And Peter

Intro

Some stories are so Good that they just need to be told…They end up getting a life of their own in your family folk lore...

Its like the story of when my wife and I…Day 2 of our marriage…actually we had been married less than 24 hours…Almost no sleep

A family member picks us up at the hotel…we go to the airport for our honeymoon because we are going to Hawaii...

And we walk in the door at LAX and its a ghost town…I even remember thinking…Is there something wrong here

Because its LAX…I can’t stand that airport its always a zoo

So as we are walking up to the ticketing counter (This is before you can check in on your phone)

and as we are walking up to the counter there is this other family but they are the only ones at the ticket counter...

And we are walking up and I start saying…Oh No…Oh No...

And Desiree is like…what is it...

It is my Ex-Girlfriend and her whole family standing at the ticket counter and we are right behind them

She comes up and talks to us…and stuff gets awkward quick

I introduce her to my wife and things get seriously cringe awkward

Well they get their tickets and move along...

Then we get our tickets and go to security and then there is this massive hoard of people and we are like…Ok Here are all the people…we found them....

But wouldn’t you know it, The TSA walks right up to us and says…were opening a new line come with us...

Then we walk with them and then we go through the metal detectors at the exact same time

We walk to our planes…which felt like 10 miles away…at the same time

Our flights were right next to each other

and the whole time we are saying…is this real…Are there cameras somewhere?

But it is a story that we tell over an over again in our family and now our kids tell the story…And the story lives now as kind of folk-lore because its just so good...

We all have these stories in our families that come up over and over again

Stories that define us

Stories that we laugh at…

But if there is one story that happened to someone else that I could tell you today, it would be the story of Peter…A disciple and a friend of Jesus.

Its a story that is so good that what happened to him can actually have a profound affect on our lives...

Peter

And I want to tell you the story of Peter today and what Jesus did for him....

Normally I would read you this out of Luke 5 but the TV show does such a great job telling the story that I just want them to tell it today

Chosen Clip: 4min (Luke 5)

Isn’t that good?

This is the story of how Peter meets Jesus...

Its the story of how he came to follow him...

and there is so much here that we can not uncover today…But its a defining moment for Peter…In Fact, the story gets told so many times that some 50 years later when the Gospel of Luke is written down it makes it in the Bible...

This is the defining moment in the life of Peter

After this he would follow Jesus...

He would become the lead disciple

Let’t just trace for a second what Jesus will do in Peter’s life:

Matthew 8:14–15 NIV

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

Jesus healed his mother in law…Wow!

There are so many more defining moments with Peter

Later Jesus’ disciples would be on a boat when the rough seas were happening and then they would see this figure walking toward them and they were afraid

They thought it was a ghost

and then this exchange happened

Matthew 14:28–29 NIV

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

So Peter has seen a lot

Jesus gave him a crazy amount of fish

He healed his mother-in-law

Then Peter actually walked on water with Jesus

He had to be thinking, who is this man?

But Peter is not the only one thinking that

Everyone was stirring with the idea that this man could be the Messiah

Jesus wanted his disciples to know that he was God on their own

and so he asks them this question

Matthew 16:13–16 NIV

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

This would have been so bold for Peter to say

Peter was the first person verbalize what a lot of people were thinking but too afraid to say...

He is like …You gave me a catch of fish that was just insane!

You healed my mother in law..

We walked on water together

I have seen and heard all that you have done…There is no doubt in my mind!

And then because Peter is Bold…he gets a promotion among the disciples

Jesus says this to him:

Matthew 16:17–18 NIV

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

What Jesus tells Peter is that on this declaration of who Jesus is

Jesus will build his church!

And its going to be a church that literally overcomes evil...

So Peter here in his relationship with Jesus is just seeing more and more…and he is becoming an impotrant person

He is making progress…

But then the pressure comes

And isn’t it true that the pressure always comes when you are doing really well in life...

Isn’t it true for us that after every season of success we have some sort of testing or pressure?

I have heard from so many people when it all comes tumbling down...

We were doing so great…and then bam…Lost the job

We were doing so well and then out of nowhere the relationship was strained

We were doing so well and then you had to go and do that

So Peter now is facing this pressure

Because of Jesus’ ministry he is drawing a lot of attention

The politics of the day are getting messy because of jesus...

There are rumors that the priests want Jesus dead and Jesus has been cryptically talking about his own death

Under Pressure

Know how at times the pressure is so intense that you do things that you wouldn't normally do?

Well Jesus tells the disciples again…He is going to die

He tells the disciples that they will disown him...

That they will deny him

And Peter who is now the leader of the pack this seems impossible…so Peter says this

Matthew 26:33–35 NIV

Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.

And you have to understand that the pressure is so great here...

At this point in the story, Jesus had stirred up Israel into a frenzy and there is now political pressure...

It seems like this Jesus fellow could cause a revolt

So the Jews saw him as a threat to good relations with Rome…and they were looking to get rid of any threats

The pressure is so great that one of Jesus’ closest disciples actually betrayed him to the authorities…and In Judas’ mind…he was probably saving Israel from a political firestorm

And the doubt and questioning starts to creep in...

Jesus is arrested....Everything turns dark really fast

The doubt of Peter had to have been...

I thought we were going to free Israel

I thought we were going to start a great movement

and now Jesus is arrested

Was it just some trick...

The healing of the mother-in-law

The miraculous catch of fish?

walking on water?

Did that all really happen

And then the moment of Peter’s testing happens:

Mark 14:66–72 NIV

While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. “You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said. But he denied it. “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway. When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” Again he denied it. After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.” Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

Three times Peter is asked about Jesus

Three times Peter denies Jesus

and in a striking difference from the man who would proclaim Jesus as Messiah just a little earlier, Peter would now disown Jesus so harshly that he begun to call curses down from heaven

Have you ever just famously messed up…like so bad…Like beyond repair bad?

Like done something that was so wrong that there is nothing you can do to make it right?

Well when that happens you begin to believe in some lies

Lies like…all is lost...

Lies like there is no hope for me

Likes like I am unloveable

Lies like God would never want me...

Usually these moments of our greatest falling happen when life is going great

So here Peter makes this huge mistake...

One day he is the leader of the disciples for the Messiah

And in a moment it is gone...

In one moment Peter’s lies ruins everything

And then before he could even say he was sorry or try and make it right with Jesus...

Jesus dies

His friend…his messiah…and Peter goes into a deep despair…There is nothing he can do to make it right again...

But in the greatest reversal story of human history…this happens next

Mark 16:1–7(NIV)

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ”

Wait did you get that?

On Easter Sunday...

The women went to the grave and guess what…Jesus wasn’t there but they found an angel with this incredible news

that Jesus had risen

Just that news alone is Earth shattering

If Jesus had risen that means that death didn't have the last word on Jesus’ life

It means that he overcame death

It means that Jesus is still alive today

That we don’t worship a dead guy…That we worship the Son of God who is alive…right here right now…And seat at the right hand of the father

It doesn’t just mean that if you believe in him that when you die you go to heaven…No what it means is that you can have a personal, alive and active relationship with the living God right here and now…Because Jesus is alive

It means that you and I have access to the creator of the universe right now

Not only that…this means so much more...

It means the entire old enterprise of sin and death is defeated…and when Jesus died, that first creation went and died with him.

It means that when Jesus rose again it was the first day of the new creation

So Jesus not only overcomes death but in the Easter Sunday story are two words that define how Jesus feels about all of us...

It defines what the cross is all about

It defines what resurrection means

Those two words....AND PETER...

Go tell the disciples....and Peter

We know that Peter was crushed by the weight of his own sin

Because in so many other scenes where the disciples are gathered, peter isn’t mentioned...

Its like he went back home to Galilee and was just crushed by his own sin

his denial of Jesus

The death of his friend

But the Angel at the resurrection gives us the twin themes of easter

Jesus is alive

And Jesus forgives

Those two words, AND PETER mean EVERYTHING

For us it means that no matter what you have done or where you have been, God wants a relationship with you

It means God will never use your past against you

Don’t let your past limit you from a relationship with God

Because Jesus wants to peruse you

It is actually the disciple John who picks the story up next...

Because Jesus actually goes to Galilee...

and he ends up making a camp fire on the shore as he watched Peter, James and John fishing out on the lake

They have gone back to their old profession

their old way of life

John 21:4–6 NIV

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Wow...

Its almost like I showed you a video on this 15min ago

Jesus will restore Peter in the same way that he called him

Its like Jesus saying to Peter…I am the same Jesus who called you 3 years ago

In this act Jesus reveals his great love and grace for his friend Peter

And for Peter…This is undeniable

He knows that there is only one person who can do this and he came just for Peter

With this catch of fish…Peter’s doubts were erased

With this catch of fish Peter’s hope was renewed

This catch of fish revealed that Jesus relentlessly pursues his people

Peter knows that there is only one thing to do...

The rest of the story goes that Peter jumps into the water and swims to shore just to see Jesus because he knew

Just as Peter denied Jesus around a camp fire…Jesus make a campfire and has a meal with Peter so he can reinstate him

John 21:15–17 NIV

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

Just as Peter denied Jesus 3 times around a camp fire....Jesus asks him if he loves him three times around a campfire...

After Peter’s denial of Jesus he want back to his old profession…

But around that camp fire, Jesus reminded Peter that you are mine and I Have called you for my purposes

You denied me…But I will never leave you or forsake you

You denied me…but I will never stop loving you

You gave up…But I called you by name!

Those words “AND PETER” mean everything in the Easter Story

This is one of those stories that is so good that we have to revisit it every year because it defines us...

We have to keep telling this story over and over

Because it becomes our story

I AM PETER

You are PETER

We as a people tend to be just like him...

We get close and then mess up and get stuck in shame or Guilt

But look how Jesus relentlessly pursues Peter to have relationship with him

You are here today and its is not a mistake

God is calling you by name

He wants relationship with you

He wants you to experience what new life is like...

The Apostle Paul dealt with the twin theme of Easter this way…He said

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

There is brand new life in Jesus

Then he says this:

2 Corinthians 5:19 NIV

that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Easter Sunday is God’s glorious reminder that no matter what you have done or where you have been in your life, Jesus wants a relationship with you

There is nothing you have done that God can’t forgive

Alter Call

Maybe your here today and God has been whispering to you...

-And Dave

-And Emma

-And Gary

In the same way Jesus restored Peter..>He wants you back too

If you have been here today thinking…This guy has been spying on me…he is speaking right to what is happening in my life…thats not me, its the Holy Spirit...

Its time to surrender to Jesus...

So here is what I want to do today...

Each of you got a rock when you came in...

We have these stations where you can write your name on a rock and go stick it on the cross…We are going to hang these crosses here at the church as a reminder

that we are all like peter...

But easter changed everything