Peter
You Too Can Be a Rock
Introduction
A. How many of you have ever thought about Rocks?
B. I admit it does not come up in every day thought process with me
C. I do not sit there thinking about Rocks
D. But this week I did think about Rocks
E. If you were to grind as fine as you could you would have dust
F. If you were to take a bunch of dust and add a little water you would have dirt
G. You take that dirt along with some other chemical processes you have a Rock!
H. On Christ the Solid Rock I stand
I. Build your house on the Rock
J. Rock of Ages?
K. There are tons of references to Rocks in the Bible
L. Probably one of the most famous is Peter. Peter means Rock
M. Let us look at Peter and find out how He became a Rock
I. Peter the Dust
A. Explanation
1. Obviously Peter did not start of as a Rock, I would say he was dust
2. Peter was a rough Fisherman
3. Defiantly a blue collar hard working man
4. I guess what you could say would be a modern day equivalent of a factory worker
5. Defiantly would not be considered a polished individual
6. Had a temper, liked to shoot his mouth off
7. Basically was heading down a path of destruction
8. Along came Jesus
9. Jesus looked at him and said (Read John 1:42)
10. Understand that back then names meant a lot more then they do today, it is not like looking at Peter and calling him Fred just for the fun of it. It was important
11. Jesus called him Cephas – Which is translated Peter – Which means The Rock
B. Application
1. Let us apply this to our lives in two different ways.
2. First, we realize that Peter is not some sort of extraordinary person
3. He was a fisherman, and a rough one at that
4. God can use anyone to do his work,
5. You do not have to be of royal blood, you do not have to be the Son of a CEO of a fortune 500 company
6. God uses common people,
7. Hey, God is using me!
8. Second we look at Jesus calling Peter the Rock
9. Giving a young person that little bit of encouragement made a huge different in his life
10. Jesus saw something in Peter and choose to take a risk
11. We need to do the same with the younger Generation
C. Illustration
1. I was at District conference this week. Here I am sitting as a colleague of many people who have encouraged me along. There were about 100 people there that have encouraged me. People who might have taken a chance and be willing to support me. Look what happened!
2. Be willing to risk possible rejection, possible pain, and invest your life into young prospective rocks.
3. Peter started off as a Dust, he then gets upgraded to dirt
II. Peter the Dirt
A. Explanation
1. Peter was not always the brightest bulb on the string in fact he made some huge mistakes along the way
2. (Read Math 16:21-23)
3. Jesus called him Satan,
a) Understand what Peter did was try and make Jesus Happy
b) Peter just did not get it though
4. That was not Peter’s only blunder (Read John 13:7-10)
a) Peter did not want his master to wash his feet (that was a job for servants)
b) Yet notice that Peter was not willing to wash everyone else’s feet (pride sneaks in there)
c) Again Jesus tells Peter he is wrong
5. Oh there still is more (Read John 18:10-11)
a) Peter was trying to defend his master
b) Once again Peter did not understand what was going on
c) Jesus had to correct him again
B. Application
1. What can we gain from Peter’s examples?
2. Two different takes we can have on it
3. The first is personal. We all make bonehead decisions like Peter
4. We think that we know what is best and basically would like to tell God how to do his job
5. We are rash and do not think things through
6. We jump into situations without weighing the consequence
7. We need to understand that we do not know everything and be willing to still be taught
8. Which leads us to the other take?
9. Jesus could have given up on Peter
10. Obviously Peter probably caused a lot of frustration
11. There were days that Jesus did not want to deal with Peter any more
12. However, Jesus saw that raw potential and trained Peter
13. We need to do the same.
C. Illustration
1. As a congregation you all took a big risk. You called a 25 year old Pastor. Sure he will make mistakes, sure he is not perfect, sure there is a lot of things he does not understand, sure he might frustrate you at times. But God is working in my life and you are helping me to become a rock!
2. Be willing to go out on that limb
3. Be willing to invest your time and energy on a Peter
4. You know why? That pile of dirt became a Rock!
III. Peter the Rock
A. Explanation
1. After Jesus died Peter began to fulfill his destiny as a Rock
2. He was basically the new appointed Dr. Nenfelt.
3. Everyone looked to his leadership
4. We often read about Peter in the beginning of Acts and have a hard time remembering the way Peter was when Jesus first called him.
5. Remember the Story of Cornelius
a) Gentile (Jews and Gentiles did not get a long to put it nicely)
b) Sent for Peter
c) Peter had a vision
d) Understood once he saw Cornelius
e) Then typical Church politics had to explain what he did
f) (Read acts 11:18)
B. Application
1. What can we learn from this
2. Peter grew up
3. WE have to do the same.
4. It was not easy for Peter to talk to the Gentile, Peter did it
5. It is not always easy for us to talk to our neighbors, do we do it?
6. Peter was not afraid to go before the Church and explain
7. Are we afraid to do that?
8. Peter did not grow up overnight, however, he became the leader that God intended
9. Are you willing to be that leader?
C. Illustration
1. Have you seen how much stuff is being printed, talked about, and produced about leadership? It is all over the place. Different things about how to be a better leader, how to train leaders, how to develop a leadership style. Why do you think that is?
2. It is because leadership is important, and probably because we have a lack of it
3. WE need to have people willing to step up and become a leader
4. Become like Peter the Rock
Conclusion
A. Peter was an extraordinary Figure
B. Look how far he succeeded in life.
C. There are two questions you need to ask yourself today
a. Where am I on this journey
i. Am I still Dust
ii. Am I dirt
iii. Or have I become a Rock
b. The other question is where is ___________ (You fill in the blank)?
i. To follow up the question you have to ask yourself how can I help _________ get to the next level?
D. I would like you to think about those two questions.
E. I would love to hear from you telling me that you are only at the one level and would like to go to the next level
F. I would love to hear that you have a friend at this level and would like to them to go to the next
G. Please share those thoughts with me anytime, I would love to hear them
H. Peter was truly a rock
I. You can be a rock too
