Jona Lawson - Class 6: Grow in Grace

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Well, good evening again and welcome to our last study together and particular thanks to many of you for hanging in there. It's been an interesting week, hasn't it? Like as we've grappled with this new week unfolding and I'm thankful that some of you have been able to continue to come and I hope that you've been able to take some of the lessons from this man's life as we conclude it here this evening.

2. 0:34

   Now, we left our study this afternoon with Peter ready to lead, didn't we? Jesus had worked through him, with him for that three and a half years from when he'd met him and Peter had gone through all those different lessons and some of those lessons were highs and some of those lessons were lows.

3. 0:57

   But through that process, the Lord, of course, knew what he was doing and he was working with Peter that whole time to bring him to the moment that he now brought him to and that was that he was ready to take on this enormous job. And he would not be there with him.

4. 1:17

   He would need to take that job on himself. And Peter, more than all the disciples, would be the one that would shoulder the responsibility initially to be the leader of them all. And the Lord knew that that would be the case. And Peter, in John chapter 21, where we left him in our last study, the Lord speaks to Peter about the gravity of his service, of what was ahead for him.

5. 1:47

   And he says to him in verse 18, after he'd spoken to him and prepared him, he spoke to him in verse 18 about the big job that he had ahead. He says, And in that verse, Jesus was giving a prophecy to this man about what the road ahead would be like for him.

6. 2:23

   And the first thing Peter would realise would be that the road would not be short. Jesus says that when you were young, you used to go here and there and do as you pleased. But when you are old, you will not get that luxury. And so Peter's life from this point on would not be short.

7. 2:44

   Jesus tasked him with the long responsibility of establishing that early ecclesia. And then at the end of that verse, he talks about what ultimately would be his end. And he said that his arms would be stretched out.

8. 3:03

   And verse 19 goes on to tell us that what he was talking about was symbolically, he was talking about the stretching out of his arms and how he would die. And he would die. He would sacrifice his life as he always promised he wanted to. And the Lord promised him or prophesied to him that that would be how his end would come.

9. 3:30

   And that would have been heard by Peter with mixed reaction, wouldn't it? In some ways, I'm sure if the Lord told you that or he told me that, there'd be something inside of you that would think, I'm so glad that I will be with the Lord to the end. And Peter so much wanted that, didn't he?

10. 3:52

    He wanted to be with the Lord to the end. And so he would. But there'd also be a burden of carrying that, knowing that for the rest of his long life, he would suffer in the same way that his Lord would. And in many ways, that was similar to his Lord, wasn't it?

11. 4:14

    And he would come to experience and understand probably more fully than many, many other people have. The gravity of that weight of carrying that burden that would be ahead for him. And Peter immediately in verse 20, he thinks about what's ahead for him. And he turns in verse 20 and he says to, he says verse 20, then Peter turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved, who's John.

12. 4:44

    And he often calls himself that in the record, which also leaned on the breast of him at supper. And he said, Lord, what about this man? So you've told me that my lot is that I'm going to be crucified or die in your service. What's ahead for this man? And Jesus tells Peter in verse 21, And Peter, seeing him, saith to the Lord, sorry, this is what Peter says, Lord, and what shall this man do?

13. 5:15

    And Peter, Jesus answered Peter in verse 22. And Jesus said unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? So he was saying, look, it's not for you to know, Peter, what is ahead for John? Because your road is going to be different. And he says to Peter, you follow me.

14. 5:41

    I want you to follow me, Peter. And I don't want you to be hung up with comparing yourself to this person's walk or that person's walk or another person's walk. Because we're not all Peters. And we're not all Johns. And all disciples are different. And all disciples will have unique and special roles to play.

15. 6:05

    And Peter had some unique talents, didn't he? Some unique abilities that Jesus wanted of him. He was a bold man, wasn't he? And he had the ability to speak. And he loved to lead people. He loved to be the first one to put up his hand and answer the question. And Jesus loved all those qualities about Peter.

16. 6:28

    And Jesus was not trying to, over the course of the three years that he worked with Peter, he was not trying to change Peter and remove out of him all of those qualities which he loved and needed. But what he was trying to get Peter to see was that those qualities were from God.

17. 6:51

    They were God-given qualities. And when Peter could understand that, then he would be able to use them more powerfully in the service of God. And you know what? Peter understood that point. Later on in 1 Peter 4, verse 10 to 11, he says, As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good steward of God's varied grace.

18. 7:15

    It's not our gifts. It's God's. Whoever speaks as one who speaks the oracles of God. Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. In order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. And Peter came to understood that and to see the strengths and talents that God had given him were unique.

19. 7:43

    And that he needed to use them in the service of his God. And God has created us all unique, hasn't he? He's created individual talents in all of us. And like Peter, he says to all of us, Don't get distracted by looking over your shoulder at this person or that person and thinking, If only I was like them.

20. 8:06

    Or if only I was like him. Or if only I was like her. And I had those talents and I would have those abilities and could do this and that. Don't be distracted by that. Because God has made you who you are. And by sculpting you and crafting you and developing your character, he's not trying to remove you from you.

21. 8:27

    He's trying to get you to realise where those talents came from. And he wants you to use those God-given talents in any way possible that you can use them. And that's true of all of us, isn't it? That's true of our young people. And that's true of those who are older. We all have important roles to play.

22. 8:50

    And Peter had a really important role that he needed to play. And amazingly, Peter was ready to take up that role. And he takes up that role quickly, doesn't he? It's an amazing lesson to see the recovery of Peter. Sometimes if we go through a bad period in our life, we feel that it'll take years and a long period of time to recover from that.

23. 9:17

    Well, Peter takes just 50 days. And the process of recovery that that man goes through is he's ready in Acts 1 to take up his role. And look what he starts by doing in Acts 1 and verse 15.

24. 9:36

    It says, And that's what Christ had wanted him to do, hadn't he? The first thing that Jesus said was what I needed you to do, Peter, was I need you to stand up and strengthen your brothers. And you need to be the one to unite this group of disciples who are all disbanded and run here, there and everywhere because they all forsook their Lord.

25. 10:04

    But Peter stands up and he unites this group of just 120 people in this upper room there. And it's that group of people that are going to go on to turn the world upside down. And Peter does that over the course of the next 40 or so years. We see here a timeline of the life of Peter from the Acts of the Apostles until his death.

26. 10:31

    And we can see here in around the year AD 33, Jesus died and Peter took on the mantle of the leader of that particular group. And there's many, many things that Peter went on to do. And what we find Peter here in the Acts of the Apostles is we find Peter no longer Peter the disciple.

27. 10:56

    But we find Peter the apostle. The apostle Peter. And you remember what that word meant? Well, that word meant a representative. And Paul, I mean, sorry, Peter would be Christ's representative now in the Acts of the Apostles. He would be Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews and to all the people that he encountered.

28. 11:21

    And that's what Jesus was preparing him to be. He was preparing him to be Christ when he could no longer be there. And he was going to take up the work in which Christ had started. And he started that in Acts chapter 1. And we just want to, just for our final session, just take a few snapshots of some of the things which Peter did.

29. 11:45

    And what we'll see is that Peter learnt the lessons from his discipleship. And he then puts them into practice as Christ in the world in a beautiful way. And the first one is in Acts chapter 2, when that man stands up in front of all those people. He stands up in verse 14 of Acts chapter 2.

30. 12:07

    But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, you men of Judea and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken to my words. It's amazing, isn't it, that this is the same man that just 50 days earlier had betrayed his master.

31. 12:24

    And now he stands up in front of all these people, thousands and thousands of people on the day of Pentecost. And he gives this message to the Jewish people. And he says unto them, listen. And wasn't that the first lesson that he learnt from the Lord? Paul, Simon, the first thing that you need to do to come to me is listen.

32. 12:48

    And that's the first thing he said to his fellow brothers and sisters, his family of the Jewish nation, as he looked down upon them. He said, listen to my words. And go through the same process that I've gone through in my discipleship over the last three years. And what was the thing? What was the keys?

33. 13:08

    We know that from our earlier study that Peter had the keys to unlock for these people who Christ was in their life. What was it that was going to open it up for them? Well, it was the same thing for him that he struggled to understand. He'd always seen the Messiah as this amazing Messiah who would march into the world and take hold of Jerusalem and get rid of the Romans.

34. 13:36

    He didn't understand that Christ must first come and suffer. He didn't understand that his Lord first would be crucified. And Peter opens up that understanding to the Jews in verse 23. He said, And he outlined everything to do with the Christ and what the scriptures in the Old Testament said about him. And the people were amazed at what Peter said.

35. 14:10

    And just like him, it all clicked in their minds. And they realised that Jesus was the Christ. And you know, it's interesting. They go through the same process that Peter went through when he was called, when he was fished by the Lord. And see, now he's a fisherman, isn't he? And the Lord had said, You're going to be a fisher of men.

36. 14:33

    And I'm going to give you all the tools that you need to have to draw men unto you. And that's exactly what Peter did on that day. He cast out the net. He threw out the net, just like the Lord had thrown out the line and the net to him. And drew him in.

37. 14:51

    And they were brought in in the same way. Verse 37 says that their hearts were pricked. And that's what happened to Peter, didn't it? When he saw in Luke chapter 5, the power that Jesus had, he ran to the Lord. And he said, I'm a sinful man. And then they received the word.

38. 15:14

    And Peter received the word too. In Luke chapter 5. And then they go and sell all their possessions. And they give themselves to God. And that's exactly what Peter did in Luke chapter 5, wasn't it? In his calling. He forsook all. And followed Christ. And finally, verse 46 says, they gave themselves with singleness of heart.

39. 15:45

    And we saw how Peter, in his calling, prioritised eventually the calling of Christ above all else in his life. Then a few days later, in Acts chapter 3, Peter comes across a man who couldn't walk. But he wanted to walk. Or he wanted assistance. To walk by faith. And Peter had learnt about walking by faith, hadn't he?

40. 16:16

    And I'm sure as he encountered this man and saw the need of this man to walk by faith, he thought back to his own journey of faith. And he thought back to that day when he was on the boat with Jesus. When Jesus that day amazingly had healed, had fed 5,000 men. And then that group of disciples were on the boat with Christ, without Christ by themselves.

41. 16:41

    And Christ came to him on the water. And Peter leapt out of the boat to demonstrate his faith, to grow his faith in Christ. And what did he learn that day? He learnt the important lesson of never taking his eyes off Christ. To realise that if I concentrate upon that man and I believe what he can do,

42. 17:11

    then the impossible can happen. And so he grew his faith on that. And Peter, I think, thought about that when he approached this lame man who couldn't walk. And look what he says to him in verse 4. And Peter, sorry, verse 3. And seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked alms of them.

43. 17:38

    And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, look on us. You need to fasten your eyes upon us and you need to believe. And then all things are possible. I can't give you silver and gold. But what I can give you is much greater than that if you focus upon the power which we have, which is in Jesus Christ.

44. 18:04

    And so that man fastened his eyes upon Peter and John. And Peter, in verse 7, took him by the right hand and he stretched forth his hand, just like Jesus did to him when he was on that boat. And he reached down and pulled that man up and he began to walk for the very first time in his life.

45. 18:23

    And the crowd was astonished and filled with wonder and astonishment, exactly the same wonder and astonishment that the other disciples had when they looked upon what Peter did. And they started to understand how amazing the Lord was. And that's what the crowd did that day. And that day, chapter 4, verse 4, says that there were about 5,000 men on that day who came to understand and believe and be baptised.

46. 19:02

    And then we fast forward another seven years and we come to Acts chapter 10. And here we have one of the great moments of purpose in Peter's life.

47. 19:20

    And Acts chapter 9 and verse 43, we find Peter in Joppa. And it came to pass that as he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon Atana,

48. 19:38

    there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band of the Italian band. So Peter finds himself in Joppa. And what do we think of when we think of Joppa? We always think of one man, don't we? We think of Jonah. And see, there was a connection between Jonah and between Peter.

49. 20:00

    Three times Peter is called Simon, the son of Jonah. And here is Simon, the son of Jonah, and he finds himself in Joppa. And what was the connection between Jonah and between Peter? Well, both of these men, both Jonah and Peter, were commissioned to go to preach to the Gentiles. And this is one of the great roles that Jesus had for Peter to play.

50. 20:26

    But Jonah didn't agree with that role, did he? And when it came to going to the Gentiles, Jonah went to Joppa and he got on a ship and he went as far as he could, the opposite direction. And now it's Peter's turn. And he gets a message from a man who lived in Caesarea.

51. 20:47

    And Peter remembers what happened to him in Caesarea. It wasn't the same Caesarea, but it had the same name. And he remembered what happened to him in Caesarea. See, Caesarea was that moment where Jesus said, thou art Peter. And because you've come to understand the gospel message, you've understood that God is the one and living God.

52. 21:11

    And you've understood that Jesus is his son. You understand the gospels. And Jesus said, I'm going to give to you the keys. And these keys are precious. And I need you, Peter. I'm going to entrust these keys to you. And I want you to take that understanding and to unlock that understanding to both the Jews and both to the Gentiles.

53. 21:36

    Was Peter going to fulfill his commission? Well, these three men are sent from Caesarea and they come all the way to Joppa. And look what it says in verse 17. Now, while Peter doubted in himself what that vision was, which had seen, which was the sheet with the animals in it, what it should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius made inquiry for Simon's house and he stood before them and they stood before him at the gate.

54. 22:12

    So three men from Caesarea come to Peter and they stand at his gate. And they're waiting for him, aren't they? To see if he's going to unlock the keys. To see whether he is Simon, still the son of Jonah or whether he now is, as Jesus wanted him to be, Simon, whose surname was Peter.

55. 22:40

    And three times in that record, in that chapter, it's worth colouring it in, it says Simon, whose surname was Peter. And Peter came to fulfil what Jesus wanted him to do. And he taught the gospel message to Cornelius and his family. And look what it says in verse 42 and verse 43.

56. 23:06

    And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. And to him, give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. And with those words, Peter took the keys which Jesus had given him.

57. 23:35

    And for the first time, he unlocked the message of the gospel to the Gentiles. And if he'd never done that, we would never be sitting here today. But that man fulfilled his role of what the Lord had him to do. And then the final glimpse we get of Peter is just a few years later in Acts chapter 12, which was our reading that we had tonight.

58. 24:04

    And this is the last picture we get of him in the record of the Acts. And verse 2 says that Herod killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And that was the first disciple out of all of the 12 disciples that was killed.

59. 24:37

    And that would have rocked the ecclesia, wouldn't it? When James probably was beheaded by Herod. And then as a result of that, verse 3 says, and because he saw it, it pleased, because he saw it please the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. And what time was it? Well, then were the days of unleavened bread.

60. 25:07

    And what happened on the day of unleavened bread for Peter? Well, about 10 years earlier, he would never ever forget that night, would he? When on the days of unleavened bread, on the feast of Passover, he denied his Lord. And you know, when we make mistakes in life and when we get things wrong, we'd love to go back, wouldn't we, to be able to redo that night.

61. 25:37

    We're to redo the events of what happened. And what's beautiful about this chapter is that that's exactly what God lets him do. And when the days of unleavened bread came, they went and they arrested Peter. And why did they want to arrest him? Look what it goes on to say. It says, and when he had appeared, sorry, when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and he delivered him to the four courtinels of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter, to bring him out before the people.

62. 26:08

    And isn't that exactly what they did to Christ? And you see, now Peter's Christ. He's living Christ. And they're intending to bring him out. They brought the Lord out. And what did they want? They wanted his blood. And that's what they were going to do to Peter. And Peter is arrested with the intent of that.

63. 26:30

    And he's put in prison. And he'd said to the Lord, hadn't he? Lord, I'm ready. I'm ready to go with you to prison and to death. And he wasn't ready. But 10 years later, he's ready.

64. 26:48

    He's ready to go to prison for his Lord. And that's what happens. And what does he do in prison in verse 6? And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound two chains, and the keepers of the door kept the prison. So Peter, just like Jesus, is between two men.

65. 27:16

    And he's bound, hand and feet, with two chains in the prison. And did you notice what it says about what Peter was doing? He was sleeping.

66. 27:35

    You remember last time in the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, what Peter was doing during that process? Well, he was fearful, wasn't he? He was scared and he forsook his Lord.

67. 27:52

    But now he's in prison and he knows the very next day he's going to go before the people and it probably means death. And what's he doing? He's sleeping like a baby.

68. 28:04

    Because this man now understands the power of God. He understands the Lord is right by his side and he doesn't have to worry. And he's completely confident in everything the Lord is doing.

69. 28:22

    He sleeps in the prison. And then what happened in verse 7? Well, an angel comes, doesn't it? And there's light shining just like with the Lord. When the Lord came, when the angel came and light shone and they pushed back and rolled away the stone. So Peter symbolically raises from the dead also.

70. 28:48

    Symbolic of his resurrection. And where does he go after he's taken out of prison? Well, verse 12 says, and when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. That was the upper room. And Peter goes to the upper room.

71. 29:16

    And 10 years earlier, he'd been in the upper room, hadn't he? When all the events of that night happened, he'd been in that upper room. And he'd been waiting for that knock at the door. When Mary came early that first day of the week to tell them what had happened to the Lord and what happened when they came and the women said, this is what we've seen.

72. 29:41

    Most of the disciples said, we don't believe you. And now Peter's at the door, verse 13, and Peter knocked at the door of the gate and a damsel came to the door and Peter says, it's me. And when Rhoda saw that it was Peter, she ran with joy into the house to tell all the other disciples of what had happened and they didn't believe.

73. 30:06

    I just think that's awesome. He's on the other side of the door now. You see, he's living the Christ story now. He's Christ. And he brings this news to the brothers and sisters. And finally, after knocking and knocking and knocking, they opened the door to him in verse 17. He, like the Lord almost, comes in and beckoning unto them with his hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of prison.

74. 30:39

    And he said, go, show these things unto James and unto the brethren. You see how different this man is now? You see how he's living now, Christ, in his life? And it says there in verse 24, and the word of God continued to multiply and to grow.

75. 31:04

    And Peter had brought that growth through his guidance through this early part of the ecclesia. And then all of a sudden, he disappears. He's gone from the record. And apart from a tiny little cameo where he's called Simeon in Acts chapter 15, he's not recorded in Acts anymore.

76. 31:33

    He's played this enormous role, didn't he, in the first part of the story of Acts. He is the man. He's preaching, he's teaching, he's healing.

77. 31:45

    And then all of a sudden, the record of his life closes. And it disappears. Why is that the case? Why do we hear no more about Peter?

78. 32:01

    Well, you see, he'd played his role, hadn't he? He'd played his role. He's the role. He's the role. And Peter then takes his keys and he hands those keys to Paul. And Paul took those keys and he continued to deliver that message. And he took that message to Asia Minor and he took that message over to Rome and he took that message early into parts of Spain and then Paul was gone as well, wasn't he?

79. 32:32

    and he passed those keys to Timothy and Timothy held onto those keys and he used those keys in Asia Minor and he helped the growth of the ecclesia and then it was time for Timothy to go and Timothy handed the keys to the seven ecclesias of Revelation chapter 2 and 3 and the ecclesias of Revelation chapter 2 and 3 continued to spread the message, to use the keys, to open the door and then they passed the message to the ecclesias in the first century and they had a tough time because as they continued to pass the keys along it became more difficult because truth was compromised and it became harder for them to teach the truth, the simplicity of the truth message that they'd got from Peter but they passed the keys along through the 200s and the 300s and the 400s and eventually the keys were passed to the Middle Ages and what was it like for our brothers and sisters in the Middle Ages?

80. 33:37

    Well they suffered, didn't they, persecution and you can read about their stories in books like the protesters where brothers and sisters had to gather in boats or they had to hide from the authorities just to have the keys and pass the keys on but they did, they passed the keys on. They recognised the importance of the truth and they kept passing it on and kept passing it on and as a result of the persecution they got spread, they got scattered and it was God's intention and they got scattered further west, they went over to England and they went over to America and they kept pushing further west, teaching with the keys the whole time and eventually those keys went across seas, miles and miles and miles across seas and people kept opening the door and using that message and eventually centuries and centuries later the keys came here and people kept using those keys, they kept passing on the message and it got passed on didn't it in the 1800s to Australia and people kept passing on those keys and talking about the message of God and preaching and teaching and right through the early 1900s when the world was wracked with World War I and World War II and people in the world didn't know what was going on, people were passing on the keys, the keys to the kingdom of God and it gave people clarity and it gave people purpose and when Israel established themselves in the land people could understand the prophecies of God and people kept passing on the keys and they kept passing on the keys and now the

81. 35:27

    keys are here and they've gone on that journey all the way haven't they, from Peter through the ages, the keys to the kingdom of God, the gospel and now they're handed to us and what are we going to do with them?

82. 35:51

    Are you going to take the keys? Are you going to use your set of keys to unlock for future generations? Or are you going to drop the keys?

83. 36:07

    The Lord wants us to take those keys, doesn't he? And he's got work for us to do. He wants us like Peter to cast nets, to throw our nets out into the world and does the world need nets? Does the world need this message more than ever before? Yes it does and who's going to take it to them if we don't?

84. 36:32

    The Lord wants us to stretch out our hand, to reach out to people, to show compassion like he did, to show compassion like Peter did. He wants us to take on that role. He wants us to unlock gates. He wants us to stand against opposition. He wants us to stand for truth above all else and shout to the rooftops that Jesus is Lord.

85. 37:05

    And he wants us to be shepherds. He wants us to look after the flock. He wants us to guide it. He wants us to direct it. He wants us to care for it. He wants us to see the little sheep that might go astray and bring it back home. And you know what?

86. 37:30

    That's where we find Peter in our last look of him, in the letters, when he's an old man. And when you read those letters, Peter's first and second letters, he's a beautiful man. He's a man who's been changed by all the events of his life.

87. 37:57

    He's a humble man. A man who fiercely loves the brotherhood. Who loves his brothers and sisters. Who loves the truth of the gospel and wants to see it be preached and preached and preached.

88. 38:17

    A man waiting for the kingdom of God. Just turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. Someone wisely put these up there for me. Whoever did that, that's awesome. What an awesome chairman. If that was him. Sorry, 2 Peter chapter 2.

89. 38:54

    Sorry, 2 Peter chapter 1. Peter was thinking about the kingdom. The years about AD 68. And he knows that his end is near. But he knows what's ahead of him.

90. 39:22

    And he completely trusts that that's what the Lord is going to give to him. And he says in verse 14, knowing that shortly I must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me.

91. 39:44

    Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able to, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. You know, history tells us that Peter in AD 68,

92. 40:25

    whilst living in Rome and looking after the ecclesia there, was taken along with his wife and he was crucified. He followed his Lord. faithful.

93. 40:42

    He was faithful to the end. And you know, Peter gives one last piece of advice before he goes. And we find that in 1 Peter chapter 5.

94. 41:02

    He says, but the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory, by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, and establish and strengthen and settle you.

95. 41:25

    See, Peter, at the end of his life, reflected and looked back on all the things that had happened in his life. And you know what he saw?

96. 41:38

    He saw the God of all grace, grace, and that word grace means loving kindness. It means favour. And Peter 12 times uses that in his letters.

97. 41:55

    And as Peter looked back on the events of his life and all the things that had happened to him, he saw that none of that was done by chance, but he saw that all of it was directed and watched over and guided and cared for as he made his way from Simon to Peter and God had watched and formed him all the way and Peter says, I recommend that for you.

98. 42:33

    I recommend that you go through that same process. And we've been trying to look at that over the course of the last week. And these are some of the things that I hope we've learned. first we've got to come to seek and then to follow and then to prioritise. And then we've got to grow like Peter grew.

99. 43:03

    And we learned that how you grow is by learning about God's word and throwing yourself into that word. And then we saw that you've got to be involved. If you want to learn about God, you need to be involved. And there will be testing as well.

100. 43:20

     And then we learned how to hold fast against the opposition which will inevitably come and against time. And we don't know how long that we've got. The Lord may be here soon or maybe he's a long way off. And we need to endure against time. We need to learn the lessons of humility and compassion.

101. 43:44

     We need to learn the lessons of the wonder of forgiveness and of love. And finally we need to put all those lessons into us and become Christ to our community and to teach them as Peter taught his ecclesia.

102. 44:07

     And we'll just finish with one final verse, the last verse that Peter ever wrote. In 2 Peter chapter 3 verse but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Amen.