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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=82 BGCOLOR="#000099" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>First Christian Church</B></FONT><B>     |   </B><B>  </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="First Christian Church"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Worship Times"><U>Worship Times</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U>About Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Map"><U>Map</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Staff"><U>Staff</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Prayer List"><U>Prayer List</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Calendar"><U>Calendar</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photos"><U>Photos</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church History"><U>Church History</U></A>   |   <B>Sermons</B>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News of Our Church"><U>News of Our Church</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome"><U>Welcome</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Memorials"><U>Memorials</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#000099" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <IMG SRC="08396980.jpg" border=0 width="150" height="152" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome"><U>Welcome</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Worship Times"><U>Worship Times</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U>About Us</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Map"><U>Map </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Staff"><U>Staff</U></A> </div> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Prayer List"><U>Prayer List</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Calendar"><U>Calendar</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photos"><U>Photos</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church History"><U>Church History</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermons"><U>Sermons</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News of Our Church"><U>News of Our Church</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Memorials"><U>Memorials</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="mailto:Clyardbird@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Clyardbird@aol.com"><U><IMG SRC="09f96150.jpg" border=0 width="150" height="21" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="0ae4b700.jpg" border=0 width="75" height="112" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=398 BGCOLOR="#0000FF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Sermons <A NAME="top"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="731" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#000099 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="719"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="719" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000099 HEIGHT= 2427 WIDTH="719"><div> <B>Peter's Belief…The Rock  Part 1</B></div> <div> <B>Hebrews 2:14-18,   Matthew 16:13-17</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>   The cartoon showed two Eskimos fishing on the frozen ocean.  One of them cut a manhole-sized opening in the ice, and he was sitting there with his pole.  The other had cut a mammoth hole in the ice in the image of a very large whale, and was fishing in that hole.</B></div> <div> <B>Some of us think big…and some of us think small.</B></div> <div> <B>    Peter was a fisherman whose idea of catching fish was to catch a whale. His idea of a Spiritual Leader was also very large.  When he looked at Jesus, he did not see a prophet.  He knew he had found the Messiah…The Christ.</B></div> <div> <B>   Jesus asked his disciples who others thought he was.  He then asked them who they thought he was.  Peter's answer was,  "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."</B></div> <div> <B>   Matthew wanted his readers to know that Jesus was more than the Jewish Messiah.  He wanted them to know that Jesus was the world's Messiah, the world's Savior, "The Son of the living God."</B></div> <div> <B>   Peter is a fascinating Christian and we will learn quite a bit about him during this sermon series. The New Testament mentions him by name more than any other person, except Jesus, and that includes the Apostle Paul.</B></div> <div> <B>He was a married man whose home was in Capernaum, and it may be that his home was Jesus' headquarters when he was in Capernaum.  It was where Jesus went when he came out of the synagogue.  It was there that he healed Peter's mother-in-law.</B></div> <div> <B>   Peter was a Galilean, and we could say he was a typical Galilean.   A Roman Governor said that Galileans were ever ready to follow a leader and to begin an insurrection. They were known for their quick tempers and were also quick to argue over most anything.  Even so, they were also known for their courage.  DOES THIS NOT SOUND TYPICAL OF PETER?  He was described as being quick tempered, impulsive, emotional, easily roused…yet loyal to the end.</B></div> <div> <B>    The Bible tells us that Peter, James, and John were the inner circle that was especially close to Jesus, and in most cases, Peter became the spokesman for the twelve.  When Jesus asked this question, impulsive Peter spoke up and answered for the twelve disciples.  </B></div> <div> <B>(1)  The first thing we can say about Peter's belief is that it took courage to say it out loud.  Jesus was  beginning to draw attention to himself, and there were enemies lurking nearby.  For Peter to come right out and claim that Jesus was, in fact, The Messiah, The Christ…showed that when he believed something, he was ready to commit his life to it.</B></div> <div> <B>(2) Peter was the kind of person who put his life where his mouth was.  Being a Christian always involves more than just knowing about Jesus Christ.  It involves knowing Jesus Christ and knowing him demands a personal commitment.  It's an act of faith.  It involves a leap of faith.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>When Peter called Jesus, "The Christ," he gave to a human being a title that no other human being had ever received. It was a title that was never meant for any mere man.</B></div> <div> <B>(thought)  Today we may miss how difficult it must have been for Peter to publicly admit this, for we have known that Jesus was the Messiah since our childhood, but this was the first time anyone had said this about Jesus.</B></div> <div> <B>    Peter's statement that "Jesus was the Christ" eventually became the Apostles' Creed we just said earlier,  "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord…"</B></div> <div> <B>    Peter was one of the first to go public with his faith and to declare that this man, Jesus was also the "Son of the living God."</B></div> <div> <B>    Jesus' response to Peter was to  say, "Blessed are you."</B></div> <div> <B>Jesus' response was to show gratitude for Peter's spiritual insight, and to let Peter know that for him to know this indicated a deep faith.  Peter not only had great expectations for Jesus, but when he told Jesus about them, Jesus blessed him.  Jesus rewarded him for thinking big.</B></div> <div> <B>(thought)  Jesus does the same for us.  Jesus is always pleased when we are able to make that statement of faith.</B></div> <div> <B>This is the goal of the Bible.  This is the goal of this church.</B></div> <div> <B>This is the goal of worship each Sunday.  This is the goal of every organization of the church, The Sunday School - Disciples Women - The ROMEO's - The choir- the Church board…and this pulpit.   Our single most important mission is to help others confess that Jesus is "THE CHRIST, the Son of the living God."  When we do that, we too will be blessed.</B></div> <div> <B>   Now, hear what Jesus said to Peter,  "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." Peter's profound insight into who Jesus was…was not by any human insight of Peter's.  He didn't just decide that Jesus was The Messiah.  There was no logic to help him to reach that conclusion.   There was no Gallop poll and he decided to go with the majority.</B></div> <div> <B>…Jesus said that God gave this insight to Peter.</B></div> <div> <B>    The Apostle Paul agrees with this point when he wrote to the Church in Galatia defending the fact that he was an apostle.  He wrote, "God was pleased to reveal His Son to me.  I did not confer with flesh and blood, not did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me."</B></div> <div> <B>     Paul is claiming that he was called by God; that God, not flesh and blood, spoke to him and made him an apostle.</B></div> <div> <B>    I think we can identify with Peter's belief.  As Christians we know that we are who we are because of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus.  Jesus is affirming that we are believers, because God has called us to faith…and not because we were clever enough to reason our way into it.</B></div> <div> <B>   Once Jesus discovered that his disciples had caught on to his message and were really going to live his message, it became a turning point in his ministry.  Jesus began to teach about his approaching death, his suffering, and he began to carefully redefine who the Christ-like God really was.  Now he talked about the Christian Messiah who suffers and calls us to suffer; who sacrifices and calls us to sacrifice; who dies to worldly charms and calls us to die to worldly charms; and who rises from the dead and calls us to rise also.</B></div> <div> <B>(thought)  In 1963 Brian Sternberg was the world's ple vault champion, and also the United States' trampoline champion.  One night while working out, he came down on the edge of the trampoline and was left paralyzed.  The tragedy left him a bitter young man.   Then faith worked a remarkable transformation in him.</B></div> <div> <B>   Five years later Brian was carried onto the stage of an auditorium in Colorado by a close friend.  His long arms and legs flopped back and forth like those of a rag doll. His  body weighed only 87 pounds.  Brian began to speak softly, "My friends…I pray to God that what has happened to me will never happen to one of you.  I pray to God you will never know the pain I live with daily.  Unless, my friends, that is what it takes for you to put God in the center of your life."</B></div> <div> <B>   Whatever it takes, is the most important issue in life to accept Peter's belief and to put God in the center of your existence.</B></div> <div> <B>   Do we have the courage to look Jesus in the eye and say, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God?"</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>If you can yes to that question, then you will be blessed.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Next week we will continue this series on Peter, with the subject:  Peter…built on a Rock.</B></div> <bR> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="719"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="719" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <I><B><IMG SRC="1633fc70.jpg" border=0 width="319" height="199" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="#top" TITLE="Sermons"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>