What an amazing weekend Easter incredible, so exciting, so thankful for the good things happening in church life. It was in church news, but just want to personally invite you. If you're new to Free Church, maybe you've been here a few weeks or a few months, or maybe a few years and you've never experienced the freeway. We want to invite you today. It happens today immediately found service. There are three weekends that it takes place and this is the first one Freeway 101. We talk about heart, vision and just really it's the path to membership, and so, if you've been kicking the tires for a while, like we always say around here, there is no place near this place like this place, so this must be the place. So come on, check it out. We'd love to see you. Light refreshments, childcare provided, immediately found service. Just follow the signs that say this way to freeway and we can't wait to see you there. Amen, church. Well, listen, I'm ready to preach God's word. Are you ready to receive it today? All right, two of you, thank you. It's like you guys have an Easter hangover or something like oh, we work so hard.

The year was 2018, and it was the year that the twins, in their illustrious baseball careers in Oak Park were playing what was called Junior Bronco. It was for 9 and 10-year-olds. Then the next year they would go up to Bronco. For this year they were in Junior Bronco Eli's team. Well, he had a lot of fun on that team. I can tell you that they didn't win very many games. Eli was always one of the standouts, of course, because he's my son and he's a standout and so whenever I tell the stories I make sure everybody knows they were the standouts. So, anyway, eli's team, they had a fun year and their jerseys were orange. That's all I remember. Really, I don't remember the name, team name or anything, but you know, in Oak Park, if you're familiar with Oak Park at all, the baseball community over the years has been pretty competitive and it's like, oh yeah, oak Park.

When we were moving here in 2012, people told us Oak Park is a baseball community, like this is a baseball village, and we're like, oh, okay, and actually that year they won the state title for baseball in high school and so we got here and got the boys into baseball and Eli was playing in this 2018 season in junior Bronco. Didn't have a great year, but everybody makes the playoffs and they were into the playoffs against the number one seed and the number one seed, looking back at it now, had some kids at that time that you knew. They were pretty good baseball players and those kids are actually on their way to play college next year in some D1 schools and they were a good team. Well, because they were the number one seed, they had this idea that they should let everybody know they're the number one seed and the team name the sponsor company that sponsored that team was called Legacy and they decided to make their own hats for this particular playoff series. And so, instead of having the generic Oak Park hat that all the other teams were wearing, they showed up with these real crisp, flat bill with a big L for legacy and they just came out like we're the number one seed, everybody's gonna bow to us, we're gonna win it. But little did they know Eli's little team, little orange jersey team with the basic generic hat being in last place at the time, came walking out with a different idea and and they were like we might be down on the bottom but we're not going to stay on the bottom. And you know, eli's team pulled off the biggest upset in baseball history in Oak Park and they beat that number one team. Hey, listen. Afterwards I asked the boys did they have an L on their hat for legacy or for loser? Because pride goes before a fall. You don't make your own hat in Little League. Come on somebody. You wear the T the league hat.

But it's the year I learned no matter how far down you feel, you can always get back up again. So why don't you lean over to your neighbor and just say, hey, don't call it a comeback. And to the one you ignore at all service, just bump up and say because I've been here all the time, if you know? You know Three of you know, just wait. Three of you know, just wait. Listen, we're starting an all new series. First of all, can I tell you how good God is like. What a year we've had. I'm so thankful. Just the way God's moving man. It just feels like Sundays have been so encouraging to me. I hope they have been for you and I'm just going to let you know keep pressing in. You're still on your way to your best year yet.

But this series is entitled Don't Call it a Comeback. Don't Call it a Comeback. And this is really not, for this is not only for those of us who are in the shouting stage, but this is also for the ones who maybe have tasted more dust than dream. Maybe you're looking up and you're like man. I've been confessing these things, I've been making declarations this year, I've been expressing my desire to live in overflow, but here I am and I feel like I'm still looking up. This series is for you. Don't call it a comeback. This is for the one who's fallen flat, for the one, maybe, who's just waiting for something that will shift your mindset, for you to experience all that God has for you, and it's really in life. I can tell you this it's not about the fall, but it's what you do after, because all of us the Bible says in Romans 3, 10, have fallen short of the glory of God. All you know what the Greek word for all is All You're welcome. I went to college for that one.

Proverbs 24, 16 is our key verse through this series and it says this for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes. We're going to lean into that first half of that verse. For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again. Everybody say seven times.

The Bible is pretty interesting when you study numbers in the Bible and by numbers I don't mean the book of numbers, because if you do that, I can promise you you will be sleeping in two minutes it's like Joe beget John, beget James, beget Julius, beget Julian, beget Julie Numbers is not a riveting read for most of us, not like a riveting read for most of us. But when you study numbers from the Bible you learn some things about, again, the character of God and you learn some things about the practice of what God wants to do and what I can tell you. This is in life. You'll find God through everything. Wait did I. You'll find God through everything. Wait did I. You'll find God through everything. And so it's interesting for me to point this out to you the number seven.

When the Bible says the righteous fall seven times, it's interesting. The number seven. Why would the writer be inspired through God's spirit to write this word? Why would the Proverbs, why would Solomon write this to us? And here's what I will tell you the number seven is the number for divine completion. It's the number for divine perfection. You've heard people say well, seven is God's favorite number. I don't know so much about that, but it is the number of rest. God rested on the seventh day of creation week, so seven is significant. Now, also, I would tell you that maybe you didn't know this, but seven is also the number for forgiveness. Remember, jesus says when they ask, should we forgive somebody, he says 70 times seven, which the principle is not for you to learn how to multiply 70 times seven, the principle is unlimited.

So when we talk about, though, you fall seven times, here's a capsule of you're falling into this number. It's like, oh, you might count it a failure, but God is calling it a setup. And you might think, oh, man, I just can't ever get it right. And God's like, no, actually you're reaching into divine completion and divine perfection, as long as you get back up, because it's not about the fall, it's what you do after. I'm sorry, I'm screaming. I'm not screaming at you, I'm screaming with you, but it's what you do after the fall. And so, really, when we think about this, it's like the number seven significant, because you need to know there is unlimited forgiveness for you.

Jesus, when he died on the cross, he died for your past sin, your present sin and your future sin. Sin, your present sin and your future sin. It doesn't mean you should go out and sin. We're not sinless, we're trying to sin less. But it is the practice of our lives that we're going to make mistakes and we're going to fall, and no one's perfect except him, no one's righteous except him, and because of his righteousness I can be right, righteous, right standing with God, only because of him, no one's righteous except him, and because of his righteousness I can be right, righteous, right standing with God, only because of him. So yeah, fall seven times, but you know what? It's a part of the unlimited forgiveness and God's grace for our life. But there's another thing about this falling seven times, because if you're getting back up after falling seven times, that means you're getting back up on the eighth try, and eight is the number of new beginnings. So as long as you'll get back up, there's always an opportunity, there's always something for you.

Can I preach about two seconds about God being the God of second and third and fourth chances? That, hey, you're not seeing me on my first time around the block, you're not seeing me on my first experience. You're getting me five, six, seven, eight times after God's grace found me again and again and again. He's the God of second chances and as long as he's the God of second chances, we're never going to count you out. We'll never count you out. I think about all the places, all the places God was willing to find me and search for me. Some of you just need to be thankful that God knew where you were. He knew where you were. So here's the question of the series Is it just a comeback or is it a calling? Because I believe your comeback is not the destination, it's the doorway to your destiny.

Everybody loves a comeback story. Hollywood man, hollywood will make some money on a comeback story. The washed up fighter, the overlooked quarterback, the man, the dreamer who just never got off his feet man, hollywood will make some money on a comeback story. But can I tell you that you know why a comeback story is good? Because it's got a certain amount of drama to it. They pull you in, they get you to love the main character, they get you to love like man you just like, and then you find yourself rooting for the main character. Can somebody say, adrian, I mean and you know everybody's thinking about Rocky right now but Hollywood will build on that drama of the comeback story? But I'm going to tell you, heaven's really not about the drama, it's about redemption. And when we look at people who have made it through a lot to get to where they were supposed to be, I'll just take some ideas for you in terms of like, just kind of real world, like Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln was 23 when he lost his first job and lost his first election. He was 26 when he lost his first love. At 29, he lost an opportunity to be speaker. At 39, he lost an opportunity for a federal appointment. At 49, he lost the Senate race. But at 52, he became the 16th president of the United States.

Fall seven times. It's okay, get back up. It's not a comeback, it's a calling. Colonel Sanders, get ready.

At 65, regardless of the thousand rejections in front of him that he had faced, for my God, nobody having an idea that he had a recipe that would produce some finger-lickin' good chicken. And when everybody else is about to retire, he kept pressing forward. And now, worldwide, there is a KFC on almost every corner. It's what we lived by on Sunday growing up as a kid a bucket of chicken. Listen, you knew it was. I used to pray for good church on Sunday morning, because if dad preached good. On Sunday morning we would drive through KFC on the way home. Jesus, help us with those biscuits and honey. It was just the idea, the comeback. It's just refusing to give up, refusing to be the one to just be like, oh, I guess it's not for me. No, it's not just a comeback, it's a calling.

Well, let's look at the scripture. What does the Bible say about comebacks and different people? Well, what about David? You would say. Well, pastor Chuck, david was anointed to be king and they sing songs about David, like Saul killed thousands, but David killed 10,000. He killed one at the time, actually Killed one One, he killed one, and they sang songs that he killed 10,000. That's a pretty good record. But I will tell you this, I will tell you this David, he did make mistakes. In fact, one of the mistakes the Bible mentions, like how great David was, saved the whole idea with one person and that person's husband. And so David had, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, made the wrong decision, had a moral failure which led to adultery, which led to murder. But in Psalm 52, david writes, says this he says Created me a clean heart and renewed me a right spirit, o Lord, and that posture of his heart, the willingness to get back up on his feet again, is what made God say this is a man after my own heart Failure, and all but a man after my own heart Moses.

We talked about Moses in our series a few months ago. We talked about how Moses. He murdered somebody, he killed an Egyptian and then he ran for 40 years. And then he comes back to Egypt to say let my people go. Was it a comeback or was it a calling man? I could go on and on.

Again, read through the book of Hebrews, chapter 11. It's called the Hall of Fame of Faith and when you read their stories, it's all these people that, by faith, by faith, by faith by faith by faith, and you're like man. Those are amazing people, powerful, perfect people, no, powerful people that didn't give up. They got back up because they were called, called to get back up. And then we get to Simon Peter, good old Simon. Good old Simon, who was never afraid to say anything. Simon who walked on water.

Simon who was like when Jesus says who do you? Say I am, and everybody said well, some say you're a prophet, you're like Elijah, some say you're, and Jesus says no, no, no, not. What does everybody else say? Who do you say I am? And Simon, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said you're the Christ the anointed one. It was the first time Jesus was called the anointed one. Christ the anointed one. It was the first time Jesus was called the anointed one. And Jesus says, simon, upon that revelation we think it was on Simon, it wasn't on Simon, it was on the revelation Jesus is not going to build his church on you, he's going to build his church on the revelation of what you just said, what you believe, that you are the son of God, you are the anointed one. And Jesus says upon this rock I'll build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And the gates of hell never have that Simon.

That Simon, that was like when Jesus was in the last supper moments and in the garden of Gethsemane, and all these moments where Jesus is like listen, you guys are all gonna, you're out the door, you're going Never, never will I forsake you. I'll go all the way with you, jesus. And Jesus says, well, that I know that's what you wanna say, but actually you're gonna deny me three times before the rooster crows in the morning. And Simon's like never, that's not me. All those guys, maybe it's those guys, it's not me. And sure enough, three times before the rooster crowed in the morning, peter had denied Jesus. He said things like I don't know what you're talking about, I don't know who you're talking about, I don't know that person myself. And Jesus goes to the cross.

And you know what's interesting, if you read the scripture we don't have time to look at it, but you can mark it, it's in notes that were sent out today Luke, chapter 22. It's interesting to me that the last time Peter denied Jesus was around a fire, and actually the Bible says that when Peter said I do not know him, jesus was not far from Peter, because Peter had been off a distance, watching what was happening, keeping himself warm by a fire. And as soon as he denied him the third time, jesus looked at him and they caught eyes. And as soon as he denied him the third time, jesus looked at him and they caught eyes. And so Peter is like man. What Jesus said has come true I'm done, I'm down, I'm out. No, you're not, because the righteous will fall seven times, but they get back up. You may get knocked down, but you're not going to get knocked out. You may be pressed, you may be persecuted, but you're not destroyed. You may be crushed, but you're not at ruins, like the scripture declares. In everything that we face, jesus says listen, there's going to be problems in the world, in your world. There's going to be problems for you, but take heart, I have overcome the world. So Simon has this moment and I want to lean in now to John, chapter 21, and we'll begin reading with verse 15. John, chapter 21, verse 15. This is after the resurrection. So Jesus was crucified, laid in a borrowed tomb, rose on the third day. We celebrated last week so beautifully. What about that choir man week so beautifully, what about that choir man? So 2115 starts here.

And when they had finished eating, jesus said to Simon Peter Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, lord, he said you know that I love you. And Jesus said feed my lambs. And again Jesus said Simon, son of John, do you love me? And he answered yes, lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus said take care of my sheep. And the third time he said to him Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time do you love me? And he said Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. And Jesus said feed my sheep. Know that I love you. And Jesus said feed my sheep. You know? It's pretty amazing to me, because what Jesus does in this moment is so critical in the calling of our lives.

What Jesus does not say is Simon, why did you deny me? Hey, simon, why did you follow at such a far distance and act like you didn't know me, simon? Why did you have such a bold declaration before the cross? And then, when the real heat was on, you just faded? He said none of that. He said Simon, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?

And for every time that Simon had denied Jesus, jesus gave the calling in his life again to feed the sheep, take care of the lambs, feed the sheep, guide, lead, direct, speak, share love. Do what you're called to do, simon, regardless of what happened yesterday. Today's a new day. Seven times you fell. Get up on number eight, the new beginning, and start again. And he's setting this up for us. And so you can see. I mean jesus. Do you have to ask him three times? Well, probably not, but for the impact of the idea of what we're talking about, the idea of it's not a comeback, it's a calling. It's not just about getting back up, it's getting back in. So I just was studying this and I'm just going to tell you it was crazy to me that as I read this, it occurred to me that they were if you read in John 21, verse 9.

In verse 9, the Bible says that Jesus was by a fire and he was cooking fish, and the word for fire in that moment is like charcoal fire. It's like so it's this fire. It's a very specific fire that we're reading about in John 21, 9. It's only used one other time in scripture and you want to know when that fire was used in scripture one other time? The third time, peter denied Jesus when he was standing by a fire to keep himself warm. So in one setting by a fire, simon's denying Jesus for the third time and in the same setting of a fire, jesus is saying get back up and get back in. You're not done yet.

Church, can I tell you, if you're still living, god's not done. If you're still here, god's not finished. And the reality is there is a call of God on every one of your lives. It might not be a call to preach from this stage or to sing on this stage, but you are called to make a difference in the world you live in. And the reality is the world is waiting on you to get back up and get back in the game, because it's just not about getting back on your feet, it's getting back into your function. It's not just a rescue, it's a recommissioning. God's not just trying to fix what's broken, he's trying to activate what's buried in your life.

Peter didn't get called back into the circle, he got called back on mission. I could spend time to talk to you about the ultimate comeback. We celebrated last week the cross. Jesus did not rise again just for the banner to be called the risen one. He did it so we could walk with him. He didn't just do it to recover what was lost. He did it so that we could live redeemed.

And so today I wanna ask you, as we close are you living in recovery or in your calling? Are you living in your recovery or your calling? Your comfort zone or your calling? Have you settled for survival when God is calling you to serve? Are you on your feet, but not in the field. God is not calling you to get back up. He's calling you to get back in, and this is your moment. I know I'm speaking to somebody that walked in today wondering is God going to do what he promised to do? And the answers are resounding yes. But maybe it's time to stop waiting on God and start getting up and moving forward. Get back in, serve, get involved, give, give your time, Give your talent, give your treasure. This is your moment.

Stop replaying the fall and start embracing the invitation. Oh, we love the fall. We love the fall. You know what happened. We rehearsed that fall. It gets better. We tell it better. It has more like we learn certain cues and certain words that make everybody go wow, yeah, wow. Stop replaying the fall. Let's get back into this embrace of what God wants to do in us, because the righteous fall seven times, but the righteous get back up again, not just to walk, not just to breathe, but to build, to serve, to love, to lead Church family. This is not a comeback, this is your calling. Can you receive that word today?