We are continuing with our VBS Theme for the month in preparation for VBS, tomorrow, “Twists & Turns,where following Jesus changes the game of life.” Life is not all fun and games – even after becoming a follower ofJesus; it’s full of twists and turns that can leave us feeling like we’ve taken one step forward and two steps back.We are looking at 4 encounters Jesus had with His friend Peter this month. Peter messed up,stumbled, and wasn’t perfect. But even when he messed up, it wasn’t ‘Game Over.’ God still worked throughPeter to help others learn about Jesus.So far we’ve seen Peter’s Aha! Moment where and when He first recognized Jesus for who He really is!We’ve seen Peter’s first steps of faith in Jesus when he first trusted Jesus enough to risk stepping out in faith!Last week we saw how, after seeing Jesus do the stuff for 3 years, he still denied even knowing Him when theheat was on, but how Jesus is forgiving even when we sin!Jesus defied all logic and reasoning when He died on the cross and rose from the grave so that wecould have forgiveness of our sins and live eternally with God. Hopefully, every one of us is seeing forourselves that Jesus is worth following even when it gets tough.A simple definition of the word “worthy“ is “having worth, value, or merit”. Today is about discoveringhow and why Jesus is worth following. When we trust Him as our Savior and Lord, we are acknowledging toHim that He is the most important person in our lives, like our most prized possession.You will tend to think about yourself what you think the most important person in your life thinks aboutyou. And God has a lot of thoughts about us!Psalm 139:17-18 NLT – 17  How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!18  I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!I heard a missionary once say that you’ll really never see that Jesus is all you need until you see that He’sall you’ve got! Like the Hymn says, “On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All otherground is sinking sand.” Peter knew Jesus came to save him just as much as He did for everyone else.Everyone has a soul who will spend eternity somewhere.It’s easier to walk in compassion and love when you know what’s at stake! And your peace andconfidence you carry in friendship with God will trigger everyone around you! And because Peter understoodand received these realities, he was literally willing to risk his life to make Jesus known – wherever he was, towhoever he met.His life was changed forever, and God would use him to change the lives of everyone around him. The Holy Spritwould prompt Peter to say to a huge crowd in Acts 4:12 – “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is noother name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”Q: If you have trusted Jesus, do you see and treat Him as your most prized person in your life?Salvation is only possible through one person – Jesus. He is worthy of all our praise, of us following Him, andof us acquainting others with Him!After Peter experienced Jesus’ forgiveness and was restored – the crux of last week’s message, he gotto do some really tough and even cool things for Jesus – things we are still talking about today! Here’s one ofthose:Acts 3:1-5 – 1  One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in theafternoon. 2  Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, wherehe was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3  When he saw Peter and John about toenter, he asked them for money. 4  Peter looked straight at him [gave him his complete attention], as did

John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5  So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something fromthem.Acts 3:6-10 – “   Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name ofJesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7  Taking hi