As he preaches your word and give the audience here ears to hear and soften their hearts to the preaching of your word
And all of this we pray in jesus name. Amen
Okay, we're in john chapter one look down at your bibles at verse number 40
It says one of the two which heard john speak and followed him was andrew simon peter's brother
He first findeth his own brother simon and saith unto him
We have found the messiahs which is being interpreted to christ and he brought him to jesus
And when jesus beheld him, he said thou art simon the son of jonah thou shall be called cephas which is by interpretation
A stone and what I want to preach on this morning or this evening. Excuse me, is simon peter the son of jonah
I want to preach on the character of peter the apostle beater to be more exact
And we're going to start off here in john chapter one
But before I get into the specific verses that we just read over
Let me make some introductory statements regarding peter now peter
It's actually one of the most prominent characters in the new testament
It's pretty popular person
And in fact, even if people don't have really a thorough understanding of the word of god if you were to mention peter
They would know who that is. He's very familiar in the bible, even though he's only mentioned of course in the new testament
He's still widely mentioned and known of people
Because he's in the bible in the new testament at least 156 times
He's mentioned in the new testament and that's not including times when he's referred to as cephas or even simon
Just when he's named peter alone. He's referred to at least 156 times
And he has two books in the new testament two of them some of the greatest books in the new testament
One of the greatest teachings on false prophets is found in second peter chapter number two very thorough teaching
And in fact, I believe the book of jude
references the book of second peter chapter two when discussing and teaching this matter of
False prophets now when you think of peter, obviously one of the first things that comes to mind is that he was a fisher, right?
He was originally a fisher that was his trade. That's what he did and
People erroneously think that because he was a fisher that he was just a common man who really didn't have much of an education
And in fact, this is like a slander that the pharisees said of peter and john and said these are unlearned men
You know, how is it that these unlearned men are speaking boldly and they're preaching the word of god?
They're they're they're stupid man. They're foolish men
They're just common unlearned men
But the reality is this is that peter and john and the rest of the apostles they were unlearned men
They're actually very intelligent. And in fact if you read
The greek new testament when you read first and second peter, you're actually going to see a lot of vocabulary that's not found
in other portions of the new testament, it's only really, uh, um
Found in first and second peter and it's a higher vocabulary of greek showing us that peter not only was he an educated man
He had an expanded vocabulary. You see obviously god is the one who writes the bible
He's the author of the word of god, but holy men of god spake as they're removed by the holy ghost
The bible's inspired by god, but he used you know human instruments and their education
Their understanding their writing style to pen the bible. So when we look at first and second peter, we see wow
This is this is very um intelligently written, you know
This is not someone who is just a fisher of men who is just unlearned not educated
He's a very smart individual. Now. Here's the thing is that peter
You know, he often catches a bad rap. Does he not because when you think of peter you think of yourself like oh, yeah
He's the one who denied jesus. That's like the first thing that comes up
And you know, that's a lesson for us to learn that you can do a lot of great works in your life
But if you if you slip up if you do something that's really bad if you sin really bad
That's often a blemish and a reproach on your reputation as a believer
So it's important to just you know, stay right stay in church, you know
Obey the instructions of the bible and and and not uh, you know get out of the way because here's the thing
You know, although he did a lot of great things in his life and he's used greatly of god
He still has that stigma as being that one apostle who denied the lord. Okay
And then also, you know, you look throughout peter's life. He's always putting his foot in his mouth
He's he's barely he's basically like an impetuous type of a fellow and he's just saying you know kind of speaking his mind
And he's also he's always, you know getting rebuked. He's getting reproved by the lord. He's being openly corrected by god
Uh many of the times but here's the thing is that you know, I look at peter
And I think to myself well, i'm glad he kind of stepped out in faith and said some of those things
You know because it kind of taught us
That it's better to say something be corrected or be wrong and be corrected than to not say anything at all
And look his words are in the bible
You know his statements that he make were in the bible and although he said a lot of dumb things
He said a lot of profound things as well
you know
When he said thou art the christ the son of the living god and he was honored by christ by that revelation
You know to whom shall we go thou has the words of eternal life
We believe in our shirt that thou art the christ the son of the living god powerful in john chapter six
So he not only made he not only jumped the gun and said some pretty
Crazy outlandish things, you know, he said some pretty profound things as well
A lot of things that uh, the apostle peter stated we quote very often. Okay
And I believe that he's actually one of the most favored apostles
And was actually numbered among the top three of the 12. Okay, because we see peter james and john being mentioned obviously
There's 12 disciples and even amongst those 12. I mean above those 12. There's 70 apostles that were sent out
So you got those 70 then you have the 12, but then you have the inner circle known as peter james and john
Okay, and I personally believe that peter was kind of like the leader even of those three
Quite possibly because he was older. He was already married. I believe he had children
I believe a lot of the the the disciples are fairly young
You know early 20s or uh around that age, but the apostle peter might have been older
And it's for that reason that he had a lot of influence over the apostles you say well
How do you know that he had influence or that he was a leader amongst the disciples and the apostles?
Well, if you remember
You know when they go to the garden of gesemite
And jesus tells them hey wait here i'm gonna go pray yonder, you know, and make sure you don't fall asleep. I'm paraphrasing here
They all fall asleep
And jesus comes back. He doesn't rebuke all the disciples. Who does he rebuke peter?
And he tells them couldn't you just stay awake for one hour, you know, he didn't get on everyone else
Who did he get on the leader? Because he was the one who was in charge
and often when peter for example when he
Stated that he was going to go with jesus even into death. We think about that verse right and we're going to cover that tonight
You know that he was willing to just go with jesus even into death. I'll never deny you
People actually often forget that the bible actually says that likewise said all the other disciples, right?
So although that's credited to peter
And peter carries that stigma of putting his foot in his mouth
Actually, all the apostles follow peter's leadership and say yeah us too. We're never going to deny you
But the reason the spotlight is placed on peter in my opinion is because he's a leader. Okay, he he has influence
He's a leader. He's an important person
And obviously the disciples esteemed his leadership to the point where he said well if peter's saying it
We're gonna say it too, you know, if peter's doing it, we're gonna do it. Hey peter's falling asleep
I guess it's okay for us to get some shut eye, too
And then when jesus is like rebuking peter
For falling asleep, you know, i'm sure that woke up the other disciples as well. Okay
And so this evening you can turn off the ac brother brother, uh glenn. I think
I think everyone's freezing in here
Is everyone freezing in here? Can I get a witness?
I'll suffer for you. Okay
So
This evening i'm going to delve into the character
Into his character and some of the famous events that surround him now, obviously, you know
One sermon would not do justice to everything that took place in peter's life
Throughout the gospels and even throughout the book of acts and we obviously know that even
Later on, we see peter doing some pretty dumb things in the book of acts
But what this shows is that the people in the bible are just real people and they have highs they have lows
They have successes they have failures
They they go out of the way they come back into the way and he really is an example of a common believer
Who is not perfect, but he loves the lord. Okay
Now look at john chapter one. We're going to look at his name first and foremost john chapter one verse 42
It says and he brought him to jesus. This is referring to andrew
Bringing his brother peter to jesus and when jesus beheld him he said thou art simon the son of jonah thou shall be called cephas
Which is by interpretation a stone now go to mark chapter three
And then after mark three, we're going to go to matthew 16. So go to mark chapter three
And then we're going to go to matthew 16
So let me read it again in john chapter one. He says thou art simon the son of jonah thou shall be called cephas
Which is by interpretation
A stone now the first thing I want to point out is the fact that throughout the gospels
You often see jesus giving his disciples nicknames
Which I think is pretty cool, okay
You know, I think it's it's a pretty cool thing to do
It shows that he's intimate with his disciples. It shows that he really loves his disciples
And he often gives them a nickname based upon some character trade some you know personality quirk that they may have
And you know, he he does that for them, you know
He gives these nicknames and it's typically tied to a specific characteristic that an individual possesses now look at mark chapter three
in verse 16
He says in simon he's surnamed peter
And james the son of zebedee and john the brother of james. He surnamed them boy energies, which is the sons of thunder
Okay
So he gives peter who is simon
He gives simon. Excuse me the nickname peter or as john chapter one explains it cephas
But then he he gives john and james the number you guys are like the sons of thunder. Okay
Now why did he do that? I don't know. Maybe these guys are just kind of crazy
Maybe they're just loud, okay
They're just loud guys and they're just kind of when they step on the scene. Everyone knows
They're there. You know what I mean? Do we have people like that in our church? I think we do, right?
There's certain people in our church is like, you know that person's here
When they say hey is brother so-and-so here is like come on if i'm messing around, you know
You know if they're here or not, you know if mark's here or not, okay
We just mark and and ray are the sons of thunder
Mark and rare the sons of thunder. Okay bow energies right here, okay
But here's the thing, you know what I like about this is the fact that jesus wasn't like hey
You guys got to like tone it down a little bit
You know, you guys got to be a little more quiet. You guys got to tone it down
You guys got to you know
Be a little more polite. No, he's like, you know, i'm just going to name you the sons of thunder
Because that's who you guys are because he made them that way, right?
Right
So he names them the sons of thunder, but he names simon
peter now
People can often get confused regarding some of these names
And in particular the name of peter can seem a little confusing
In john 1 it says simon the son of jonah
And he calls him cephas in mark in matthew 16 go to matthew 16
It calls him simon bar jonah now bar is simply
Aramaic for son, okay, and in fact in the book of acts you have a false prophet
named simon
Bar jesus, okay, which simply means son of jesus not jesus christ, obviously, it's a different jesus
Uh, and he's literally a different jesus because he's a false prophet, right?
But bar jonah simply means son of jonah, which is exactly how john 1 interprets it. Okay. It just says simon son of jonah
But I want you to notice that in john 1
He says thou should be called cephas, which is by interpretation a stone. So peter is actually the greek rendition
of a stone
Cephas means a stone as well, but it's the aramaic version of a stone
Okay, so you had that's why he says by which is by interpretation a stone
He has to interpret it because it's an aramaic name that simply means stone. All right now look at matthew 16
In verse 16, it says and simon peter answered and said thou art the christ the son of the living god
And jesus answered and said unto him blessed earth
Art thou simon barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee by my father which is in heaven
And I say unto thee that thou are peter
And upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it now
If you've ever gone to an old ifb church
Okay, and you've gotten any preaching from this
They'll often say and this is typically this is the teaching that they give and the reason they do this is because it's like it's like
Um, it's just a knee-jerk reaction to the catholic church claiming that peter is the first pope, right?
Because he's saying upon this rock because peter his name is stone or a rock
He's going to build his church and that's their text verse that they go to to say that he's the first pope
Even though pope is just never mentioned in the bible
Okay
But here's the thing is that peter
Means stone and they'll say well, no, no, that means in the greek if you go back to the greek in matthew 16
You know what? It says his name peter. It actually says little stone. Well, that's false. It just says stone. Amen
It's completely false. It says stone and they'll say and the rock is big stone. No, it's just stone
Okay, you don't have to add anything to the bible to try to justify yourself
Or justify what the word of god says and try to debunk the catholic church just tell them that they're wrong
Just say hey peter's not the pope. Okay. Yeah, it says rock and rock it says stone and stone
But that does not prove anything regarding the papacy. Okay, you know, the pope is still the vicar of hell
It's not it's not a legitimate office in the church
Peter's not the first pope and here's the funny thing is that let's say he was the first pope, you know
When do you ever see peter people kissing his feet?
When do you ever see him receiving worship
And you know dressing like a fag and everything, you know, you never see him doing that in the bible right
Folks it says stone. Okay
Both times it says stone. No
Obviously the the main interpretation the way i've taught it is when it says upon this rock I will build my church
Obviously we understand that the main interpretation of that is that the rock is referring to jesus christ because he is our rock
Okay
But here's the thing it wouldn't even be wrong to say that the that the rock is also referring to believers
Why because we saw later on. I mean we saw in the book of ecclesiastes
We expounded on that how peter which is pretty interesting refers to believers as lively stones
Okay, which are built up a spiritual house. You understand so yeah, it's true upon this rock
I will build my church and that rock is referring to jesus christ
Because you know no foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is jesus christ
So when you build a spiritual house, you gotta make sure you have the right foundation that right foundation is jesus christ
And what does it mean when it when it says we got to build on the right foundation means?
You know in order to do anything significant for eternity, you better make sure that you're actually saved
And you better make sure that your salvation is based upon your faith in christ not based upon your works your obedience
Your repentance of sin or whatever it may be you got to make sure that you're building your house upon the rock
Okay, which is jesus christ, but you know a second interpretation or second layer of that
Is the fact that a local new testament church is built by stones is built by christians is built by
people like peter
Right people who are imperfect people who are stones. They are you know, uh,
They are god's building. Okay. First peter 2 4 says to whom coming as into a lively stone
Disallowed indeed of man, but chosen of god and precious ye also
as lively stones
So he calls jesus christ a lively stone and then he says this but guess what? You're also a lively stone
It's like when you know, the bible calls jesus christ, and what do they call us?
christians, right
He also has lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up sacrifices acceptable to god by jesus christ
Go to ephesians chapter number two ephesians chapter number two if you would and if you think about it, you know
the early new testament church
Was in a sense built by some of these apostles and prophets, right?
In a sense that they were the catalyst of that local new testament church
There are the ones who are preaching the kingdom of god getting people saved bringing people to church
Baptizing them and even those who are already saved they're telling them that that christ is jesus, right?
They are converting them from judaism to christianity teaching them that that jesus is the christ that they've been seeking for
And knowing of look at ephesians chapter 2 verse 18
It says for through him. We both have access by one spirit unto the father
Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of god
And are built upon the foundation. Look what it says of the apostles and prophets
Jesus christ himself being the chief corner stone
In whom all the building fitly framed together growth unto an holy temple in the lord in whom you also are builded together
For a habitation of god through the spirit. So why is it that jesus chose to name peter a stone?
Well, I believe it's because of the fact that he's basically telling them. Hey
Upon people like you
You know, he's not calling it. He's not this is this was not peter's ordination to the papacy. Okay?
This is him telling them like hey, you're peter and we obviously know that peter by interpretation is a stone
And he says upon this rock. I will build my church. What does that mean?
Is that the church is made up of all believers
And believers are known as lively stones, right?
Right
Church is for
believers
That's not to say that unsafe people can't come to our church
But you know what when they come to our church
We make it our priority to give them the gospel and get them saved so they too can become lively stones
Built up a spiritual house, you know, but today you have churches
They want to cater to the unsafe people
And you know what?
Okay, if that's what they want to do if that's what they want if that's their agenda fine
But you know, they come to the church and they still don't give them the gospel
They're come to their little worldly service with purple lights and faggoty music and all these things and they still don't get them saved
You know that local church quote unquote is made up of non-believers
They're made up not of lively stones. They're building their house upon the sand
It's a sand castle
Most of these liberal churches are sand castles. They're not built upon stones
You say how do you know they're sand castles because once the floods come known as hell
They're just going to destroy them and they'll descend into hell. They're not real believers. It's it's a it's a fallacy
It's they're fakes. They're phonies, right? You know, we want to make sure that our church is made up of actual believers
Now obviously we can't look at everyone's heart and know whether they really believe it or not
right, we can't go we don't have some sort of
We don't have goggles to see and pierce through the heart and say okay this person doesn't really believe
They say they believe though and let's just keep working on them
We to the best of our ability discern based upon our presentation
And their receptiveness and their answers to the questions that we give them. Okay, this person's saved, right?
They said what if later on they say they don't believe well, i'm sorry. I mean, we're not psychics here
We don't know the heart of man
We're just going off of what they say
but I guarantee you the vast majority of the people will give the gospel to
And the people that actually call upon the name of the lord. I believe they get saved
And you know what if you give me the right answer i'm just going to believe you obviously
I'm, not going to question your salvation and say well, I mean, did you really mean it though?
I mean, did you really call upon the name of the lord?
Was there some conviction in that?
We're not into that
It's like if that's what you believe that's what you believe and not everyone is going to have the same response when giving the gospel
Some people weep and cry other people are just stone-faced other people just have no emotion whatsoever
But here's the thing we walk by faith and not by sight we don't expect them to have this
Overwhelming joy when they get saved, although that's normal if they do
But guess what? It's also normal if they don't okay
The point is is the fact that a local new testament church is made up of lively stones just like peter
You know what? I'm glad peter exists in the bible
Why because you see all his flaws you see the stupid things that he does
But you also see him doing great works for god, you know what that does it instills hope in us to say well
You know what? I guess we're in good company then
Because peter who was one of the 12 and of the three who jesus nicknamed a stone
You know god did great works with him. God still used him and he was just a normal
Human being go to first corinthians chapter 15 if you would first corinthians chapter 15
And here's the thing about peter before we give him a hard time
Of all the bad things that he did or the stupid things that he said
Let's just be honest. He stuck it out
Right. Yep, at least he stuck it out
Okay
and in fact
the apostle paul
when
Observing peter james and john. What did he say in galatians? He said they seem to be pillars
In other words, these people were around for a really long time
You know what? It says something when you stay in church for a long period of time
It said there's something said of a person a family an individual who's been in church for years and decades
And they're just sticking it out. They're just there they're faithfully serving the lord
Even if they're not doing some great exploit what you consider to be a great exploit
Or what people would consider to be a great exploit, you know, they're faithful. Okay, and look you look at peter
Yeah, he had some mistakes, but you know what? I guarantee he stayed faithful until the end
Amen
and in fact
Think about a stone
And that's what god wants of us to be stones. What do stones do? They just don't move. Yeah
They're just there unless you go to death valley and you have the sailing stones
I mean you guys ever seen heard the same stones. It's these it's this phenomenon of these stones in death valley
Did you guys see this the sailing stones?
You went all the way to death valley. You didn't see the sailing stones
You might have passed it. They might have sailed
So
That ship had sailed, huh?
There's these sailing stones and it's just a phenomenon where you see a stone and it has like a track
That it has left for miles and miles and miles. It's a pretty neat phenomenon that's in death valley
We're not talking about those stones. Okay
The stone that the bible talks about is those who say I shall not be moved
Okay, and that's what god wants of us. He doesn't expect us to be some great stone
He doesn't expect for us to be chiseled and just be
Like a sculpture and just look perfect. You don't expect for us to do just not to move
Look what the bible says in first corinthians 15 58 therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast
Unmovable
Always abounding in the work of the lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord
You know what if you're not gifted if you're not the most talented, you know, one thing you can do is just be unmovable. Amen
Just stay in the bible
Stay in church. Just faithfully go soul-winning just faithfully lead your family. Just faithfully be a christian be steadfast
Unmovable and always abounding in the work of the lord. That's what god wants
He wants peters
He wants he wants peters. He wants stones that would just remain unmovable no matter what happens
Okay, and you know what the same can't be said of everyone
This cannot be said of everyone because sometimes tribulation comes that people get offended and they fall away because of it
Persecution arises because of the word and by and by they are offended they fall by the wayside
They are moved by those afflictions. Whereas we want to be christians that are not. Okay, we want to stick it out and look
Maybe you might have a relapse in faith
right
Like like peter
Or he went even as far as to deny the lord
Three times
He denied the lord, he was backslidden and he got right with god and guess what he did after he got right with god
He went fishing
Like what in the world
I thought you got right with god that you're just gonna go and then he takes other people with him
He's like behold I go fishing and they're like we go with him
He's like fishing I mean this is after the resurrection after he has seen the lord the resurrected christ
It's like dude, what are you doing? You saw that he's resurrected
Get to work and he's just like fishing
And then jesus shows up on the shore and he's like, it's the lord and he gird up his fisher's coat for he was naked
By the way, it shows you the you know, the further you get away from god the less clothes you wear. Okay, right
But then you know what he goes back into peter mode
He just jumps in the water
Isn't that what he did before? He just jumped in the water
And john's over here like rowing back and he's like rowing god gave me rowers and he's like
And he goes back to the lord and then he gets restored
And then he just preaches to three thousand and five thousand and he does great works for god
And that's kind of how the christian life is sometimes
You backslide
And then you kind of get away from god and he's like I want to get my heart right you get your heart
Right, but you're still kind of straddling the fence a little bit and you need god to kind of give you that talk
Love us down me more than these peter
Lord, that knows that I love me
And so, you know, what can we what can we take from the life of peter? Well, first of all his name
Means a stone and god wants us to be stones stones that are
Unmovable are you in matthew 16?
Where are you guys? Oh first going to go back to matthew 16
Now let's look at his introduction let's look at when he's first introduced
Within the ministry of jesus christ
And a good question to ask is like when did peter get saved?
You know because people will look at matthew 16 and say well, this is when peter got saved
And you can see why people would think that look what matthew 16 verse 14 says
And they said some say that thou art john the baptist some elias others jeremias are one of the prophets
He saith unto them, but whom say he that I am
You know, there's a lot of it. There's 12 disciples at least and no one just pipes up
Because no one wants to give the wrong answer
You're in that situation
Or it's just like no one wants to say because they don't want to say the wrong answer because they might get called out or something
Well, peter's just like i'll say it
Simon peter answered and said thou art the christ the son of living god
Jesus answered and said to him blessed art thou
Simon barjona for flesh and blood blood hath not revealed this unto thee but my father which is in heaven
so
Some people would say that this is actually where peter got saved now, I don't believe that okay
The reason for this because the ministry of jesus christ has already started. He's already recruited his disciples
They're there already. This isn't necessarily a record of him getting saved but rather peter testifying of the truth
That's like if I were to ask you today, who's the son of god?
You're like, well, it's jesus. Jesus is the christ. He's the son of the living god. I wouldn't say oh, that's oh you just got saved
Right
Oh great. You just gotta say hey john just got saved folks
Time to get baptized or something, you know
He just he just witnessing to the truth. He's he's testifying of the truth
okay
and
You know people often mistakenly believe that a lot of these disciples they didn't get saved until jesus came
But here's the thing folks the reason they think that is because dipsticks also known as dispensationalists
Have taught that there's a different salvation between old and new testament, right?
So they'll say well these guys just got saved because jesus just came folks people believed in jesus prior to jesus coming to this world
There's plenty of people who were saved prior to him being born in bethlehem's manger
Plenty of people who were saved and here's the thing, you know, john the baptist
Who was jesus christ's forerunner was preaching the kingdom of god before jesus came on the scene, right?
And he was coming to prepare the way of the lord
And you know what his disciples john the baptist disciples ended up becoming followers of the lord
Okay, and I believe a lot of those people were safe
He said well, how do you know that? Well go to act chapter 19 if you would act chapter 19
Acts chapter 19
After acts 19, we'll go back to john chapter one look at acts 19 in verse number one
It says and it came to pass while apollo's was at cornth
Paul having passed through the upper coast came to ephesus and finding certain disciples
He said unto them have you received the holy ghost since he believed?
And they said to him we have not so much as heard whether there be any holy ghosts
so paul is coming and he's just like kind of checking up on the churches and
The question that he's asking is have you been filled with the spirit?
since he believed
Okay, he's not asking him like are you guys saved?
He's just saying like have you been filled with the spirit and they're like holy ghost who
What's that
And he's like, whoa, we got bigger issues then
The issue is not that you've been whether you've been filled with the spirit or not
You don't even know who the spirit is. And if you don't even know who the spirit is, you're probably not even saved
Okay
And he said unto them unto what then?
Were you baptized and they said unto john's baptism?
So these people were there during john's baptism, right?
Then said paul john verily baptized with the baptism of repentance
Saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on christ. Jesus. So
john's message
Was for people to believe on the christ, which is the person who's going to come after him his cousin known as jesus
Okay, so look if he's preaching that we know the gospel is the power of god into salvation
That means a ton of people were saved, right?
That means he had a bunch of people saved people who were fallen were saved and you know
It was one of those people who got saved andrew simon peter's brother
And look folks whether andrew got saved under the ministry of john the baptist or not
I guarantee you andrew and peter grew up in a home where the gospel was being preached
I guarantee a lot of these people grew up in homes where the bible was being preached
People were prophesying of the christ that should come and they believed on him
Go back to go to john chapter one
So
Andrew was a devout follower of
john the baptist
And look at john chapter 1 verse 35
It says again the next day after john stood and two of his disciples and looking upon jesus as he walked
He saith behold the lamb of god and the two disciples heard him speak and they followed jesus
So they're listening to john's preaching they're hearing about the christ and then jesus shows up and he says look
The lamb of god is right there the one i've been telling you about
And you know what they do they stop following john the baptist and they start following
jesus, okay
Then jesus verse 38 turn and saw them following and sent him to them
What seek ye they sent him to him rabbi, which is which is to say being interpreted master where dwellest thou
He saith unto him come and see they came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day for it was about the
10th hour and of course later on we see that andrew brings his brother
Peter to the lord now, I don't think this is basically saying that like he went to go get him saved
Because he says we have found the messiahs
He's not saying believe in the messiahs. He's not saying believe in the christ. He just said we found him
He's like we found him the one that we they've been preaching about go see the messiah go see the christ
Okay
Now what's the principle that we can learn there?
Well, you know what? It's important to get people saved
Absolutely, that's the most important one
But you know, it's also important to go get people who are already saved
Right
It's important to reach people who are not saved
Give them the gospel, but you know, it's also important to get those who are already saved
And help perfect the way of the lord help them to perfect the ways of god
Okay, give them understanding because after salvation they need to grow in the knowledge of god's word
And maybe they're going to some lame church, right? Maybe they're going to some sandcastle church
Right not learning anything and I do anything. They're sincere people
You know what? The church sucks sometimes
Now i'm not saying that's every church
Okay, because I know there's great churches out there even though people don't agree with what I would consider to be a great church
I'm sure there's great churches out there, but there's some churches out there that are just dead as last year's christmas tree
It's going nowhere
Okay
It's dead
It's not going anywhere. You know, they have a name that they're living but they're actually dead
They maybe the pastor has been involved in heresy or false doctrine because he's not teaching himself
He's not learning from god's word and people go to that church and they just begin to die spiritually
And you know what they need to do relocate to first works baptist church
Relocate to sher foundation baptist church. Amen
Relocate to faithful word or very baptist church go to these churches and go become like peter
And show them like let me show you where the truth is
Let me show you where the preaching of god's word is. Amen
And so we see and you're doing this and look this is great because
This is what we should be doing bringing our family to church
Think of daniel daniel, you know and daniel findeth his brother
And bringeth him unto first works
Right, that's what happened today
But you know, there's tons of people here who can testify to that. They brought their family to church
Maybe they weren't saved they got saved or they're already saved
But they brought them to the church in order to help them to grow in
The lord and so go to matthew chapter four
matthew chapter number four
Actually, i'm sorry go to luke chapter five skip matthew four. I'll read matthew four for you
So we see his introduction is basically andrew introducing
peter to jesus christ
and right off the bat jesus says
You're a stone
That's my that's my new name for you. Okay
Now here's the thing is that
After peter meets jesus, he's still not really that committed
Now that's boggling to us. Is it not because you would think like whoa, he's there
like let's
forsake everything right
Forsake everything forget everything but does peter do that. No
And who knows what his reaction is. He's like wow, this is great. All right, I gotta go fishing now
Because that's what he does he goes fishing
Now you're in luke i'm going to read to you from matthew four verse 17
It says from that time jesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand
And jesus walking by the sea of galilee saw two brethren simon called peter and andrew his brother
Casting a net into the sea for they were fishers
And he saved them to them follow me and I will make you fishers of men and they straightway left their nets and followed
Him so what do we see we see that obviously this is after andrew introduced jesus to peter
okay
and
We see here that jesus comes to them and says hey you need to just follow me
I'm going to make you fishers of men stop fishing for you know, salmon or whatever trout or whatever is there
And you need to start getting on the real program and start winning fishing men
Fishing souls. This is your purpose in life. Okay
Now this is an expanded version of this story in luke chapter five look at verse number one
Gives a little more detail says and it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of god
He stood by the lake of genesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake
But the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets and he entered into one of the ships
Which was simon's and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land
And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship
And when he had left speaking he said into simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a drought for a drought
And simon answering said to him master. We have told all the night
And i've taken nothing nevertheless at thy word. I will let down the net and when they had we had excuse me
And when they had this done they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break
And they beckoned them to their partners which were in the other ship that they should come and help them
And they came and filled both ships so that they began to sink when peter when simon peter saw it
He fell down on jesus knees saying depart from me for i'm a sinful man. Oh lord
For he was astonished at all that were with him at the drought of the fishes which they had taken
And so was also james and john the son of sons of zebedee which were partners with simon
And jesus said unto simon fear not from henceforth thou shall catch men
That's pretty amazing story, okay, and it really
encapsulates
What god wants to do with an individual because you know we as individuals we have like a little vision
For us it's like well, we're just trying to fish here and you know what jesus does
He just comes and says we'll just go let's go out into the deep
Let's go where no man has gone before
You know when we get saved that's where god wants to take us
He wants us to be trailblazers. He wants us to get out of our comfort zone
And for peter was this, you know, let me take you out of your comfort zone
And you're going to catch so many fish that your net's going to break
You're going to need your friends to help you to pick up all these fish and put them in the boat
And the the symbolism there is the amount of fishes the amount of souls that he was going to win to the lord
And he says look
You can either waste your time doing
these minuscule things okay
or
You can start fishing for men and you're going to capture so many souls. It's like your net's going to break
You know, it's like the chill the the the the building is going to blow up or something
You're just bursting out the seams
You're just going to have to move to something you're going to have to ask your friends to come and help
And and and you know to create more space to get all these fishes in the boat
That's what he's saying
And he's just like yeah, but we've toiled all the night
master
He's like nevertheless at thy word so we see that he has some faith
He's like at thy word i'll do it and then he did and he's just like i'm a sinful man depart for me
And he's just like hey, don't worry, you know from henceforth. This is how you're going to get men saved
Like all these nets are just going to be filled
Think about that think about the lord coming to you and saying you see all these amount of fishes that you're capturing
That's how many souls you're going to win
throughout your lifetime
Now I don't believe this is saying quit your day job
And just be just go so many all the time unless you're going to full-time christian service someone's hiring you
But obviously this is a special calling for peter
right
Because he's a catalyst of the new testament church
That's starting here and he's just basically casting a vision to peter
saying look
You're going to be a fisher of men you're going to get a lot of people saved and wouldn't you say that's exactly what happened
In the book of acts he got three thousand people saved five thousand people saved
I'm sure there's other thousands of people that got saved that the bible doesn't record
He captured
with his spiritual net
All types of souls, okay
But what does this show us this shows us that sometimes, you know when people get saved
They don't immediately just start serving the lord
And we shouldn't have this expectation that they should just immediately jump into the boat. I would definitely recommend it
And when I first got saved, that's what I did as soon as I got saved
I went sewing the very next week
You know, I heard about summer saturation
And I I went I was just like I heard you guys teach people how to preach the gospel
I want to learn my father-in-law took me out for weeks and he taught me how to go sewing
And I jumped in right away. But you know, that's not always the case with everyone
sometimes people come
They get saved and they're just kind of whatever
They're still fishing
You know what I mean and still fishing can mean they're still kind of like in the world
You're still kind of just kind of doing their thing. They don't really have god's agenda on their radar
They're just kind of doing their thing, but that's okay because peter was the same way
And sometimes it requires for them to have
This this meeting with the lord where it's just like oh
God can use me so much more
There's so much more purpose to life than what i'm doing
You understand?
And so be patient with people
you know
Not everyone here is going to be at your level of spirituality
Okay, not everyone here is going to be at your level winning as many souls as you do as committed as you are
And that's okay because we need to give people time. Jesus gave peter time very good
You know what I mean? He like he met him and he still went to go do his thing
And then he told him he was like follow me and i'm going to make you fishers of men
And then at that point he just forsook everything and just left and went with the lord, okay
Which is great go to matthew 14
Okay
Now again peter catches a lot of uh of of slack for the things that he did but he think about this though
Okay
Think about this
There's only two people
In the history of mankind
Who have ever walked on water?
And peter's one of them
And the other one was the lord
No one else
So he's got one on you
So anytime you criticize peter and i'll be yeah, but did you have you ever walked on water?
Yeah, but he sunk. Yeah, but you can't even dip both feet into the water without sinking right? He at least got out of the boat
Pretty amazing if you think about it
Yeah, he didn't move mountains
He didn't you know do some some crazy feet with his face
But you know what he did is that he actually walked on water for a little bit
Yeah, he saw the wind boisterous and became afraid and began to sink and the lord had to rescue him
But here's the thing. He still walked on water
At least for a little bit
Says a lot about peter. Yeah
Look at matthew 14 verse 25 in the fourth watch of the night. Jesus went into them walking on the sea
I love that
So let me just show him something new
Just walk on the sea
And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled saying it is a spirit
And they cried out for fear a straight way. Jesus spake it to them saying be of good cheer at his eye be not afraid
And peter answered him and said lord if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water
I mean this guy's creative
He didn't say lord if it is thee just you know, you know, send down lightning or you know
Do some miraculous thing. He says if it's you call me into the water so I can come in with you
What does that what does that show faith?
He literally stepped out in faith, right
And I love this attitude if it be thou bid me come unto thee
Oh, he's being a little presumptuous there. I think peter's just proud
I think he's just being proud. He's just trying to be overly spiritual
Well, look at verse 29 and he said come
Jesus is like right come on over. I think jesus likes when people are like this
Because it shows they have faith he that cometh to god
Must believe that he is and he's a reward of them to diligently seek him
He wanted and look none of the other and even when he stepped on the water
I mean you would think like john or james or someone else as soon as he stepped on. I was like, all right
He did it. Let's go. No one still wanted to step into the water
They're probably thinking well, that's peter. Peter does crazy stuff like this all the time
So
And when peter was come down out of the ship he walked on the water to go to jesus
When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried saying lord save me
now here we see
Not only
His faith but even his humanity
Because although he had a lot of faith and he's just like
He like every other human being
Can become afraid when the winds are boisterous
And they can start sinking a little bit
It's at that point. And by the way, I mean he still had faith just not to walk on water
Where was his faith placed in after that lord saved me
So he just forsook walking on water he's like i'm just forget this i'm not gonna do this
I just need you to save me lord, but you know what you still gotta commend peter because he still has faith in the lord
Yeah
And that's the same way that I think god wants us to be that
God wants us to have faith that we can be used in a great way
But even if we fail we have faith that god can save us
Right save us from a trial save us from a difficulty
Restore us like peter put his faith in the lord whether to do a great exploit or to be saved from you know
his lack of faith
So
And immediately jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him old thou of little faith
Wherefore didst thou doubt and when they were coming to the ship the wind ceased now think about this. He says you have little faith
Little faith, so it only takes like a little faith to walk on water
So it shows that
You know, it doesn't take much to do something great for god. It doesn't take much faith to do something great for god, right?
But we see his faith being exercised now we often hear this phrase, you know walking on water and often we we uh attached
Or that that's a description to say, you know be perfect or something like that
But really walking on water just shows that you just have faith
You know what every once in a while we need to step out of the boat, too
And just try to walk on water
Step out of the bow and and attempt to win souls to christ step out of the bow and and go
Contrary to what this world is teaching step out of the bow and just step out in faith and say
You know what if the lord bids me come if he's commanding in the bible i'm just gonna go
And you what if you sink then i'll just ask him to save me
What if he fell then i'll just reach out and just ask him to help me
Because i'm just gonna try it
because look
If he didn't do this, you know what he'd be doing for the rest of eternity regretting that he didn't try it
Like I wish I would have just tried it
But you know what I guarantee he's in heaven like yep, that was me
It feels a little squishy, you know
You're just getting like a waterbed kind of thing with no, you know, it's kind of cool, you know
What did that feel like he's the only one that knows
No one else knows because he stepped out in faith to do it
It's amazing
Go to matthew 16
So
He was a man of faith, but you know what he was also a man of pride
Peter had a lot of pride. Okay, which I would say most individuals have a lot of pride
Not me i'm humble. Well, there you go point proven
Peter was prideful
And it could be he was prideful because you know, he was just confident in his abilities. He was a leader
You know, um, you know, he's he's numbered among the three
I mean the lord valued the apostle peter, but you know, he was prideful look at matthew 16
Verse 21 says from that time forth began jesus to show unto his disciples
How that he must go into jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and raised again
the third day
Now jesus is telling them this not so we can get any questions or comments
Any modifications to that?
You think I need to change anything about that?
He's just telling him what's going to happen
22 then peter took him and began to rebuke him
Saying be afar from the lord. This shall not be unto thee
Peter shut up
This is not we're not taking recommendations here, okay
Peter rebuked the lord
I mean he's lucky the lord just didn't zap him into like
Atoms right then and there just obliterate him
Okay
But he turned and said unto peter get thee behind me satan
Now peter's the only one that jesus said that to
Which shows that he's pretty close to peter
because you know what i've noticed is like
The lord strongly rebukes those who he's really close to
Because peter wasn't necessarily offended
You know, I mean i'm sure he was like rebuked. He was like, oh man
But he's just like he's not saying like the lord doesn't love him anymore
Get them behind me saving thou art an offense unto me
But thou saviors not the things that be of god
But those that be of men then said jesus unto his disciples if any man will come after me
Let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me now. I don't think jesus was saying that peter was actually possessed by satan
I think he's saying you're being influenced by satan
And he follows up in verse 24 by saying look if you're going to come after me you're going to have to deny yourself
Deny your ability deny your own intelligence deny your own talents and you need to deny yourself
Take up your cross and just follow me. Just trust me
Okay
Go to matthew 26
matthew chapter 26
But you know what peter is just stubborn
And so he's still kind of like be it far from thee
Even to the point where he tells the lord like hey though if you die i'm gonna die with you
And then jesus basically tells him like hey before the cock crows you're gonna deny him
Verse 33 says peter answered and said to him matthew 26 verse 33
Though all men shall be offended because of thee
Yeah, well, I never be offended
pretty prideful, right
Hey all these guys right here. They're all gonna they're all gonna deny you
Not me though
I'm the stone remember
I'm never man, that's strong language. I will never be offended
Jesus said into him verily I say unto thee
That this night before the cock crow
Thou shall deny me thrice
He's like before the cock crows you're gonna see that you're a chicken
Peter said into him though. I should die with thee
Yet will I not deny thee likewise look what it says also said all the disciples
So he just completely just completely ignores what jesus just said
And just said look
Even if I were to die with you
I'm, not going to deny you
What is that called pride?
Right
Now look within the heart of every individual. I think there's a desire to never do this to the lord, right?
Yeah, right
and within every one of us there's there's this thing where it's just like
I don't think I would ever deny the lord
And then we correct ourselves and say well, I hope I would never deny the lord
right
Because we don't want to deny god, but we also understand that the bible tells us
You know he that standeth take heed lest he fall
Okay
Now go to go with me if you would to uh luke 22 luke chapter 22
So
And it looks like peter's pretty confident in himself
He's like i'm look these guys are going to deny you
Yeah, I know you said that smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered
I know you said that this is going to happen to you
I know you said that i'm going to deny you but i'm just telling you
Though all deny thee I won't i'll die before I deny you now. I honestly think that he believed that
And you know what sometimes I believe the same thing
So
When you go into persecution, it's just like
I plan to just die before I ever deny the lord
I plan to just
They're gonna have to attach a bomb to my chest and blow me up before I ever and I truly believe that but you know
It's got to be a balanced view to say but I know there's a possibility that I can't because of the fact that i'm flesh
My flesh is corrupt. So lord deliver me from temptation
Leave me not as in temptation, but deliver me from evil
Help me never to be put in a situation where I could potentially deny you, okay
Look at luke 22 verse 49
Here's the thing though with peter. He was about it
Peter was about it
What I mean?
When he when jesus said get a sword, he's like, all right
And look what it says in verse 49 when they which were about him saw what would follow they said unto him lord
Shall we smite with the sword?
Notice that jesus didn't answer
Verse 50 and one of them smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear
so they're like
Should we smite and peter's like?
He's like why ask
So what are you doing asking bro just do it
Now I don't believe that peter was trying to cut off his ear
Because that takes precision if you're to do that like hey man, so when those guys come
Like what are you gonna go for?
I'm gonna slice off his ear
Why he goes to show him how how precise I can get
Yeah, he was going for the head
He was trying to cut the guy's head off. So how do you know because if he's swinging and the guy's ducking
It's like slice
Peter was about it
The guy's crazy
While the other guys are saying should we do it peter's like i'm doing it
Just part of me that likes this though
I think this is just something within every single one of us that likes this and admires peter for this
Because it first of all makes for a great story
And then two is just like man, I want this is the kind of guy I want to be around
51 says and jesus answered and said suffer ye thus far either. All right, that's enough
And here's another thing I love about this is jesus attitude towards peter
He's not like, you know
He's like you're done take a seat. He's just like, all right, that's enough peter. That's enough
And he touched his ear
And healed him
So he cuts off his ear
his ear somewhere
And he restores his ear, okay
This is obviously referring to malkus
and in matthew 26
It says put up again thy sword into this place for all they take the sword shall perish with the sword
Thinkest thou that I cannot pray now to my father and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels
But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be because like do you really think that I like need your help?
I have like 12 legions of angels that could just obliterate everyone here
I can obliterate everyone here, you know, jesus could do that if he wanted to
But the question is why did he heal?
the guys here
Well think about this
You know, I in my opinion
I think he healed his ear because he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith into the churches
right
It is a matter of you know, peter cut off the guy's ear
And obviously jesus knows the hearts of men. He knew that maybe this guy was receptive. Yeah
And so he restored his ear to kind of restore his reputation because peter blemished that reputation
You understand?
You know the wrath of man
Worketh not the righteousness of god the bible says
Okay
And yeah, he told him to get a sword
He said sell your coat and buy two swords
But you know just like with every follower what you do what you say in moderation. They'll do an excess
They're like i'm gonna get a sword and i'm gonna cut someone's head off. Oh, you said I could get a sword
Okay. Now i'm just gonna dismember anybody who tries to mess with us then, right?
And so, you know, obviously the scripture had to be fulfilled and therefore he told him like don't do that and
What he's teaching peter is like hey, we're in a spiritual battle
Right now you're in the highways and byways and you have some coyote run up to you slice that thing up if it's messing with
you
Cut that thing up if he's trying to hinder you from preaching the gospel
Preaching the gospel and someone's getting robbed or something and they try to pull out a sword
Then you gotta you gotta cap them with the sword. Okay, then you gotta do what you gotta do
But this particular situation he's just like let me restore his ear
So that he could be receptive towards the gospel again
Okay, I believe that that was the case there
And so it shows that peter sometimes can mix in the spiritual battle with the physical battle
And I think a lot of us here we have a lot of peters in our church
Right
And we got to be careful guys, you know what I mean? Because there's a lot of red warm-blooded men in our church
Who will slice off a guy's ear off in a second?
Have no problem with that
I was going to say something but I don't want to incriminate anybody on camera because we're on live stream right now
Just see me afterwards and you'll get the rest of it
But you know, I like it though
I'd rather have people men in our church where you kind of have to pull back the reins
Than to have some limp-wristed donkey that you have to kick to go do something
It's like
Can you just buy a gun can you own a gun don't think don't don't have this
Democrat view of guns and stuff like it's okay to have a gun, you know, we don't have people like that in our church
You know, we let's just put it this way we have to tell the people in our church to put up that sword into that
sheet
I'll just stop right there
Go to john 21
So we see that sometimes peter mixed in the spiritual battle with the physical battle
But that's okay because jesus was always there to restore the ear
restore the reputation
restore the message
And still use peter in a great way, but I guarantee you malkus will never forget peter
You'll never forget him if malkus saw him again, he's probably like
It's like this it's like this hey, hey
Holyfield will never forget tyson
Right, was it holyfield it was holyfield, right?
He will never forget tyson
Tyson is always will be forever embedded in holyfield's memory as being the guy who bit off his ear
And they're friends now or whatever, but I guarantee you he'll never forget him
And you know what? I guarantee you malkus never forgot peter
And I guarantee you there's always just a little fear
When he was around peter
Like, you know, he sees peter pick up a sword. He's like
vietnam, you know flashbacks and everything
Look at john 21, so this is after the resurrection. Jesus christ is already resurrected
Peter has denied the lord
And one thing we see about peter is that when he denied the lord
I mean he wept bitterly
The bible tells us that he wept bitterly and I think he wept bitterly because he really genuinely loved the lord
He loved the lord and he was so disappointed in himself that he just like disappointed god
you know
And so he kind of like went hard into the world
And for him the world was just like not serving god and going fishing
Okay, even to the point that when jesus resurrected think about this
jesus went to the disciples or went to mary and said
Tell the disciples and peter, right?
Now isn't peter a disciple
But I guarantee you peter was feeling so down and he's like well i'm not even a disciple anymore
I'm not even gonna consider myself a disciple
Like he's just kind of like i'm just a fisher now
So god knew his mind. He's probably thinking like well go tell the disciples and go tell peter as well
That i've resurrected, okay
He goes and he tells him he goes to the tomb. He sees that he's not there and he's just like rejoicing
But then he goes fishing anyways
Look at chapter 21 verse 1
We're going to look at his hesitancy since after these things jesus showed himself against the disciples at the sea of tiberius
And on this why showed he himself
There were together simon peter and thomas called didymus and nathaniel of cana of galilee
And the sons of sebety the two other of his disciples
Simon peter saith unto him I go of fishing
They said unto him we also go with thee they went forth
And entered into a ship immediately and that night they caught nothing
Now what's the principle there, you know when you backslide and you go back into the world, you know what you're gonna catch nothing
Well, i'm just gonna get out of church and just go work and make millions you're gonna make nothing you will catch nothing
Why because without christ you can't do nothing
But when the morning was now come jesus stood on the shore but the disciples knew not that it was jesus
Then jesus saith unto them children have ye any meat they answered him no
Well, that's a short answer
Have any meat no
He said he said unto them cast the net on the right side of the ship and he shall find
They cast therefore and now they were not able to draw for the multitude of the fishes
Therefore that disciple whom jesus loved sent him to peter. It is the lord
Now when simon peter heard that it was the lord he girded his fisher's coat unto him for he was naked
And did cast himself into the sea so we see that
It's weird, you know, he resurrects and he's still hesitant to serve god
And it could be that his hesitancy comes from like what if I deny him again or something, you know, what if I fail him again?
But I want you to notice what jesus does because doesn't this sound familiar?
Isn't this what he did in the beginning when he met peter?
He's basically reminding him. Hey, you can still come back you can still catch fish I haven't left
And
Here's the wonderful thing about peter and the lord
It's showing us that when we fail god
Sometimes we can get this misconception like oh man god's just really mad at me right now
I can't go back to church or I can't
Go sowing again. I'm so embarrassed. I'm so ashamed
And jesus is just like casting them
You can still come back
The mercies of the lord are new every day
Good
You can still come back
And if you're breathing
You're still living
You're still here
You still have a second chance to get right?
And god comes back and he says cast your net
And he's very just like hey, have you caught anything?
He's like no
All right, it's time to get back to work then
He's basically reminding them what of what he's supposed to be doing
Okay
And then of course at the end he gives him his commission
He says love is down me more than these thou knowest lord that I love thee
Now this story and I won't we won't read all the verses for the sake of time
Is showing us that
Though peter loved the lord
Sometimes his love could was just misplaced
And though he thought he loved the lord
Sometimes his affections were set on the things of this earth and not on the things above where christ sitteth on the right hand of god
And that's why he had to tell him like love is down me more than these so that I love you
He's just like well feed my sheep. That's peter
Feed my sheep. Peter is actually a pretty amazing character in the bible
and
I think it's it's his it's his humanity
That makes him so amazing
Okay, because we can relate to a lot of what peter what happens to peter's life
You know and and we see that his relationship with the lord
Is very profound. It's a very deep relationship. He obviously loves the lord, even though he's just an imperfect man
And it shows us that you know what guys it's okay to be imperfect
It's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to not have your ducks in order
God used peter who is the same exact way
And he used them greatly. Amen inspire heads and have a word of prayer father. We thank you so much for your word
Thank you for the apostle peter
And it's it's so amazing that this man was here 2 000 years ago yet
He exerts a lot of the same qualities that even we see today
Whether I see in myself
and my failures and the areas of my life that I struggle in or even
That I see in others lord
And he's a great example of of the humanity of someone who just loves the lord
And just remains in the ways of god and just continues to try to do right no matter what it takes
And we're so thankful for his example lord. Thank you for using him
And and lord, we're so thankful that your mercies are new every day that when we get away we strain
We follow a far off as peter did
Uh, you're always on the seashore waiting for us to come back. We love you lord, and we thank you
Pray these things in jesus name. Amen