Peter Confesses Jesus is the Christ

Take Every Passage to Prayer - Volume 2, The Gospels
^{Thursday August 01, 2024}

Matthew 16:13-20, Mark 8:27-30, Luke 9:18-20

Father, help me to have the courage to bring the gospel into places where the gospel is not welcome. Give me a heart for the lost, those who believe in things that make no sense to me and are not in accordance with Your Word. Help me to engage them in friendship, conversation, and ministry. Father, lead me to ask them who they say Jesus is. Give me the words to say in response. Father, I say Jesus is my Savior and my Lord. He is the Son of God who came down to die on the cross for my sin. He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven. He is reigning by Your side. He will judge me one day and find me innocent, not because I am a good man, but because He washed away my sin. Father, thank You for salvation. I would never have chosen it for myself. You opened my eyes to it. I also thank You for the ways You have transformed my heart and mind. Please continue to do so. Help me to minister to others who need the gospel. Give me confidence that, even in an age where there is great apostasy in Your church, Your church will never be defeated. The gospel will never be defeated. Father, I thank You for the New Testament that I have today. Thank You for leading men in the first century to share the story of what You did on earth. Amen.
Father, Jesus and His disciples left Bethsaida and traveled due north about 30 miles to the region of Caesarea Philippi. This Gentile town, which is located at the base of Mt. Hermon , was known for its worship of the Greek god Pan as well as worship of Caesar. Jesus is deliberately stepping into the region where people were dedicated to false religions and godless philosophies. This was not an area where crowds would gather around Jesus. This afforded some quiet time for Jesus to spend teaching His disciples.
Jesus asked His disciples who people thought that He was. The disciples gave three answers:

1. Jesus was a reformer, calling the people back to righteousness, just like John the Baptist.
2. Jesus was a miracle worker just like Elijah.
3. Jesus was a messenger from God, but He was not God Himself, just like Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

These answers indicate that, with so many people not understanding who Jesus really was, the mission field was great for the disciples. Father, we should ask our family, friends, and neighbors who they believe Jesus is. It cuts right to the chase and goes right to the heart of their beliefs.
However, the most important question we need to answer in our lifetime is the question Jesus asked the disciples next.
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am? (NIV)”
Our eternal destination depends upon how we answer this question.

Peter responded to the question by stating Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God. In other words, Peter’s answer demonstrated that He was a believer.
Jesus replied:
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. (NIV)

Father, what can we learn from Jesus’ response to Peter?

1. Salvation comes from You. No one chooses salvation without You first calling them to be saved and revealing to them their need for Jesus to save them from their sin.
2. After salvation comes transformation. The Holy Spirit will take a hot-headed, act-before-thinking, unstable man like Peter and turn Him into a man of godly strength and stability (a “rock”). He does that with every believer who surrenders their life to Christ. Such believers become living stones.
3. After salvation and transformation comes ministry. We are saved so that we can serve the building of the Kingdom of God. Father, just like You used Peter, You use believers today to build Your church.
4. Satan will try to destroy the church throughout the church age. He will use the power of kings, armies, nations, elites, false religions, worldly philosophies, and governments to attempt to crush the church. He is trying very hard in the 21st century. However, he is doomed to fail.
5. The church will prosper with Jesus Christ as its head. It will never be defeated. The church will prosper by believers sharing the gospel from one person to the next. We give a seeker the “keys” to heaven by opening their eyes to the truth of Jesus Christ. We unlock the box that holds the mysteries of salvation, so to speak, and show people how they can find eternal life through Jesus Christ alone.
6. Peter and the apostles did have a unique place in the history of the church. It was exclusively their privilege to write the gospels and epistles, the New Testament, that became the guide for Christian conduct for over 2,000 years. Whatever the first century apostles, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said was right for Christians to do (loosed) would become right for every believer throughout the church age. Whatever the first century apostles, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said was wrong for Christians to do (bind) would become wrong for every believer throughout the church age. Jesus was prophesying the coming of the New Testament, of which Peter would be a core contributor, and the reading and studying of the New Testament throughout the next 2,000+ years.

Amen.