Our God is alive and He is moving. He is not sitting in heaven saying “what will be, will be”. When we come to church, we need to expect to get something from God.

Luke 5:4-11 - story of Peter letting his net down on the other side of the boat. The great thing about Peter was that he was the “first” disciple. He was prominent throughout the gospels. Peter was zealous and excited about whatever Jesus asked him to do. Peter was the one who always ran in first. He was always the first one to jump, and often the first to fall. He had all the humanity that we have. As we try to achieve what God has for us, we can relate to Peter because we don’t always get it right.

When Jesus asked His disciples who the people said He was, Peter spoke up first and said that He was the Son of the living God. Jesus’ response was (paraphrased), “Way to go, Peter - you got a God-revelation”. Just a few minutes later, Jesus tells His disciples that He will be crucified, and again Peter speaks up first and says, “No way, I would never let that happen to you!” Jesus’ response is, “Get behind me, Satan!” So, in the span of a few minutes, Peter gets a “way to go!” and a harsh rebuke. As Christians living in the south, we sometimes have trouble receiving the “way to go” from Jesus and we live in the rebuke. We feel like we need to be perfect, which is not required from us.

Jesus asked Peter to come to the mountain and pray and he fell asleep!! Not what you want to be doing when Jesus asks you to pray with Him! God shows up and as Peter wakes up, he quickly says, “Should I build an alter??” They ignore him, which is pretty much the worst thing that could happen. All of us know that when we are the lowest person on the totem pole, we don’t speak. Peter didn’t take that into consideration, but his heart was for the kingdom, and he wanted to do the right thing. We are all Peter…we have heart.

When Jesus is walking on the water, Peter is the first one out of the boat. Even though he sank, he had the right heart. In the garden of Gethsemene, Peter cuts off the soldier’s ear in an attempt to save Jesus. He ends up creating more work for his boss because Jesus healed his ear! That was not the desired response for Peter.

Peter set himself apart with his zeal, passion, and faith. Even when he screwed up, he kept going. Even when we have no people showing up to our connect groups, we keep persevering. Peter kept going even into Acts. He waited in the upper room and was there for the Day of Pentecost. He was the one the stepped forward and addressed the crowd and 5000 people got saved. He now had the Holy Spirit resting on him, and things started to happen. He healed the paralytic man at the temple. Now, it’s not just Peter…it’s Peter plus the Holy Spirit.

Acts 3:12 - Peter SAW his opportunity. Now, instead of Peter just being a guy that was doing his best and not always hitting the mark, Peter had a revelation of who God was. He knew it wasn’t about him anymore. It was about God moving through him. Even if Peter stopped speaking, he said that the rocks would cry out and praise God.

Peter was an average Joe with a heart and a spirit after God. Peter died, and now we are all Peter. We can’t wait any longer for someone else to step up. We know who we are…and now we need to know who God is in us. God will build His church ON us because WE are Peter.