The Lord desires for you to restore these scars so you will align yourself with the mission of the Lord. You need to escape your scars because you cannot do anything by your own standards.

Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. I pray that the amazing grace of God be upon all the individuals worshipping in the church, in the home, and especially out of state. The title of today’s message is My Restoration and Mission. I hope you will be able to hold onto the mission God has given to you through the message like through Peter.

How do people live? Are they living just to eat? Or do they live with their knowledge? These are all necessary things; however, if you are missing one important thing, everything else will mean nothing. Our spirit must be alive, but it’s invisible to our lives. How can you see the sign that you are alive? The person who is alive has a very personal and tangible relationship with God through His word. As we live our lives, we may make mistakes. But there are some people who collapse because of that failure and there are people who turn their lives around because of it. This changes depending on your relationship with the spirit of God.

1. Simon – Peter

1) Called by Jesus

(1) Sea of Galilee (Matt. 4:18)

2000 years ago, Jesus found young adults by the countryside by the sea of Galilee. These young adults were complete nobody’s up until this point. At this time, the Lord found them and called them. When the Lord calls us, does he have any standards? That’s up to him.

(2) Simon Peter – Fisherman (Matt. 4:18-19)

Why did He choose to call poor fishermen instead of some elites? That’s perhaps true according to the standard of humans, but the standards of God are according to His heart.

(3) Fisher of men (Matt. 4:19)

Why did the Lord call me? Because He loves me, He called me according to His time schedule. When the Lord says, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men,” they threw down their nets and followed the Lord. If you follow Jesus Christ, your life will change a lot. Different things and thoughts will come into you.

2) Confession of faith

(1) You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16)

Simon Peter was like that, and one day Jesus asked him, “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” This is not a confession Simon Peter made because he was smart or sharp in his mind, but Jesus says this was revealed to him by His Father in heaven.

(2) Name changed from Simon to Peter (Matt. 16:18)

From that moment, his name was changed from Simon, son of John, to Peter, which means rock. Rock means that it is sturdy and does not shake. Anyone who confesses that Jesus is the Christ and God will live an unshaken life.

(3) Question about forgiving brother or sister (Matt. 18:21-22, 35)

There was one question Peter always had. He asked, “How many times should I forgive the one who sinned against me?” The thing that Simon Peter always had in his heart was questions about human relationships. It seemed like it was holding onto the coattails of Peter always. The Lord responded, “You should not only forgive them 7 times but 70 times 7 times.” The fact that you’re able to forgive someone else means you have the strength to be able to forgive. If you are able to forgive, that means you are someone who has received forgiveness. No matter how successful you are in the world, if you aren’t able to forgive others, you will fall because of your problems in human relationships.

How can you tell that someone has lived a good life? They have no enemies around them. Even if someone acts as an enemy towards you, you do not treat them as an enemy. That is the standard of our faith as well as our life. Everybody should be okay with you. How can you have this? It must come from the Lord. It is something that is only possible from someone who has received the grace of the Lord first. It doesn’t matter how evilly they act towards you, it must be irrelevant to you. This was a curiosity point that Peter always had, and I pray that this grace will be upon you.

3) Peter’s denial

(1) I will lay down my life for the Lord (Jn. 13:37)

To this Simon Peter, the Lord confessed, “It is now time for me to die on the cross. In three days, I will resurrect, then I will go into heaven and prepare a place for you.” At that time, Peter confesses, “Lord, what are you talking about? I will lay down my life for you.”

(2) Denied the Lord three times (Jn. 18:17, 25, 27)

This is the same Peter who denied the Lord 3 times when He was crucified. Not only did he deny Jesus, he cursed Jesus Christ right in front of Him. The Lord Jesus already knew that Peter would deny Him so He tells him, “You will deny me three times before the rooster crows.” This is very important.

(3) Foretold that he will disown the Lord three times (Jn. 13:38)

Peter had a sincere heart to serve the Lord; it wasn’t just lip service; he really wanted to do this in his heart, but when he faced the reality, he was unable to do so. The guilt trip and inability to forgive himself for this was seizing Simon Peter. Think about it; when Peter was a fisherman, he didn’t have anything to his name. After he met Jesus, he became the first disciple. His life entirely changed and he thought he could do anything for the Lord.

But when he faced that reality, he denied the Lord. What do you think was going on inside of him? I’m sure he had some scars to his pride. “Is this really all I can amount to?” When Jesus resurrected and came to visit the disciples, Peter was happy but I’m sure his scars and inner turmoil were not resolved. These scars absolutely need to be resolved, and if they are not resolved, they will lead to the destruction of your life because ultimately, Satan will use it.

He needs to be able to forgive himself, but we are not able to forgive ourselves. If you have a scar, that means your pride is not able to forgive it. The scars that a parent has will be relayed down to their children without them even realizing it. There isn’t a single parent who desires to deliberately scar their children; they simply relay them because they themselves have these scars. The older you get, the bigger these scars become. How do you escape from them? You can never escape them with your own strength.

2. The Lord came to Peter

Today the Lord resolves this and gives Peter a mission. There was one woman born into this world without a father; she only had a mother. Her mother ran away, lived with another man, and fell into alcohol and drug abuse. She was raped by her older cousin when she was 12, she was pregnant when she was 14. Two weeks after she got pregnant, the baby died. How can you fathom that? She was born without a father, and her mother didn’t raise her; her mom was off doing drugs and alcohol with another man.

So, the grandmother was teaching this girl how to read, write, and memorize the scriptures. This girl goes into high school, do you think she could live an upright life? No, she fell into abusing drugs and alcohol and ended up in jail. After her grandmother passed, she had no other place to go, so she found her biological father and lived with him and her stepmother. At least her father made her read a book every night and made her write scripts. She succeeded later on as a very famous anchorwoman.

How can you succeed like that? She escaped from her scars. Once you escape from your scars, you are able to use your scarring experiences to inspire others and use them as an instrument to heal others. That’s actually someone you all know: Oprah Winfrey. There are people like this as well.

I’m sure she has something inside of her that is a scar that she can’t forgive her parents. There are scars that you have regarding your studies, your parents, or money, and even church if you’ve gone to church for a long time. The more you think about it, you can’t escape. You can’t escape from your depression. Even if you are able to treat the symptoms of depression through medication, it will manifest in another form. Fundamentally, you must be liberated.

1) The Lord came three times after resurrection

In order to do this, the Lord, after feeding his disciples breakfast, sits next to Peter and begins to heal him. He calls him, “Simon, son of John,” He did not call him Peter at this time, and this is Peter’s name before he met the Lord. Jesus Christ is reminding Simon Peter of the life he lived before he met the Lord, when he was the master of his own life, trying to determine his own life.

(1) Peter in state of despair after denying three times

After Jesus resurrected and showed himself to the disciples, he asked Simon Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Peter says, “Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus says, “Feed my lambs.” He asks this to Simon Peter 3 times, and Simon Peter is restored. What does it mean to be restored? It means his healthy relationship with the Lord is restored. You can never escape from your scars otherwise. Even if you do escape from your scars, you’re bound to receive other scars. You’re continuously giving and receiving scars without realizing it.

(2) Scar on pride as a senior disciple

If you have a scar, you’ll try to protect yourself so you’ll build walls and talk a lot to cover up your scars. You’ll have to talk a lot because you have to cover up your scars. You’ll try to show off because you don’t want to show your weakened state. If you receive a scar in the past of people looking down on you, you’ll try to make yourself seem powerful and big. You can never escape, and the older you get the worse it will get as it is revealed.

When you’re young, you’re so busy with your studies and your life, but it builds inside of you invisibly, but that’s how we kept on living. Later when you have no strength and nothing to do, it will start to express itself in a way that people can see, even if you go to church. Simon Peter did this even though he believed in Jesus. You will never escape from your own limitations.

If you have this, in Eph. 4:27, Satan will use that as a foothold to control you continuously with this, making you avoid people, forcing you to overexpress yourself to cover yourself, and constantly live in wrath and hatred. “My life is like this because of that person.” That may be correct but I’m sorry to say, you still won’t be able to escape.

(3) In a state where he can’t forgive himself

Today Jesus knew this of Simon Peter so He touched that point. Jesus Christ had a charcoal fire in front of them, and it resembles the fire that Simon Peter stood in front of when he denied Jesus 3 times. He was happy to see the resurrected Lord but the scars inside him were not resolved. He was oppressed by it, he couldn’t forgive himself. “Is this all I can be? In my inner heart, I love the Lord and want to serve the Lord, but I’m not able to do that.” And since he’s Jewish, imagine how strong his legalism was, so imagine how much he is oppressing himself.

If you don’t resolve this, you cannot handle the mission the Lord gives you, and then without realizing it you will give scars to many people. Without a doubt, if you receive scars you are bound to give them to others. For example, he’s thankful that the Lord has come to find him, but let’s say he still had a scar, and because of his thankfulness, he did the work of the Lord. He is going to collapse without going far. He is going to collapse because of his scars.

2) The Lord healed Peter and gives the Mission after Restoring the Relationship with the Lord

(1) Feed my lambs (Jn. 21:15, 16, 17)

The Lord knows this so he goes into a personal conversation with him, asking “Do you love me?”

(2) Those who keep my commands – Love the Lord (Jn. 13:21, 24)

The Lord also uses this word “love” in Jn. 13 and shows how we know if someone loves the Lord. Jn. 14:24 says “Those who love me will obey my commands.” How can we know that someone loves the Lord? Those who obey the Lord’s commands love the Lord.

(3) Love one another (Jn. 13:34)

What is that command? A new command: love one another (Jn. 13:34). How do you know if someone loves the Lord? Those who are able to forgive and love others will love the Lord. You must first have the love and grace that the Lord died and resurrected for you. Because of the incidence of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ cross, no matter how much Simon Peter wanted to forgive, he was not able to. Though he received grace, he didn’t know what the cross was. He was in a situation where he couldn’t do anything about the Lord himself being dragged into hell and curses.

Then, how did Jesus know that Peter would deny him 3 times? He is saying that it is impossible with your own strength. Until the grace and power of the Lord comes into you, you have no choice but to betray. It doesn’t matter how much a parent loves her child, she has no choice but to betray her kids. This is also related to society through your job. Then people who work with you also receive scars and you receive scars from them. This is the world.

For you and I as individuals, if we are able to restore this proper relationship with God through Christ, we will be liberated from our scars. Another word for scar is that your own standards for yourself are too strong. As soon as God created us, in Genesis 1:27, He did not create us to live by our own pride and strength. As soon as we were created, we were made to only live with God’s grace, love, and power. So, Jesus already knew that Simon Peter had no choice but to do this. He knew that Peter was continuously criticizing himself. “This is all I can study? This is all I can do with my life?” That’s you.

If you give the incorrect perspective on studies to your children, they will receive scars. You’re oppressing them with these scars for the rest of their lives; they personally receive scars because parents themselves received scars about their academics, they are shoving these scars onto their kids. What are the studies that God gave us? Without caring about this, they say you need to be good at studying no matter what.

There’s no Word of God there, so most people are receiving scars because only the top 1% are good at studying. Even if you are good, you’re not going to be good at studying until the end. That’s why most people are receiving scars from their academics, “I’m going to a college I didn’t want to attend,” or you have a scar because you didn’t have the opportunity to study.

There are kids in Korea, and at the time of the International Monetary Fund, they received many scars from their academics because their fathers’ businesses failed and they became homeless; this was around 1997 and 1998. Then, all the kids from this time had scars from finances without even realizing it. So when you talk to these kids, their interest is solely in getting a job. Because they can’t get a job, they hate and reject the world. They have a grudge against the adult generation.

My generation was not like that. We were able to get jobs even if we weren’t very good at studying and go into good schools and survive well. I received these free handouts because of the diligent work of the generation before me. However, because of the change of circumstances in Korea, all of the generations after that have this scar about money.

When you talk to them, they are always scarred from the adult generation because they received scars from their family. Because they hated the way the president was not creating economic restoration, but leading them further into darkness, they have scars about that as well. They have no other imagination; their standards are just “am I able to eat and survive and make money?”

If that’s the situation in Korea, there are separate standards in the US. We are born into a superpower nation, and anybody can get an education; everyone has opportunities here but even so, there are scars from America because of different races, ethnicities, etc. Kids are scarred as they’re bullied because of the color of their skin. These kids have scars within them that their parents can’t fathom. They’re always being looked down on.

These kids look down on the first generation immigrants. The first generation that was looked down upon, because they don’t know the culture and language, so they are bound to look down on others. We all have these scars, even if we go to church, we hug these scars within us. The Lord wants to touch this. Simon Peter is completely wrapped up in it without saying anything, but the Lord comes to him with His Word. The fact that the Lord has died and resurrected means He is with us for eternity now. This is what the Lord has continually told the disciples until now, “You are no longer the master of your life. I am.” He finds his disciples 3 times.

“It doesn’t matter how weak you are; I am with you forever. Do you love me?” That is the question. Once you restore this healthy relationship with the Lord, you will be liberated from your scars. Even people with scars in the church will act very strangely, and it isn’t understandable. They will package themselves to protect themselves, or someone says something strange to them and they’ll avoid them for months because of that scar. They think someone is looking at them sideways, so that will become a scar.

The Lord desires for you to restore these scars so you will align yourself with the mission of the Lord. You need to escape your scars because you cannot do anything by your own standards. The Lord has to come inside of you as your master, and that relationship will be restored, then you will have no enemy. That person is okay, everyone is okay, because the Lord is with you always as your Master and your background.

If you escape your scars, I hope you will challenge towards your mission. There are people who lose their husbands early and raise their children alone. There is something you have that others don’t know. The mother has to become stronger because the father is no longer there, so they have to play the role of the father as well, so they have to become strong. The children are also receiving scars because they are lacking a father. Even if the parent tries their best, they will relay scars.

That is why the only way to be liberated from every problem is to restore that relationship with the Lord as the master of your life. The Lord Jesus keeps asking, “Do you love me?” and at the last one, it says that Peter is hurt. Peter used Aramaic the Galilean dialect, and he just said “I love you Lord.” There is a different love between man and woman, love between friends, love between children and parents, and there’s a love between us and the Lord. He asks, “Do you love me?” without distinguishing between the type of love, but He finishes everything with these three questions.

Finally, Simon Peter was restored. It doesn’t matter how many great thoughts you have on your own. You may seem liberated for a moment, but you will fall back in. Only once you restore the relationship with Jesus Christ, the resurrected Lord, coming into your heart as the true Lord of your life will you be liberated from all scars. Then it won’t matter what anyone says to you because you’ve restored the relationship with the Lord.

3. Peter who follows the mission

The Lord restores in this way, and he says, “Feed my lambs.” Why does He say lambs instead of sheep? Lambs are sheep of less than one year. He is talking about the younger generation and new believers, to feed the new believers or the children of the next generation. In the past, you lived as a fisherman so you could just eat and survive, but now you are a fisher of men who will save people. Now whatever occupation you have is no longer your main job but saving people as fishers of men is your main job; your occupation becomes an instrument for this purpose. This is how people who have resolved their scars will change.

People who have scars for money and success will not change like that. Their occupation will be their priority, the Lord and saving people will be second. It is because they have not escaped from their scars. The fact that Simon Peter made these confessions shows that he has been restored. To this Simon Peter Jesus Christ changes his mission to one that follows.

1) Someone else will dress you (Jn. 21:18)

(1) Lead you where you do not want to go

In Jn. 21:18, Jesus Christ says, “When you were younger you dressed yourself.” You lived however you wanted because you were your master. You received scars and gave them, you lived however you wanted. “Today I’ll go fishing, tomorrow I won’t.” But from this point on, you won’t be able to live however you want. Now, someone else will drag you forward and that is Jesus Christ. He will lead you to a place you don’t want to go.

People with this mission will not go wherever they want, but they’ll follow the Lord and go where the Lord calls them. Failures are a blessing because God is breaking the path that leads where you wanted to go. But you are personally thinking to yourself that it is a failure. But the Lord is saying, “You can’t go on your own.” The Lord is dragging you to a place where He wants you to be. This is the life you will live in the future as well.

(2) Follow me (John 21:19)

In v. 19, Jesus says, “Follow me.” How do you follow Jesus? By following His Word. It is not the Word you desire, but it is the Word the Lord is giving you. It is not the prayer that you desire but a prayer that seeks after the will of God. That is how you follow the Lord. You are not following with your own things but with the mission that God has given you. That’s what it means to follow the Lord.

There is a prayer that is not following the Lord: praying for whatever you want and desire. It doesn’t matter if you’re going into problems or crises; no matter what, just follow the Lord. Even when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, be with the Lord and follow the Lord. That person will pray, “Lord, what is your will? What is your plan?” When you follow that, it means you follow the Lord.

People who have not been restored will have questions and prayers like, “Why is this happening to me?” It means they haven’t escaped from their scars or themselves yet. Then it is not yet time for them to hold onto God’s mission. God has prepared the economy of light, but it is not yet time. You need to first have the mission to save people’s lives for the economy of light to follow you.

If you’re living your walk of faith to make more money, how can the economy of light come to you? Money is first for you, but why? You have a scar and cannot escape; and you cannot escape from success. You need to make success follow you but instead you have a scar from success and you’re seized by it. The Lord desires to disrupt that. Overcome everything, be with the Lord, follow the Lord. “Lord, what is your plan in making me live in America?” Whether I’m here because I want to be or not, look for God’s plan in it, and that’s what it means to follow the Lord. If you are setting up the plans for your life, “Lord, please make this happen,” then that is not following the Lord. You have not yet escaped from your scars, and this person hasn’t escaped from their own reality.

(3) Question about John (20:20-22)

It says that the disciple John was following behind. Simon Peter is unnerved because he is following the Lord, but there is someone else there, too. Sometimes we see someone else and we see it as competition, and that makes us suffer as well. Because there was always a rivalry between Peter and John, Peter asks from his heart, “What about him?” He has received the mission from God that he’ll follow the Lord and die for God in a way he doesn’t desire, then what will happen to Him? Jesus answers, “Shut up please, and follow me.” Just shut your mouth and do what you have to do.

(4) Regardless, follow the Lord (20:22-23)

Why are you having this unnecessary competition? That is my style and because of it, I was oppressing myself for a long time. I’m aggressive and competitive and that’s in my family line. I have no choice to be like that because I haven’t met the Lord. We have to be better than others, so always compete with others. Because you’re competing with them, you can’t say good things about the other person. If you lose to that person, it becomes a scar. That all collapses.

I talked about your academics and now that I’ve lived my life, I realize you really don’t have to study that hard, because everyone has their own God-given talents and you should find your own. So, stop pushing academics and scarring your kids with academics. Whatever God has given you, take it to the best place. Whatever business you’ve been given, make it the best. You take it to the point where it is incomparable with others with whatever you have.

If you are seized by your scars, you’ll be thinking, “I’m not doing what I wanted to, but I’m stuck doing this.” That’s a misunderstanding. Whether you’re a caretaker or a nurse, make it the greatest so no one can compete with you. By my specialty, I’ll make other people happy. If someone is a surgeon, do you think they can just rip things up inside a body? Whatever role you’ve taken, make it the best for God, and that’s the will of God, why? Because it is through this specialty that God has given you that God desires to give great influence, spiritually and physically.

If a parent says, “Why are you always doing this instead of studying?” They are killing their children. Athletes may not be interested in academics. They keep doing sports, but through that, they can make money. Lately on YouTube I saw someone who is constantly working out and they didn’t even graduate high school. They are unparalleled in that aspect and people go to their YouTube page and follow them, because in that aspect, no one else is able to compete, so they’re able to explain things with the ideology they have.

From our perspective, we should be able to change other people spiritually and physically with our ideology of Jesus Christ. No matter what you’re doing, in everything, make your specialty to the very best so you can influence others physically and spiritually. That is the standard of a Christian. If you’re trying to cheat or swindle others, you haven’t met the Lord. If you’re trying to kill someone or put them down so you’ll be better off, you haven’t met the Lord or been freed from your scars. We go to the barren place where nothing grows and we save it and others benefit from it. This is what God has given to all of us.

2) Peter after the Holy Spirit

(1) Works of the Pentecost Holy Spirit

After the Pentecost worked upon Simon Peter, everything changed for him. There are scars from our past, our emotions, unconscious, and subconscious. We need to give these all up to the Lord so we can escape from ourselves. When you receive not the word you desire but the Word God desires for you, you will escape from your thoughts. When the plan of my life changes to God’s mission, my life will change.

(2) Proclaim the Word (Acts 2:14-40)

(3) Baptized – Three thousand (Acts 2:41)

Because of the work of the filling of the Holy Spirit, Simon Peter relayed the gospel to 3,000 people and baptized them to become disciples.

3) Life of a martyr

(1) Crippled man – In the name of Jesus Christ (Ac. 3:6)

To the crippled beggar in front of the Temple Gate called Beautiful, Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, so I cannot help you out monetarily, but in the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk.” Peter was taken into custody because you’re not supposed to use the name of Jesus, but Simon Peter healed a crippled man in the name of Jesus Christ, so he was taken captive.

(2) Court – No other name can give salvation (Ac. 3:6)

During his trial, they asked, “Why are you using the name of Jesus?” Judging from his past, Simon Peter should have tried to run away from his past, but Simon Peter said that no other name can give salvation. Onlookers may say, “This is an uneducated country bumpkin from Galilee, where did he get his education?” It was no longer by the standard of Simon Peter, but it was the Holy Spirit that moved and filled him that allowed him to speak those words, so you should not misunderstand.

Your standard is the standard where God is with you. If the Holy Spirit of God is completely controlling your thoughts, emotions, and heart, you will completely transcend your standards. Everything is okay. If someone is hurting me, it doesn’t matter because they are the ones who are hurt, because if they’re hurting me, they are hurting the Lord, then the Lord will harm them. That’s why we forgive, pray for them, and say that it’s okay so they will not be hurt.

(3) Died as a martyr upside down on the cross (Jn. 21:18-19)

According to the prophecy that Jesus Christ gave, Simon Peter was crucified and martyred upside down because he said “I cannot be crucified the way my Lord and Savior died.”

Conclusion

1. Standard of the Word of God, not me
2. God’s plan, not my plan
3. Live the life of the mission…
   If you have a mission, you end your life after giving everything of your life in the mission. “I will give everything of my life, my possessions, my health, and my time into the mission of feeding lambs and then I will go.” Other people might say, “This person devoted so much. How can this person live like that?” Others might find it very strange, but from your perspective, you are simply following the Lord and that’s what happened.

Prayer

I hope that you and I will be the ones to restore this blessing and have the true blessing and mission that God has given us. Let us pray holding onto the Word that we have received.