Posted on 05/10/2017 4:29:25 AM PDT by metmom
The twelve apostles included "Simon, who is called Peter" (Matt. 10:2).
God knows how to get results.
God makes leaders by taking people with the right raw material, putting them through the right experiences, and teaching them the right lessons. That's how he trained Peter, and the results were astonishing. In the first twelve chapters of Acts we see Peter initiating the move to replace Judas with Matthias, preaching powerfully on the Day of Pentecost, healing a lame man, standing up to the Jewish authorities, confronting Ananias and Sapphira, dealing with Simon the magician, healing Aeneas, raising Dorcas from the dead, and taking the gospel to the Gentiles. In addition, he wrote two epistles that pass on to us all the lessons he learned from Jesus. What a leader!
Peter was as much a model of spiritual leadership in death as he was in life. Jesus told him he would be crucified for God's glory, and early church tradition tells us that Peter was in fact crucified. But before putting him to death, his executioners forced him to watch the crucifixion of his wife. As he stood at the foot of her cross, he encouraged her by saying over and over, "Remember the Lord, remember the Lord." When it was time for his own crucifixion, he requested that he be crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to die as his Lord had died. His request was granted.
Just as God transformed Peter from a brash and impulsive fisherman into a powerful instrument for His glory, so He can transform everyone who is yielded to Him.
You will never be an apostle, but you can have the same depth of character and know the same joy of serving Christ that Peter knew. There's no higher calling in the world than to be an instrument of God's grace. Peter was faithful to that calling—you be faithful too!
Suggestions for Prayer
Praise God for the assurance that He will perfect the work He has begun in you (Phil. 1:6). Ask Him to use the experiences you have today as instruments that shape you more into the image of Christ. For Further Study
Read John 21:18-23.
How did Jesus describe Peter's death? What was Peter's reaction to Christ's announcement? What misunderstanding was generated by their conversation?
Studying God’s Word ping
I am troubled by the misstated “You can never be an Apostle” Study the life of the Apostle Paul— was he not an Apostle? Who chooses Apostles? are they of man —or men sent by the Living God? We may never be an apostle in the same sense as the twelve disciples—or the”another seventy also” (Luke Chapter 10) But of this 70 also sent out-how many of them were discipled by Christ—I suppose all. But then after Christ was raised by God that third day —comes the story of one Saul of Tarsus ,both Jew and Gentile. A man who lived to persecute those who followed in the way of this Jesus a Rabbi from Nazareth called Christ by His own chosen. Blinded by the Light on the road to persecute the followers of Christ Saul of Tarsus died to be raised up the Apostle Paul author of many epistles. Who am I to say what God has done He cannot do again. The presumption that one cannot be an apostle assumes the man chooses what he will be. The Word inspired by God seems to challenge such theory.
Paul DID encounter the Living Christ and that was one of the qualifications the disciples used to choose apostles.
So today, just who decides who’s an apostle or not?
Someone who claims that Jesus told him he was, all to be taken on the man’s say so?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.