People of the Bible: Peter

Who was Peter?

As we learned in the disciples’ overview a few weeks ago, Peter was one of Jesus’s closest disciples. But that doesn’t mean that Peter was better than the other disciples or that he didn’t mess up as much. In fact, when we look in the Bible at the life of Peter we see that at times, he messed up pretty bad.

One of these examples comes from a well-known story of Jesus. Late one night, the disciples were in a boat and it was storming. They were afraid of the storm but when they looked out they saw something walking on the water. At first, they thought it was a ghost, but when it got closer they realized that it was Jesus and he was walking on top of the water.

Peter asked Jesus if it was really him to call him out on the water too. So Jesus calls Peter out onto the water and he begins to walk on it too. However, before long, Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and started to fear the storm again. When he took his eyes off Jesus he began to sink, but Jesus caught him and put him back in the boat.

We learn from this story how important it is to put our faith in Jesus and to keep our eyes on him. But we also learn that if and when we mess up, Jesus will always be there to pick us up.

Another account from Peter’s life is his denial of Jesus. Before Jesus was taken away to be crucified Peter told him that he would never leave him. But Jesus knew this wasn’t the truth. Jesus told him that he would leave him and even deny him 3 times before the night was over. Peter did not believe it at first, but before the night ended he had done exactly what Jesus said he would do. As anybody would be, Peter was extremely disappointed in himself.

Thankfully, however, that is not where Peter’s story ends. After Jesus’s resurrection, Peter gets to reunite with Jesus. And after Jesus ascended into heaven Peter became one of the biggest figures in the early church. He preached to thousands of people and talked about Jesus everywhere he went. In Acts, we see that Peter was bold in the way he proclaimed the good news about Jesus. Fear and doubt controlled him early on, but faith replaced those feelings and that gave him a boldness that led many people to Jesus.

Peter is one of the most well-known disciples, but he still messed up a lot. That is encouraging for us because we mess up a lot too. However, Jesus is always there for us. He is always there to pick us up, even if we have turned our backs on him. The key is putting our faith in him and allowing him to put a boldness inside of us that will urge us to testify about everything he has done for us.

Key Takeaways:

• Keep your eyes on Jesus

• Jesus helps us even when we fail

• Jesus gives us boldness

• Everyone Needs JESUS

Parents, 3treesKIDS will also be learning about Peter this Sunday, both in-person and online.

Be sure to check out their lesson at www.3trees.com/kids.

To find service times and locations, visit https://www.3trees.com/planyourvisit.

People of the Bible: The Samaritan Woman

Who was the Samaritan Woman?

Book of the Bible: John 4

What is a Samaritan?

• People who lived in Samaria

• During Jesus’s time on earth, the Jews despised them because they were seen as a mixed breed / half-pagan religion

• Jewish people would go out of their way to not have to associate with them

In this story, we see Jesus interacting with a Samaritan Woman. While Jesus was traveling, he stopped at a well near a Samaritan village to rest. His disciples went into town to buy some food, but Jesus stayed behind. While he was at the well, a woman approached the well to draw water out of it. Jesus asked her to draw him out some water to drink which shocked her.

It shocked her because in all her experience Jewish people did everything they could to avoid her, especially men. Jesus then flips the script and gets the woman thinking. He tells her that if she really knew who he was it would be her asking for a drink, not the other way around. After some conversation Jesus reveals to her that he can provide “living water”, which never runs dry.

Jesus was opening her up to spiritual truth. This was not something the woman was used to because the Jewish community had so little to do with them. However, Jesus told her that the location of worship does not matter. What matters is the heart of worship. Jesus told her that the Father seeks people who will worship him in spirit and in truth. This means to be fully in tune with God, not concerned with the rituals or traditions.

After their interaction, the woman goes back to the village to testify about Jesus. Many people from the town came out to see Jesus. After meeting him, many of the Samaritans came to believe in him as the Savior of the world. In the moment, Jesus was opening the eyes of those around him. He was showing them that God’s Kingdom was not just for the Jews, but for anybody that would put their trust in Jesus.

Key Takeaways:

• Jesus is the Savior of the World

• Worship God In Spirit and In Truth

Parents, 3treesKIDS will also be learning about The Samaritan Woman, this Sunday, both in-person and online.

Be sure to check out their lesson at www.3trees.com/kids.

To find service times and locations, visit https://www.3trees.com/planyourvisit.

People of the Bible: Nicodemus

Who was Nicodemus?

Book of the Bible: John 3:1-15

Nicodemus is one of the first people we see interact with Jesus in the gospel of John. But after this initial encounter with him, we don’t see much more of him. Nicodemus was a religious leader during the time of Jesus. When Jesus was starting his ministry, these religious leaders wanted to see what he was all about. As we read through the gospels, we see that many of these leaders opposed Jesus very strongly.

We aren’t entirely sure what Nicodemus thought of Jesus, but we do know that he was curious. The Bible tells us that during the night, Nicodemus went to go see Jesus. The Bible makes it clear that he did not come during the day, but at night. That distinction has intrigued many people throughout history. We are left to wonder, why did he come at night?

There are a few different ways to look at it. Nicodemus could have come at night because he was afraid of what people would think about him. Jesus was not a popular figure within the religious leader group, to be caught talking to him could have done damage to his reputation. Some believe that Nicodemus went at night so that nobody else would know he went to see Jesus.

Another possibility is that nighttime was the time people gathered to have discussions with each other. If this were the case then Nicodemus was not hiding the fact that he was going to see Jesus, but he was simply operating in the customs of their culture.

One other possibility is that Nicodemus just could not wait until morning to talk to Jesus. His thoughts about Jesus could have been burning so deep within him that he had to go and find him immediately. Whatever the case, we do know that Nicodemus wanted answers, but what did he want answers to?

Nicodemus affirms Jesus by telling him that he is surely of God because of all the miraculous things he can do. But if we read between the lines, we can see that he wasn’t entirely sure what it all meant. And that is when Jesus went to the heart of the issue.

The religious leaders believed they had special rights through their lineage. They thought that because they were children of Abraham they were assured a place in God’s Kingdom. But in his typical fashion, Jesus takes this misunderstanding and turns it on its head. Jesus told Nicodemus that the only way to enter into God’s Kingdom and have eternal life is to be born again. Nicodemus questioned how anyone could actually be reborn, but Jesus specifies that it is a rebirth through the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gives birth to spiritual life, and it is only through Jesus that this has been made available to us.

Another interesting fact is that Nicodemus appears only one more time, and it is at Jesus’s burial. We are led to believe that Nicodemus truly did believe in Jesus even though the other religious leaders had him killed. It seems that Nicodemus was experiencing the rebirth of the Holy Spirit that Jesus told him about years earlier.

Key Takeaways:

• We are called to be born again

• We received salvation and eternal life through Jesus

• Everyone Needs Jesus

Parents, 3treesKIDS will also be learning about Nicodemus, this Sunday, both in-person and online.

Be sure to check out their lesson at www.3trees.com/kids.

To find service times and locations, visit https://www.3trees.com/planyourvisit.