Sermon Notes: Who Do I Love?

I have a confession to make:  I missed church yesterday due to a bout with vertigo and also taking a bit of a stumble and fall (probably more because of my own clumsiness than the vertigo, but this time I had an excuse!)....Anyway I am going to attempt to share the sermon notes with you, thanks to my hubby writing down a few notes and giving me the basic theme of the sermon.  My apologies to the Pastor if this doesn't end up sounding anything like your message...but I pray it will be the message that God wants to go forth...

The Scripture passage for the day came from John 21:15-17.  I won't quote the whole passage here, but leave it for your reading.  However, here are the highlights of those verses from Jesus' own words to Simon Peter:

15.  "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?"...

"Feed My lambs..."

16.  "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?"...

"Tend My sheep..."

17.  "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?"...

"Feed My sheep..."

In the above verses Jesus has singled Simon Peter out from the others to ask him these questions directly...possibly for a couple of reasons...this scene takes place after Christ's resurrection from the dead, and He has appeared to His disciples on the beach,

where He prepared for them an early morning breakfast of bread and fish after their night of unsuccessful fishing (until Jesus came along on the shore and told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat...and then they had so many fish they could barely drag them in)...

Anyway...Jesus turns His attention to Simon Peter, the one who had denied Him three times on the night of His betrayal...and He asks him three times, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Perhaps Jesus asks Peter this three times as a reminder of the three times Peter denied Him...or perhaps there is another motive in Jesus' intentions.  

You see, Peter is about to become more than just a fisherman, and more than just a follower of Jesus Christ...Peter is about to become the first minister of what will become the Body of Christ..the church...and what we are learning here is that the most important, foremost qualification for being a minister in Christ's church is to love  God.  

Jesus asks Simon Peter three times "Do you love Me?"...and then, not before, then Jesus says to him,

"Feed My lambs...Tend My sheep...Feed My sheep."

Not until Simon Peter has confessed and expressed that he loves Jesus is he given a ministry...

And so it is the same for us today...if we are to have a ministry of any kind...and this is not just for those called to become preachers...but for all of us who serve in any way in God's kingdom...the first and foremost requirement is to answer this question from Jesus, "Do you love Me?"  Because if that question is not settled in  our own hearts, then how can we truly love and minister to others?  

Our ministry to others should be based upon our love for God. When we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, then we are better prepared to love those others whom God brings into our lives.  

What did Jesus say to the young lawyer who came to Him, testing him, in Matthew 22:34-40?

37.  "Jesus said to him,

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 

with all your soul, 

and with all your mind.'

38.  "This is the first and great commandment.

39.  "And the second is like it:

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

40.  "On these two commandments hang all the 

Law and the Prophets."

Lord, help me to love YOU more...give me a thirst and hunger for You and Your Presence in my life, and then, and only then, will I be prepared to love others as You lead me and guide me. I pray this in the precious Name of Jesus, Who died for me so that I might live.  Amen.

 Please Note : I want to repeat this disclaimer here...the notes, outline, and content included here are based upon my own personal understanding of the message that was being given.  I am not attempting to completely quote or reproduce this message or any other message I've shared previously.  Just as each person reading these notes may glean insights and thoughts that seem to directly apply to one's own situation and interpretation, my own delivery of these messages is skewed by my hearing and translation of what is being said.  Some may read my notes here and wonder if they were hearing the same message as I...and I say, God speaks to each of us as He wills...there are things He is trying to get across to each individual that may be entirely different than what the person sitting next to you in the pew is needing to hear...  That is how the Holy Spirit works! He knows what we need to hear and how to apply it to our hearts.  So it is with that understanding that I present these sermon notes to you.

Sermon Notes, FUMC, Interlachen, FL, Pastor A.C. Myers, June 24, 2018