Peter - The Big Fisherman Part 1 Series

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS SERIES

14 – THE BIG FISHERMAN PETER

PART 1

This morning, we’re continuing with our sermon series entitled CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

And we’ve been talking over the last several weeks and months about the GLORIOUS FACT that no matter…

--who you are

--what you’ve done

--where you’ve been

You can have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS with God

And what we’ve been doing is looking at the lives of the greats in the Word of God

People like…

--Adam

--Abraham

--Joseph

--Moses

--David

--Daniel

And many others

And last week, we talked about JOHN, but this morning, and next week, this is one of my favorites, because we’re going to be talking about the one person in all the Bible that I can identify with the most!

And that is THE BIG FISHERMAN, PETER

And the reason I call him “THE BIG FISHERMAN” is that if you’ve ever seen the 1953 movie entitled, “The Robe”, that’s what the Christians in that movie called Peter, because most likely in those times of persecution, they had to use code names

And when they decided a “code name” for Peter, it was THE BIG FISHERMAN

And so today, we’re going to begin the first of 2 MESSAGES talking about THE BIG FISHERMAN and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

With that in mind, let’s read…

• Luke 6:13-14 ( KJV ) 13And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; 14Simon, (whom he also named Peter,)…

• John 6:67-69 ( KJV ) 67Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

INTRODUCTION

In The Last Days Newsletter, Leonard Ravenhill, the great revivalist, tells about a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village who just happened to walk by an old man sitting beside a fence. In a rather patronizing way, one tourist asked, "Were any great people born in this village"' The old man replied, "Nope, only babies.'

And how true it is – God takes the raw material of a man or woman, to make them what they can and should be by His Grace and Almighty Power

And of all the disciples, Peter is the most accrate mosaic of each of us here this morning

John MacArthur points this out in his great book, “12 Ordinary Men” when he says…

Peter’s name is mentioned in the Gospels more than any other name except Jesus. No one speaks as often as Peter, and no one is spoken to by the Lord as often as Peter. No disciple is so frequently rebuked by the Lord as Peter; and no disciple ever rebukes the Lord except Peter. No one else confessed Christ more boldly or acknowledged His lordship more explicitly; yet no other disciple ever verbally denied Christ as forcefully or as publicly as Peter did. No one is praised and blessed by Christ the way Peter was; yet Peter was also the only one Christ ever addressed as Satan.

Fumbling, bumbling, with…

--all the mistakes

--making bold statements that he didn’t back up

--putting his foot in his mouth

--even making a big mistake AFTER Pentecost

That’s right – most people know of Peter’s big mistakes BEFORE Pentecost, but they forget AND I DON’T HAVE TIME TO GO THROUGH THE ISSUE

But they forget that that Paul the Apostle had to confront him in Galatians chapter 2 about a wrong he was doing – and this was many years after Peter was older, wiser, and after Pentecost

Which tells me no matter…

--how old you are

--spiritual you are

--used of God you are

You are still susceptible to making mistakes!

And yet, with all of these things and what I’ve been wanting you to see throughout this series is that if a man like Peter, with all of his shortcomings and problems, if he can…

--walk on the water

--preach and 3,000 to 5,000 are saved and baptized instantly

--just walk by and his shadow bring healing and miracle

--have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Then so can we!

And that’s what we’re going to be doing this morning and next week, is looking over the life of one of God’s great – SIMON PETER, THE BIG FISHERMAN

And in order to try to help you get an overall view of his life, we’re going to be breaking his life down into 5 parts – 3 of which we’ll cover this morning

We’re going to be talking about his…

--conversion

--courage

--confession

--crash

--come back

And so, first of all, let’s talk about…

1. PETER’S CONVERSION

And the Bible tells us how Peter first came to know the Lord