PETER, THE MAN WHO WANTED TO…..

MATTHEW 4:18-20…CALL OF PETER

JOHN 1:35-42…PETER, THE ROCK

Everyone knows something about Peter…BOLD…STRONG…LEADER OF THE EARLY CHURCH…KEYS TO THE KINGDOM WERE GIVEN TO HIM.  Let’s look closely at Simon Peter today.  I think all of us will see something of ourselves in him.

Peter was in business with his brother, Andrew, and James and John, sons of Zebedee…successful because of his profession and hard work.  He most likely was a disciple of John, looking for him who would come after.

He was a man of action, aggressive energy, bold, childlike simplicity, tough, rough around the edges, the forerunner of Christianity.  It would not be the Priest or Rabbi who would spread the Gospel, but common, everyday people.  The fellow next door, the clerk in the store, the woman you work with every day.  PRAISE GOD!

PETER means “ROCK”.  We don’t know if it meant his attitude, his strength, his hardheadedness or stubbornness, or if it refers to the confession, “JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD!”

1.  HIS SUCCESSES/ACCOMPLISHMENTS

·         Followed Jesus

·         Gave Jesus what he had

·         Recognized the Messiah (first to confess)

·         His faith was honored by God (water,transfiguration)

·         He followed when the others fled

2. HIS FAILURES/INSECURITIES

·         Doubted God’s provision (fish)

·         Doubted in the midst of a miracle (water)

·         Rebuked the Lord/denied the suffering

·         Refused to have his feet washed

·         Fell asleep

·         Cut off the ear of the guard

·         Warmed himself at the enemy’s fire

·         Denied the Lord three times

3.  HIS RESTORATION

·         Jesus appeared to him and restored him

·         He was renewed and transformed

·         He preached the first great message

·         Performed the first apostolic miracle

·         Samaria and Cornelius

·         Crucified in Rome

4. CONCLUSION –  He Was Very Human

Peter is a man of contrasts.  For every strong emotion he displayed, he was capable of displaying the opposite just as deeply:

·         Sinking after walking

·         Receiving the revelation and almost immediately being rebuked for forgetting it

·         Denying after affirming

·         Following after leading

·         Crumbling like sand after being a rock

·         Weeping bitterly in failure after bolding defending

The central theme in the life of Peter is that Jesus made the difference.  We are never who we say or think we are no matter how strongly we believe it.  If we truly want to follow the Lord, we must do it in Spirit and in Truth.  We must be willing to be led into places we may not want to go.  We might have to look into a mirror with the lights on full blast.  The beauty is that the Lord did not forsake Peter, but took Peter’s weaknesses, stripped him of his self-righteousness, and surrounded him with the Strong Tower of HIS NAME!!

Once freed of trying to prove himself to be someone he was incapable of being, Jesus then turned strength into weakness.  “Feed my Sheep.”  The Lord knows who we really are; he wants us to be honest with ourselves as well as with HIM;  then he can shine his light through us and cover our iniquities from view.

Peter is a story of the Phoenix rising out of the ashes.  All of his strong points were now tempered with humility; hardness tempered with compassion; boldness tempered with failure; truth tempered with the Love of God; knowledge tempered with wisdom.  Head knowledge finally understood by the experience of the heart.

GOD needs men and women who know that without HIM they can do nothing; people who realize that failure is necessary to learn and grow.  We must depend on Him.  II Corinthians 12:9… “for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”