[0:00] Please be seated. Thank you all very much. Thank you to those who are playing and those who are leading. It really sounds fantastic and it really makes such a difference when you get to enjoy the music live and you get to sing along.
[0:13] It is a real encouragement to me. So thank you all very much for how well you've played and how well you lead. Well, today's service is a little bit different because especially at the end we're going to have a little prize giving for the young ones who have been going to Sunday school and doing so well.
[0:32] So first of all, thank you all for being here this morning. Thank you all for coming along. You got up nice and early, didn't you? What time did you get up this morning? Half ten? That's so late.
[0:46] No, what time did you get up this morning? Come on, you know what time you got up. Yes, you do. Don't make me call you a liar. I don't know.
[0:58] What time did he wake up this morning? Eight. You got up nice and early. Were you a nightmare when you woke up? Or were you nice? Very good.
[1:11] Okay, so you got up nice and early. You got dressed. You guys got dressed up so well. You all look so cool and so good. What did you all have for breakfast today?
[1:22] What did you have for breakfast? What did you have for breakfast? A roll with cheese?
[1:35] No? Bacon? Squares. You had a slice? You had a square sausage. Did you have any sauce on it? Just sausage?
[1:48] Wow. Okay, that's quite good. Who else is here? Who else had breakfast? What did you have for breakfast? Yeah. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
[2:02] A cereal bar. Okay, okay. Where are we? Kids. What did you have for breakfast this morning? What kind of cereal? A cereal.
[2:16] Special K. Ooh. Ooh, that's a good one. That's a very tasty one. Gentleman in the black with the gray shorts. I'm looking at you. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
[2:30] Cereal and toast. Wow. That's a lot of food. Breakfast. What did you have? It wasn't that long ago.
[2:40] What did you have for breakfast? Have I asked you already? What did you have for breakfast? Donuts? Donuts. Did you actually?
[2:52] That's amazing. What a great Sunday morning treat. Okay. What is your favorite breakfast? Hands up. I want hands up. Who likes bananas? Who likes bananas?
[3:03] Bananas. You like a banana? Bananas. Yeah? Bananas are very good. Who likes cereal? This was the only cereal box in the green household.
[3:15] Fruit and fiber. Who likes fruit and fiber cereal? Very few. I'm so sorry, Ruth. Very few hands have gone up. What's your favorite cereal?
[3:27] Crunchy-nut cornflakes. Crunchy-nut cornflakes. Crunchy-nut cornflakes. That is a good one. Who likes a bacon roll? Hands up who likes a bacon roll?
[3:40] Do you like a bacon roll? Do you like a bacon roll? You don't like bacon rolls? You hate bacon? Bacon. Well, that's okay.
[3:53] Oh, this is a chewy. Give me a couple of seconds to finish this bacon. Give me a couple of seconds.
[4:07] I'm chewing this as fast as I can. In our story from the Bible that we're going to be reading today, Jesus has breakfast with his friends.
[4:32] But we're going to focus on a couple of his friends. In fact, we're going to focus on one of his friends. Okay? For one of his friends, this breakfast was an extra special breakfast.
[4:48] Okay? For one of Jesus' friends, extra special breakfast. Today, we're going to hear the story of Peter. So on the night, Jesus was arrested.
[4:59] And on the night, Jesus was going to be killed on the cross of Calvary. Two of Jesus' friends did something terrible.
[5:12] One was called Judas. And Judas was going to betray Jesus. He was going to give Jesus up.
[5:22] He was going to lead the enemy to arrest him. All for 30 pieces of silver. But we're not going to focus on him.
[5:33] We're going to focus on the other friend. And the other friend's name was Peter. And he was going to deny Jesus three times.
[5:45] Can any of you tell me what it means to deny someone? Any clues? Yeah. Hand up. Yeah, that's a really good.
[5:58] That's an amazing answer. It's when you say you don't know someone. You pretend as if you don't know them. You're going to deny them. You're going to say no about knowing them. Great answer.
[6:12] The thing is, Jesus knew it was going to happen. And he even told Peter. Can any of you, can you read that out for me? Is that too far away? Too far away?
[6:25] Can you read that? Can you read that? What does it say? Well done.
[6:40] Fantastic. This very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times. So that idea of denying that you know someone, pretending you don't know them, it's explained there.
[6:54] He was going to disown him three times. Can any of you do a good impression of a hen? Do hens make no noise?
[7:07] I mean, that's quite a good one. Can you make an impression of what a hen? What does a hen sound like? That's amazing. Yes. That's so good. How about, I can do, I think I can do a good hen impression.
[7:20] I can go. I think that's quite a good hen. I've got at home 600 hens.
[7:31] My brother does, not me. But what does a rooster sound like? Can you do a rooster sound? You're so close.
[7:42] You're so good. Oh, brilliant. Yes. A cock-a-dee-loo. That's what a rooster sounds like.
[7:54] So, Jesus was saying to Peter that before the rooster made that sound, Peter was going to say no. He was going to deny him.
[8:05] He was going to disown him three times. That means to reject and ignore someone. Peter was going to reject him three times before the rooster made that noise.
[8:19] Can you make that noise? A cock-a-dee-loo. Come on. You can do it very quietly. That's fine.
[8:31] Oh, I heard a little noise. I heard a little noise. That'll do. That'll do. But Peter, Peter said, when Jesus said, you're going to disown me three times. Do you know what Peter said? Who can read out this verse for me?
[8:42] Who can read it? Can you read out this verse for me? So, that's what Peter said. Peter, when he heard this, went, no way.
[8:54] Even if I have to die, I will never disown you. I'll never do that. No way, Jesus. I'm never going to say no to you.
[9:04] You're my friend. You're my friend. You're my savior. But, when they arrested Jesus, do you know what Peter did? Peter ran away.
[9:19] He ran. He said, even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. And he ran. He ran away.
[9:30] He left Jesus alone. How many of you were watching the Scotland v. Czech Republic game on Monday? How many were watching it? I know.
[9:42] And I was watching, and I was so, so sad when the Czech Republic striker scored that second goal. Who saw that big second goal where he kicked it from the halfway line?
[9:54] All the way. And it's all because David Marshall was so, so, so far away from his goals. What was he doing so far away?
[10:07] He had run too far out. He was meant to be near the goals, wasn't he? He was meant to be over at the goals. And he was at the halfway line. He went too far away.
[10:18] Well, that was Peter. He should have been near Jesus. He should have been with Jesus. But he ran away. He went the opposite direction. And so later that night, Jesus was being questioned by the religious leaders.
[10:36] And he was accused. Do any of you know what it means, what the word accused means? Anyone? Yeah? Either one of you?
[10:48] What does the word accused mean? That's a big word, isn't it? Yeah. You're saying, you've done something.
[11:03] You've done something wrong. That's what it means to accuse someone. You've done something wrong. And so they were accusing Jesus of having said and done wrong things.
[11:15] But we know from reading the Bible, Jesus never did a wrong thing. But as that was happening, guess who comes back into the story? Peter, who ran away.
[11:26] And he snuck into the courtyard outside where Jesus was being questioned. And he sat beside a fire.
[11:37] So I'm going to make a little fire here like this. And he sat beside the fire, okay, to keep himself warm. Now, as he was outside beside this fire in the middle of the night to keep himself warm, a servant girl came up to him and looked at him closely.
[12:00] And she recognized him. And she said this. Young man in the black jumper and the gray shorts. Can you read this? You also were with Jesus.
[12:15] She said, you were in the garden. You're one of Jesus' friends. They're inside questioning him. You're his friend, aren't you? And what do you think Peter said?
[12:29] Who wants to answer? Who wants to read out? You go. You read out this one. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what you're talking about.
[12:41] Boys and girls, remember what Jesus said. You're going to deny me. You're going to disown me three times. And what did he say? I don't know what you're talking about.
[12:54] You are one of Jesus' friends, she said. And he goes, not me. I don't know what you're talking about. Not me. A little later, while he's still around this fire trying to stay warm at night, somebody else recognized him.
[13:12] And they said, can one of you read this one? Okay, go. This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.
[13:26] Again, somebody recognized him. And even louder, let's go for you up in the balcony. Even louder, what did he say?
[13:38] I wasn't pointing at you. But fine, close enough. You actually did an amazing job of shouting this out.
[13:50] I don't know the man. That was number two. That was, again, somebody said, you were with Jesus. And he goes, I don't know the man. No way.
[14:00] Not me. Then, a little while later, someone who was in the garden, when Peter ran away, and he saw Peter run away, came up and said, Hannah, you read this one.
[14:17] Surely you are one of them. Your accent gives you away. His accent gave him away. Can you tell me what's an accent?
[14:30] Do you know what an accent is? Let's see. Let's see. Okay, you tell me. What's an accent? Yeah. The way you pronounce words.
[14:42] The way you sound. So, I sound different to you. And I might say the word bacon different to the way you say it. Yeah? How do you say the word bacon? See, that's totally different.
[14:55] My accent gives me away. But that's what happened with Peter. The way he talked while he was around the fire, they knew. Wait a minute. He sounds like he's one of Jesus' friends.
[15:08] Your accent gives you away. So then, do you know what he did? Peter started shouting and cursing, maybe even swearing.
[15:19] And he said this. Who wants to read this one? On you go. Yeah, you go for it. Brilliant.
[15:34] Well read. I do not know. I'm calling down curses. No way. I don't know this guy. And straight away. That was number three.
[15:44] Three times he denied him. And what do you think happened after the third time he said, I don't know this guy? What do you think happened? Remember the noises we were doing earlier?
[15:55] What noise do you think he heard? The rooster. He heard the rooster. And can you do a little rooster sound?
[16:08] Exactly. He said, I don't know Jesus. Three times. And the rooster crowed. Cock-a-roo-roo.
[16:19] I gave you a fright, didn't I? And right there, Peter remembered exactly what Jesus had said.
[16:31] Do you know what? He went out. He went away from this fire. He went out. And he started crying. Because he had let down Jesus so much.
[16:44] He had let down Jesus so much. He said, I'm never going to run away. I'm never going to disown you. I will die before I will ever say no to you, Jesus.
[16:59] And three times he said no. And he realized how bad he was. He realized what was in his heart. He realized the mistake he had made.
[17:11] And he started crying. But what did Jesus do for people who let him down? What does Jesus do for people who let him down?
[17:26] What does Jesus do for people who sin and disappoint him? What did Jesus do that same day? Do any of you know?
[17:39] What's the big thing that Jesus did for people who let him down? He forgave him. Do you know how he did it? He died on the cross.
[17:54] Peter let him down. And what did Jesus do? He died on the cross so that Peter could be forgiven. That same day, Jesus went to the cross and died to pay for all of our sins and all the ways that we let down God.
[18:18] And what else do we know? That three days later, what happened? Three days after Jesus died, what happened? He rose again.
[18:29] He was alive. He had done it. He had paid for all of our sins. He had paid for all of Peter's sins. And he had paid for everyone who comes to Jesus for forgiveness.
[18:46] And he rose again to prove it. He rose again to let us know, guys, I've done it. If I say I'm going to forgive you and pay for all of your sin, I'm going to prove it by dying and rising again because I've paid for it.
[19:06] It's gone. You don't need to feel guilty anymore. I've done it. But not only that, he wanted Peter to know he had done it and he was back.
[19:20] Now, before we finish our story, we're going to sing again. Okay? We're going to sing again. We're all going to get up on our feet. We're going to sing Psalm 103.
[19:31] We're going to sing verses 1 to 11. So we sang a song called 10,000 Reasons. And the chorus of that song is based on these opening words.
[19:42] Praise God, my soul, with all my heart. Let me exalt. Let me worship his holy name. Now, we're going to sing the psalm that that's based on.
[19:53] So I want everyone to sing. I want you all to sing. I want you all to get up on your feet. And we're going to sing Psalm 103. Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing.
[20:47] Let's sing. His best. Your life He rescues from the grave and crowned to Him His wilderness.
[21:11] He satisfies your day in His hour. From His love and His source of good so that just like the people said your youth will make the history news.
[21:45] The Lord is known for righteous times. A justice to that taught it was.
[22:02] To Moses' King and and of Jesus' love and la 맞아요 willills Him and PPE not willing or had and to His peace, gerade makes a eternal sea ilk ап в behaved there is una he l and full of grace.
[22:36] He will not cause them living proof, or in His hand that I give bid.
[22:56] He does not punish our mistakes, or give us things their just reward.
[23:13] Our greatest love as high as death to watch all those who fear the light.
[23:32] Thank you. Take a seat again. Our story isn't quite finished. So, how many times did Peter deny Jesus? Oh, I gave away the clue.
[23:44] How many times did Peter deny Jesus? Three. Three. Around the fire at night. Okay? Now, Jesus wasn't finished with Peter.
[23:57] So, some weeks later, after Jesus had died, after Jesus had risen from the dead, He was alive, some weeks later, before Jesus went back to heaven, the disciples were out What's that?
[24:17] Fishing. Have any of you ever been out fishing? Hands up who's been out fishing here. Has no one been fishing? Ian, you've never been fishing in your life.
[24:34] Fishing? Oh, there are two. Brilliant. Three. Oh, four. Loads of people. Okay, a few people have been out fishing. So, they had been out fishing all night, the disciples and Peter.
[24:49] And guess what they caught? Guess how many fish they caught? None. They caught no fish.
[25:00] All night, they were fishing. They caught none. Someone on the beach shouted to them, saying, Friends, haven't you any fish? No!
[25:12] They said. So, this guy was on the beach shouting to them, Have you got any fish? They were all the way on the boat. No! No fish! Caught nothing! And the voice shouted back, Throw your net out over the right side of the boat and you will find some!
[25:34] And they did. And in that moment, they caught so many fish, they thought the nets were going to break.
[25:45] There was just loads and loads of big fish. Who was shouting from the beach? Who was shouting from the beach? Who do you think? Who do you think was shouting from the beach?
[25:58] Someone who had died and someone who rose again. Who was shouting from the beach? Jesus was shouting. Brilliant! Well done! Jesus was the one shouting from the beach.
[26:08] And as soon as he realized who it was, Peter jumped into the water and he swam as fast. Who's been swimming before? Maybe you've not been fishing.
[26:20] Have you been swimming before? Never been swimming? Swimming? Swimming. Yeah, you've been swimming. Okay. He swam as fast as he could to get to the beach.
[26:31] And when he got there, there was another fire. There was a fire of coals. Jesus did a better job than me of making a fire.
[26:47] There we go. Nope. There we go. There we go. So there was a fire that night when Peter said no to Jesus three times. But here was another fire.
[26:59] And Jesus was frying some fish. He was making breakfast. And he said to them, who wants to read out this verse?
[27:10] Do you want to read out this verse for me? No? Do you want to read out this verse? No? Do you want to read out this verse? Do you want to read out this verse?
[27:25] Come and have breakfast. And at the breakfast, he asked Peter three times, do you love me?
[27:41] And what did Peter say three times back? Do you want to read that for me? At the breakfast, Jesus said to him, take care of my sheep, which means to take care of God's people, not real sheep.
[28:04] He says, take care of my people and follow me. Now for Peter, this was the best breakfast ever.
[28:15] Peter had denied Jesus and said no three times around the first fire. But now, at breakfast, around another fire, Jesus asked him three times, do you love me?
[28:30] And three times, Peter said, yes, Lord. You know that I love you. Boys and girls, and men and women, when somebody does something wrong to you or they let you down, we probably get quite grumpy with them, don't we?
[28:48] If somebody annoys you or betrays you or lets you down, we get annoyed. We just want to ignore them. We might even say, get lost.
[29:00] But Jesus is different. Jesus is so different from us He's amazing. Peter denied Him three times.
[29:15] But now, Jesus says, you might have let me down, but come and have breakfast with me. Come and spend time with me. I want to spend time with you. You've let me down and I'm not saying to you, get lost.
[29:29] I'm saying to you, come and have breakfast. I want to spend time with you. I want you to know that I love you. And so then he gets to ask Peter three times, do you love me?
[29:42] And he says three times, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And with that, God forgave him for the three times Peter said no.
[29:55] Peter knew God was happy again. Peter knew God loved him. Peter knew his sins, his mistakes, his disappointments were forgiven.
[30:11] Peter knew Jesus was his friend. Jesus gives us so many chances. When you sin, when you let Jesus down, run or swim as fast as you can back to God.
[30:38] Run or swim as fast as you can back to Jesus. Jesus. He's so full of love and grace and forgiveness and he'll say, come and spend time with me.
[30:54] Come and have breakfast with me. human beings, we don't want anything to do with people who are different to us, have different political opinions than us, support different teams than us.
[31:10] We're petty, we're daft, we harm each other, we say and do stupid things and we may have a lot of things that we regret from our past. we let God down and we let each other down and we say to each other, get lost, go away.
[31:30] But Jesus doesn't say to you and me, go away. He says, come and have breakfast. I love you, I died for you and I can forgive you for your sins.
[31:49] It's always the case we just forget about how lovely and kind Jesus is.
[32:00] We get annoyed and ignore people, but Jesus died for Peter. Jesus went to the cross and died for Peter and he died for you and me.
[32:17] And so when we ignore Jesus and forget he's the best, don't stay away from Jesus. Spend time with him. Pray to him.
[32:30] Read, listen to the Bible. He died for you, he'll forgive you and he loves you. But not only that, he invites us all to spend the rest of our lives with him, to spend time with him, to eat with him, to rest with him.
[32:50] We said at the very, very beginning of the service, this verse, do you want to read it for me? Jesus wants to have breakfast with you.
[33:06] Whatever you've done, whoever you are, whatever is in your past, this morning Jesus is saying come and have breakfast with me. What are you going to do with that invitation?
[33:18] He says come to me all you who are weary and burdened, come to me and I will give you rest. Come to my breakfast. Relax, I've done it.
[33:31] I can forgive you. Come and have breakfast. Come to me. That's the story of Peter, someone who let down Jesus three times, but then Jesus gave him the chance to say I love you three times.
[33:52] breakfast. And that's the story of the best breakfast ever. So thank you all for listening. Thank you all for doing so well at answering my questions.
[34:05] Thank you all so much for reading the verses. And I hope you remember some of the story of Peter. But more than Peter, I hope you remember that Jesus says to you, come and have breakfast.
[34:20] Come to me. No matter what you've done, no matter how you've let me down, come to me. That's what Jesus says to all of us today.