Being A Vessel To Carry Others To God's Presence

A Vessel to carry others into the presence of God

John 18:15

The world of Simon Peter at the time of the text was revolving in circles undoubtedly faster than he could stand for it to. It wasn’t just a few hours prior to this time that he was sitting in an upper room, eating bread and drinking wine with the Savior. It was just a bit later he found himself in a garden with James and John sleeping, though Jesus had given them a direct command to watch and pray with Him. Suddenly, Peter finds himself in the middle of a mob of Roman soldiers, led by Judas Iscariot, as they arrested Jesus. In a rage of fury, Peter whisks his sword out and cuts off Malchus’ ear (high priest’s servant). Who would’ve imagined this all would literally take place.

The next thing you know Peter finds himself outside a gate surrounding the high priests courtyard. When Jesus was arrested all the disciples scattered. But now he finds his way back to the viscinity of where Jesus is, while his mind has become full of mass chaos. Everything was spinning quickly/seemingly out of control.

As he got to the door of the courtyard, he had met up with another disciple that went with him there. *Bible doesn’t say exactly who he was, some suggest it was John (the writer), some say perhaps it was Joseph of Arimathea, or Nicodemus, since they were both secret followers of Jesus, but also were part of the Jewish ruling counsel. Either way, we know that this person knew the high priest, so he had free access to go before him. However, Peter did not have this right. So, the Bible says after the man went and showed himself to the high priest, he went back and told the girl watching the door that it was o.k. to let Peter come in. **Now I know that Peter would deny Jesus as soon as he walked in the door, as well as 2 other times. But there was 1 thing for certain, when Peter came into where Jesus was, and he looked at him, and Jesus looked back, Peter would never forget that moment. And had it not been for someone who was willing to go back and help him get in, Peter would’ve never got to experience this final moment in the presence of the Lord.

I don’t know if you know it or not, but we are commissioned of God to do all we can to get people into his presence. We’re told to go win the lost, and bring them to salvation. But even in the body of Christ, the Lord is looking for people who can be used to lead others into his holy presence. He’s looking to use people that can get on the stage, sing a song, and take the congregation into a mighty atmosphere of worship. He’s wanting to grab a hold of some preachers, anoint their souls, and put them in a position to take churches into days of refreshing. He’s looking to move upon individuals willing to be intercessors, and empower them to pray over those that are bound, sick, or in need of a miracle. HE JUST WANTS TO USE FOLKS TO TAKE OTHERS WHERE HE IS!!

We’ll look at people sometimes and say "they’re not smart enough, can’t sing very good, don’t have altar calls where everyone is slain in the spirit every night, etc." and think they can’t fit the bill. But I am convinced that God has been, and will continue to use the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. *We don’t need just another good singer/musician, don’t need just another preacher, just another deacon, teacher, etc. We need someone that knows how to take us into the presence of God!

This was not the 1st time someone brought Peter into the presence of the Lord. John 1, we find a time when John the Baptist was baptizing in the river Jordan. One day while standing there along with 2 of his disciples, John says "Behold the lamb of God". When the 2 heard this, they left John and started following Jesus. We know the identity of one of the 2: his name was Andrew. After spending the day with Jesus, Andrew got up and went and found his brother, Simon Peter, and said to him, "Come on brother. We have found the Messiah; we have found the Christ". *Studied alot @ John Baptist, but can tell you one of the greatest things he ever did was say these words into the ears of those 2 men. For, had John not introduced them into Jesus’ presence, then Andrew would’ve never been an Apostle. And had not Andrew been used of God to bring Peter to Jesus, there would be no preacher at Pentecost winning 3000 souls, no people healed by standing in a man’s shadow, and nobody at Cornelius’ house filled with HG.