Rambo, Peter and the First Blood.

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Rambo, Peter and the First blood.

Hope and Living hope.

 

Let us talk about Peter, one of the three close friends of Jesus.”

Peter was an opinionated outgoing fisherman who truly loved Jesus.

 

Years ago, I heard of a man who drove his car far away from his home state of Minnesota. One Sunday afternoon this man and his wife saw in his rear end mirror the blue lights of a police officer who stopped him and came to ask him for his driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance.

 

The driver, a red-blooded man, reacted in the same way as most of us would react. What is the reason for you to stop me, officer? The police officer answered him with a question, Sir do you have stop signs in Minnesota? The driver was indignant and answered, “Of course we have stop signs in Minnesota.

 

The police officer asked him, “Did you see the stop sign two blocks back?

I sure did, the driver replied. The police officer asked, “Do you stop at the stop signs in Minnesota? By then the driver was so furious that the volume of his voice increased. Of course, we stop at stop signs in Minnesota. The police officer asked the driver, “How come you didn’t stop at the stop sign a couple blocks back?

 

In self-righteousness the man increased a little bit more the volume of his voice and said, “I did stop at the stop sign back there.”

 

The police officer did not say a thing but just look at him silently. Then the driver broke silence. “I think I stopped.” Then again there was no reply from the police officer, the driver rectified himself saying, “I hope I stopped.”

  

The volume of the driver’s voice decreased considerably when he asked his wife “Did I stop?” His sweet wife calmly answered, “You did not stop sweetheart.”

 

In the plains of the infinite and eternal within space and time like lightning it flashes for a moment is the desire to be single again. The silence that followed 

the conversation was like the sledgehammer of a judge convicting him in a way only Nathan the prophet knew in the look of David the King when he said, “You are that man.” 

 

As a preacher of the gospel, I appreciate more the power of conviction than the victory by convicting a person. This police officer seems to have some elements of godliness in his life so when he noticed the man humiliated by the preponderance of the evidence and the convicting voice of his wife he knew not to give him a ticket because it would have been over killing the dead horse. So he handed back to him his driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance and let him go without a word.

 

Ours is a gospel of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. The man had repented.

By the way, the movie Rambo’s real title is “First Blood.” There has been in my own life a grave offence that goes back almost seven years where that “The first Blood” was mine. I am offering forgiveness as it is expected of me, but the offending parties are not taking my forgiveness. I cannot repent for others.

 

Once convicted of sin, repentance is born and if you are “Pro-life” ...then you should readily forgive and let the living hope take over and let the New Born baby go in the New Life being purchased by God the Father through Jesus the Son.

 

Please, as you look at Peter in the following verse ... take a fresh look at yourself and see Peter in you.

 

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Peter 1:3

 

Remember that you, like Peter, have said many times over, “I love you Jesus.”

And I believe you... but your thankfulness should be directed to God the Father who so loved you that he gave Jesus to purchase new and living hope for you through the resurrection of Jesus which is not “Hope as a possibility but as a certainty that starts in this life and in the here and now.”

 

“You have been detained ... but now you are free to go.”

In Adam and in the garden in front of Eve you have been detained.

In Jesus and his resurrection, you are free to go.  

 

Thanks to God the Father, in Jesus you have now the power to stop at the stop signs because the Lord Jesus is in you. Through his spirit is the hope of glory.

 

Stop denying Jesus and go back to your first love where you used to claim, “You are Jesus the Christ of God.” Remember your three times beloved Jesus. 

 

This was another Peter of Jesus on duty.

 

Gerry Gutierrez.

 

PS. With the Great Chief of the Sahara Desert, the great Chief of the White House and breaking ranks with Marx and walking away alone.