What is it that causes you to shy away from doing what you know is right?  For me it is sometimes good, old-fashioned, stubborn disobedience, but often it is simply fear.  We have seen throughout the gospel of John that people were afraid to speak openly about Jesus “for fear of the Jews.”  Now here in John 18, we see Peter afraid to speak openly about Jesus for fear of the Jews.  They have arrested Jesus and Peter is following at a distance.  Despite Peter’s desire to stand strong and his earlier proclamation that he would lay his life down for Jesus, we see him give way to fear, and the words of Jesus are fulfilled—“ a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.” (John 13:38)  I can only imagine that Peter remembered this moment every time he heard a rooster crow.  Peter learned from Jesus what it meant to “drink the cup” that the Father had given him, and he moved forward in obedience.  Conquering his fear, he spoke openly about Jesus, and many lives were saved as a result.  History tells us that Peter eventually did lay his life down for Jesus and was crucified upside down.

I find it interesting that when the Roman cohort came to arrest Jesus in the garden, “they drew back and fell to the ground” as He proclaimed His name, “I Am.”  Philippians 2:10 says that “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow.”  As we worship in song this morning, be reminded of whom you serve as we sing together, “Ev’ry fear has no place at the sound of Your great Name.”  Willingly bow your knee to the Name above all names and move forward in obedience to Jesus Christ.