Blogspot Message #2

MY NAME IS PETER

In high school, one of my teachers told us something that really stuck with me, “people need religion, because it gives them hope. Without hope, you can’t go on.” This was her explanation for the existence of religion. Although she was unsaved and in error, in part, she was right. For those who are born-again, our “religion,” or faith in God, gives us hope or encouragement to go on with life and not give up.

True “religion” gives true hope.

The church is full of slogans and mottos, and they are not entirely wrong. Here are some examples:

“God knew my end from the beginning”

“There’s no challenge too big for Jesus and me to face together”

“Man proposes, but God disposes”

“God is going to finish what he started in my life”

“It’s all good”

And so forth.

While each one of those churchy sayings has a scriptural basis to support it, we need something more than slogans. We need faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (see Hebrews 11:6). Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” While it is true that we are to walk by faith, and not by sight, sometimes evidence will strengthen our faith. Hebrews 11 is full of examples or evidence and provides a lengthy list of concrete, factual examples upon which one can base his or her faith in God:

• God’s very spoken word itself created the universe and everything in it

• Enoch’s strong faith in God and close walk in obedience to Him resulted in his “rapture” because Enoch’s life was so pleasing to God that the brother came to a point in his walk with the Lord that there was no need to keep him on earth any longer to go through the perfecting process

• Based upon nothing more than faith in the Lord and a heart of obedience, Noah set out to build the Ark, when at that time no one even knew what rain or a world-wide flood was, not even as an abstract concept. The brother must have looked like a Looney-Tune to the wicked, unsaved world, as it observed his decades of seemingly unnecessary Ark-building. Then one day, it began to rain…

• Abraham left his very prosperous, comfortable home and life situation where he lived to obey God and set out for a land of promise, without seeing any glossy real estate photos or brochures or even having an address or location on the map to go to, just knowing that it’s out there somewhere and God’s going to lead me to it.

• Sarah, long after menopause and well into what most of us would call senior citizen status received the faith to conceive and bear Isaac. That would be like your granny having an baby long after she goes to the old folks home. God has a sense of humour, I think.

The list goes on, but I think that you get the point. Simply stated, the Lord gives us illustrated examples of actual, factual situations and experiences so that we can believe Him. “Now all these things happened [examples in the Bible] unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.” I Corinthians 10:11.

Think about it: the Bible is full of examples of dos and don’ts, good and bad, right and wrong, success and failure. The word “admonition” in this scripture means that He is trying to warn us, give us the “heads-up,’ the “word-up,” or whatever you want to call it. Judas is in the Bible to warn us how not to be—merely remorseful without being actually repentant, hanging out around Jesus without being intimate with Him. Moses is there to show us that we can forego pleasures and status of this world, humble ourselves and receive a greater kingdom (of the Lord) than anything that Pharoh (type of Satan) or Egypt (type of the world or the flesh) can give us. Moses is also an example of the often lengthy process of dying to self and spending time on the “back side of the desert” in preparation for serving the Lord and ministering to His people. Without the back side of the desert, ministry would go to our head and we would think that we are stars of stage, screen and film. We would get the “Hollywood syndrome” and think that we are performers or stars. We would crave the lime-light, fame and fortune, rather than the simple presence of God in our lives and the simple enjoyment of a life that is spent relating to and walking with Him. Sampson is a sobering reminder that just because you are “called by God” doesn’t mean you can substitute the call itself for obedience. Sampson pursued wine, women and song rather than the Lord Himself and consequently only performed a fraction of what he COULD HAVE DONE FOR THE LORD. The book of Judges tells us that Sampson’s God-ordained purpose was to be a deliverer for Israel—to deliver them from the oppression of the Philistines (an ungodly, heathen people who were enemies of the Lord). In the end, Sampson did some work for God, but it paled in comparison to what he was actually called to do. In eternity, the brother will find his envelope to be a little lighter on “pay day” than he would have hoped.

One of the most relevant examples or character studies in the Bible which Christians need to take note of today is that of the Apostle Peter. Peter is an example of someone who had many shortcomings, failures and character flaws, but the Lord eventually processed him to the point of being able to use him like few other men or women of God. Today, right now, the Almighty wants to encourage you with a brief review of some significant points in Peter’s life. He wants you to see yourself in Peter and see the great potential for being transformed, just like Peter was! The Apostle Peter of Acts 2 who preached a mighty sermon on the day of Pentecost, resulting in the salvation of 3,000 people, was not the same Peter who denied Christ in Matthew 26:71-75/Mark 14:69-72/Luke 23:1-5/John 18:25-27 (these are multiple accounts of the same event).

We start here. One day, Jesus is assembling His ministry team of disciples, as the Father instructed Him to do. He walks by the Sea of Galilee and sees two brothers, “…Simon called Peter, and Andrew…And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:18-19. Now, consider this. Jesus had infinite foreknowledge. He knew all about Peter and everything that Peter would ever say or do in the future, including the dreadful mistakes, like one night cursing and denying that he even knew Christ. NONETHELESS, Jesus said to Peter, “I WANT YOU!”

Do you remember the old recruiting posters for the United States military, featuring Uncle Sam? He pointed his finger out and said to the potential military service members, “I WANT YOU!” This the Uncle said, despite the fact that those whom he called did not yet have proper military haircuts, military demeanor or even know the first thing about BEING a soldier, sailor, marine or airman. The Uncle gets you in the door and the process thereafter makes you into a WARRIOR, if you don’t drop out. We will reap in due season, if we faint not.

If it had been you or me and we knew that Peter would deny us, we’d most likely say, “forget about it! That man is a traitor! When the going gets tough, the tough get going—right out the door with his tail between his legs like a scalded dog! You must be kidding. That man has failure written all over him. He’s a disaster waiting to happen. Yap, yap, yap…” But not Jesus! He also knew that one day Peter would be converted. Jesus knew that one day Peter would be transformed and converted into one of the faithful ones. He knew Peter’s final end, that of a stalwart for the Kingdom of God. Simon Peter’s very name meant “rock.” It was no accident that Jesus gave Simon the name of “Cephas,” or “Peter”, which means “a stone or rock:

“And he brought him to Jesus, And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.” John 1:42

“Conversion” means changing something from one form to another. Examples:

• From good to bad
• From dark to light
• From depressed and oppressed to free and joyous
• From selfish to selfless

There are two “conversions” in the Christian life. The first is conversion into the Kingdom of God. This is the salvation or “new birth” experience spoken of by the Master in John 3 and elsewhere. The second “conversion” is what Peter eventually experienced after his initial salvation. This conversion, which is what you and I need, is the transformation from a selfish, self-centered, fleshly Christian to one who no longer thinks that he is better than God or knows better than Him (see Job 35:1-2: Elihu spake moreover, and said, Thinkest thou this to be right, that thoud saidest, My righteousness is more than God’s?”) Here is the ugly truth about us (that should read, “you and me”): We want to sit on the throne of the universe and rule our own lives, rather than letting Him have His way at all times in our lives. Look at the chapters in the Book of Job previous to Elihu showing up to set the record straight. Job came unraveled. He started off composed and dignified, but as the “Job experience” progressed and things went from bad to worse, he started to whine and justify himself. Job talked about what he did for poor people and how he made a covenant with his eyes to not look on a maid (see Job 31:1). Helping people in need and not lusting after a woman who is not your wife is basic Christianity. I suppose that we want a medal for doing the basics. In the military, medals are for performing extraordinarily well, not for doing what is supposed to be your usual, routine duty.

Peter started off very carnal and overly emotional, just like the typical Christian. Nothing unusual here. On the Mount of Transfiguration (see Matthew 17:1-13) the brother was privileged to go up with Jesus, James and John and have an encounter with Moses and Elijah. This was Jesus’ “inner circle,” His closest friends and followers on earth. Despite his carnality and flaws, Peter loved Jesus and was admitted to the inner circle. Peter had favor with Jesus. Peter had close relationship with Jesus. Jesus looked beyond the faults that Peter had at that time and kept on preparing the brother for what was to be—the state of transformation and conversion.

Peter did not really understand what he was seeing up on the Mount of Transfiguration, but Jesus brought Peter along anyway, because this experience was necessary for Peter’s spiritual development and spiritual future. The Lord sometimes gives us revelations of Himself and experiences with Him while we are still quite rough around the edges because those revelations are necessary for our further and future development. He does not deny us access to His throne of grace just because we are a mess. He does what is necessary when it is necessary so that we will be transformed and converted. We may think that His work in our lives is sometimes delayed, out of sequence or irrational, but this is because we are still carnal and do not have the big picture. We don’t understand our trips to the potters house and getting put back on the Potter’s wheel (see Jeremiah 18) because we do not have His perspective (i.e., divine, eternal, perfect, all-knowing, all-loving). We are bewildered by the process because we are still often like the pre-conversion Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, who saw what God was doing, heard what God and His men were saying, but did not quite understand yet what it all meant. So, we get confused. We get discouraged. We get perplexed. We do not understand God’s processing of us, its necessary sequences and nuances, and consequently, we panic and freak out, not remembering or acknowledging that IT’S ALL GOOD (see Romans 8:28).

The post-Hurricane Katrina world of Southeast Louisiana may look like a disaster, and at one level (the natural), it is. We don’t understand that the hurricane’s very name signified that it did what it was supposed to, clean up. Katrina was God’s “clean up lady.” Lisa, the children and I visited one of Lisa’s friends in Prarieville, LA (suburb of Baton Rouge) last night, and I felt impressed to drive home to Slidell via U.S. Hwy. 61 (Airline Hwy.), I-10 and I-610. What I saw in New Orleans was sobering. While the high rise buildings of the Central Business District were lit up, most of the rest of the city was dark. As we drove on I-610 through City Park, it was BLACK, except for a few street lights. Lisa pointed out that we could look up and see many stars, just like being out in the country. Typically one only sees the brightest of stars in the city because of all of the lights. Driving through City Park, Gentilly and The East was like driving through the country! It was dark and quiet! There were no people visible anywhere. This experience, coupled with the great volume of news to the effect that most of New Orleans needs its sheetrock, insulation and carpet ripped out and replaced and mold eradicated would make you think that New Orleans cannot come back. While it is true that New Orleans will not likely ever be as large as it was before the hurricane, it is also true that Katrina, the “clean up lady,” did this:

• chased out a large portion of the criminal element, and with that…
• crime is down to a very minimal level as compared to before the storm
• drug traffic is no longer a pressing issue
• neither are street gangs
• Southern Decadence, the homosexual “Mardi Gras,” could not happen in the French Quarter this year, because the Lord said “STOP!”

Why? Because the “clean up lady” really cleaned up. She got out the big broom and pushed hard. New Orleans can and will receive revival, because of the “sweep.” But if we listen to the scared, angry voices of the public, we will conclude that there is no hope. We will conclude that New Orleans is permanently wasted and we had better move to Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Memphis, etc. Our job now is to PRAY that New Orleans will receive revival and that it will be filled with the presence of God, otherwise, the demons who were cast out by the storm will be back with their buds, and the final result will be 7 times worse, resulting in the need for the Lord to destroy the city once and for always, a la Sodom & Gomorrah.

But let’s get back to talking about brother Peter. In Matthew 14:22-33, Peter sees Jesus out on the water at night and musters up enough faith to walk on the water (this is miraculous and supernatural, I think that you will agree), and Peter does well, until he takes his eyes off of Jesus and puts them on the circumstances of life—wind and waves. I think you get the point. We have a problem with consistently, continuously putting our faith in Him. We walk on water one day and go glub, glub the next. Nonetheless, the Lord sees what you and I will be. If we continue on with His processing of us, we will eventually get beyond catastrophic, terrible failures (see Matthew 26:31-35, in which Peter vehemently denies that he will ever deny Jesus, and Matthew 26:69-75, in which Peter a few hours later vehemently denies Jesus) and become what God said we could be.

Peter went from denying Jesus Christ and getting in his flesh (recall that he cut off Malchus’ ear in the Garden of Gethsemane—this was an emotional anger reaction, not under the leading of the Holy Spirit) to preaching a mighty sermon that led to conversion of 3000 people on Pentecost in Acts 2, and other demonstrations of the power of God in his life, like:

• healing of a lame man in Acts 3—“…Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk…” (see verse 6).
• Exposed the sin and deceit in the lives of Ananias and Sapphira and pronounced God’s judgment on them for it (see Acts 5:1-11), leading to “…great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.” Peter could not have been used by the Lord in this way unless he was right before the Lord. Our God will never use an unclean vessel to bring judgment or chastening into a situation in the manner in which Peter did. His heart had to be right first, otherwise, he would have been a hypocrite and subject to the same hypocrite’s reward that Ananias and Saphira received. God using Peter in this way is evidence of Peter’s conversion and transformation from the sword-swinging, cussing, Christ-denying flesh man into the mighty man of God and Holy Apostle.
• Preached to Cornelius, a high-ranking Roman Army Centurion, and Cornelius’ family, and every last one of them immediately received Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and was baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

NOW, YOU THINK THAT YOU AND YOUR SITUATION ARE TOO MUCH FOR THE LORD? Consider the Apostle Peter before and after conversion. The Lord knows what you have need of in your conversion process and He is doing a custom-made piece of work in you and your life. Get your eyes off of what is going on in everyone else’s life and lie out before Him, seeking Him for your life and those of the ones whom the Lord has called you to intercede for, like family, friends, your brothers and sisters in Christ.

YOU”LL MAKE IT PETER! JUST KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS!

My name is “Peter.” I will, with the grace of God, continue with the process, and experience my full conversion and transformation. I’m praying that He will help you to do the same. We’re in this thing together. Let’s keep encouraging one another in the Lord.

Your brother in Christ,

Pastor Ben