This past Sunday at Gospel of Power Church in Brisbane Ps Esteban San Martin preached a powerful Faith message entitled “Stick With The Process”.
We learned how the Apostle Peter took on the challenge of Jesus when he was told in Matthew 4:19 “Follow me and i will make you a fisher of men”, he did and went on a journey of development, training and discipleship that would ultimately make him into a Rock in the early Church of Acts.
The name Peter means Rock. It was the nickname that Jesus gave to him, yet Peter in the beginning of this process was anything but a rock. He was up and down, sometimes unstable, emotional and had a temper problem. He was also a Fisherman when Jesus told him to follow him. At that time fishermen were rough, unkempt, vile, shabbily dressed and often used vulgar language. They were known for their boisterous tempers and were a man’s man. They lived a rough life and had a very physically demanding job.
To the average eye Peter had no Potential apart from a bring simple Fisherman. But yet we learned in this message that despite Peter being a fisherman, unpolished, unlearned, ignorant in the eyes of the society of the day and also add that he was anything but a Rock, he was a man that stuck with the process that Jesus took him on and we can today read in the Bible about a real success story, of how a simple man went on a journey of faith and became all that God had called him to be.
In this faith message preached at Gospel of Power Church in Brisbane, Pastor Esteban San Martin went on to teach us that Peter understood Process, accepted progress and that a setback is usually a setup when we allow God to get involved with our life.
If you stick with the process, then you will make progress that will lead you to the promise. To give up is the temptation along the way. Peter had many opportunities to give up and stop following Jesus. Many times Peter messed up and missed God but yet he never threw in the towel, he would stick with the process.
There are many things that Peter failed at, but instead of giving up he learned and moved on and was able to do later on what he could not do at that particular moment.
For example in Luke 8:22-25 we see the disciples in a boat in the middle of a storm afraid and thinking they are going to die, yet we find Jesus in that same boat sound asleep. The disciples wake him up and say, “Jesus do you not care that we perish”. Jesus rebukes them and asks Where is your Faith? This could have been an opportunity for Peter to say, “I am out of here, this is to hard or i will never rise to that kind of a faith”. “A faith that can sleep in the midst of a storm”. But Peter did not leave, he stuck with the process and learned a lesson.
If we go to Acts 12: 6, we read that peter is in Jail among soldiers, with his feet chained and in a couple of days time will be beheaded and murdered, and the verse says “Peter was sleeping”. Think about that, with impending harm to his life and sitting in prison surrounded by 16 soldiers he is Sleeping. He is doing in this storm what he could not do in the storm where Jesus was sleeping. He stuck with the process.
On the night jesus was betrayed Peter denied Jesus three times, he could not stand up for Jesus and proclaim, “Yes, i am a follower of Jesus, I am His disciple”. He failed.
But he stuck with the process and in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost it was Peter that stood up in the face of ridicule and mocking and preached the first sermon of the early Church, proclaiming without fear or shame the Gospel of Jesus Christ, resulting in 3000 people being saved and baptized. He stuck with the process.
On the same night Jesus was betrayed Peter said to Jesus in John 13:37 “I will lay down my life for your sake”. We know that Peter ran away when Jesus was being beaten and crucified. But at the end of his life, tradition tells us that Peter did lay down his life for the cause of Christ and was crucified in Rome upside down and became a martyr for Christ. He stuck with the process.
Here is the teaching,
If you stick with God and you stick with the process and training that will come, what you cannot do now you will do it later.
There are 4 things we learn from Peter’s Process and journey that we must learn if we are going to stick with the process:
- Learn to Trust God: We are going to have to allow our faith to be developed. We walk by faith not by sight. We cannot be feelings driven believers and expect to go places with God. We cannot have unbelief in the same areas we had unbelief a year ago.
This is why in the process he is very interested in developing our faith and trust in Him. Because where He wants to take us is going to demand a high level of trust and faith. - Experience the Mercy and Compassion of God: We are going to have to learn and accept that God is a merciful, compassionate and patient God. If we are willing to learn He does not discard us when we fail and commit an error. If we repent, He forgives. Think about how many times Peter blew it and messed up? But Jesus was merciful. When the Angel came to the tomb after the resurrection of Jesus and interesting message was given, in Mark 16:7 it says, “Go and tell his disciples and Peter, He goes before you into Galilee, you will see Him there”. You can just see Peter sitting in a corner, upset at his denial of Jesus and thinking its over for me and God must not want to use me anymore, the promise that Jesus would make me a fisher of men surely is over and i do not qualify, but then he hears “And Peter”. Jesus wants to see the disciples and Peter. What must have gone through his mind to think, He still wants to see me, and He still wants to use me.
- Receive the Correction, Instruction and Discipline of God: We must allow the teaching of God in the process. How many times was Peter corrected, disciplined and confronted by Jesus and yet he never ran away offended. He stuck with the process. On the journey God will bring men and women into your life as mentors, guides, instructors to help you develop. If we get upset everytime someone in authority over us, corrects us, disciplines us and gives us some stern advice, then let me inform you that you will find it very hard to stick with the process because this is part of the journey. We need it and we must welcome it otherwise we will not grow and advance.
4. Allow the Tests of God: We must know that God will put us into situations on purpose to see if we are learning, developing, growing, maturing and ready for the next level He has for us. Tests reveal and expose what we need to work on and where we are lacking strength. Remember, if you do not pass a test now, if you stick with it and are willing to learn from it and grow from the experience then that same test will be easy for you later, because you would have developed in that area.
Peter became a fisher of men, he became a Rock. He did not stop, he did not get bitter, he did not give up. He stuck with the process and became a history make. So will you, if you stick with the Process.
This is a short outline of the message preached at Gospel of Power Church in Brisbane, Australia by Pastor Esteban San Martin. Watch the full message here .https://youtu.be/_z7FycPG1qI
We hope it blesses you.