The Aftermath of the Disciple Who Experienced Their Own Limitation (Mt. 26:57-75)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.” Maybe the weather has been a little bit gloomy and rainy, but regardless, I hope that the grace of the Word of God may be upon us. The title of today’s message is, “The Aftermath of the Disciple Who Experienced Their Own Limitation.” If that is so, if you think, “I can do this,” you will face your limitation. If someone thinks, “Things are working out because I’ve used the ways I’ve learned and the methods of the world,” they will face their limitation. And if anyone thinks that, “Things have been going well for me until now,” they will face their limitation.
Everybody is bound to experience their own limitations, then, after they have gone through their limitation, their full-fledged walk of faith begins. We need to get to that main point of our walk of faith in order to lead the world. Otherwise, I will not be able to lead the world. “World,” meaning, I will not be able to lead money, I will not be able to lead or guide my environment. Instead, I will have to be dragged around by my environment because I’m not able to overcome my limitations.
That was the disciple, Peter. He’s somebody who had received God’s grace and believed in Jesus Christ and committed to follow Jesus, but one day, he faced his limitation, and when you face your limitation, you cannot overcome it. If there are any of you who are living your walk of faith but have faced your limitation and cannot get back up, no matter what method you use, you will not be able to get back up, not with yourself. I hope that through today’s worship, the grace of God that does allow you to overcome those limitations will be upon you.
1. Israel’s state
1) Faith
In today’s Bible scripture, it is the part where Jesus Christ was arrested and is standing trial before the High Priest Caiaphas to be crucified. Meanwhile, the nation of Israel is not doing well on their own; they are colonized by Rome. How is it that the people of God who believe in God are taken as captives and colonized by the superpower nations of the world through war? If God is so almighty and powerful, then why is it that Israel, the people of God, is being colonized by the superpower nation of the world, Rome? Whenever something happens, there is a rightful reason for why it had to happen, and no matter what excuses you may make, you cannot change the result. You need to quickly find that root cause.
It means that the Israelites were holding onto something that left them no choice but to be colonized by Rome. it means they were holding onto something that was of mankind, not the unchanging things of God. Then, they will face the result of their life that is bound to have these limitations. “Why do I keep getting angry? Why do I keep on suffering mentally? Why do I have no choice but to have physical suffering like cancer? Why am I afflicted by insomnia, not being able to sleep every night? Why are things not going the way that I want them to?” All of that is because there is something inside of this person that is not the things of God, but something else.
(1) Righteous through actions of the law
Then, for the Israelites, what were they holding onto that were not the things of God? Through the law, they were supposed to believe in Jesus Christ, but instead, by keeping the actions of the law, they rejected Christ. We are supposed to stand in front of the law of God and realize, “I cannot do this, that’s why I need Christ,” but instead, standing in front of the law, they are saying, “I do the temple construction offering, I give tithe, I give all this worship, and that’s enough.” They say, “If I’ve done all of this for God, then He should give me a good result, but why am I suffering under colonization to Rome?” It is because the things of God have not gone into them yet, and if you live your walk of faith incorrectly for a long time, you’ll be in the same state as Israel.
(2) Waiting for the Messiah
(3) Save the righteous – View of salvation
And yet, they were still waiting for the Messiah, and they thought, “Once the Messiah comes, we will be liberated from all suffering,” but the image of the Messiah they were drawing for themselves was somebody who would save people like them, whom they thought were righteous. They were actually holding onto something that was the complete opposite of God. They were a people who were living their walk of faith for thousands of years in faith, but they were not aligned with God, and if we’re not aligned with God, we will be aligned with the world, then we are holding onto something that leaves us no choice but to be bound by the world.
2) Spiritual state
(1) Herod’s temple – 46 years to build (Jn. 2:20)
They were under Roman colonization, and the way the Roman Emperor would rule over his colonies was by raising up a tetrarch or a king there. The Roman Emperor raised up a political leader named Herod, who was not an Israelite, but had mixed blood and was not of the covenant, and Herod wanted to see how he could gain popularity, and the Israelites really cared about the Temple. It’s the same thing as political leaders who are running their election campaigns right now, based on what the majority of their target population votes for. So, King Herod made the Israelites build this temple for 46 years. When Jesus Christ came to earth, they were still not done completing Herod’s temple; it was under construction because Herod was using it as a political tool, to gain the favor of the Israelites and to gain the favor of the emperor and become a real king.
(2) Inside the temple – Market (Jn. 2:16)
So, even though on the outside, Herod’s Temple looked like a temple, on the inside, it was crawling and teeming with ulterior motives. During those times, inside the Temple, they needed to bring a flawless animal to sacrifice for their sins, but instead, Herod turned this temple into a marketplace, to upcharge these animals and sell them at a higher price.
(3) The world did not recognize Christ (Jn. 1:10)
The Bible says that Jesus Christ comes to earth as the True Light, but the world does not recognize Him. So, these political leaders needed to reinforce their own strength, so they decided to kill this Jesus. That’s why politics can be so dangerous, and there’s even politics inside of religious organizations, there’s politics inside of your jobs, there’s even politics inside your families. It means we are moving things centered on people, centered on the plans of people, and whether on a small or large scale, everybody has it.
3) Leaders of religion
(1) Decided on killing Jesus (Mt. 26:59)
Then, they decided to kill Jesus Christ, and now they had to find evidence that is worthy of killing Him, so they bring up this claim that Jesus said, “I can destroy this temple and raise it up in three days,” and they charged Him with blasphemy. How could He destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days? That’s impossible. John 2:21 says that this Temple He had spoken about was His body that would be destroyed and raised after three days.
(2) Rebuild the temple in three days – Blasphemy (Mt.26:61,65)
When the gospel is proclaimed, there are people who understand it and others who don’t. Only those who are moved by the Holy Spirit can understand. Can you understand if you’re intelligent? It might actually be harder, because they question, “How can you build the temple in three days?” The more you study construction, the more you would deny His claim. The longer you’ve worked in the construction field, the more you will deny Jesus’s claim, “How could you build the Temple in 3 days?” This Temple is not talking about the physical temple that we see, but it is talking about the body of Jesus Christ, and they were not able to understand that, so they gave the sentence of death to Jesus.
(3) Execution (Mt. 26:67)
This is the spiritual state of the Israelites where they had no choice but to kill Jesus. If we think about it in today’s version, are we being seized by the world, or are we leading the world? Are we seized by and dragged by success, or is success following me? Am I being dragged around by depression, or is depression powerless against me? Am I being dragged by money, or is money being led to me? That is how you must look at things. Am I being dragged around by alcohol or drugs, or are those things becoming powerless to me? Am I leading my studies so that they become an answer, or am I being dragged by my studies? If I’m being dragged by the world, it means that I lack something. Even if you have something, it is incorrect. Instead of filling yourself with the promises of God, you are deciding what you like on your own, and filling yourself with that. The state of the religious leaders of that time was the state of the nation and the church. If the religious leaders are in this kind of state, then of course, the members of the church will be suffering without reason.
2. Peter
1) Faith
(1) Left their nets and followed Jesus (Mt. 4:20)
Then, once Jesus Christ came, what are the disciples or “Christians” in today’s terms, like? These are the people who cast away their nets and followed Jesus Christ when He said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.”
(2) Confessed Jesus is the Christ (Mt. 16:16)
(3) Could not understand Jesus’s death, resurrection (Mt. 16:21-22)
And in Matthew 16:16, Simon Peter was the first one to confess, “Lord, You are the Christ.” You are also confessing that Jesus is the Christ, right? Even though Simon Peter made that confession, He was not able to hear or understand Jesus when He told Simon Peter three times that He would die and resurrect for three days. By the grace of God, he was able to believe and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, but even though he was hearing the message of Jesus dying on the cross and being resurrected in three days, he still didn’t understand it, meaning he still didn’t know what it means to him.
2) Sincere
(1) Never leave Christ – Self assured (Mt. 26:33)
And when Jesus Christ was about to be crucified, Simon Peter said, “That will never happen, I will never let you die,” but that was just his own thoughts. He was just thinking, “I’m just going to live the rest of my life with You,” but things don’t work out according to our thoughts. “You and I are going to be best friends for the rest of our lives,” but things don’t go according to our thoughts. That’s what humans are, that’s what it means to be human. When Jesus Christ says He is about to go die on the cross, Simon Peter says, “I will never reject you.” He was so filled with his own assurance. He was not filled with assurance of God’s Word, but only assurance of himself. “Even if everybody denies you, I am not somebody who will deny you.”
There were two people who said they would be buried with this church, but actually, both of them ran away before we were able to bury their bones, so don’t tell me you’re going to get buried with the church, just live your walk of faith, realizing you can always run away and no one will stop you, because people have no choice but to be like that. The heart when this person said, “I will be buried with this church,” was true, just as Simon Peter said, “I will never deny You.” They really meant it earnestly, but things don’t work out according to our thoughts because they don’t know themselves, they don’t know what spiritual state they’re in, and they are speaking rashly.
Later on, what happened to Peter? He completely changed. Initially he was so full of assurance of himself, and other people might think that he has great faith. “Oh, I promise I’ll do this,” and other people might think that faith is so good, but when they face a problem, they’re the first ones to run away. When they face a problem, they try to calculate and figure out their own thoughts, and they give up. We experience that a lot in the world, and it’s the same thing in our walk of faith.
(2) Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered (Zech. 13:7)
But the fact that all the disciples scattered and ran away when Jesus Christ was about to be crucified was already prophesied in Zechariah 13:7, “Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered,” and exactly according to that prophesied Word, all the disciples were scattered like sheep.
(3) Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times – Jesus’s word (Mt. 26:34)
Then, Jesus Christ gave His Word to Simon, “Tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times,” but how did Simon Peter react? He actually rejected God’s Word saying, “I would never do that.” God was giving him His Word, but he was saying, “I’m not going to do that.” He’s in a state that he only receives the Word of God he desires to hear. He is in a state where, whatever word he likes to hear, he’ll keep it, but if he doesn’t want to hear it, he’ll throw it away. He’s in a state where he gets offended when he hears words he doesn’t like, and he only receives the words that make him feel good. That was the state of Peter. He didn’t do that with malicious intent, it just came out of his nature. “I would never reject you.”
There are people who say things like, “Oh, I’ve never lived like that,” and there are some people who say even more meaningful like, “That’s not how I was raised,” but that is a dangerous person because they are saying that their education is higher than the Word of God. If somebody says, “That’s not how my family educated me,” that is a dangerous person. Or if somebody says, “I don’t live in the world like that,” that is a dangerous person, because it means they are absolute. There are even some pastors like that. “Oh, that’s not how I was raised. Oh, is that so? You’re sure, like God is?” It’s completely legalistic, and that’s what Peter was like, he’s saying, “I’ve never lived my life denying or betraying people.”
3) Regret and disown
(1) Followed to see Jesus’s end (Mt. 26:58)
But Jesus Christ is standing in trial right now before the High Priest and the Romans, so that He can be sentenced, and Simon Peter follows Him into the courtyard. Why? Simon Peter followed Him because he knew that there were words he had committed to, “I would never deny you, even if it means that I die.” Because if the Lord dies, the reason Simon Peter was following Jesus all gets destroyed. Jesus Christ must remain alive in order for the reason or the goal that he was following Him with to be fulfilled. Even though all the other disciples ran away, Simon Peter was following a little behind, seeing what happened at the end.
(2) Disowned Jesus three times (Mt. 26:70-74)
So, when he is looking into the courtyard to see how Jesus gets sentenced, a servant girl asks him, “Weren’t you with Jesus?” and he denies that. Then he is confronted a second and a third time, by people saying, “Your accent gives it away, it’s a low class accent from Galilee,” and Simon Peter says, “Curses be on me if I know Jesus and I’m lying,” and at that time, the rooster crowed.
(3) Jesus looked straight at Peter (Lk. 22:61)
(4) Jesus – Prayer for Peter (Lk. 22:31-32)
In Luke 22:61, as soon as Simon Peter rejected Jesus Christ the third time, the Lord turned and looked straight at him. It also says in the Bible that Satan asked to sift you as wheat, but Luke 22:31-32 says, “Even when you are rejecting Me, I have prayed for you, Simon,” and he confirmed and was able to experience that the Lord’s Word is fulfilled, that’s what’s important here. If our walk of faith has not experienced that, it will not work out well because my “self” will keep coming out. “I’m going to do things like this,” your “self” keeps coming out. Then wherever that person goes, they fight. Wherever they go, they always try to reveal and assert themselves, and because they don’t know God, they keep saying this is a problem, and when they face a problem, they try to avoid it, or when they face a problem, they do whatever they can to solve it. Instead of thinking to try and find the reason that God allowed this problem to happen, they do whatever they can to solve it. That’s what Peter was like. All of us are like that as well.
(5) Confirmed fulfillment of Jesus’ word – Wept bitterly (Mt. 26:75)
The really important point today is, that he was able to experience the words that Jesus Christ said, that, “‘I will deny Him three times before the rooster crows,’ was truly fulfilled in me, and I had no choice but to deny Jesus,” and that’s why he wept bitterly. This bitter weeping is nothing else. It was the moment he confirmed, “I as a human being have no hope other than this.” Before this point, even though he believed and followed Jesus, he was so full of his self-assurance, he thought he could do whatever he wanted. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is connected to my own despair, realizing that I cannot do anything. Even if you confess that Jesus is the Christ, if you’ve never experienced the cross yourself, you will live a walk of faith similar to Simon Peter’s, always facing your limitation, even in health. We do face our limit, and the Lord gives us the grace to overcome that.
Because we are lacking, we must acknowledge that we are lacking. But the elite education of the world tells us to break through that. The world tells us, “You’re an elite, so you can do this.” If that’s how you educate and raise your children, it sounds like a good thing, but later on, they will deny Christ. An elite is somebody who is able to sacrifice themselves. Who is the leader of the nation? The one who can sacrifice themselves for the nation. Who is the elite inside the church in God’s eyes? The one who is able to sacrifice themselves for the church. Who is the elite inside the company? It doesn’t matter how qualified you are, if you run away when there’s a problem in the company, you’re not an elite.
What is the true elite? It is the one who is able to sign up at the forefront of any battle in the nation. However, if you have a misunderstanding of what an elite person is, and you think that it means doing whatever you can to gain your own advantage, the nation will become underdeveloped. The church is a place that is able to sacrifice for the world. But if you’re coming here so you can try to gain something from the world, that is not a spiritual elite. The spiritual elite is the one who can give their life to save the people in the world. But instead of trying to save the world, if you’re only living your walk of faith to try to gain some kind of benefit in the world, you are not a spiritual elite, so you will be colonized by Rome. These fishermen seemed like nothing, but they were spiritual elites; they were elites in the Kingdom of God. They were the elites who were able to give their lives for the Kingdom of God, and that is a faith that is number one in the Kingdom of God. But Peter was not able to do that. But then he was able to confirm, “Life does not go the way that I want it to.” I’m not just saying that, “Oh, his business failed so he was discouraged,” everybody goes through that, but it’s important that we confirm and experience that, “My life has no choice other than the fulfillment of the Word of God.”
3. Disciple who follows Jesus Christ
1) After Jesus’s death – Deny themselves (Mt. 16:24)
(1) The resurrected Jesus appeared (Jn. 21:14)
Then, when he was in a complete state of despair, Jesus Christ comes and finds Simon Peter. Peter did not go looking for Christ. We have nothing we can do. God’s grace must come and find us. That’s why we come to church and worship in humility. What is worship? We are seeking God’s grace. If you’re not able to worship, it means you think you can do it on your own; then you will face the time schedule of being in despair because you reach your limitation. When you worship, God gives you His grace, that’s why we stake our lives on worship, because that determines whether I will be seized and dragged around by the world, or if I will lead the world.
(2) Jesus’s question – Response to denying themselves (Jn. 21:15-18)
Then, the Lord asked him three times, “Do you love me?” The Lord asks us that, but listen to how Simon Peter reacts. In the past, how do you think he would have reacted? “Of course, I love you, Lord!” But his answer changes. “Lord, You know, You know that I want to love you, but I can’t.” He responds like that three times, and that’s an important expression. Simon Peter said, “I said that I wouldn’t deny you, but I denied you three times. You know my heart that loves You,” that is a faith that has experienced the cross of Christ. “Oh, I really can’t do this. That’s the reason the Lord must die on the cross and resurrect and lead my life as Lord.” Until you confess that. The Lord does not care or use how much we’ve accomplished. If you say, “I can do this,” God does not use you. When does He use you? “Lord, You know I can’t do this,” then He says, “Now it’s time.” That is the time schedule where God uses you, because in order for the Lord to use you fully, you must deny yourself. If you are only choosing to receive what you like and deny what you don’t, then God cannot use you fully.
(3) Feed my sheep – Received a mission (Jn. 21:15-18)
Then Jesus says, “Feed my lambs.” Now that Peter is in a state of self-denial, God gives him his mission. It’s important for our faith to come to this time schedule. What time schedule are you and I in today? Can you do something? Can you not do it? Do things not work out the way you want? Are you full of your conviction that you will never deny Jesus? In the past, Simon Peter used to be much more bold and confident, and from a human perspective, that seems very great, and women might think they are very cool, but if you marry like that, it will be suffering because there is no person who can keep their own words. It must be God’s grace, only with God can this happen. That state of confession, to deny yourself and follow Jesus.
Before that point, even though he was following Jesus, he wasn’t really doing that; he was just holding onto the words he wanted to hear, “Then you will face many obstacles.” Then, when Jesus Christ hears Simon Peter’s reaction, He says, “He is now in a state where I can give him his mission and He will follow me,” and that is when the Lord tells Simon Peter the Word that was in His heart. Before that point, even if Jesus told him, he wouldn’t understand. Back then, He was just coaxing them and bringing them along. It’s the same thing as when we raise a child, first, we are very gently encouraging and supporting them to follow the will of the parent, and in the past, when the children were throwing temper tantrums, the parents would adjust and comfort the kid, but if that child stays in that kind of state and they grow up, they will be outcasted by society. Same thing for the Lord.
2) Jesus’s death, resurrection – Experience
(1) Before – Peter went where he wanted (Jn. 21:18)
(2) After – Lead you where you do no want to go (Jn. 21:18)
In John 21:18, Jesus tells Simon Peter, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but now, you will be led to where you do not want to go.” Jesus Christ did not tell him this in the beginning, but only when Simon Peter was in a state to receive it. In our terms, we all know and believe in the cross of Christ, but I must experience that. By “experience,” I don’t mean that you prayed and saw the cross of Christ in a vision. I’m not saying that when you were praying, you saw a vision of Jesus’ face. Experiencing the cross of Christ and your death means you understand, “I cannot do this.”
(3) Jesus’s death – My death, Follow the Lord (Jn. 21:22, Gal. 2:20)
Now, the Lord must come into me and fill me with the things of God, that is what it means in Gal. 2:20, to be crucified on the cross with Jesus and live a life of resurrection with Christ. Are there any of you who are suffering? Why are you suffering? “I believe in Jesus, why am I suffering? Why am I suffering because of money or people or mental illnesses or physical diseases? Why am I suffering even though I believe in Jesus?” If I become one, aligned with God, then the suffering goes away. If you are suffering, God is telling you to quickly align yourself to Him.
3) Filling of the Holy Spirit (Ac. 2:4)
(1) Fulfillment of the word through Joel – Peter (Ac. 2:16)
(2) Become a witness to Jesus’s death and resurrection (Ac. 2:32)
Jesus Christ was about to face the suffering of death on the cross, and He asked God to take away His pain three times. While He was praying, in God’s time schedule, God gave Him the grace to accept His death on the cross. That’s when He said, “It is finished,” and He went to die on the cross. Aligning yourself to be matched with the Lord of Life Who is inside of you is the way to deny yourself and follow the Lord. When you face a problem, the reason you call it a problem is because you’re not aligned with God. As you are praying, if you become aligned with God, then you will receive His answer. But if you remain alive and you try to solve that problem yourself, you’re going to say things like, “It’s working,” or, “It’s not working,” but that is the state before the cross. However, the state after the cross, when you face a problem, you will lay down yourself and align yourself with God.
Let’s say you’re facing a conflict. When you come to church, you’re conflicting with people in the church. There are some people who are conflicted on whether they should give offering or not, there are some people who are conflicted on whether they should move or not. They are calculating and conflicted on whether they should go to worship today or not, and it’s not that they don’t believe in Jesus, they do, but the most terrifying thing is conflicts with people. Conflicts between the spouses, conflicts between the parents and the children, and the conflicts inside of your company. It’s not that you don’t believe in Jesus; you do, then what must you do? You need to change yourself. I’m holding onto the things of myself so I’m bound to conflict with others. You need to quickly align yourself with God. Stop trying to change the other person, you must change yourself.
(3) Promise of salvation – All whom the Lord will call (Ac. 2:39)
Do you know what the characteristic of successful people are? They really quickly renew. I know the reason why Samsung is leading the way of semiconductors because I knew the state of Samsung, because back in those times, Samsung was always the one to develop and test the newest technologies among all the companies. He said, “Change everything in your life except your wife,” and the CEO of the company leaves for work between 4am and 6am. He completely renewed, and that’s how he was able to be number one in the competition, and now, in the age of AI, he is renewing his strategy again, and the semiconductors of Japan are falling behind because they’re not able to pivot like this. Yes, your walk of faith will always be believing in Jesus, but it is the repetition of renewal. But if you are still staying in this state of receiving grace from when you received salvation, you will be spiritually left behind. You need to quickly change yourself to the things of God.
We will face crises, we call it a “crisis” because we are powerless, we say that it’s a crisis because, “I cannot do this,” Then that person will always stay in crisis and die. But the Lord inside of me will give us an opportunity to do this. If you do not have a walk of faith that has experienced the death on the cross and resurrect, then you will face despair in the face of problems, crises, and conflicts, because I’m still alive and I say it’s a problem. I’m still alive and I’m getting into conflicts with other people and blaming the other person, and when that person faces a crisis, they will fall, they actually fall before the crisis comes. We are in a state that has no choice but to be like that, just like Simon Peter did. It’s rightful, maybe not if we’re God, but we’re not God. That’s why the moment God created us, He promised to be with us, meaning we no longer need our own standards. I just have to align myself with God, then you will have the answers in your life of ruling and subduing.
(4) Apostles’ teaching – Fellowship, Breaking of bread, only prayer (Ac. 2:42)
After that point, Peter completely changed. He used to shout so loudly on his own, then he was humiliated and ran away, but now his life has completely changed. Later on, he actually died as a martyr for the gospel, hanging upside-down on the cross. In the past, he would run away even when Jesus Christ was being crucified, how could he be martyred? But there was that kind of turning point. That is what God desires. Whether you are receiving answers right now or not, that’s not what’s important. God is promising to give you the strength to conquer this world and lead it towards God. But if I keep going into the world and I live my walk of faith to gain things in the world, God does not want that. The more you are like that, the more you will be enslaved by the world. I hope that every single person here without exception will receive the Christ Who has overcome the world inside of them; then you will overcome the world as well.
Conclusion
1. Every day deny yourself – Death, resurrection of the cross
Jesus Christ says, “You must take up your cross and follow me,” meaning every single day, we must experience our death on the cross and resurrection. The Apostle Paul says, “I die every day,” why do we die every day? Because every day, I come back alive when I wake up. As soon as you wake up in the morning, if you just stay in that state, you will have no choice but to be taken captive by the world.
2. Every day follow the mission given by the Lord
As soon as you wake up in the morning, proclaim the gospel, “I have died on the cross with Christ and the Lord lives within me. Today, I follow the Lord, I follow the mission the Lord has given me.”
3. Every day experience the work of saving by the power of only the Holy Spirit
Then, God will work upon that person with power, that’s how you should pray in the morning. If you’re not able to do that, then the same stream that has been flowing down your entire family line will be right before you again. May you have victory every single day by standing in front of the cross of Jesus Christ, the mission God has given to you, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Message Prayer
Let us pray together, holding onto the Word we have received.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. You knew that we had no hope, and yet You have given us Your grace and You have found us until the very end to give us Your grace and Your blessing. Allow us to stand before the cross every day. And allow us to follow the resurrected Christ and the mission of God every day, flowing through the power of the Holy Spirit.
We have returned Your materials as offering. We pray that You will bless the hands that have given the offering, for the tithe, the temple construction, the future generations, missions, miscellaneous, and Sunday worship, and we pray that You will bless them with the economy of light to proclaim the gospel until the ends of the earth. We also pray You will give us the blessing of financial, mental, and physical health, so we may proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Announcements
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Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to hold onto their confession of faith, just like Simon Peter did, who experienced the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross, and want to live for the mission of God with the power of the Holy Spirit, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.