Peter: Following to Falling
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
ILLUST: Bold to not so bold
Peter - Faithful
Peter - Flawed
Peter - Falls, hard
PETER - Fearless, Flawed, Falls
But…He is Jesus’ guy! What happened?
Peter - Fearless
Peter - Fearless
Walks on Water
Walks on Water
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
There are others in the boat
Peter challenges the Savior - “If it is you...” and it is
Builds Tents - Elijah and Moses
Builds Tents - Elijah and Moses
Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
Rebukes Jesus
Rebukes Jesus
From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”
“Jesus, Messiahs don’t just die!”
(Later, Jesus asks Peter to be one of those who will pray with Him in Gethsemane)
Makes a Solid Vow
Makes a Solid Vow
But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.”
Defends Jesus
Defends Jesus
When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
Vastly outnumbered, Peter doesn’t care
Peter: Falls
Peter: Falls
Peter is flawed, no denying that
Peter Sinks
Peter Sinks
But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
All in the boat declare jesus is Son of God
Peter is Afraid
Peter is Afraid
For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified.
Peter is Rebuked
Peter is Rebuked
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Peter Falls Asleep
Peter Falls Asleep
And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?
Peter Sees Jesus Heal
Peter Sees Jesus Heal
But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.
Peter Denies Jesus
Peter Denies Jesus
After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, “Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.
The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”
Peter’s flaws, written down for all time
Peter’s fearlessness, check out his motivation, his heart
Walks on water - falls, but he tried
Wrongly offers to build tents - wanted to serve
Rebukes Jesus - he didn’t want his friend to die
Cuts the ear of the servant - He’ll fight for his Savior
Denies Jesus 3X - stressed, still very human
Why does Peter Fail?
Same reasons we can
Focus is on the things of this world
Fear, frustration, rage, focus on here and now, fighting, JUSTICE
Peter wants, demands justice
Peter wants life, things to be better…NOW!
First into the tomb
First into the tomb
Maybe my favorite aspect of him
He and John run, John is first but stops
Peter rushes right in
Peter never gives up
Jesus wants Peter to know He’s Risen
Jesus wants Peter to know He’s Risen
“But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’ ”
Peter is named specifically
Jesus knows Peter is hurting, deeply
And the only thing that will help is remembering the resurrection
Jesus knows Peter feels like a failure
And the only thing that will help is remembering the resurrection
TRUTH? Peter did fail - several times
TRUTH: Jesus decides to use Peter, AFTER he fails
Why? To grow him, to strengthen him, to make sure Peter understands how much He is loved
Peter fails Jesus - it’s the last thing Jesus heard from him before going to the cross
Peter knows He’s risen, but they really haven’t talked one-on-one since then
Can You Relate?
Can You Relate?
Ever feel like you fail Jesus?
Probably because you have
You probably will again, maybe even today
Jesus knows how you feel
Jesus knows who you are, what you’ve done
And He has told you, PERSONALLY, that He loves you, and wants to use you
He’s not waiting for you to be perfect
He’s waiting to use you, so that He can perfect you.
It starts with you following, knowing you have failed, and will likely fail again; but He will keep working on you, in you, and through you
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
So....get over yourself, trust Him, failures and all
He wants to define you by your relationship to Him, not your relationship to this world
When you focus on this world, failure is inevitable
When you focus on Him, His glory shines, through you
Big question: how do you respond when faced with failing Jesus?
How did Peter respond?
He wept, bitterly
This, friends, is repentance
God will do amazing things with repentance
God wants to do amazing things, using you
Do your failures and sin bother you?
Have a conversation with Jesus
Peter is going to
SPOILER - Peter is going to remember the resurrection
When Jesus invites you in, to change, what is your response?
When getting closer to Jesus prompts you to look closer at yourself, and then you get stuck dwelling on failures, how do you recover?
Jesus wants YOU to know He is risen!
Do you remember the resurrection?
What IS the big picture?
Remembering the saints and angels ROARING VICTORY! VICTORY!
Think on that this week.