Pastor John,
This morning’s meeting was so good for me. It’s no small thing to be apart of such righteous work. I want to do my part. Your message today was especially good for me as I have so many family and friends who rest confidence in “church”, believing it was ordained through Peter and therefore of God. So, I have summarized your lesson today so that I can forward it to family and friends. Please read it and make corrections where need be. This truth is too precious not be said correctly and, of course, told by someone who is not right with God.
Thanks and looking forward to seeing you next weekend God willing.
MD
Dear ,
Prior to reading this please read Matthew 16:18 and Acts Chapter 10 through 11:18.
I learned from Pastor John today why Jesus said Peter was to be the rock, the rock upon which God will build up His people (Jesus never used the word church, but ecclesia, “called out people, or assembly”). Firstly, know that the Greek word “rock” sounds similar to the word “Peter” and that literally speaking, we should not look much into his title “the rock”. What is important to draw from this is the steadfast determination not to budge that is attributed to a person when called a rock. Peter in that regard lived up to that name during his ministry especially as he stood in front of the apostles in Jerusalem the day he defended God’s pouring out of His Spirit at Cornelius’ house, an event until then no Jew would believe true.
When the Lord spoke to Peter in a vision while in Joppa, Peter thought he was being put to the test. Peter, determined to pass this test, defiantly said “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”. Three times Peter declined to eat of the animals that descended from heaven until God declared “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” When Peter awoke, he rightly followed the will of God, despite the traditions and customs that separated the uncircumcised and the circumcised nations.
It was no small thing when Peter spoke “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him”. For until then, any Jew could not be faulted for believing to enter the kingdom of God was first to be a circumcised Jew. After all, Jesus himself instructed his apostles to only go to the houses of Israel to heal and preach “the Kingdom of heaven was at hand” (Matthew 10;5). However, what occurred in Caesarea was remarkable and certainly unimaginable in the minds of early saints. For Gentiles to receive the Holy Spirit without circumcision, much less prior to John’s water baptism, was simply without precedent or doctrine. Paul’s revelation, or doctrine, which specifically defined God’s kingdom to include Jew and Gentile had not yet be revealed. Therefore, Peter was working without understanding, he was in uncharted waters and without Paul’s doctrine, who could blame him for trying to impress only what he knew at the time to do, grant them John’s water baptism.
When Peter returned to Jerusalem and news of this trip was made known, Peter was not met with praise and joy from his brethren but rather “contention”. “You went into uncircumcised men and ate with them!” was their reaction. However, thankfully, Peter boldly recounted how the love of Jesus poured out his Spirit on those Gentiles just as it happen to them on Pentecost. For Peter, it didn’t matter that they had not been water baptized or circumcised for he remembered the word’s of Jesus, “John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; 11:16). Peter’s defense for what he saw both in his vision and in Caesarea depicted the last of the three keys God gave him to open up His kingdom. The first two being the Jews the day of Pentecost (Acts 2: 14) and to the Samaritans after they had believed (Acts 8:15). Peter’s instrumental role in ushering in the Holy Spirit to all those who repent and believe, despite the contention and religious traditions that made it hard for others to see, make him the rock that Jesus will build up his Kingdom.
But the early saints would continue to find it hard to believe what God revealed through Peter to be true. Judaizers as they are called would impress upon uncircumcised but Spirit filled saints that they had to be circumcised and follow the laws and traditions of their Jewish counterparts. Therefore, Jesus needed another man, but not just any man, but arguably Judaism’s most popular zealot, Saul. For only Paul with his personal testimony and revelation straight from Jesus could declare “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness EVERYONE who believes.”
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Dear MD:
Your summary of the message could not have been explained any better. Well done! The actual video of the sermon is now on line and can be seen at http://www.pastorjohnshouse.com/video/whoweare.html
Pastor John