While all this was going on, Peter was down in the courtyard. One of the Chief Priest's servant girls came in and, seeing Peter warming himself there, looked hard at him and said, "You were with the Nazarene, Jesus."
He denied it: "I don't know what you're talking about." He went out on the porch. A rooster crowed.
The girl spotted him and began telling the people standing around, "He's one of them." He denied it again.
After a little while, the bystanders brought it up again. "You've got to be one of them. You've got 'Galilean' written all over you." Now Peter got really nervous and swore, "I never laid eyes on this man you're talking about." Just then the rooster crowed a second time. Peter remembered how Jesus had said, "Before a rooster crows twice, you'll deny me three times." He collapsed in tears.
Today's message is simple. As we approach Good Friday, we all have to deal with the ways we have denied Jesus. We, like Peter and the rest of the disciples, often turn away when things get tough. Yet Peter's confession that Jesus was the Messiah is the rock upon which our faith is built. No matter our denials or lack of faith at points in our life, Jesus can and will use us to do amazing things if we will simply open our hearts to Him. The question is not whether or not Jesus can take the mess of our lives and turn it into something glorious; the question is will we be WIDE OPEN to the grace and love of Jesus and what He wants to do with our lives. It's a query I plan to answer before the rooster crows...
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