One of the enemies greatest tools the enemy will try to use against you is accusation against you because of your past. Many people try to protect or hide their past. God wants you to point to it giving him glory for his transforming power in your life.
A few days after Jesus was crucified, he appears on the shores of the Sea of Galilee while his disciples are out fishing on the water. Peter jumps out of the boat and swims to him with the boat following behind him.
John 21:9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. NIV
John 18:17-18 17 The woman asked Peter, “You’re not one of that man’s disciples, are you?” “No,” he said, “I am not.” 18 Because it was cold, the household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They stood around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming himself. NLT
Just hours before denying Christ Peter had told him he would “lay down his life for him.”
Because of the way our brain process information, our sense of smell is one of our most powerful memory triggers.
Any time a neighbor fires up a backyard barbecue that charcoal fire gives off a distinct scent. Peter is greeted on the shores of Galilee with the scent of his most shameful memory.
God is so amazing he turns times you stumble into a beautiful dance to inspire others!
The rabbi he had followed for more than three years and the one whom he had denied, stoking the charcoal fire on a cold beach. Does Jesus rebuke Peter? Scold him? Give him a lecture on faith and loyalty? No. Jesus asks Peter a question, “Do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” fighting a world of emotion. “You know all things. You know that I love you.” And then they ate breakfast on the beach.
If we are to become a hospitable people, we have to understand that we all come to the table broken.
Before traveling to Africa I was required to get a yellow fever shot. I actually got yellow fever briefly as a result of the vaccine. A brief exposure to what would normally kill you creates strength within you to conquer that sickness.
The devil is like a serpent that wants to bite you and take control of your life. But Jesus, 2 Cor 5:21 who knew no sin became sin briefly so he could become the vaccine to cure you from devil’s bite!
When we follow the example of Jesus we embrace our past as part of his immunization plan to cure others. The problems and pain of your past become purposed when you place them in the hands of your God!
Jonah was sent by God to deal with disobedience of Nineveh. Interestingly his response is disobedience, the very thing God wanted him to deal with. In his brief exposure to disobedience God did a work deep within his life and he became a strategic cure for disobedience!
Jesus was suffering and dying while Peter denied him and the rooster crowed but God’s eye never left him. His mistake never disqualified him from God’s plan to for him to give the inaugural address at the birth of the New Testament church!
We tend to look at our past incorrectly. All of your suffering and all of your pain almost killed you knocking you to your knees making you secretly feel worthless was a strengthening agent in your life. God wasn’t trying to kill you. He was making a strategic cure out of you!
We are broken people in the hands of a loving God. When we cry out to God in our moment of mistake He hears our prayer and restores his plan.
Jonah 2:1-10 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish… 4 Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.' 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple… 10 And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. ESV
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Reflect on Jonah 2 this week thanking God that He’s never given up on you.
THE TABLE: BROKEN PEOPLE IN THE HANDS OF A LOVING GOD
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
UNDERSTANDING THE SEASON: A shared meal could be the activity most closely tied to the reality of God’s kingdom, just as it is the most basic expression of hospitality. It comes as no surprise that many significant
stories of Jesus are centered around a dinner table.
When Jesus wanted to explain to his disciples what his death was all about, he didn’t give them an informative lecture. He gave them a relational meal.
In a society that has grown so relationally disconnected, an invitation to Biblical hospitality might be one of the most compelling and irresistible aspects of Christianity. The heart of hospitality is about creating space for someone to feel seen and heard and loved. It’s about declaring your table a safe zone, a place of warmth and nourishment.
God’s plan is for us to hear his voice together as a family. This is why we start each group with the first question:
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
Ask each person in your group to answer the discussion questions below after reading the verses. Don’t move on to the next question until everybody who is willing to share has had the opportunity to give their perspective.
JONAH 2:1-10 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish… 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple… 10 And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. ESV
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
2. Have each person give a 60 second summary of what these verses are saying, in their own words.
3. What do these verses teach us about God?
4. What do these verses teach us about people?
5. What should you do this week in response to what we are reading and what God is revealing?
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Reflect on Jonah 2 this week thanking God that He’s never given up on you.