Telling the story:

One day this man’s brother came running up (sound out of breath), "Peter, we have seen Jesus." Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is God Who has come to earth like a man. "Come on, Simon Peter, you can come and see Jesus, too." Peter was glad for the news. He went to see Jesus.

Don’t you sometimes wish that you could see Jesus standing right here, just as His friends saw Him? We know that Jesus is real and that He sees and hears us. We’ll get to see Him someday! We have His promise about that. Everybody who trusts Jesus will get to be with Him forever.

Peter was so pleased to see Jesus! God’s promise had come true about His Son’s coming to earth.

One day Peter and his brother, Andrew, went to work. When Andrew and Peter went to work, they sailed in a big fishing boat and threw out huge nets into the sea and caught fish. Then they would sell the fish.

Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee. As He walked along, He saw Peter and Andrew fishing. He called to them, "Peter and Andrew, come follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." Did Peter and Andrew say that they were too busy to follow Jesus?

No; they sailed the boat to shore and told the men with whom they were in the fishing business that they would not be in that business anymore. They went with Jesus.

Being with Jesus is the most marvelous place for anybody to be! Peter saw such wonderful things happen whenever he was with Jesus! Jesus came to Peter’s house one day. When He came into the house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law sick with a very, very high fever. She was so hot! She was very, very sick. Peter watched Jesus go over to this lady and just touch her hand. Right away the fever went away. Peter saw his mother-in-law healed just that fast!

Has Peter said anything wrong yet? Has Peter told a lie or talked dirty yet? No, not yet.

Well, then, I want to tell you about another day when Jesus asked all His special friends to come to a meeting. He wanted to see His twelve friends. Do you know whom He called first? Yes, He called Peter first. Do you think that Peter talked naughty now? No, he was pleased that he was a special friend of Jesus. It was extra nice to have his name called first before any of the other eleven special friends.

And the most exciting thing happened to Peter one night! Peter got into a boat with Jesus’ special friends. They wanted to get to the other side of the lake. When they got into the boat, the wind was quiet, the night was pretty and still. But all of a sudden a terrible storm came up. The wind began to blow so strong! The water made great big waves that splashed up against the boat. The boat began to roll from side to side. The storm was terribly frightening. The ship just stayed in the middle of the lake and rolled back and forth. The men could not make the ship go to one side of the lake or the other.

Then, Jesus came from the land to the ship. Was He in another boat? No. Was He swimming out to the ship? No. Then, how was He coming out to the boat? He was walking on top of the water! How many of you can walk on top of the water? I can’t, either. But Jesus was walking on top of the water even with the great big waves splashing around. When Peter knew that it was Jesus coming out and that He was walking on the water, he thought that that looked like great fun! Peter called to Jesus, "Jesus, tell me to come to You. Make me walk on top of the water!" So, Jesus told Peter to get out of the boat and to come to Him. Jesus made Peter able to walk on the water! Of course, then Peter forgot to trust Jesus and began to sink. But Peter was learning that Jesus could do anything. Peter would not tell lies or say bad things as long as he was close to Jesus. Peter was learning to love Jesus very much.

Then one day Peter did say something wrong. It wasn’t a lie or bad words, yet. But the devil did get Peter to argue with Jesus. Jesus was telling His special friends that He would have to suffer and to die and to rise again from the dead. Peter didn’t listen very well. I think that he heard only the part about Jesus having to suffer and to die. I don’t think that he heard the part about Jesus’ rising again from the dead. Peter said, "Oh, no, Lord; You won’t have to do this." Jesus scolded Peter for arguing with Him. The reason Jesus came to earth was to die for our sins. Of course, He did not stay dead. He is alive in Heaven right now, and He’s in our hearts, too, if we trust Him.

But this wasn’t the worst thing that Peter said! It got to be the time when Jesus was supposed to die on the cross. The soldiers and some of the people who did not love Jesus captured Him one day. Peter was there when the soldiers and people came to get Jesus. The soldiers and the people grabbed ahold of Jesus and took Him away out of the garden. They took Him to many places, but Peter followed to the first place where they took Jesus. Peter was beginning to be afraid. He followed Jesus from back in the crowd. Peter wanted to see what would happen to Jesus.

Peter sat down outside the great big building where they had taken Jesus. Somebody had built a fire outside the building. Peter got close to the fire to keep warm—it was nighttime and getting cold outside. While Peter was getting warm beside the fire, a young lady saw him. I think that she thought, "That man looks familiar to me. Where have I seen him before? Hum." She thought and thought. "Oh, yes, I think that I have seen him with Jesus." So the young lady walked over to Peter. "Excuse me, sir. I have seen you somewhere before. You were with Jesus."

Then Peter lied! Peter said, "I don’t know what you’re talking about." Another young lady saw Peter. She turned to the people in the crowd with her. She said to them, "See that man. He was with Jesus. He was a friend of His." Peter heard this young lady tell her friends that he had been a friend of Jesus’. Peter lied again, but this time he also used bad words. He cursed and said, "I do not know Jesus."

Peter was still standing near this big building where Jesus was, because he did want to see what the soldiers and the people were going to do with Jesus. Some people who were standing with him then came to him and said, "Surely it is true that you were with Jesus." Peter then used terrible, terrible language. And he said once more that he did not know Jesus. Oh, isn’t that sad? Peter had talked the Devil’s way and not God’s way. Jesus would never tell a lie. Jesus would never talk dirty. Jesus is Truth. Jesus is Light. Peter had not talked Jesus’ way; he had talked the Devil’s way.

Then Peter thought (put your hands up to your head), "Oh, what have I done! I have told three lies and I have used bad, dirty language. I have said that I did not know Jesus—Jesus, Who is my best Friend. Jesus, Who is my Saviour! Oh, how terrible." And Peter began to cry. He went out into the night all alone. He cried and cried and cried. He felt so terrible at what he had done. He never again lied about knowing Jesus. In fact, he became a great preacher telling everybody who would listen to him that Jesus is our Saviour.