Wednesday, January 5, 2011 Intrepid Peter Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. —Acts 4:13 Apart from Jesus himself, no name is mentioned in the New Testament more often than Simon Peter. He was a central figure of Jesus' three years of ministry and of the first three years of the early church. No other person speaks as often or is spoken to as often in the Gospels as Peter. Then again, no other disciple was reproved and corrected as often as Peter was. While others may have thought certain things, Peter would say them. He seemed to say whatever came into his mind at any given moment. People always knew where they stood with Peter. We are familiar with the story about Peter's walking on water, and much is said about the fact that he sunk. But it also should be pointed out that Peter is the only one who dared to take such a bold step of faith and, at least for a time, walked on the water with Jesus. In Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked the disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" and Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Yes, Peter later denied the Lord. Yes, he failed miserably. But he was recommissioned by Jesus. And he stood up on the Day of Pentecost and preached the first sermon to the early church, which resulted in 3,000 people believing in Christ. According to church history, Peter was forced to watch as his wife was crucified. Afterward, he, too, was crucified and asked to be executed upside down, because he felt unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. Peter was a hero of the faith who shook his world like few others. And God is still looking for men and women to shake this world.
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