A Forgetful Faith (Warning - a looooong read)

Dear Mimosa Walkers/Mimosaians(ok watever!),

What we shared earlier tonight.... Anthony, we prayed for ur granny and will continue to do that until she gets better. =)

What Do We Mean By "Backsliding"?
"The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel" - 1 Kings 11:9
"I have this against you; you have left your first love." - Revelation 2:4
Backsliding is when a person who follows Christ turns away from Him. To the backslider, God is no longer the main focus of his life. Without God's leading, the person suffers a lapse morally and reverts back to sin. He "backslides" into his old way of life.

We no longer seek the Lords leading and we lack direction. We no longer fellowship with Him and so our hearts are empty. This is because you and I were created to follow the Lord. We were created to have a relationship with God. And as terrible as it is to have never have known the love of Jesus Christ, how much worse is it to have experienced it and then turn away? Once you've followed Jesus nothing else can ever truly satisfy you. That's why backsliding is such a terrible thing. You try to replace His prefect love with something inferior. But the Lord stretches out His hand to you and offers to forgive your backsliding and restore you.

Question posed to the floor: What makes a person 'backslide'?
A host of reasons were heard from the cell.... Prolonged unanswered prayers, disappointment with stumbling behaviour of certain church pastors and leaders, disillusionment seeing the power struggle in church and forgetfulness.

Could it be that I forgot what I believed?

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, says "you will never talk a man out of his faith, never debate him out of his beliefs – but what can happen is that he’ll slowly, imperceptibly at first, forget what he believes."

And then he’ll begin to act upon that lack of belief.

It may be that the Apostle Peter understood this tendency toward a forgetful faith. He told the early Church, “I plan to keep on reminding you of these things – even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth.” (2 Peter 1:12, NLT)
Even though they already were standing on the truth, Peter saw it as necessary to remind them of their beliefs, that “on Christ the solid rock” they stood.

Now after tonight, we all knew Apostle Peter was a "loser" before he became a preacher of the Word. Peter was a "forgetful believer".

Luke 5:1-11
V5 – we worked all night and caught nothing.

Do u have any worn, wet, empty nets? Do u know the feeling of a sleepless, fishless night? Of coz u do. For what have u been casting?
Faith – “I want to believe, but…”
Healing – “I’ve been sick for so long….”
A happy relationship – “No matter what I do…”
For results (work, studies etc.) - "I've worked so hard... put in so much effort... yet... it comes down to NOTHING"

I’ve worked hard all night and caught nothing. We all have felt what Peter felt. And now Jesus is asking u to go fishing. He knows your nets are empty. He knows your heart is weary.

He urges,”It’s not too late to try again.”

Listen to Peter’s reply: “I will do as You say and let down the nets.” Not much passion & excitement. Peter feels none. He's tired. Now he has to unfold his nets, pull out the oars and convince James and John to postpone their rest. Yes, he has to work.

If faith is measured in seeds, guess what’s the size of his? Inspired? No. But obedient? He certainly is. Even a smallest minute seed of obedience is what Jesus needs to perform a miracle.

v 6-7 - Peter lifts his eyes off the catch and unto the face of Jesus. In the moment, for the 1st time, he sees Jesus. Not Jesus the Fish Finder. Not Jesus the Rabbi. But Peter saw Jesus the Lord.

v 8-10 - Jesus tells him “It’s ok. It’s not too late to start over.”

Peter learnt the lesson. Or did he? But we all knew he didn’t... really. In fact, Peter forgot the lesson.

2 short years later, Peter who confessed Christ in the boat cursed Christ at a fire. The night before Jesus crucifixion, Peter told people he’d never heard of Jesus. From a person who saw the miracle of God on the boat that night, and followed and witnessed Jesus's ministry to a coward who confessed that he've never met Jesus.

What a dynamic 360 deg. change in attitude!

John 21:1-7
Fast forward. Jesus was hung on the Cross. On Sunday (the 3rd day of the Cruxifixion), Peter came out of retirement. And u know what? Despite of what he did, Jesus came looking for him! Peter and his buddies went back to the boat – same boat, same beach, same sea. They fished all night and again – NOTHING. Poor Peter. He blow it as a disciple. And he’s blown it as a fisherman as well.

What a loser!

Someone at the beach shouted to them, ”Any luck? Try the right side of the boat!”

v6 – So they casted, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.” It takes a moment for the déjà vu to hit Peter. When it does, he thunderbolted into the water and swam towards shore. A miracle was re-created for the betrayer. And this time the message struck into Peter’s heart and stayed there. Peter never again fished for fish but spent the rest of his life telling people,” It’s not too late to ever try again.”

Luke 5:4 Jesus instructs “Put out into the deep water.” Suppose Jesus knew something that Peter didn’t?

Some parents play a game on Easter Sunday – hide the eggs and their children will be searching high and low in the house for them. They will find most eggs on their own. But a couple will survive the 1st hunt. “Look,” Dad whispered,” behind the tree.”

And indeed they were.

Dad was right.

Spotting treasures is easy for the one who hid it. Finding fish is simple for the God who made them.

Have you given Christ your boat? Your heartache? Dilemma? And have you gone deep? Try the other side of the boat. Go deeper than you’ve gone. You may find what Peter found. The payoff of his 2nd effort was not the fish he caught, but the God he saw.

It open up his blinded eyes to the God who always say, “Never mind, let’s try again... this time with me on board.”

I'm glad we serve a God who gave 2nd chances to people who've truly "blown" it. Coz Peter really did and he was forgiven and accepted.

Cheerz,
Frank
He called out to them, “Friends, haven't you any fish?” ~John 21:5