Voice of the Nazarene 2-25-24

I'm coming to you from North Central Ohio, we share with you the voice of the Nazarene, a week by week venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio Church of the Nazarene, we joined our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle, and the voice of the Nazarene.

And here we come to one of the disciples that seem to have hoof and mouth disease. So I'm in Peter, every time you read about him, it seems as though he's got a foot stuck in his mouth.

Sometimes I'm reading and it's almost appears he's got both feet in his mouth, pay to wear peppermint flavored shoes, would it not? We began last week a series again, on the 12, those that Christ had chosen. I mean, when Christ selected, and Christ nominated and Christ called and hand picked these 12, there must be something worth looking at something worth learning about that'll help us in our daily lives. Out of all the men in that time on Earth, Simon Peter was one that was chosen to be a part of the 12 disciples. And again, I say, I would have thought that he would have chosen religious men. But not so, it appears that seven out of the 12 were fishermen, not rabbis, not priests not even Pharisees. Fact of the matter they were just common, ordinary simple, men with feet of clay.

They were from Galilee, poor area, rural area, an area that was said to be very unlearned, and very uneducated. But these 12 turned the world upside down.

According to Acts, chapter 17, verse six, and one of those 12 men was a guy by the name of Peter. And he's mentioned more in the gospels than any other man outside of Jesus Christ, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John talked more about Simon Peter than any other human being, except for the great son of God. And anytime that a disciple was mentioned, Peters name was always listed first. He was the leader of the pack. I mean, he was the guy that kind of headed up the rest of the disciples.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

And I studied his life. And I say, again, it seemed like many of us, at times, he had his foot stuck in his mouth, more than it should have been. You have all heard the story about the young guy that was hired to, to man all the vegetables in a grocery store. And a lady came up and she said, I only want a half head of lettuce. And he said, we only sell them by the whole head. He was standing there trying to water the vegetables and trying to get the spoilage out and trying to line them up to look good. And he said, only a half a half, she said, I want to hold on, I only want a half he said only a whole head. We don't cut them up. And she really got vicious about it. And so he said, Well, let me talk to the manager. And of course, he went back to the manager and felt like there was someone behind him looked around and that lady had followed him and he had just told the manager there's a mad vicious lady that wants to buy half head of lettuce. And when he looked around and saw her he said this other lady, this kind lady here wants to buy the other half. Of course, the manager said to him said, Man, you think faster on your feet. Where are you from?

He said, Toronto, Canada. He said, you know, home for all the beautiful hockey teams, ugly women. The manager said my wife's from Toronto. He said, which team did she play on? And Simon Peters a little bit like like that. I mean, sometimes it seemed like he had his foot in his mouth. I've got a acquaintance that I watch and follow a little bit and if there was ever a guy that seems like he's got it all together, but here while back, he admitted, he said, you know, he said I said to a pregnant lady, I said the won't be very long now, will it?

She said no not very long I've had the baby two weeks ago.

Simon Peter just sometimes didn't think his way through and talked a little bit too early.

But I'm gonna look at Simon Peter for a moment, this great leader see some things about his life. And we want to look at all of the disciples as a whole. But what can we learn from these men? Who one day when we arrive in heaven, we'll find their names engraved on the walls of that great city. These men, 12 of them, 12 of them. And today there are 2.5 billion Christians. Can you imagine it all started back yonder with just 12 handpicked selected men, but men at best, and we end up with 2.5 billion. So what was it about him? Several things about Peter, first of all, Peter was inquisitive, inquisitive.

Knowledge is power. And Peter was always asking questions I, I was studying the other day and I looked into Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And I found the Jesus asked 307 questions, just in the Gospels. He asked a lot of questions. And there's power and getting around people who have knowledge and ask questions. And out of the disciples Peter asked more questions than all the rest of them in Scripture put together. It was Peter there

15, who said, Jesus, explain these difficult truths to us explain them. One guy said, don't quote the Bible.

splain it splain it? Well, he wanted it explained. Okay. And then again, in Matthew, chapter 18, verse 21. He said, by the way, Jesus, just how many times do we have to forgive people?

Matthew 18:21

I'll not talk any more about that than that. And then again,

27.

He said, we've forsaken all the follow thee, what do we get for it? What's in it for for us? So I'm wanting to say to you that Peter was inquisitive. He was always asking questions, but not only was he inquisitive, he also had initiative. And there's an old saying, You will never rise to the top unless you get off your bottom first. He had an initiative. If you want your pockets to jingle, somebody said you better shake the leg initiative he had initiative. It was Ceasarea of Philippi, where Jesus asked his disciples, he said, To Whom do men say that I the Son of man am and they begin to respond. Some said your John the Baptist, others say you might be maybe a Elijah. Some say you might be Jeremiah, one of the prophets. And he said, But whom say that I am? Who do you say that I am? I just got, what everybody else thinks, what do you think? It's not everybody else's relationship. What kind of a relationship do I have with him? And in verse 16, Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the son of a

13 through 16. Now, Peter was inquisitive. He also had an initiative but he was also impulsive. Let me tell you about Peter. He was either in charge or he thought he was, one of the other. I heard about a guy that pulled up in front of the drugstore, jumped out of the car, left the door open the engine running, raced inside through the long haul and between the aisles, got back to the pharmacy section. And he said to the pharmacist, do you have anything for hiccups? And the pharmacist nodded. He said, well give it to me and the pharmacist just reached across the counter and slapped him. He was a little bit off balance and knocked him to his knee and he grabbed his chin and when he stood back up, he was holding his jaw and he said, Why did you do that for? He said, You ask him I have anything for hiccups.

Well, why did you hit me? He said you don't have the hiccups, now. He said I didn't when I came in as my wife that's got him she's out in the car. Simon Peter's like that, he just jumped to conclusions. Sometimes he jumped to concussions. And when Jesus was arrested, they sent 600 soldiers to arrest Jesus. Nobody else moved but Simon Peter jerked his sword out and he meant to cut a man's head off and the man jumped back and the sword grazed the side of his face and cut his ear off. His name was Malthus. Jesus reached down to pick up the ear and restored it. And he said to Simon Peter put up the sword. If you live by the sword, you have to die by the sword. Another place of Scripture said the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. But they're mighty, to the pulling down of strongholds.

You come to the transfiguration scene. Jesus takes Peter, James and John up into a high mountain and was transfigured before them. Must have been a glorious moment. Incidentally, every time I read about Jesus taking Peter, James and John and not the rest, it had to torque the rest of them didn't. Did you ever stop to think about some of this? Can you imagine how upset Barnabas and Thomas and some of the others had to be? I mean, Thomas was always critiquing and trying to figure things out and always questioning and doubting and one of them kind of guys and Bartholomew probably said, Hey Thomas, there goes Pete and Jim and John, their teachers, pets.

They're always going with Jesus.

They come back telling these massive stories and big things happening, and we're missing.

You reckon, he'll ever ask us to go? And Thomas said, probably not. And so the transfiguration takes place. And his raiment did shine as the noonday sun and Moses suddenly appeared from out of heaven. Elijah suddenly showed up and Peter, the audacious guy that he was said, Boy it's a good thing I'm here?

I think we ought to start some new denominations. Why don't we just build three tabernacles?

One for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. I'll tell you, Moses and Elijah, they didn't need a new tabernacle, they were living in a better place. You'll read about that in Matthew 17. Can you imagine anybody would be rebuking the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, Pastor, nobody do that, Peter did. If you're going to read about it, it's Matthew 16:22. He rebuked the Lord and listen, here's what he said. Peter took Him and begin to rebuke Him saying, be it far from the Lord, this shall not be under the he's one of these guys said, Hey, all the rest of them might get drunk. But he said, I'll never get drunk. All the rest of them might get wasted, but I'll never get wasted. Hey, they might divorce their wives, I'll never.

Matthew 16:22

Hey, be careful what you say.

They might deny you I'll never deny I'll go to prison or to death with you. Get real Simon, got your foot in your mouth again. Jesus said before the cock crows, you're gonna deny me three times. He's inquisitive, he's got inituative, he's very impulsive. But here's what I believe, I believe there's a lot that we can learn from this first disciple that I'm calling to your attention, Simon Peter.

We can learn from people's mistakes. And we can learn from their victories, from their bad from their good. Just for a few minutes this morning, I want to look at the relationship that existed between Jesus and Simon Peter. And I want to talk to you about some of the relationships that Jesus had with Simon Peter.

First of all, Jesus teaches us to believe in people and let them know. You know, when we meet people, we rate people, don't we? Just about everybody that we come into contact with, we take a look or two and just in a matter of a few moments, we put a number on their head on their forehead. We put a five on them or maybe a seven on them or maybe a 10 or we are just kind of disgusted and put a two on them. And you know what I've learned people have a propensity to become whatever number we put on them, kind of works that way.

Names been a lot in the Bible.

And I'll get to that in a moment. I knew a guy by the name of Stan Toller became one of our generals. Well, not very tall.

He had flown in from someplace landed and had gotten off the plane and got to the luggage and got his luggage and everybody else had people meeting them and escorting them out into their cars and driving in different directions and he's looking around trying to figure out who's supposed to meet him. And finally saw this guy over to one side had a little sign, and it said, Stand Taller. And he stood there looked at him and looked at him and finally walked over, he said, Are you looking for Stan Toller, he said, Stand Taller. He said, I'm standing as tall as I can. Well, here in John, chapter one, verse 42, a guy brought Simon Peter to Jesus, his name was Andrew, he's the brother, he's second to Peter. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah, thou shall be called Sisyphus, which is by interpretation a stone. Jesus put a big number on him. Jesus rated him pretty high, he didn't put a two on him and take him from a five down to a two, he put a 10 on him, he took him from wherever he was here, and he believed in him for something bigger and better, and he ready him high, put a ten on him, Thou shall be called Sisyphus. Jesus took one look at him and said, I'm going to change your name, and you're not only going to get a name change, you're gonna get a life change. He said, you've always been in unstable, but I don't see the instability. What I see in you, as a leader, I see a great preacher of the gospel, you caught a few fish, but I'm gonna make you fishers of men.

I'm gonna make an author, or a writer of the gospel out of you, I see something. Here's the message folk, believe in people and let them know it. It's amazing what can happen in their lives. I'm saying Dad, believe in your kids, put a blessing on them. Encourage them, tell them that you're standing behind them. They're going to become what we allow them to become.

And if we put them down all the time, they're not going to rise very high. It's amazing when we believe in people, let them let them know. Here's the second thing Jesus concerning Peter, I gather that a relationship is more about giving that it is getting. It's about giving. Now there may be relationships here today that have been severed.

There may be those of you that have relationships that are a bit strained. And the issue was, you weren't getting from them what you thought you ought to get. So you don't give back anymore. And the relationship is damaged. And the basis for relationships is giving, not getting. It might be in your house, or your kids parents, which happens to be you. You think that you're not getting from them what you ought to be getting and the relationship is very strained at your house.

It's affecting the whole dynamics of the home. Listen, you say Well, Pastor, where do you get that I get first of all, in John chapter one. Jesus forgives Peter, it's called conversion. He forgives him. He does something for him. And then in chapter five, catch this. And it's called ministry, he asked something from him. Before he asked anything from him, he does something for him. And many times we're asking for a hand when we don't have somebody's heart. It's a principle here that will transform your life if you can digest it and get a hold of it. Before you expect something from somebody. What can you do for somebody? Are you listening? You want the dynamics to be great in your marriage, start giving and forget all the getting and the getting will fall into place. Thank you.

Thank you, thank you. Here's the third thing, lift people up when they fall. This is what Jesus did. When people failed he didn't leave him down there he helped lift him up. And you know whats amazing, Jesus took five loaves two fish and fed a multitude. And then he said, just right after that everybody gets on the boat, and they got in a boat and they hit it out into the water and a storm came.

And this is what I've learned. A lot of times when something really good happens. Something bad may quickly happen. We might be headed into a storm after going through some great, great things. They got into a storm here in Matthew 14 and the Bible said that Jesus had gone into a mountain and began to pray, and he had prayed and somewhere between three and six in the morning, Jesus realized they were in a storm and he went to them. And he walked out across the water to this boat full of people in a storm frightened and alarmed. And they thought he was a ghost, the Bible said, and he said, they were so afraid. And Jesus said in his eye, you don't have to be afraid. And Peter said, Lord, if it's you, let me step out. Always remember something. Did Simon Peter, step out on the water, true or false?

To be real honest with you, he stepped out on a word. And if the Lord gives us a word, we can step out on it. I'd a lot rather be a wet water walker than to be a dry boat talker. He's kind of my hero. He stepped out. He got his eyes on, everybody got his eyes on everything, got his eyes on the situation, begin to sink and we fail when we get our eyes off of Jesus. Every time I've gotten into trouble it's when I got my eyes on some hurtful things, and I got them off of Jesus. And I got discouraged and became despondent. And as long as I lean toward him, I can stay encouraged. He got his eyes off the Lord and he fell. Now, how did Jesus handle it? Well look

31 said. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, oh, thou have little faith didn't say no faith, he said, little faith.

And listen it's a faith issue whenever we fail, it's always a faith issue. And here's what I've noticed, Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him.

Aren't you grateful? When we're falling when we're failing? When we're about to lose it that he is there he sees us. And he's reaching out to catch us. And you need to reach back and take a hold of that hand. So what is our attitude? What do I gain from this? Well, Galatians chapter six verse one, brother, and if any man be overtaken in a fault, Simon Peters, not the only one that failed. Hello, I have, you will. I know you're perfect right now. But if a man be overtaken the fault, heal with your spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself also, less thou be tempted.

What's that saying it's saying that when I'm pointing a finger at you, I've got three pointing back at me. It's saying that, if it happens to you, it can happen to me so I'd better walk very softly and very carefully. I don't need to run around with a big stick, I need to be very humble. It can happen the same thing to me. So what do we do?

We're to restore, we're to forgive. We're to love, we're to lift. We can make a difference with our life. That's what I'm saying. That's what Jesus did.

And by the way, he restored people. Do you know what the word restore means? I looked it up after reading about it in this passage. And the word restore here in this passage means mend the nets. If anybody knew about net mending it was Simon Peter, the fisherman. He spent a lot of time mending nets, and we need to spend time mending nets to. Mending relationships and helping people who are under pressure. Now I know everything's about dollars, these days, instead of differences. All you hear about how to get a buck and how to get$1. And everybody's trying to hire but as long as the government's giving money out to people to stay at home, nobody's going to work. Just remember, the government doesn't have any money. And any money they give to you, they took it from somebody else they didn't have it. And any government big enough to give you everything that you want also can be big enough to take away your freedoms. So you better quit leaning on the media and the government and start trusting in the Lord. Jesus Christ he's got the answer. It's not all about the dollar. But I believe that you and I and this ministry have the ability to make a difference. We have the ability to make a difference. Jesus made a difference. He never gave up on Simon Peter and Peter went on to write First and Second Peter.

He went on to preach at Pentecost. He didn't even have enough time to get his credentials restored like you would in these days before he had, he didn't even get 50 days before he had to get up and try to preach. But he did. He got up and preached and 3000 were swept into the kingdom. Again, I'm glad Jesus didn't give up on, Peter. Once in a great m I'll speak about what Peter had said in his little book, casting all our cares upon Him for He careth for us, where you get that word cast. It's a fisherman's term, when you're casting a net or you're casting the hook into the water it's casting. And his soul had been cast down and Jesus reached out and lifted him up.

And history says this at the very end of their lives, Peter and his wife were taken before Nero and the historians say they said lets crucify his wife in front of him and see what he does. And history says that when they took his wife and begin to crucify her, that Simon Peter stood there and caught her eye and said to her over and over, remember the Lord, remember the Lord, remember the Lord honey, remember the Lord. Then they said, we remember when you forsook your Christ, when Jesus was crucified, now we're going to crucify you, and see if you will recant. He said, go ahead and crucify me only crucify me upside down I'm not worthy to be crucified like the Savior. And it was his turn. I'm glad Jesus didn't give up on Peter. And I came here this morning to tell you that he hasn't given up on you either. You say, But I failed, I understand that, who hasn't? Simon Peter failed but the Lord didn't quit on him.

Fact of the matter, he went back to his own life. You say, that's what I'm gonna do what Peter did to. He went back to the way he used to live. He thought it's all over. Christ has been crucified. I told him, I wouldn't deny him but I did, I'm a quitter, I've blown it. I've said big things that I couldn't live up to and following the resurrection, Peters out there along the shore broken. And suddenly Jesus appeared to the mist, and said, lovest thou me more than all of this failure and all the stuff. He said, You know, I do though, is that I'm asking do you love me? Yes. Do you love me? Yes. Well, here's the keys to the kingdom. I can use you again. I'm glad Jesus didn't give up on Peter. Now what's after the crucifixion, It's after the burial. And when the women arrive at the tomb, there in Mark chapter 16 Verse seven, the tomb's empty. Jesus doesn't seem to be there and an angel said unto them, Go thy way and tell the disciples Now, catch this, two words and Peter, go tell the disciples and Peter.

Mark 16 · chapter mention

Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC's Pastor Ray LaSalle. For more information regarding BNC, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org.