1. Peter
How the Holy Spirit and the Word of God ChangesYou
By Evelyn C. Pointer

2. The process of
conversion
In preparation for the day of Pentecost
we will be discussing how the power of
the Holy Ghost and the Word of God
changes you. We must all be changed.
We must become new people in order to
enter into the kingdom of heaven. We
must be born again as Christ told
Nicodemus. To be converted means to
change. First, we must change our
minds, accepting the word of God as
true. Then we must change our hearts
as we learn to love and reverence God.
Wind, lightning, and rain are symbols of the
Spirit. All three are responsible for the
metamorphous of a pinecone into an
evergreen

3. Works of the
Holy Ghost
Finally we must change our actions, by
submitting ourselves to the will of God and
obeying his commandments. Some people
believe that people do not or cannot change.
This is just not true.We change every day, from
moment to moment. Our experiences change
us in ways that may not be immediately
apparent. But the changes that the Holy Spirit
makes in us can be astounding.The Holy Ghost
is eloquent and will convince us of the truth and
give us the he strength to obey God.
Fire is another symbol of the Holy Spirit. It is
used to purge and causes an irreversible
change in everything it contacts.

4. He makes you into a new person. The Holy
Spirit is the Almighty Power of God and
nothing can resist him.The Holy Spirit and the
word of God took Peter, a simple fisherman,
who was not a scholar or scribe and who was
even called unlearned by the Pharisees, and
who even considered himself an unworthy
sinner and changed him into the leader of the
Church of God. In our discussion today we
will examine how the Holy Spirit changed
Peter, and how the Holy Spirit will change us,
and in fact must change us if we are to inherit
the kingdom of heaven.
Peter’s Conversion

5. A different Path
Peter began his life as Simon, brother to Andrew. Andrew
was a disciple of John the Baptist. Peter at times, may have
said or done things that people interpret as weak or
showing a lack of faith. But what Peter had was really just a
lack of understanding because the Lord had not given him
understanding yet. It was to Simon that Christ said in
Matthew 16: 18-19,“thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it.And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall
be loosed in heaven.” The name Peter means “rock”. Christ
was telling Peter that he would be placing the responsibility
of the church on his shoulders. After Christ’s resurrection
the Holy Ghost transformed Peter into one of the greatest
and most fearless leaders of the bible.

6. Let us consider the Apostle Peter and how he
was transformed. What was Peter like from
the time when he first met Jesus Christ?
The book of John tells us about the first time
that Simon Peter meets Christ. Peter’s brother
Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist. He
heard John the Baptist say as he looked upon
Jesus,“Behold the Lamb of God!” Andrew and
the other disciple that was with him called to
Jesus and Jesus invited them to his house. But
Andrew first went and got his brother Simon
and brought him, telling him that they had
found the Messiah. When Jesus saw Peter he
told him, “Thou art Simon the son of Jona:
thou shalt be called Cephas (or Peter), which
is by interpretation a stone.”
Cephas means Stone

7. Fishers of Men
Later after John had been put in prison Christ calls
his twelve disciples. He first calls Peter and Andrew
as they are fishing. The book of Luke gives us the
most details and tells us how amazed and humble
Peter was. Let us read Luke 5:1-11. There are a
couple of things that are very clear. Peter did not
think he was worthy, and most importantly Peter, as
well as all of the apostles left everything without
hesitation to follow Christ, as it says in Mark
1:17-18 when he called Simon and Andrew, “And
Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will
make you to become fishers of men. And
straightway they forsook their nets, and followed
him.” Now let us not think that these men were
so very different from us.

8. Taught by Jesus
They were not like John the Baptist who
was filled with the Holy Ghost from the
womb. They had the same fears, needs and
responsibilities that we have. In fact as we
study about Peter we will see that there
were a lot of things that he didn’t
understand, and sometimes he said things
that showed that lack of understanding, and
he had fears just like us. But he did
something that most other people will not
do. He forsook all to follow Christ. Most
people find it difficult to even be
inconvenienced for the word of the Lord,
much less make major sacrifices.

9. Jesus came to their ship walking on the water.
This is found in Matthew 14:25-33.After feeding
five thousand people with five loaves and two
fishes, Christ told the apostles to get in a ship
and go to the other coast while he sent the
people away.While they were in the ship in the
middle of the sea the wind began to blow
fiercely and the waves became boisterous.Then
they saw Jesus walking on the water and
became afraid. Jesus told them not to be afraid
because it was him. Peter said that if it was him
to let him come to Jesus on the water.
Peter was taught what true faith is, as he walked
with Christ. He learned these lessons step by step
at Jesus’ knee, just like a child learns looking at
the good example of a father. One time was when
Peter learned step by step what
true faith and perfection was. He
had the best teacher... Lord Jesus.

10. At first Peter began to walk on the water just
like Jesus but then the wind was blowing so hard
and the waves roaring and he began to be afraid
and started sinking. Jesus reached out to him and
grabbed him and said, “O thou of little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt?” This is an
example to us. The roaring waves and fierce
winds are the troubles in our lives. Our faith in
Jesus allows us to walk over all of these things.
They will not overcome us, we will never fail as
long as our faith is strong and we walk with
Christ.

11. No one knows how to walk when they are
first born...it is learned.When we first try to
obey God and commit your life to God we
have to learn to stand correctly.We will also
get help on how to stand. The Holy Spirit
will inform us when we are crooked and will
show us why it is important to stay planted
on the Word of God.We will be shown how
to walk and the places where we must and
not must walk!

12. Who must we reverence
When Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James
and John in the mount, they saw him talking with
Moses and Elijah. Peter, afraid and not knowing
what to say, said to let them build three
tabernacles, one for Christ, one for Moses and
one for Elijah.The voice of the Father spoke to
them from heaven,“This is my beloved son, hear
ye him.” Peter and all of us learned that it is
Christ that we must reverence and worship,
never a man, not even men so righteous and
honored as Moses and Elijah. Many people
prefer to look to someone they can feel and

13. and touch.They believe the things these men say
even if it is in direct contradiction of the Holy
Scriptures. Close to the time of the crucifixion,
Jesus began to warn the apostles of what was
going to happen. They didn’t understand. They
thought that the Messiah was going to return
Israel to its former glory. Peter told Christ,“No
Lord, let it be far from thee”. Christ spoke
strongly to Peter, knowing his fear was from the
devil. He said,“Get thee behind me Satan: thou art
an offense unto me: for thou savourest not the
things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Lessons in Obedience,Worship and Faith

14. Walking like Jesus
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will
come after me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross and follow me. For whosoever will
save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose
his life for my sake shall find it.” Christ obeyed
the will of the Father. He taught Peter, as well as all
of us that we must sacrifice the things and desires
of this life. We also know that he told Peter later
that he would die for the word of God. By that
time Peter was full of the Holy Ghost and
understood that it was an honor for him to suffer
like Christ. We must all make sacrifices and in
taking up our cross we must go through a portion
of the suffering of Jesus.

15. When Christ washed the disciple’s feet, initially
Peter tried to refuse because he felt it was beneath
Christ’s dignity to wash his feet. Christ explained
that if he didn’t wash his feet he had no part with
him. Peter then said not only his feet but his head
and his hands! But Christ explained that he would
be clean every whit with only his feet washed. He
went on to explain that as he was our Lord and
Master and washed our feet that we should be like
him and wash our brother’s feet. Foot washing
represents the good service, brotherly love and acts
of righteousness that we do on behalf of our
brothers with meekness and humility.

16. Crucifixion
At Christ’s crucifixion we see Peter deny Christ three times, even after telling him he would die with him.
Peter was terrified. His own death was before his face. If he had admitted to being a servant of Christ he
would have been put to death. Please don’t assume you would have been stronger than Peter because you
would not. All strength comes from God and Peter was not given the strength to confess that he was
Christ’s disciple at the crucifixion. It was not the will of the Father or of Christ that Peter would be put to
death at that time.When the cock crew Jesus turned to look at Peter and Peter wept bitterly.This was the
worst time of Peter’s life. He was full of self loathing.

17. After Christ’s resurrection we see that Peter
became stronger. Christ had appeared before the
disciples at least three times over the span of about
forty days. Peter steps forward as leader of the
church of 120.They came together and cast lots and
chose another disciple to be one of the 12 to replace
Judas Iscariot. On the day of Pentecost when the
Holy Ghost fell on the church, Peter is able to speak
boldly to the people and to the Pharisees and leaders
who mocked. He spoke with authority, understanding
the Holy Scripture from the very beginning and
explained how all of the prophets had prophesied
about the coming of Jesus. Peter was never weak or
fearful again.
During this time we see the Peter change.
He was no longer a spiritual babe.. On the
Pentecost the Holy Spirit had transformed
him and just like iron that is purified to
make sure the impurities are gone--he was
no longer weak or wavering in faith.

18. Peter
In the name of Christ he baptized the church, performed miracles. He became bishop of the
church of God. He never failed or faltered. He left his teachings for us for all generations. He
suffered, was imprisoned, was beaten and finally was put to death for the word of God. He
became a different person through the power of the Holy Spirit.We must remember that we
can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.We can change and become new people.
We may be weak now, but if we walk with Christ he becomes our strength and we will not fail.
If we fall he will lift us up, just like he did Peter.