Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A little later in the program, we'll tell you how you can get a copy of Dr. Graham's book, Diamonds in the Dark. But first, here's the message, the rock. Take your Bibles and turn with me to John's Gospel, chapter one.
Now Jesus changed the world and he did it by his cross and resurrection. But he also used men and women, people like you and me. to bring the message so that others can know him. And he did it by calling common men. and women to live an uncommon life.
Life. Not people with impressive resumes. But typically, ordinary people who were willing to leave their own life behind. and follow Christ with all. of their hearts.
One of the most well-known of the early followers of Jesus. was the man that has been called Saint Peter. Or Simon Peter. The most well-known of all of the disciples of Jesus. And certainly you would have to say that this man, Simon Peter, Rock the world with the message of Jesus.
St. Peter.
Now, just how does God Make a saint. Saint Patrick, for example. Patrick was a young man who had a dream. He literally had a dream. And in his dream, he heard the Irish people saying, We appeal to you, holy servant boy, come and walk among us.
And for young Patrick, that dream became his destiny. This young man heard the call of God. He was obedient to the word of Christ. And as a result, he went to Ireland and he traveled all across Ireland. Telling both commoners and chieftains and kings of the love of Jesus Christ.
And as a result, an entire nation was converted.
Someone wrote of Patrick. that he saved Civilization.
So how did he become Saint Patrick. How did Peter become Saint Peter. It is in the call. of God. That we are separated unto him and called for him.
and call to him. And I want to say that If you're a Christian, if you're a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a saint.
So let's take a look at How God shapes the saints. Through the lens, through the life. of Simon Peter. He was And he is. The rock.
Down in chapter 1 of John. Verse 40. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew. Simon Peter's brother. And he first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah.
Which means Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looked. at him. And the words looked at him there means that he looked not only just at him, but right through him.
Can you imagine seeing the eyes of Christ piercing you through? He looked right at him, and he looked on the inside. He saw his heart. And he said, so you are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas.
Which means Peter.
So now he had two names. Simon Peter.
Now He was a follower of Christ. He could never have imagined where this call would take him. But God did some incredible things in this big fisherman's. Life. I want to remind you that whoever you are and whatever you do, You may be selling widgets or computers.
are working. in schools, teaching school, you may be a minister, you may be a missionary. You may be an attorney, whatever you do, if you do it for him. Following the call of God for your life, you will find purpose. you will find Satisfaction and fulfillment.
If you will simply do What this man, Simon Peter, did. when he began to follow Christ.
Now you gotta love Simon Peter. He must be the patron saint of so many of us because he was a kind of larger-than-life personality. A leader? He's always mentioned among the leadership of the band of believers known as the disciples. He was an extrovert.
He was bold, confident. Courageous. But he was also a classically human personality. Because you see, his boldness sometimes became... Brashness.
and arrogance. There were times when he was willing to take on the world for Christ. He was so courageous and so committed, and yet. There was a time when he denied the Lord three times and failed the Lord so miserably as a coward. He often spoke up.
When others were silent, he was the one willing to go online. What he believed about Jesus, and yet at other times, he said some of the dumbest things.
Sometimes Simon Peter, like some of us, was running his mouth while before he had engaged his brain in gear. That was Simon Peter. He was At times impetuous. as well as infectious. He was irresponsible and sometimes inconsistent.
But at other times He stood so tall. and so bold and so strong. For the Lord Jesus.
So we look at Simon Peter and we say, I can relate to this guy. Because the fact is, Simon was no saint when Jesus first met him. And it took a while. Before Christ could really shape this man's character and his commitment. You know his name.
says so much about him. His name Simon means listener. or hearer. But Jesus gave him a nickname. In the Aramaic, as we read it in the Gospel of John, that nickname is Cephas, but you know it in the Greek language as Peter.
Which means The rock. Jesus looked at Simon and said, Simon, I'm giving you a new name. And that new name Is The rock.
Now, Simon's good friends must have laughed when they heard that. Because at this time he was anything but a rock. What do you think of when you think of a rock? You think of stability. You think of security, permanence.
You think of strength. And in so many ways, Simon Peter was not stable, he was not strong. And yet Jesus looked at him and said, You are. My rock. This would be like looking at a bald guy and calling him curly.
Because he was not a rock. As I said, sometimes so inconsistent and insecure and impetuous. He was up and down. He was not solid as a rock. There were times he overpromised and under-delivered, but Jesus saw something in this man.
He saw his potential. He saw him not for what he was, but for what he could become. He saw the promise. this man's life. Because Jesus looked beyond the surface.
All the roughness and the rawness of this man's life. And he saw a heart. that could be shaped. Made. As a follower of Christ.
Jesus knew everything about this man. When he looked right through him, he knew him instantly. He knew his character or lack of character at times. He knew his strengths. He knew his weaknesses.
He knew something of his faith and of his fears. He knew something of his failures. He knew the best about Simon Peter, and he knew the worst about Simon Peter. Just like he does with all of us. He knows all about me.
And so, in one sense, Simon Peter is a picture of every one of us, isn't he? We've got the old man with the old nature who is Simon, and we've got the new man with the nickname, the new man who is Simon Peter.
So, throughout life, after we are converted, after we come to Christ, there's this constant struggle between the old life and the new life, and that is the work of God's Spirit to make us more and more like Jesus, more and more like a Christ follower. And only Jesus can do what He has called us to do. You know why? Simon Peter became such a great man, a saint for God, a leader in the church, a powerful preacher. A man who wrote the portions of the New Testament, it was because he was in the hands of Jesus Christ.
And what God starts, he finishes. And when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, he assures us that he is beginning to do a brand new work in us and he will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Jesus looks at you, sir. Jesus looks at you, lady. And he sees you as you are, but he also sees you for what you can become.
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, The Rock. If you're walking through a tough season, Diamonds in the Dark is a message you need to hear. In this honest and hope-filled book, Dr. Graham shows you how God uses grief, loss, and hardship to reveal spiritual treasures you'd never discover otherwise. We want to send you Diamonds in the Dark as a thanks for your gift of $10 or more.
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Now let's get back to today's message, The Rock. He began his walk with Christ, this man Simon Peter. And when he calls us, he calls us to follow Him. You know, there's some people today and some brands of psychology that tell us that man cannot change. That we are who we are.
That we have our basic personalities, temperaments. And Character structure that is somehow in the DNA, it is said, that we are who we are, and we can't really. Change. But Jesus can change you. Man can't change it.
A human being cannot change you. But God can change you. Don't let anybody tell you that you can. Can't change when the power of Jesus Christ transforms your life. He was converted.
was changed all because And I love this in the story of Simon Peter, all because he was captivated. By Christ. What would compel a man who was a fisherman? He had apparently a good fishing business. It was a family business.
He was doing quite well there on the Sea of Galilee and was somewhat well known in the region. He was married. Had a family?
So what would compel a man? Amen's man like Simon Peter. Two. Walk away from his career. Say goodbye to His lucrative business.
and start trekking with Christ. As he followed Jesus all the way to the cross. and beyond. Think about that. He, along with others like him, when they met Jesus.
Just walked away. From everything they knew. They said, we have found the Messiah. We have met the one who's come to change the world. He was a simple man, a fisherman.
He was uneducated, even when later he spoke so powerfully. And thousands were converted to him. He was arrested for his faith. They noted that. Simon Peter was an unlearned and uneducated man.
And yet they also observed that he had been with Jesus.
So some In some fashion, this man saw in Jesus. The greatness and the glory. And he knew that if somehow Jesus could. Call him and compel him to follow him, that he was also destined for some kind of greatness.
Now, he could have never imagined that. He could have never known just how great he would become. No one would have figured the fisherman for a great man. Except Jesus. One of the things that I want to mention in this message is That Jesus is so majestic and so powerful and so great.
that he has compelled men. through the centuries to follow him. Thank God for every woman. We talked about Mary the last time we were together. Who sat at the feet of Jesus and those women who ran with the good news of the resurrection?
Thank God for every one of them. But you also need to remember that Jesus. Jesus the Savior, the Lord of life. There's something so compelling about Jesus that calls men. to follow him.
And yet I think we've come through a time and a season in the church. At large, I'm talking about now, in which we have so often feminized the Christian faith. We're told that 60% of church attenders in America today are women, so the men are falling behind. And there are a lot of guys They seem to think, well, this following Jesus, this church thing, that's for women and kids, and that's great for the little lady. That's great for mom.
But I'm a man's man. I don't have time. for this church stuff.
Well, Simon Peter was a man's man. But he became God's man. And you will never be more of a man than when you lay down your life as a man and begin to follow Jesus Christ. And you can be strong like Simon Peter. You could be a man who...
Is given and prone to some mistakes in life, and yet be powerfully used of God. We have to be very careful that we make sure that men know. The right thing to do, the best thing to do, is to follow Jesus Christ with all your heart. We need a more muscular Christianity in our generation. You know, we men, we don't know who we are half the time.
We don't know if we're supposed to be the macho man or the mellow man. And then we're told, and this is confusing, we're told that we're to get in touch. with our feminine side.
Well, let me tell you something. I got in touch with my feminine side. I married her 37 years ago, and I've been in touch with her ever since. I kind of like it, by the way. I mean, you never hear women saying, oh, I need to get in touch with my masculine side.
So what is all of this? And that somehow if you're going to follow Jesus, you've got to give up your masculinity, you've got to give up your manhood, you've got to give up your strength and become a weakling. No. Simon Peter Was a man's man, the big fisherman, but he followed Christ and he became God's man. He was destined For greatness and destined for glory.
You see, it's not how the world sees you, it's how Jesus sees you that matters. The world may look at you and say, You aren't good enough. You're not strong enough. You're not big enough. and maybe you feel obscure and insignificant.
But God sees you in a different way. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 that We are to consider our calling: that not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
Now, of course, Simon Peter knew that there was something so strong, but something so supernatural about Jesus. The Holy Spirit taught him this. In John 6, 68, When many were leaving Christ, because it was becoming demanding and difficult to follow him, Jesus looked at His men and said, Will you also go away? Simon Peter spoke up and said, Lord, to whom should we go? You have the words of eternal life.
And on another occasion, Jesus said, Who do men say that the Son of Man is? Who am I? And it was Simon Peter. Who spoke up and said, you are the Christ. The Son of the Living God.
On another occasion, after a miracle. Simon was involved in the miracle. They caught so many fish at the command of Christ. that the boat couldn't contain them. Simon had been arguing with Jesus a bit about how to catch fish.
Typical Simon Peter. Jesus told them, throw the nets on the other side. They weren't catching anything.
So Jesus said, throw the nets on the other side of the boat. Simon Peters says.
Something like this. Look, I'm the fisherman, you're a carpenter. Why don't you just, you know, you're a preacher, you do the preaching, I'll do the fishing. But then he said, Nevertheless, Lord, at your will. And so he did it anyway, even though he didn't believe.
And when he did, they caught so many fish. That the net was breaking. Jesus told him to throw the nets on the other side of the boat. He threw one net. and as a result nearly sunk the whole ship.
Had just obeyed Jesus and set out many nets, as Jesus said, they would have had the problem that they had.
So when Simon Peter saw this miracle, when he saw his own failure in the presence of Christ, he says in Luke chapter 5 and verse 8 that he fell down at Jesus' knees and said, Depart from me, oh God, for I am a sinful man. He saw the greatness of Jesus. In seeing the greatness and the glory of Jesus, he was so humble and he was so broken by his own sinful behavior and bad attitude. Ultimately, he saw the risen Christ. And even though he had failed the Lord and denied him three times, Jesus went to him and personally restored him.
And he found after he met the risen Savior, he found a great purpose and passion for his life. You know, every person on earth, including you and me, especially you and me, we need to discover why God put us on earth. Why are you here? And that is to live a life of significance. And a life of significance is to know and to do.
the will of God. That's significance. And that's why Simon Peter, who could have spent the rest of his days in a lucrative fishing business along the Sea of Galilee. made some money, fed his family. and then die.
and no one would have ever heard of him. But when he began to follow Christ, everything changed. We began to do the will of God for his life. The ordinary was transformed. to the extraordinary.
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, The Rock. Life doesn't always unfold the way we hope. There are setbacks, losses, and seasons that leave us asking, where is God in all of this? In his honest and encouraging book, Diamonds in the Dark, Dr. Graham shares how God is not absent in our pain, He is present.
and he is at work. This powerful resource walks you through some of life's hardest places to reveal spiritual treasures God plants along the way. If you or someone you love is facing grief, fear or uncertainty. This message will help you find strength, clarity and hope right where you are. And when you give a gift of $10 or more, we'll send you a copy of Diamonds in the Dark as our thanks.
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Our website again is jackgraham.org. And also, be sure to sign up for Dr. Graham's podcast, Bible, in a year. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?
Well, I want you to think about the way Jesus sees you today. When Jesus looked at Simon and called him Peter, which means rocks, most of Simon's friends were shocked Maybe a snicker or two, because Peter wasn't anyone who could be referred to as a rock.
someone who was stable, strong, a source of strength. But Jesus, you see, saw so much more in Peter than even his closest friends could see. In the exact way when Jesus looks at you, He doesn't see you as others see you. or even as you see yourself. He sees you for what you can become.
He sees the potential in your life.
Now, that's a real encouragement. But here's a problem: a lot of Christians aren't letting God move them into their full potential, into their future. The reasons are so numerous, but the most common reason is because most people are afraid to really get out of their comfort zone. In order for you to reach your full potential and to fulfill your mission as a follower of Christ, you need to be willing to take risks to get out of your comfort zone and to get into his zone. But here's the great thing about the call of Jesus upon your life.
He doesn't ask you or command you to do anything that he doesn't give you the power to accomplish.
So when you face trials or times of uncertainty, it may be hard to trust God. But if you just keep following after him, trusting him with every step, you will be amazed at how your faith and your character will grow. I love the scripture which says, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And though he fall, he will not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his strong right hand. You will be able to handle so much more than you think if you walk with God each step of the way.
You'll be able to forgive when you thought you couldn't forgive. You'll be able to trust God and wait patiently when you thought you couldn't wait any longer. longer. and you will have a hope when it seems everything around you is crumbling. And that is Today's PowerPoint.
Remember, when you give a gift of $10 or more to PowerPoint, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book, Diamonds in the Dark, as our thanks. Call 1-800-795-500-500-500 4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word Diamond to 59-789.
And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about the adventure your life becomes when you surrender to God's purposes. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
