Charlie Hughes -Soy Reincidente

Welcome to Church by the Lays. Anyone happy to be here today? Let's make some noise for Jesus one more time. Oh my gosh, you guys sound good. Let's make some noise for the worship team. If we don't know each other before, I'm Charlie Hughes, the leader of the Young Adults Movement of this church called Rally. I'm excited to preach today continuing our series called Breaking the Silence. I want to join this series called Have you found a couple? I know I have. I know this has been a really helpful series because I know we all in some sort have a cycle or a pattern that we need to break. Whether it's eating at midnight or texting while driving or whatever. But we have habits in our life that we need to break. And there is a cycle, a habit, a pattern as a church that we need to break. And I'm going to step out

of my own box for this moment. If you've been here for months or years, have you heard my dad, Pastor David or Pastor Nick or me say something to start a sermon like, I don't want to preach to you, I want to preach to you. The best sermons are not monologues, they are dialogues. Don't let the preacher preach by himself today. And after saying something like that, it's crazy how many of you just keep looking at me and don't say anything. And I know you come to church because you want to come and you expect to hear from God, but some just look at me and this has confused me for some time and I've been thinking about why don't you tell me something in the time we've spent together and I realize you don't want to lose your voices. You have a big weekend ahead of you, people to talk to

and I don't want to risk losing your voice for the week that awaits you. Why didn't you say it? I came up with a solution for everyone. Stand up right now so I can see you. Come on, let's do a little vocal warm up. Here I'm going to invite the vocal team to help us here so they can hear us themselves. And it's very simple, follow the instructions on the track that's already recorded, and it's going to be very easy. Are you ready? Okay, daily warm up exercises. We're going to start with G-O-G So the team does the exercise of G-O-G and repeats and says we're going to do

M-U-M The team repeats the vocal exercise of M-U-M M-U-M Okay, and the next one Now, No No, No And the whole team repeats the vocal exercise of No No, No, No No, No, No No, No, No No, No, No And they keep repeating the vocal exercise of No Very good, clap yourselves today and sit down. Some of you were saying not all the time, like I'm not going to do this, but believe it or not, I do those vocal warm ups all the time before I preach, because I know you think or not, his voice is a muscle, his vocal cords are muscles, which means they work in a muscular memory. So many times before I preach,

I do those vocal exercises that make my voice go up and down to give my voice a memory. And I'm going to need, for what I'm going to need to do in other minutes, when I'm here and I'm preaching. I'm not sure if I believe the saying that practice is the master, because sometimes practicing the wrong things makes us end up worse than we were, because practice builds permanence. And in our lives, when we repeat something, that's going to end up in our minds, our muscles, our memory, and we're going to do concrete things. And I think a similar principle or dynamic is that because we are in cycles, patterns, habits, addictions, when we've been living in cycles for a long time, and at this point, it is not due to temptation,

but rather due to repetition. They have been in certain cycles for so long that at this point, their muscle memory has returned, their automatic response has returned, their second nature, which when they are put in a situation or confronted with some kind of problem, they return to that, when they hear these things that are not natural for you, what they do is react by repetition. They have been cycles so long that they have gotten into you. But I also have good news, if you have already given your life for faith in Jesus Christ, those cycles are not everything for you, because the same faith that raised Jesus from the grave lives in you. So this service will not only lead us to break the cycles, but to get the cycles out of you, if that sounds good to you. Come on, help me preach, if that sounds good to you. But I think the first step to break cycles that we have been repeating is to admit that there are cycles that we have been repeating. That is why the title of this sermon is a confession, and it is this, I am a repetitive offender. I am a repetitive offender. And somebody say to another, you are a repetitive offender. Because I am, you are, and we are all repetitive offenders. Like I said, we all have habits, cycles, patterns, that we have been repeating. And I think it will be helpful for us to study the life and the examples of maybe the repetitive offender that there is in the Bible, who is also the most famous disciple in the whole Bible.

And I am talking about the only one, the Apostle Peter. If you have read the gospels, if you know why he is the most famous disciple, because Peter is not going to go unnoticed. He had one of those noisy personalities that was, love me or hate me, but without any choice, you are going to notice me. He was like that, like a person of a limited personality, but like, I would have to tell him that we liked him. And the reason why, many times, he was like that is because before he was a pastor or a disciple, he was a sailor. He had a sailor personality because he was a fisherman. In the Gospel of Matthew, we see the moment when he meets Jesus. And it starts in verse 18, and the word says, One day Jesus was walking by the sea of Galilee, somebody say Galilee, and he saw two brothers. They were Simon and Andrew his brother. They were launching a net to the sea for fishing. And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishermen of men. And they left through the nets, and they followed him. But maybe you read that and you get a little confused like Charlie. You just told me that we are going to spend today talking about someone called Peter. In this passage, I don't see a Peter. I see a Simon, and I see an Andrew, but I don't see a Peter. Where is this Peter? I'm sorry, I should have told you at the beginning that Simon is Peter. He is Simon. Jesus would later change the name of Simon to Peter because God is going to call you before he completely changes you. Jesus does not need you to come completely to him because Jesus is going to be the one who will complete you. And if you show Jesus already feeling like you know everything,

then how is he going to teach you anything? I'm encouraging that Jesus called Peter when he was still Simon. Because this tells me that Jesus knew exactly what he was getting. And in what he was getting when he called him. He knew from the beginning that he did not have the complete and finished apostle Peter. But he had the salt of Simon, a man, a very thick, very ordinary fisherman. And he says that when Jesus calls us, when Jesus chooses us, when he chooses you or me, or when he saves us, he knows exactly what he is getting. And in what he was getting, he saw your patterns, but he also saw your potential. He saw you in the moment, but he also saw your changes in the future. He saw your habits, but he also saw the hope that you had. because Jesus loved you as he found you, but he loved you too much to leave you like that. When he saw you, you were still Simon, but he also knew that you could be Peter. I'm happy, but let me take you to the moment when Jesus changes Simon's name to Peter. And that was a day when Jesus asked the disciples, who do you think I am? And it was a big, captivating question, but Jesus, they said, some say you're Elijah, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're a new prophet. Okay, perfect, thanks for that. But I'm curious, what's up with you guys? Who do you think I am? Who do you say I am? And by the way, this is a question we have to ask ourselves at some point. Who, for you, who do you say Jesus is? That's the question that Jesus asks the disciples before any other disciple could answer, Simon speaks first. And he says, I know who you are, Jesus. And I say that you are not any other prophet, but you are that which all the prophets prophesied, that you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, the Word made flesh.

And I know that you are God Himself. And in Matthew 16, verse 17, Jesus says to Simon, Matthew 16 says, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, because this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father who is in heaven. And I say to you, from now on, you are Peter, and in the gates of hell, you will not be able to come to me. So put your hands together, because we're standing in this church today. So applaud, because the gates of hell will not come to you or me. It's a very good thing. Because Simon said to Jesus, Messiah, Jesus said to Simon Peter. Because when we see Jesus for who he is, then we begin to see ourselves for what Jesus says we are, because Simon saw Jesus correctly as Messiah. Jesus saw Simon as who he was, and what he was called to do, and what he was called to do, to become Peter, this solid figure like a rock on which the church would be built. Maybe no one is more influential in the church, in the whole church, than Peter. It's a big difference. But I don't think Peter, that he would have seen this potential in himself, and become this type of leader in the primitive church, if Jesus hadn't changed his name these years before. Because in the biblical times, the names had to be changed. In the biblical times, the names had a true meaning. And here, I know that my friends have children. I love my friends, and I love their children, but they are giving them names that are a little crazy. Some almost criminal things, like say hello to Baby Lion,

Baby Lion, or Baby Durasno. If I say to my newborn, Baby Trueno, is it a baby, is it an animal, a fruit, or what? Or is it a weather forecast? I don't know. But if we go back to the biblical times, the names really meant something. They were, and they influenced people's destinies, and they were like prophecies, that taught about what we were going to do, or how we were going to live. And I tell you this, because someone said that your label is your limit. So, we should just let ourselves be called the way Jesus calls us. And I think that with this name change for Peter, he began to see himself potentially as who he was going to be, and who he never thought he was going to be. Because, without offending anyone, someone named Simon, compared to the name Peter, was really, because the name Simon means someone who, when Simon had this name, the meaning was, or he took shape in his life, as a person who reacts, as someone who does and sees without thinking too much. It was like someone who was impulsive. So, if you were today, today, acting and living this way, and being called this way, we would also say that we were like someone who was impulsive.

So, if you were today, today, acting and living this way, we would also say that we were like someone who was impulsive. So, if you were today, today, acting and living this way, we would also say that we were like someone who was impulsive. Pedro means rock, so before there was Dwayne the Rock Johnson, there was Pedro, the solid disciple, like a rock. I went with that one, I hope you enjoy it. And this nickname, the rock, has the connotation of being strong, of being solid. And it's like Jesus was telling Simon, when he changed his name to Pedro, from that day forward, your reputation will no longer be that of someone who is reactive, but that of someone who is solid, like a rock. It will no longer be someone who trembles, but someone who is firm. Someone who is weak, but someone who is firm. Because you are not what others say you are, nor what you say you are, but what I say you are. And since you called me the Messiah, and your faith is built on me, I call you Pedro, and I'm going to build my church on you. And then what you call Jesus, is what Jesus is going to call you back to. And what you call Jesus, if your life is built on Jesus, and I hope you have answers to those questions, but at the same time, to not sound contradictory, if there is something about this passage that confuses me. Because what event was the catalyst for this event, for this to happen, to stop being this reactive man, and become a solid leader? It was a moment of Simon, of Simon being reactive. Jesus asks the question to everyone else who was listening, who do you say I am? And in an impulsive, reactive way, Simon erupts and says, Jesus, you are the Messiah. And Jesus says, very well, now you are Pedro. It was a moment that Simon was being reactive, like him. And this led to his name change. So, by giving Simon this new name, Pedro,

Jesus was not necessarily trying to erase his impulsive and reactive qualities. But by changing the name, like Pedro, and making a catalyst for this, he was reaffirming the reactive parts of Pedro's personality, which means that by changing the name from Simon to Pedro, what Jesus was doing was trying to give Pedro a picture of what would be possible for him, and what the church would be like, and everything that could be built through him, if he continued and channeled the parts of his personality in this way and for this reason. If he continued using the parts of his personality that had caused him problems, but if he used them in a productive and positive way, and Jesus said, I can use these parts of your personality for something positive. Be very careful with what you do in your life, because God wants to change some of the cycles you've been in. But he doesn't necessarily want to change some of the characteristics that he has put in you. I'm not saying that everything that is about you is good, and that you have to stay, but I'm not saying that everything you have is bad, and needs to go. And there must be parts of your personality, whatever they are, characteristics that you know have had a great role in these cycles. But I wonder if some of these same parts of who you are, can help you fill your call, and channel it in a way, and for the result. Maybe you're here, and you know you have an addictive personality, and for this reason, for a long time, you've had trouble getting rid of some of the substances that you've been addicted to. But how would your life look if this addictive personality that you have, you channel it in a way, when you get addicted to the house of God, to the word of God, addicted to him. How would your life look if that addictive personality that you have, or maybe you're here, and you're passionate, and for this reason, sometimes you live in cycles or patterns where you've been passionate about things that are not worth it, and they've given you trouble. But if you're passionate about things that are worth it,

and you let your mouth send messages to people, and tell them that God has a plan, that you have a plan for them to tell them, and that now you can use this. Maybe you're here, you know the capacity to feel deeply and that's why you've been in patterns of clinging to things you shouldn't and negative relationships, you've been alone, bitter, you've been isolated. But if this same capacity that you have to feel so deeply, you channel it and God equips you in a way that this capacity that you have to feel deeply and that you have compassion for those who are at a disadvantage, and then you serve them. And in the lives of others, how would you serve them? And then you know which part of your life, of who you are, of your personality, causes you problems. Maybe it's just that we know you have a part and you're stuck there. And maybe you've been stuck in cycles like this, but you can get stuck in some good things. What if you got stuck in God? What if you got stuck in your purpose? Because Jesus calls you, Peter, but don't make mistakes. There's still a little bit of Simon left in you, and whether it hurts you or helps you, everything has to do with how you talk to that Simon. If you tell Simon what to do, don't let Simon tell you what to do. Simon can help you talk.

For this reason, even though Jesus changes his name to Peter from time to time, Jesus continues to call Peter Simon. Maybe there's no better example than Luke chapter 22. It's the night that Jesus would be betrayed, and Jesus knows what's coming, and his disciples don't know. And he starts telling them without going into too much detail, because he knows that what is coming is going to be hard for them. But he knows that what is coming is going to be especially hard for our boy, Peter. So he says to Peter, and he gives him an additional warning, and he says this, starting in verse 31, he says, Simon, Simon, but Simon, Simon, not Peter, Peter, but Simon, Simon, because at this moment, Jesus is talking to the reactive, to the reactive side of Peter. He knows that in the next few hours, or the next few days, it's going to be very hard for him. He says, Simon, Simon, Satan has prayed for you, Satan has prayed for you, but I have prayed for you, so that your faith does not fail.

And when you come back, strengthen your brothers. And he says, Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison, to death, if I have to do it. In verse 34, Jesus answers him, I tell you, before the rooster sings today, before the rooster sings this morning, you will have denied me three times. Not one, not two, but three times. And this is why I've selected to preach about Peter here in this series of breaking bad habits and patterns, because even though he did do it, just as Jesus said he would do it, he repeatedly did it, and I did it, but repeatedly did not do it. Peter repeatedly denied Jesus, not one, not two times,

but three times separated before that day, before the rooster sang. That is why I say that Peter is the example of a repetitive offender. And this happened, as Jesus said, before the rooster sang, out of a place of fear, out of a place of fear, from a place of fear, from something that if he admitted that he knew Jesus, he would kill him anyway. Peter actually did not tell one, he denied Jesus for the third time. And to give you a little detail, when Peter denied Jesus for the third time, Jesus said he would do it. And in that moment, Peter realized what he had done. And he broke his heart, he felt ashamed, he began to cry,

he was devastated. Because, yes, even if he denied it, he loved Jesus. He wanted to go to the cross like Peter did. But he failed, he failed Jesus, and he could feel like he had betrayed him, and he was devastated because he loved him, because he had been there, and up to this point, he had been managing himself so well to manage this part of his personality, and to channel this reactive side in a positive way. But once again, when he cared more, he couldn't help but refer to the old way, to then disappoint him, and this old way didn't disqualify him, because there is no way now, or there was no way, he thought, that Jesus could use it, because how was he supposed to go to a rock on which Jesus would build his church when he collapsed when he cared more, and he felt disqualified, that when Jesus came back, when Jesus really resurrected, and Peter sees him resurrected with everyone else, that Peter, instead of going back to the ministry, goes fishing again. What he was thinking was that what Jesus had to do with him, there was no way, because of what he had done to him, it was no longer part of him. And because Peter saw Jesus resurrected with his own eyes, Peter knew that Jesus had overcome death, and sin, and hell, but even so, Peter didn't believe that Jesus had overcome what he had done to him. So, like I told you, Peter, what kind of vision do we have about God? And so, Peter actually went back to fishing. So, in the Gospel of John, he's fishing again in the Sea of Galilee, where he saw Jesus for the first time in a boat, where Peter had been, and that's where the first fishing happened, where Jesus called him. But in this, in this, in this occasion, Peter was also fishing all night, and he didn't catch any fish. Because after living with Jesus, if you try to go back to the way you lived before, it's not going to work the way it did in the past.

It's not going to be the way it was before. So, if you've been fishing all the time, and you couldn't catch anything, you've been there, and when you see him from the shore, he calls him, hey, did you catch anything? And Peter, frustrated, says, no, a difficult night, I didn't catch anything. And the one on the shore says, try to cast the net to the other side. And a fisherman like Peter says that he had probably been casting it to both sides. And he said, yes, I tried, but nothing. If not, he said, yes, I'm going to cast it one last time. And he says that when he cast the net to the other side of the boat, it got so cold, and the net was beginning to break. And the net was beginning to break. And immediately, Peter recognized that the man on the shore was Jesus. And he jumped into the water. And in this way, in a reactive and impulsive way, he jumped into the water, and he swam towards Jesus. And it's so funny, because when Peter got to the shore, Jesus was already cooking fish in a fire when he got there. Because whatever you've been fishing for and fishing, Jesus already has it. And whatever you've been fishing for, Jesus already has it. And you're looking for joy, he already has it. You're looking for peace, Jesus already has it. You're looking for purpose, meaning, Jesus already has it. Don't look for more, but Jesus Christ. So, Peter sits down with Jesus in this fire. He tells us in detail that it was a charcoal fire. And the reason that this has a meaning, he told us that the first time Peter denied Jesus,

he was standing near a charcoal fire. And the reason for the meaning of this, which is the only two times in all the Gospels, he mentions a charcoal fire. When Peter denies Jesus, and there, when Jesus sees him again. These are the two times in the whole Bible that a charcoal fire is mentioned. So, when they're sitting in this charcoal fire, talking, having breakfast, we're told in the Gospel of John, that out of nowhere, Jesus asks Peter this question. He says, hey, Peter. He says, yes, Jesus, I'm curious. Do you love me? Can you imagine? Jesus says, yes, Jesus, I love you. Jesus says, I love you too. He feeds my lambs. And a few moments pass. And Jesus says, I'm sorry, Peter, but I have to ask you again. Do you love me? Probably more confused this time, he says, yes, Jesus, I love you. And Jesus answers him. So he feeds my lambs. More time passes. And then a third time, Jesus asks him, Peter, I'm sorry, but I want to know, I need to know, do you love me? And he tells us that to the third question, Peter says, Jesus, you know everything. You know I love you. And Jesus says to him, then feed my lambs. Because what does a pastor do?

What is a pastor's job? It's taking care of the flock. So asking Peter three times, asking him three times, do you love me? No way was he trying to hurt Peter. Once again, he was trying to help Peter see how Jesus saw him. So much so that Jesus went to this extent. He recreated the scene where Peter first denied it. In the scene where Jesus called him for the first time in the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus asked him, not one, not two, but three times in a row. Because how many times had Peter denied Jesus? Not one, not two, but three times. So Jesus asks Peter as many times as to give him the opportunity that every time he had denied him, to tell him, yes, Jesus, I love you. Yes, Jesus, I really love you. Yes, Jesus, I'm sorry. I hadn't said it before, but I love you. That's how he answered. So feed my lambs. Go back to the ministry. Feed my flock. Feed my lambs and go back to preaching. Go back to what I called you to do. So Peter, when I called you, I brought you back to this dialogue that I called you three years ago. Because when I called you three years ago, I knew where we would be today. And I called you. And I still call you today because I think this is the real message that Jesus was trying to communicate to Peter. You may have repeated yourself in your denial, but I'm also repeating myself. Because what is a repeated offense for a repeated redeemer? So if you repeated the same mistakes, if you want to return to your past, you forget that my mercies are repeated.

They are made new every morning. And what I have come to tell you, people of Church by the Glacier, is that maybe recently you have made a mistake. And you thought that you were not going to commit it anymore. And you think that God has already finished with you. But it is not like that. Because you may have repeated a mistake. This mistake may have returned to a cycle. But that does not mean that after you have returned to a pattern, because this did not ruin your future. You do not have to return to your past. Your only choice is not to return to the cycle. Because God still chooses you repeatedly. Over and over again. Over and over again. You may be a repetitive offender. But your God, he is a repetitive redeemer. So if this message was for you, raise your hand. Lord, these raised hands represent the mistakes we have made. And you do not disqualify us. This is gold for those who have begun to believe that they will never return. And because they stopped being good. So it is gold that when they choose not to return to their past, but to return to you, that they begin to believe that their best days are still in the future. May you have a future for them. In the name of Jesus. Amen.