, whether all the stuff from John and luke happened on the same day, or around the same time. I’m not too concerned about it. I know they are both true, whehter or not I can keep the timeline straight in my head.
    But Peter is a fisheman. Jesus Specifically tells peter that if he follows Jesus he will become a “fisher of men”
    What Fishing Looks like
    What Fishing Looks like 2
    What Fishing Looks like 2
    I say all that to say, Peter was not a scholar. Peter was not well read, peter was not well educated. Peter was regular blue-collar worker. Someone who worked with his hands, someone who worked with his back.
    He wasn’t an ivy league know-it all.
    In fact, in the book of Acts, when Peter and John are standing in front of the Sanhedrien it specifically says
    Acts 4:13 NET 2nd ed.
    When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.
    And yet Jesus calls Simon Peter. Petras. Cephas in aramaic. The Rock.
    And he says upon this rock I will build my church.
    Jesus says you are going to be my chief disciple maker.
    So Peter, maybe doesn’t have the pedigree, but maybe he has the other qualities we’re looking for.
    Steady faith, consistent, even-tempred. These are all things that we want in a disciple maker.
    Mark 8:27–30 NET 2nd ed.
    Then Jesus and his disciples went to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said, “John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
    Yes, this is what we want. We want someone who recognizes who Jesus is.
    But then just one verse later it says
    Mark 8:31–32 NET 2nd ed.
    Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke openly about this. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
    Peter you were so close. You had it, you understood it. You understood the fact that Jesus was the Christ. Matthew’s version he adds “The Christ, the son of the living God.”
    But then the very next moment, when Jesus begins to tell them about god’s plan, peter pulls the Christ the son of the living god aside and tries to rebuke him.
    And Jesus says
    Mark 8:33 NET 2nd ed.
    But after turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”
    The problem Peter has, is that even though he recognizes Jesus is the Christ, the Son of god, in the very same breath Peter wants to be in control.
    Peter wants to do things HIS way. Peter doesn’t have the kind of obedient faith that submits to Jesus no matter what.
    And we see all throughout the gospel accounts this very thing, where peter starts off with strong faith, but then in the very next moment he falters.
    When the disciples are out, rowing on the lake, and the storm rages, and the wind and waves are crashing all around them.
    Matthew 14:25–27 NET 2nd ed.
    As the night was ending, Jesus came to them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the water they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them: “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”
    And it’s peter who has the courage and the faith to say
    Matthew 14:28–29 NET 2nd ed.
    Peter said to him, “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.” So he said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus.
    Peter displays an incredble amount of faith.
    He recognizes who Jesus is, he recognizes that Jesus can command anything to happen. He recognizes that if he Just trust in Jesus, he can do anything.
    Matthew 14:30–31 NET 2nd ed.
    But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid. And starting to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
    As we’re going down our list of criteria.
    Educated. No, not really.
    Faithful, yes. Steady in his faith? I don’t know.
    We sort of get this picture of peter as someone who gets it right maybe half the time.
    Which for a lot of us, is pretty good, but remember, we’re talking about the person who is going to be the rock on which the church is built.
    By our standards, we might look at someone like peter and say, I don’t know if this is really the person we want.
    Maybe
    If we look at luke 18, we get this account of Jesus talking to a rich young ruler
    And Jesus has a conversation with him, and it doesn’t go so well.
    And the whole point, about the little children, about this rich young ruler, is that those who are humble, like a child. Those who are willing to give up their pride and their possessions, those are the ones who will inherit the kingdom of God.
    Not the boastful, not the prideful, not the ones who are extremely caught up in their worldly status, but the ones willing to lower themselves.
    Luke 18:28 NET 2nd ed.
    And Peter said, “Look, we have left everything we own to follow you!”
    And again, we sort of get this picture of someone who is thinking about himself. Look at me, look at what I’ve done Jesus.
    Look at how much I’ve sacrifced.
    And it’s not Just this.
    If you look at the Book of Matthew chapter 18,
    Jesus tells his disciples this parable about forgiveness.
    Matthew 18:12–14 NET 2nd ed.
    What do you think? If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones be lost.
    And then Jesus relates this idea of reconcilliation and forgiveness to life in the church.
    And he plainly spells it out to his disciples that the goal of Christian relationships is reconciliation and forgiveness.
    The whole goal, if you are a follower of Jesus is to forgive just as Jesus forgave us.
    And peter hears this, and this is the first thing he asks Jesus
    Matthew 18:21 NET 2nd ed.
    Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who sins against me? As many as seven times?”
    Peter’s basically like, I hear what you’re saying Jesus. We ought to forgive. But like, there’s obviously a limit, right. Like there’s got to be a cap on the number of times I’m expected to forgive, right?
    And Jesus explains, Peter, no. You’re still not giving it.
    Do you not realize how much you have been forgiven?
    And all throughout Peter’s time with Jesus, this happens.
    When Jesus Takes some of the disciples on the mountain and Moses and Elijah show up as a sign pointing to JEsus, it’s peter who drops the ball and says “Yes, yes, lord, we should build tabernacles here to honor you and Moses and Elijah. because peter didn’tget it, and didn’t understand that Jesus is Greater than even moses and Elijah.
    When they go out in the Garden of Gesthemene, and Jesus is praying before he’s arrested, Peter is one of the ones who keeps falling asleep when Jesus needs him the most.
    And when the Soldiers show up to arrest Jesus, it’s Peter who misses the memo, and pulls out his sword and slices off the roman soldier’s ear.
    —-
    And I think if we were to paint a picture of Peter… I wouldn’t say he’s bad. He’s not Judas. He’s just… average.
    And yet Jesus picks him. Jesus calls him the rock on which the church is going to be built.
    And I think if we were really honest with ourselves, if we were interviewing Peter for a preaching Job. Or if we were interviewing Peter to be a missionary that we were going to send out, we might look at his resume and say...
    You know, I don’t think you have the qualities that we’re looking for.
    And you know what the most terrifying part about that realization is?
    I think a lot of us see ourselves in peter.
    At least I know I do.
    I know when I read about peter, and the messups he makes, and the mistakes he makes, I look at that and think to myself. Yeah I probably would have done the same thing.
    I probably wouldn’t have had the faith to even step out onto the water.
    I probably wouldn’t have had the foresight to even recognize that Jesus is the Messiah at that point.
    And then as we get toward the end of the book of John, Peter pulls his disciples aside and tells them look, I’m going to be arrested, I’m going to be crucified, and you guys are all going to abandon me.
    And Peter is the one who stands up and says “surely lord that will never happen.
    John 18:15–18 NET 2nd ed.
    Simon Peter and another disciple followed them as they brought Jesus to Annas. (Now the other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard.) But Peter was left standing outside by the door. So the other disciple who was acquainted with the high priest came out and spoke to the slave girl who watched the door, and brought Peter inside. The girl who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You’re not one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” He replied, “I am not.” (Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire they had made, warming themselves because it was cold. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.)
    John 18:25–27 NET 2nd ed.
    Meanwhile Simon Peter was standing in the courtyard warming himself. They said to him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” Peter denied it: “I am not!” One of the high priest’s slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the orchard with him?” Then Peter denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.
    And this is, in my opinion, I mean it’s hard, you don’t want to read too much into the text, but just imagining peter at this moment.
    this has got to be rock bottom.
    (Illustration, snow plow, rock bottom, ready to quit)
    And I think this is howpeter felt in that moment.
    Which is why I think, in John 21, our text for this morning, it says
    John 21:1–3 NET 2nd ed.
    After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. Now this is how he did so. Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael (who was from Cana in Galilee), the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples of his were together. Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they replied. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
    Even after Jesus had revealed himself to them, even after he had proven that he was alive, he showed them his hands and the scar on his side.
    Peter’s like, you know what, that’s great and all for you guys. I don’t think I’m cut out for this.
    I’m not sure if you remember or not, but in Jesus’ greatest moment of weakness, when he was being put on trial, when the high priest and everyone else was making false claims against him, not sure if you guys remember or not,
    But I was the one who, in a moment of weakness refused to even acknowledge that I knew him.
    And so you know what guys, I’m done.
    I don’t know what Jesus has planned, but I think I’m just going to hang it up. Go back to my old life do what I know how to do.
    Jesus obviously made a mistake picking me, so I’m done.
    John 21:4–7 NET 2nd ed.
    When it was already very early morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, “Children, you don’t have any fish, do you?” They replied, “No.” He told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they threw the net, and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” So Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, tucked in his outer garment (for he had nothing on underneath it), and plunged into the sea.
    John 21:15 NET 2nd ed.
    Then when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these do?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus told him, “Feed my lambs.”
    You don’t understand Jesus, I love you, of course I do. But I’m not cut out for this.
    You know what I did, you know how much I messed up. So yes Lord I’ll always love you.
    But I… I don’t think you have the right guy.
    John 21:16 NET 2nd ed.
    Jesus said a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd my sheep.”
    John 21:17 NET 2nd ed.
    Jesus said a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that Jesus asked him a third time...
    I get it. Peter’s thinking. You don’t believe me. You don’t believe that I love you, you don’t believe that I’m faithful enough.
    And now you’re asking me 3 different times.
    And Jesus I just wish that you would just cast me out.
    I get it. I’m not good enough. Why do we have to go through this. What do you want me to say? I don’t love you? Is that what you’re trying to get me understand?
    I think a lot of us can get caught in that trap. Because we’re not good enough, we’re not smart enough, we’re not faithful enough.
    But peter says
    John 21:17 NET 2nd ed.
    ... “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”
    And if that’s not good enough, then I guess, it’s not.
    John 21:17 NET 2nd ed.
    ...Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep.
    three times peter denied even knowing Jesus.
    And three times Jesus gave peter an opportunity to take it back, by proclaiming his love.
    And three times Jesus re-afirmed his calling for peter.
    Feed my sheep.
    God’s not done with you. When God calls you he doesn’t make mistakes.
    I know some of you might be in that place where you’re thinking, I’m not cut out for this. I’m not the kind of person Jesus needs, I’m not the best disciple maker.
    MAybe some of you might even be feeling like peter.
    Maybe I ought to just quit.
    When you hit those lows I want you to remember what Jesus said to peter.
    Do you love me? And if so, then you still have a place in my kingdom.
    You still have a purpose. You still have value.
    And Jesus says I don’t care how much you mess up, how much you falter, how many times you sink.
    I will be there to pull you up every single. And every single time, my charge to you is going to be the same. Feed my Sheep.

      • John 1:40–42NIV2011

      • Luke 5:1–11NIV2011

      • Acts 4:13NIV2011

      • Mark 8:27–30NIV2011

      • Mark 8:31–32NIV2011

      • Mark 8:33NIV2011

      • Matthew 14:25–27NIV2011

      • Matthew 14:28–29NIV2011

      • Matthew 14:30–31NIV2011

      • Luke 18:28NIV2011

      • Matthew 18:12–14NIV2011

      • Matthew 18:21NIV2011

      • John 18:15–18NIV2011

      • John 18:25–27NIV2011

      • John 21:1–3NIV2011

      • John 21:4–7NIV2011

      • John 21:15NIV2011

      • John 21:16NIV2011

      • John 21:17NIV2011

      • John 21:17NIV2011

      • John 21:17NIV2011

  • Oh, How He Loves You and Me
  • Goodness of God
  • They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love
Alliance Christian Church
churchinalliance@gmail.com
9707657196
https://www.alliancechristian.church
4 members