What if your story isn’t really about you? What if the messy, failure-filled, grace-filled journey you’re on points to something far greater than your own glory? Pastor Mark Pascowitz opened GBC Phoenix’s new series, The Acts of the Gospel, by walking us through the life of Peter — and the invitation to stop making our story about us and start entering into God’s.
Entering Into God’s Story
For six weeks, GBC Phoenix will be walking through the lives of key apostles — starting with Peter and ending with Paul. The series title says it all: The Acts of the Gospel. This isn’t a series about how great these men were. It’s about how the gospel met them in their ordinary, flawed, messy lives and invited them into something extraordinary.
Pastor Mark put it plainly: “God says, ‘I want you to be a part of my story. I want to take where you are and who you are and I want to transform you into something that is going to bring me glory.’ And the beautiful thing is that this invitation does not just end with the apostles.”
This is an invitation for you today. You don’t have to be polished. You don’t have to have it together. God isn’t looking for the qualified — He’s looking for the willing.
The Call of an Ordinary Fisherman
We begin in Luke chapter 5, where Jesus calls Peter for the first time. Peter was not a rising star. He wasn’t on a trajectory for greatness. In fact, he’d been kicked out of Hebrew school and sent to work for his father. He was an ordinary fisherman with ordinary failures.
But Jesus gets into Peter’s boat and tells him to put out into the deep and let down his nets. Peter had been fishing all night and caught nothing. But at Jesus’ word, he lets down the nets — and they enclose so many fish their nets start breaking.
“When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.'”
— Luke 5:8
Right from the start, Peter sees himself clearly — a sinful man in the presence of a holy God. And what does Jesus do? He doesn’t leave. He invites Peter into the boat and says, “From now on you will be catching alive men” (Luke 5:10).
The same is true for us. When we encounter Christ, we don’t get a spirit of rejection — we get an invitation. God takes the least of us and transforms us for His work.
The Cost of Following
Pastor Mark didn’t sugarcoat it: “The whole story that Christ invites these apostles into leads them all to painful deaths.” Following Jesus isn’t a comfortable path. It’s a call to pick up your cross daily. It leads through failure, through hardship, through seasons where you deny Christ with your actions, your words, and even your heart posture.
Peter is a perfect example. Bold, loud, rash — and yet incredibly willing. He’s always the first to speak, always getting into trouble, always trying to figure it out. But he’s willing. And that’s what God is looking for.
Peter’s Confession: To Whom Shall We Go?
In John chapter 6, Jesus says something hard — that eating His flesh and drinking His blood is necessary for life. Many of His disciples turn back and no longer walk with Him. Jesus turns to the twelve and asks, “Do you want to go away as well?”
“Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'”
— John 6:68-69
Peter doesn’t fully understand what Jesus is saying — but he knows where to go. He’s not going to walk away from the only One who has the words of eternal life. That’s not blind loyalty. That’s trust.
The Denial and the Look
Jesus knows what’s coming. In Luke 22:31-33, He tells Peter plainly:
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
— Luke 22:31-32
Satan wants to sift Peter like wheat — and Jesus prays for him. Peter, bold as ever, says he’s ready to go to prison or even death for Jesus. But Jesus responds, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me” (Luke 22:34).
And sure enough, when Jesus is arrested and Peter is following at a distance, he denies Jesus three times — to a servant girl, to another person, and to a third. The rooster crows. The Lord turns and looks directly at Peter.
Pastor Mark said this hit him harder than it should: “I shouldn’t relate to this as much as I do.” But isn’t that the point? We’ve all been there — seasons where we’re denying Christ with how we live, not because we don’t know Him, but because we’re afraid, or tired, or self-protecting.
The story doesn’t end in shame. It ends in restoration.
The Restoration: From fileo to Agape
After the resurrection, Peter goes back to what he knows — fishing. And Jesus shows up on the shore. He builds a charcoal fire (remember that — it’s only mentioned twice in Scripture: here and when Peter denied Christ). Jesus is recreating the scene of Peter’s failure.
He serves Peter breakfast. And then comes one of the most profound conversations in the Bible — three questions, three answers, three commissions.
“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.'”
— John 21:15
Jesus asks Peter three times — and the words for love are everything. Jesus uses agape — sacrificial, God-like love. Peter responds with phileo — brotherly love. Jesus doesn’t reject Peter’s honest answer. He takes it and says, “Feed my sheep.”
Then Jesus says something stunning about Peter’s future: “When you were young, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18) — a prediction of Peter’s death by crucifixion.
Peter would be transformed from a man who loved Jesus like a brother to a man who would die a martyr’s death for Him. And the mechanism? Jesus puts it plainly: “When I am lifted up… I will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). It’s not Peter’s effort — it’s Jesus’ work in him.
From filéō to Agápē — The Transformation God Wants
Pastor Mark closed with this powerful application: there are three Greek words for love. Eros is romantic love. Phileo is brotherly love. And agape is God-like, sacrificial love.
Most of us, if we’re honest, are offering Jesus a phileo love — a friendship love. We’re treating Him like a buddy, not a Lord. But Jesus wants agape. He wants the full-surrender, sacrificial, everything-on-the-table kind of love.
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”
— 2 Peter 1:3
Peter’s story ends not with a celebration of Peter, but with a doxology: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever, amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).
That’s the whole story. It’s not about us. It’s about what God wants to do through us — for His glory and His excellence. When we get honest about where we’re at, He takes our phileo love and transforms it into agape love. He takes our ordinary, messy lives and enters us into His extraordinary story.
Cast Aside Your Nets
Pastor Mark ended with an invitation that cuts across every spectrum of life:
“I believe that Jesus is saying to all of us: cast aside your nets. Come follow me and enter into the story. It’s going to be tough and it’s going to be hard and it’s going to be full of restoration and it’s going to be full of grace — but it will all be for His own glory and excellence. And because of that, I promise you, it is worth it.”
Whether you’re young or old, near to Christ or far — the invitation is the same. Enter into the story. Stop making it about your glory, your comfort, your plan. Let God take your ordinary, messy, grace-filled journey and use it for something eternal.
Scripture References
- Luke 5:1-11 — The calling of Peter and the miraculous catch of fish
- John 6:60-69 — Peter confesses Jesus as the Holy One of God
- Luke 22:31-33 — Jesus foretells Peter’s denial and prays for him
- Luke 22:54-62 — Peter denies Jesus three times; the rooster crows
- John 21:1-19 — Jesus restores Peter and commissions him to feed His sheep
- 2 Peter 1:3 — God’s divine power grants us all things for life and godliness
- Ephesians 3:20-21 — Doxology: glory to God who does immeasurably more