Could you take two minutes and share your views on these two questions? Your responses will help me determine how helpful this email is.
1. What is your overall impression of this email?
2. In what ways does this email help you?
WATCHING AND OBSERVING
The power of observation is often under rated. Studies show that experiential learning has some of the greatest retention rates known in the teaching field. Jesus used both verbal sharing and by example to teach. Along with the apostles and people who followed Jesus, Peter had a front row seat to watching the ministry of Jesus in action.
We read the evidences of that ministry in the writings of Peter. His two books are full of how Jesus lived His life. One theme is serving and respecting others. In 1 Peter 2:13-18 and 3:1-12, Peter discusses how Christians should treat others and serve one another.
Submitting to authority, Peter could remember the time Jesus and the apostles were to pay the temple tax (Matthew
Peter exclaimed in 1 Peter 2:16 to live as servants of God. How often did Jesus show the attitude and example of a servant. We can quickly remember Jesus washing the feet of the apostles at the Last Supper, which was normally reserved as a duty for the slave of the household to accomplish. With no obvious slaves around, the apostles had forgotten to follow the cultural norm to wash the feet of each who entered a house. So Jesus took the opportunity to be a slave and perform the humbling feat.
If this were the only time He served those around Him, the point would have been made from what He shared about those who wanted to lead, that they were to serve (Luke
Peter saw the respect Jesus showed people who were down cast. Jesus did not avoid the lepers as He took the time to heal them. To sinners like the adulterous women who entered His world, Jesus showed love and compassion to them. He let these sinners take His time and He ministered to them, often with these sinners leaving their time with Jesus with clean hearts. Luke 7 recounts the story of the sinful woman who with her tears washed Jesus’ feet. The Pharisee thought how would a man like Jesus allow a “sinner” to touch Him? To Jesus, the “sinner” was a person who needed respect and forgiveness.
Peter shares in 1 Peter 3 how husbands and wives should treat each other. Jesus taught on the subject of divorce in Matthew 19, revealing how harsh some husbands were. If the disciples of Jesus would be known by their love for one another (John
If Jesus never spoke a word of how His disciples should live and act toward others, His message would have been just as clear. Peter saw the love Jesus had for people. He never discriminated nor judged. He dealt firmly with the religious leaders but it was their attitudes that turned themselves away from Jesus, not the other way around.
The words Peter wrote in his writing were a description of how Jesus lived His life. Observing Jesus gave Peter the insight of how to instruct people to live. That is a great challenge for us who aspire to be spiritual leaders. Can we say to the people we are leading, “Follow me and you will be living the way Jesus lived His life”?
ILLUSTRATION
The Bottle
A small bottle containing urine sat upon the desk of Sir William Osler, the eminent professor of medicine at
He then dipped a finger into the fluid and brought it into his mouth. He continued speaking, “Now I am going to pass the bottle around. Each of you please do exactly as I did. Perhaps we can learn the importance of this technique and diagnose the case.”
The bottle made its way from row to row, each student gingerly poking his finger in and bravely sampling the contents with a frown. Dr. Osler then retrieved the bottle an startled his students by saying, “Gentlemen, now you will understand what I mean when I speak about details. Had you been observant, you would have seen that I put my index finger in the bottle but my middle finger into my mouth.”
YOUTH MINISTRY INSIGHT
Was it hard for Peter to get out of the boat when he saw Jesus walking on the water (Matthew
It is safe to say that Peter did not spend much time thinking about getting out. He quickly did it and without wearing a life preserver. Remember it was a rought ride across the lake. When on a rough boat ride, I want to be sitting down, making sure my body is tight to the seat. Not Peter, for in a quick move after finding out it was Jesus walking on the water, he was walking on water, heading for Jesus.
Notice that the other apostles were much more sane and did not follow Peter. Instead they stayed in the boat, where it was secure. That is where you would have found me.
Out on the
Jesus questioned why Peter doubted Him. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, Peter was walking on water. Jesus knew Peter had faith in Him (otherwise he would not have jumped out of the boat) but to keep focused when things are rough is hard. To keep being faithful, living in such a way that brings God honor, is not easy. Trusting Jesus with the little things in life is easy compared to the big, longer lasting decisions we face.
Jesus did say to be faithful, obedient in the little things. Then being faithful in the big things of life will be somewhat easier (Luke
Are there decisions in your life right now that require a fair amount of faith, trusting Jesus for wisdom, direction or insight? He is faithful. By asking Jesus for wisdom and understanding of what to do, He will give you the wisdom you need. We need more people like Peter who had enough courageous faith to get out of the boat. Then the next step is to keep your focus on Jesus especially when rough times, like the waves, splash against you and doubts and circumstances challenge that initial step of faith.
SCRIPTURE-BASED PRAYERS
To Have Your People Pray For You and Other Pastors
- Keep my pastor in the midst of good and exciting worship. Keep my pastor from the traditions of men and religion which hold the form of godliness, but deny its power (2 Tim. 3:5). Give ______ a vision of heaven (Is. 6, Rev. 4).
- With my shield of faith I cover my shepherd’s mind to quench all flaming darts of doubt or vain imagination or mental distractions (Eph.
QUOTES ON FAITH
“There is no record that God asked Abram to confess his sin! As later, Jesus never asked Peter to confess his sin. Jesus asked Peter to confess his love for Him, for if he loved his Lord, all else would be right. So God waited to see what Abram would do next. To return and worship Him, and call on His name, would indicate Abram’s heart was still trusting God. When a child of God sins, what he does next will reveal his heart-relationship with God.” Charles Swindoll
“Faith is the heroic effort of your life. You fling yourself in reckless confidence on God. God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us, now He wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him…The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering.” Oswald Chambers
“The great battle of our spiritual lives is ‘Will you believe?’ It is not ‘Will you try harder?’ or ‘Can you make yourself worthy?’ It is squarely a matter of believing that God does what only he can do. That is what God honors. He treasures those who respond and open their hearts to him. He’s looking for faith so strong that it will anchor on his Word and wait for him, the one who makes everything beautiful in its time.” Jim Cymbala
“I need to do the possible, then God will do the impossible.” John Maxwell
