A Pebble, a Boulder & a Solid Foundation - Part A

Our Lord Jesus taught the importance of building our lives on solid foundation. He talked about two men who built homes in Matthew chapter 7. One built on the sand, Jesus said, and the other built on the rock. Both looked good.

They both had great curb appeal. The difference was what's underneath the foundation. And Jesus put it this way, the rains descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall.

That was the house that didn't have a foundation as opposed to the one that did have a foundation. If you want to maintain your spiritual health, it's important to be rooted in God's Word. Connect with Skip Heitig today as he kicks off a series called Rock Solid and shares how you can build a spiritual foundation that can't be shaken. But before we begin, we want to let you know about a resource that shows you how you can live in the peace of Jesus and free from your worries.

So how is your stress level on a scale of 1 to 10? Stress as a thief, a robber of peace and joy. Here's Skip Heitig with a pointed observation. If you don't live with an anchor of faith, you're going to drift in a sea of anxiety. And most people in the world, they don't have anything to anchor.

They have no real grand scheme or purpose in life. We want to help you live with an anchor of faith so you can learn to lean into God in times of anxiety by sending you three powerful resources. Skip Heitig's new booklet, Overcoming an Anxious Mind. His teaching, Worship in the Uncertainty on CD. Plus, The War is Over Worship CD. This bundle is our thanks when you give $35 or more today to help expand the Bible teaching outreach of Skip Heitig. Jesus as Savior brings peace with God, but Jesus as Lord brings the peace of God. Call now to request these three encouraging resources when you give. 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay, we'll be in 1 Peter chapter 1 for today's study.

So let's join Skip Heitig. My dad was a builder in Southern California and he would tell you that a building is only as good as the foundations. And when he would build homes for people, he would give them options.

You can have this kind of carpet or this kind of tile or these kind of doors or those kind of lights or this kind of sink. But never on the list of options was a foundation optional. Here's the house with the foundation and it'll cost you this much with and without. Foundation was never optional.

It is the most important part of a building. Our Lord Jesus taught the importance of building our lives on solid foundation. He talked about two men who built homes in Matthew chapter 7. One built on the sand, Jesus said, and the other built on the rock. Both looked good. They both had great curb appeal. The difference was what's underneath the foundation.

And Jesus put it this way. The rains descended. The floods came. The winds blew and beat on that house and it fell. And great was its fall.

That was the house that didn't have a foundation as opposed to the one that did have a foundation. We begin, we launch into a study on 1 and 2 Peter today. We call it rock solid. It was written by a man whose name means rock. Peter. Simon Peter aka Rocky.

Let's call him. Jesus gave him that name as we'll see. He was one of the earliest followers of Jesus. To sum up Peter's life, Peter was a pebble who put his trust in a boulder and taught others how to build on a solid foundation. I've always felt it beneficial that whenever you study the life of Christ, you should study also the life of a follower of Christ because you ought to know how a person did it. Paul said, follow me as I follow the Lord. I think it's helpful to look at the lives of men such as Peter to find out what to do and what not to do.

And so we're going to examine his background and his calling and the changes that took place in his life. So with your Bible open, let's look at 1 Peter chapter 1 and let's take today all of verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

To the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Using that verse, I want to look at with you who he was, what he became, and what he wrote. Who was he? Well, his name is given as ancient letters always gave the first name, Peter. Now that was not his original name.

Do you remember his original name? Simon was his birth name, Simon. 50 times the four gospels refer to him as Simon. Interestingly, the name Simon means one who hears, which I always thought was an odd name for him because yeah, he heard everything Jesus said, but he didn't always listen to it as we have noted several times. But that's who he was.

That was his original name, Simon. Most people know of Peter inaccurately, incorrectly. For some, Peter has become more than really what he should become.

He's become the first pope. For most people, Peter is simply the victim of bad jokes. All of the stupid lame jokes about two guys who died and went to heaven and there was Peter at the gate telling him this or telling him that. Let's look at the real Peter. Let's meet Peter.

Who was he? First of all, Peter was a fisherman. He was born in a town called Bethsaida on the lake side of Galilee and he moved later to Capernaum where Jesus was. As a fisherman, that being his occupation, he had a brother named Andrew and his dad was named Jonah or Jonas or John, depending on what translation you have.

His Hebrew name was Shimon bar Yonah, Simon, son of Jonah. Even Jesus referred to him as such. We know that Peter was married. He had a wife. He had a mother-in-law who lived with him according to Mark chapter 1 and his wife is also mentioned not only in Mark chapter 1 but in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. So Peter was married, had a wife, married to his wife, obviously, and he had a mother-in-law.

Now, if you are making Peter out to be the first pope, that's just an interesting fact you're going to have to deal with, that the first pope was married. He was also a leader among the 12. Every time there's a list in the New Testament of the earliest followers of Christ, the names of them, and there's four lists by the way, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the book of Acts, the names are not always in the same order.

With one exception, Peter is always listed as number one on the list. So evidently, he was the leader of the 12 and he is the leader in the book of Acts, the first 12 chapters of the book of Acts. Peter is the dominant figure. He's the one who starts things.

He's the one who initiates things. He was the leader of the pack, leader of the 12 followers of Christ. There is more written about Peter in the four gospels than any of the other followers of Christ.

In fact, the only other person that is written more about in the four gospels is Jesus Christ Himself. But before Peter was ever a leader, before anything was ever written about him, he was first and foremost a disciple. The term disciple appears 245 times in the gospels referring to those 12 early followers of Christ, disciples of Christ. You know what a disciple is?

Technically, it means a student, a pupil, a learner, somebody who has a teacher or a mentor. And almost all rabbis had disciples, people who would follow them around, take notes, listen to what they had to say, apply it to their lives. But when Jesus describes discipleship, anybody who would follow Him, listen how He narrowly describes it.

This is Luke chapter 9 verse 23. If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me. Now how many people do you know that do that? Anyone who desires to come after Me, he must deny himself.

Now just stop with that. We live in America. How many people do you know that live with self-denial? We live in an entitlement culture. We live in a culture of personal rights. It's my right to do this. Denying yourself is foreign to our thinking. Take up your cross?

Man, that sounds painful. Take up your cross daily? That sounds fanatical. That's why I ask you, how many people do you know that are really disciples of Christ? But that's where we must all begin and ask ourselves, am I truly a disciple?

That's where we begin. Because we will never experience the thrill of God working through us until we have the experience of God working in us as true followers of Christ. That lifelong process. Here's what discipleship is.

It's a lifelong process of conformity to an alien will. His will. His will.

Not my will. Well, there's more things we know about Peter. And these are all reasons that we actually love Peter. He was impulsive. He was impetuous. He was strong-willed. Yeah, he was the guy who, when Jesus said, I'm going to Jerusalem and they're going to kill me, he said, it's not going to happen to you, Lord.

He was the guy who, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when they came to arrest Jesus, drew a sword and cut off the ear of a guy named Malchus, the servant of the high priest. Can I suggest to you that he wasn't aiming for the ear? That he was just a bad aim. He was reacting to what was happening.

He was trying to cut his head off. And being a fisherman rather than a swordsman, he missed and got the ear. We also know that Peter was self-confident. John chapter 13, he said, I will lay down my life for your sake, and even if all are made to stumble this night, not me. He was also prideful. Peter was the guy who said, Look, Lord, we have left everything to follow you. And when Jesus tried to wash his disciples' feet, it was Peter who said, You're not going to wash my feet.

Acting like super holy and spiritual. It was just pride. We know that Peter struggled. He struggled with legalism. He struggled with hypocrisy. Read Galatians 2 some other time, not right now, and you'll discover the kind of legalism that he struggled with. And all of these are reasons that we relate to Peter. So much is written about him, so many conversations where he is talking to the Lord, and so many mistakes, and he is just so human that we all relate to him. Also, Peter was very tender-hearted. At the transfiguration of Jesus, Peter suggested, Let's build three tabernacles, one for you, Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. There's a lot of ways to look at that, but I look at that as him wanting to honor them all.

Tender-hearted. Jesus spoke more to Peter than to any of the other disciples, at least recorded in Scripture. Now, why is that important? Because all of those lessons that Peter learned from Jesus will be written about in 1 Peter 1, 2, 3, 4. We're going to look at it also in 2 Peter.

All of the lessons he learned from Christ are seen in these books. Peter died around 67, 68 A.D., and most of you know that he died upside down. We've talked about that before, that Peter died in Rome, and they crucified him, and he felt like he was unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord Jesus, so they took and turned the cross upside down, and that's how he died.

Most of you know that, or a lot of you know that. What you probably don't know is, tradition also says, his wife died the same way at the same time. One thing about Peter and about his death is Peter lived knowing that he wouldn't die until he was an old man.

Did you know that? Remember after the resurrection when Jesus came to Peter and restored him, and he said, Now Peter, when you were younger, you got dressed, and you went wherever you wanted to go, but when you are old, others will take you where you do not want to go, and John said Jesus was there predicting his death. So Jesus tells Peter, You're going to die when you're an old man. That's why in Acts chapter 12, when Peter is imprisoned, chained between two Roman guards, and the Bible says, Herod had just killed James with a sword, and the next morning, he was going to kill Peter with a sword.

In Acts chapter 12, we find Peter in prison, get this, sleeping between two Roman guards. Can I just ask you a question? How do you sleep at night when you know the next day they're going to chop your head off? Easy. He knew the next morning he wasn't going to have his head chopped off. Herod could do and say what he wants, but Jesus gave me a promise that I'm going to die as an old man.

Good night. Now that is trust in the promise of Christ. That's Peter. That's who he was. Let's look at what he became. Notice it says Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. He wasn't always an apostle.

He became an apostle. Now, let's sort of look at the changes in Peter's life in three stages. First of all, there was a name change. Second, there was a status change.

Third, there was a heart change. First of all, there was a name change. By the way, it's not uncommon in the Bible for the Lord to change the name of one of His own, all the way back to the time of Abraham. That wasn't his original name. What was his original name?

Abram. God changes his name to Abraham because that's what he would become. He would become the father of a multitude of many nations. So God gave him the name before that actually happened.

Jesus also liked to change names. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Jesus changes their name to the sons of what? Thunder. Why the sons of thunder? Because it was James and John who suggested nuclear proliferation for the city of Samaria that denied the entry of Christ. He said, let's just nuke them all. So Jesus affectionately calls them sons of thunder, not sons of Zebedee anymore, sons of thunder.

Here come thunder, boys. I believe it was Jesus who changed Levi's name to Matthew. And here we have Simon being changed to Peter.

Now let me read to you the account of the name change. This is John chapter 1. I'm going to read to you three verses beginning in verse 40. It says, And one of the two who heard John the Baptist speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah, which has translated the Christ.

And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, he said, You are Simon, the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas, which is translated a stone. Cephas is the Aramaic equivalent of Petros, same name, stone, rocky.

You are Simon, you shall be called rocky. You shall be called Peter or Cephas. Now first notice that Jesus saw him and it says he looked at him.

It's a very important word. It means to gaze at or to look intently upon or to consider as you look. It's as if Jesus was looking right through Simon Peter. Seeing not only who he was, but seeing who he would become.

Simon, that's who you are naturally. Peter, that's what you will become supernaturally. Jesus saw people differently, you know that. I love that scripture when God spoke to Samuel and he says, For the Lord does not see as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but it's God who looks at the heart. Jesus saw into the heart of Peter and he saw all the failures, all the frailties. He saw who he was naturally, but he also saw what he would become supernaturally. And so he renamed him Peter.

Now, but get this, this is interesting. Even after the name change, we frequently see Peter referred to by his original name and often by Jesus himself. He changes his name, but he calls him by the old name Simon for two reasons. Reason number one, that was his historical identity.

Everybody would know him as that, that was his birth name. But number two, when he acts like his old self, then Jesus calls him by his old name. Yeah, he's Peter, but he keeps acting like Simon, so Jesus will say, Simon.

Example, Peter swore that he would never deny Jesus, that he loved Jesus, you can count on me Jesus, I'm going to be there to the end, then he denies Jesus. So after the resurrection, now having been caught in disobedience, Jesus approaches him and says, Simon, Son of Jonah, do you love me? In Luke chapter 22, after Peter has been bragging that he is going to be faithful to Jesus and after the disciples have been arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom, Jesus said, Simon, Simon, twice.

Sinful, sinful, old man, old man, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked for you that he might sift you like wheat. Here's another interesting fact, in John's gospel, he is often referred to by both names, Simon Peter, not Peter, not Simon, Simon Peter. Simon Peter said this, Simon Peter went there, Simon Peter did that. And I think that's just because John knew Peter, and half the time he didn't know if he was sinful or spiritual, so just Simon Peter. And so those names sort of represent two sides of his character where he struggled. You know, sometimes he listened, sometimes he didn't. Sometimes he was strong as a rock, sometimes he was as weak as sand.

He just struggled like all of us do. That's the name change. Then there was the status change from disciple, follower, learner, pupil, student, to apostle. The word apostle means somebody who's sent out, somebody who's commissioned. In classical Greek, the word apostle, apostolos, speaks of an expedition or a fleet of ships that would go out and represent a kingdom. So it means somebody who is sent out on a mission. So the disciples will become apostles.

Let me give to you that change. This is Matthew chapter 10. Jesus called His 12 disciples to Him and gave them authority. Now these are the names of the 12 apostles. So they go in one sentence from disciple to apostle. These are the names of the 12 apostles.

First, Simon, who is called Peter. Now here's what you need to know about an apostle. Because you might hear that term even these days in certain circles and in certain churches.

The Bible will use the term apostle in two ways. Most frequently in a very strict sense, a very narrow sense, referring to the original 12 who followed Jesus. They were the first generation, hand-picked followers, personally commissioned by Jesus Christ to go out.

There are no more of them. They died with the 12. These are the ones who saw Him, heard Him, followed Him and were commissioned personally by Him.

It was those 12 that had miraculous power. Paul the apostle will say, I am an apostle because I work the works, the signs of an apostle. It was the apostles or those associated with the apostles who wrote the New Testament. It's why Paul says in Ephesians 2, the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. So in a very strict narrow sense, there are no more apostles. There's a secondary sense however in which that term is employed and it refers to people like Barnabas and Paul and Silas and Timothy, Andronicus and Junia. All people who were not the original followers but are also called apostles in the New Testament because they went out as missionaries. And did you know in Eastern churches to this day, missionaries are still called apostles, sent out representatives. So the stages were this, convert, disciple, apostle. And I think that's a healthy progression for any Christian. It was Jesus who said, as my father has sent me, so I'm sending you.

That's Skip Hyten with a message from his series Rock Solid. Now, here's Skip to share how you can keep this broadcast going strong, connecting you and many others to God's Word. As believers, we're called to encourage, teach, and share Christ with one another. That's the sole purpose of this radio ministry. We want to connect you and as many people as we can to Jesus through these Bible-based messages.

And your partnership helps make that possible. Please consider partnering with this ministry today through a generous gift to keep these teachings coming to you and others. Here's how you can do that. Give us a call at 800-922-1888 to give a gift.

800-922-1888. Or give online at connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Your support is vital to continue encouraging you and many others with these messages.

So thank you for giving generously. Before we close, we invite you to check out the Connect with Skip mobile app. You'll have access to a treasure trove of Skip's messages right at your fingertips. Find more information at connectwithskip.com slash app. And real quick, catch Connect with Skip Hyten on the Hillsong Channel on Saturdays at 4.30 p.m. Mountain. Or watch it on TVN on Sundays at 5.30 a.m. Eastern. Check your local listings and be sure to come back again next week as Skip Hyten explains how God's love transforms and strengthens your faith as you build a rock solid life on Jesus Christ. Make a connection Make a connection at the foot of the crossing Cast all burdens on His Word Make a connection Connection Connect with Skip Hyten is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.