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[ Silence ] [MUSIC] ♪ Nothing less than Jesus Christ, the righteousness ♪ ♪ I cannot trust the speed and strength ♪

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♪ The glory, the honor, and Jesus' reign ♪ ♪ For Christ was born in the first man ♪ ♪ All around is singing sound ♪ ♪ All of the proud is his land ♪

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♪ In his fields, his lovely fields ♪ ♪ Our restful hills of changing grace ♪ ♪ In every island, strong and true ♪ ♪ And the home of the indigenous ♪

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♪ I'm so sorry for myself ♪ ♪ The underground is sinking south ♪ ♪ The underground is sinking south ♪ ♪ He shall come with a crown of thorns ♪

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♪ Oh may I then let him lead my life ♪ ♪ We come ♪ ♪ Dressed in this righteous ♪ ♪ Necklace of gold ♪

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♪ All the rest will stand ♪ ♪ Before the throne ♪ ♪ On Christ the star ♪ ♪ There on the stem ♪

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♪ All the world crown ♪ [music] Three passages of scripture that I shall read as a basis for our message. Luke, the 22nd chapter, the 31st through the 34th, and Mark, the 14th chapter, and the

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50th verse, along with the passage that has just been read for your scripture. Luke 22, verses 31 through 34. "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen the brethren." And he said unto him, "Lord, I am ready to

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go with thee both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. The other passage of Scripture should read Mark 14 and 50, Mark 14, 50. "And they

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all forsook him and fled." The subject, "The Running Rock." The running rock. In the sermon today, we begin our focus on personalities in our Lord's passion. As we, in our observance of the Lenten season, the 40 days embracing Easter, not counting the Sundays, we refer to them as the Passion Period. Passion is related to the suffering

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of our Lord suffering. The sufferings of Christ, many focus just on the last week following that night in the upper room as the primary critical period. But those who share our Lord's passion are with him during the dark night of the soul. They are with him during his time of trial. I have a friend who has

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practice of not visiting anybody in the hospital. All who know him were to understand that if you get in the hospital, I will not be to see you because he does not wish to see you in the suffering condition. Well, that reminds me of Buddha. He was a monk. He was a monk Buddha who did not want to see any suffering, so he was walled out. He had a wall. He was

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protected in his dwelling so that he would not see suffering. But once he went outside wall. Human life involves suffering. In fact, we come into this world through suffering. We're born. Someone went through a great deal of suffering for us to arrive in this world. So

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So these persons, we will consider during this period, shared our Lord's passion. So we're going to focus today on Peter. There's a great deal to be said about Peter, much more than I can possibly say in the time that most of us are programmed to listen.

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Peter is known by four names in the New Testament, four names. The Hebrew name Simeon is in the book of Acts and that's the Hebrew name for Simon. So in one instance he's called Simeon, which is a Hebrew name, but in many instances he's called Simon.

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The synoptic Gospels refer to Peter on many occasions as Simon Peter. So in the Gospel of John, it is Andrew who brings his brother Simon to Jesus, saying to him, "We have found the Messiah," which means the Christ. Jesus looked at Simon and said, "You shall be called Cephas,"

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which means by interpretation, a stone. We may call this a nickname, but this is a name that Jesus gives Simon Peter, Cephas, Cephas, which means a stone. Four names, Simeon, Simon, Peter, Cephas. It's on this name, Cephas,

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that I wish to dwell, the name that Jesus gave him. I wish to elaborate on it somewhat Because we think of a rock as something that is solid. We refer to individuals as being solid as a rock. We think of people who are firm and who are well-established, who are dependable, and

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We like to compare them to the man who built his house upon a rock over against the man who built his house on the sand. Man who built on the rock, built on a foundation that withstood rain, wind, flood, and storm. So we would like to have friends who are silent.

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What was Jesus thinking about when he gave Peter the name Cephas? Simon is the name his family gave him. On the census roll, his name is recorded as Simon Barjona, Simon the son of John. But Jesus calls him Cephas.

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Simon called Peter. Simon called the rock. What was our Lord thinking about when he gave Peter a new name? remember this man as impulsive, vacillating, temperamental, and unpredictable. You could

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never be sure of what Peter may say or do. One moment he's walking on the sea, and the next moment he's beginning to sink. One moment he is proclaiming the faith with conviction and clarity, declaring thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and the next moment he is cussing, ready to fight at the drop of a hat.

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One moment he is embracing Gentiles, the next moment he is shying away from them. One moment he tells Jesus he will never wash his feet. And the next moment he says, "Lord, wash me all over." Yet Jesus calls him a rock, Cephas.

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During the Passion of our Lord, Peter appears to give rather firm testimony. a moment, he says, "Lord, I am ready to go with you both into prison and unto death." Now, that's the testimony of Cephas the Rock. Jesus says, "Peter, I tell you that before the cock

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crows. You will deny me three times. Satan desires to shift you, sift you. But even though Satan desires to sift you, I have prayed for you. Peter and the disciples are in the garden. They were together, three of them on many occasions with Jesus. But they're there in the garden when Jesus is arrested. Mark, the oldest of the four Gospels says, "They all

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forsook him and fled." That's a sad note. "They all forsook him and fled." In the most critical period of his life. They all forsook him and fled. Peter is known as the leader of the apostolic band. He's the pioneer. He's the first. Possibly he led others in

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running. He's a rock that moves. Yes, he's a rock that He's a running rock. You can't depend on where he's going to be in the time of trial. Fascinating. Peter changes from moment to moment. And we find him on this occasion when Jesus

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is arrested, he runs, and then after he runs away, he decides to follow from a fall, see what's really going to happen. He is in the courtyard at the trial, and he's recognized there by a maiden. And there he shows failing faith.

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He's there in the darkness, and he's warming by the fire. And she comes by and says, "I know you. "Ever not seen you with him before?" "No, no, no, no."

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Then she comes by a little later, said, "Yeah, yeah, I remember seeing you." "No, lady, you don't know me." And she comes by later, she said, "Oh, yeah, I know you.

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Your speech, you a Galilean. You came from the same area he did. You a Galilean. You were one of his disciples."

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"Hell, no. I don't." He had moved just that much. A running rock.

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He denies him. In fact, he not only denies being a disciple. I never saw this man before. That's moving a long ways from being the number one disciple.

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That's a long, long way. But let us not be too hard on Peter. Let's not be too hard on him because he's like us. He's so much like we are.

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And so when we really look at him and then look at Jesus who selected him, he was among the first that Jesus selected. It shows you the abounding love of God, how great the love of how it reaches out.

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Takes a crude fisherman, crude fisherman, big fisherman but very crude. Some would say, "Well, you know, "if we were selecting this,

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"well, we were gonna examine Peter. "You know, what seminary did you attend? "Do you have your doctorate? (audience laughing)

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"Well, you can't be a leader for us." know, but Jesus gets these fishermen, Peter, Andrew, James, John, and makes them his disciples. So the man who claimed to be his disciple, claimed to be a learner of Jesus, claimed

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to follow him. Close up. This is the man who leads the band in running from him in time of trial. A rock? Yes. Humanly speaking, he is a running rock. One thing about Peter is that he realizes what he has done, and he goes out into the darkness

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and weeps. But I think--I know why Jesus called Peter the rock, not because of who he is at the moment, but because of the person he may become through his encounter with Jesus. He says to him, "When you are converted--" Now, he'd been

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with him-- (Audience Agrees) --three years. But Jesus says to him, "When you are converted, strengthen the brethren." You know, a lot of times, we're not

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honest with ourselves. I was listening to a preacher this past week, and he said, "You know, I was preaching on the gifts, and everybody should be using his or her gift. I was preaching on the gifts." He said, "It was one of the most

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gratifying sermons I've ever preached." And so I perked up to hear what it was. He said, "I had people after the sermon coming up resigning their positions." They said that they were not using the gift that God had given them. They were just serving in there because

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the pastor or somebody asked them to serve, but not because they were gifted and so they were giving up their positions. Well, he suggests by that, it seems to me, that a lot of people in a lot of positions in a lot of places who are not ready for those positions and they're just in them. There's some truth in that. And this is Peter's position. I said, "This

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why we ought not be too hard on him because he's like us. He's following Jesus for a period of three years, and now Jesus tells him, "When you are converted--" strengthen the brethren. "When you have really had a radical change in your life--" You know,

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that's what conversion is, a radical change. When you really has that radical change, then you strengthen the brethren. And then, you see, Peter goes through the--that experience, that radical conversion, that--that's--I like to think of

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it as the resurrection experience. But when you see Peter, he's racing--after the resurrection has occurred, he's racing toward the tomb of John. And John outruns Peter, gets to the tomb first, but he doesn't have the courage to go in. So

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Peter gets there later, and he goes into the tomb and looks around and sees the linen clothes that had been left behind, and beholds the empty tomb. This is the radical He could never be the same after that.

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God had done something that he had never done before. The miracle of the resurrection that somehow God invaded his life. The radical, radical change. And even though he had denied Jesus in that crucial hour,

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when Jesus sends a message to go tell his disciples, he says, "And tell Peter," he points out Peter. He's the only one he names at that time. "And Peter, go tell him that what you have seen."

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And he came a long, long ways. We can't cover all of the life in detail. But this same man, who was a running rock when he undergoes this radical change from being a running rock

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rock to being a solid stationary strong firm rock when he makes that radical change it's can he comes through the resurrection experience because you see it was Peter who had testified before Jesus when Jesus said who do you say that I am, he asked his disciples, and Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

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And now we see him coming through the resurrection. He is a changed man now. He's a solid rock. And And the testimony that he makes is that Jesus Christ is the rock, the rock, not just a rock. There are many rocks. But He is the rock. We call Him the Rock of Ages, and He's the rock in a

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weary land. He's not a rock that runs. He's a rock that stands firm. He's a rock that we can depend on in a weary land. He's a rock in a weary land. He's a rock. You know, if you could see the--those of you who've gone to Palestine, you

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the rock that in the southern part is all 80% of the land is rock is rock so the the symbolism of a rock meant a great deal to people because a rock if you were out there underneath the scorching heat of the Sun you could find a rock where you could hide and get shelter get the shadow of the rock and

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And oh, when you're out there in the desert where it gets 120 degrees, you really can appreciate a rock. A rock. He's a rock of protection.

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He's a rock that even when they were thirsty out there in the desert place, it was a rock that gave water. This rock. This rock serves all of the purposes that we have in this life.

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It's a rock that you can always depend on. And you know, some of the crises of life, some of your family like to be there. When I had my first and only operation,

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I was in seminary and my parents weren't able to come. And so they rushed me to the hospital and I was operating on and there was nobody there but me. That's a strange feeling.

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But sometimes your parents and your friends can desire to help you, and they just can't get to your situation. But this is a rock that can always get to your situation,

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a rock that's always there. No matter what, this rock is there, and you can just lean on it, and you can hide behind it,

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and you can feed upon it. This rock. This rock. This rock.

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I said Peter underwent a radical change. He moved from being a running rock to being a solid rock. There's an old story regarding Peter. Hyde died.

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Some call it a legend. Nevertheless, the story exists. Peter was in Rome. This is all after Jesus has come and gone

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and Peter has preached a great sermon on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 souls are saved and he's a great evangelist. The Reverend Peter, Simon Peter.

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Great evangelist now. People look upon him as the head of the church and he goes to Rome and there's a time of persecution. And in this time of persecution, Peter decides once more to run away.

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And he is leaving Rome. As he leaves Rome, he sees a strange figure. And as he draws closer, he discovers that it's Jesus Christ. And he says to him, "Lord, put the glass down."

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He said, "I'm going back to the city to be crucified again." And Peter said, "No, no, Lord, let me go." And he went back, and they wanted to crucify him with his head up.

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He said, "No, no, don't do that. I want to be crucified with my head down because I'm not worthy to be crucified like my Lord." That's a radical change.

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- Yes, sir. - Oh, I wish, I wish that the world really understood this radical change that comes into your life when you are anchored on the rock of ages. On Christ. There are many who

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claim to be saviors and deliverers who cannot help us in times of crisis, but Christ, on Christ the solid rock I stand. All of the ground is sinking sand. I dare not trust sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name." On Christ! On

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Christ! On Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Well, during this period of passion, would that we would be willing to suffer for righteousness, for truth, for justice, and for freedom. As we sing now the hymn of invitation, we extend

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the privilege of the Church, rock of ages, cleft of me. The door that God gives us through Jesus Christ is an open door. We invite you to come and unite with the people of God. - Come. Candidate for baptism by letter of Christian experience,

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we invite you to come. (gentle music) All the churches open. Come.

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Come. We invite you to come. Through this fellowship. Come.

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♪ From all ages ♪ ♪ Land or sea ♪ ♪ Let it be ♪ ♪ Thy self redeeming ♪

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♪ Let the water ♪ ♪ And the fire ♪ ♪ What can do ♪ ♪ The time is over ♪

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♪ Beyond them all ♪ ♪ I'll have to ♪ ♪ Stay from love ♪ ♪ And make review ♪

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♪ Could my tears forever flow ♪ ♪ Could I still not go home ♪ ♪ These poor sin could not atone ♪ ♪ I'll run the same ♪

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♪ I vow to hold ♪ ♪ In my land of ♪ ♪ Lies I'll breed ♪ ♪ Simply to ♪

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♪ The cross I'll lead ♪ ♪ For the joyous ♪ ♪ Leaping breath ♪ ♪ With my heart ♪

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♪ Shall close today ♪ ♪ In our eyes ♪ ♪ To earth ♪ ♪ Look on ♪

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♪ And behold the altar clothed ♪ ♪ What of ages left for me ♪ ♪ Let me hide myself in thee ♪ ♪ Myself in thee ♪

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[Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]