April 11, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Thursday, April 11.
This Sunday morning, I'll be teaching the broadcast Sunday School lesson here at First Baptist Center. Our focus passage will be the second chapter of the book of I Peter. The Bible is full of stories of ordinary people being transformed by the power of God and going on to do amazing things. But, perhaps, the person who went through the greatest transformation was Peter.
Besides writing the books of I and II Peter, we get glimpses of him in the four gospels and in Acts. We also encounter Peter from time to time in the letters of Paul. We learn that Peter was a fisherman from Galilee, where Jesus began His ministry. And when Jesus encountered Peter, known as Simon at that time, He gave him a new name - Cephas. This is an Aramaic name which is often translated "rock". Typically, we see this as a symbol of Jesus seeing Peter as the "rock" of the new church. But Cephas can also mean "rough" or "tough", and this certainly describes Peter as well.
Peter was a spokesman for the Twelve, but he often seemed to speak, and act, before thinking. And then there were those moments when he spoke truth, when he spoke with a wisdom that belied his rough background. We remember particularly the time when Jesus asked his disciples "Who do men say that I am?", and Peter stood and proclaimed, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!". That was a shining moment for Peter. But there were dark moments still to come, like when he denied he even knew Jesus.
Peter went on to be the leader of the church in Jerusalem, the first Christian church. His sermon on Pentecost Sunday brought 3000 new believers into that group. He served as a traveling missionary, taking the gospel into the world, and around 60 AD, he was in Rome. That was when he wrote I and II Peter, and that was the time of the Roman emperor Nero, who ushered in a new and savage era of persecution of Christians. Peter was caught up in that, and tradition tells us that he was crucified in Rome. It is said that he was thankful to have the opportunity to give his life in the same manner as his Lord.
Peter, the uneducated, rough, brash fisherman from Galilee, became, along with Paul, a central figure of the New Testament, of the early church. There is no earthly explanation for this level of transformation. It was a God thing. Only God could have given the old fisherman these words -
"You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." I Peter 2:9
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
