The doors of grace are always open

Big Ideas

• Grace is completely free
• Grace has nothing to do with your intentions, attitude, faithfulness. It only has to do with the initiative of God
• God’s action, and absolutely free
• Mark 14:66-72
• Peter is at risk just being in the courtyard
• The girl is as marginalized as possible, completely powerless
• Jesus is in front of the most powerful
• Peter is drifting away from Jesus (moving to porch)
• Aside on manuscript accuracy
• Peter is still there. He’s seen by the girl.
• She shouts his ID, escalates. There might be consequences if he tells the truth. He denies.
• Peter runs away breaking down, weeping
• I want grace to become the thing that anchors your soul
• I want it to dominate the way you read the text
• If we don’t see grace, we haven’t read the text correctly
• It’s bad. Peter is lumped in with false prophets.
• Peter is ashamed of Jesus.
• We have to read in accordance to the dominant theme
• Dawn is a sign of literary hope. It is not all lost.
• Peter remembered. What did he remember? The warning, but then also the next thing he said. “All of you are going to deny me, but when I get up, I will meet you in Galilee
• Peter realized in this moment that the prophecy is coming true. Faith. Jesus is a true prophet. He knows it. And he knows Jesus still wants him and said he would rise again.
• The angel says, “go tell the others. Especially Peter.”
• “I might still have grace as long as…”
• Grace isn’t just for small mistakes. It’s for the worst things we’ve ever done. It is limitless.

Questions

• what do you remember from youth group?
• Do you feel like it was shame or trying to keep God happy with you?
• Where is grace?
• Have you ever tried reading scripture with the assumption that every story has to be about grace? How would that change how you approach the Bible? Do you think it’s possibly true or helpful?
• Have you read Peter’s story as him weeping from grace instead of shame?
• How much do you still feel like you need to meet some standard to keep God from being displeased with you?