Lifesavers

Okay. Title is Lifesavers. Lifesavers. What you have in your hand or in your mouth. That used to be a commercial. Melts in your mouth, not in your hand. Remember that? What was that for? M&Ms. This is not M&Ms. This may be a catalyst for M&Ms. I'd like to tell you about Clarence Crane. In 1912, Clarence Crane was a chocolate maker outside or just inside of the city limits of Cleveland, Ohio. Anybody ever been to Cleveland, Ohio? Wow! More than I thought. I've never been to Cleveland. I just know I don't like their football team. And it's really, really cold in the wintertime. It's the only thing I know about Cleveland. But Clarence Crane, 1912, was a chocolate maker. And the problem is that even as far north as Cleveland, Ohio, they have summer. And so the chocolate that he was selling even in the summertime for the three or four months that it is hot would melt as people walked outside after buying it. Did I turn this on? No. There we go. Okay, I knew that would sound different. Yes. So he decided he needed to make something he could sell that wouldn't melt. And so the thing he had there was some peppermint in blocks. And he took a pill-making machine. You know, little pills like this. So if you're looking at a lifesaver you have in your hand now, the center of it was the size that they used to make pills from. So he decided, playing with it, he stamped it, and he created a candy that had a hole in it.

And that is where we have the candy lifesavers that you even see today that are handed out to each and every one of you. It didn't melt. And it was so successful that in 1912, after a year of producing it, he sold it to a bigger company for $3,000. Now, you may think that's, wow, that may be a little too cheap, but if you knew 3,000 in 1912 is equal to 72,000, 73,000. So not bad for a first-time invention. He came up with the name because somebody came in and said, that reminds me of a life preserver. And so he came up with the name lifesaver. And also, he advertised it because, unlike a solid piece of candy at the time, it had a hole in it. So it was easier for young people not to swallow it. They could stick their tongue in that hole, and it would keep from swallowing it. So that is where we get lifesavers.

I ask you a question. I'd like some feedback, if you will. We have a pretty large audience here today, so I'm going to believe that in all of your past, you too have had a lifesaver. Has anybody here ever had someone save their life? Oh wow, okay. Neil? Yeah, you did. Physically, anybody here? Yes, William? I was diving in the ocean, and my equipment went bad.

Ah, so you were diving, in case anybody didn't hear that, and your equipment went bad? Ah, and so some other divers came over and pulled you up. Otherwise, otherwise that seat would be empty today. Understand? Anybody else? I think I saw someone. Yes, Don? You fell off a roof, and someone came and...

Ah, well, anyone else? Nobody wants to say, anyway. Yes, Winsome? Yeah, we always used to work in New York. They have a pool, and they keep pushing me in the water. And I was like, sweet, so the lady after the drone came with all her clothes on, choosing everything to save. To save you, but she did. You remember her well, then? No, we still talk to this day. Ah, okay, very good. Bring that up, because I had someone save my life more than a few times, but I remember best my father telling me about a man that saved his life when he was eight years old. In a river or a stream or a creek, they would call it in Tennessee. As he was growing up, he went over to a neighbor's house, play with their son, who was about his same age. Rain had come and made the river flowing pretty strong. He was eight, and they started playing and tried to get over to the other side of the river. And he slipped, and he couldn't swim, and the current was carrying him down and carried him underwater. And the boy he was playing with, his father was on a horse since he had a farm, and he ran over and saw it and jumped out and pulled my dad out of the water. And saved his life, he remembered him. And because this man saved my father's life, he saved mine. And he saved my other brother and my sisters. We wouldn't be here without that man. That man's name is John Pickert. John Pickert. He was after he had saved my father's life. He had done some advertising for companies, and he then went out to Hollywood and got into movies. And he was in over 50 movies. I think you have a picture of him there.

And he became fairly famous for the TV shows and movies, but he still came back to Tennessee to make his home. I knew his son because his son started a company that I actually still have an account with back in Tennessee, and a building company. And I always remembered the guy because his father saved my father's life. And so I thought about this because John Pickert then later came back and retired.

He was in the original movie True Grit. Anybody see John Wayne True Grit? You would have seen him because the girl who starred in it, he starred as her father who was killed at the first of the movie. That's how I always remember John Pickert. And I still see him in some movies like The Undefeated and various ones. He's in a lot of westerns. But John Pickert came home and retired. And he was taking care of stock, and he was killed at 80 years old by a bull that cornered him and killed him. But I will always remember him as a lifesaver.

Whenever I see the movie, I see a movie, I've got to tune over to watch him. Just because I realized he, I wouldn't be here without that man. My wife's grandfather was in World War I. I always give because her father was in World War II. Her grandfather was in World War I, and as I always said, your family couldn't get along with anyone. But I hope she enjoys that as she's watching. But an explosive went off her grandfather as he was just a regular infantry, and it blew up and buried two or three men. And so they dug out a couple of men, but they couldn't find him.

He was buried under all this ground. And as they were about to leave to march on, one guy said, I've got to try just a little bit more. And so he got a couple guys, and they dug, and they found Mary's grandfather as he was young, 20, and he had this... remember that they were just metal helmets, if you remember right there, and his had a great big dent in it where a rock had come down.

But he survived and went on to have children, and Mary wouldn't be here without the guys that decided to save her grandfather. I bring that up because we also, we've had a Savior, and we still need a Savior. And sometimes we do not think about how great of a lifesaver we have.

I'm not just telling this story about Jesus Christ since most of us know, but I looked up Savior, the word Savior in the Oxford dictionary, and I'm in a person who saves someone or something from danger. That's what really made me think of this sermon.

Because it's not only our eternal life, do we, oh, but how many times has God saved us, or Jesus Christ saved us, or their angels saved us from danger? Possible death. All of you could probably recount something that seems supernatural in some aspect of your life growing up, even when you were a child or even when you were older.

The word Savior is used 37 times in the Bible. Six of those times we're in one small little book of Titus. So if you ever want to just have a nice Bible study sometime, read the book of Titus. It doesn't take 20 minutes to read it, but look an underlying Savior and realize how important maybe that word is. The Merriam-Webster dictionary says, one who saves from destruction, one who brings salvation, a deliverer, a rescuer, and even a helper.

And there are times in our lives we all need a helper. We all need a rescuer. And maybe this sermon will help you to remember to call out when you need it, because he's that quick and he wants to do it, as many of you parents would do for your children. I remember someone in our church, they moved to Texas, but they came over to our pool one time and the little boy and little girl, a little smaller than Adam, they were playing and the little boy just pushed the little his sister into the pool without her wings, water wings, I guess they call them, and she couldn't swim.

And I was about to go in to grab her, because she was way over her head. I never had the chance. Her mother pushed me out of the way and jumped in and grabbed her daughter before I could even, because it was second nature to her, a first nature to her.

It wasn't like, okay, is she going to be able to swim? I was thinking, well, can she swim? No, the mother just kind of pushed me out and jumped in and saved her daughter. We have a Savior so much bigger and greater than anyone can even begin to think. The Eastern Bible dictionary calls it one who saves from any form of or degree of evil, biblical Bible dictionary. Savior comes from the Greek word soter, soter is how the French would pronounce it, but the Greek soter, s-o-t-e-r, and that word means deliver.

Deliver. I don't know you. You have had someone in your life to deliver you. Jesus Christ came to deliver us from the penalty of sin. Jesus Christ came to rescue us from the death penalty because we would have died without that.

And many of you know the story of the young man here in prison who was going, was under the death penalty, and was going to be executed. And God allowed him, since he had changed his life, and I was able to go into prison, and baptize him before they were to execute him. It was only a month or so away, and they weren't supposed to allow that, but God allowed it, because he was going to admit that he committed the crime.

And his lawyer said, don't, don't say it. He said, I've changed my life. If they asked me if I did it, I have to say yes. Knowing keeping the Ten Commandments could cost you your life, how many of us would do it. He was willing to do it. Because of that, somehow, miraculously, the DA changed their mind and gave him two concurrent life sentences, which he's been in 18 years now. So he's got a few more years to go, and he'll be out. And I hope to use him, because he's done incredible work in prison helping guys. Matter of fact, the guards allowed him to, because they don't allow a few tubs or bath or anything in the prisons, they only had showers. Because if there was water, they'd try to drown each other. And so these last hours, so they wouldn't allow this. But because he had brought so much peace in the prison, as he would negotiate and work with people, he still has Bible studies every Saturday and works and has quite a few men. Some of those men have actually come in when they've gotten out of prison and came to services here. But he, the guards saw, was a peacemaker. And so they allowed this crazy preacher, who'd only been here a year or so, to make a collapsible baptismal pool and take it in one Saturday morning, about seven o'clock, and set it up and baptize this man.

Because of the fruits they had seen. And because of that, I feel like God delivered him. Delivered him from being executed. Executed. Had no family. Not much. Didn't really have anybody, but now he felt he had a Savior.

So, like that man, like us, Jesus Christ, you could say, saved us.

Saved us from the death penalty over us that me, you, and the world have. That's what John 3 16 is all about, right? For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes on him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. True Savior that we all understand. But most of you know that. That's not why I'm giving this sermon today. I think we need to maybe lock in our minds that we have a Savior who wants to save us from danger, from physical harm.

I can tell you many stories from people I have met that where they knew it was divine intervention. So, I want to give, in the short time I have here today, I want to look at a man's life in the Bible that Jesus saved in so many ways, the same way he will do for us spiritually, mentally, physically, and spiritually we can never put a price on it. So, go with me, because I think there's no better example in the entire Bible, no better example of a man with issues, a man with a lot of issues.

Last, you would think he would think would ever be called to be a minister, but he was. And I'm definitely not talking about Paul, because Paul really thought he was already perfect before he crossed paths and got blinded. No? No better example for us than Simon Peter. So, I want to go through a few scriptures today, and I want you to, don't have to turn to the scriptures if you want, we have them up here, but I want you to think about that. I want you to think about you. I want you to think about that the same power that delivered Peter time and time again, the same power that is the same power that we have on call, like that. And we should never ever be afraid to call upon that power. Adam right here is a little small, but he knows if he got into trouble somewhere, a dog was chasing him or anything else, his dad would jump in, and is a mother or two, I'm sure. Even grandmothers would probably do it and save him from that. Oh, your dad's saying, well, he's just young.

But with that same power of being able to save someone physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally even, we need that. And we're going to need it, and you're going to need it in the future. You're going to need it. You may need it next week. I needed it this week. And I wrote the sermon two weeks ago, not even realizing what was going to happen in our life this week. So let's go. Matthew 14. Matthew 14, and go with me to verse 25. Do you know this story? Now, in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled and said, it's a ghost! It's funny, a ghost. Even they believed in ghosts.

And they cried out in fear. They were really scared of this. But immediately, Jesus spoke to them and said, Be a good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid. Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it is you, command me to come out with you on the water. So He said, Come, come. And when Peter had come out of the boat, and he walked on the water to go to Jesus, but when he saw the wind was boisterous, that's putting it mildly, I would say. I'm sure the waves were doing this. He was afraid and began to sink. He cried out saying, Lord, what? Save me. Lord, save me. Some pretty good words to have in your memories. A pretty good power to call on. Remember those words. Save me. Peter used them, and guess what? It happened. It happened. Christ saved him. Physically, he was going to drown. How about you? Ever been over your head in something? I know. You can sit over there. I'm not sitting over there if you want. That seat. Just don't steal all my stuff. No kidding. Lord, save me, and immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, O you of little faith. Why did you doubt?

We need to have that faith. We need to have the faith in Jesus Christ that he will deliver us. That is what a Savior is. One who delivers. One who rescues. Even in some very small things, I want you to remember that Jesus delivers. Saves. Yes, it may be about your work. It may be about family. It may be some very small thing that you would think, well, I'm just going to have to get myself out of this. How about crying out? How about asking for help from the one who's been given control over this entire universe? I'd like you to go with me to Matthew 8. Matthew 8.

Matthew 8 and verse 23. So now when he got into a boat, his disciples followed him, and suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea. This is not the same account. So that the boat was covered with waves. But Jesus, our Savior, his Savior, he was asleep. Maybe he had my pillow or something. No, but he wasn't worried. He was just sitting there. Does that commercial get to you guys? I hate seeing that commercial. I just like, I see snake oil. I don't want to offend you in case you have one. But I just, I don't know. Let's go back to the word. Don't let me digress. I'll hear it from Mary if she's watching this. Where if she's sitting here, you'll understand there's a language between us, because she's had to sit and listen to me for 25 years giving sermons. So if I digress, you'll see this. Move on. Move on. And it's this. Don't go there. And I have to change his stories. So she is half my ministry. All right, let's go. So the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep. Then his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us! We're perishing! How about you? Are you afraid to say that? Are you afraid to say, save me, God? Help me? Deliver me? Rescue me? That's what the word save your means. That means maybe from a bad boss. That may mean from a bully, kids. That may mean anything. You have the power behind you. And that is what's so important. Save us? Save us? We are perishing. You ever thought about that? I mean, it's just a couple verses there. Half those men on that boat were fishermen. That's what they did for a living. Ever since they were 12 years old, they were on the Sea of Galilee. They knew rough seas. They knew danger. Except this time, they were scared. They were really scared. So this sea... And you can read in historical accounts how the wind comes out off of that and starts these incredible waves. Any of you have been on the beach out here in a storm, you know what waves are. You don't want to be out there. They were. They were.

And yet, don't you know... Picture yourself in that boat. You've been on a boat many times, but the waves were... If you've ever seen a boat from the shore and you see the way... Sometimes you're looking from the shore, the boat actually disappears in sight because of the waves are higher than the boat as they're going back and forth. It can be scary. Imagine yourself in there.

So what would you do? Chances are you waited. They waited for a little while because he's asleep. How can he be sleeping with this going on?

They had to cry out, which tells us one thing. Don't wait too long. Could those waves have been calmed 30 minutes ago? Yeah. But they waited. They waited till they thought they were perished. A nice lesson for us. And as you can see down in the lower verses, he just said, come, stop. And even the waves obeyed him. They still do. They still do. Think about it. Let's go to Luke. Let's go over to Luke 5. Luke 5. I always love this story. Luke 5, verse 1. This is when Peter is just being called. He's been a fisherman. He's got a wife. He's got a nice fishing business. They had employees that they guys that came work. So he, you know, he was just your average Joe out there working hard. And so, Luke 5, verse 1. So it was, as the multitudes expressed about him, to hear the Word of God, that he stood by the lake of Geneserai, which is the Sea of Galilee, as they call it, and saw two boats standing by the lake. But the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and he taught the multitudes from the boat, his own lecture, sitting in a boat. And when he stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. I'm going to reward you. You let me use your boat. You didn't really know me.

But I'm going to let you catch some fish because of what you did for me. But Simon answered and said to him, master, realizing he was a teacher, we have told all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word I will let down the net. See, they had big nets and they had been working at night. Anybody ever been fishing in the middle of the day, sometimes you don't really catch much. So, but they had been working at night and they hadn't caught anything. So you can imagine toiling all night, you get nothing. It's like going to work and your boss is saying, oh well, I'm going to have to pay you today. You're not very motivated. Anybody's ever worked for yourself. Mike, various people here work for yourself. Right, Eli? You may work for yourself and something goes wrong and you realize you worked the whole day you didn't make anything. Happens. See, but you know the frustration. So here, okay, okay, nonetheless, I'll patronize this preacher.

Verse 6, and when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink.

I doubt they'd ever caught so many fish in their life. Both boats were about to sink, and here it was at daytime. People had to be looking, what? How could this happen? And when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. He could do a lot of stuff. He may have seen Jesus heal. He may have seen all these miracles, so forth, because Christ was just starting his ministry, but he had heard about him. He could have seen a lot of things, but until he defied logic in Peter's mind, his mind was not open. Peter knew this was not possible, and this was a special man who had a special power. How about us? How about us? God usually doesn't call saints, but he calls sinners.

There's not many saints around that he has to call, but God calls sinners to become saints. Peter realized, man, I am a sinner. I am a man, is another translation. I'm a man of unclean lips. You know what that means? That means he didn't watch his mouth.

That means his language is pretty salty, as we find out later, right? When he denied Christ three times, he just didn't know it. No, I don't know him. Now, he blurted it out and cursed, as the Scripture says. Here, at the pressure moment, he was referring back to what he was before he was called.

He had a sailor's language, as they say, if you've ever been around some sailors. Jeff, I think you were a sailor at one time, so thankfully you've put that language behind you. But they can use every adjective imaginable.

This was Peter. Peter was the last one he thought would be called by God. How about you? Maybe you're one of those who say, yes, I knew he was going to call me. And he probably hasn't.

But we had that opportunity, because Jesus Christ saved us from the penalty of sin, and now he's willing to save us from whatever happens in this world. Yes, us. Yes, the least.

Says he calls a week in the base, but he doesn't call him to stay that way, because he's involved. He said, I'm going to raise you up. And the stories people could tell.

Let's go down as I finish this. Go to verse 11. So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed him. And forsook everything. They knew they were in the presence of God. And isn't it amazing when God starts to work with our mind and we have these things that all of a sudden we know? We know that we know that we know that God is working in our lives, and that we're going to follow this way of life.

But sometimes we get so busy in life that we forget that he's still the rescuer, the Savior.

And he wants us to cry out sometimes. Or just under our breaths, really, I need you now, God. Need your help. Need your help.

Let's go to Luke 22. Luke 22. People will travel all the way over to Luke's story. Luke seems to cover a lot of Peter's story. Luke 22, verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat. Wait that minute.

He's going to rock your world. He's going to shake your world up. He's going to shake you up. He wants to just destroy you. He wants to make your life.

Anything?

What would you do if God told you in a dream? I mean, Molly, Satan has asked for you.

Jessica, Satan has asked for you. Would that be scary? Absolutely. Okay. Satan does want you out from following God. He does.

He has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you. Do we have an intercessor? I think we talked about that about a month or six weeks ago. He is our intercessor. He is our advocate. He is our deliverer. I have prayed for you and your faith shall not fail. And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. And he said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you, both to prison and to death. Pretty cocky. Then he said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you shall deny me three times that you know me. Anyway, Peter had failures, had doubts, so do we. We don't always have the faith we need. We're going to have physical, spiritual failures, mental failures. You ever said that? I don't know how many times I said, why did I say that? Never should have said that. But Christ is for us. Christ is for us. Every day, he's watching for us, and he wants to see us succeed. And even when we stumble, fall, he's right there to see that we get back up. That is a true Savior. That is what we truly, truly need. Let's go over to Luke, stay in 22, and let's go over to 37. Let's go down to 37. As you know, this is towards the end.

They, Christ is talking about the sword because they said, well, we need a couple. And in verse 37, I say to you that that which is written must be accomplished in me, which says, and he was numbered with the transgressors for the things concerning me have an end. So, they said, Lord, look here, we have two swords. Now, they weren't long swords. They were typically about 18 inches long. They could cut down little trees if they need to start a fire. They could do various things, but they were also for protection if you needed them, but they weren't these big, long swords that people sometimes think. So, it wasn't something like, well, I've got this big sword. No, that's not what it was. So, this is that last night. Christ knew what was going to happen. So, let's go on to verse 47. My title says, Betrayal and Arrest in Gethsemane. And while he was speaking, behold a multitude, as they were about to come and get him. And he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near to Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said to him, Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? Hmm, had to be a tough thing that probably stuck in his mind, even as he was hanging from the tree in which he hung himself later. And when those around him saw what was going to happen, they said to him, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? So, this is the only place that tells that story. They ask him, look, we see they're coming, you know, let's pull it out. Let's go to hacking. Oh, you know, there's twelve of us, we're all in our late twenties, early thirties, and then one of them, okay, did he give an answer? He didn't have time to give an answer, because one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.

An ear removal service.

But Jesus answered and said to them, permit even this, and he touched the ear and healed him. Put the ear right back on.

Because I don't think Peter was looking to cut an ear off. He was looking for a bigger...

And it happened so fast. Have you ever looked through, ever thought about this? That it did, did it fall on the ground and Jesus pick it up? Or just as it's cut off, Jesus went and got it, caught it in the air.

We don't know. It doesn't say. But Jesus put it right back on, so it was kind of like, what just happened? Wait a minute. I saw an ear fall, and then I saw it back on the guy's head. How could that happen? As a matter of fact, in John 18, it doesn't say anything about Peter here, does it? It takes the story of John, John 18 and verse 10 that tells us the one that cut the ear off was Peter. He cut Malchus' servant's ear off. If you look in historical count, it talks, they're actually brought soldiers to apprehend him. He said, what are you bringing? Clubs and swords and everything to take me when I was speaking in the synagogues every day, you know? But he cut that soldier, that servant, he cut his ear off. Do you know you go back and look at the law? The law says anyone that strikes an officer, either in the Roman army or those who the Roman army had given authority, that was Malchus, that was this. Even if you strike them, the penalty is death. Was not going to be any trial. You struck him. Peter cut that man's ear off and he was going to face the death penalty. But someone saved him, didn't he? Christ put the ear back on. Because I'm sure the guy would have, my ear's gone. Oh, no it's not.

That is a miracle. That was another time that Jesus Christ saved Peter, physically. See, they could have killed Peter right then and there. But they can't even tell. Wait a minute. He struck him? No, he didn't? No? His ear? I saw it come off. No, it's right there? Expect a miracle, brethren. Expect a miracle sometime. Peter had a lifesaver. Same exact one that we have.

Jesus is alive. He still rules the universe. He still has so much power. You know, when they got him here and he told him to put up, you know, nope, those who lived by the sword died by the sword that night. And then he said, do you not know? That I could call to my father and he would send, what? 12 legions of angels. Oh, excuse me. Quoted it wrong. More than 12 legions of angels. You know what he's telling us? He has that power now to protect us. Because we're... that's our brother. We call on your brother. Your brother is going to, you know, whatever needs to be done, I'll do it. How powerful is that? You know what 12 legions... a legion is 6,000. A legion is 6,000 in the Roman army. Unless my math is wrong. That's 72,000 angels.

72,000 angels that he can call. He says more than that. How powerful is that? You go back to the time of Hezekiah where the Sennacherib and the Rabshakkah surrounded Israel and one angel. Go back and read it. You can read it in Isaiah. You can read it in Chronicles. You can read it in Kings. He tells you that. One angel. He called one angel that night. Just one angel and he wiped out 185,000 men in their sleep.

72,000? Do you know using that same equation in one night?

12 legions of angels would kill 13 and a half billion people on earth. There's not 13 and a half billion people on earth. How about that? That is the power that God has given to us as being part of the family of God. Let me wrap this up. To me, that's very powerful. That candy I gave you, that lifesaver, that's a physical earthly lifesaver. And if you hold it in your mouth, maybe three to five minutes. God, Christ said, I'm your lifesaver. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Those are His exact words. So maybe we all need to use that power. Use that lifesaver that we sometimes forget about. Because He's always ready. See, we need and we have. We just must never forget we have a heavenly lifesaver.