Alive - by Dave Smith

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completely implausible to think that Peter could have changed so completely without him being utterly convinced that the same Lord who he had betrayed and who had been killed on the cross on Good Friday, was alive again on Easter Sunday. It seems as if Jesus particularly went out of his way to convince Peter. We know from a couple of references that on the first Easter, sometime after Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene and the women followers, he appeared to Peter individually (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5). Jesus then appeared to Peter a second time, this time with the other disciples on the evening of that same day, and then a third time, a week later when he interacted with Thomas (the subject of the previous chapter). But Jesus wasn’t finished. This brings us to the second defining explanation for Peter’s transformation: which was that Jesus went to great lengths to personally free Peter from any sense of guilt and shame for his past failure. You may have been reading about Peter and thinking that you, too, have struggled with failure. Maybe you aren’t sure whether you will ever be able to be free from the crippling hold it has on you. Please take encouragement from Peter’s story and know that Jesus is here for you too, and is longing to help you. As I said in my book 40 Days with Jesus, I truly believe that, with him, ‘Your future is greater than your failure; the call is greater than the fall!’ 3 PAUSE AND PONDER Take a moment to consider these words: ‘Your future is greater than your failure.’ Why not ask the Lord to free you to live out your future with him?
FREEDOM FROM PRESENT FRUSTRATION Can you recall a time when, despite your best efforts, things just weren’t working? A particular season of my life comes to mind. We’d moved as a young family from Oxford to Peterborough to start the local church that we now lead. There were lots of pressures – including living in a brand-new city, with very little disposable income. Karen was at home raising our young girls; I was holding down a teaching job, trying to finish my doctorate as well as helping with the family. Most challenging of all, we were trying to get the new church established. I remember the extreme sense of discouragement and the pain of feeling like I was failing, badly. I prayed to God, offering my resignation, which he didn’t accept! As I look back it’s evident that, tough as it was, this was a crucial season of what I call root work rather than fruit work, when, despite a lack of outward growth, we were learning to put deep roots down into God, into his Word and growing in our conviction that he had indeed called us. In fact, those acute feelings of frustration and failure helped produce in me a growing sense that my goal was not to try to make things happen in my own strength, but to depend on the Lord and his wisdom and power. This is a journey that I’m still on decades later! All of us face struggles and challenges in life. Right now, you may be very aware of a sense of frustration and failure – or may have a vague feeling that something’s not right, but you can’t seem to identify why. If so, there are at least three key lessons from the first part of the story in John 21, which we are going to look at now. BIBLE EXTRACT: THE MIRACULOUS CATCH OF
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Dave Smith invites us on a journey
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and fulfilled. A life where it’s
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I want to say a huge thanks to a nu
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Instagram a while back: ‘You wake
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eyond our physical and psychologica
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4. A future life in heaven Widely a
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only £150?’ The wife replied,
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3. On the first Easter morning, the
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second question of how Jesus’ res
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At 2.20pm, 5 April 1982, I ‘fell
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used to refer to romantic or sexual
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and controversial biblical characte
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teach us about the seeming absence
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testimony of female witnesses would
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16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ S
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What’s clear is that this was not
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THE ETERNAL DIMENSION OF LOVE One o
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Page 38 and 39: FURTHER REFLECTION 1. In the light
Page 40 and 41: It was a day not to be forgotten in
Page 42 and 43: group that didn’t survive: ‘The
Page 44 and 45: an all-loving, all-powerful God who
Page 46 and 47: 25 He said to them, ‘How foolish
Page 48 and 49: By the end of the journey, their
Page 50 and 51: deliverer had just suffered the mos
Page 52 and 53: of Paul’s conversion on the road
Page 54 and 55: HE’S WELCOMED Despite Jesus being
Page 56 and 57: Presumably there was something abou
Page 58 and 59: FURTHER REFLECTION 1. Take a moment
Page 60 and 61: The longing for inner peace is univ
Page 62 and 63: For example, it may be that as you
Page 64 and 65: True peace was at the heart of God
Page 66 and 67: sense of release, turn your palms u
Page 68 and 69: esponse to a perceived threat or po
Page 70 and 71: Spirit.’ The word ‘righteousnes
Page 72 and 73: To fulfil this new purpose, we must
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Page 76 and 77: Spirit) when his followers are meet
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Page 80 and 81: CHAPTER FOUR LIVING IN FREEDOM
Page 82 and 83: • Sweetheart died in 1835. • Ha
Page 84 and 85: est predictor of future behaviour i
Page 88 and 89: FISH Afterward Jesus appeared again
Page 90 and 91: PAUSE AND PONDER If you are current
Page 92 and 93: Bible, he also speaks specifically
Page 94 and 95: vital that we don’t let it stop u
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Page 100 and 101: Peter clearly took Jesus’ advice
Page 102 and 103: FURTHER REFLECTION 1. Are you strug
Page 104 and 105: I’ve always been a bit of a dream
Page 106 and 107: Neither - Emmons had hit the wrong
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Page 110 and 111: 1. A TRANSFORMED MOTIVATION Saul’
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Page 116 and 117: living life as if there was no eter
Page 118 and 119: fallen asleep in Christ are lost. I
Page 120 and 121: of what that this will look like. T
Page 122 and 123: PATHWAY So far we’ve established
Page 124 and 125: sanctified by faith in me’ (Acts
Page 126 and 127: just that we can meet with the rise
Page 128 and 129: CONCLUSION FULLY ALIVE, FOR THE RES
Page 130 and 131: utilise the prayer of invitation th
Page 132 and 133: Even if you are convinced in the re
Page 134 and 135: his death under Pilate and his gath
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APPENDIX B: HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT
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to the fact he was about to suffer
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TOMB As we look at the accounts of
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• To groups of men and groups of
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them by others. The apostles died f
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ENDNOTES INTRODUCTION: FULLY ALIVE
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The book is also the basis for a sm
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Demands a Verdict (Nashville, Tenne
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FURTHER ALIVE RESOURCES Now you hav
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