It's about 8.30 here in the morning on the 1st of February. It's a Saturday morning. Mark's been reading through the Gospels. Today he's going to read through the last chapter of the Gospel of John, John 21. This of course is the story about God through His Son Jesus Christ, resurrecting Christ and Jesus showing Himself to His disciples. again and they were together Simon, Peter, Thomas, Didymus, Nathanael, sons of Zebedee and two other disciples and Simon says he's going to go fishing and they fished all night and didn't catch anything and so when the morning came Jesus stood on the shore the disciples didn't realize it was Jesus Jesus said to them, Children, have ye any mate? And they answered him, No. He said, Cast your net on the other side of the ship. They cast therefore, and they were not able to draw because of all the fishes they caught. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved, that speaking of himself, John, said unto Peter, It is the Lord. And when Simon Peter heard it, he girded his fisher coat unto him, and cast himself into the sea. The other disciples came into the ship, dragging the net with fishes. As soon as they came to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and a fish laid there on bread. Jesus said, bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Peter went up and drew the net full of great fishes. There were 153. I find that amazing that it tells exactly the number of fishes they caught, 153. And Jesus said, come and dine. You know, there's a song that's written after that. Come and dine, the master calleth, come and dine. We may feast at Jesus' table all the time. Jesus fed the multitude, turned the water into wine, till the hungry calleth now, come and dine. It says this was the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was risen from the dead. And that's when Jesus asked Simon three times if he loved him and told him to feed his sheep. The third time he asked Peter that, he said, Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. And then Jesus tells him that when he's older he's going to stretch forth his hands and another shall gird thee. I think that's signifying that Peter was going to be crucified like he was. It says he spake, he signified by what death he should glorify God. Then Peter kind of wanted to know what was going to happen to John. Peter said, Jesus said, if I will die, he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? He did not say he was not going to die. He said, if I will tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Anyway, this ends up with saying that This is the disciple which testifies of these things. So John's identifying himself as the person that was asking the question. And then John concludes the whole chapter by saying, there are also many other things which Jesus did, the witch, if they should be written, every one, I suppose that every, even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. So Christ It was a lot more actions that Christ did that were recorded according to John here. So I'm going to turn this over to Mark and have him read the entire chapter. I hope you all have a blessed weekend and I hope you enjoy this reading. 21 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at sea at Tiberias, and on his wife showed he himself. 22 They were together, Simon, Peter, and Thomas, called Didymus, and Nathanael of Canaan, Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. 23 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing, they say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, entered to his ship, made a lay, and that night they caught nothing. When the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, and the disciples knew that it was Jesus. And Jesus saith unto them, Shall I have any meat? They answered him, No. He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of this ship, and ye shall find that cast therefore. Now they were not able to draw it, for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple of Jesus loved saith unto Peter, is a lord that when Simon Peter heard that it was a lord he girded his fisher's coat up to him he was naked and did cast him into the sea and the other disciples came in a little ship but they were not far from land so were 200 cubits dragging the net with fishes as soon as they were come to land they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid there on and bred Jesus saith unto them, Bring ye the fish which ye have now caught. So Peter went up and drew the net to a land full of great fishes, a hundred and fifty and three. For all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Saith unto them, Come and dine. None of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord? Jesus said, cometh and taketh bread, and giveth him, and fish likewise. Now the third time Jesus showed himself to the disciples, after he was risen from the dead. So when they had died, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee, saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee, saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he said it the third time. Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee, saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest with her that wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and others shall gird thee, and carry thee with her that wouldest not. Thus he spake, he signifying, but what death he should forify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter turneth about, the same disciple whom Jesus loved, followed, which also being on his breast at supper time, said, Lord, which is he that betrayed thee? Peter, seeing him, saith unto him, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will, that he shall tarry till I come, was that to thee? Follow thou me. There went this saying abroad, among the brethren, that this disciple should not die, yet Jesus said unto him, He shall not die. If I will not eat tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifies of these things, who wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, to which if they should be written every one. I suppose even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written therein. Amen. You know, this particular account of Peter was one of the things that was instrumental in me writing a poem entitled, All the Elector Like Peter. I've read it many times before. I'm going to try to find it on here in my poem book. Sometimes when I something comes to my mind I can't find things very fast but all the elect are like Peter we give Peter a pretty hard time sometimes but what he did when he said he would never deny Christ and he would die for him and everything else and then we see his actions how quickly he changed his position when He saw that Christ was in major trouble and anyone that was associated with him was going to also get in major trouble. And he denied Christ three times before the cock threw Christ. I want to read this poem to you. It's entitled, All the Elect are like Peter. Peter denied the Lord three times and swore he never knew him, but he had been chosen before time began. Satan has desired to sift you, and you will turn away. But I have prayed for you, Peter, and you will be okay." Full of fear and anger, Peter denied he knew the Son of God. How many times have we denied Him too? Satan has desired to sift us as well. But if Christ has prayed for us, we will never suffer hell. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned every one to his own way. But the Lord has laid on him the nickety of his soul. So if the Father has given us to his Son, when asked by Christ, Lovest thou me? Our answer can only be, Because thou hast prayed for me. Our only hope is in the work of Christ, not because we've done anything nice. So that concludes this reading of the chapter of John. Monday, we're going to take a break tomorrow and Monday because we're going to be out of town. One of our brothers in Christ, I'd like to request a prayer for him. His name is Brother Len Terry. He's very sick. He lives in Harrison, Arkansas and he's asked us to come down and taking to his doctor's appointment. We're going to be gone the next two days, Sunday and Monday. We'll be back again Tuesday morning. I may take my computer and try to do it in the motel room down there, but we'll just have to see on that how things go. God bless. Hope you have a blessed day.