Participants: Pr. C.A. Murray (Host), Jill Morikone, Molly Steenson, Pr. Tom Ferguson, Shelley Quinn
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP000013S
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00:01 The Bible tells us
00:23 Our study today is Feed My Sheep 00:27 First and Second Peter 00:32 Hello and we welcome you to 3ABN Sabbath School Panel 00:37 Hope you're having a wonderful day and we're gonna have a 00:40 wonderful time because we're moving into a brand new quarter 00:43 a brand new area of study and we study the life of one of those 00:48 very large figures in the New Testament and that is the 00:51 Apostle Peter so there is much to say. And I do want to take 00:55 a moment to say if you want to get the study guide so that 00:59 you can study along with us and perhaps prepare for teaching 01:04 yourself, you can get the study guide at 01:07 absg that's alpha, boy, sam God.adventist.org 01:15 and we'd like you to get that so that you can study along with us 01:18 To my left Molly Steenson. Molly good to have you here. Thank you 01:22 Vice President and General Manager. And a new face 01:25 with someone that we certainly respect and love, 01:27 Pr. Tom Ferguson. Pastor of the Marion District. We could name 01:31 all of the churches that you pastor but it's only in our show 01:34 So we'll just stay with the Marion District which is what 01:37 you do, superintend almost all of the churches in S. Illinois 01:41 Some of them, yes. And good to have you with us all. 01:44 Good to be here. Shelley Quinn. 01:47 Program Development Manager and so many many hats as we all wear 01:51 Good to have you hear. Thank you And Jill Morikone who is the 01:55 Administrative Assistant to Danny Shelton and a student of 01:58 the Word and a speaker in her own right. Good to have you all 02:01 with us. As we mentioned, we're talking about the Apostle Peter 02:05 And when we think of Mr. Peter Brother Peter, Apostle Peter 02:12 the story of Peter is really a study in redemption 02:16 It is a study in the grace of God and the growth of one 02:20 who can even overcome, Ellen White says we can overcome 02:24 cultivated tendencies and natural tendencies 02:27 somethings you pick up along the way, somethings your parents 02:30 give you and you gotta fight against those things. Sometimes 02:34 that your parents give you and those things that you pick up 02:36 along the way, and so looking at the life of Peter we see 02:40 the life of someone who brought a lot of baggage to the gospel 02:45 to be kind, but who was able to overcome that baggage and 02:50 here's what we can take hope ladies and gentleman 02:53 even after he was converted, he had some growing to do 02:58 and there were times when he fell, after his conversion 03:04 and yet Christ stuck with him pre-conversion and the Holy 03:09 Spirit stuck with him post conversion. And he became a 03:14 pretty useful tool in the hand of God for the salvation of the 03:17 souls of men and women. So that says to me, even me, I can be 03:22 changed, I can grow and God can use me if I surrender myself 03:28 to Him and we see that in the life of Peter. Wanna run through 03:31 the memory verse in just a moment. I'm gonna move from that 03:34 because there's a lot to say and my time is getting away from me 03:38 And the memory text says, but when he saw that the wind was 03:42 boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried out 03:46 saying, Lord save me and immediately Jesus stretched out 03:50 His hand and caught him and said to him, O you of little faith 03:55 why did you doubt? When we think of Peter and his companions 04:04 most scholars say that they were commercial fishermen, 04:07 they weren't just pole in the water type people. They were 04:09 commercial fishermen. And so when we talk about Peter, these 04:14 were men, and Peter had this kinda fisherman way of talking 04:19 and fisherman way of addressing life, kinda seafaring kinda guy 04:22 and so he was a rough person but God was able to smooth off those 04:28 rough edges and make him a powerful tool like I said before 04:33 Now before I go into something I really wanna talk about 04:36 let's have a word of prayer and so that we ask God to bless our 04:40 study. Father God we do praise You and we do thank You 04:44 for You are a good God and a gracious God and we can see in 04:50 the life of Peter so many things that are in our lives. But we 04:55 also see the trials and triumphs in the life of Peter and know 04:59 that the same God that was with him is with us. And the same 05:04 wonderful miracle working power can change lives is in God's 05:11 hands and available to us today and so bless us as we study 05:14 and we thank you in Jesus' name Amen. 05:18 You know one of the things about studying, I think we've said 05:20 this before, we study more for one day than we do sometimes 05:23 for the whole lesson and we get so much material we don't know 05:26 where to digest it and boil it down to. But there are couple 05:29 things I do want to talk about that I do want to move into 05:38 Peter and his companions, looking into our Sunday lesson 05:42 had been fishing all night. These were commercial fishermen 05:45 they knew how to fish. This was not something that was alien to 05:47 them or new to them. And they had caught nothing. 05:51 Peter I see as an honest soul 05:59 but one who, who quick to speak 06:04 spoke much more than the other disciples 06:06 and spoke from his heart but didn't always know what he's 06:11 saying. Sometimes you make some pretty bold statements. 06:15 And you mean them when you say them. But you forget that 06:21 there's an adversary and that adversary is very good at 06:26 you know there are three people that know you. 06:31 The Lord knows you, the devil knows you and you think you 06:35 know you. Of the three you're really the last on the list. 06:41 The devil knows you better than you know yourself. 06:43 He studies humanity and the Lord certainly knows you better than 06:46 you know yourself. So when you make these promises you're 06:49 making them from your heart because you think you know 06:53 yourself and you think you're gonna keep them. But the devil 06:55 knows, you know when you say I've decided to follow Jesus 06:58 the devil says I've decided you're not gonna follow Jesus 07:02 and since he knows you a little better than you know yourself 07:06 he knows many, many ways and to come at you and to attach you 07:11 and of course the Lord knows you best. And praise God, the 07:16 Lord has more patience with us than sometimes we have with 07:20 others or with ourselves. I'm so glad to use a metaphor from 07:26 production that the Lord judges us on the video and not the 07:32 snapshot. Amen. Because if you look at the snapshots of Peter's 07:36 life, you'll say, you know. You'll toss him away. 07:39 But God looks at the video, He looks at the direction 07:42 the long-term and in the long term consequences you can see 07:46 a growth in Peter's life. But if you look at him at any point 07:49 in time you'll be saying where's the growth? Where's the change? 07:53 Because he has these times when he would lapse back. You know, 07:56 or when he would speak out of turn. Or he would speak from 07:59 the heart but not up from the head or from the head and not 08:01 from the heart. But there was growth in his life and we can 08:05 thank God for that growth. So the pro-fishermen had caught 08:10 nothing and Christ says toss your net on the other side 08:16 And they didn't want to do that. But, you're the Lord... 08:21 ok we'll do it. And then we catch so many fish that the 08:25 boats are almost ready to sink. 08:27 And now Peter is in our mindset, on the heels of that miracle, 08:32 to give the Lord the surrender that He demands. 08:36 Now what is interesting and what I wanna do before my time is up 08:39 is this. Peter saw a miracle in Jesus. And on the heels of that 08:45 miracle, in the face of that miracle he was ready to 08:48 acknowledge Him as Lord. He had contact with Him before 08:51 and the lesson brings this out but he wants to serve the Lord 08:56 but he's also faced for the first of many times with his 09:01 own, what's the word I want to use? He is humbled before 09:08 this person that he knows now is God and his natural response 09:13 is depart from me. I'm in the presence of someone who sees me 09:18 as I am and who knows me and when you got a lot of stuff 09:23 in your life it makes you wanna shrink away from God. 09:27 But of course it is the stuff in your life that demands that 09:31 you go to God. Because there is no way to rid yourself of your 09:35 stuff without God. And so we're looking at this and I saw 09:39 something quickly, I'm watching my time here 09:43 Ellen White says, but Peter was unmindful now of boats 09:46 or lading that this miracle above any other he had ever 09:52 witnessed was to him a manifestation of divine power 09:56 In Jesus he saw one who held all nature in His control 10:00 the presence of divinity revealed his own unholiness. 10:04 Love for his master, shame of his unbelief, gratitude for the 10:11 condescension of Christ, above all the sense of his uncleanness 10:17 in the presence of infinite purity overwhelmed him. While 10:22 his companions were secure in the contents of the net, Peter 10:26 fell at the Savior's feet declaring or exclaiming depart 10:29 from me for I am sinful man. That's one of the things that 10:32 happen when you come into a knowledge of who Christ is 10:35 and who you are. Your first inclination is to shrink back 10:39 But Christs says, no fear not. Come. You're coming where you 10:43 need to be. With Christ you see yourself as you really are. 10:49 We can compare ourselves with other individuals and if you 10:52 compare yourself with other individuals you'll always find 10:54 something that makes you a little better. So it's not an 10:56 accurate judge. You can compare yourself by what you see in the 10:59 mirror. You can change what you see in the mirror by changing 11:02 the mirror, changing your hair or changing your make-up or 11:05 changing whatever. That's cosmetology, not being converted 11:09 To see yourself as you really are you need to compare yourself 11:14 with Jesus. Because then you see yourself accurately. 11:18 You want to shrink back but aren't you so glad we serve 11:23 a God who says, no come on. Come. Come with your warts 11:26 come with whatever problems you have and together we will 11:29 change that. And that's what Christ did with Peter. There's a 11:34 wonderful text you know in 2 Corinthians 10:12. It talks 11:37 about we comparing ourselves with ourselves and judging 11:39 ourselves by ourselves, are not wise. We tend to do that. Ok if 11:42 I compare myself with Pastor well ok, he's better looking, 11:44 he's got more hair, I'm a better singer...you know we can always 11:47 find something to justify ourselves. When I look at Jesus 11:51 I see myself as I really am. And it actually drives me to 11:55 Jesus because if there's ever gonna be a change in my life 11:58 It's gotta come through Jesus Christ. And Peter, bless his 12:03 heart, began that walk that day Was it a smooth walk? It was not 12:08 Did it have some holes in it? Yes it did. Did it have times 12:11 where he fell? Yes it did. We're talking a little before about 12:15 that incident in Galatians where Paul and Peter had to go through 12:17 this little thing because Peter was doing some stuff to please 12:20 the brethren and not please God. So even after he was converted 12:23 he had some dips, skid marks in his life. But praise God 12:29 he became a powerful tool in the hand of God for the salvation of 12:33 souls of men. And the encouraging thing about Peter's 12:36 story is that Peter's story can be your story. You can grow 12:41 Usually it's not a straight line from earth to heaven. Usually 12:44 there's some detours, some things that go on in our life 12:47 But the good thing is that the road, though narrow, though 12:51 sometimes thorny, though some times rocky, though sometimes 12:54 it has turns and twists, it is possible to navigate through the 12:58 presence and power of Jesus Christ and that's what we see 13:01 in Peter's life. From that first call to the time, uh he denied 13:07 Christ, to the time that he became a champion for Christ 13:10 there was this growth. And you can grow even as he grew. 13:15 You will have trials in your life but praise God you will 13:19 always have triumph in Jesus Christ. And that's the good 13:24 lesson about this part. Molly. 13:27 You know I'm thinking about what you're saying. Now my 13:30 portion of the lesson comes from Matthew. So if you've got 13:34 your Bible and I hope you do, go ahead and turn to 13:36 Matthew. But I'm thinking about what CA is saying. Sometimes 13:41 I look back. Let's say over a year's period of time and I 13:45 think, Oh I have not grown this past year. But you know, 13:50 as long as you continue heading in the right direction, 13:54 I haven't made great strides but at least I'm headed in the 13:57 right direction. If you're headed in the right direction 13:59 you're going to reach your destination. Just don't turn 14:04 around, don't give up and don't be discouraged. Peter is a 14:08 beautiful example of that. Well again I've got you in Matthew 14:11 Matthew the 16th chapter, we're gonna look at several scriptures 14:15 maybe verses 1-23. So go ahead and get those scriptures found 14:20 but before I start into Matthew 16, let me kinda set this up 14:26 for you. In chapter 15, Jesus had just healed the multitudes 14:32 then he fed thousands with how many loaves and how many fishes? 14:37 7 loaves and just a few fishes. So He had just done this 14:42 incredible miracle and so now let's look at Matthew chapter 16 14:47 Again, starting in verse 1. Then the Pharisees and the Sadducees 14:52 came, and testing Him, what were they doing? They were testing 14:56 Jesus. Asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 15:00 Now they evidently weren't there because He had just done an 15:03 incredible miracle. He answered and said to them, when it is 15:09 evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red. 15:15 In the morning it will be foul weather today for the sky is red 15:19 and threatening. Hypocrites, He calls them hypocrites. You know 15:23 how to discern the face of the sky but you cannot discern 15:27 the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation 15:31 seek after a sign and no sign shall be given to it except the 15:36 sign of the prophet Jonah and He He left them and departed. 15:40 So He was not real impressed with the Sadducees and Pharisees 15:44 But now all this is happening in front of who? In front of His 15:49 disciples. In front of those He was teaching. Now let's look at 15:51 verse 5. Now when His disciples had come to the other side 15:57 they had forgotten to take bread Then Jesus said to them, take 16:01 heed and beware of the leavening of what? Of the Sadducees and 16:06 the Pharisees. So what's on Jesus' mind? Is the fact 16:10 that they forgot to take food with him on His mind? 16:13 No. It's the Pharisees and Sadducees and He's telling them 16:17 be aware, giving them a warning. Verse 7, and they reasoned among 16:22 themselves saying, it is because we have taken no bread. But 16:26 Jesus being aware of it said to them, O ye of little faith 16:30 He uses that terminology occasionally doesn't He CA? 16:33 O ye of little faith why do you reason among yourselves 16:37 because you have brought no bread? What had He just done? 16:40 He had just fed the multitudes. Do you not yet understand 16:44 or remember the 5 loaves and 5000 and how many baskets 16:49 you took up, nor the 7 loaves of the 4000 and how many large 16:53 baskets you took up. He's reminding them of the miracles 16:57 they've already seen and here they're concerned about the 16:59 same thing. How is it you do not understand that I did not speak 17:04 to you concerning bread but to beware of the leaven of the 17:09 Pharisees and the Sadducees? Finally, His disciples get it. 17:16 Jesus was warning them of the negative influence of the 17:20 Pharisees and the Sadducees. Don't we do that to our children 17:24 Warn them, don't run around with people who do this. I had a lady 17:28 tell me one time that her mother used to always warn she and her 17:32 brothers the type of people for them not to run around with 17:36 and they finally came to the realization she's describing us 17:41 We're running round with each other. So anyway we do that and 17:44 Jesus is warning them not to, of the influence of the Sadducee 17:52 and the Pharisees. And with this background Jesus has a 17:57 conversation with Peter. Our quarterly describes this 18:02 conversation as one of the grand moments in the story of 18:07 Jesus. So let's look at it, starting in Matthew 16 verses 13 18:11 through 17. When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi 18:16 He asked His disciples saying, who do men say that I the 18:22 Son of man am? So they said, some say John the Baptist 18:29 some Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said 18:35 to them, but who do you say that I am? 18:37 First he asked what do you hear from those around us? 18:42 Who do people say that I am? But then He said, ok 18:47 and they went through this people in the Bible 18:55 the people were saying he was like. But then, who do you say 18:58 that I am? And Simon Peter who always is gonna be the one to 19:04 speak up. Simon Peter, he's the spokesperson, quick to speak 19:10 any of you quick to speak and wished you hadn't said what you 19:14 said. I tell people sometimes, let's pray. We take advantage 19:19 of every opportunity to keep our mouths shut, cause that'll 19:23 put you in good stead. Simon Peter answered and said 19:26 now in this case he's answering good. You are the Christ. 19:30 Now the name of my portion today, Monday, is confessing 19:36 the Christ. Here's what Simon Peter said - you are the Christ 19:40 the Son of the Living God. Peter had got it. See this is 19:45 what Jesus wanted all along. He just wanted people around Him 19:50 he was teaching, He wanted them to get who He, Peter got it 19:54 You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus answered 19:58 and said to him, blessed are you Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and 20:03 blood has not revealed this to you but My Father who is in 20:07 heaven. A turning point in the ministry of Jesus. The true 20:11 identity of who and what Christ is was recognized by His 20:16 followers. These were believers who believed. He taught them 20:22 and they got it. They understand who He was and you know this 20:26 Scripture which says, these signs shall follow them that 20:30 believe. Do you know why it's only the believers that have the 20:34 signs following? Because if you don't believe nothing can happen 20:38 It's so vitally important that we believe that He is the Christ 20:44 the Son of the Living God. When you believe that there's a heart 20:49 change and a conversion within you. These disciples were 20:54 with Him and learned of His ways and confessed Him 20:58 as Christ the Messiah. Now as soon as, I found this 21:02 interesting as soon as the disciples recognized Jesus as 21:07 the Messiah He began teaching them of His suffering and that 21:13 He must die Now let me ask you this. The nation of Israel, how 21:18 did they expect the Messiah to come the first time? 21:22 As a conquering hero. Conquering hero. A warring deliverer 21:26 who would conquer the conquesting nations that were 21:30 oppressing them and set Himself up as the King of Kings and the 21:35 ruler over a small territory in the Middle East. Now that's 21:40 how they thought that Christ was supposed to come. 21:42 That their Messiah was going to suffer and then die, that was 21:49 so contrary to what they were anticipating. 21:53 So we see once again Peter is quick to speak. Now this is 22:01 one of those times where he should've taken advantage 22:04 of the opportunity to not speak so fast. So let's look at this 22:12 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He 22:16 must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and 22:20 chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the 3rd day 22:25 Then Peter, here Peter goes, took Him aside and began to 22:30 rebuke Him. Now get this, Peter is rebuking Jesus. 22:33 He just said you're Christ, the Son of the Living God 22:36 and he takes it upon himself to rebuke Him. He said, 22:40 Far be it from you Lord that this should happen to you 22:43 but He turned and said to Peter This is what Jesus said to Peter 22:47 Get behind me Satan for you are an offense to me for you are not 22:51 mindful of the things of God but the things of man. These are 22:56 some of the harshest words that Jesus spoke to anybody in the 23:00 Bible, He spoke to Peter. But why did He do it? Was He angry 23:04 with Peter? No, He did it for his own good. The lesson that 23:09 we've got to learn is to be able to say from our very hearts 23:13 Thou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And I just 23:17 wanted to say this. Christ is coming the second time the way 23:22 they anticipated Him coming the first time but instead of being 23:26 King of Kings and Lord of Lords over a little portion of land 23:30 in the Middle East, He's gonna be the conquering King of Kings 23:34 and Lord of Lords of the whole universe. Amen. 23:37 Pastor Ferguson. 23:39 Well as a segue to where I'm going, I wanted to share that 23:42 it's interesting that Jesus pointed out at the beginning 23:44 of chapter 16 to beware of misguided, unconverted spiritual 23:49 leaders. If you have to, even watch out for that. 23:53 That the Holy Spirit actually is what we need to be listening 23:57 to, in verse 23. You're mindful of the things of God, not of God 24:03 but of men. And I'd like us to turn to Matthew 14 because 24:09 the evidence of that fact is so clear in this next story. 24:13 I really believe that anything that is not of God is confusing 24:18 or we call Babylon spiritually. Because it's not something that 24:23 God has authored and we're being inundated by all of that 24:28 confusing information. And one thing I like about Peter is 24:32 that Peter, through his story you get an inside look at our 24:36 journey and that is that we're all influenced by, but he speaks 24:40 out with a pure heart and Jesus is able to address that, 24:44 it's been recorded and we learn. But back in Matthew 14, we find 24:49 that Jesus had actually just fed the 5000, 5 loaves of bread 24:55 two fish, He had 12 baskets left over. Immediately, verse 22 25:01 it says, He made His disciples go in the boat before Him 25:07 to the other side while He sent the multitude away. So right 25:10 after this happened, long before dark, Jesus sent His disciples 25:16 away. It's interesting when you read Desire of Ages you learn 25:19 that the disciples are actually led by Judas. We find that 25:26 they're thinking, wait a minute He's just done this great 25:29 miracle, He is who we thought He was. He needs to be set up as 25:32 that king. Their perception of what God should be 25:35 was dominating their thinking and discussion. So instead of 25:39 embarking off the coast, they waited by the seashore 25:43 while Jesus went off to pray. And it's interesting they were 25:48 discussing how when Jesus shows up they can convince Him 25:53 it's time. It's time for Him to take that throne. 25:57 But meanwhile Jesus is up in the mountain praying. And if you've 26:02 ever wondered what He's praying about or what He's praying for 26:05 He's praying for His disciples because He knew that the enemy 26:09 wanted to overcome them. And he realized that they had been 26:14 listening to all these other voices and they were being 26:17 misled and He wanted their spiritual connection to be 26:21 strong. And so Jesus goes up into the mountain. Now it's 26:26 actually, they finally cast off around after dark. Now they're 26:30 experienced fishermen so this is not something strange to them 26:34 but verse 25, it's the fourth watch of the night 26:37 that's the Roman watch. Jews had three watches, this is the 26:40 fourth watch between 3 and 6 am. It should've taken them, if it 26:46 wasn't for the storm 2-3 hours to cross over where they needed 26:49 to go. But here they are, 2-4 miles off shore going ahead 26:56 going into the wind, going into the waves and struggling 26:59 and actually began getting afraid, are they gonna make it 27:04 to the other side because of the fierce storm they would not 27:08 have encountered if they had departed when they were asked 27:11 by Jesus to do so. And it was their analysis of Him that 27:16 and their delay that caused the trial. Now often times we 27:21 analyze what God is asking of us, we delay and then we find 27:25 ourselves in a trial that if we had just done what He had asked 27:28 and listened to His voice and not the others we would've been 27:32 a smoother sailing so to speak. 27:35 So it's a ghost is what they're thinking in verse 26 27:39 some of the superstitions, some of the thoughts out there 27:42 start dominating their thinking Now it's interesting too because 27:47 if you look at some of the other gospel writers with this 27:52 story, they don't talk about Peter leaving the boat. But they 27:55 do mention, as a matter of fact, Mark chapter 6, it says that 28:01 Jesus appeared as if He would've passed by them 28:06 Now did you ever wonder why? Jesus comes out to the water 28:10 they're needing their Savior and now He shows up, what they're 28:16 hoping for and it looks as if He's just gonna pass on by 28:19 anybody ever wonder why? 28:24 You know often times God will, He will never force Himself 28:29 on us. Jesus was aware of the situation they were in and why 28:33 they got there and as He was coming to their rescue He wanted 28:39 them to call on Him instead of Him forcing Himself on them 28:44 and that's the way He is with us He wants us to call on Him 28:49 and often times it's not until we're in a storm that sometimes 28:53 as a result of our own behavior that He has to come and rescue 28:58 us from but He wants us to reach out to Him. He wants us to call 29:02 to Him. So we find here that Peter, in an expression of faith 29:11 he was afraid but he saw Jesus and he said, if it is You 29:15 have me come out to the water. Now was it a natural or super 29:20 natural thing for Peter to have been able to walk on the water 29:23 Supernatural. Alright. Total dependence on Christ for him to 29:28 have this victorious walk on water. And it wasn't until 29:34 he started to get distracted, in other words, God says He'll move 29:38 mountains if we let Him, through us. He wants to do that but 29:42 often times that is not the case instead, we sink. 29:47 So I was thinking about this rough water that Peter was in 29:50 what caused him to begin to sink and you know he took his eyes 29:57 off of Jesus, that's one thing we see clearly. I remember 30:01 when I was growing up we used to go out into Salem Harbor in 30:04 Massachusetts and sail. We'd go in all kinds of weather. We'd go 30:07 for 2-3 days at a time during the summer and I found that we 30:13 sometimes we'd come into a storm and when we came into a storm 30:17 sometimes they were severe and I remember seeing the swells 30:20 that were so tall. It made you realize how small you really are 30:25 And I can just imagine Peter and the other fishermen, they had 30:30 been debating whether Jesus should hold off or go and do 30:34 what He was called to do, to be their king. They had their idea 30:39 who He should be and now they find themselves desperately in 30:42 need of His help. And Peter actually took his eyes off of 30:48 Jesus for two things, for two reasons. You know he had a 30:53 crisis of faith, he really did. All of us have this crisis of 30:59 faith that God calls us to continually throughout our lives 31:03 But unbelief and self-exaltation as I was studying through this 31:12 and thinking about this, were two main reasons that he began 31:18 to lose his ability to walk on water. And he took his eyes off 31:23 of Jesus because of those two reasons and I think in our 31:26 journey that often times you know in a crisis of faith 31:30 is we really don't believe God is who He says He is in that 31:34 area or this particular point, we don't trust Him 31:38 and as a result we lose the Holy Spirit's upholding 31:44 that He longs to give us. Now it's very interesting, after 31:49 he's crying what does Jesus do? 31:52 He says Lord save me and immediately, verse 31, Jesus 31:57 stretched out His hand and caught him. He wasn't just 31:59 passing by as if He's leaving. He reached out and when we call 32:04 on God He reaches out to us. Very important point in this 32:08 story. And He said, O you of little faith why did you doubt? 32:12 And when Jesus got into the boat, verse 32, what happened? 32:18 the wind ceased. When Jesus gets into the boat of your life 32:23 He'll calm the storm. Amen. You know I've always found in my 32:27 own experience either He will take the storms out of my life 32:31 or He'll go through that storm with me. But eventually that 32:35 storm will end and He's with me and things have changed and 32:39 improved my walk with Him as a result. Verse 33, then those 32:44 who were in the boat, remember the group that were in the boat? 32:46 and Judas is among them right? They came and worshipped Him 32:54 You find that they're saying truly You are the Son of God 32:59 It took this storm, as I was reading through this even though 33:03 they had seen the miracles of God, it took the storm 33:06 for them to trust Him, to rely on Him in the way that Jesus 33:09 was beckoning them to do. And too often the storms that we 33:16 don't want in our lives, it requires the very same thing 33:19 in order for us to experience the growth that God is longing 33:23 to produce in our lives as well. 33:25 Amen. Very good, thank you. Let's turn to Luke chapter 22 33:33 I have Wednesday, this is our first, this whole lesson is 33:38 about the person of Peter but on Wednesday we're going to be 33:41 reading the story of how he denied His Lord. Here you've got 33:45 Peter who's seen the miracles of Jesus, he has walked with Jesus 33:50 for three and a half years and he has seen Jesus, you know, 33:56 when he called on Him he's seen Him rescue him from the storm 33:59 but what the lesson asks us is to read two passages in Luke and 34:05 it says what lessons can we learn from Peter's failures? 34:08 Now I've found 8 lessons that kind of stand out to me in this 34:12 so let's just read through it. 34:16 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon anytime you see that when the 34:22 Lord repeats the name it's to add emphasis to what He's 34:25 about to say. He said, indeed, Jesus is telling Peter 34:30 Satan has asked for you that He may sift you as wheat. You know 34:38 sifting is a crushing process where they separate the wheat 34:43 from the chaff and here's the first lesson to me. The you here 34:48 is plural. Satan wants all of Christ's disciples. He wants 34:56 to crush us all. You know John 10:10 says the thief comes only 35:00 to steal, kill and destroy. But if he can't destroy you, he will 35:05 at least disgrace and discourage you. So here Jesus is saying 35:11 to Simon, Satan has asked for all of you that he may sift you 35:18 as wheat. But then in verse 32 now the you is going to be 35:23 singular. But I have prayed for you that your faith should not 35:28 fail. So here's our second lesson. The first being that 35:34 we've got to remember Satan is the true enemy, you know I 35:37 don't know about you but I can always recognize a spiritual 35:40 battle in somebody else's life and sometimes I'll be struggling 35:43 through something and it's like finally after days, hey this is 35:49 a real spiritual battle. So that was our first lesson, but the 35:54 second lesson is when Jesus says I have prayed for you, singular 35:58 that your faith should not fail you. So Jesus takes a personal 36:02 interest in all of our lives. Remember Hebrews 4:16, He's 36:07 at the right hand of the throne of the Father interceding 36:10 for us right now. Then we're going on down to verse 33 36:18 Oh, let me finish verse 32. He says I've prayed for you that 36:22 your faith should not fail, that when you return to me 36:25 strengthen your brothers. So Jesus knew that this was gonna 36:30 be temporary. He knew it was coming, it was going, Peter's 36:33 denial would be temporary but that He would use Peter as an 36:37 encouragement of strength. Verse 33, see if you see the third 36:41 lesson in this. But he said to him, this is Peter speaking 36:45 Lord I'm ready to go with You to prison and to death. 36:50 What is the third lesson here? He was being overly confident. 36:55 He was self-sufficient. It took the ever brash Peter a little 37:01 a little while to learn these things. His intentions were 37:04 good but he didn't know his own heart. So verse 34, then He 37:08 said, I tell you Peter the rooster shall now crow this day 37:11 before you deny me three times that you know me. So now we 37:15 transition into the Garden of Gethsemane when he should've 37:18 been praying what was Peter doing? Sleeping. 37:22 So let's look at verse 54, Luke 22:54. Having arrested Him they 37:26 led Him and brought Him into the High Priest's house. This is 37:29 they've arrested Jesus, but Peter followed after a distance 37:33 both Peter and John circled back they followed at a safe distance 37:38 verse 55, now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of 37:41 the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them 37:44 and a certain servant girl seeing him as he sat by the fire 37:47 looked intently at him and said this man was also with him 37:50 but Peter denied Him, denied Christ saying, Woman, I do not 37:56 know Him. And after a little while another saw him and said 38:00 You are also one of them. But Peter said, man I am not 38:05 Then after about an hour had passed another confidently 38:08 affirmed saying, surely this fellow also was with Him 38:11 for he's a Galilean. He recognized the accent. 38:13 Peter said, man I do not know what you are saying. 38:18 And some accounts say he was cursing and swearing during this 38:23 And immediately while he was still speaking 38:26 the rooster crowed. So here's lesson 4. He spent three and 38:32 a half years with Jesus, at His feet, listening to His word 38:37 But fear, in just a little over an hour, fear eclipsed his faith 38:42 See he hadn't really been baptized by the Holy Spirit 38:46 yet had they? And we've gotta be careful, we can know the word 38:49 and have it all up here but if it's not being led by the Spirit 38:52 with the Spirit's power, we can fall into the same thing. 38:55 So verse 61 says, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and 38:58 Peter remembered the word of the Lord how He had said to him 39:01 before the rooster crows you will deny me three times 39:04 so Peter went out and wept bitterly. He failed to stand up 39:09 for his friend who he knew was the Son of God. So shame and 39:14 regret seizes his heart and I think this is lesson 5 39:17 we can't overestimate our ability to stand. 39:22 Because we have a very real enemy out there. But he says 39:27 You know I think this is why Peter wrote in his epistle 39:30 that we should be sober and vigilant and cautious at all 39:35 times cause the devil is running around like a roaring lion 39:39 seeking whom he can devour. Those were words of personal 39:42 experience. So lesson 6 is that creeping compromise is a 39:49 malignant disease. We can start off with a small sin. It is just 39:54 like a few little malignant cells that if we don't nip it 39:57 in the bud it will soon become a full blown cancer. 40:01 You know if Peter had seen that he had denied Him the first time 40:04 and remembered, ah this is what Jesus said he could've stopped 40:07 an stood up for his friend. So we've got to remember that 40:11 even though we may compromise in our natural relations to keep 40:15 peace we never compromise the truth. So lesson 7 though from 40:21 Peter is that he repented. So no matter how bad our situation 40:26 is when we recognize our failure we should get on our knees and 40:30 repent in humility cause we've all done things like Peter has. 40:36 So despite all our failures we need to go forward in faith 40:40 And now I see the 8th lesson, is that God's grace is greater than 40:45 our failures. When sin abounded grace abounded even more. 40:50 So walking with Jesus wasn't enough. He knew His teachings 40:56 but he didn't have the power to overcome fear and in the evil 41:01 So Christ then sent the Holy Spirit after His ascension to 41:08 heaven and what happens? We see a different Peter, don't we? 41:12 He still had a few problems but we see a different Peter. 41:16 I want to read a quote from the Quarterly because I thought this 41:19 was really good, and it says Yes Peter knew what it meant 41:24 to be forgiven. He knew first hand just what the gospel 41:29 was all about because he had experienced not just the reality 41:34 of his human sinfulness but the greatness and the depth of God's 41:39 love and grace towards sinners. Under the flawless inspiration 41:42 of the Holy Spirit he could write what he did, not only from 41:47 theoretical knowledge but from experience itself. He knew 41:52 not only the saving grace of Christ but the transforming 41:57 grace and that's what you can know as well. 41:59 Now here's a quote from Testimonies to the Church, vol 5 42:04 Page 334-335. Beautiful quote. And Ellen White writes 42:11 Before his, Peter's, great fall he was always forward and 42:16 dictatorial speaking unadvisedly from the impulse of the moment 42:20 He was always ready to correct others and express his mind 42:23 before he had a clear comprehension of himself of what 42:27 he had to say. But Peter was converted and the converted 42:32 Peter was very different from the rash, impetuous Peter 42:35 While he retained his former fervor, the grace of Christ 42:40 regulated his zeal. And I want to talk to all of you zealots 42:44 out there and say let the grace of Christ regulate your zeal 42:48 because zealots can turn people away from Christ more than they 42:52 can win them to Him. Instead of being impetuous, self-confident 42:56 self-exalted he was calm, self possessed and teachable. 43:00 He could then feed the lambs as well as the sheep of Christ 43:06 Amen. What a blessing to hear about the life of Peter, and 43:09 as I look at my own life it gives me courage. 43:11 It gives me hope that God can use any one of us. 43:15 God can use me, God can use you at home. To me Peter is a study 43:20 in contrasts. I see Peter is a man of faith, he stepped out of 43:24 the boat and started walking on water Pr. Tom. 43:27 I see him casting the net on the other side and choosing 43:31 to follow Jesus. I see him as a man of fear, though. 43:34 A man who was afraid all of a sudden when he took his eyes 43:38 off Jesus. A man who was afraid when he denied Jesus. 43:42 He was afraid of what other people thought. I see him as a 43:45 man who confessed Christ Molly. You are the Christ. And then 43:50 he denied Christ, and then he rebuked Christ. 43:55 I see him as a man who was quick to speak but quick to repent 44:02 A man who had courage, cutting off, maybe that was stupidity 44:07 but cutting off the high priest's servant ear. I'm gonna 44:11 defend you and then a man of compromise 44:16 But yet, in spite of all that, God converted him. He repented. 44:21 I loved what you shared Shelley. And then God wanted to work in 44:25 his life and poured out the Holy Spirit and those qualities were 44:29 tempered. That rash, impetuousness was tempered 44:35 You know in the office we work with a woman, I won't mention 44:39 who she is, she's a woman who is quick to speak. I'm sure 44:43 you can think of who I'm referring to, besides me because 44:46 I can be quick to speak too so I could be telling this about 44:49 myself. But I see the grace of God working in her life and I 44:55 see where she use used to say, Oh but, and then she'll pause 44:59 and take a moment before responding. That is evidence of 45:03 the work of the Holy Spirit. That's the Holy Spirit working 45:06 in her life. Sometimes you can't see it in your own life but 45:09 I know I pray in the morning, Oh God put a watch before my mouth 45:13 guard my lips, keep me from speaking ill advisedly 45:17 We talk about Peter as church leader. I want to turn to 45:21 1 Corinthians 6 and then we'll look at his leadership in the 45:25 early church. 1 Corinthians 6 This is an encouraging verse 45:30 to me. 1 Corinthians 6:9 talks about those who do not inherit 45:35 the kingdom of heaven. They are idolaters and fornicators and 45:39 thieves and covetous and a list of sins, sinful behavior. 45:44 And then verse 11. And such were some of you, that's all of us 45:50 We all have a past. Such were some of you. But you were washed 45:56 you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the 46:00 Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. I know Paul wrote this 46:04 but to me it applies equally to Peter. Just as equally to me 46:10 sitting on the Panel here. Just as equally to you at home. 46:13 We were washed. We all had this past but we were washed 46:18 Apalluo in the Greek, it means to wash off or to wash away 46:23 symbolic of baptism, being buried with Christ into that 46:27 baptistery and being washed. Being sanctified, made holy 46:33 set apart for a specific purpose 46:37 justified, to show righteous declared righteous, made 46:41 righteous. And that's what the Lord Jesus did with Peter 46:45 He repented, God came in fully He had places where he wanted 46:50 to walk with God and he did choose to walk with God but 46:53 he was still walking in his flesh at the same time 46:56 but I think after that point more fully he surrendered 47:00 and then Acts 1 we see the infilling of the Holy Spirit 47:03 And Peter was always the leader, we see that he was part of 47:06 Peter, James and John, remember the inner circle 47:09 of disciples, he was always the leader. Matthew chapter 10 47:12 when Matthew lists the disciples the apostles when they were sent 47:16 forth what did he say? First, Simon Peter. He mentions him 47:20 specifically first. But as we look at his leadership after 47:24 the Holy Spirit's poured out in Acts chapter 2 we see leadership 47:28 in the early church. He took the initiative, he was the one in 47:32 Acts 1 who took the initiative, we need an apostle to replace 47:36 Judas. And they cast lots and Matthias it fell on him. 47:42 So he took that initiative and he was the one who spoke up 47:45 and said we need 12 so we need to replace someone. Acts 2, the 47:49 Holy Spirit is poured out and then the apostles spoke and then 47:54 specifically Peter's sermon is recorded. He took initiative and 47:58 at the end of that remember what they said? Men and brethren 48:01 what shall we do? He said Repent. Repent. 48:05 And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and then 48:08 3000 were converted in that day. You think he went from 120 to 48:13 3000, Peter had a powerful influence in the early church. 48:17 Acts chapter 4. Peter and John are arrested and who is the one 48:21 who speaks before the Sanhedrin? It's Peter. Acts chapter 10 48:26 Peter receives a vision. The Lord gave him the unclean 48:31 animals coming down, arise Peter kill and eat. And he said, 48:34 I've never eaten anything unclean. But Jesus wasn't 48:37 referring to what you eat but that the gospel was to go 48:40 to the Gentiles and he went to Cornelius and he shared the 48:46 gospel with him. And he was, you could say, the first gentile 48:50 convert, came as a result of the work and ministry of Peter. 48:54 We see in Acts 15, the church had some discussion, 48:57 disagreement you could say. The leadership gathered together 49:00 in Jerusalem to discuss whether the gentiles needed to be 49:04 circumcised and Peter stood up and he took a pivotal role 49:08 within that early church. But not everything, Pr. C.A. you 49:13 talked about this at the beginning. Even after Peter 49:17 was converted he was not perfect and there's still times where he 49:23 walked in some of those faults, maybe coming back and we see 49:27 that in Galatians chapter 2. Let's turn there to Galatians 2 49:34 In Galatians 1 we see that Peter was the apostle that Paul 49:38 went to. Galatians 1:18-19 after Paul met Jesus on the road 49:45 to Damascus and he spent the three years studying and then he 49:49 came to Jerusalem and of course the apostles and disciples 49:52 the early church is saying, this man persecuted us and we don't 49:56 want anything to do with Paul. How do you know that he is truly 49:59 converted? And in verse 18, after 3 years I went out to 50:03 Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him 15 days 50:08 So what happened? He went to Peter as one of the leaders 50:12 of the early church. Then we see chapter 2:9 when James, Cephas 50:18 and John who seemed to be pillars. So Paul described them 50:21 as pillars within the early church. Now Cephas and John 50:26 John 1:42, John refers to Cephas as being Peter. Cephas just 50:31 means rock in Aramaic or we say Petros in Greek for Peter 50:35 but it's the same, referring to the same person. So, James 50:38 Peter and John were pillars or leaders in the early church. 50:42 But then we see verse 11, Now when Peter had come to 50:46 Antioch I withstood him to his face. They had a little 50:51 disagreement. That's right, this is Paul, thank you Shelley. 50:56 And he said, because he was to be blamed, meaning Peter was 51:00 to be blamed. For before certain men came from James he would 51:05 eat with the Gentiles but when they came he withdrew and 51:08 separated himself fearing those who were of the circumcision 51:13 and the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him 51:18 so that even Barnabas was carried away with their 51:23 hypocrisy. You know Peter was an early church leader and you 51:27 would think he's following Jesus he's got it together, but 51:32 here he was at Antioch and he was eating with the Gentile 51:36 Christians. Now in Jewish culture this would be forbidden 51:39 right? You can't sit on their couch, you can't enter their 51:43 home if you're a strict Jew. You can't sit down and drink 51:46 and eat with them because you're supposed to keep yourself clean 51:50 keep separate. But Peter had already had the vision 51:54 he had already gone to Cornelius, he had already 51:57 ministered. He knew the gospel had to go to the Gentiles 52:00 and these are Gentile Christians he's ministering with them, he's 52:03 eating with them. But then all of a sudden James comes 52:07 from Jerusalem with some of the other apostles or disciples 52:11 brethren. And Peter thinks, ooh if I'm caught eating with Shelly 52:16 well you all know she's a Gentile. I'm not sure that 52:20 that's gonna look too good and so he separated himself 52:24 or Paul says, he would play the hypocrite. He was a hypocrite 52:30 You know what that tells me? Even in the midst of Peter's 52:35 leadership there were times of error. Times when he would 52:40 have to come back to God and repent. Times when maybe as 52:43 brethren they had to discuss things. But what it tells me the 52:47 most is that Peter is an ordinary man. 52:50 With ordinary abilities but yet willing to be used by an 52:55 extraordinary God. And when he fell, when he made a mistake 53:00 he's willing to say, I'm sorry. Willing to get back up and 53:06 serve the Lord Jesus Christ again. That gives me hope. 53:10 And I just want to encourage you at home. Hope that that 53:13 gives you hope. God wants to use you. We're all ordinary 53:16 people. Sons and daughters of God that God wants to pour by 53:19 the power of His Spirit into you at home and He wants to 53:23 use you in a powerful way within the church. Amen 53:27 Amen. Well done all. Give you each a chance to give me 30 53:32 second synopsis of what you have gleaned or learned or 53:35 maybe something you didn't get a chance to cover, just 30 53:37 seconds. Let's start with you Molly and go back. 53:40 What I gleaned, what I gained that I identify more with Peter 53:46 in the New Testament than anybody else. Quick to speak 53:50 wished at times that I hadn't spoken so quickly, so rashly 53:54 but it also shows me the grace and mercy and the love of God 53:59 that God is long suffering with us, He doesn't give up on us 54:03 and we can trust Him. Amen 54:05 Pastor Tom. I think in many ways I can identify with Peter 54:09 I think a lot of folks can identify with him. I really 54:13 believe the Lord had special plans for him and as a result 54:17 you know Peter went through very difficult times, but all 54:21 of that was a refining process. When we get into the epistles 54:24 that we're doing now for this quarter, you're seeing a man 54:27 that has victory in all these areas that we're seeing in 54:30 all these weaknesses and it shows that God is faithful and 54:34 He will indeed transform us into His own likeness. Amen. 54:39 Shelley. In particular, what just came to my mind was that 54:45 we have to be careful about compromise. You know it was when 54:48 Peter denied his identity that that was the beginning of him 54:54 going down the slope to where he then denied the Lord. 54:57 And I think about you know there's times when people come 55:00 up and might ask you, you may not come right out and say, hey 55:05 I'm a Seventh-Day Adventist Christian. You know I did this 55:08 once at an airport and a lady we had the best conversation, 55:13 and she said what church do you go to? I said I'm a Seventh-Day 55:16 Adventist Christian. She picked up her Bible and she moved over 55:20 I thought, what's wrong. So we need to be careful about 55:25 compromise of any kind. Amen, and Jill. 55:29 Something that you said Pr. C.A. actually spoke to me and I wrote 55:33 it down. Shrink back. How Peter when he realized Jesus is Lord 55:40 and he realized he knew every thing about Him that he shrunk 55:43 back from that and it just reminded me of my husband Greg 55:47 and I. He knows me probably more than anybody in this room 55:50 anybody in this world. He knows me, he knows my faults. 55:53 And yet he never shrinks back. He never says, Oh Jill your 55:56 messing up here. He always reaches out in love and so 56:00 it just makes me think of Jesus He never looks at us and says 56:04 Jill you messed up here. Instead of shrinking back when I make 56:08 a mistake I want to turn full face in repentance toward Him 56:12 You know when you're pulling from yourself, your own strength 56:15 from your own resources, you are very subject to circumstances 56:18 Yes, and we see that in Peter's life. In one moment Thou are the 56:21 Christ, the Son of the Living God, Holy Spirit inspired 56:23 statement. Next moment, it's not gonna happen, I'm not gonna 56:26 let that happen, get thee behind me Satan, you know. He steps out 56:29 of the boat a Christ thing and a moment later his eyes off 56:32 Jesus you know he's subject to circumstances. This last little 56:36 deal in Galatians 2, he's trying to be politically correct 56:39 You know with the Gentiles, I'm a homebody with the Gentiles 56:43 when the Jews come I kinda ease over, you know. 56:46 Because he's pulling from himself. But as he got converted 56:49 as he went through the experience in Acts and Holy 56:51 Spirit came on his life, he superseded his circumstances and 56:55 the only thing that can assist us through the vicissitudes 57:02 through the hills and valleys of life is the power of Christ 57:05 because if you're drawing from your own resources you gonna 57:08 run out of gas, you just don't have enough to stand with the 57:12 Lord. I was reading in Desire, look at my time here 57:15 Ellen White says when he was out of the boat the storm 57:18 actually got in the way, got between him and Christ 57:21 you know and then he kinda lost his focus. It occurs to me 57:26 that if you ever lose sight of Jesus, look back to the last 57:30 place you saw Him because sometimes things are gonna get 57:33 in your way. Pain, loss of a loved one, death of a spouse 57:38 divorce. Things are gonna get in your way but if you lose 57:41 sight of Him for a second, remember the last time you saw 57:43 Him, look there and He'll be there. It is the abiding in 57:48 Christ that give us victory, it's the abiding in Christ 57:50 that gives us strength and Peter later learned that you gotta 57:56 abide in Jesus. Run out of your own resources, keep your hand 58:00 in the hand of the Master. That's the message for you 58:02 today. Stay with Jesus and Jesus will stay with you. |
Revised 2024-05-31