Luke 23 tells the story of three people hanging on crosses. One of the criminals rebuked the other, admitted his own guilt, and recognized that Jesus was innocent. In response, Jesus assured him that he would be with Him in heaven.

The Bible makes it clear that eternal life cannot be earned. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Our part is to confess our sins, repent, and place our faith in Jesus trusting that He paid the penalty for our sins and to follow Him as our Lord and Savior.

In Matthew 16, Jesus foretells his death and resurrection but Peter rebukes him. Jesus spoke truth to Peter and told him to set his mind on things of God and not man. Sometimes a compliment will come and sometimes a rebuke might come, but our response shapes the growth that comes from it. Peter learned from his mistake and in Acts we see that he gave his life to following Jesus.

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks who do people say that He is and Peter answers you are the Christ the son of the living God. God opened Peter's heart so that he could understand to trust the Lord Jesus as savior. Peter had an aha moment. Just like the prophet Jeremiah, we too are to extract the precious from the worthless. Our job is to allow the Lord God to work through us in proclaiming Christ, because it is Him who opens the eyes of the unbeliever.

Jesus healed many people when He was on the earth. One of them was Simon's mother-in-law. However, the main reason He came was to fulfill God's plan for saving His people by living a perfect life of obedience on their behalf and dying for their sins. Sometimes in life we pray for healing. God may or may not heal us. Either way, our responsibility is to let the Lord work in us for His pleasure. Play the hand that you are dealt and trust that God wants to conform you into the image of Christ.

When we are born again, we see the immense love of Jesus through the righteous life He lived on our behalf and the suffering that He endured on the cross for us. Because of this, we WANT to live a holy life and avoid sin while understanding that our good works are NOT what saves us. Good works come FROM salvation, not FOR salvation. The only good works that are FOR salvation are from Christ's righteous and perfect life He lived for us on this earth.

"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" Romans 6:15

"What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?" Romans 6:1-2

Peter wasn't fully ready to follow Jesus because he didn't understand the intensity of what was going on. Peter needed people who would call him out and encourage him. We need people that will call us out for when we are off and not "yes men" holding us accountable.

We must be reminded of the fact that the enemy wants to sift us. We must examine the scriptures and be alert and not major in the minor.

Peter followed Jesus but at times he wasn't alert or humble. We too can be picked off by the enemy so we must be trained in God's word, alert and confident in Christ. Peter was only one degree off, but it caused him to lose track of Jesus Christ. We must keep coming back to the foot of the cross.

There are times in our lives where there has to be a necessary ending so we can move on. Stephen was a man in the book of Acts who preached the word but sadly he was stoned to death. But God used the necessary end in Stephen's life to bring about a bold and resilient group of new believers. No matter what comes our way, our job is to trust in the Lord .