Peter became (sings here) like a rock once he saw Jesus. He became a man of courage. You're going now, "Time out, Ed. Peter? This guy who'd fallen at a distance? This guy who backed out?" That's right - Peter. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Acts. We'll look at Acts 4:13. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Acts 4:13. We're talking about Peter, the same man, a little while later, "when they saw... "circle this phrase, "the courage of Peter", and I call courage an endangered character quality, kind of like a spotted owl, "when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note..." I love this, "that they had been with Jesus". Suddenly, Peter becomes a man with courage and courage is the God-given ability to stand. We need people of courage in today's society, don't we? We need people, first of all, who have spiritual courage. It takes spiritual courage just to become a Christian, to admit the truth about yourself before a Holy God. I laugh when I hear people say, "Christianity is for quiche-eaters, for those who need a crutch, for those who are weak".

I look at those people and say, "Well, I guess the Christians have more courage than you have because they'll admit the truth about themselves". It takes courage, spiritual courage, to become a Christian. We also need people of moral courage. Peter was a man of moral courage. Moral courage is vital, it's foundational, it's not optional. Courage to resist the greener grass syndrome. Courage in our thought life, moral courage. Courage at the marketplace not to pad the expense account or to lie to the client. We need relational courage. That's why most marriages fail. People don't have that courage to work through it. They don't have the courage to say, "Honey, I'm wrong. I blew it. I messed up. Will you forgive me?" I'm going to stand. I have vision. I have endurance. But I have courage and we're going to make it work. Courage. I'm talking about relational courage to spend quantity and quality time with your children. How we need spiritual, moral and relational courage, and Peter had it.

Ed Young tells us that Jesus also gave him power. He gave him courage. He gave him resurrection power. Look at verse 33, still on Acts 4, we're still talking about Peter! You've seen the before and after type pictures advertising health products. That's Peter. How can you have a life changed like that? He met the resurrected power of Christ. Verse 33, "with great power, and this word "power" in the Greek is "dynamus". We get our word Dynomite! like Jimmy Walker used to say.