Peter, Our Brother In Faith Series

1. NEVER once does God ever sugar coat the men & woman He’s chosen to use. Plainly he writes through the pen of Paul:

1 Cor. 1.27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

NOTE: Always on display is the wonderful glory of His grace and the wonderful power of His Spirit in ordinary, frail people.

a. When describing the wonderful gift of grace, I love how Paul ends that passage… let’s look at it! (Eph 2:8-10)

b. If salvation were of works, then we would boast in ourselves and not in the One who alone accomplished it!

c. If salvation were of our works, then we would work, work, work our whole lives never really sure if God is pleased.

d. If salvation were of works, we would never have the assurance of God’s love toward us… but it’s a GIFT!

e. A gift to be received, not a work to be earned!

NOTE: We’re not here today because we GAVE A LOT, or READ A LOT, or SUNG A LOT, or PRAYED A LOT.

• We’re here because of Jesus & all that He’s done for us!

• And all that He’s doing in & through us…

• We are His workmanship… Trophies of His Grace!

a. Original word is ‘poiema’ from which we get our word poem.

b. Every believer is a work in progress.

c. A sweet poem of God’s grace worked out in our lives!

d. You are His poetry… absolutely a thing of beauty.

NOTE: Someone once read this & thought about being God’s poetry.

• They felt more like a comic strip than a poem… Isn’t that true?!

• Life can be one comic episode after another…

• But God still loves us… stills stands by us… still sustains us!

APP: Oh, how we need to remind people who say that Christians aren’t all that great, aren’t perfect, aren’t much different…

• They see all sorts of inconsistencies and hypocrisies.

• Truth is though, they wouldn’t believe how bad we used to be!

• Where we might be if the Lord Jesus didn’t break in our lives.

• And today we’re saved, redeemed, justified, beloved, and on and on that list goes! – New Creations in Christ! AMEN?

And God shows us the trophies of His grace throughout the Bible.

We see the failures of faith in the Father of Faith Abraham.

We see the failures of love in the man whom God loved, David.

We see the mishaps of commitment in the men Jesus personally chose to make those first commitments in following Him, apostles.

NOTE: Sometimes I think we watch each other & look at each other say “Oh that’s not good”, how can you and why are you…

• And the Lord, our Potter… whispers, “Oh no they aren’t that bad considering where they could be, or would be, if My work wasn’t being done in his life…” – FLIP OVER TO PSALM 40:1-5

• How wonderful is the work of God in our lives…

• His great grace working through even our dumbest mistakes…

• To make us a trophy and crown of His Grace…

• Look at 1 Peter 1:1… let’s stop there.

• Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ! Not a failure, an apostle!

You Know there are many today who question the author of this letter. NO WAY, a fisherman couldn’t write this letter!

• It had to be someone else who forged Peter’s name.

• After all, they would say, don’t you remember what the religious rulers said back in Acts 4:13?

Acts 4.13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men…

OF COURSE… they will pause right there. Uneducated. Untrained.

• But we have to remember that Peter had the best education a person could have… 3 years with Jesus!

• Sure he wasn’t a PROFESSIONAL MINISTER, but he WAS a SERVANT OF THE Lord, an APOSTLE OF Jesus Christ.

• You see the verse continues on…

Acts 4.13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

I’M NOT AGAINST FORMAL EDUCATION.

• We have many young people in the Bible College right now!

• But I AM against the idea that education apart from the Spirit of God is not useful in Kingdom!

• We want 2 be known by WHO we kno not WHAT we know,

Oh how we can’t underestimate the training Peter had for 3 years at the feet of Jesus or minimize the power of the Sprit in his life!