Have You Heard the Rooster?

.Mark 14:72

Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

My Grandmother used to raise chickens. When the sun rose in the mornings the most alluring sound would be the trumpeting of the rooster alerting us of a new day. It was time to get up when you heard the rooster crow. A new day had dawned when the rooster crowed. There was no more sleeping when the rooster crowed.

Not many of us wake up anymore to the sound of a rooster breaking the silence of the night to introduce a new day but there is the alarm of our conscience that alerts us that we have betrayed Jesus somewhere in our lives. If you listen hard enough you can still hear the rooster crow.

Peter had good intentions. He told Jesus he would never leave him or betray him. Peter told Jesus he would die with Jesus if he had to. Jesus told Peter, “You will deny me three times before the Rooster crows twice.”

Sure enough Peter saw Jesus arrested and beaten. The severity of the beating and the trauma of seeing Jesus being manhandled caused Peter to fall back, follow at a distance, and forsake his allegiance. All this he did without even realizing that he was doing the exact opposite of what he told Jesus he would do.

Peter denied Jesus in three different instances before the rooster crowed:

1. He denied association. When times get hard many of us who used to be with Jesus, distance ourselves in hard times. Jesus and the church is taking a beating lately and many of his followers have fallen back. The church is the bride of Christ and to deny her is to deny him. Don’t fall back step up.

2. He denied confirmation. Other people recognized Peter had been with Jesus but he denied it. People have spoken over your life and confirmed what you know inside but fail to confess. Jesus is in you but you agree with the call on your life.

3. He denied validation. They said, “You talk like him.” They could hear Jesus in his dialect. We deny Jesus when we refuse to speak about him or deny that there is something distinct about our dialect.

After their third time of denying Jesus, the rooster crowed, then Peter remembered what Jesus said, and he broke down and wept. When was the last time you cried after you realized that you’ve been living in denial? Has the crow caught up with your conscience? Has God awakened you to the sound of your own denial? Do the people you associate with know that you are a follower of Jesus or are you just hanging out? Have you received confirmation that there’s a call on your life or are you still in denial? Have you been broken over the fact that your intentions to follow Jesus have led to the realization that by the way you live you have actually denied Jesus existence? Do you hear the rooster crowing?

If you hear the rooster crowing this morning, wake up and recommit yourself to truly representing Jesus. Jesus is calling!

Dear God,

Help me to live out my intentions to follow you even if it means dying for what I believe. Let your light shine in me for the world to see. I cannot deny that I belong to you. Forgive me of falling back when I should’ve stepped up. I’m awake now, I heard the rooster crow. Thanks for the wakeup call.

In Jesus Name,
Amen