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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

The Resurrection of Peter

God bless us today as we look at your Word.

Give us something that we don't have or remind us of something we've forgotten of.

And may it be a blessing to us so that our life will not be in vain.

So I have multiple notes in different places here today, but I want to talk to you about the intricacies of survivor's guilt.

Survivor's guilt is when some people, what some people experience when they survive a traumatic event or situation that others did not.

It's described as the manifestation of tension, distress, solitude that is triggered by maybe a celebration of life, that's a funeral, or by references to the deceased, or by even expressions of sympathy, where you come up and say, I'm really sorry about what happened.

And this triggers what's called survivor's guilt.

Those surviving think they didn't deserve to survive.

They think they did something wrong by surviving.

Why didn't I get injured instead of that person?

What did I do or not do that could have prevented what happened?

Have you ever had feelings of remorse about somebody or something that happened and you can't seem to shake them.

Survivors' guilt in the understatement of this whole scientific article I was reading is difficult to treat.

It's just like, you know, here's the problem.

There is a story in Scripture I believe offers a solution for those who are struggling with survivor's guilt.

It's a story about how Christ dealt with the Apostle Peter.

Peter is a person that many people, especially me, can relate to.

In fact, in the surveys that they've done of the most appreciated apostles, it's Peter always winning the day.

He would be seen as someone who needed to develop the character strength of self-control.

If he thought something, he said it out loud.

There were not many unspoken thoughts for Peter.

If you wanted to do CBT with Peter, you knew exactly what he was thinking.

Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, he said.

Oh wait, my slides are kind of not where they need to be.

Where you get the word panic from that, pandemonium.

And this is in Caesaree Philippi, and he was right here when they were looking at all the different gods in the pantheon, all different types of gods, that he said, thou art the Christ, a son of the living God.

Jesus said, that's a thought from heaven, Peter.

Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven." It directly connected with him.

Sometimes his thoughts, sometimes his verbalizations were positive.

By the way, Peter, now that you know who I am, I'll let you in on a secret.

I came here to live, suffer, and die on the cross.

Just take it from me." And then, what did Jesus say to him?

So like I said, Peter had good thoughts, thoughts from heaven, and he had bad thoughts, thoughts from hell.

And he always would verbalize those words.

Even though others forsake you, I will never forsake you.

He was not only a man of words, he was an action man.

If he thought something should be done, He did it.

When Jesus called him to be his disciple, when Jesus called him to be his disciple, he immediately left his nets and followed Jesus, even though it didn't make good business sense.

And Peter was a very successful businessman.

If you go to Capernaum where he lived, He had quite a large house, which I'll show you in a minute.

When he asked for someone to supply a boat, because there were too many people to talk to, and he wanted to go out in the water and talk to the people on the seashore, Peter said, you can use my boat.

When Jesus was betrayed by Judas and surrounded by his enemies, And by the way, this is Peter's house.

And right next to it, you see that church built over those ruins?

That's where they believe Peter's house is.

So remember how Jesus 1 day was healing people and he got through and he went to Peter's house and healed his mother of a fever.

So when Jesus asked him to follow him, he left a big business to follow Jesus.

And of course, you remember how when Judas betrayed him and all those that were surrounding him after Judas kissed him.

Then the high priest's servant was there and Peter, in zealous intent, chopped off his ear.

And also when others deserted Jesus, Peter followed him after his arrest to his hour of trial.

But it was here when he followed him to his trial that the wheels really slipped off the cart.

Things really begin to fall apart for Peter.

They know where the courtyard is that he must have been.

If you go there, you can see a depiction of Peter talking to the people in the courtyard and beginning to do what?

To everybody, then to a Gentile or a Galilean woman, and then in the hearing and presence of Jesus himself.

Jesus was killed, crucified on the cross.

And I'm sure that as that happened, Peter felt survivor's guilt.

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The Resurrection of Peter

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