In ordinary conversations with family and friends we are often distracted, reading messages on our phones at the same time, only listening with one ear. In doing that, we miss much of what is being said. We do not hear the emotions in the voice. We miss the facial expressions.
Peter always comes across, (to me) as a man of few words. His letters are short and easy to read. The only time we see or hear of Peter saying much was on the Day of Pentecost when he preached a good sermon to the watching bewildered crowd in Jerusalem.
On the mount of transfiguration Peter, James and John were privileged to see something of the glory that Jesus carried, and also to see Moses and Elijah. What a life changing experience that must have been. Those three disciples did not know that Jesus was equipping them for their future.
So many people have lived and died keeping watch because they do not know the day or the hour! The disciples of Jesus were no different. They kept watch in the upper room, expecting Jesus to return. But something much more dramatic happened instead. The Holy Spirit came in power.
Many problems have been caused in the past with people setting off as missionaries without fully understanding what it means. We are to meet people, and minister to them where they are spiritually and physically. People living in the deepest jungle do not want, or need, to change their culture.
We have been looking this month at what the first followers of Jesus learned from Him. As with many things the Spirit at work in our lives can be misunderstood. Paul is explaining to the new believers in Corinth just what might happen as we receive gifts from Holy Spirit.
The time will come, (and in many parts of the world that time has already come), when many of us will be called to give an account of what authority we serve. Both Peter and Jude in their letters warn us of the scoffers in the last days.
Peter and John were on their way to the temple at the time of prayer. That is an interesting statement to start this chapter. Even though Jesus had had much to criticise in the temple of His day, He never told the disciples to stop going there.
As I read Matthew 10, I do not see Jesus giving that instruction at all, He never said to pray for the sick! In fact in the version of the Bible which I read most regularly, He only told us to pray for people who persecute and who mistreat us.
Jesus left an enthusiastic group of believers on the earth. He saw in advance that this group would go to the ends of the earth. He knew that there would be many converts in many nations. But He also saw that before the end, many christians would leave the faith.
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