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As he preaches your word and give the audience here ears to hear and soften their hearts to the preaching of your word And all of this we pray in jesus name. Amen Okay, we're in john chapter one look down at your bibles at verse number 40 It says one of the two which heard john speak and followed him was andrew simon peter's brother He first findeth his own brother simon and saith unto him We have found the messiahs which is being interpreted to christ and he brought him to jesus And when jesus beheld him, he said thou art simon the son of jonah thou shall be called cephas which is by interpretation A stone and what I want to preach on this morning or this evening. Excuse me, is simon peter the son of jonah I want to preach on the character of peter the apostle beater to be more exact And we're going to start off here in john chapter one But before I get into the specific verses that we just read over Let me make some introductory statements regarding peter now peter It's actually one of the most prominent characters in the new testament It's pretty popular person And in fact, even if people don't have really a thorough understanding of the word of god if you were to mention peter They would know who that is. He's very familiar in the bible, even though he's only mentioned of course in the new testament He's still widely mentioned and known of people Because he's in the bible in the new testament at least 156 times He's mentioned in the new testament and that's not including times when he's referred to as cephas or even simon Just when he's named peter alone. He's referred to at least 156 times And he has two books in the new testament two of them some of the greatest books in the new testament One of the greatest teachings on false prophets is found in second peter chapter number two very thorough teaching And in fact, I believe the book of jude references the book of second peter chapter two when discussing and teaching this matter of False prophets now when you think of peter, obviously one of the first things that comes to mind is that he was a fisher, right? He was originally a fisher that was his trade. That's what he did and People erroneously think that because he was a fisher that he was just a common man who really didn't have much of an education And in fact, this is like a slander that the pharisees said of peter and john and said these are unlearned men You know, how is it that these unlearned men are speaking boldly and they're preaching the word of god? They're they're they're stupid man. They're foolish men They're just common unlearned men But the reality is this is that peter and john and the rest of the apostles they were unlearned men They're actually very intelligent. And in fact if you read The greek new testament when you read first and second peter, you're actually going to see a lot of vocabulary that's not found in other portions of the new testament, it's only really, uh, um Found in first and second peter and it's a higher vocabulary of greek showing us that peter not only was he an educated man He had an expanded vocabulary. You see obviously god is the one who writes the bible He's the author of the word of god, but holy men of god spake as they're removed by the holy ghost The bible's inspired by god, but he used you know human instruments and their education Their understanding their writing style to pen the bible. So when we look at first and second peter, we see wow This is this is very um intelligently written, you know This is not someone who is just a fisher of men who is just unlearned not educated He's a very smart individual. Now. Here's the thing is that peter You know, he often catches a bad rap. Does he not because when you think of peter you think of yourself like oh, yeah He's the one who denied jesus. That's like the first thing that comes up And you know, that's a lesson for us to learn that you can do a lot of great works in your life But if you if you slip up if you do something that's really bad if you sin really bad That's often a blemish and a reproach on your reputation as a believer So it's important to just you know, stay right stay in church, you know Obey the instructions of the bible and and and not uh, you know get out of the way because here's the thing You know, although he did a lot of great things in his life and he's used greatly of god He still has that stigma as being that one apostle who denied the lord. Okay And then also, you know, you look throughout peter's life. He's always putting his foot in his mouth He's he's barely he's basically like an impetuous type of a fellow and he's just saying you know kind of speaking his mind And he's also he's always, you know getting rebuked. He's getting reproved by the lord. He's being openly corrected by god Uh many of the times but here's the thing is that you know, I look at peter And I think to myself well, i'm glad he kind of stepped out in faith and said some of those things You know because it kind of taught us That it's better to say something be corrected or be wrong and be corrected than to not say anything at all And look his words are in the bible You know his statements that he make were in the bible and although he said a lot of dumb things He said a lot of profound things as well you know When he said thou art the christ the son of the living god and he was honored by christ by that revelation You know to whom shall we go thou has the words of eternal life We believe in our shirt that thou art the christ the son of the living god powerful in john chapter six So he not only made he not only jumped the gun and said some pretty Crazy outlandish things, you know, he said some pretty profound things as well A lot of things that uh, the apostle peter stated we quote very often. Okay And I believe that he's actually one of the most favored apostles And was actually numbered among the top three of the 12. Okay, because we see peter james and john being mentioned obviously There's 12 disciples and even amongst those 12. I mean above those 12. There's 70 apostles that were sent out So you got those 70 then you have the 12, but then you have the inner circle known as peter james and john Okay, and I personally believe that peter was kind of like the leader even of those three Quite possibly because he was older. He was already married. I believe he had children I believe a lot of the the the disciples are fairly young You know early 20s or uh around that age, but the apostle peter might have been older And it's for that reason that he had a lot of influence over the apostles you say well How do you know that he had influence or that he was a leader amongst the disciples and the apostles? Well, if you remember You know when they go to the garden of gesemite And jesus tells them hey wait here i'm gonna go pray yonder, you know, and make sure you don't fall asleep. I'm paraphrasing here They all fall asleep And jesus comes back. He doesn't rebuke all the disciples. Who does he rebuke peter? And he tells them couldn't you just stay awake for one hour, you know, he didn't get on everyone else Who did he get on the leader? Because he was the one who was in charge and often when peter for example when he Stated that he was going to go with jesus even into death. We think about that verse right and we're going to cover that tonight You know that he was willing to just go with jesus even into death. I'll never deny you People actually often forget that the bible actually says that likewise said all the other disciples, right? So although that's credited to peter And peter carries that stigma of putting his foot in his mouth Actually, all the apostles follow peter's leadership and say yeah us too. We're never going to deny you But the reason the spotlight is placed on peter in my opinion is because he's a leader. Okay, he he has influence He's a leader. He's an important person And obviously the disciples esteemed his leadership to the point where he said well if peter's saying it We're gonna say it too, you know, if peter's doing it, we're gonna do it. Hey peter's falling asleep I guess it's okay for us to get some shut eye, too And then when jesus is like rebuking peter For falling asleep, you know, i'm sure that woke up the other disciples as well. Okay And so this evening you can turn off the ac brother brother, uh glenn. I think I think everyone's freezing in here Is everyone freezing in here? Can I get a witness? I'll suffer for you. Okay So This evening i'm going to delve into the character Into his character and some of the famous events that surround him now, obviously, you know One sermon would not do justice to everything that took place in peter's life Throughout the gospels and even throughout the book of acts and we obviously know that even Later on, we see peter doing some pretty dumb things in the book of acts But what this shows is that the people in the bible are just real people and they have highs they have lows They have successes they have failures They they go out of the way they come back into the way and he really is an example of a common believer Who is not perfect, but he loves the lord. Okay Now look at john chapter one. We're going to look at his name first and foremost john chapter one verse 42 It says and he brought him to jesus. This is referring to andrew Bringing his brother peter to jesus and when jesus beheld him he said thou art simon the son of jonah thou shall be called cephas Which is by interpretation a stone now go to mark chapter three And then after mark three, we're going to go to matthew 16. So go to mark chapter three And then we're going to go to matthew 16 So let me read it again in john chapter one. He says thou art simon the son of jonah thou shall be called cephas Which is by interpretation A stone now the first thing I want to point out is the fact that throughout the gospels You often see jesus giving his disciples nicknames Which I think is pretty cool, okay You know, I think it's it's a pretty cool thing to do It shows that he's intimate with his disciples. It shows that he really loves his disciples And he often gives them a nickname based upon some character trade some you know personality quirk that they may have And you know, he he does that for them, you know He gives these nicknames and it's typically tied to a specific characteristic that an individual possesses now look at mark chapter three in verse 16 He says in simon he's surnamed peter And james the son of zebedee and john the brother of james. He surnamed them boy energies, which is the sons of thunder Okay So he gives peter who is simon He gives simon. Excuse me the nickname peter or as john chapter one explains it cephas But then he he gives john and james the number you guys are like the sons of thunder. Okay Now why did he do that? I don't know. Maybe these guys are just kind of crazy Maybe they're just loud, okay They're just loud guys and they're just kind of when they step on the scene. Everyone knows They're there. You know what I mean? Do we have people like that in our church? I think we do, right? There's certain people in our church is like, you know that person's here When they say hey is brother so-and-so here is like come on if i'm messing around, you know You know if they're here or not, you know if mark's here or not, okay We just mark and and ray are the sons of thunder Mark and rare the sons of thunder. Okay bow energies right here, okay But here's the thing, you know what I like about this is the fact that jesus wasn't like hey You guys got to like tone it down a little bit You know, you guys got to be a little more quiet. You guys got to tone it down You guys got to you know Be a little more polite. No, he's like, you know, i'm just going to name you the sons of thunder Because that's who you guys are because he made them that way, right? Right So he names them the sons of thunder, but he names simon peter now People can often get confused regarding some of these names And in particular the name of peter can seem a little confusing In john 1 it says simon the son of jonah And he calls him cephas in mark in matthew 16 go to matthew 16 It calls him simon bar jonah now bar is simply Aramaic for son, okay, and in fact in the book of acts you have a false prophet named simon Bar jesus, okay, which simply means son of jesus not jesus christ, obviously, it's a different jesus Uh, and he's literally a different jesus because he's a false prophet, right? But bar jonah simply means son of jonah, which is exactly how john 1 interprets it. Okay. It just says simon son of jonah But I want you to notice that in john 1 He says thou should be called cephas, which is by interpretation a stone. So peter is actually the greek rendition of a stone Cephas means a stone as well, but it's the aramaic version of a stone Okay, so you had that's why he says by which is by interpretation a stone He has to interpret it because it's an aramaic name that simply means stone. All right now look at matthew 16 In verse 16, it says and simon peter answered and said thou art the christ the son of the living god And jesus answered and said unto him blessed earth Art thou simon barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee by my father which is in heaven And I say unto thee that thou are peter And upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it now If you've ever gone to an old ifb church Okay, and you've gotten any preaching from this They'll often say and this is typically this is the teaching that they give and the reason they do this is because it's like it's like Um, it's just a knee-jerk reaction to the catholic church claiming that peter is the first pope, right? Because he's saying upon this rock because peter his name is stone or a rock He's going to build his church and that's their text verse that they go to to say that he's the first pope Even though pope is just never mentioned in the bible Okay But here's the thing is that peter Means stone and they'll say well, no, no, that means in the greek if you go back to the greek in matthew 16 You know what? It says his name peter. It actually says little stone. Well, that's false. It just says stone. Amen It's completely false. It says stone and they'll say and the rock is big stone. No, it's just stone Okay, you don't have to add anything to the bible to try to justify yourself Or justify what the word of god says and try to debunk the catholic church just tell them that they're wrong Just say hey peter's not the pope. Okay. Yeah, it says rock and rock it says stone and stone But that does not prove anything regarding the papacy. Okay, you know, the pope is still the vicar of hell It's not it's not a legitimate office in the church Peter's not the first pope and here's the funny thing is that let's say he was the first pope, you know When do you ever see peter people kissing his feet? When do you ever see him receiving worship And you know dressing like a fag and everything, you know, you never see him doing that in the bible right Folks it says stone. Okay Both times it says stone. No Obviously the the main interpretation the way i've taught it is when it says upon this rock I will build my church Obviously we understand that the main interpretation of that is that the rock is referring to jesus christ because he is our rock Okay But here's the thing it wouldn't even be wrong to say that the that the rock is also referring to believers Why because we saw later on. I mean we saw in the book of ecclesiastes We expounded on that how peter which is pretty interesting refers to believers as lively stones Okay, which are built up a spiritual house. You understand so yeah, it's true upon this rock I will build my church and that rock is referring to jesus christ Because you know no foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is jesus christ So when you build a spiritual house, you gotta make sure you have the right foundation that right foundation is jesus christ And what does it mean when it when it says we got to build on the right foundation means? You know in order to do anything significant for eternity, you better make sure that you're actually saved And you better make sure that your salvation is based upon your faith in christ not based upon your works your obedience Your repentance of sin or whatever it may be you got to make sure that you're building your house upon the rock Okay, which is jesus christ, but you know a second interpretation or second layer of that Is the fact that a local new testament church is built by stones is built by christians is built by people like peter Right people who are imperfect people who are stones. They are you know, uh, They are god's building. Okay. First peter 2 4 says to whom coming as into a lively stone Disallowed indeed of man, but chosen of god and precious ye also as lively stones So he calls jesus christ a lively stone and then he says this but guess what? You're also a lively stone It's like when you know, the bible calls jesus christ, and what do they call us? christians, right He also has lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up sacrifices acceptable to god by jesus christ Go to ephesians chapter number two ephesians chapter number two if you would and if you think about it, you know the early new testament church Was in a sense built by some of these apostles and prophets, right? In a sense that they were the catalyst of that local new testament church There are the ones who are preaching the kingdom of god getting people saved bringing people to church Baptizing them and even those who are already saved they're telling them that that christ is jesus, right? They are converting them from judaism to christianity teaching them that that jesus is the christ that they've been seeking for And knowing of look at ephesians chapter 2 verse 18 It says for through him. We both have access by one spirit unto the father Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of god And are built upon the foundation. Look what it says of the apostles and prophets Jesus christ himself being the chief corner stone In whom all the building fitly framed together growth unto an holy temple in the lord in whom you also are builded together For a habitation of god through the spirit. So why is it that jesus chose to name peter a stone? Well, I believe it's because of the fact that he's basically telling them. Hey Upon people like you You know, he's not calling it. He's not this is this was not peter's ordination to the papacy. Okay? This is him telling them like hey, you're peter and we obviously know that peter by interpretation is a stone And he says upon this rock. I will build my church. What does that mean? Is that the church is made up of all believers And believers are known as lively stones, right? Right Church is for believers That's not to say that unsafe people can't come to our church But you know what when they come to our church We make it our priority to give them the gospel and get them saved so they too can become lively stones Built up a spiritual house, you know, but today you have churches They want to cater to the unsafe people And you know what? Okay, if that's what they want to do if that's what they want if that's their agenda fine But you know, they come to the church and they still don't give them the gospel They're come to their little worldly service with purple lights and faggoty music and all these things and they still don't get them saved You know that local church quote unquote is made up of non-believers They're made up not of lively stones. They're building their house upon the sand It's a sand castle Most of these liberal churches are sand castles. They're not built upon stones You say how do you know they're sand castles because once the floods come known as hell They're just going to destroy them and they'll descend into hell. They're not real believers. It's it's a it's a fallacy It's they're fakes. They're phonies, right? You know, we want to make sure that our church is made up of actual believers Now obviously we can't look at everyone's heart and know whether they really believe it or not right, we can't go we don't have some sort of We don't have goggles to see and pierce through the heart and say okay this person doesn't really believe They say they believe though and let's just keep working on them We to the best of our ability discern based upon our presentation And their receptiveness and their answers to the questions that we give them. Okay, this person's saved, right? They said what if later on they say they don't believe well, i'm sorry. I mean, we're not psychics here We don't know the heart of man We're just going off of what they say but I guarantee you the vast majority of the people will give the gospel to And the people that actually call upon the name of the lord. I believe they get saved And you know what if you give me the right answer i'm just going to believe you obviously I'm, not going to question your salvation and say well, I mean, did you really mean it though? I mean, did you really call upon the name of the lord? Was there some conviction in that? We're not into that It's like if that's what you believe that's what you believe and not everyone is going to have the same response when giving the gospel Some people weep and cry other people are just stone-faced other people just have no emotion whatsoever But here's the thing we walk by faith and not by sight we don't expect them to have this Overwhelming joy when they get saved, although that's normal if they do But guess what? It's also normal if they don't okay The point is is the fact that a local new testament church is made up of lively stones just like peter You know what? I'm glad peter exists in the bible Why because you see all his flaws you see the stupid things that he does But you also see him doing great works for god, you know what that does it instills hope in us to say well You know what? I guess we're in good company then Because peter who was one of the 12 and of the three who jesus nicknamed a stone You know god did great works with him. God still used him and he was just a normal Human being go to first corinthians chapter 15 if you would first corinthians chapter 15 And here's the thing about peter before we give him a hard time Of all the bad things that he did or the stupid things that he said Let's just be honest. He stuck it out Right. Yep, at least he stuck it out Okay and in fact the apostle paul when Observing peter james and john. What did he say in galatians? He said they seem to be pillars In other words, these people were around for a really long time You know what? It says something when you stay in church for a long period of time It said there's something said of a person a family an individual who's been in church for years and decades And they're just sticking it out. They're just there they're faithfully serving the lord Even if they're not doing some great exploit what you consider to be a great exploit Or what people would consider to be a great exploit, you know, they're faithful. Okay, and look you look at peter Yeah, he had some mistakes, but you know what? I guarantee he stayed faithful until the end Amen and in fact Think about a stone And that's what god wants of us to be stones. What do stones do? They just don't move. Yeah They're just there unless you go to death valley and you have the sailing stones I mean you guys ever seen heard the same stones. It's these it's this phenomenon of these stones in death valley Did you guys see this the sailing stones? You went all the way to death valley. You didn't see the sailing stones You might have passed it. They might have sailed So That ship had sailed, huh? There's these sailing stones and it's just a phenomenon where you see a stone and it has like a track That it has left for miles and miles and miles. It's a pretty neat phenomenon that's in death valley We're not talking about those stones. Okay The stone that the bible talks about is those who say I shall not be moved Okay, and that's what god wants of us. He doesn't expect us to be some great stone He doesn't expect for us to be chiseled and just be Like a sculpture and just look perfect. You don't expect for us to do just not to move Look what the bible says in first corinthians 15 58 therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast Unmovable Always abounding in the work of the lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord You know what if you're not gifted if you're not the most talented, you know, one thing you can do is just be unmovable. Amen Just stay in the bible Stay in church. Just faithfully go soul-winning just faithfully lead your family. Just faithfully be a christian be steadfast Unmovable and always abounding in the work of the lord. That's what god wants He wants peters He wants he wants peters. He wants stones that would just remain unmovable no matter what happens Okay, and you know what the same can't be said of everyone This cannot be said of everyone because sometimes tribulation comes that people get offended and they fall away because of it Persecution arises because of the word and by and by they are offended they fall by the wayside They are moved by those afflictions. Whereas we want to be christians that are not. Okay, we want to stick it out and look Maybe you might have a relapse in faith right Like like peter Or he went even as far as to deny the lord Three times He denied the lord, he was backslidden and he got right with god and guess what he did after he got right with god He went fishing Like what in the world I thought you got right with god that you're just gonna go and then he takes other people with him He's like behold I go fishing and they're like we go with him He's like fishing I mean this is after the resurrection after he has seen the lord the resurrected christ It's like dude, what are you doing? You saw that he's resurrected Get to work and he's just like fishing And then jesus shows up on the shore and he's like, it's the lord and he gird up his fisher's coat for he was naked By the way, it shows you the you know, the further you get away from god the less clothes you wear. Okay, right But then you know what he goes back into peter mode He just jumps in the water Isn't that what he did before? He just jumped in the water And john's over here like rowing back and he's like rowing god gave me rowers and he's like And he goes back to the lord and then he gets restored And then he just preaches to three thousand and five thousand and he does great works for god And that's kind of how the christian life is sometimes You backslide And then you kind of get away from god and he's like I want to get my heart right you get your heart Right, but you're still kind of straddling the fence a little bit and you need god to kind of give you that talk Love us down me more than these peter Lord, that knows that I love me And so, you know, what can we what can we take from the life of peter? Well, first of all his name Means a stone and god wants us to be stones stones that are Unmovable are you in matthew 16? Where are you guys? Oh first going to go back to matthew 16 Now let's look at his introduction let's look at when he's first introduced Within the ministry of jesus christ And a good question to ask is like when did peter get saved? You know because people will look at matthew 16 and say well, this is when peter got saved And you can see why people would think that look what matthew 16 verse 14 says And they said some say that thou art john the baptist some elias others jeremias are one of the prophets He saith unto them, but whom say he that I am You know, there's a lot of it. There's 12 disciples at least and no one just pipes up Because no one wants to give the wrong answer You're in that situation Or it's just like no one wants to say because they don't want to say the wrong answer because they might get called out or something Well, peter's just like i'll say it Simon peter answered and said thou art the christ the son of living god Jesus answered and said to him blessed art thou Simon barjona for flesh and blood blood hath not revealed this unto thee but my father which is in heaven so Some people would say that this is actually where peter got saved now, I don't believe that okay The reason for this because the ministry of jesus christ has already started. He's already recruited his disciples They're there already. This isn't necessarily a record of him getting saved but rather peter testifying of the truth That's like if I were to ask you today, who's the son of god? You're like, well, it's jesus. Jesus is the christ. He's the son of the living god. I wouldn't say oh, that's oh you just got saved Right Oh great. You just gotta say hey john just got saved folks Time to get baptized or something, you know He just he just witnessing to the truth. He's he's testifying of the truth okay and You know people often mistakenly believe that a lot of these disciples they didn't get saved until jesus came But here's the thing folks the reason they think that is because dipsticks also known as dispensationalists Have taught that there's a different salvation between old and new testament, right? So they'll say well these guys just got saved because jesus just came folks people believed in jesus prior to jesus coming to this world There's plenty of people who were saved prior to him being born in bethlehem's manger Plenty of people who were saved and here's the thing, you know, john the baptist Who was jesus christ's forerunner was preaching the kingdom of god before jesus came on the scene, right? And he was coming to prepare the way of the lord And you know what his disciples john the baptist disciples ended up becoming followers of the lord Okay, and I believe a lot of those people were safe He said well, how do you know that? Well go to act chapter 19 if you would act chapter 19 Acts chapter 19 After acts 19, we'll go back to john chapter one look at acts 19 in verse number one It says and it came to pass while apollo's was at cornth Paul having passed through the upper coast came to ephesus and finding certain disciples He said unto them have you received the holy ghost since he believed? And they said to him we have not so much as heard whether there be any holy ghosts so paul is coming and he's just like kind of checking up on the churches and The question that he's asking is have you been filled with the spirit? since he believed Okay, he's not asking him like are you guys saved? He's just saying like have you been filled with the spirit and they're like holy ghost who What's that And he's like, whoa, we got bigger issues then The issue is not that you've been whether you've been filled with the spirit or not You don't even know who the spirit is. And if you don't even know who the spirit is, you're probably not even saved Okay And he said unto them unto what then? Were you baptized and they said unto john's baptism? So these people were there during john's baptism, right? Then said paul john verily baptized with the baptism of repentance Saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on christ. Jesus. So john's message Was for people to believe on the christ, which is the person who's going to come after him his cousin known as jesus Okay, so look if he's preaching that we know the gospel is the power of god into salvation That means a ton of people were saved, right? That means he had a bunch of people saved people who were fallen were saved and you know It was one of those people who got saved andrew simon peter's brother And look folks whether andrew got saved under the ministry of john the baptist or not I guarantee you andrew and peter grew up in a home where the gospel was being preached I guarantee a lot of these people grew up in homes where the bible was being preached People were prophesying of the christ that should come and they believed on him Go back to go to john chapter one So Andrew was a devout follower of john the baptist And look at john chapter 1 verse 35 It says again the next day after john stood and two of his disciples and looking upon jesus as he walked He saith behold the lamb of god and the two disciples heard him speak and they followed jesus So they're listening to john's preaching they're hearing about the christ and then jesus shows up and he says look The lamb of god is right there the one i've been telling you about And you know what they do they stop following john the baptist and they start following jesus, okay Then jesus verse 38 turn and saw them following and sent him to them What seek ye they sent him to him rabbi, which is which is to say being interpreted master where dwellest thou He saith unto him come and see they came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day for it was about the 10th hour and of course later on we see that andrew brings his brother Peter to the lord now, I don't think this is basically saying that like he went to go get him saved Because he says we have found the messiahs He's not saying believe in the messiahs. He's not saying believe in the christ. He just said we found him He's like we found him the one that we they've been preaching about go see the messiah go see the christ Okay Now what's the principle that we can learn there? Well, you know what? It's important to get people saved Absolutely, that's the most important one But you know, it's also important to go get people who are already saved Right It's important to reach people who are not saved Give them the gospel, but you know, it's also important to get those who are already saved And help perfect the way of the lord help them to perfect the ways of god Okay, give them understanding because after salvation they need to grow in the knowledge of god's word And maybe they're going to some lame church, right? Maybe they're going to some sandcastle church Right not learning anything and I do anything. They're sincere people You know what? The church sucks sometimes Now i'm not saying that's every church Okay, because I know there's great churches out there even though people don't agree with what I would consider to be a great church I'm sure there's great churches out there, but there's some churches out there that are just dead as last year's christmas tree It's going nowhere Okay It's dead It's not going anywhere. You know, they have a name that they're living but they're actually dead They maybe the pastor has been involved in heresy or false doctrine because he's not teaching himself He's not learning from god's word and people go to that church and they just begin to die spiritually And you know what they need to do relocate to first works baptist church Relocate to sher foundation baptist church. Amen Relocate to faithful word or very baptist church go to these churches and go become like peter And show them like let me show you where the truth is Let me show you where the preaching of god's word is. Amen And so we see and you're doing this and look this is great because This is what we should be doing bringing our family to church Think of daniel daniel, you know and daniel findeth his brother And bringeth him unto first works Right, that's what happened today But you know, there's tons of people here who can testify to that. They brought their family to church Maybe they weren't saved they got saved or they're already saved But they brought them to the church in order to help them to grow in The lord and so go to matthew chapter four matthew chapter number four Actually, i'm sorry go to luke chapter five skip matthew four. I'll read matthew four for you So we see his introduction is basically andrew introducing peter to jesus christ and right off the bat jesus says You're a stone That's my that's my new name for you. Okay Now here's the thing is that After peter meets jesus, he's still not really that committed Now that's boggling to us. Is it not because you would think like whoa, he's there like let's forsake everything right Forsake everything forget everything but does peter do that. No And who knows what his reaction is. He's like wow, this is great. All right, I gotta go fishing now Because that's what he does he goes fishing Now you're in luke i'm going to read to you from matthew four verse 17 It says from that time jesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand And jesus walking by the sea of galilee saw two brethren simon called peter and andrew his brother Casting a net into the sea for they were fishers And he saved them to them follow me and I will make you fishers of men and they straightway left their nets and followed Him so what do we see we see that obviously this is after andrew introduced jesus to peter okay and We see here that jesus comes to them and says hey you need to just follow me I'm going to make you fishers of men stop fishing for you know, salmon or whatever trout or whatever is there And you need to start getting on the real program and start winning fishing men Fishing souls. This is your purpose in life. Okay Now this is an expanded version of this story in luke chapter five look at verse number one Gives a little more detail says and it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of god He stood by the lake of genesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake But the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets and he entered into one of the ships Which was simon's and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship And when he had left speaking he said into simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a drought for a drought And simon answering said to him master. We have told all the night And i've taken nothing nevertheless at thy word. I will let down the net and when they had we had excuse me And when they had this done they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break And they beckoned them to their partners which were in the other ship that they should come and help them And they came and filled both ships so that they began to sink when peter when simon peter saw it He fell down on jesus knees saying depart from me for i'm a sinful man. Oh lord For he was astonished at all that were with him at the drought of the fishes which they had taken And so was also james and john the son of sons of zebedee which were partners with simon And jesus said unto simon fear not from henceforth thou shall catch men That's pretty amazing story, okay, and it really encapsulates What god wants to do with an individual because you know we as individuals we have like a little vision For us it's like well, we're just trying to fish here and you know what jesus does He just comes and says we'll just go let's go out into the deep Let's go where no man has gone before You know when we get saved that's where god wants to take us He wants us to be trailblazers. He wants us to get out of our comfort zone And for peter was this, you know, let me take you out of your comfort zone And you're going to catch so many fish that your net's going to break You're going to need your friends to help you to pick up all these fish and put them in the boat And the the symbolism there is the amount of fishes the amount of souls that he was going to win to the lord And he says look You can either waste your time doing these minuscule things okay or You can start fishing for men and you're going to capture so many souls. It's like your net's going to break You know, it's like the chill the the the the building is going to blow up or something You're just bursting out the seams You're just going to have to move to something you're going to have to ask your friends to come and help And and and you know to create more space to get all these fishes in the boat That's what he's saying And he's just like yeah, but we've toiled all the night master He's like nevertheless at thy word so we see that he has some faith He's like at thy word i'll do it and then he did and he's just like i'm a sinful man depart for me And he's just like hey, don't worry, you know from henceforth. This is how you're going to get men saved Like all these nets are just going to be filled Think about that think about the lord coming to you and saying you see all these amount of fishes that you're capturing That's how many souls you're going to win throughout your lifetime Now I don't believe this is saying quit your day job And just be just go so many all the time unless you're going to full-time christian service someone's hiring you But obviously this is a special calling for peter right Because he's a catalyst of the new testament church That's starting here and he's just basically casting a vision to peter saying look You're going to be a fisher of men you're going to get a lot of people saved and wouldn't you say that's exactly what happened In the book of acts he got three thousand people saved five thousand people saved I'm sure there's other thousands of people that got saved that the bible doesn't record He captured with his spiritual net All types of souls, okay But what does this show us this shows us that sometimes, you know when people get saved They don't immediately just start serving the lord And we shouldn't have this expectation that they should just immediately jump into the boat. I would definitely recommend it And when I first got saved, that's what I did as soon as I got saved I went sewing the very next week You know, I heard about summer saturation And I I went I was just like I heard you guys teach people how to preach the gospel I want to learn my father-in-law took me out for weeks and he taught me how to go sewing And I jumped in right away. But you know, that's not always the case with everyone sometimes people come They get saved and they're just kind of whatever They're still fishing You know what I mean and still fishing can mean they're still kind of like in the world You're still kind of just kind of doing their thing. They don't really have god's agenda on their radar They're just kind of doing their thing, but that's okay because peter was the same way And sometimes it requires for them to have This this meeting with the lord where it's just like oh God can use me so much more There's so much more purpose to life than what i'm doing You understand? And so be patient with people you know Not everyone here is going to be at your level of spirituality Okay, not everyone here is going to be at your level winning as many souls as you do as committed as you are And that's okay because we need to give people time. Jesus gave peter time very good You know what I mean? He like he met him and he still went to go do his thing And then he told him he was like follow me and i'm going to make you fishers of men And then at that point he just forsook everything and just left and went with the lord, okay Which is great go to matthew 14 Okay Now again peter catches a lot of uh of of slack for the things that he did but he think about this though Okay Think about this There's only two people In the history of mankind Who have ever walked on water? And peter's one of them And the other one was the lord No one else So he's got one on you So anytime you criticize peter and i'll be yeah, but did you have you ever walked on water? Yeah, but he sunk. Yeah, but you can't even dip both feet into the water without sinking right? He at least got out of the boat Pretty amazing if you think about it Yeah, he didn't move mountains He didn't you know do some some crazy feet with his face But you know what he did is that he actually walked on water for a little bit Yeah, he saw the wind boisterous and became afraid and began to sink and the lord had to rescue him But here's the thing. He still walked on water At least for a little bit Says a lot about peter. Yeah Look at matthew 14 verse 25 in the fourth watch of the night. Jesus went into them walking on the sea I love that So let me just show him something new Just walk on the sea And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled saying it is a spirit And they cried out for fear a straight way. Jesus spake it to them saying be of good cheer at his eye be not afraid And peter answered him and said lord if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water I mean this guy's creative He didn't say lord if it is thee just you know, you know, send down lightning or you know Do some miraculous thing. He says if it's you call me into the water so I can come in with you What does that what does that show faith? He literally stepped out in faith, right And I love this attitude if it be thou bid me come unto thee Oh, he's being a little presumptuous there. I think peter's just proud I think he's just being proud. He's just trying to be overly spiritual Well, look at verse 29 and he said come Jesus is like right come on over. I think jesus likes when people are like this Because it shows they have faith he that cometh to god Must believe that he is and he's a reward of them to diligently seek him He wanted and look none of the other and even when he stepped on the water I mean you would think like john or james or someone else as soon as he stepped on. I was like, all right He did it. Let's go. No one still wanted to step into the water They're probably thinking well, that's peter. Peter does crazy stuff like this all the time So And when peter was come down out of the ship he walked on the water to go to jesus When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried saying lord save me now here we see Not only His faith but even his humanity Because although he had a lot of faith and he's just like He like every other human being Can become afraid when the winds are boisterous And they can start sinking a little bit It's at that point. And by the way, I mean he still had faith just not to walk on water Where was his faith placed in after that lord saved me So he just forsook walking on water he's like i'm just forget this i'm not gonna do this I just need you to save me lord, but you know what you still gotta commend peter because he still has faith in the lord Yeah And that's the same way that I think god wants us to be that God wants us to have faith that we can be used in a great way But even if we fail we have faith that god can save us Right save us from a trial save us from a difficulty Restore us like peter put his faith in the lord whether to do a great exploit or to be saved from you know his lack of faith So And immediately jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him old thou of little faith Wherefore didst thou doubt and when they were coming to the ship the wind ceased now think about this. He says you have little faith Little faith, so it only takes like a little faith to walk on water So it shows that You know, it doesn't take much to do something great for god. It doesn't take much faith to do something great for god, right? But we see his faith being exercised now we often hear this phrase, you know walking on water and often we we uh attached Or that that's a description to say, you know be perfect or something like that But really walking on water just shows that you just have faith You know what every once in a while we need to step out of the boat, too And just try to walk on water Step out of the bow and and attempt to win souls to christ step out of the bow and and go Contrary to what this world is teaching step out of the bow and just step out in faith and say You know what if the lord bids me come if he's commanding in the bible i'm just gonna go And you what if you sink then i'll just ask him to save me What if he fell then i'll just reach out and just ask him to help me Because i'm just gonna try it because look If he didn't do this, you know what he'd be doing for the rest of eternity regretting that he didn't try it Like I wish I would have just tried it But you know what I guarantee he's in heaven like yep, that was me It feels a little squishy, you know You're just getting like a waterbed kind of thing with no, you know, it's kind of cool, you know What did that feel like he's the only one that knows No one else knows because he stepped out in faith to do it It's amazing Go to matthew 16 So He was a man of faith, but you know what he was also a man of pride Peter had a lot of pride. Okay, which I would say most individuals have a lot of pride Not me i'm humble. Well, there you go point proven Peter was prideful And it could be he was prideful because you know, he was just confident in his abilities. He was a leader You know, um, you know, he's he's numbered among the three I mean the lord valued the apostle peter, but you know, he was prideful look at matthew 16 Verse 21 says from that time forth began jesus to show unto his disciples How that he must go into jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and raised again the third day Now jesus is telling them this not so we can get any questions or comments Any modifications to that? You think I need to change anything about that? He's just telling him what's going to happen 22 then peter took him and began to rebuke him Saying be afar from the lord. This shall not be unto thee Peter shut up This is not we're not taking recommendations here, okay Peter rebuked the lord I mean he's lucky the lord just didn't zap him into like Atoms right then and there just obliterate him Okay But he turned and said unto peter get thee behind me satan Now peter's the only one that jesus said that to Which shows that he's pretty close to peter because you know what i've noticed is like The lord strongly rebukes those who he's really close to Because peter wasn't necessarily offended You know, I mean i'm sure he was like rebuked. He was like, oh man But he's just like he's not saying like the lord doesn't love him anymore Get them behind me saving thou art an offense unto me But thou saviors not the things that be of god But those that be of men then said jesus unto his disciples if any man will come after me Let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me now. I don't think jesus was saying that peter was actually possessed by satan I think he's saying you're being influenced by satan And he follows up in verse 24 by saying look if you're going to come after me you're going to have to deny yourself Deny your ability deny your own intelligence deny your own talents and you need to deny yourself Take up your cross and just follow me. Just trust me Okay Go to matthew 26 matthew chapter 26 But you know what peter is just stubborn And so he's still kind of like be it far from thee Even to the point where he tells the lord like hey though if you die i'm gonna die with you And then jesus basically tells him like hey before the cock crows you're gonna deny him Verse 33 says peter answered and said to him matthew 26 verse 33 Though all men shall be offended because of thee Yeah, well, I never be offended pretty prideful, right Hey all these guys right here. They're all gonna they're all gonna deny you Not me though I'm the stone remember I'm never man, that's strong language. I will never be offended Jesus said into him verily I say unto thee That this night before the cock crow Thou shall deny me thrice He's like before the cock crows you're gonna see that you're a chicken Peter said into him though. I should die with thee Yet will I not deny thee likewise look what it says also said all the disciples So he just completely just completely ignores what jesus just said And just said look Even if I were to die with you I'm, not going to deny you What is that called pride? Right Now look within the heart of every individual. I think there's a desire to never do this to the lord, right? Yeah, right and within every one of us there's there's this thing where it's just like I don't think I would ever deny the lord And then we correct ourselves and say well, I hope I would never deny the lord right Because we don't want to deny god, but we also understand that the bible tells us You know he that standeth take heed lest he fall Okay Now go to go with me if you would to uh luke 22 luke chapter 22 So And it looks like peter's pretty confident in himself He's like i'm look these guys are going to deny you Yeah, I know you said that smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered I know you said that this is going to happen to you I know you said that i'm going to deny you but i'm just telling you Though all deny thee I won't i'll die before I deny you now. I honestly think that he believed that And you know what sometimes I believe the same thing So When you go into persecution, it's just like I plan to just die before I ever deny the lord I plan to just They're gonna have to attach a bomb to my chest and blow me up before I ever and I truly believe that but you know It's got to be a balanced view to say but I know there's a possibility that I can't because of the fact that i'm flesh My flesh is corrupt. So lord deliver me from temptation Leave me not as in temptation, but deliver me from evil Help me never to be put in a situation where I could potentially deny you, okay Look at luke 22 verse 49 Here's the thing though with peter. He was about it Peter was about it What I mean? When he when jesus said get a sword, he's like, all right And look what it says in verse 49 when they which were about him saw what would follow they said unto him lord Shall we smite with the sword? Notice that jesus didn't answer Verse 50 and one of them smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear so they're like Should we smite and peter's like? He's like why ask So what are you doing asking bro just do it Now I don't believe that peter was trying to cut off his ear Because that takes precision if you're to do that like hey man, so when those guys come Like what are you gonna go for? I'm gonna slice off his ear Why he goes to show him how how precise I can get Yeah, he was going for the head He was trying to cut the guy's head off. So how do you know because if he's swinging and the guy's ducking It's like slice Peter was about it The guy's crazy While the other guys are saying should we do it peter's like i'm doing it Just part of me that likes this though I think this is just something within every single one of us that likes this and admires peter for this Because it first of all makes for a great story And then two is just like man, I want this is the kind of guy I want to be around 51 says and jesus answered and said suffer ye thus far either. All right, that's enough And here's another thing I love about this is jesus attitude towards peter He's not like, you know He's like you're done take a seat. He's just like, all right, that's enough peter. That's enough And he touched his ear And healed him So he cuts off his ear his ear somewhere And he restores his ear, okay This is obviously referring to malkus and in matthew 26 It says put up again thy sword into this place for all they take the sword shall perish with the sword Thinkest thou that I cannot pray now to my father and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be because like do you really think that I like need your help? I have like 12 legions of angels that could just obliterate everyone here I can obliterate everyone here, you know, jesus could do that if he wanted to But the question is why did he heal? the guys here Well think about this You know, I in my opinion I think he healed his ear because he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith into the churches right It is a matter of you know, peter cut off the guy's ear And obviously jesus knows the hearts of men. He knew that maybe this guy was receptive. Yeah And so he restored his ear to kind of restore his reputation because peter blemished that reputation You understand? You know the wrath of man Worketh not the righteousness of god the bible says Okay And yeah, he told him to get a sword He said sell your coat and buy two swords But you know just like with every follower what you do what you say in moderation. They'll do an excess They're like i'm gonna get a sword and i'm gonna cut someone's head off. Oh, you said I could get a sword Okay. Now i'm just gonna dismember anybody who tries to mess with us then, right? And so, you know, obviously the scripture had to be fulfilled and therefore he told him like don't do that and What he's teaching peter is like hey, we're in a spiritual battle Right now you're in the highways and byways and you have some coyote run up to you slice that thing up if it's messing with you Cut that thing up if he's trying to hinder you from preaching the gospel Preaching the gospel and someone's getting robbed or something and they try to pull out a sword Then you gotta you gotta cap them with the sword. Okay, then you gotta do what you gotta do But this particular situation he's just like let me restore his ear So that he could be receptive towards the gospel again Okay, I believe that that was the case there And so it shows that peter sometimes can mix in the spiritual battle with the physical battle And I think a lot of us here we have a lot of peters in our church Right And we got to be careful guys, you know what I mean? Because there's a lot of red warm-blooded men in our church Who will slice off a guy's ear off in a second? Have no problem with that I was going to say something but I don't want to incriminate anybody on camera because we're on live stream right now Just see me afterwards and you'll get the rest of it But you know, I like it though I'd rather have people men in our church where you kind of have to pull back the reins Than to have some limp-wristed donkey that you have to kick to go do something It's like Can you just buy a gun can you own a gun don't think don't don't have this Democrat view of guns and stuff like it's okay to have a gun, you know, we don't have people like that in our church You know, we let's just put it this way we have to tell the people in our church to put up that sword into that sheet I'll just stop right there Go to john 21 So we see that sometimes peter mixed in the spiritual battle with the physical battle But that's okay because jesus was always there to restore the ear restore the reputation restore the message And still use peter in a great way, but I guarantee you malkus will never forget peter You'll never forget him if malkus saw him again, he's probably like It's like this it's like this hey, hey Holyfield will never forget tyson Right, was it holyfield it was holyfield, right? He will never forget tyson Tyson is always will be forever embedded in holyfield's memory as being the guy who bit off his ear And they're friends now or whatever, but I guarantee you he'll never forget him And you know what? I guarantee you malkus never forgot peter And I guarantee you there's always just a little fear When he was around peter Like, you know, he sees peter pick up a sword. He's like vietnam, you know flashbacks and everything Look at john 21, so this is after the resurrection. Jesus christ is already resurrected Peter has denied the lord And one thing we see about peter is that when he denied the lord I mean he wept bitterly The bible tells us that he wept bitterly and I think he wept bitterly because he really genuinely loved the lord He loved the lord and he was so disappointed in himself that he just like disappointed god you know And so he kind of like went hard into the world And for him the world was just like not serving god and going fishing Okay, even to the point that when jesus resurrected think about this jesus went to the disciples or went to mary and said Tell the disciples and peter, right? Now isn't peter a disciple But I guarantee you peter was feeling so down and he's like well i'm not even a disciple anymore I'm not even gonna consider myself a disciple Like he's just kind of like i'm just a fisher now So god knew his mind. He's probably thinking like well go tell the disciples and go tell peter as well That i've resurrected, okay He goes and he tells him he goes to the tomb. He sees that he's not there and he's just like rejoicing But then he goes fishing anyways Look at chapter 21 verse 1 We're going to look at his hesitancy since after these things jesus showed himself against the disciples at the sea of tiberius And on this why showed he himself There were together simon peter and thomas called didymus and nathaniel of cana of galilee And the sons of sebety the two other of his disciples Simon peter saith unto him I go of fishing They said unto him we also go with thee they went forth And entered into a ship immediately and that night they caught nothing Now what's the principle there, you know when you backslide and you go back into the world, you know what you're gonna catch nothing Well, i'm just gonna get out of church and just go work and make millions you're gonna make nothing you will catch nothing Why because without christ you can't do nothing But when the morning was now come jesus stood on the shore but the disciples knew not that it was jesus Then jesus saith unto them children have ye any meat they answered him no Well, that's a short answer Have any meat no He said he said unto them cast the net on the right side of the ship and he shall find They cast therefore and now they were not able to draw for the multitude of the fishes Therefore that disciple whom jesus loved sent him to peter. It is the lord Now when simon peter heard that it was the lord he girded his fisher's coat unto him for he was naked And did cast himself into the sea so we see that It's weird, you know, he resurrects and he's still hesitant to serve god And it could be that his hesitancy comes from like what if I deny him again or something, you know, what if I fail him again? But I want you to notice what jesus does because doesn't this sound familiar? Isn't this what he did in the beginning when he met peter? He's basically reminding him. Hey, you can still come back you can still catch fish I haven't left And Here's the wonderful thing about peter and the lord It's showing us that when we fail god Sometimes we can get this misconception like oh man god's just really mad at me right now I can't go back to church or I can't Go sowing again. I'm so embarrassed. I'm so ashamed And jesus is just like casting them You can still come back The mercies of the lord are new every day Good You can still come back And if you're breathing You're still living You're still here You still have a second chance to get right? And god comes back and he says cast your net And he's very just like hey, have you caught anything? He's like no All right, it's time to get back to work then He's basically reminding them what of what he's supposed to be doing Okay And then of course at the end he gives him his commission He says love is down me more than these thou knowest lord that I love thee Now this story and I won't we won't read all the verses for the sake of time Is showing us that Though peter loved the lord Sometimes his love could was just misplaced And though he thought he loved the lord Sometimes his affections were set on the things of this earth and not on the things above where christ sitteth on the right hand of god And that's why he had to tell him like love is down me more than these so that I love you He's just like well feed my sheep. That's peter Feed my sheep. Peter is actually a pretty amazing character in the bible and I think it's it's his it's his humanity That makes him so amazing Okay, because we can relate to a lot of what peter what happens to peter's life You know and and we see that his relationship with the lord Is very profound. It's a very deep relationship. He obviously loves the lord, even though he's just an imperfect man And it shows us that you know what guys it's okay to be imperfect It's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to not have your ducks in order God used peter who is the same exact way And he used them greatly. Amen inspire heads and have a word of prayer father. We thank you so much for your word Thank you for the apostle peter And it's it's so amazing that this man was here 2 000 years ago yet He exerts a lot of the same qualities that even we see today Whether I see in myself and my failures and the areas of my life that I struggle in or even That I see in others lord And he's a great example of of the humanity of someone who just loves the lord And just remains in the ways of god and just continues to try to do right no matter what it takes And we're so thankful for his example lord. Thank you for using him And and lord, we're so thankful that your mercies are new every day that when we get away we strain We follow a far off as peter did Uh, you're always on the seashore waiting for us to come back. We love you lord, and we thank you Pray these things in jesus name. Amen