Telling the Truth for Women

Jill Briscoe: From the basis of John's Gospel, I'm going to be teaching. You can be finding the Gospel of John, chapter one. And one of the reasons that I'm excited about this material is that the fabric of people's lives is unraveling today. What everybody needs is the Divine Weaver to mend those torn threads of their world and help them to live life to the full. You see, it's in John's Gospel that we have these marvelous words. Christ said, "I have come that you might have life, and that you might have it to the full."

So I'm going to be taking snapshots, as it were, of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Bible. I'm going to be dealing with change. That's the first one: changed life. It's going to take the life of Christ to change us, to help us to obey, to trust, to deal with worry and fear in our lives, to stand firm in the face of all sorts of attacks upon our faith and our belief, to pray, to serve, to love, and to finish well. Now, if you'd turn to John's Gospel, I want to tell you a little bit why I took this material from the Gospel of John.

I took it from John because John was Jesus' best friend. There's nobody that can really explain someone to you like a best friend. It was at the Last Supper Christ leaned against the shoulder of John, or if it were in our day and age, you'd see them with their arms around each other's shoulders. Yet it is in the book of Revelation, chapter one, that you see that same John flat on his face in front of the Christ in all his resurrected glory. John knew him as his best friend. John, of all the disciples, was at the cross—only John, as far as we know.

John also was first to look in the tomb with Peter on the day of resurrection. John was the one on Patmos who was visited by his best friend, but this time in all his divine glory. So if anybody can help us to know Jesus Christ better, it's his best friend, John the Apostle. There is a verse in this gospel that says John, speaking of himself, "I am the disciple whom Jesus loved." He doesn't say "I am." He talks about himself in the third person: "the disciple that Jesus loved." It isn't disputed. Not that Jesus didn't love all the disciples, but while he was on earth, he chose to have friends.

He chose to have twelve very good friends, three very, very good friends, and one best friend, and that was the Apostle John. So when we talk about knowing Christ better, then one way you can get to know him better is by having somebody that really knew him tell you what he's like. I was telling somebody the other day that Stuart and I were privileged to know Corrie ten Boom. She was in our home, and we knew her quite well. They said to me, "Tell me about her. Just tell me about her." Because as I just made that statement, they knew I could explain something about Corrie ten Boom to that person that was asking because I'd met her.

Well, just imagine if I had been Corrie ten Boom's best friend, then when I would meet Corrie ten Boom's best friend, I would say to them, "Tell me about her," because I would want to know more. So you ask the man. It's as if he had a snapshot album like all of us have. If you're a grandma, this is my boasting book. I have my three families organized in this book. So at the beginning, there's Dave's family, then Judy's family, and then Pete's family. This is what I take on my travels to make me homesick and also to boast and show my friends my family if they ever ask. If they don't ask, they get to see them anyway.

As I was looking through my snapshot album—in fact, I did my new one for this year just yesterday or the day before yesterday—I put out all the family pictures of this family and that family and the other family, and then I had to select. I mean, you can't put them all in this. So I thought, what best shows the character of each family? Then I chose carefully, two or three from here, two or three from there. That's what John did. If you were to read the end of John's Gospel, you'd read this in John 21:25: "Jesus did many other things." He's coming to the end of his gospel album, of his snapshot album that he has given the world, helping us to know Christ better.

"Jesus did many other things than are written in this gospel," he says. "If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world wouldn't have room for the books that would be written." Now, that not only intrigues me, but it frustrates me because I know there's lots of snapshots lying on John's table that he did not have room or the ability or some reason to put into his album. Just think of all the things Jesus said that are never written down. Just think of all the things that Jesus ever did that were not written down.

John says in three years, if somebody, one of the four of us that wrote the gospels, but if somebody could have captured every snap book and put it in, all the albums in the world would not have room. That was in three years. But those of us that live in the new millennium have the opportunity to look in John's album, and he selected for us the very best of the character of Jesus. There are snapshots in the Gospel of John of Jesus Christ's character, of him as teacher, of him as healer, of him as divine being. All the most important aspects of who he is are in this gospel.

We start right at the beginning of the gospel with his divinity. In John chapter one, it's only as we know Christ personally, not just in our head, but in our heart, it's only as we receive the life of Christ that we can have it to the full. That's what makes life work: knowing Christ first of all personally and then knowing him better and better and better. Getting to know him as our savior, as our friend, as our indwelling friend. You know, life just doesn't work for some people because they don't have Christ in their lives. Life's a muddle and a mess.

I met people over and over again and their lives are a muddle and a mess. I met a man just standing by the information counter over the Christmas period. I passed him two or three times in an hour. He was still there and he looked more and more miserable. In the end, I just walked up to him and I said, "You look so sad. Can I help you?" And he burst into tears. I heard such a muddle and a mess that you would not believe. I thought, how did this man even get dressed up to come and stand in this church? Out of work, out of family, out of hope, out of health. I mean, just name it. This man's world had crashed.

His life was not working, for that's what he said: "Nothing works anymore. Life doesn't work." I think of the starlet that said, "I was looking for the answer to the fullness of life in drugs. I was looking for pain reduction and mind expansion. What I got was mind reduction and pain expansion." She found her life wasn't working. And the moonwalker, as we looked at the TV and we saw this century depicted through the channels, they interviewed people. I remember they were interviewing moonwalkers, people that had actually walked on that golden orb up in the sky, literally one of us.

And again, you were captured with the awe of the ability of the creative genius of man. But this man said in an interview after his marriage fell apart, after he'd come back from walking on the moon, after his divorce, he said, "I know how to walk on the moon, but I don't know how to walk on the earth. My life doesn't work." Now, that's not everyone's experience. Many people would say, "My life's good. I've got a good job. I've got a happy family. Life works for me." Well, the answer to that is: Wouldn't you like it to be better?

Sitting on a plane—most of my illustrations come when I'm sitting on a plane. I'm listening to myself, constantly giving illustrations about sitting on a plane. But I was talking to a very happy man. He was happy because life was working for him—life as he knew it. In the end of hearing how happy he was and how well life was doing, I simply said, "Wouldn't you like it to be better?" And smiled at him. He said, "Well, you've got me there. How could I say no?" I said, "Well, not if you're honest. Of course you couldn't say no. You want life to be better, don't you? You want life to be full."

He said, "Well, I don't see how it could be better." I said, "Now, that's another question. The fact that you don't see how life could be better isn't relevant to the point I'm making. Wouldn't you like it to be better if it could be better?" "Well, yes." Then I said, "Let me tell you. Christ said, 'I have come that you might have life and have it to the full, more abundantly than you have already.'" Now, the theme of the whole of John's Gospel, the key verse is in John 20:31. "These things are written... that you should believe on the Son of God and that believing you should have life in his name."

That's why he wrote his gospel. That's why he put the snapshots in it for you and I. By receiving that life, life really begins. It doesn't matter whether you're suffering, it doesn't matter whether you're celebrating. Christ wants to give us life. That's why he came. Now, if you turn to John's Gospel with me, we're going to look at Christ, who he is. The first snapshot that we see is his divinity. Verse one of the gospel says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shined in darkness; and the darkness could not overcome it."

Now, the statement that John makes at the beginning of the gospel is, "In the beginning was the Word." And what a mystery is the Incarnation. Every single Christmas, I get invitations to speak three, four, five more times. I never despair because I know that the Incarnation is so mind-blowing that we'll never run out of a different aspect, a different snapshot if you wish, of the incredible mystery, the mega mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. As George MacDonald says, "They were all looking for a king to stay their foes and lift them high. Thou cam'st a little baby thing that made a woman cry." Mystery.

Charles Wesley says, "Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man." Christmas. Or as my favorite poet at the moment, Lucy Shaw, says—and this is poetry at its best:

"Blue homespun and the bend of my breast

Keep warm this small, hot, naked star fallen to my arms.

Rest, you who have had so far to come.

Quiet he lies whose vigor hurled a universe.

He sleeps whose eyelids have not closed before.

His breath so slight it seems no breath at all,

Once ruffled the dark deeps to sprout a world.

Charmed by doves' voices and the whisper of straw,

He dreams, hearing no music from his other spheres.

Breath, mouth, eyes, ears, he is curtailed who overflowed all skies, all years.

Older than eternity, now he is new.

Now native to earth as I am, nailed to my poor planet,

Caught that I might be free, blind in my womb to know my darkness ended,

Brought to this birth for me to be newborn,

And for him to see me mended, I must see him torn."

That's poetry.

Christmas. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. Now the Apostle John uses a phrase or a word that was familiar to the people he was speaking to because the Jews knew that when he talked of life, the word that they would use was "Zoe." Zoe. And they used that for the life of God—the Jews. In John's Gospel, he uses it for the life of God, but he also uses it for the life of Christ. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." And the little word "with" means face-to-face.

I don't know why, but that moves me. That in the beginning—and that whispers of Genesis—in the beginning, before Genesis, before, before, before—and there is no before in eternity, but before anyway—there was God face-to-face with Christ. It speaks of total equality: face-to-face. Not one greater, not one less. Both God. And he is called, in John's words, the Word. In him was life, Zoe, and the life was the light of men. You do not get life without light. You cannot grow anything in the darkness. Light is needed to bring forth life in the physical realm, and you cannot get spiritual life without light.

And so this being that John is taking a picture of to put in his album, his gospel album, this being is divine. That's his first picture. And a suitable one. And that's what the gospel is all about, the good news. It's also going to get us into a whole lot of trouble. Because if Jesus is God, then we as believing and committing to that doctrinal fact, in a sense, put ourselves and our belief above every other belief in the world. If Christ is just a good man, if Christ is just the leader of a new religion, if Christ is just one of a supermarket of philosophies that we can choose to believe in—well, we can be tolerant enough to accept every single other religion in the world. And wouldn't that be nice? I'd sort of like that sometimes.

But if he was God, face-to-face, equal, only one—in fact, it says "the only begotten," the one and only unique, totally other being—because that's what God is like, only one, the one and only. If Christ indeed was God, then you and I have some facing up to do to what we say we believe. So in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was present with the Lord. The Word present to God, God present to the Word. It's speaking of equality with God. God in the beginning. God from day one, says another translation. Jesus was God from day one. He didn't become God. He was God. He visited our planet, that's all.

He who overflowed all worlds, our God contracted in a span, incomprehensibly made man. It's incomprehensible, and yet we are told to comprehend it. It's unbelievable, yet we are told to believe it. And so with our little, little minds, we try to get our intellectual arms around what we can absorb and fall on our faces and worship. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. You see, Jesus has a universal meaning, not a local meaning. He is not a local god or a god that only belongs to Christianity. Jesus is the God of the Jews. Jesus is the God of the Muslims. Jesus is the God of the Hindus. Jesus is the God of every person that's ever been born before the cross and ever will be born after the cross.

He came to save the world. Not a world of Christians: the world. Because he's God. There is no other. In Isaiah, the prophet speaking for God, or God speaking through the prophet Isaiah says, "I am God, there is no other." Now, that's what we have to face if we are going to know the change in our lives that only Christ can bring. We have to come face-to-face with that. Do we believe it or not? Who was this Word that God spoke into a bale of hay and set the world on fire? Who was he? Well, I believe he was God. And that's what John is trying to say.

In the beginning was the Word, and in him was life and light. Jesus is the life of men. Jesus is the light of men. How many times did Jesus use that little parable of light and speak about himself? "I am the light of the world." And then he looks at the people around him that believe in him and he says, "And you are the light of the world." He says, "One day I'm going to go so I can come and live inside you by my spirit, and then you're going to be the light of the world. I am the light of the world. You cannot be the light of the world without Christ because he is light and he is life."

In John 9, we have a blind man that Jesus comes and heals. And with his eyes wide open, he walks into the synagogue for the first time in his life because he hasn't been allowed to be there because he's blind. Defiled and maimed people are not allowed to be in the holy place in the synagogue. And so for the first time, he's in the temple, and his eyes are wide open. Everybody's used to seeing him begging, so everybody knows who he is. Now he's walking around seeing, and the Pharisees come up and say, "How's this happened?" And he says, "Well, this man came up to me and once I was blind, now I can see." "Well, which man?" "I don't know, just this man." "Well, where did this happen?" "Well, it happened here." "Well, what was he like?" "Well, he was like this and then..." "Well, what's his name?" He didn't know. "Once I was blind, now I can see."

Well, they ferreted it out. They had their suspicions it was this Jesus of Nazareth that was giving them all this trouble. And so they threw him out of the synagogue because he really began to get it and he began to take them on. And he said, "This is amazing. You don't know who he is or where he's from, this Jesus of Nazareth, and yet he opened my eyes." And they said, "You dare to teach us?" And they chucked him out of the synagogue. There's a very tender verse. It says Jesus heard they'd thrown him out and he found him. And he said, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" He said, "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe?" And Jesus said, "I that speaketh to thee am he." And he said, "I believe. I believe."

And the Pharisees who are following him said, "How come you open his eyes?" And Jesus used it as a parable and said, "Your problem is you are blind—as blind as this man was. And I could open your eyes, but you won't let me." And he was talking about spiritual blindness. And the Pharisees said, "Are we blind then? Are you saying that we're blind?" And Jesus said, "If you had not seen what he has seen, if you hadn't seen me, you would have had a better time with God the Father at the judgment than you're going to have. Because you have seen what he saw. You have seen me. You have seen God, and yet you choose not to believe."

And so in the Bible, there is this wonderful picture of light and darkness, of good and evil. And Jesus was often taking it as a metaphor. He is literally the light and the life, but he is also spiritually the light and the life. So what has Christ done? He came that we might receive this life and we might receive this light. Who is he? He is God. What has he done? Well, he made the worlds. He is the "craftsman at God's side," Job puts it. When I was writing my book on Job, I lingered over that phrase. I'd never seen it before. It describes Christ, pre-incarnate Christ, as the craftsman at God's side. Maybe that's why he became a carpenter, do you think?

He was the craftsman at God's side, chipping out the universes. Have you ever thought, one day I'm going to stand in front of this God? How could we do it without our Savior at our side? He was the craftsman. Without him was not anything made that was not made. And he that was the creator became our savior so that he could take us into that searing holiness of God and we could survive and not be burned up. There is only one way we can stand before the holiness of God, and that is if we've been forgiven, if we have received the light and life of Christ into our hearts and we will be accepted in him.

So what has he done? He's made all the worlds. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. Another translation: "Not one thing. Not one thing." He made us all. God promised everything to Jesus as an inheritance. Through the Son, he made the universe and everything in it. Hebrews 1:2. So we have to believe and receive. It says in John's Gospel, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." I love the message. It gives a marvelous contemporary rendering of that: "He became flesh and moved into the neighborhood." Like that.

He moved into the neighborhood. There are places in this world that I go and I think about that verse. Standing in the slums in Phnom Penh by the Killing Fields. Slums that I have seldom seen, and I've seen quite a few slums. But terrible, terrible, terrible slums. And I thought of that verse and I prayed, "Oh God, move into this neighborhood. Bring light and life and healing and health, cleanliness and godliness," because that's what he does. It's his business. It's his job. He did it at Christmas. He burst open our hurting, horrible, lost world and he invaded it with his light and his life. And now he wants to do the same through the lives of people that have received him.

Why did he come? So we should believe and we should receive. Look at verse 11 and 12. "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God." He gave the right to become the children of God. And that word means membership in the family of God. He gave membership to the family of God to who? To those that would receive the life of his Son. You know, when we do stand before God the Father, he's going to ask us only one question: "What did you do with my Son?"

That's the question he'll ask every single person individually that's ever been born and ever will be born. "What did you do with my Son?" And on the answer to that will be either our entrance into heaven or our exclusion from heaven. "What did you do with my Son?" And of course it makes sense, if his Son was himself. "What did you do with me when I manifested myself on earth in the person of Jesus Christ and I gave you the chance to believe I was God and receive me? Receive forgiveness, receive light and life. What did you do?" And every single person in the world will have to answer that question.

"He was in the world, and through him the world was made, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent or of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." Whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, he made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. They are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not sex-begotten. This rebirth comes from God.

And so in essence, I want to ask you a question at this point: Have you received this life and light? Have you received Christ? Not just have you believed up here, but have you received him? And that's the big question. It's a question that I was asked when I was eighteen, and I had not received him. In the sense I had believed a lot about him, but I had not received his life. "I came that you should have my life." Now, in John's epistle to Christians, his letter that he wrote to people that did believe, he says, "He that has the Son has life. He that does not have the Son of God does not have life." 1 John 5:11 and 12. He that has the Son has life. Eternal life.

If you receive Christ, if you invite his Spirit into your heart—his other self—Jesus said to his disciples, "I'm going so I can send my other self, third person of the Trinity, God as much as the Father and the Son. I'm going to send myself by my spirit and then you'll all be able to receive me and I will be in you. I will not just be with you like I am at the moment in my Jewish body. I will be in you." Again, John talks about this in 15, 16, 17 of John. And so the disciples understood that he had to go so he could send forth his other self, so that Christ the light and life could be received by every man, woman, and child that would open their heart and life to him.

It's got to be simple enough so a child or somebody that doesn't have all their faculties can understand or it wouldn't be fair if only the intelligent could understand it. But simple doesn't mean simplistic. You can be simply profound about something. And God is simply profound. He makes it simple enough so none of us will have an excuse. And even though this might sound simple to you, you have to receive him. That's what it says. And I don't want to be accused of being so complicated people cannot get it. So my question is, have you received him? Have you received his life?

Now, Nicodemus, who was very clever and a religious man in John chapter three, came to Jesus and wanted to check out his teaching. He said, "Now, Jesus, we know that you are a teacher came from God because nobody could do the miracles you've started to do unless God was with him." And Jesus looked at him and said, "You've got to be born again." Cut right through all this stuff and said, "Your problem, Nicodemus, is you are the teacher of Israel. There's nobody in Israel knows more about the scriptures than you do. And yet you don't know the first thing about life that works. So Nicodemus, you need to be born again."

And Nicodemus says, "Born again? Am I going to get inside my mother's womb and be born again?" Jesus said, "No, you were born once physically. That's what your mother did for you. Now, the thing I can do for you is you need to be born spiritually. You need to be born from above. You need the life Zoe of God in you." And Nicodemus, the teacher, the most religious man in Israel, didn't get it then. In fact, we don't know quite when he got it. He did eventually get it. He stood up for Christ in front of the Sanhedrin, and he was there at the resurrection, if you remember, lending help and siding with the disciples. Most people believe, and other writings hint, that he was with the people in the Upper Room when the Holy Spirit came and was one of the community of believers and the many Pharisees that came to know Christ after Christ's resurrection and ascension.

But we don't think he got it that night. But at least John took the snapshot of the man, and he said, "This is important because it was in this conversation..." and there was no one there but Jesus and Nicodemus. So somebody told John what happened—probably Jesus himself, or maybe Nicodemus. But Jesus said, "Nicodemus, if you're going to know life to the full, you've got to receive my life." And then that incredible verse that we know so well is hidden in this story: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Look at me, Nicodemus. Look at me. He that's seen me has seen the Father. That's why I'm here. That's why I was born. That's why I became a man that I made so I could explain in man's language to men, in words clear and concise, that you need me."

And he uses a little illustration in that passage as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so I'm going to be lifted up on a cross. Everybody that looks to me will live, will live. Nicodemus, if you want to come out of the dark and into the light spiritually, then get it, think about it, let your mind be enlightened to the truth of what you're missing. Maybe life's good for you, Nicodemus, but it could be better. However religious you are, you need me. Well, when that happened, Nicodemus began to change. In my next session, I'm going to look at how each disciple came to Christ because we all come to Christ in different ways.

And we don't know quite when his moment of true enlightenment and receiving Christ came, but I do know this: that he changed. Because how can you receive the life of God and not? And I do not believe that anybody that professes to say "I know Jesus Christ" and does not change in some aspects is a believer at all. How can it be different? How can you be somebody without the life of God and then somebody that receives the life of God and be the same? There has to be some change somewhere: in our character, in our habits, in our thinking, in our knowing, in our being, in our wifing, in our mothering, in our grandmothering, in our friendships. There has to be change because that's what the life of God does. It changes us.

As Peter found Christ, Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon, but you will be Peter." Change. God looks at you and me and he says, "If you would receive Zoe, the life I offer you, if you would receive me by my spirit, you'll change. You at the moment are Simon, but you will be Peter." God does not intend to leave you as you are. He loves you too much. He is going to take you and make you what he has in mind for you: Peter. Now, the only thing that's wrong with Simon is he hasn't got Christ. Once he has Christ, he's going to be Peter. There's going to be a change. "I will change your name."

And what happens when Christ comes into a life? He takes selfish people and changes them. You know, that's what Christianity is all about. Each year, I sort of have a little theme of something to aim at for myself spiritually. One year it was prayer that works. Last year it was trust. I needed to work on trust and faith instead of doubt and worry. And this year, I decided I'm going to work on selfishness because what God wants to do in me and in you is take us from a totally selfish, self-absorbed, self-sensitive, self-worshipping person and make us selfless. And that's what I want.

I don't have too much longer to go, and I would like to go to heaven having seen a change in my self-absorption, my consciousness, my self-consciousness. I want to do away with all of that, and I want to be Christ-conscious. I don't want to be ego-centric; I want to be Christ-centric because that's the change. And only Christ can do that. You can go to self-improvement classes and improve your Simon-ness till you get Simon as good as Simon can be, but you can't make a Peter without Christ. And that's the thing that Christianity has that no other religion has: the power to do it. You need Christ to become Christ-like. How can you become Christ-like without his life? You can try. But when you have his life, the possibilities are there to become like him.

Now, just in these last few minutes, I want to give you an acrostic of CHANGE—some practical things. How does Christ change us? I just want to run through these very quickly: C-H-A-N-G-E.

C: Christ's claims. Check them out. You will never change; he will never be able to change you if you do not believe he is God. That's your homework: How much do you believe that? If you believe he's God, then you believe everything he said is true. I mean, it affects everything. And I'm not talking about an intellectual tip of the hat, "Well, I've always believed he's God." Do you believe it in your core, in your heart, in your being? How much do you believe it? Does it make any difference? Then you don't believe it right yet. Do you believe in his divinity? That is going to change everything you do. It's going to change everything you say. It's going to change your witnessing. It's going to change everything. Christ's claims. "Look at the Lamb of God," said John the Baptist. "Look, this is the Lamb of God." "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the prophets," said Philip. "Come and see," he said. Andrew brought Peter to Jesus and said, "We found him. The God-man. He's here." So look at Christ's claims and check them out.

Secondly, H: Humility and honesty. You'll never change if, once having received Christ, you do not hear him out. You check it out, then you hear him out. What do I mean? "Thou art Simon." Very, very hard for any of us to hear that from God. When the Holy Spirit says to us, "That's your Simon-ness," what do we do? We argue, we cover up, we defend ourselves—self, self, self, self, self. That's all we do. Don't you understand it wasn't my fault; it was her fault. Back to Eve, it was the snake's fault. It's somebody else's fault. If we're going to change, we have to have the humility and honesty to say, "Okay, sorry, I did that. That's my Simon-ness, but I shall be Peter." Okay? Humility and honesty.

A: Acknowledge him. Shout it out. There's something about admitting you know him that changes you. The disciples took Jesus to a wedding in the next chapter. They took him out. They said, "We belong to him." They hung around. Everybody said, "Oh, there's Jesus and his disciples." Unless you identify with God's people and God's things, you'll never change. You have to take a stand somewhere. You have to do that. Acknowledge him.

Then N: Nourish your relationship. When Andrew and John, who were John the Baptist's disciples, saw Jesus that day, John said, "There's the Lamb of God. Go on." And he gave his two best disciples, Andrew and John, to Jesus. And they followed him, and Jesus said, "What you following me for?" And they said, "Where you staying?" And he said, "Come and see." And they stayed with him that day. Can you imagine? Frustrating again, I want to know what happened. A whole day with Jesus. Well, they came out of that believers, of course. But that's what you've got to do and I've got to do. We've got to spend whole days with Jesus. We've got to nourish our relationships. We've got to learn how to do that or we will never, ever, ever change.

G: Gotta give up control. Do without. "Follow me," Philip said Jesus in this chapter. This meant Philip did without his job, his family, his home, his security, and his money. There will be a cost to change. And maybe you dare to ask God what you want me to do without this year in order that I might follow you and change.

E: Endurance. Wait it out. "You shall be Peter." Now, I know because I talk to so many of you that you get discouraged with yourselves. It isn't that many of us say, "Well, I don't want to change." Most of us do. Most of us want to change in some aspect. But we get discouraged because we fail again and again and again. And in these little words, "Thou shalt be Peter," there is hope and encouragement for you. Let me take one aspect of my own life to illustrate as I finish. When I was a young mom like you, hundreds of years ago, I would lose it with my kids constantly. I would just lose it. I was under a lot of pressure—no excuse—had lots of pressures like you do. But I would get so discouraged with myself. I was also teaching nursery school at the time—three small children and a school age—my husband away for months on end and all the rest of it. And I would be tired and I would be whatever. And so I would lose it. I would lose it at school with the forty-five slum kids I was teaching. I would come home and I would lose it with my three.

And I would get on my knees at night in tears and I'd say, "God, I did it again. I did it again. My kids don't even want to be near me. They don't want to open the door and see what they've got the other side when they come home from school and nursery school. Got to get hold of this." And then one day I would come home and I'd made it. My Peter-ness was beginning to be changed. I was beginning to be changed. And then the next day, I'd blow it again. I just got so, so, so discouraged. And I remember one day losing it with kids. They had animals in the classroom, and they'd drowned them in the water trough and buried them in the sand tray and had a funeral. You know, I mean, they were just nasty little children. I used to go on playground duty, and we used to call it "vice patrol." I mean, that was the sort of place I was teaching in. And these were little tiny children, horrible on their own sweet level. Slum kids, they hadn't had a chance. And it would just get to me. And I didn't have enough love and I didn't have enough patience.

But he did. He did. And he said, every time I'd lose it, "Thou art Simon." "Yes, I'm Simon." "Thou art Simon." He had trouble with his mouth. I have trouble with my mouth. "But thou shalt be Peter." And I remember the day, miserable, standing in my classroom, having screamed at my kids in the classroom, having opened the door to make sure nobody was listening. I stood there miserable, in tears. And it was as if the Lord looked at the chaos in my classroom and he said, "Aren't they awful?" "What?" "Aren't they awful?" "Yeah." "Well, I've got a whole world like this, Jill. I've got a whole world like this. Come on, let's do something about it. They just need a bit of love and a bit of patience and a bit... I've got all that you need."

And it was just the realization he was on my side and that he wanted to change me into Peter if I would cooperate. And I think that's where it began, that change. It takes a lifetime to take a Simon and turn him into a Peter, but that's what the Christian life is all about: change. Now, if you're up for it, he's willing to work with you. He's willing to say, "Isn't this situation awful? I'd be irritated with them." Jesus got irritated with people when he was down here. He said, "How long must I suffer you?" How long have you said that? I had women in a line yesterday on this illustration, saying, "I've just about had it, and they've had it with me." Women in tears. Oh, what a joy to say, "But thou art Simon. Admit it. Be humble enough to admit it. But thou shalt be Peter." There is power. There is ability in his life and his fullness to change you after his image.

Pray with me if you would. Heavenly Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your power. Thank you for your changing ability in our lives because that's what we need. And Lord, it's when we acknowledge who you are, that you are God, you alone. Alone are God. And that you can send forth your other self, the Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity into our lives to change us from Simon and make us a Peter. And God, that is what we ask. So will you teach us to believe what we believe and to live it out for Christ and his kingdom's sake. Amen.