Peter & Follow Me”

GET READY FOR THE RESET

“Peter & Follow Me”

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yudTyw15cDw

As you probably know by now, we are getting ready for our series on Getting Ourselves Reset, and to get us there, throughout this month we’re looking at those within the Bible that encountered Jesus, and not only the reset He provided, but what those resets mean to our lives.

So far, we’ve looked at the Samaritan woman at the well, and Nathanael. Today, I like to look at Simon Peter, and Jesus’s calling upon his life. Now, while we have seen that the reset happened in the Samaritan woman at the time of her calling, and Nathanael when he followed Philip’s lead and met with Jesus, this is not always the case.

In these two instances, both experienced the reset when they realized and acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, and then they followed. But it’s not in the “following” that the reset happens, it’s in the “belief.”

We see this in Thomas’s life, or who we know as “Doubting Thomas.” He was a follower of Jesus, one of the 12 disciples, but we don’t know much about him, with the one exception when he got reset.

After Jesus’s resurrection, He appeared to the disciples, but Thomas wasn’t there at the time. When they told him later he refused to believe. Eight days after that, Jesus again appeared, and Thomas was there, and Jesus told him to touch his wounds saying, “Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:27 NIV)

And it is at this point that Thomas’s reset happened as He said, “My Lord and my God.” (John 20:28 NKJV)

Consider, Thomas had been following all these years, and the truth of Jesus as Lord and God was still not a reality to him, but now it was, and his reset took place.

This brings up a very powerful truth, and one we need to fully understand, and that is, Jesus’s call to follow isn’t when belief takes place. It is part of the process to get us there. For some it takes only a few minutes, while others, years. So, let’s not assume that because someone comes to or attends a church that they believe. And, on top of that, not everything is going to be honky-dory in our lives after the reset happens, but we’re going to have to go in for further, or follow-up adjustments.

This is the story of Peter, and one then that I would like to share with you today.

Out of all Jesus’s disciples, with maybe the exception of John, Peter is probably the most recognized. He’s actually mentioned over 150 times in the New Testament and is the central figure in the first 12 chapters of the book of Acts.

Peter, along with his brother, Andrew, were the first of the 12 to be called. After Jesus’s baptism and his 40 days in the wilderness where He was tempted by Satan, He came to the Sea of Galilee and seeing both Peter and his brother Andrew, He called them to follow.

“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19 NKJV)

And it says that they immediately left their nets and followed. And a few moments later we see Jesus making the same calling to James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and they were mending their nets, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed.

Now, the reason I mentioned these last two, whom Jesus called the “Sons of Thunder” is because Peter, James, and John were part of Jesus’s “inner three.” Jesus took them the Mount of Transfiguration where they saw Jesus glorified, and then Jesus took them further into the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his arrest.

So, Peter was pretty close to Jesus, but he was also like a yo-yo, that is, up and down so many times in this relationship that it makes one’s head spin.

Like when Jesus came walking upon the water.

Jesus told the disciples to get into a boat and go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Something that isn’t that tough or difficult. But a storm came and was tossing the boat around like a dog’s chew toy. And then they saw Jesus walking towards them, and they were afraid thinking he was some kind of ghost or something. But Jesus said to them, “Hey, it’s me, don’t be afraid.”

Peter, as that natural leader and “nothing frightens me,” sort of personality, said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” (Matthew 14:28 NKJV). And Jesus said, “Come.” So out of the boat he goes and steps on the water. Now this is a real high point, I know it would have been for me. But then he got his eyes off Jesus and onto the wind and waves and fear entered his heart and he began to sink like a brick crying out, “Save me.” Obviously, the low point. One minute up on top of the water, the next underneath it.