Life Matters - June 15, 2022
“With God all things are possible.” He is the one who is always capable, always powerful, able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we may ask or think. He is God the Father, God’s word incarnate, gifted to us, in Jesus Christ, His Son, who for the joy (our redemption) that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God! He is interceding for us.
As Jesus promised He would do, He sent His Spirit into the hearts and lives of real people. Real people with real needs. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place…” (Acts Ch. 2) This was the day spoken of by the prophet Joel, which prophecy Peter spoke of at the beginning of his sermon after assuring the crowd of people that, no, these disciples, upon which the Holy Ghost had descended in cloven tongues like as of fire, with the sound of a rushing mighty wind, enabling the disciples to speak with a tongue that all nationalities could understand, were not drunken as some supposed. Then he went on to preach the first revival sermon of the Christian Church.
As Peter preached, people groaned under the weight of their own sins, their heats cracked open, thousands believed in Jesus and three thousand souls became believers that day.
Was this the same Peter who declared to Jesus that he would not forsake Him even if all others did and then when things got uncomfortable, denied Him? Was this the same Peter who denied Jesus, not once, but three times? Was this the same Peter, who, with his third denial, cursed and swore that he knew not the man?
Yes, this was the same Peter, who heard the cock crow and remembering the words of his Master, looked up across the room at Jesus and their eyes met. Yes, this was the same Peter who hung his head in remorse and went outside to be alone. Yes, this was the same Peter who wept bitterly as his lonely soul was devastated by what he had just done. This was the same Peter who felt strong, assured, and determined in the evening, but before the rooster finished heralding the dawn of a new morning, his crumbled and devastated courage lay at the feet of a questioning young girl.
Yes, this was the same Peter, but this was not the same Peter. On the inside, where it really matters, this was not the same Peter. On the inside where it really matters, Peter was infused with an untouchable courage connected to the realm of eternal glory by God’s Holy Spirit now residing in him. This was the same Peter, but the fear of man was gone. This was the same Peter, but what his Master had taught about heavenly expedience had come to pass. As Jesus had told his disciples, “It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter will not come, but if I go, I will send him unto you.”
This was Peter, who had reconciled with his Master and was now filled with the comforter, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, available even now, to us all. Peter was changed. Changed from the inside out.
This was Peter, whom Jesus loved and loves still. This was Peter, whom the world hated and hates still. As it did all the disciples and apostles of Jesus Christ: the following is how the 12 disciples and Paul died.
Matthew: Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
Mark: Died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the street until he expired.
Luke: Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
John: Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern day Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to pass on from natural causes.
Peter: He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way as his Lord.
James: The leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered he had survived the fall, his enemies beat him to death with a fuller’s club. (This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.)
James: The son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was beheaded in Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of his execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept be heading as a Christian.
Bartholomew: Also known as Nathaniel, was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was flayed to death with a whip.
Andrew: He was crucified on an x-shaped cross on Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers, they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that when he was led to the cross. Andrew saluted it in these words, “I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it.” He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.
Thomas: He was stabbed to death with a spear in India, during one of his missionary trips to establish the church there.
Jude: He was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
Matthias: The apostle chosen to replace the traitor, Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.
Paul: He was tortured and then beheaded by the vicious Emperor Nero in Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity form a large portion of the New Testament.
The devil goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. “Marvel not,” Jesus said, “if the world hated you...” whether overt or covert, whether openly or seemingly benign, (as in being “canceled”) the world still hates Jesus, the truth, His word and His followers. Will we stand up for Jesus when our day comes? Will you? Will I? The greater question is, do we, through the spirit of Pentecost, stand up for Jesus now? Do you? Do I? With God all things are possible. Life Matters!