Keion Henderson - The Reinstatement Test

I want to talk about the reinstatement test. I want you to slap everybody on your way to your seat and say, «No matter what you did, God is about to reinstate you.» Come on and bless the Lord in this place. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Somebody shout, «The reinstatement test!» As I’ve just expressed to you, this text is on the heels of Peter’s denial. How many of you have ever read in the scripture where the Bible specifically states that Peter, unprompted, goes to God and says, «I will lay my life down for you»? You remember when all of the other disciples were there? Jesus says, «Who do men say that I am?» They began to say, «Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some say that thou art one of the other prophets.» Who do you say that I am? Nobody spoke except for Peter. Peter said, «Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.» See, Peter has what some theologians call «foot -in- mouth disease.» Peter would always put his foot in his mouth. His language was often profanity-laced; he was a cusser, and that makes him relatable to a lot of us. But Peter would do things that nobody else would do. Remember, all of the other disciples were in the boat? Nobody stepped out except for Peter because Peter was about it. Peter had something different about him, and you might not like Peter, but I like Peter because at least you knew where he was coming from. Peter was the guy that when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Sanhedrin Council came to arrest and accost Jesus, it wasn’t John or Bartholomew; it wasn’t any of those guys. It was Peter who showed up with a knife and cut a man’s ear off because Peter had something else inside of him. I want you to see that this whole text is really about Pentecost. Are we right back where we started? This whole text is about Pentecost because you would think that because Peter denied Jesus three times, he would have disqualified himself from being the person that God chose to preach His inaugural message for the church. But God reinstates Peter and gives him another chance and asks him a question that God is really asking a lot of us today. That question is profound, although simplistic: «Do you love me?» Now, let me just pull the house. Everybody who loves Jesus, raise your hand. I thought so. I thought we would all say that we loved Him, but there’s a small scripture that really proves if you love God, and it has nothing to do with church service. There is a small scripture that proves whether you love God, and it has nothing to do with you shouting. There is a small scripture in the Bible that proves if you love God, and it has nothing to do with the fact that you can cry on demand whenever your hymn comes on. It has nothing to do with the fact that you 've got your church rock. If you ever pay attention, most people just watching the whole sermon look like a grandfather clock-just tick-tock, tick. They lean with it and rock with it, and that has nothing to do with being saved. He said, «If you love me, keep my commandments. If you love me, do what I tell you. If you love me, thou shalt not. If you love me, don’t do this. If you love me, you will do what I ask.» Peter, do you love me? Don 't shout. Peter, do you love me? Don 't lift your hands. Peter, do you love me? Don 't go to revival. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep! Because the proof that you love God is that you will do what He said. «Do, Lord!» I told you y’all ain’t going to like this one. I need to see you work. I need to see you work. I need to see you work. I need to see what you will do, not what you will say. I need to see what you will do, not how you will cry. I need to see what you will do. I need to see if you’ll shout or if you will stand. I need to see what you will do. And so, where we are in the scripture today, they are at the same place, and this place should jar Peter’s memory because this is the place where Jesus came and got Peter off of the boat in the first place. Look at that full circle of life! John chapter 21, which by the way, some theologians say that the 21st chapter of John is the only chapter of John that wasn’t written by John. It’s an ancillary topic that was written by someone else with a perspective that saw what John said and gave it linguistic tonality to ensure that it matched what John said. They say that this was a completely different writer, although we don’t have any conclusive evidence. It is an ideology that some give. Whatever the truth is, the truth is that Peter’s memory should be jogged because this is the same place where Jesus showed up in Luke and told Peter to cast his nets on the other side of the boat so that he would come up with more fish than he could carry.