Peter - Boris Jovinov - GTAN2502

Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, go therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Pastor Boris Jovinov, looking at a few of the different disciples and learning some lessons from their life. And so, before we get into it, you know our custom is to pray. It's 12 o'clock already, so I'm going to try be brief, but I feel like every time I say that I'm not. But I'll do my best. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you because like Peter said, where else can we go? Lord, you are everything. And we know we're not worthy. But Lord, we know you are good and that you love us. And you haven't measured anything upon our worth, but you've looked at your own son and said he is worthy. And so on the basis of his merits, I want to bless you. And so, Lord, we ask for your blessing here today. Father, the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Bible may be present here today as we look at your disciple. And may we learn some lessons for our own life in that in Jesus name, Amen. So I'm looking at Peter now. I don't know why, but I feel like I like Peter a lot and I feel like Peter makes me feel okay about myself at times. Anyone else feel that way about Peter? You know, you kind of read the Bible sometimes and you see God do some really amazing things and you almost put them on like there's us, the level of us as humans, and then there's God way over there. And then somehow you put like your Moses and your disciples kind of on this layer somewhere between you and God, you know what I mean? But not when it comes to Peter. When you read about Peter, it's pretty evident he's just as messed up, if not more messed up than all of us. But here's what's interesting about Peter. So the Gospels, the Bible was written some years after the event. Yeah. The Gospel of Mark, they believe, was one of the earliest books written somewhere around 40 years after the life of Jesus. Matthew was a bit later. The last Gospel written was the Gospel of John. And here's what's fascinating about that, is that in all four Gospels there is a list of the 12 disciples. What's fascinating is that as they record the list in every list, guess who comes first? Simon Peter. But was Simon Peter from the Biblical record that we have, was he the first disciple Jesus had? No. John and Simon's brother Andrew were the first. But isn't it fascinating that in every list, Simon Peter is the first one mentioned? And so it's not written chronologically. We know that because Simon wasn't the first one. Yeah. In fact, if you look at the list In Matthew, chapter 10, if you have your Bibles in Matthew, chapter 10, it's very fascinating. Matthew, chapter 10. And we'll start in verse two. We're going to read verses two, three and four, Matthew, chapter 10 and verse two, three and four. The Bible says this. We're going to Matthew, the 10th chapter. So Matthew is the first book in the New Testament. Chapters are the big bold numbers versus the little ones that you have in the text. If you don't have a Bible, you look in the pew in front of you and there should be some Bibles there that you can have access to. Matthew, chapter 10. And starting in verse two, the Bible says this. Now, the names of the 12 apostles are these. First Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, James, the son of Zebedee and John, his brother Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, James the son of Alphaeus and Lebes, whose surname was. I'm going to mess this up. Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. Now, what's fascinating in this list here, in Matthew, when it says first Simon in the Greek, this is the word prothos. Now, this word prothos is not a the first in a list, but rather the word protos here means chief, okay? Or leader of the group. And so it seems pretty clear here. And as you read the story of the Gospel, as these disciples or witnesses, like Luke, for example, or researchers like Luke for example, as they wrote a record of the story of the disciples with Jesus, it's interesting that they all start with Simon Peter first. And Matthew goes as far as to say, the leader Simon, who's also known as Peter. And then he goes on with Andrew, his brother. This seems to be pretty clear that Simon Peter is a leader amongst the 12. At least he's perceived that way many years after the event when they're recording this. And the reason that's a little confusing is because as you read along, he doesn't seem to have lots of great leadership qualities. The other thing just to kind of be aware of with Peter seems like biblically, from the information we have available in the Bible, it seems like Peter was the only one who was married. And we know this because early in Mark's gospel, in chapter two, it says that Peter's mother in law was sick. Now, I don't know about you, but it's hard to have a mother in law without a wife. Yeah. So the implication is that Peter was married. And if you just think about that, we're going to look at some of Peter's faults throughout this message pretty briefly. But when you just consider the story that you're familiar with, how much travelling was going on, how they were just sleeping under the stars, how they were going here, there and everywhere, and to just consider that Peter also had a wife through this, that is a whole nother level of managing and sacrificing and figuring things out, isn't it? Because, I don't know you feel this way. But there is sometimes an advantage single people have. I know there's disadvantages too, trust me, I know that. That's why I'm married. But there are advantages when it comes to flexibility of being able to go here, there and everywhere, isn't there? But when you married or possibly have kids, like that changes things a lot. And so Peter was married and most likely it seems pretty evident from Scripture that he was the oldest in the group. Now let's go to the book of Mark, chapter one, and just let's have a quick look at the calling of Peter into discipleship. So mark, chapter one, and we're going to start in verse 16. So if you're in Matthew, the next book is going to be mark, mark chapter 1 and verse 16. And the Bible says this, and he walked by the Sea of Galilee, that he there is Jesus. Now Mark seems to really condense this interaction, says, and he walked by the Sea of Galilee. He saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea. Why were they casting into the sea? It tells us there, why? Because they were fishermen. Now I'm going to rush through this very quickly, but there wasn't such a thing in first century Jewish culture. If you were born a male, there was no such thing when you had a little kid of asking your child or asking the parent, oh, what's a kid going to be when they grow up? See, because every kid went to rabbinical school because the hope was that they would be smart enough and be good enough to be rabbis. You follow? And so the first level of rabbinical school was B'tsephar. What was it? B'tsephar. Now this was from ages 5 to about 10. Now during B'Tsephar, they had to these children would have to memorise the first five books of the Bible off by heart. Now I don't know how true this is, but some historians have kind of commented on this that they found some literature that indicated that one of the first classes that we have is the school happened in the synagogue, okay? And so you had all these five year old boys at the classroom waiting for their first day of school and they'd come into the classroom and there'd be little stumps as seats and on these stumps there'd be a little flat piece of slate, little flat rock. And on that flat rock would be a little jar of honey. Now you gotta remember this is before sneakers and eminem. All these 5 year olds are just coming into church and they're just seeing these little jars of honey. Mum never lets me have honey, right? And then the rabbi would say, get your fingers and cover the slate with honey. Can you imagine being a five year old boy? This is awesome. Just a sticky mess everywhere and gotta get that. And then when they'd finished covering this slate in honey, the rabbi would say, now lick the slate clean. No way. Like you just imagine like it's like the equivalent of just telling me, having your kids, I mean like eat as much chocolate as you can handle, right? And so you can just imagine these five year old boys just like, ah, this is awesome, I love school. And then the rabbi would say, may the word of God be as sweet to your lips as honey. And there was just this culture of the Bible is precious, it's important and we love this thing and it's going to bring blessing and joy. And while you're here at this rabbinical school, hopefully you're smart enough to be like me, a rabbi one day. Now they were pretty brutal when it comes to their exams. They would happen publicly and orally. In other words, what would happen? They would just say, hey Michael, stand up. And Michael would have to stand up. And the rabbi would just start quoting some scripture. I don't know what he'd quote, probably something in Leviticus. And then he just stopped. And this five year old would have to just continue from wherever he stopped. Now if he failed, it's recorded in the Mishnah that they would say, the Lord has not gifted you with smarts. Go home, learn the family trade and pray that your son is smarter than you. Yeah, that's right. New kids cry when you just get a red Cross. Brutal. Right? Now apparently if they succeeded, the rabbi would say, le Hakari. Can you say that? Throat disease. Le Hakari. And apparently that literally meant be behind me or follow me. And that was a call for them to be able to continue in their education to bet Midrash. And that was essentially from ages 10 through 12 or 13, depending on who you read. And then at the end of that, they would again have an exam. And during that period, they had to memorise the whole Old Testament, but not just the whole Old Testament. They would have to learn how to debate and argue the Old Testament. What's fascinating is we, when we see Jesus at the age of 12 at the temple, what's he doing at the age of 12 with all these scholars? He's debating the Scriptures and they're blown away. How does he know? Because he's not been to any of our rabbinical schools. Now, if they pass that test, they'd get a lehaha rai. If not, guess what they would hear. God's not blessed you with smarts. Go home and learn the family trade and pray that your son is smarter than you. Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee and he comes across Simon Peter. And what are they doing? What is Simon and Andrew doing? Why are they doing that? Because they're fishermen. Why are they fishermen? Because they're not smart. They weren't gifted with the brilliance of rabbinical expertise. They were probably with their father, praying that will be smarter than them. In fact, it's reported in the Mishnah several times in Jewish history, several times where fathers and sons would be praying that their grandchildren are better than them in the hopes that they too can one day be these religious leaders. And yet, when we're introduced to Peter, is he the excellent person who's succeeding in these schools, or is he someone who's evidently dropped out and failed out of that? He's dropped out and failed out of that, right? Jesus finds him and what is he? A fisherman. Now, let's continue reading there. In Mark, chapter one says he saw Simon and Andrew's brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, lecochari. Jesus said, follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men. And I am convinced that Peter misunderstood Jesus. And I think many of us sometimes miss the calling to discipleship that God has on every single one of us. See, what I'm convinced Peter heard is that Jesus said, come on, Peter, I need you to be a good fisherman of people. What I'm convinced Peter had heard was he come, follow me. You need to be a fisher of men. And I think what Peter missed is the promise and the call. And I don't want you to miss what I'm saying here. When God calls, he calls in the form of a promise. I need to say that again. Every time God calls, his call is made in the form of a promise. Do you see the promise here? Follow me. And what? And I will make you a fisher of men according to God, who takes responsibility for accomplishing what God has set out for you. He takes the responsibility for it. And like Peter, many of us try grab that from God and try do it on our own. And this was Peter's big problem. See, it seems pretty clear in scripture that Peter was a natural leader. You know, whenever something was happening, Peter was inquiring about it. And you know what? People who don't inquire, people that are not naturally inquiring, they generally don't make good leaders. People that are satisfied just not knowing what they don't know and don't have an itch to figure it out, they're generally not people that are good leaders. Generally, the people that have an itch that I gotta figure out this thing that I don't know, they're generally the ones that end up being good leaders. Yeah. Throughout the whole story we see Peter not having any reservations about using his mouth. In fact, some people out there call Peter the Peter, the man with a foot shaped mouth. Like literally, he's on the mount of Transfiguration and he sees God, he sees Jesus and these Old Testament prophets having a conversation and he feels he should chime in. But here's the thing. Generally leaders are not the people that are afraid to talk. Am I wrong? He was free to speak up and he seemed to have these natural abilities to be a leader. And now God has called him to be a fisher of men. By the way, in Luke we get even more details about what happened here. See, sure, he was a failure in his boat. However, what happened, according to Luke, who expands on this summary in Mark, is that they were fishing all night and had no success. And then Jesus says, can I borrow your boat for a sec? So he gets on the boat, preaches. When he's done with that, he says, hey, cast the net on the other side. Now, initially there's some reservation. They're like, we've been fishing all night. But they eventually do it. And they end up getting a haul of fish that no one in that area would have seen before. Other boats had to start coming in to help them lift the net. And it got to the point where the boat was on the verge of sinking and breaking from the amount of fish. Now, if you're a fisherman, how's that moment for your reputation? Doesn't that just set your career? And yet it's right after that that Jesus says, come, follow me. Now, what you'll often find is that God finds the worst possible time to call you. Not now. He's finally made it in his trade. Yes. And that's the very moment God decided to call him out of it. And he does it. And what we find through the rest of the Gospels is it seems like Peter missed the fact that his calling was God's promise, not his requirement. Now, this gets confusing for us, right, because we make commands that and we make promises that. But with God, his commands are his enablings. His commands are his promises. And when God called Peter, he said, follow me and I will make you what I have called you to be. Fisher of men. Now, Peter, although he was the oldest, although he was the one with the wife, although he seemed to be a natural leader, also seemed to have a bit of a complex and an insecurity. And he was always in the midst of the battle of the disciples who were fighting amongst themselves of who's going to be the greatest. But what you find with the story of Peter is that it always does this. You have a great moment and it always just finishes with rubbish. You have a great moment and it just finishes bad. Great moment, finishes bad. Great moment, finishes bad. Let me show you what I mean. Rocks and diamonds, or diamonds and rocks, actually, in Peter's case, Matthew, chapter 14. If you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew chapter 14. And we're going to start reading in verse 25, Matthew, chapter 14. And we're going to start reading in verse 25. We're going to move through this fairly quickly. So I need you guys to travel with me. Matthew, chapter 14. We're starting reading in verse 25. The Bible says this. It's a story where Peter walked on water at night. Yeah. It says 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, saying, it is a ghost. And they cried out for fear. They saw Jesus walking on the sea. And how did they feel about it? They were terrified. They thought there was a ghost coming towards them. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid. And Peter answered and said to him, lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. Now, I don't know about you, but. But I have been at night in a bad sea and I'm not trying to get onto the water. I don't know about you, but I do believe Jesus can do things. Can anyone else here believe Jesus can do things at this point? Have they seen Jesus do things? Yeah, and they're just seeing him do another thing. Peter says, I'll do it too. That's not necessarily how my brain works. I'm not like, oh, God can do it. That means I can do it. But that does seem to be how Peter is. And initially, does it seem like he has tremendous faith? Yes or no? If you were in the boat, would you just be like quietly watching? Or you'd be like, hey, man, you sure? Would there be anything in you who's like, hey, listen, man, if you go down, it's night, we're not going to find you? And yet the story starts with Peter having tremendous faith, stepping out onto the water. And how does this story finish? With Jesus rebuking him. For what? For not having faith and having a hard heart. Do you see the story? It starts off with Peter claiming and having initial great faith and finishing him with crying out, screaming out of fear as he's going under the water and being rebuked for not having faith. Two chapters later, Matthew 16. If you got your Bibles, let's turn there. This is the trend, this is the trajectory, this is the repeated pattern of Peter, Matthew, chapter 16. It says this in verse 13. When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, who do men say that I, the Son of man, am? See, there were rumours circulating about, who is this Jesus guy? And so they started saying, well, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're this, some say you're that. But then Jesus finally says to them, who do you say that I am? And Peter pipes up, Peter speaks and Simon Peter answered in verse 16 and says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And does Jesus commend him for this? Jesus commends him massively. And Jesus is like, all right, guys, you're getting it. This is awesome. Let me start teaching you the next part of my purpose. And so in verse 21, the Bible says from that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and raised. The third day, and look at what Peter says. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Now I've got A question for you. What was Peter's confession right before this? You are Christ, the Son of the living God. If you truly believe that you were speaking to Jesus, how many of us would feel like we have the right to rebuke him? There seems to be a distinction between the profession and what's true. He seems to be a person who knows how to say what's correct, regardless of whether or not that's what he believes. And then Jesus says the harshest words that he said to anyone to Peter in response to this. In verse 23, he says, but he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are an offence to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. Do you see the pattern? The story starts off with Peter looking pretty good. And how's it end? He's called Satan. Not good, right? Chapter 23. Now, pardon me. 26. Jesus comes to them and he. And he says to all the disciples, this is the night where Jesus is being betrayed and where he's going to be crucified soon. He comes to all his disciples and he says in chapter 26, verse 69, pardon me, verse 31, Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. And what does Peter say? Peter answered and said to him, even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble. Does that sound right? Does that sound like where we should be? But Jesus had to put him in his place. He said, assuredly, I say to you that this night before the rooster crows, you'll deny me three times. And then Peter disagrees with the Son of God again and he says, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And we know how the story goes right after this. Right after, he says, I'd rather die. I'm with you to the end, man. Right after that, Jesus says, okay, you're with me. I need to go to a garden because my soul's really troubled and I need you to pray for me. I'm going through something I've never gone through. I need your prayer. And Peter with James and John. We got you, Jesus. No problem. Jesus comes back terribly troubled, and what are they doing? They're asleep. He wakes them up. He said, guys, I need you to pray. Sorry, sorry. We're with you to the end. He goes and what do they do? They're asleep again. You see the trajectory? I'm with you to the end. They get aroused. The crowd's coming. The. They come to take Jesus. And then here's Peter for a great gesture again, gets his sword out and it's action time. Ends up getting rebuked. Yeah. And how does this whole thing finish? It finishes with Peter repeatedly with profanities, publicly denying that he ever knew Jesus. It's the trend. And the trend for Peter is always this. He thinks he's better than he is. And Jesus is trying to give him a reality cheque over and over and over. He's like, hey, listen, man, you need to be mindful because you are not concerned about the things of God. This is a satanic spirit in you, Peter. They might all deny you, but not me, Peter, you will. I'd rather die than Peter. Before the morning, you're going to deny me more than any of them. And his response to that is not, pray for me, it's, no, I won't. In fact, it gets really crazy when you consider how Luke reads this. Now, I won't get us to turn there. I'll just read it. Luke 22, when he talks about this event where Jesus told them that he's going to betray the way Luke writes this, it says this. It says, and the Lord said, simon, Simon, indeed. Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat. Do you see the appeal from Jesus? He's like, simon, you don't see this man, but Satan is particularly interested in you. But I've prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to me, and I love how King James Version actually words this, it says, and when you are converted. Now, that's a bit of a hard thing to understand right there, isn't it? Here is the leader of the disciples who's been with Jesus for three and a half years, who's done miracles. He's walked on water. Sure, he fell, but he walked on water. He's seen Jesus in his glory. He's seen the major Old Testament prophets having conversations with him. And yet still Jesus says, when you're converted, he has an appeal to him after. He's like, when you are converted, strengthen your brethren. But again, Peter responds. He's like, lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. His denial of Jesus was so public and so known that it seems clear from the text that the other disciples no longer considered him a disciple. Now, what does it mean? To be a disciple, it means you're a follower of Jesus. Yeah. So if you're publicly saying you never knew the guy, are you a follower of Jesus? So is it reasonable for them to say, hey, listen, man, you're not one of his followers anymore? Because you yourself were saying this with profanities. But not only that. There's a moment that happens in Matthew, chapter 26, and it's when the rooster crows. See, sometimes it's hard for us to be honest with ourselves. And so we tell ourselves that we are what we wished we were in hopes that that's what we'll be, rather than looking into the mirror and seeing who we really are. And up to this point, Peter has over and over and over and over again saying stuff that he wished was true, regardless of it being true. I'd rather die than deny you. I'm with you to the end. And then next minute, beep, beep, beep, beep. I've never knew him. And then the rooster crows and he realises he has to have that look in the actual mirror. And he sees that he's not a man of faith, he is not worthy to be a leader. He's not someone who's better than the rest. Not only is he not better than the rest, he is worse than the rest. And the Bible says that he just broke down and wept bitterly. And I do believe that that was the conversion Jesus prophesied. In the last chapter of the Book of John, Jesus has another interaction with Peter. But before that, we learned from the Book of Mark that when Jesus was resurrected, the angel had to tell the ladies to say, hey, go tell the disciples and Peter to meet me there. Now, why did he have to say, and Peter? Well, because he wasn't regarded a part of the disciples anymore. Do you follow? Anyway, chapter 21 of the book of John, Jesus sits down with all the disciples. Well, actually, not all the disciples. I think there's about seven of them there, but with other disciples there, and they're sitting by a fire. Now, don't miss this. The last time we've seen Peter in action, what was he beside? He was beside a fire. And what was he doing beside a fire the last time? Denying him. Promising he never knew him. Promising with profanities that he never knew him. And now Jesus is resurrected. He's called the disciples and Peter. And then he sits down and this seems nasty, but it's not. In verse 15, it says this. So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these. That's an uncomfortable moment. Can you imagine that moment right there? What's the last thing that they really heard from you in action? They might all deny you, but I never will. Isn't that the last thing that they really heard from him when he was considered a disciple? I'm better than them. I love you more than them. I can see Jesus, how you think they could deny you, but me? Never. And then Jesus sits down with all of them, and he's like, peter, do you love me more than these? And Peter says to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Now, we miss this in English. See, in the original, Jesus said to him, hey, Peter, do you agape me more than these? Now, agape is the unquestioning, unwavering, unmerited, eternal love. It's the love that God loves you with. God agapes you. It's the unconditional, uncontrollable love. And Jesus says to Peter, peter, do you agape me? Do you love me more than these? And Peter responds in the original and says, yeah, Lord, I phileo you. Now, phileo is a brotherly love. I think the equivalent in English is like, now, I don't know if any of you remember that moment where you finally told your girlfriend you love her, but how would you feel if you finally mustered up the courage and you're like, babe, I love you. And she looks at you and she's like, I like you too. Now, this wasn't privately with Jesus. This was in front of the others. Now, don't miss this. James and John and others, do you love me more than them like you claimed you did? And in front of them, he has to look at Jesus and admit that he doesn't love him. He has to say, I like you. And look how Jesus responds. He responds by saying, feed my lambs. He responds by retrusting him with ministry. Now, what's the lesson in this? There's a powerful lesson in this, and that is that God would rather take your sincere like than your fake love. He's happy to take you as you are. Just be honest with him. Because as long as you got that Peter attitude of pretending like you're holier, pretending like your love's eternal, pretending like you agape him, the only thing he can do to you is reveal to you how fake you really are. Because if that's your heart, you still need to be converted. He's still needing to fulfil that promise that he will make you what you need to be so that he can use you. But when you see who you really are and you know it's not good enough, you know you should love him, but you know you don't. Then he looks at you and he says, feed my lambs. Jesus, the second time comes to Peter publicly, in front of everyone. And he said again a second time, simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? See, he dropped off the more than these. He says, simon, do you love me? More than these? I like you, Simon, do you love me? And again he says, I phileo you. I like you. And Jesus doesn't cast him off. He repeats, tend my sheep. And then a third time, Jesus said, simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? But this time he didn't say agape. This time he said, peter, do you even like me? Peter, do you phileo me? And the Bible says this. Peter was grieved because he had said to Him a third time, do you love me? And he said to him, lord, you what? You know all things. You know that I love youe. Translation Lord, you know everything. You know that I like youe. I wish I could say I agape you, but I actually know myself now, and I'm not worthy. I don't love youe more than these. I know that I would deny you before I die. Hey, God denied you before I could feel shame, let alone death. You know me, though. You know I wish I loved you'd. But you know that I like youe. And then Jesus says this to him, feed my sheep. And then he has a prophecy. Jesus response to this is a prophecy says, most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wish. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. It's like, what's this about? Luckily, John makes it clear for us. He says this. He spoke signifying by what? Death. He would glorify God. And when he had spoken these things to him, he said, follow me. Don't miss this. Throughout the whole Gospel, Peter's trying to be a leader. And guess who doesn't want him to be a leader? All of them. They're all hating on everybody because they're all trying to be the leader. No one's trying to let Peter be a leader. And what's recorded is Peter thinking, is this claiming is this and ending up? Is this claiming this and ending up that? Claiming this and ending up this and this and this and this and this and this. And he's Broken. He's broken. He sees who he really is and it's not good. And he's cast out. But word comes to him. Hey, Jesus wants to meet with us and he wants you to be there too. And then in front of them, Jesus says, hey, do you love me more than these? Why? Why did you do that in front of them? And let me tell you why. And I want to be very clear on this. Your secret sins confess privately to your God, but your public sins you need to make publicly right. Jesus wasn't doing this to shame him. Jesus was doing this to restore any credibility that he might be able to salvage with Peter because he could have had a private interaction with Jesus and Jesus and Peter could have been fine. And yet what was the last thing the other disciples heard? That he's somehow supreme. And yet what did they see and hear? Him cursing and denying Jesus. No, no, no. He publicly denied Jesus and said Jesus needed the disciples to hear him publicly demonstrate his conversion. Jesus ascends. In the book of Acts, the Bible tells us about 3,000 people were baptised that day. That cannot happen without any planning. Are you following what I'm saying? It can't. If someone says, I want to be baptised, you need to know where to baptise them. Yes or no? You need to know who's doing this, who do you talk to? What do you do? And there must have been some planning. Now, the Bible doesn't reveal this conversation going on, but somewhere along the lines, the Bible focuses on a preacher in Acts, Chapter two, that's delivering present truth message in a way that, other than Jesus, no one had preached with such power. And who did the group pick to present that present truth message? Who was the one who stood up and preached Peter? Now, you'd think he's the one that had no right to, but the very thing that made him the person fit for it is because without a shadow of a doubt, he's the one who understood he had no right to. Are you following what I'm saying? The clearest person in the group who knew they had no right to be used by God. That conversion, that brokenness, was the very thing that finally made Peter safe for God to use. You know, we often see people and we all do this. I do this. There are just certain people you admire for their walk with God. You just see how God uses them or you see testimonies. And often what we think, often what we assume, is that they've got something figured out, that they've got some extra abilities, they've got Some talent that you don't possess, that they've got some natural leadership quality that you don't possess. It's the opposite. You know, I heard a story this week of a surfer. It was a red flag day, which means the surfer was crazy. And they closed the beach, which is often when big good surfers go out to the big waves. And so he was out there and behind him, he heard some coughing and gurgling going on. And he's like, oh, man, someone's drowning. And he looked and it was like a young kid about half his size. And so he got into a bit of a panic, like, we've got to help this kid out. So he paddles over to him and then he started drowning because this kid grabbed him and he couldn't shake him off. And he ended up punching this kid and kicking him, doing anything he to get away from this kid. And there he was watching this kid gurgling and struggling for his life. And he tried to grab him again, but the kid just had such strength and determination that he just kept tying up his limbs and they were both going under and he found himself just intentionally having to swim to the bottom in hopes that this kid would let go and then he'd have to fight him underwater and pop up. And so finally he whistled and screamed and how. And six other surfers came to help this young kid who's about half his weight on land. He could have just put him in a headlock. But out there, it took six of them 25 minutes to get him to shore. And the surfer was wondering and pondering. It's like, how on earth is this kid so strong? And it's not that the kid's stronger, it's not that the kid's more gifted. It's not that the kid has some extra abilities. It's that that kid is desperate. That kid has one need and only one need. And so with all his focus, with all his energy, he's just trying to grab anything he can grab because he knows that he's got no hope, he's got no help, he's got nothing other than this one man that he's just trying to grab onto. Often when we see the people who we admire for their leadership and ability and giftedness and we think that they have something in them, it's the opposite. They are the ones that they have nothing to give. They know they can't overcome, they know they can't keep their promise. They know that they're worse than you and they're just so desperately in that understanding that they know that their only hope is, is to cling to the only one that can save. That's the story of Peter. He thought he was fine and as long as he did, he wasn't. But the moment he actually had ears to hear and eyes to see, he saw what he was. And when the story's finished and the life is lived, Jesus prophecy came true. From church history we know that Peter was crucified for his faith. He got to the place where he'd rather die than deny. In fact, history tells us that he was forced to watch his wife get crucified. And then after his wife was crucified, they took him to crucifixion and he pleaded with them to crucify him upside down because. Because he felt unworthy to be able to die the way Jesus died. That's not the same Peter we get at the beginning of the story, is it? I think the way you can summarise the journey of Peter is by using his own words in second Peter 3:18, how he finishes his second epistle. And this is his plea, this is his prayer, this is who he is. And this is the challenge he gives them. And it's the challenge I give you church, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and forever. Amen. Peter's story is a story of growth. And while it's interesting that as the history is recorded, it's clear he was not the leader as he kept growing and once conversion came in and he actually was broken in heart and was able to be trusted by the Lord. When history transpires and they sit down to write down who is who, it seems like all the authors gladly put him first on the list as our leader. Not because he was gifted, not because he was older, not because he was inquisitive, not because he had the ability to speak, but because he knew that there was no hope in anything but his Lord and Saviour. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, Peter's story gives me hope because the self confidence and the pride and the silliness and comparisons and all these things that I see in me, I see in him. But Father, I don't want to make the mistake that Peter made. None of us here want to make that mistake where we assume that you require us to fix us. But Lord, what we understand is that you've made a promise to each and every one of us and that is that you will finish the work that you began. And Father, our hope, our prayer, our invitation to you is to come into our life and help us to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour. May to you be glory now and forever. Amen. This message was made available by the Murwillumbah Seventh Day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit their Facebook page. Murwillumbah Seventh Day Adventist Church This programme has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia radio.