The Men God Chooses and Uses: Peter, Part 1

Father we thank you so much for the admonition to honor and praise the name of our God and I pray that Lord we as your people as we gather together on this Lord's Day as we are reminded once again of who you are that Lord we would live a life of praise to your name you truly are worthy of our praise and throughout all eternity we will sing the praises of Almighty God and I pray that our practice every single day would be such as we seek to honor your name and we ask Lord that today as we study your word and look at the Apostles that you remind us of their inadequacies and how you made them into great men of God it was nothing in and of them that made them great but it was a power of the living God working in and through them that made them what they were may we be reminded of your great work in us as well in Jesus name Amen turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 6, Luke chapter 6 verses 12 13 and 14 is our topic of discussion it has been for the last couple of weeks and will be for the next couple of months yes I said months why because we're going to cover all the Apostles the Bible says in verse number 12 and it was at this time that he went off to the mountain to pray he spent the whole night in prayer to God and when day came he called his disciples to him and chose 12 of them whom he also named as Apostles Simon whom he also named Peter and Andrew his brother and James and John and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas James son of Alphaeus and Simon who was called the zealot Judas the son of James and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor these 12 men changed the world because God himself chose them to be used in a significant way and we are looking at these men as the Bible portrays them because God wants us to understand everything there is to know about these men because once you understand these men you then understand how God wants to use you as he used them to reach people with the truth of the gospel and one of the ways he wants us to see them is in all of their inadequacies in all the things that were negative about them to prove to you and show you how it is God overcomes those inadequacies to use them in a great and mighty way you can't come to church and study the Apostles without realizing that in spite of all of your inadequacies whatever they may be God still wants to use you in a great and mighty way just like he did these 12 Apostles and we began last week by looking at number one inadequacy and that dealt with their lack of spiritual understanding they had a hard time understanding the promises of God the prophecies of God the parables of God and even the purpose God had for their lives and how did God overcome that he overcame that by continual instruction he instructed them daily he spent time after his resurrection 40 days with them in Acts chapter 1 it tells us talking to them about things pertaining to the kingdom why because these men were going to present the king and his kingdom to the world and so we kept instructing them in spite of the fact that they were for all practical purposes thick dull hard of hearing and unable to understand the things that Christ said in the application about that is is that there are many things that Christ says that we sometimes have a hard time grasping and understanding but the Lord wants us to be taught that we might be able to in turn teach other people the truth of the gospel that's why it's so important for you to feed daily upon the Word of God to spend time studying the Word of God so that through instruction God can overcome our inadequacy of the lack of spiritual understanding these men were with Christ every day for two and a half almost three years they heard all of the sermons they saw all of his miracles and so they had first-hand experience first-hand knowledge of Christ in a unique way yet they still lacked the spiritual understanding they needed and so God kept teaching them over and over and over again the second inadequacy we saw about these men is that they lacked humility they weren't the most humble people on the face of the earth in fact they were some of the most arrogant people on the face of the earth in fact we we saw last week where on several occasions they would argue about who or which of them was the greatest and they would have this argument about the ministry of Christ because they wanted to sit on those thrones in the kingdom of God that's why they ask in Acts chapter 1 is that at this time you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel they couldn't wait for the kingdom to be restored because that would put them on thrones in that kingdom judging over their people and yet God had to continually teach them through illustration he illustrated humility he lived a life of humility he was the ultimate servant who came to serve them and so we begin to realize that Christ throughout his instruction would live a life that would exemplify humiliation he took on the form of a servant and he came to give his life away he wanted his men to understand that if they were going to be like him they had to give their life away and you know what they all gave their life away they were all martyred because they learned humility they learned to follow their God and so they lacked spiritual understanding Christ overcame that through instruction they lacked humility so Christ overcame that through illustration he illustrated a humble life before them the third thing that these men lacked was a lack of faith a lack of faith over and over again you find in the New Testament this phrase oh ye of little faith now think about this why is it these men had such a hard time believing what God said that's what faith is about right faith is believing in what God has already said but these men lacked faith in Christ had to continually exhort them oh you men of little faith.

Turn with me to Mark chapter 4 for a moment this is one of my favorite stories in the Gospels it's a story I like to teach on when we go to the land of Israel and we journey out into the Sea of Galilee and sit on a boat and talk about Jesus Christ and and what he did we would go out on a boat similar to the one that Jesus would be out in on the Sea of Galilee we are on the exact sea that he calmed on the exact sea he walked on and so it's unique to be on the Sea of Galilee and read these words Mark chapter 4 verse number 35 and on that day when evening had come he said to them let us go over to the other side we'll stop right there Jesus said we're gonna go to the other side of the lake now when you get on the boat in the lake you're able to see one side of the lake and the other side of the lake and so Jesus says to his men we're gonna go to the other side of the lake and now comes the test and leaving the multitude they took him along with them just as he was in the boat and other boats were with him and there arose a fierce gale of wind and the waves are breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up and he himself was in the stern asleep on the cushion and they awoke him and said to him teacher do you not care that we are perishing and being aroused he rebuked the wind and said to the sea hush be still and the wind died down and it became perfectly calm he said to them why are you so timid how is it that you have no what faith why is it you don't believe what I said why is it Jesus was asleep during a storm it's because he said we're going to the other side Jesus knew they were gonna make it to the other side because Jesus had planned to go to the other side of the lake so when the storm came he was fast asleep but the disciples well that's another story they were afraid they thought they were going to die because they didn't believe what Jesus said they didn't believe they were going to make it to the other side of the lake it was a test Jesus says here is faith believe what I say and I will take you to the other side of the lake they get in the middle of the lake all of a sudden there's a great storm they doubt what Jesus said they doubted God they lacked the faith to believe in what God had already said and so Christ awakes calms the the sea it becomes like glass because the wind and the waves obey him and this is what the disciples said and they became very much afraid what's more afraid what can make you more afraid than a storm outside your boat it's the Savior in your boat and they said this who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him the phrase there is a phrase what manner of man is this it's from a Greek word that means what other worldly man is this he's not from this atmosphere he's not from this world he is beyond this world he is from a completely different world that even the winds and the sea obey him you see they lacked the faith to believe what Jesus said folks that's just like us Jesus says something we don't believe it and in Christ says to us oh ye of little faith see it's not that they had to have more faith it's not that they didn't have enough faith they just refused to believe what Jesus said why because there was something before them that was greater than Jesus in their minds the circumstances they became greater than Christ himself that they could only see the storm they could only see their lives coming to an end instead of believing what Jesus said and that's a lot like us we get no situations and Christ says oh ye of little faith how did Christ overcome this he overcame this through illumination he would continually illuminate their minds listen through the miracles before them folks in Acts chapter 1 Acts chapter 1 verse number 3 it says this that Christ showed himself alive after his death by many convincing proofs many convincing proofs I am convinced personally that the miracles that Christ performed were more for his been than it was for anybody else in Israel it was to convince them that he was the Messiah it was to convince them that he was their God it was to convince them that he could do anything so that when he commanded them to do something for them for him they would have the convincing proof before their eyes that God would enable them to accomplish that great task and so he would illuminate their minds over and over again through a myriad of miracles so that they would have the convincing proof that they need that whatever God said was going to come true folks the only way that we can believe what God says is to have a hearts and minds illuminated through the Word of God to be able to see things from God's perspective so we can believe as these men would soon learn to believe that what Jesus said was absolute truth we all need to learn that don't we and these men lacked the faith they needed because they refused to believe in the simple statements let's get in the boat let's go to the other side of the lake a very simple phrase a very simple sentence but it held all kinds of truth because that statement was a test for those men to see whether or not they would have the faith to believe in what God had actually said to them how about you do you believe in what God has said now if you don't know what God said how do you know what to believe right that's why you've got to have your mind illuminated as you read the scriptures so that you know what God says so you can trust him you need to ask the Lord for the strength and power to believe everything he said no matter what that you might learn to follow him without question these men lacked spiritual understanding so Christ overcame that through instruction these men lacked humility so Christ overcame that in their lives through illustration he illustrated the humble life they lacked the faith they needed so he overcame their lack of faith through illumination as he performed miracle after miracle after miracle that their eyes might be opened up to the fact that whatever God says is absolute truth the fourth thing the fourth inadequacy was they lacked commitment they lacked commitment maybe that's you today maybe you're having a hard time with commitment you're in Luke six already look at Luke chapter 5 Luke chapter 5 in verse 11 remember the great fishing expedition with Christ and Peter and the Apostles there on the Sea of Galilee and how he beckoned them to to throw their nets on the other side after they've been fishing all the morning and caught nothing and yet in the middle of the day Christ says if you just throw your net on the other side you're gonna catch a whole bunch of fish and Peter had a little problem with that because he was a fisherman and Christ wasn't and he knew fishing and Christ didn't so he thought and lo and behold they collected a whole bunch of fish so much so the nets began to break and Peter had to repent of his sin and then it says this in Luke chapter 5 verse number 11 and when they had brought their boats to land they left everything and followed him they had seen God at work and Peter James John and Andrew they would leave everything and they would follow him probably the most powerful verse in the Bible about these men they leave it all behind in order to follow Christ but listen to what it says over in Mark chapter 14 verse number 50 Mark 14 verse number 50 it says this and they left him and fled that's the saddest verse in the Gospels about these twelve men they left everything to follow him and then when things got really really bad when the soldiers came with their swords and their lanterns to retrieve Christ there in the garden of Gethsemane they fled they left him why because down deep there was a lack of commitment we face that all the time don't we we face a lack of commitment it might be in a small way but there are times where we are not as strong for Christ Peter would say Lord though all men deny you you can count on me I am your man and yet when push came to shove Peter wasn't his man he denied him why because he lacked the kind of commitment that he needed folks we find ourselves in that same situation we say well we're not gonna be like that individual we're gonna stand strong for Christ and we're not gonna be ashamed of the gospel but when we stand in the classroom and everybody in the classroom questions the validity of the Bible and questions what it is we believe do we stand strong on our commitment to Christ and not back down to the professor or to anybody else because they want to speak against the Christ how was it we stand strong do we have the kind of commitment that lasts to adversity that lasts through pain and persecution that we will not renege on the faith that we will not back down from the gospel no matter what the world says because we are committed to Christ Christ would overcome their lack of commitment how?

through intercession he would pray for them he would pray for them on a regular basis Luke 22 verse number 31 the Lord said to Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail how does Christ overcome our lack of commitment he prays for us Hebrews 7 says he lives to make intercession for us he constantly prays that we would stand strong and not falter over in John chapter 17 it says these words remember John 15 Christ said this in verse 17 this I command you that you love one another and if the world hates you you know that it has hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love its own but because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you he told them the world was going to hate them that the world was going to persecute them in John 16 and then over in John chapter 17 it says these words as Christ prayed in verse number 15 I do not ask thee to take them out of the world but to keep them from the evil one Christ prayed for our protection why?

because he knows how quickly we can begin to turn from our commitment all of us lack commitment to some degree that's why Christ prays because he knows that through prayer we will begin to stand strong and so through these men's lack of commitment there was his intercession on their behalf that would cause them to stand strong and number five there was a lack of power a lack of power to accomplish what God had called them to do turn with me in your Bible to Mark chapter 9 Mark chapter 9 in Mark chapter 9 we have that that that situation where James and Peter and John were up on the Mount of Transfiguration with our Lord where our Lord transfigured himself before them and they were able to get a glimpse of the glorified Christ and it was an amazing time they would come down from that Mount and the text says in verse number 14 and when they came back to the disciples they saw a large crowd around them and some scribes arguing with them and immediately when the entire crowd saw him they were amazed and began running up to him to greet him and he asked him what are you discussing with them and one of the crowd answered him teacher I brought I brought you my son possessed with a spirit which makes him mute and whenever it seizes him it dashes him to the ground he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and stiffens out and I told you disciples to cast it out and they could not do it and he answered them and said Oh unbelieving generation how long shall I be with you how long shall I put up with you bring him to me and he brought the boy to him and when he saw him immediately the spirit threw him into convulsion and falling to the ground he began rolling about and foaming at the mouth and he asked his father how long has this been happening to him he said from childhood and it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him but if you can do anything take pity on us and help us and Jesus said to him if you can all things are possible to him who believes immediately the boy's father cried out began saying I do believe help my unbelief and when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it you deaf and dumb spirit I command you come out of him and do not enter him again and after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions it came out and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said he is dead but Jesus took him by the hand and raised him and he got up and when he had come into the house the disciples began question him privately why could we not cast it out he said to them this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer this story has so many implications this man who had this boy who was demon possessed came to the disciples and said help me with my boy they were unable to cast out the demon they were unable to help this man so when Christ shows up on the scene this man comes to Christ and says I brought my boy to your men and they were powerless they were unable to transform my son they were able to change the condition of my son they couldn't do anything Christ is all you unbelieving generation how long will I be with you how come you can't figure it out bring the boy to me bring the boy Christ cast out the demon disciples sit back and watch all this it's all said and done they get to a house and the disciples say Jesus come over here so Jesus comes over how come we couldn't do that how come we didn't experience that kind of power Christ had commissioned him he'd given them already power over the unclean spirits and yet they were unable in this instance to prove themselves powerful instead they lack the power so they're confused they want to know what's going on what happened how is it you commission us you call us to be able to exercise this kind of power over demons and when we have the opportunity we fail and Jesus says very simply this can only be done through prayer you have forgotten that what makes you powerful is not the fact that I called you it's not the fact that I commissioned you what makes you powerful is that you continually depend on me for everything you see we find ourselves in that same kind of situation God calls us God empowers us with his spirit we have been used by God in a mighty way and he wants us to be used by him and so we go forth in our own power to accomplish his objectives and it can happen we can't stand before people and teach in the flesh or preach in the flesh although people do all the time and when God calls you in a very simple thing for instance let's put on a very practical level for all of us we're married and our marriage is suffering why why is my marriage suffering it's because you can't do it without God that's why you can't you can try you can do all you can to make it work but without the power of God working in you and through you it ain't going to happen not good English but great theology the bottom line is that we need the power of God we need to walk every single day in the power of the Spirit of God we have to depend upon God every moment of every day and once we cease to depend upon God for everything we become impotent in all things we become powerless we can't accomplish the most basic objective that God has called us to accomplish and these men wondered they were baffled they couldn't understand it there are people today who are Christians and they're baffled over the fact that they have absolutely no power in the Spirit they are unable to affect anybody for the gospel they wonder what has happened why is my marriage failing why is my my children falling apart why is my my job on on on on the skids what what is wrong Lord what has taken place and God is saying you know what even though you think you know what you're doing you do not know what you can do this only happens through prayer he is telling them you gotta depend upon me you gotta communicate with me because it's through me that these things happen how many times do we go through life trying to accomplish things in the flesh the Apostle Paul would tell the Galatians oh you foolish Galatians how is it you began in the Spirit and now you're trying to be perfected by the flesh how is it you of all people who know what it means to experience a conversion from God and yet you try to live your life in the flesh you try to control your Christianity you try to control the things in your life and you can't do it God says you need me and even the disciples who had been with Christ for over two years at this point in Mark 9 and they had seen God work in miraculous ways they were unable to do the most basic function of an Apostle because they did not depend upon the power of God so how did Christ overcome this he overcame it through infusion he infused his spirit within them Acts chapter 1 verse number 8 he says and ye shall be my witnesses after the Holy Spirit comes upon you and when the Spirit of God comes upon you you shall receive power power and you see with the Spirit of God living and residing in us we have every resource we need to accomplish the purposes that God has for our lives it's there the problem with us is that we refuse to depend upon the Spirit we refuse to walk in the Spirit we refuse to commune with our God and live for him and that's what God wants us to do these men read the book of Acts talk about power the whole book of Acts is about the Apostles power to accomplish God's power in the Apostles to accomplish the work of God it was amazing in the book of Acts you see ordinary men doing extraordinary things because the power of God is in them and they live a life totally dependent upon that God upon that Spirit that's why the Bible says we said to you earlier in Acts chapter 4 verse number 13 these words about these men and when the Sanhedrin saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus the Sanhedrin knew that Peter and John were unlearned uneducated men they're a bunch of numbskulls but but they were unique men because they had been with Jesus let me tell you something when you've been with Jesus everybody knows it and the flip side of that is true too when you haven't been with Jesus guess who knows it the person sleeping next to you in your bed at home they know it don't they when you've been with Jesus everybody knows it they marvel they marvel because you begin to speak as Jesus speaks you begin to live as Jesus lived you begin to reflect the image of Christ in you and people marvel that they had been with Jesus and it's true they had witnessed Christ's ministry but more true that the Spirit of God now was within them and that spirit was reflecting the power of Almighty God through them and all of a sudden these men were the ones who turned the world upside down not because they were educated men no the Bible says they were uneducated and ignorant men but because the Spirit of God empowered them and they would rely upon that spirit every part of their ministry how about you folks that's where we need to be there are times in my life where I try to do it in the flesh you know you try to you try to think that you can make it happen on your own because you have the experience you have the know-how you've been through this before you know how to handle the problem but God makes it so you can't handle the problem without him and we can get frustrated and we can beat our head against the wall but God's the same will you depend upon me will you trust me will you believe in me will you commit this thing to me and pray to me so that I can work in and through your life and because of our stubbornness we try to work it out ourselves but we cannot do it we need to work in the Spirit of Almighty God and in his great and wonderful power these men let me tell you a little bit about these men this is some of their inadequacies and by the way we have those same inadequacies we lack spiritual understanding we lack humility we lack power we lack commitment we lack faith and God overrides all of those things in our lives God wants to use you and see so he will work in you to cause you to be a humble person to be a faithful person to be a committed person to be a powerful person and to be a spiritual person to understand the truth of Scripture he'll do that because that's what he wants to do in your life but we got to walk with God right these men walked with God we have to walk with God we have to spend time in the Word of God we got to reassess where we are spiritually right that'd be a good thing for all of us to do reassess where we are spiritually are we walking with God are we walking away from God have we been converted by God we've been transformed have we experienced the repentance that leads to life and once we reassess our condition sometimes we've got to go back and say Lord you know what I've I've gone off on my own to do my own thing I've tried to make my family work I can't make it work I've tried to make my business work I can't make it work I've tried to make me work and I can't work Lord I need you I need you to work in my life and I need to walk with you every single day and I begin each day spending time in your word communicating with you walking in the spirit and not in the flesh walking dependent upon you that I might learn from you and when I read your word I reflect only upon you and see you in my situation and see you for who you are that I might be able to know how it is you want me to live my life this is something I gotta do every single day this is something that I have to do every moment of the day or I will act in the flesh I will go ahead of God I will do my own thing and God wants me to walk with him and depend upon him just like these men did and that's a challenge to all of us right we need to do that these men we read to you the list of these men let me tell you something about these men before we actually get into Peter's life I want to introduce Peter to you this morning I got a few minutes left because I want to begin Peter it's in the outline so I got to begin him so we'll begin Peter today but you know when you look at the list of these men there are four lists of the apostles in the Bible, one in Matthew, one in Mark, one in Luke and one in Acts ok there are four lists of the apostles and Peter is always mentioned first always mentioned first why?

because Peter truly is the leader of the twelve how do we know that? Matthew chapter 10 verse number two says this now the names of the twelve apostles are these the first Protoss Simon he was the first in rank he was the leader of the twelve that's important why?

because within this group of men there would be one who would rise to the top and over the next couple of weeks I want to be able to share with you how it is God made Peter into the kind of leader he wanted him to be God makes leaders, leaders aren't born they're made and God made Peter into a great leader we'll talk about that but I want to know something else about these lists of men you will notice as you compare the four lists it might be good for you to go home and and write the lists of the apostles one from Matthew one from Mark one from Luke and one from Acts just list them down and you will notice some characteristics about them you'll notice that there are four groups of three or three groups of four excuse me three groups of four each group has the same person leading it first is Peter and then you have Philip and then you have James son of Alphaeus those three men become the leaders of three groups of four how do we know that?

because as you go through the lists all the other apostles their names appear in different orders in fact if you read the first list Peter, James, John and Andrew Peter is always mentioned first but Andrew, James and John are mixed up in a different order when you read the second list the second list is of course Philip who is the leader and then you have Bartholomew or Nathaniel Thomas and Matthew but Philip is always mentioned first and the other three men their names are interchanged and the last group is always led by James son of Alphaeus and then you have Labias or Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot Judas' name is always mentioned last always say well maybe you're reading a little bit too much into this no I don't think so think about it this way with each group there is a decreasing intimacy with the master the first group the first four are we have more information about those four men than the other eight except for Judas there's a lot about him and we'll see that when we get to him but there's there's a decreasing amount of information about them because there is decreasing intimacy with each and every group of men the second group there's more information about them than there is the third group but there's not nearly as much information about the second group as there is the first group, why?

because these men had a decreasing intimacy with the master yet they were all called to the same purpose all called to the same objectives and we begin to see how it is God wants to use all of them in a very unique and significant kind of way notice this about the men there are all kinds of differences about these men political spiritual and emotional think of Peter and John men on opposite ends of the spectrum John was more of a quiet type of person who didn't like to speak of himself much where Peter always like to talk about himself and was always speaking loudly and boisterously at different times but these two men had to exist together and John would mention Peter's name on 17 different occasions in his gospel the gospel of John how about this you have Nathanael and Thomas, Nathanael was always quick to believe the truth Thomas was always quick to doubt the truth Nathanael would be one who would who would take it sight unseen but Thomas was one who had to say show me or I will not believe think about Matthew and Simon the Zealot Matthew was a tax collector who worked for the Roman government he was a trader Simon was a terrorist he was one of the zealots and they would kill people of Rome and these two men were working together for the same purpose people with political differences emotional differences spiritual differences can all work together if empowered by the Spirit of God look around the room we come from all different classes of people all different backgrounds we come from different backgrounds spiritually emotionally politically but you know what as God would bring these 12 men together to accomplish one great purpose so too he brings the church together to accomplish one great purpose and that purpose is to glorify the name of God and these men were able to do that because God would work in and through their lives let me tell you something about Peter give me a few more minutes Peter was a unique man and let me introduce him by telling you this about Peter Christ changed his name from Simon to Peter why did Christ change his name in John chapter 1 Christ says to Peter you're no called Cephas which is his Aramaic name or Peter which is his Greek name why did Christ do that why did Christ change Peter's name or change Simon's name to Peter this is a great study a study you will want to embark on in the Gospels Simon was a man who was married we know that because Christ healed his mother-in-law 1 Corinthians 9.5 Paul talks about Peter going on a mission an apostolic mission with his wife so we know Peter was married he was a fisherman by trade had a very common name Simon but Christ would change that name to Peter the question is why it's a great study let me briefly give it to you Simon's name is used in two ways in scripture one a secular use the other is sinful use that is when you talk about Simon's house or Simon's boats we talk about Peter's boats and house and mother-in-law it refers to as Simon because it's used in a secular sense when Simon sins Christ refers to him as Simon and not Peter but when Peter follows Christ in a spiritual sense he's referred to as Peter you see Christ was going to transform this man a man who vacillated all the time to become a pillar of strength he began by telling him Simon I'm going to change your name I'm going to change your name you're now going to be called Peter you're now going to be called not just one who hears Simon's name means to one who is a rock one who stands strong in the whole life of Peter is a story about how God takes a man who shifts and vacillates every single day to making him one who stands strong and never shifts again and that's what God wants to do in your life and in my life remember when Christ came back after the resurrection and called to Peter from the shore when Peter was out on the sea and John said that's that's the Lord out there and Peter swam to the shore Christ asked him Simon Simon do you love me he didn't call him Peter he called him Simon why because he was living in a backslidden state he had run away from God and so when Christ wanted to remind Peter of his sinfulness and remind him of his lack of commitment he called him Simon and yet when he wanted to talk to Peter about being strong in the spirit he referred to him as Peter remember when he fell asleep in the garden of Gethsemane what did Christ say Simon could you not stay with me for one hour Simon could you not stay awake with me one hour and call him Peter called him Simon why because he was acting in a carnal fleshy way but when he acted in a spiritual way Christ referred to him as Peter because he would be firm he'd be strong he'd be a rock folks Peter was a man who learned to become strong he becomes a model for us of what it means to learn to become a pillar of strength in the church in your family in your workplace and so as we begin to study the life of Peter we will see how it is God wants to make us into strong men and women of God who do not shift and who do not vacillate who do not blow with every wind of doctrine but can stand strong without fear as Peter learned to stand strong without fear the whole study of the Apostles is a study of how it is God makes weak men strong men powerless men powerful men arrogant men humble men men who have no spiritual sense to men who have great spiritual truth men who have little faith or no faith to men who believe everything God says without question that's the great study of the Apostles and that's why we're going to take them one by one so we can learn to be what God made them to be so we can accomplish great things for our God let's pray together Father we thank you for today and for your truth and thank you Lord that you've allowed us to spend some time studying the Word of God our prayer Lord is that we would learn to be strong as Peter learned to be strong and we know Lord for for the most part there are many times that we fail you and yet God you are so great to us you pick us up you dust us off and you straighten us up that we might stand strong for the sake of the gospel and I pray that we would learn what these men learned and that Lord we would learn quicker than they learned that we might be able as they did turn the world upside down because of our commitment to you in Jesus name we pray amen