Heroes of Faith – Peter

The Apostle Peter intrigues me because of his extremes. He is definitely a leader among the disciples but he also has times when he strikes out in spectacular fashion. When I think of him as a Hero of Faith, I think about how he lived his faith in the book of Acts rather than the sins he committed in the four gospels. As I focus on Peter, I will point out a few of those extreme highs and lows. We can learn from both his successes and his failures.

It is easy to focus Peter’s failures because they are so well known. When we think about the 12 disciples, Peter stands out because he was the one that was always bold enough to speak his mind or jump to action. There was the time when Jesus was teaching his disciples and he asked them who he was. Peter was bold to confess the truth. He stated, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15). That was a definite success for Peter.

But shortly after that confession, Jesus told them that he was going to have to suffer and die for the sins of the world. Then Peter jumped in and said, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:22). Jesus was upset by this opposition to the plan of salvation. Peter didn’t yet understand the true purpose of the Messiah. Jesus rebuked him harshly by saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:23).

Another failure comes up when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter wanted to show that he was bold to follow Jesus. He didn’t understand that Jesus wouldn’t want to fight back when they came to arrest him. Peter jumped in to defend Jesus. Peter pulled out a sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Jesus again rebuked him and told him to put his sword away. Jesus then healed the man’s ear and Peter fled with the other disciples.

Many Online Phramacies have become very sophisticated in terms of providing great product at low prices with exceptional customer service — most of them above the age of 50 reported their inability to gulp down the pill and were deprived of the treatment. levitra samples In fact, in its home country Brazil it’s even regarded as a Healthful Alternative to cialis viagra on line . The ultimate goal of the forgiveness process is the same for the branded slovak-republic.org generic cialis online. The levitra prices stimulation has to be external. That happened shortly before Peter’s biggest sin. Jesus had even warned him about it. Jesus had told Peter that he was going to deny Jesus. When Peter went to the temple court to see what was going on with Jesus, he was confronted by people who had seen him with Jesus. It happened three times and each time, Peter denied knowing Jesus. He denied being one of the disciples. He called down curses on himself to try to emphasize his point. He probably did this out of fear that he would be arrested like Jesus. After the third time, Jesus was being led through the courtyard and he looked right at Peter. Peter felt his guilt and he ran away. He felt so terrible that he wept bitterly.

Peter’s biggest successes came later. After the resurrection, Jesus reminded Peter that his sins are forgiven. On the day of Pentecost, along with the other disciples, Peter received a special gift of the Holy Spirit. That was a time when Peter’s courage to speak was a good thing. He stood up as a representative of the disciples and gave a sermon spelling out the truth of the gospel. He told the crowd that Jesus was the Savior. After the preaching of that message, 3000 people were baptized into the Cristian faith.

Peter is a good example of faith for us because of those ups and downs. We see how he was bold to speak his faith even though he made mistakes along the way. We see that he was racked with guilt by some of his sins but he also saw the message of forgiveness trough Jesus. God used Peter to accomplish great things. Peter shared his faith with many and many people came to faith. May God bless us with a bold faith so that we can share our faith. We will make mistakes. We will fall into sin. Then we return to the cross for strength and we share the message again.

My superhero for Peter is another Peter. I think Peter is like Spider-Man (Peter Parker). My reason for this is more than just sharing a first name. My connection is because of the connection of failures and successes. Just like Peter, Spider-Man has big successes and big failures. Because of some of his mistakes, Spider-Man’s loved ones have paid the price. People close to Spider-Man have died and Spider-Man struggles with the guilt of those mistakes. In spite of his mistakes, Spider-Man has found the strength to overcome adversity and win the big victories. While Peter wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider on Pentecost, he did receive a special gift of the Holy Spirit and he was strengthened to speak the truth. The Apostle Peter is Spider-Man.