Get ready.

We devote this entire week to Peter,

who he was as Jesus' disciple,

and who he was on the day of Pentecost

when the Holy Spirit came upon them

and spoke through Peter to 120 puzzled men. 

Peter would not have known some of this

information on his own. 

The same can be said of Peter's two letters.

You question this?

 The 26 books in the Old Testament

weren't written without many contributions

by God himself, forecasting what the future held.

As for Peter being the first pope,

 why not Paul, or John who stood at the cross

and later wrote Revelation? 

Of 266 Catholic popes, was Peter the first? 

     In Matthew chapter 16, we read that Jesus asked his disciples, Who do people say that I am? They gave him some names.

     But what about you? Who do you say I am? 

     Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

     Jesus replied, Blessed are you...for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church... I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven... 

Seems like Peter was destined to be the church's first pope.

     Then Jesus revealed to his disciples that he was going to Jerusalem and would suffer at the hands of the elders, priests and teachers. 

     Peter - who often thought he knew best - couldn't accept that. He "took (Jesus) aside and began to rebuke him. 'Never, Lord!' he said. 'This shall never happen to you!'" 

     Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. 

     Wow. One minute God reveals truth to Peter. Then, Satan speaks through the same man. We'll look into this and see you here on Monday. 

Monday: the Rock and the rock

   

What About Suffering?  

     Pastor Dave Furman - conclusion - points 6-10 

6  Suffering opens up ministry opportunities  

     I am in constant pain. And yet! (God) has given me grace to pastor out of weakness and to witness to others about His unrelenting love. I never would have chosen or dreamed of a ministry like this - the Lord has done marvelous things. 

7  God moves through weakness and suffering, not in spite of it

     Paul had a thorn in his flesh and asked God multiple times to remove it, but it remained. God didn't use Paul despite his thorn. He used him through his thorn. God moves through our suffering. Weakness is God's way of moving in this world.  

8  Our perspective on suffering is very different from God's 

     Abraham waited for a child for years. Joseph was in prison for years. Moses wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. David fled from a wicked king for 13 years. Jeremiah saw no fruit for decades. Paul (endured) imprisonments. For this light affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison. - 2 Corinthians 4:17.  

9  Suffering can propel us into community  

     My suffering has caused me to depend on the believing community for help, service, encouragement and prayer. When we resist the urge to isolate ourselves, God blesses us with sweet fellowship. 

10  Christianity has the only solution to suffering

     Suffering and death are inevitable, but we have hope because One has gone before us in death. Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man, lived a sinless life. He faced trials - betrayal by mockery, emotional anguish, physical agony and judgment by God the Father. Christ's resurrection means our pain, trials and even our death are not the end of the story.

Friday: Was Peter the first pope?

~

10 things we should know about suffering 

              By Dave Furman, a pastor in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

1  Suffering is a result of the fall

     Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned. - Romans 5:12

2  God uses suffering for good

     ...for those who love God all things work together for good. - Romans 8:28. God never tells us our pain is good, but He uses pain to work for our good in His mysterious way. God is in control. We need to see that our circumstances are taking us right to God.

3  We can't see what God is doing in our pain 

     Augustine wrote, "If you understand, it is not God you understand." Who can give Him counsel or criticize God's handiwork? We can trust that God is always doing more than we can fathom. 

4  God uses suffering to mature us in Christ 

     Count it all joy ... when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. - James 1:2-4  Trials can be counted as joy because God is persevering our faith.

5  Persevering through suffering allows us to comfort others

     Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in affliction... - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. 

~ points 6-10 tomorrow ~

We're Back

     Our visitors are returning to Ohio and Missouri, and we're free to blog again. Father's Day, we posed for pictures, a great grandfather, his daughter, her son, and his three children. From age 86 to age 4. Four generations. It happens.

     I always wanted to be known as "great." 

We're Amazed

     Meanwhile, the West Coast is being overrun, and it's not just political demonstrators. Indians co-existed with wolves. For many years the coastal states were free of wolves. Then, an animal advocacy group reintroduced them. Rewilded. Lovely! 

     Wolves are raising havoc on cattle farms in California and Oregon, and ranchers can't do much about it. Wolves kill calves and other full-grown animals. 

     Wolves are an "endangered species." They are "native" in the West. Again. Ranchers cannot shoot or harass these predators. The penalty is up to a year in prison and $100,000.  

     Ranchers see nothing "native" about a man-introduced beast. 

     We know what will solve the problem: the Millennial, when "the wolf and the lamb will feed together." - Isaiah 65:25 

           Jimmy 

 We're hosting relatives from up North Thursday into Sunday. In all, there will be four generations, and children we haven't yet met. We'll be back with Views on Monday. 

Daniel's Scary Vision

     We pick it up in chapter 10:4 of the book of Daniel. If you think God and his angels are always meek and mild, read on...

     Daniel, with a remarkable life of service to God while Israelites were forced to live in Babylon, wrote: "I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris. I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist." 

     "His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. There were others with me, so overwhelmed by such terror they fled and hid themselves." 

     Daniel continues: "I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale, and I was helpless. I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees."

     "He said, 'Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you."

     If a friendly angel can do that, we don't want to meet an angel sent to escort us to hell. The rest of Daniel chapters 10 and 11, the angel tells him what will happen on the world stage over the next 500 years. And history records it. 

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Soldiers Win with Coffee?

     So, no cup of coffee ever killed a soldier. 

     But a beverage can be a source of energy, and boost morale. In the second year of the Civil War, 1862, imports were down 40 percent.   

     President Lincoln recognized Liberia in 1862 and raised tariffs on coffee imports (4 cents a pound), which helped fund the war. A Union blockade in the South caused coffee imports that did arrive, $8/lb.

     All this was hard on Confederate discipline and morale, apparently. 

     When Sherman attacked Atlanta, he destroyed 500 sacks of coffee. His troops didn't need the sacks, and they knew the enemy did. Question: At Appomattox in 1865, do you think those who surrendered begged for some coffee?

     General Benjamin Butler encouraged his troops to drink coffee three times a day, because "it guaranteed success." And a soldier wrote, "What keeps me alive must be the coffee." 

     There was a post-war advantage for Liberian coffee growers. By 1885, U.S. coffee imports doubled those of the war years. Tea - not so much.

Smithsonian

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." - 2 Timothy 1:7