Derek Thomas

Now, that reads as a very matter-of-fact bit of history, but that's absolutely huge.

Who is the most important man around in A.D.

50?

And the answer is Cephas, Peter.

Peter is way more important than Paul.

In the first 12 chapters of Acts, for example, it's not Paul.

It's all about Peter.

To whom did Jesus say, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it?

Peter, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.

Peter wasn't the first pope of Rome, of course, but he was the supreme apostle.

He was the supreme disciple.

He was the one, this broken individual who had denied Jesus.

You would have picked John before you'd have picked Peter.

the one whom the gospels refer to as Jesus' friend.

Isn't it a wonderful thing that God uses broken people like Peter to build His church?

Who is the great preacher on the day of Pentecost?

It's Peter.

So there's a sense in which Saul of Tarsus, now the apostle Paul, he's gone away to Arabia.

He studied like crazy, I'm sure, when he was there.

The Holy Spirit gave him revelation and insight and knowledge and understanding, but he still had to get the approval of the supremos, the