Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Crack in the Rock │ Msg 1016 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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A Crack in the Rock │ Msg 1016 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: What we have before us today is Peter's denial of Jesus.
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Speaker 1: We read of it here in this eighteenth chapter of John.
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Speaker 1: At the most crucial moment, Jesus' most loyal disciple, whom
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Speaker 1: he had nicknamed the Rock, cracked under pressure. This tragic
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Speaker 1: scene of Peter's denial rivets our attention to how very
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Speaker 1: alone our Savior was on his way to the cross.
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Speaker 1: Not even Peter stood with him. We learned some valuable
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Speaker 1: lessons for ourselves from Peter's heartbreaking desertion of the Master,
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Speaker 1: But the greatest lesson of his life is yet to come.
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Speaker 1: For in the final chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus will
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Speaker 1: gently and graciously put the broken pieces of Peter's heart
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Speaker 1: back together as he calls him into service. Still, there
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Speaker 1: is great value for us in looking intently into the
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Speaker 1: mirror of God's word today and finding ourselves. Our broken, sinful,
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Speaker 1: selfish lives are all over this story. Join me in
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Speaker 1: your Bibles as I read from John chapter eighteen, first
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Speaker 1: verses ten through eighteen, then will drop to verse twenty
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Speaker 1: five down through twenty seven. I'll be reading this from
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Speaker 1: the New Living Translation. Join me now as I read
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Speaker 1: John eighteen beginning at verse ten. Then Simon Peter drew
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Speaker 1: a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus,
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Speaker 1: the High priest slave. But Jesus said to Peter, put
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Speaker 1: your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink
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Speaker 1: from the cup of suffering the father has given me?
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Speaker 1: So the soldiers, their commanding officer and the temple guards
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Speaker 1: arrested Jesus and tied him up. First, they took him
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Speaker 1: to Annas, since he was the father in law of Caiaphas,
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Speaker 1: the High priest at that time. Caiaphas was the one
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Speaker 1: who had told the other Jewish leaders it's better that
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Speaker 1: one man should die for the people. Simon Peter followed Jesus,
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Speaker 1: as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was
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Speaker 1: acquainted with the high priest, so he was allowed to
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Speaker 1: enter the High priest courtyard with Jesus. Peter had to
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Speaker 1: stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who knew the
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Speaker 1: High priest, spoke to the woman watching at the gate,
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Speaker 1: and she let Peter in. The woman asked, Peter, you're
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Speaker 1: not one of that man's disciples, are you? No, he said,
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Speaker 1: I am not. Because it was cold, the household servants
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Speaker 1: and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They stood
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Speaker 1: around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming himself.
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Speaker 1: Now we'll drop to verse twenty five. Meanwhile, as Simon
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Speaker 1: Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked
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Speaker 1: him again. You're not one of his disciples, are you.
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Speaker 1: He denied it, saying no, I am not, but one
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Speaker 1: of the household slaves of the High Priest. A relative
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Speaker 1: of the man whose ear Peter had cut off asked,
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Speaker 1: didn't I see you out there in the olive grove
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Speaker 1: with Jesus. Again, Peter denied it, and immediately a rooster crowed.
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Speaker 2: For the next few minutes, I would like for you
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Speaker 2: to do something that is very unusual and could prove
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Speaker 2: to be rather painful. I have never asked a congregation
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Speaker 2: to do this before, and perhaps I never will again. Frankly,
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Speaker 2: I warn you ahead of time. It will not be easy,
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Speaker 2: nor will it be encouraging. What I would like for
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Speaker 2: you to do is to go back into your past
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Speaker 2: and call to mind the blackest spot of your life.
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Speaker 2: I will do that too. It may be a word
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Speaker 2: that you said that resulted in terrible ramifications. It may
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Speaker 2: be the probably will be the best kept secret of
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Speaker 2: your life, hopefully never to be exposed, because as a
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Speaker 2: Christian it's forgiven. I know that, but just think on it.
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Speaker 2: Quite possibly it is a moral act or something that
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Speaker 2: pertained to a habit in which you gave in, and
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Speaker 2: it marks your record in your life as in fact
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Speaker 2: a sinner. I can feel some of you resisting doing that,
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Speaker 2: and I understand, especially if you are Christians, because we
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Speaker 2: are forgiven parvil of the Christian truth is as far
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Speaker 2: as the east is from the west. So far has
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Speaker 2: he removed our transgressions from us, buried him in the
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Speaker 2: deepest sea. I understand the reluctance to bring that back
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Speaker 2: up again, but I have a reason. Let's go a
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Speaker 2: step further. Let us say that we would lower the
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Speaker 2: screen above me, and suddenly on that screen would flash
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Speaker 2: two things, your name, asking you to stand and identify yourself,
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Speaker 2: and then, beneath the name, in rather careful detail, the
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Speaker 2: act with the sin, and you stand as it is
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Speaker 2: read and as opinions are formed regarding you. As I
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Speaker 2: think about that, hurry, strange feelings occur inside of me.
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Speaker 2: There's a part of me that wants to say God
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Speaker 2: would never do that, but he did. When Abraham lied
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Speaker 2: the blackest part of his life. In fact, when he
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Speaker 2: did it twice, God recorded it for centuries of eyes
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Speaker 2: to study. When Acin stole that garment and lives were
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Speaker 2: lost by the hundreds in Israel in that battle at Ai,
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Speaker 2: God put it down in the record and said, let
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Speaker 2: it be written, let it be read. When Moses murdered
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Speaker 2: that Egyptian, he put it in both Old and New Testament,
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Speaker 2: that it might remain on his record forever, in written form,
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Speaker 2: Moses was a murderer. When David and Gomer, Josea's wife
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Speaker 2: and Samson involved themselves in the lustful activities of the flesh,
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Speaker 2: it was put on the screen for everybody to read. Jonah,
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Speaker 2: just the mention of his name reminds you of the
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Speaker 2: blackest part of his life. And I must add I
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Speaker 2: am grateful. God no longer writes scripture, aren't you. There
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Speaker 2: is no place for pride, absolutely none. When you study
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Speaker 2: the life of Peter and you come to this scene
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Speaker 2: you don't want to read, and you study events you
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Speaker 2: don't want to believe, and you see cracks in the
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Speaker 2: rock that you wish were never there. But you see
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Speaker 2: when God paints his heroes there are with warts and all.
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Speaker 2: There's nothing hidden, forgiven, but not hidden. You see. I
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Speaker 2: have a reason for beginning the message on Peter's denials
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Speaker 2: like this because I have seen a rather presumptuous approach
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Speaker 2: used by both books and preachers in almost a superiority attitude. Aha.
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Speaker 2: See there he failed, as if it could not have
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Speaker 2: been written about himself. Who does the speaking. I want
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Speaker 2: you to know that if you're name or mind, we're
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Speaker 2: in the book, it would be far more scandalous than
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Speaker 2: if it were Peter's. And may we never forget it.
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Speaker 2: I want us to identify not simply with the failure,
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Speaker 2: but with the humiliation that accompanies the failure, because it
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Speaker 2: is part of the timeless truth of the Bible. Now
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Speaker 2: you're saying, as I am thinking, and as F. B.
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Speaker 2: Meyer wrote, no person suddenly becomes base. There's a process.
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Speaker 2: Lust doesn't suddenly take place in tangible form, a lie
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Speaker 2: doesn't suddenly come out. Groundwork is laid. There's a period
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Speaker 2: of significant events in which certain things occur that bring
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Speaker 2: about the stage, the backdrop, the setting for that to happen.
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Speaker 2: And so I think it is not a complete study
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Speaker 2: if we do not look at that first and I
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Speaker 2: find four significant events in Peter's life. First is in
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Speaker 2: John chapter one, beginning at verse forty, where Jesus gave
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Speaker 2: him a nickname. That may seem to be a strange
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Speaker 2: event that we're calling significant, but it wasn't insignificant to Peter.
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Speaker 2: His name had not always been Peter. We know him
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Speaker 2: as Peter, but his peers knew him as Simon. I
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Speaker 2: doubt that his colleagues in the fisherman trade would even
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Speaker 2: know him if you would call him Peter. He was Simon.
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Speaker 2: Jesus gave him a surname once he began to walk
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Speaker 2: with Christ, and it was Peter. And that's why it's
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Speaker 2: significant verse forty. One of the two who heard John
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Speaker 2: speak and follow Jesus was Andrew, Simon, Peter's brother. He
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Speaker 2: first found his own brother, Simon. There's the real name, Simon.
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Speaker 2: And Andrew said to Simon, we have found the Messiah.
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Speaker 2: He that is. Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked
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Speaker 2: at him. Now, this is the first time that the
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Speaker 2: Messiah and the fisherman are eyeball to eyeball. They've never
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Speaker 2: laid eyes on each other before. Simon, with a background
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Speaker 2: of vacillation, and moodiness, and impetuosity, impulsive rash acts, even profanity.
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Speaker 2: Here's Simon, born and raised in the fisherman's trade, running
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Speaker 2: wild with fishermen, as it were, and suddenly he is
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Speaker 2: caught in the trance, as it were, as the spirit
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Speaker 2: of God does an end depth work to draw him
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Speaker 2: and to link him with the Messiah. And the Messiah
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Speaker 2: looks at Simon and he says, you are Simon. You
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Speaker 2: shall be called rock. That's what cephas means stone. What
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Speaker 2: does that mean? Well, the Lord Jesus, when he called
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Speaker 2: me in, saw them not as what they were, but
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Speaker 2: as what they were to become. That happened in your
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Speaker 2: life when Christ found you, saved you, He gave you hope,
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Speaker 2: He forgave you, and he reminded you that there are
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Speaker 2: certain qualities within you that he is committed to developing.
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Speaker 2: And he tells you in his word that you are
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Speaker 2: his handiwork. You are his piece of clay, and he
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Speaker 2: is shaping and molding and making you into the rock
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Speaker 2: you are to become. Now that's a thrilling thought. Peter
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Speaker 2: had probably never had anyone point out the rock like
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Speaker 2: character traits in him, because there were not many on
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Speaker 2: the surface, and so the Lord Jesus gave him a nickname.
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Speaker 2: That was a very significant event. And I'm convinced in
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Speaker 2: my mind that Simon began to think in terms of
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Speaker 2: those Peter qualities that were to be emerging. Look at
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Speaker 2: chapter six, the second event. It's what I would call
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Speaker 2: Peter's declaration of faith. That's the second significant event when
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Speaker 2: he declared in chapter six, verse sixty six, in following
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Speaker 2: his faith his creed. Now surprising to say, people, the
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Speaker 2: band of disciples did not simply number twelve. That number
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Speaker 2: has to do with the inner core, the basic band
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Speaker 2: that became apostles. But there were many, many more disciples, followers, learners.
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Speaker 2: Some came out of interest, some came simply to get
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Speaker 2: their stomachs filled, others came out of curiosity. Now as
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Speaker 2: to whether they were believers, as we know that word
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Speaker 2: or not is up to the Lord, I'm not able
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Speaker 2: to say on some occasions. But the peripheral band that
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Speaker 2: gathered suddenly when the when the screws were tightened and
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Speaker 2: Jesus made demands on them that would mark disciples, they
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Speaker 2: began to leave like rats running off a sinking ship.
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Speaker 2: And so in verse sixty six of John six. That's
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Speaker 2: what happened. That's what's happening. The ranks are thinning. As
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Speaker 2: a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and
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Speaker 2: were not walking with him anymore. Jesus said, therefore to
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Speaker 2: the twelve, you do not want to go away? Also,
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Speaker 2: do you? There's a longing in his voice. He asks
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Speaker 2: it with an affirmative answer, desired. You want to stay,
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Speaker 2: don't you? You don't want to go now? Simon Peter
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Speaker 2: answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have
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Speaker 2: the words of eternal life, and we have believed and
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Speaker 2: have come to know that you are the Holy One
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Speaker 2: of God. What a moment. First of all, Simon takes
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Speaker 2: the place of a spokesman, and he says, we I
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Speaker 2: never find a place where Simon was appointed the spokesmanship
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Speaker 2: or the moderator role, but he took it. That's like
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Speaker 2: Simon to do that. But I find that in that
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Speaker 2: moment when he took that position, he made a declaration
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Speaker 2: that was just marvelous. In fact, Matthew says that Jesus answered,
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Speaker 2: flesh and blood has not revealed that unto you, that's
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Speaker 2: come from heaven and all of a sudden, Simon showed
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Speaker 2: signs of rock. Must have been encouraging, must have been
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Speaker 2: marvelous when Jesus expressed that word of acceptance to Simon,
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Speaker 2: and he said, Ah, that came from heaven. Now, all
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Speaker 2: of a sudden, Simon begins to emerge as Peter, and
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Speaker 2: the surname becomes part of his character, just as is
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Speaker 2: true in your life, Christians, when out of the embryo
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Speaker 2: of faith you began your steps, your walk in in
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Speaker 2: the Christian life. Suddenly there are breakthrough use where you
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Speaker 2: endure a test victoriously, or you face the situation precisely
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Speaker 2: as God would have you face it, and He blesses
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Speaker 2: you for it. There is a sense of grateful delight.
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Speaker 2: Now that's the way it is with Simon. Here flesh
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Speaker 2: and blood didn't reveal that to you, Simon, when you
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Speaker 2: said you're the Holy One of God. There's no one
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Speaker 2: else like you. Lord. Now Chapter thirteen John thirteen is
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Speaker 2: the next focus on Peter, and now we have boasting
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Speaker 2: from his lips. Suddenly, the impulsive, impetuous, rash, adventurous Peter
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Speaker 2: reveals his Simon like character. Thirteen thirty three Little Children,
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Speaker 2: says Jesus I'm with you a little while longer you
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Speaker 2: shall seek me. And as I said to the Jews,
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Speaker 2: where I am going, you cannot come now, I say
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Speaker 2: to you also This took place the last night Jesus
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Speaker 2: was with his disciples. The cross looms large. In a
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Speaker 2: matter of hours, he'll be nailed to it. In less
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Speaker 2: than twenty four hours, he'll be dead. So at the
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Speaker 2: last Supper he revealed to his disciples, I'm leaving you,
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Speaker 2: and you cannot go. Peter heard that, and he responded
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Speaker 2: in words of boasting. Verse thirty six Simon. Peter said
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Speaker 2: to him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered, where
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Speaker 2: I go. You cannot follow me now, but you shall
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Speaker 2: follow later. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I
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Speaker 2: not follow you? Right now? I will lay down my
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Speaker 2: life for you. Let's don't be too critical with Peter. However,
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Speaker 2: it is a statement that goes too far. Peter was
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Speaker 2: suddenly relying upon his flesh. As a matter of fact,
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Speaker 2: one of the writers says that he insistently said that
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Speaker 2: to Jesus, you don't realize the Lord, but I though
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Speaker 2: all the others deny, I won't deny you. I'll stay
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Speaker 2: by you. I'm your man. All of these they may not,
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Speaker 2: but I'll be there. There's boasting in this. The Talmud
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Speaker 2: says of the Galileans, they were ever more anxious for
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Speaker 2: honor than for gain. Barkley ads quick tempered, emotional, easily
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Speaker 2: aroused by an appeal to adventure, loyal to the end.
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Speaker 2: Peter was a tip old man of Galilee. Let's put
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Speaker 2: things in proper perspective. Hold your finger here and turn
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Speaker 2: to one proverb Proverb sixteen, verse eighteen. And I especially
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Speaker 2: would have those of us who reveal our simon natures
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Speaker 2: take note of this verse. Proverbs sixteen eighteen. Pride goes
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Speaker 2: before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling. Will you
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Speaker 2: mark that verse. When you walk in pride, you are
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Speaker 2: closer to a fall than at any other time. Anxious
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Speaker 2: for honor, anxious for a place in the sun, desirous
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Speaker 2: of being known for your loyalty. Watch out, a fall
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Speaker 2: is near. That's where Peter was in chapter thirteen of John,
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Speaker 2: in verse thirty seven. And that is why Jesus comes
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Speaker 2: right back with this boasting word that Peter gave him,
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Speaker 2: and Jesus gives a prediction. Look at verse thirty eight. Now,
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Speaker 2: John thirteen thirty eight. The fourth significant event is the
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Speaker 2: prediction of Jesus. Jesus answered, will you lay down your
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Speaker 2: life for me? Truly? Truly, I say to you, A
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Speaker 2: cock shall not crow until you deny me three times?
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Speaker 2: Those are haunting words, aren't they. I suppose those of
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Speaker 2: us are this generation who have been raised in the church,
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Speaker 2: have read those words too many times, more often than
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Speaker 2: we like to think they're haunting. Wonder how Peter felt,
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Speaker 2: How Simon, before the cock crows twice, you will have
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Speaker 2: denied me thrice. An interesting thought, by the way, comes
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Speaker 2: from a regulation in the Jewish law that there was
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Speaker 2: not allowed in the city of Zion, either roosters or hens.
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Speaker 2: They were in the words of the record the document,
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Speaker 2: they were the ones that defiled holy things. Therefore they
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Speaker 2: were not allowed in Jerusalem. Then how could there be
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Speaker 2: a cock crowing? A little background helps. In the days
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Speaker 2: of Peter, the night was divided not into hours, but
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Speaker 2: into watches. There were four them three hours each. From
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Speaker 2: six to nine was the first watch, from nine to
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Speaker 2: midnight was the second watch, From midnight to three am
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Speaker 2: was the third, and three am to six was the
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Speaker 2: fourth watch. If you awakened for example, at four o'clock
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Speaker 2: in the morning, you awakened at the fourth watch or
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Speaker 2: during the fourth watch. You didn't say you awoke at four,
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Speaker 2: you awoke in the fourth watch from three to six.
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Speaker 2: If you worked until midnight, you said to others you
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Speaker 2: worked until the end of the second watch. In between
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Speaker 2: these watches there were interesting comments made by the Jews
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Speaker 2: and the Romans. As a matter of fact, there was
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Speaker 2: a changing of the guard between the third and fourth
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Speaker 2: watch of the night in a place called Antonia's Castle
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Speaker 2: when the guard changed, and by the way, it was
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Speaker 2: in that place in the dungeon where Barabbas was kept.
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Speaker 2: Remember last Sunday night we spoke of that particular event
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Speaker 2: where it was within a matter of feet from where
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Speaker 2: Jesus was being tried and the uh in the dungeon
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Speaker 2: of Antonio there was a there was a maximum security prison,
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Speaker 2: and so naturally they had a guard. When the guard
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Speaker 2: changed between the third and fourth watch in the night.
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Speaker 2: The Romans had the word for it called galasinium. There
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Speaker 2: were two blasts from the trumpet from the herald's trumpet.
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Speaker 2: The word gallasinium means cock crowing. Interesting, isn't it Instead
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Speaker 2: of roosters they had trumpets, and if you awakened in
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Speaker 2: the end of the third watch, you would hear cock
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Speaker 2: crowing was a name they gave to that particular time.
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Speaker 2: Jesus pinpointed the hour you see a cock. Normal rooster
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Speaker 2: doesn't crow at a precise time, but this particular event
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Speaker 2: it was pinned down to the hour Peter before Gallacinium
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Speaker 2: three times. You will have denied me. Before I go
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Speaker 2: any further, I want to apply through a couple of
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Speaker 2: practical principles what we have learned thus far. First is this,
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Speaker 2: No one, not even a spiritual rock, is immune from failure.
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Speaker 2: There is no such thing as being so mature you're
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Speaker 2: no longer liable to failure. There is no such thing
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Speaker 2: as being such a rock that it will no longer
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Speaker 2: affect you. Failure is a characteristic of the human flesh,
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Speaker 2: and as long as we have it, we will do it.
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Speaker 2: There is a verse of scripture that I would like
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Speaker 2: for you to at least write in the margin of
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Speaker 2: your Bible, or on the sheet if you wish. First
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Speaker 2: Corinthians ten twelve, let him who thinks he stands take
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Speaker 2: heed lest he fall. That verse is addressed to modern
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Speaker 2: day peters. Those of us who think, with almost an
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Speaker 2: attitude of surly pride, we have come to that place
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Speaker 2: where we will no longer yield. That verse is addressed
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Speaker 2: as a reminder there's no such thing as that point.
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Speaker 2: Robert Robinson was an eighteenth century rock. He was saved
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Speaker 2: out of a background that was gross and godless through
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Speaker 2: the preaching of George Whitfield. Whitfield was one of those
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Speaker 2: dynamic preachers who never needed a public address system. They
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Speaker 2: just those kind of men were able to stand and
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Speaker 2: address a group of several thousand with no address assistance electronically.
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Speaker 2: They simply had that kind of voice and dynamic. Under
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Speaker 2: the ministry of Whitfield came Robinson, who was gloriously saved.
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Speaker 2: He was in his young twenties. In fact, at the
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Speaker 2: age of twenty three, he was led of God to
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Speaker 2: put into print his testimony, which we know today as
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Speaker 2: the words Come, Thou fount of every blessing. Tune my
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Speaker 2: heart to sing thy grace, streams of mercy, never ceasing,
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Speaker 2: call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious
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Speaker 2: sonnet sung by flaming tongues. Above praise the mount. I'm
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Speaker 2: fixed upon it. Mount of thy redeeming love. Robinson defected.
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Speaker 2: He left the claims of Jesus Christ in the dust,
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Speaker 2: and he lived like a carnal godless man until one
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Speaker 2: day he stepped into a stagecoach occupied by a woman
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Speaker 2: whose face was buried in a book. Was a book
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Speaker 2: of verse, and she did not know him, nor he her,
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Speaker 2: but she began to read this particular poem, and she
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Speaker 2: said to him, the stranger, listen to this, Come thou
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Speaker 2: fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy grace,
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Speaker 2: streams of mercy, never ceasing. Called for songs of loudest praise,
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Speaker 2: he said, quietly, surrounded by guilt. And then she got
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Speaker 2: to that stanza, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it,
30:07
Speaker 2: prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart
30:11
Speaker 2: taking seal it. He said, stop. Stop, and I quote
30:19
Speaker 2: I am the poor, unhappy man who composed that verse
30:27
Speaker 2: many years ago. I would give a thousand worlds to
30:33
Speaker 2: enjoy the feelings. I then head. The testimony of Robert
30:40
Speaker 2: Robinson is just a quiet reminder that even the peters
30:47
Speaker 2: fail take heed, Take heed. There's a second lesson on
30:57
Speaker 2: how the mighty are fallen. God knows our precise breaking point.
31:04
Speaker 2: We all have our own gallicinium, don't we. There's a
31:11
Speaker 2: verse that says Psalm one hundred three fourteen, but he
31:16
Speaker 2: knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. I
31:20
Speaker 2: love that verse. The marvel of God, our loving Father,
31:26
Speaker 2: the Trinity, father, son, and Spirit is that the Godhead
31:31
Speaker 2: knows you and me absolutely. There are no locked closets,
31:38
Speaker 2: nothing under the rug and the Trinity, the Godhead, knowing
31:45
Speaker 2: me and knowing you completely accepts us in the Beloved,
31:54
Speaker 2: knowing our precise breaking point. Now let me add, at
31:57
Speaker 2: this point, just as Peter knew it, you and I
32:01
Speaker 2: know ours. We aren't that naive. You know, when you
32:07
Speaker 2: go so far, you've gone too far, And from then
32:12
Speaker 2: on it's just a matter of time until something carnal
32:17
Speaker 2: and even scandalous will occur. You know, that moment where
32:23
Speaker 2: you cannot withstand and yours will be different from mine,
32:28
Speaker 2: And one woman's different from another woman's, one businessman's different
32:33
Speaker 2: from another, one preacher from another. But we all have
32:38
Speaker 2: a gallacinium. And the Lord graciously says to you, that's it.
32:46
Speaker 2: Be wise. Don't flirt with that cock crows. At that point,
32:53
Speaker 2: you see Peter acted willfully, saw it coming, went right
33:02
Speaker 2: on into it, carried it out to the ultimate. And
33:05
Speaker 2: I'll tell you I don't have a moment of condemnation
33:10
Speaker 2: against Peter. I've done the same thing.
33:15
Speaker 1: So of you.
33:17
Speaker 2: The only difference, in God's grace, it happens to be
33:20
Speaker 2: Peter that we're studying this morning. It's the only difference. Now,
33:26
Speaker 2: then I find in the process of denial sort of
33:33
Speaker 2: four slopes downward slopes. They are not abrupt, they're not steps.
33:38
Speaker 2: They are they are not that distinct. One flows into
33:45
Speaker 2: the next, and yet the next I find four in
33:48
Speaker 2: the case of Peter, and we'll put them in the
33:51
Speaker 2: form of a principle. Chapter eighteen, Verse ten, and verse
33:59
Speaker 2: eleven is the first of the four. Now, with no
34:04
Speaker 2: sense of pride, no sense of condemnation, we simply examined
34:08
Speaker 2: the record and examine it in light of first gaining
34:12
Speaker 2: hope and strength from it, and second learning from that
34:18
Speaker 2: experience how to stand against the same evil in our day.
34:23
Speaker 2: Verse ten Simon Peter, therefore, having a sword, drew it
34:29
Speaker 2: and struck the high priest slave and cut off his
34:32
Speaker 2: right ear. And the slave's name was Malchus, Jesus therefore
34:37
Speaker 2: said to Peter, put the sword into the sheath the
34:40
Speaker 2: cup which the Father has given me, shall I not
34:43
Speaker 2: drink it? Slope Number one reliance on the flesh when
34:52
Speaker 2: faced with opposition. When a denial process, says is underway,
35:02
Speaker 2: that which prompts the beginning of it is reliance on
35:04
Speaker 2: the flesh. I want to ask a question I have
35:08
Speaker 2: never heard ask by anyone, either verbally in a sermon
35:12
Speaker 2: or in a book. What was Peter doing with a sword?
35:21
Speaker 2: Jesus says in verse thirty six of this chapter that
35:23
Speaker 2: his disciples are not known by fighting. His disciples were
35:28
Speaker 2: of a kingdom, not of this age. They didn't carry swords. Well,
35:35
Speaker 2: why did Peter have a sword? That's like carrying a
35:39
Speaker 2: pistol to work tomorrow, dragging a cannon to church? Why
35:45
Speaker 2: do you do that? It's inappropriate, doesn't fit you? Come
35:49
Speaker 2: to learn how to withstand the world, how to stand
35:53
Speaker 2: against it, in a lifestyle that's different from the world.
35:57
Speaker 2: The world solves its problems with the sword. What's Peter
36:02
Speaker 2: doing with the sword? And it's interesting, isn't it that
36:05
Speaker 2: Peter with the sword handles it just like a fishing pole.
36:10
Speaker 2: That's what happens when fishermen get a hold of swords.
36:14
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, the word used by John
36:17
Speaker 2: here is not the word for that great, massive weapon
36:22
Speaker 2: that would come down like a blow on the head
36:24
Speaker 2: and it would sever the helmet and head and everything
36:27
Speaker 2: else as deep as it may cut. He uses the
36:31
Speaker 2: word for a little sort of a lengthy dagger that
36:35
Speaker 2: was in a sheath, and he pulled it out, and
36:37
Speaker 2: he just, you know, don't we do stupid things when
36:42
Speaker 2: we rely on the flesh. Just think back before you
36:48
Speaker 2: cluck your tongue at Peter. Just think of a recent day.
36:56
Speaker 2: I find that when I rely on the flesh, my
37:00
Speaker 2: tongue becomes a sword, and I say the most cutting,
37:04
Speaker 2: ugly things. My motive has become like a sword, and
37:09
Speaker 2: I destroy, I don't build. As a matter of fact,
37:14
Speaker 2: our actions become sword like, and we react rashly. A
37:22
Speaker 2: reliance on the flesh creates destruction. That's the first step down,
37:33
Speaker 2: reliance on the flesh. When we are faced with opposition,
37:38
Speaker 2: first tendency is to defend ourselves and or fight back.
37:43
Speaker 2: Second verse fifteen, Simon Peter was following Jesus. Verse sixteen,
37:54
Speaker 2: Peter was standing at the door outside, so the other disciple,
37:58
Speaker 2: who was known to the high pri went out and
38:00
Speaker 2: spoke to the doorkeeper and brought in Peter. Now where
38:05
Speaker 2: is he? He is among now the courtyard, with those
38:09
Speaker 2: who have just arrested Jesus a couple hours ago. He
38:14
Speaker 2: is now with the company of people who were engaged
38:18
Speaker 2: in bringing Jesus under arrest. He is out of the
38:22
Speaker 2: group that was his own. He is now with a
38:26
Speaker 2: group of enemies, spiritually speaking. Seventeen. The slave girl, therefore,
38:33
Speaker 2: who kept the door, said to Peter, you're not also
38:37
Speaker 2: one of this man's disciples, are you? He said, I
38:43
Speaker 2: am not. The slaves and the officers were standing there,
38:48
Speaker 2: having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold, and
38:50
Speaker 2: they were warming themselves. Peter was also with them, marked
38:55
Speaker 2: that standing and warming himself. The second slope is a
39:03
Speaker 2: reluctance to stand alone when in the wrong company. Some
39:07
Speaker 2: of you already anticipated that first a reliance on the
39:12
Speaker 2: flesh when faced with opposition, and then when that opposition
39:16
Speaker 2: surrounds you, there's a reluctance to stand alone when in
39:23
Speaker 2: that wrong company. I picture Peter is mingling among those
39:28
Speaker 2: people who took Jesus under arrest. He is on their territory.
39:33
Speaker 2: He's running with the wrong bunch. All of a sudden,
39:36
Speaker 2: the threatening question is asked, you're not one of those disciples,
39:39
Speaker 2: are you? He's got a put up or shut up
39:45
Speaker 2: and he says, I'm not. Don't you condemn Peter for that?
39:52
Speaker 2: You see, that's just a revelation of the old nature
39:56
Speaker 2: when you're in the wrong crowd. I want to address
40:02
Speaker 2: not just the young, but all of us. The one thing,
40:06
Speaker 2: humanly speaking, that shapes our character more than any other
40:12
Speaker 2: pressure is those with whom we spend our time. You
40:19
Speaker 2: have a child that ran wild, No doubt, the child
40:23
Speaker 2: ran with a wild bunch. You have a girl who
40:27
Speaker 2: is given to compromise. Quite possibly, quite probably, the girl
40:33
Speaker 2: runs with those in that stripe First Corinthians, fifteen thirty three. Parents,
40:41
Speaker 2: put that down. Don't be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals.
40:50
Speaker 2: And let me add, at least for the sake of
40:52
Speaker 2: those here who have preteen kiddos, the very best principles
40:59
Speaker 2: you can build into the life of those kiddos is
41:02
Speaker 2: how to stand alone without looking like a freak. I
41:08
Speaker 2: don't mean that to be funny. It isn't funny. How
41:12
Speaker 2: do you expect your young man who graduates with the
41:15
Speaker 2: bachelor's or masters in business and runs now in a
41:19
Speaker 2: company that's given to a carnal lifestyle, either women or
41:25
Speaker 2: drink or the whole scene of the world. How do
41:28
Speaker 2: you expect that boy to make it if he's never
41:32
Speaker 2: learned the techniques of standing alone? Well, I had him
41:35
Speaker 2: in church. No, he'll never learn it in church. It
41:42
Speaker 2: happens in the home where you build those principles, those
41:46
Speaker 2: helpful techniques, the practical way of saying no, thanks, say well.
41:53
Speaker 2: I just would think that associating with the right group
41:56
Speaker 2: would do it. Peter had been with Jesus three years,
42:01
Speaker 2: and he said, I don't know him. Hey, let's wake
42:06
Speaker 2: up parents. That's our job, feeding them, clothing them, churching them,
42:16
Speaker 2: schooling them. Yeah, that's important, But what about that one
42:20
Speaker 2: on one That's stuff that must happen between the two
42:24
Speaker 2: of you, or you help the girl know how to
42:28
Speaker 2: say no, I don't do that, How to choose a friend,
42:35
Speaker 2: how to stand alone and still be respected not laughed at. Now,
42:49
Speaker 2: James Dobson, in his splendid book Hide or Seek, describes
42:52
Speaker 2: peer pressure in these words, there is tyranny in this pressure. Wow,
43:05
Speaker 2: you bet there is a high school is shot through
43:11
Speaker 2: with tyrannical pressure. Junior high is filled with it. The clubs,
43:20
Speaker 2: the lifestyle, the whole scene is built to tear down,
43:27
Speaker 2: not build up. And I'll tell you the group will
43:31
Speaker 2: require allegiance and it'll fight for it until your child
43:37
Speaker 2: stands alone or gives. And I'll tell you it isn't easy.
43:43
Speaker 2: I'm engaged in it right now to know how to
43:47
Speaker 2: do that God to come from God, just the wisdom
43:52
Speaker 2: of it. And man, what an illustration, Peter, verse twenty five.
43:59
Speaker 2: Step number here it is. And then we'll look at
44:01
Speaker 2: the verse resistance to be identified with Christ when threatened
44:10
Speaker 2: by the outcome. First there's a reliance on the flesh,
44:18
Speaker 2: and then there's reluctance to stand alone. And then suddenly
44:22
Speaker 2: there is this resistance to be identified with Christ when
44:26
Speaker 2: threatened by the outcome. And they weren't playing tittlelywinks. They
44:31
Speaker 2: were killing people. There was a cross ready when they
44:37
Speaker 2: looked at Peter and said, hey, you one of the group. No,
44:40
Speaker 2: I'm not. I can understand that. I can't I can't
44:47
Speaker 2: condone it, but understand it. See the verse twenty five
44:51
Speaker 2: Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said to him,
44:55
Speaker 2: you're not also one of the disciples, are you. He
44:57
Speaker 2: denied it and said I'm not. As a matter of fact,
45:01
Speaker 2: Matthew adds, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth and
45:08
Speaker 2: Peter answers. I don't know the man. The word used
45:15
Speaker 2: by Matthew for no k and ow is a word
45:18
Speaker 2: that means theoretical knowledge. I don't even know who he is.
45:27
Speaker 2: He was threatened by the outcome and the rock cracks.
45:36
Speaker 2: The rock cracks hang around the wrong crowd long enough,
45:44
Speaker 2: It's only a matter of time. Some of you ought
45:48
Speaker 2: to make a decision this very day to break with
45:53
Speaker 2: the bunch that's dragging you down. And that's not just
45:58
Speaker 2: for the young people. That includes some of you who
46:02
Speaker 2: are my senior. And you haven't got any business hanging
46:07
Speaker 2: around that group that's tearing your character. You're caught in it.
46:13
Speaker 2: You have a choice to make, and you won't make it.
46:16
Speaker 2: And you wonder, how come I'm not growing? How come
46:21
Speaker 2: things of Christ just don't have that zing anymore? Look,
46:31
Speaker 2: some of you hang around apartment groups and social groups
46:34
Speaker 2: and clubs and certain lifestyles, and you know in your
46:38
Speaker 2: heart that is the worst thing in the world for you.
46:40
Speaker 2: That's your galacinium. But you haven't come to the place
46:45
Speaker 2: to say it's gonna stop. I don't care what it takes.
46:49
Speaker 2: If that means changing jobs, I'm gonna change now. There's
46:56
Speaker 2: a fourth and final verse twenty six. Rejection of the truth,
47:03
Speaker 2: regardless of the consequences. Man, rejection of the truth now,
47:11
Speaker 2: regardless of the consequences. One of the slaves of the
47:14
Speaker 2: High Priest being a relative of the one whose ear
47:17
Speaker 2: Peter cut off, said, did I not see you in
47:19
Speaker 2: the garden with him? Peter denied it again. Matthew adds
47:25
Speaker 2: in chapter twenty six, verse seventy three, someone said, the
47:29
Speaker 2: way you talk gives you away. You sound like a Galilean.
47:37
Speaker 2: My wife and I enjoyed in another city eating at
47:40
Speaker 2: a restaurant called La Tunisia. Is a lovely setting. It
47:46
Speaker 2: looked like a great vast tent in the Tunisian area,
47:52
Speaker 2: Moroccan style, and very delectable shish kabobs and you know,
47:57
Speaker 2: really neat foods. And just before we were waited on
48:00
Speaker 2: one evening, I saw the waitress coming and she had
48:03
Speaker 2: dark hair and olive colored skin and dark eyes, and
48:06
Speaker 2: I thought, wow, I bet she's from North Africa. She
48:10
Speaker 2: walked up and said, hi, y'all ordered y'all's drank shet.
48:18
Speaker 2: Maybe Southern Moroccan, but not she's clearly she told us
48:24
Speaker 2: letters she's from Tyler. There has nothing to do with
48:27
Speaker 2: the North African area. You can tell by her speech.
48:31
Speaker 2: My sister was going to buy a lovely handkerchief at
48:33
Speaker 2: a very sophisticated place, and the girl behind the counter
48:37
Speaker 2: had selling these imported handkerchiefs, and wow, I just looked
48:42
Speaker 2: like she would just miss sophistication. And Lusille looked in
48:46
Speaker 2: the counter and she said that one is beautiful. It's lovely.
48:51
Speaker 2: I'd like to see it. And the girl reached in
48:53
Speaker 2: there and pulled it on and she said, yeah, and
48:55
Speaker 2: it's hand dead. She's not sophisticated. Her speech gives it away.
49:09
Speaker 2: You're a Catalia. How do you know? You sound like one?
49:12
Speaker 2: And so he cursed, and the amazing thing is they
49:16
Speaker 2: never question him again once he swore he sounds like us.
49:22
Speaker 2: He's not a disciple. I'll tell you. When a Christian
49:27
Speaker 2: operates in the flesh, you can't tell he's a non
49:31
Speaker 2: Christian or a Christian. You just can't tell. Two final principles.
49:38
Speaker 2: When surrounded by wrongdoers, doing wrong comes easy. Man does it? Ever,
49:47
Speaker 2: when surrounded by wrongdoers, doing wrong comes easy, and second
49:52
Speaker 2: recovery begins not when you act like you're strong, but
49:57
Speaker 2: when you admit you're weak. No one recovers from a
50:02
Speaker 2: life of carnality strutting around as though he's strong, flexing
50:07
Speaker 2: his hypocritical muscles. You come back to the Lord by
50:13
Speaker 2: saying I grabbed that sword and cut that ear off
50:18
Speaker 2: in the flesh. I walked in the courtyard and I said,
50:21
Speaker 2: I don't even know you because I was threatened by
50:25
Speaker 2: the results. And finally I've rejected the truth like a
50:29
Speaker 2: prodigal lord. I come back and I love you. I'm
50:34
Speaker 2: desperately weak. Not a person in this church today can
50:41
Speaker 2: look with condemnation on Peter brownlow North was a very
50:49
Speaker 2: capable evangelist used of God in several evangelistic circles of
50:56
Speaker 2: preaching the Gospel on the aisles. Brownlow North left his
51:03
Speaker 2: interest in spiritual things and drifted into a life of
51:07
Speaker 2: shameful activity, according to his biographer, for a number of months.
51:14
Speaker 2: Some of it was done in secrecy, but it finally
51:16
Speaker 2: made the headlines and he felt he was ruined for life.
51:20
Speaker 2: When he finally decided what a fool he had been,
51:24
Speaker 2: came back like a prodigal from the pit, from the
51:28
Speaker 2: pig pen. The Lord received him back and blessed him
51:32
Speaker 2: and strengthened him. And over a period of waiting he
51:35
Speaker 2: felt pressed back into the ministry Brownlow. North feared the
51:42
Speaker 2: possibility of its ever being found out. Finally, after sufficient
51:48
Speaker 2: time he thought it was hidden and tucked away into
51:51
Speaker 2: the sands of time. He was back in the pulpit.
51:56
Speaker 2: One night in Aberdeen, he was given a letter unsigned
52:03
Speaker 2: just before the service began. He took the letter and
52:06
Speaker 2: he read it, and the letter described a shameful series
52:15
Speaker 2: of events he had been engaged in, and his stomach turned,
52:20
Speaker 2: and it concluded by saying, if you have the gull
52:23
Speaker 2: to preach tonight, I'll stand and expose you. North took
52:30
Speaker 2: that letter and went to his knees. A few minutes
52:35
Speaker 2: lator was in the pope. He began his message by
52:40
Speaker 2: reading the letter. I'm starting to finish, and he said,
52:47
Speaker 2: I want to make it clear that this letter is
52:51
Speaker 2: perfectly true. I am ashamed of what I have read
52:56
Speaker 2: and what I've done. I come tonight not as one
53:01
Speaker 2: who is perfect, but as one who is free. Him
53:07
Speaker 2: and God used that letter and the balance of his
53:11
Speaker 2: ministry almost as a magnet to bring people to Jesus Christ.
53:19
Speaker 2: It's like that bumper sticker I saw at Fullerton College
53:22
Speaker 2: last Friday. Christians are not perfect. Just forgive it, something beautiful,
53:32
Speaker 2: something good. All my confusion, shame, rebellion. He understood. All
53:44
Speaker 2: I had to offer him was brokennessing strife. He made
53:50
Speaker 2: something beautiful of my life. Isn't that marvelous? Not per
54:00
Speaker 2: it for you saying you can know the joy of
54:09
Speaker 2: that truth. Christians sitting around you are not perfect. Oh listen.
54:20
Speaker 2: If I could have told the story of my life
54:22
Speaker 2: or choose anyone else, would have been worse than the
54:26
Speaker 2: case of Peter. But the message of this is you
54:30
Speaker 2: can be forgiven and used and blessed. You could become.
54:39
Speaker 1: Rock.
54:42
Speaker 2: Now let's pray. Let's bout together, shall we. Some of
54:49
Speaker 2: you right this moment are just wrestling with this whole