Today we are reading Matthew 26. In this chapter we read about the night when Jesus was betrayed and arrested. “Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same. And Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end. Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.” Matthew 26:33-35, 58, 69-75 Clearly, Peter loved Jesus. He vowed to die for him. He followed after Jesus as the mob took Him away. Now, when Peter’s life is in danger, he denies Jesus. Sometimes it seems like our world is becoming more and more anti-Christian.
How will you respond if you are threatened because of your faith? Will you shrink into the shadows of will you boldly declare your faith in Jesus? May God give you the courage to be a faithful witness for Jesus! Pastor Tim
