1 00:00:01,200 --> 00:00:04,520 Good morning, everyone. If you take your Bibles, open up 2 00:00:04,520 --> 00:00:10,760 to the Gospel of Luke Chapter 9, Luke Chapter 9, that's page 919. 3 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:13,320 If you're using one of the Bibles in the seats around you 4 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:17,760 as you're opening up to Luke 9, I want you to think about a 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:23,240 question that has changed your life, a question that someone 6 00:00:23,240 --> 00:00:26,920 has asked you at some point in time that you know, this was a 7 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:31,080 defining moment in my life. Maybe it was should I buy this 8 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:35,520 new house? Maybe it was should I say yes to 9 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:37,320 this person who wants to marry me? 10 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:42,240 I I think about sometimes in my own life that the reality of 11 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,160 questions that have shaped my life in different ways, hard 12 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:46,800 questions I've had to wrestle with. 13 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:48,920 Like. Do you really believe the Leafs 14 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:50,720 will win the Stanley Cup in your lifetime? 15 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,000 One of the probably most poignant questions I was asked 16 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:02,600 came in a season where I was even unusually busy in serving 17 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,160 God and doing some things in ministry. 18 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,680 And someone came up to me and said, hey, Kirk, what are you 19 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,640 trying to prove to God? Why are you doing more than what 20 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:15,520 you should be doing? And that was like straight to 21 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,960 the heart penetrating kind of question that makes you pause 22 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:21,360 and think and wrestle with something like that. 23 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,480 You see, there are some questions that don't just inform 24 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,360 our lives, they define our lives. 25 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,600 You've probably had a lot of those kinds of questions. 26 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,520 Am I happy? What is my purpose in life? 27 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:37,840 Should I take this job? Will I be OK? 28 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:42,720 Will the people I love be OK? And as we come to the passage 29 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:48,200 today in Luke Chapter 9, Jesus is going to shape his disciples 30 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,920 through a question. In fact, it is the single most 31 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,240 important question Jesus could ask you or me or any other 32 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:57,880 person. So let's read the passage 33 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,120 beginning in verse 18 of Luke Chapter 9. 34 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,000 While he was praying in private and his disciples were with him, 35 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,520 he asked them, who do the crowds say that I am? 36 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:17,120 And they answered John the Baptist, others, Elijah, still 37 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,480 others, that one of the ancient prophets has come back. 38 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:26,080 But you, he asked them, Who do you say that I am? 39 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,720 And Peter answered, your God's Messiah. 40 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,680 The single most important question in life is this Who do 41 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:42,200 you say Jesus is the The question of the identity of 42 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,960 Jesus, more than any other question you will ever wrestle 43 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,000 with in your life, matters. And the reason it matters is is 44 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:54,440 because it is the one question that has eternal consequences 45 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,240 and present day implications at the same time. 46 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,640 A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Derek talked about some of the 47 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:05,520 most common misconceptions that people have when it comes to who 48 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,040 Jesus is. And if you missed that sermon 49 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:10,840 from a couple of weeks ago, I really encourage you to go back, 50 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:14,160 review it, watch it. It's an incredibly helpful, 51 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:18,240 great teaching on some of the misconceptions people have about 52 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:20,440 Jesus. It's important that we 53 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:24,600 accurately understand the identity of who Jesus is. 54 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,840 Now, when I say identity, I don't just mean the fact that 55 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:32,120 Jesus existed. Historians are confident that 56 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,640 Jesus existed. Graham Stanton from Cambridge 57 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:37,960 University in England, he said this. 58 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,280 He said today nearly all historians, whether Christian or 59 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:48,000 not, except that Jesus existed and that the Gospels contain 60 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,120 plenty of valuable evidence which has to be weighed and 61 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:56,360 assessed critically. So historians agreed Jesus 62 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:58,880 existed. So if he existed, then the next 63 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:01,480 logical question is, well, who was this guy? 64 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,800 Who is he? If you're not a history buff and 65 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,440 you don't really care about religion, you may not really 66 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:13,960 care because Jesus just another historical figure to study. 67 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:20,279 But what if that question of who is Jesus really, truly does have 68 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:26,240 eternal implications? What if it really does make a 69 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,640 difference in the way that you approach every single thing in 70 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,760 your life, not just part of your life, all of your life. 71 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:38,600 If you're here today or you're watching online and you're 72 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:44,080 exploring the Christian faith, who is Jesus is the primary 73 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,720 question to consider, and everything else flows from 74 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,000 there. The Christian faith is not a 75 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,240 faith primarily of rules and regulations. 76 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,800 It's not a faith of knowledge. It's a faith that is centered in 77 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:01,120 a person named Jesus. One of the mistakes that people 78 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,480 often make when they're exploring the Christian faith is 79 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,680 is they'll come to the Bible and they'll go, OK, I want to 80 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:10,680 understand all the things in the Bible before I make a decision 81 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,800 about Jesus. So I need to know, like, is it 82 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:16,200 really true? What happened in Genesis 1 and 83 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:18,680 2? Did all of that really happen? 84 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:23,640 Or the stuff in Revelation of a weird creature with horns coming 85 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,680 out of his head. Is that real? 86 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,200 Because it raises so many questions and doubts for me. 87 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:35,120 And so we go looking for all of our questions to be answered 88 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:38,880 first before we decide if we're going to put our faith and 89 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,920 belief in Jesus. But the Christian faith actually 90 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:46,120 works the opposite of that. The Christian faith starts with 91 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:51,840 the question of who is Jesus, and everything flows out of that 92 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:55,800 answer to that question. We have to figure out who Jesus 93 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:59,800 is and read everything else in the Bible through that lens. 94 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,000 Now, I know that for the majority of us in the room 95 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:07,360 today, we have settled this question in our hearts a long 96 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:10,880 time ago, who is Jesus? But for those of you who have 97 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:13,640 already made-up your mind who Jesus is, I want you to keep 98 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,520 your heart and mind open as we walk through this passage. 99 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:20,640 Because the truth is, this is the one question you're going to 100 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,280 have to keep coming back to over and over again throughout your 101 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:26,760 life. Now, when it comes to 102 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:30,960 understanding the identity of Jesus, one of the common things 103 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,600 that people will do is try and find out, well, what do other 104 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:37,280 people think about this question? 105 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:39,320 How would other people answer the question? 106 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,600 So we read books about the historical Jesus, we listen to 107 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,480 podcasts, we talk to friends, whatever that looks like. 108 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,880 And while it's OK and good to be aware of what other people 109 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:57,520 think, don't settle for what someone else says about Jesus in 110 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:02,160 verses 18 and 19. Peter is very well aware of what 111 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:04,400 other people think about who Jesus is. 112 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:06,240 Jesus says, who do people say I am? 113 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:08,720 And the disciples are answering the question. 114 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:10,920 This is who other people say that you are. 115 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:15,080 They're very familiar with what the talk of the town is about 116 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:19,720 who Jesus is. But as we read just in these 3 117 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:24,200 verses, Peter learns to figure out his own answer to the 118 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:26,240 question. He doesn't just depend on 119 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:28,160 everybody else's answer to the question. 120 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:33,960 There are some of you who maybe have experienced church life 121 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:38,440 before even being here at Forward, and many of you have 122 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:42,680 experienced deep hurt and wounds from other Christians and 123 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:47,120 churches. Some of you are looking at kind 124 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:49,560 of the world that we live in today and you see some things 125 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,880 that Christians do and you go, man, that does not line up with 126 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:56,760 what I think a Christian is supposed to do. 127 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,480 And there's a disconnect there for you. 128 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:05,800 And what happens is your experiences end up shaping your 129 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,760 definition of who Jesus is. You allow other people to shape 130 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:12,440 that definition in your mind and your heart of who Jesus is. 131 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:16,880 And so let me just say to you on this, if the the things that 132 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:19,920 other people have said and done that don't reflect Jesus well 133 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,520 are the reasons why you are doubting or struggling with 134 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,520 Jesus, that's not entirely fair to Jesus to allow other people 135 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:32,120 to define him for you. Let Jesus stand on his own 136 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,320 without being defined by what other people have or have not 137 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:40,799 done. There are also a lot of people 138 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,400 who've been in Christian environments for a very long 139 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:48,240 time who know all the right answers to the questions. 140 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:51,800 So, you know, OK, this is what I'm supposed to answer when I 141 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:53,600 say, when someone says who is Jesus? 142 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:58,480 And you've memorized the answers to the questions and you do it 143 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,120 because not necessarily that you believe it, but it's the right 144 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,160 thing to say and do when you're at church. 145 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:08,480 For example, there are a lot of people in our church who have 146 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:12,400 the incredible blessing of growing up in Christian homes. 147 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:16,800 And you grow up in a Christian home and, and, and, and you are 148 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:21,200 just surrounded by the teaching of who Jesus is and what the 149 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:24,960 Christian faith is all about. And, and, and what you end up 150 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:30,280 finding is that your entire idea of Jesus ends up being based off 151 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:35,560 of what mom or dad or a youth leader or a, a, a, a teacher in 152 00:09:35,560 --> 00:09:37,800 kids ministry has told you Jesus is. 153 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:42,840 But at some point it's critical that you answer the question for 154 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:47,720 yourself that you don't believe simply because your parents 155 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:51,720 believe something about Jesus. One of the things I love that's 156 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:56,440 happening this weekend right now is we have about 80 students who 157 00:09:56,440 --> 00:10:00,800 are off at a retreat discovering for themselves who Jesus is, 158 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,080 entering into a space where they're learning to take 159 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:08,680 ownership of their faith. And if you're a parent here 160 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:13,000 today and your kids have been asking you hard questions and 161 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,440 you're thinking, ma'am, maybe they've got some doubts, maybe 162 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:16,920 they're struggling with their faith. 163 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:19,640 I just want you to know, don't freak out. 164 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:21,720 It's OK. It's good. 165 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:25,120 In fact, it's healthy for your kids to be asking those kinds of 166 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:29,200 questions. It's good for them to wrestle 167 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:31,920 with that. Who is Jesus to me? 168 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:34,960 You have not necessarily failed your kids. 169 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:39,240 When they start to ask those kinds of questions, it's good to 170 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:41,880 createspace for them to explore for themselves. 171 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:45,360 Like I remember that moment for myself. 172 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,200 I, I had grown up in church. I've been taught all the rules 173 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:54,160 of the Bible, but then just reading the Bible for myself and 174 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:58,400 seeing things that just came to life that God wanted to speak 175 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:01,920 directly to me, not just through other people. 176 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:06,320 It's incredibly life giving when you discover that for me, the 177 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,640 defining moment in in that journey was I grown up in this 178 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:12,040 environment where Christianity was all about all the rules you 179 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:14,240 have to keep. And then one day I read the 180 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,960 words of Jesus where Jesus says the single greatest command is 181 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:20,920 to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. 182 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:24,200 And that was like a light bulb went off in my head and where 183 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,680 God just said to me, seek Kirk, it's not about all the rules. 184 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:30,000 It's ultimately about my love for you and your love back to 185 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:31,960 me. That's the Christian faith. 186 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:38,560 So if you're exploring Jesus or you've been going to church for 187 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:43,120 a long time, don't just settle for other people's opinions. 188 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:49,000 The truth is, you're invited to get close enough to Jesus to 189 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:53,920 discover who He is for yourself. By the time we get to Peter 190 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:56,920 being asked this question here in these verses, Peter's been 191 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:00,600 traveling with Jesus for 2 to 2 1/2 years already. 192 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,640 He spent time observing Jesus in action. 193 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,360 He's seen Jesus working miracles. 194 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:11,200 He's listened to Jesus teaching. He saw how Jesus has interacted 195 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:13,680 with people and cared for people and love people. 196 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,880 And so the answer Peter is about to give to this question is not 197 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:21,760 based on having memorized the right answer to the question. 198 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,320 The answer Peter is about to give to this question is based 199 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:32,400 on his experience with Jesus. Sometimes you can come to a 200 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:35,440 church environment like this and somebody's going to ask you a 201 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:37,920 direct question like this one. Who do you say Jesus is? 202 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:40,800 And it feels like a pop quiz like I got to get the answer 203 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:44,200 right or else. And you feel this incredible 204 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:46,320 pressure. And so I, I want, if that's you 205 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:48,680 today, I just want to take the pressure off. 206 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:51,920 Nobody likes a pop quiz not giving you a pop quiz to the 207 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:55,280 question. Here's what I want you to hear. 208 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:01,080 We want you to take the time to discover for yourself who Jesus 209 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:04,520 is. We don't need to give you a 210 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:08,440 sales pitch. We, we don't need you to buy a 211 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,600 product. We want to invite you to take 212 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,400 the time for yourself to discover who Jesus is. 213 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,640 And after all this time of walking with Jesus, here's the 214 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:26,280 conclusion that Peter comes to. He says in verse 20, you are 215 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:31,320 God's Messiah. That's who Jesus is. 216 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:36,360 That's his identity. Some Bible translations will say 217 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:40,760 you are the Christ the OR the Son of God, and they're saying 218 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:44,240 the same thing. Christ is not the last name of 219 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:45,960 Jesus. You know, some of us might think 220 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:48,720 that his name was Jesus Christ. That's not his last name. 221 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:52,880 It's a title. The words Messiah and Christ 222 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,200 both carry the same meaning. It's a it's a title that means 223 00:13:56,200 --> 00:14:01,440 the anointed one. To be the anointed one meant 224 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:05,640 that you were set apart by God for a special purpose and 225 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:09,240 reason. That in the Old Testament, being 226 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:13,480 the anointed one was often symbolized by pouring on of oil 227 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:16,040 on a person. And while Peter is saying he's 228 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:20,720 come to believe that Jesus is the one who is sent by God to 229 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:23,520 accomplish God's purposes in redeeming the world, that's what 230 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:27,680 he's saying. And to us as Christians, this is 231 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:33,440 the statement that brings us together that Jesus is God's 232 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,000 Messiah. In Matthew's version of this 233 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:40,400 story, after Peter makes this confession, Jesus says on this 234 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:47,680 rock, I will build my church. Jesus saying based on this 235 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:51,760 confession of who I am, that I am the Messiah, I'm going to 236 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:54,560 build my church. This is what unites us. 237 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:59,360 The church does not primarily exist to be a social community, 238 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,400 although there are social elements to what we do. 239 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:07,160 The church does not exist to run a bunch of good programs, 240 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:09,600 although that's part of what we do. 241 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:14,440 The church does not primarily exist to sing some nice songs or 242 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,800 to show up in an auditorium on Sunday morning and listen to a 243 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,400 guy talk for half an hour, although that is part of what we 244 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:27,320 do. The church is united around 1 245 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:32,120 answer to one question. Jesus is the Messiah. 246 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,680 That's who we are as Christians. And one of the things that is so 247 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:42,080 heartbreaking is to see the kinds of things that Christians 248 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:48,960 are debating and dividing over in our world today, like things 249 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:53,560 that we are arguing about that do not matter in the grand 250 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:58,640 scheme of eternity. The single thing that matters is 251 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:04,240 who do you say Jesus is on the day you and I stand before God. 252 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:09,840 He is not going to say, so take me through your entire 253 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,640 theological statement so we can decide if you can get into 254 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:15,840 heaven or not. He's not going to sit there and 255 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:20,480 say, take me through all the theologians and postures that 256 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,760 you listen to so I can decide if I agreed with those guys or not, 257 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:27,160 so you can get into heaven. He's not going to sit there and 258 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:30,000 say, were you a Calvinist or an Armenian? 259 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:32,160 He's not going to ask that question. 260 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:37,360 The only question that matters is what did you do with Jesus? 261 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:42,240 Who do you say Jesus is? That's all that matters when it 262 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:45,560 comes to our eternity. All those other things are good 263 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:50,440 questions, interesting conversations, but have no 264 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,800 bearing on our eternal salvation. 265 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:01,520 And most of us in this room, we will all agree that we believe 266 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:04,400 Jesus is the Messiah. But that leads to another 267 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,160 question. What do we actually mean when we 268 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:12,280 say that Jesus is the Messiah? Do you even know what that 269 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:13,800 means? Or is it just a title and it's 270 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:15,319 the right answer to the question? 271 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:21,400 Well, to say that you believe Jesus is the Messiah is best 272 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:24,440 understood with three words Prophet, priest, and king. 273 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:31,920 In in the Bible, those are the people who were anointed by God 274 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:35,280 for a special purpose, prophets, priests, and kings. 275 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:39,560 Up to that point, the world had seen all kinds of people carry 276 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,320 one of those titles of prophet, priest, or king. 277 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:49,880 But now Peter is recognizing Jesus as the anointed by God to 278 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:55,960 carry all three titles, that Jesus is the ultimate prophet, 279 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:59,440 priest, and king. So let me unpack that for us so 280 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,120 we understand what that means. First of all, Jesus is the 281 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:04,520 prophet who shows what God is like. 282 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,040 Imagine for a moment that God actually wanted to speak to you. 283 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:11,760 What? What does God sound like to you 284 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,240 in your head? What what does God sound like to 285 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:15,720 you? Is he? 286 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:20,040 Is he like the warm and cozy and fun grandpa that just wants to 287 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:23,160 hang out with you and feed you lots of sugar? 288 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:31,320 Is he the harsh and direct like a controlling parent or employer 289 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:36,680 stern kind of conversation? One of the things that God 290 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:43,120 consistently does in the Bible is send prophets to reveal God 291 00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:46,000 to the people. And so these prophets would show 292 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,600 up and they would tell the people what God wanted them to 293 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:51,800 say, what God wanted communicated to the people. 294 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:56,240 And so when we see Jesus, he does the exact same thing. 295 00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:01,400 In John 14 Jesus says the word that you hear is not mine, but 296 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:05,400 is from the Father who sent me. So every word that comes from 297 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:10,520 Jesus is not just Jesus words, it is what God wanted to say 298 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:15,640 through Jesus to people. So Jesus is a prophet just like 299 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:18,800 every other prophet. But then Jesus is a prophet in 300 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:21,320 an even better way than all the other prophets. 301 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:25,880 One of the many reasons we keep encouraging you to open your 302 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:28,880 Bible and to meditate on the Bible is because God wants to 303 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:30,680 reveal Himself to you through the Word. 304 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:34,040 And one of the things we see in the Word in John 14 verse 9, 305 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,920 Jesus says this. If you've seen me, you've seen 306 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,560 the Father. Jesus wasn't just the prophet 307 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,760 who spoke the words of God. Jesus was the greater prophet 308 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:49,160 who actually embodied what God is like. 309 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,200 When you want to understand what God is like, you look to Jesus. 310 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:58,840 So when we as God's people confess Jesus as the Messiah, 311 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:02,080 what we're saying is Jesus doesn't just give us information 312 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:06,720 about God. Jesus reveals who God is. 313 00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:11,920 He doesn't just talk about God. He puts God on display for us. 314 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:17,800 So if you want to know like what does God think about suffering 315 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:24,040 and grief? You look at Jesus, you watch him 316 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:30,960 at the tomb of Lazarus if you want to know how God treats 317 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,720 outsiders. You look at Jesus and how he 318 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:36,200 interacts with a guy like Zacchaeus. 319 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:41,360 If you want to understand how God responds to self-righteous 320 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:45,800 people or injustices in the world, or political powers, or 321 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:49,600 people who are broken, or people who are humble about their sin, 322 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:54,160 watch Jesus. He embodies what God is like. 323 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:58,880 He is the greater prophet who is revealing God to us. 324 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:03,160 Any issue that you want to understand what God thinks and 325 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:06,960 what God has to say, you look to Jesus. 326 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:12,680 And as Jesus reveals God to us, he's also going to reveal how 327 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,920 far you and I have fallen from God's standards. 328 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,520 And that's why it's also important we understand that 329 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:22,720 Jesus is the priest who mediates between God and people. 330 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,920 If a prophet brought God to the people, the priestess is 331 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,240 designed to bring the people to God. 332 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:36,600 Many of you have grown up in traditions where you are called 333 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:41,720 to confess your sins to a priest because some believe that God 334 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,680 Forgives sin through a minister of the Church. 335 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:51,040 But every single priest in all of human history is imperfect in 336 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:55,040 some way. Jesus is the only priest who's 337 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:58,520 perfect in every way. The in the Old Testament, every 338 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,760 priest had to keep offering sacrifices over and over and 339 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:04,880 over again because the sin was never fully dealt with. 340 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:08,640 Jesus came and offered a sacrifice that was sufficient 341 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:13,240 once for all time. And while priests in the Old 342 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:17,400 Testament sacrificed an animal for the atonement of sins, Jesus 343 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:21,520 offers himself as the ultimate sacrifice. 344 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,480 And here's what all that means for you and me when we believe 345 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:29,480 that Jesus is the Messiah. If you confess Jesus as the 346 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,680 Christ, if you believe in your heart he is who the Bible says 347 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:38,960 he is, your sins are fully forgiven in the eyes of God. 348 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:45,360 Like imagine someone showed up at the bank today, went up to a 349 00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:50,080 bank teller and said, hey, Kirk has this debt. 350 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,880 Here's all the cash to pay off his debt. 351 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,120 And oh, by the way, here's my card. 352 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:00,400 And whenever he incurs more debt, just put it on my account. 353 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:05,360 I've got that taken care of too. That's what Jesus has done with 354 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:11,560 your sin and my sin completely paid for past, present, future. 355 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:17,400 And not only that, because Jesus is your priest, it also means 356 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:22,760 your salvation is secure. Like some of us, we get worried 357 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:25,960 about be Am I being good enough as a Christian to keep my 358 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:30,160 salvation? We sang it earlier. 359 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:35,920 Jesus paid it all. All. 360 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:46,200 You cannot and do not need to worry about paying more to be 361 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:50,720 able to keep your salvation. Your salvation is secure because 362 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:56,160 Jesus is the priest. Jesus as priest also means that 363 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,280 you and I, we've got direct access to God, that you don't 364 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:02,760 need to confess your sins to a priest in order to be forgiven. 365 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,400 Jesus is the high Priest who gives you direct access to God 366 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:09,160 for the forgiveness of your sins. 367 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,720 Now, just because Jesus has forgiven you of your sins, that 368 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:16,560 does not mean you've got permission to do whatever you 369 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:20,520 want to do. Because to believe Jesus is your 370 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:24,960 Messiah also means that you believe Jesus is the King who 371 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:31,040 has ultimate authority. The Jews understood that kings 372 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:35,400 were anointed by God, and the Jews kept looking for the next 373 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,040 political king who was going to rescue them from the Romans. 374 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:42,160 But The thing is, there have been plenty of political kings 375 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,840 in human history. Jesus is better than that. 376 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:48,880 They all come and go. Anyone who just wants Jesus to 377 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,480 be a political king is thinking way too small. 378 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,400 Jesus is the greater king because Jesus is the one who 379 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:58,960 would conquer the one thing that no other king could ever 380 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:00,520 conquer. He's the one who conquers sin 381 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:07,760 and death, and so to to declare Jesus as King is to believe that 382 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:11,600 he is the one that everything else should fall under, that he 383 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,480 is the authority above all other authorities. 384 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,120 He's the one who's going to establish true justice in the 385 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:22,280 world. The crazy thing is that while 386 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,600 other kings and political leaders try to impose their 387 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:29,680 power over your life through laws and decrees and press 388 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,720 conferences and social media posts, King Jesus works the 389 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,600 opposite way. His kingship is marked by 390 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:45,400 humility and sacrifice and love and suffering. 391 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:53,800 For you to acknowledge Jesus as King is not the same thing as 392 00:25:53,800 --> 00:26:00,440 saying King Charles is King because none of us, I shouldn't 393 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:02,200 say none of us. There might be some royal people 394 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:07,240 in the room. Most of us do not go about our 395 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:09,520 whole life going. I wonder what King Charles wants 396 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:15,800 me to do today. To acknowledge Jesus as King is 397 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:20,840 to say I am putting my life under the authority of Jesus as 398 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,280 King of everything. It's not a theoretical He's 399 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:31,040 king, but he is my king. It's not a theoretical He's all 400 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:32,960 powerful. And then we move on. 401 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,960 To believe Jesus is the Messiah is to say He's my king. 402 00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:42,400 And that has profound impact on our lives because most of us 403 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:45,920 hate the idea of submitting ourselves to the control of 404 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:50,920 someone else. Most of us like to live with 405 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:52,640 something we've been taught our whole life. 406 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:56,840 Be your own boss, make your own decisions, do what you want to 407 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:02,120 do, how you want to do it, when you want to do it, and just do 408 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,680 life your own way. And we live with the idea of 409 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:09,880 nobody can tell me what to do. And this is where believing in 410 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,640 Jesus moves past a nice set of statements that you say you 411 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,520 agree with, to being a life that changes your life. 412 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:24,520 If you believe that Jesus is the Messiah, what you are doing is 413 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:31,560 you are surrendering yourself to him, all of yourself to him. 414 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:38,280 You are surrendering your time to the kingship of Jesus. 415 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:44,120 You are surrendering your wallet to the kingship of Jesus. 416 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:47,480 You are surrendering your relationships and how you 417 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:51,400 approach relationships to the kingship of Jesus. 418 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:56,200 You are surrendering how you relate to the people you like 419 00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:00,400 and the people you don't like to the kingship of Jesus. 420 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:05,440 You're surrendering your purpose in life to the kingship of 421 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:10,080 Jesus. Every single one of us lives in 422 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:13,960 a Kingdom with a king. There's always someone or 423 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,520 something that is ruling over our life, even if that's someone 424 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:22,560 or something is ourselves. Paul Tripp said this. 425 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:26,560 He said little Kingdom living is an endless search for earthly 426 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:30,360 treasure and an unending focus on personal need. 427 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:33,640 Grace calls you to a bigger Kingdom. 428 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:38,320 When you're a citizen of God's Kingdom, you're a part of a 429 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,120 Kingdom that cannot be shaken. You are. 430 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:44,320 You are serving a king who promises to protect you, provide 431 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:49,160 for you, and care for you. And that is what Peter's answer 432 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,720 to the question is. Who do you say I am, Peter? 433 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:59,520 You're the Messiah. You are the ultimate prophet, 434 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:04,000 priest, and king. So what about you? 435 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:06,800 How would you answer the question? 436 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:16,000 Who do you say Jesus is? If Jesus really is the ultimate 437 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:22,000 prophet, priest and king, then what we do with him makes a 438 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,680 profound difference with our lives. 439 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:28,880 It's the most important decision you'll ever make. 440 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:32,520 And as I said earlier, I know there are many people in the 441 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:34,200 room who are exploring the Christian faith. 442 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,160 And I want to encourage you, take your time and keep 443 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,320 exploring. And the reason why I say that is 444 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:42,760 because I believe with all my heart, as you discover Jesus and 445 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:46,400 explore who Jesus is, you are going to find out, you're going 446 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:50,000 to taste and see that he is good and he is worth trusting your 447 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:55,920 entire life too. But some of you, you've been 448 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,640 exploring for a long time and you've got a lot of answers to 449 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:03,120 questions already, but for some reason, there's a there's a 450 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:07,360 block for you that's stopping you from being ready to confess 451 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:09,760 Jesus as Messiah. And so I just want to encourage 452 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:10,840 you. What are you waiting for? 453 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:19,560 What's holding you back? Why not today be the day where 454 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,200 you finally say, I believe Jesus is the Messiah? 455 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,320 You can do that just right in your own heart, right where you 456 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,040 are just like Jesus. I believe that you are the 457 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:32,600 Christ. And all of that means for me, 458 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:34,960 You're the one who shows me what God is like. 459 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,760 You're the one who paid for my sins, and I need you to save me 460 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,760 from my sins. You're the King who conquered 461 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,720 sin, and I surrender my life to you. 462 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,600 The Bible says part of the reason why God wants us to see 463 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:54,640 who Jesus really is is because of the life that God wants to 464 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,560 give us in Jesus. Listen to these words. 465 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:00,560 These things are written so you might believe that Jesus is the 466 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:05,640 Messiah and that by believing you might have life in his name. 467 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,080 That's why God wants us to come to this understanding of Jesus 468 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:14,480 as Messiah. Many of you are here today. 469 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:17,560 You're walking with someone and your greatest desire is you just 470 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:19,840 want them to become a disciple of Jesus. 471 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:24,200 And I just want to say to you, just be patient and keep 472 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:27,560 modeling Jesus to them, keep inviting them to come. 473 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,560 And most of us, we're believers in Jesus, but there's some 474 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:38,160 things we've forgotten about what the implications are of 475 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:42,520 believing in Jesus. We're, we're really glad that 476 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:48,400 Jesus is our priest who paid for our salvation, but we really 477 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:52,600 don't pay much attention to Jesus being king or being the 478 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:57,360 one who reveals God to us. There's one thing I know about 479 00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:00,560 most of us is we're, we're, we would all say we're busy. 480 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:04,480 We run around to all kinds of activities and we're anxious and 481 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,960 we're filled with all kinds of worry over any number of things 482 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:11,760 in the world. But how would your approach to 483 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:15,720 life be different if you just simply remembered again that 484 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,040 Jesus is the one who reveals God to us? 485 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,920 I know when I lose sight of it, I will read the Bible more like 486 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:29,040 a task as opposed to reading the Bible to hear God's word. 487 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:34,040 To me. When I lose sight of Jesus as 488 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:36,920 King, I'll make hundreds of decisions in the course of a 489 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,960 week without really thinking about what is it that Jesus 490 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:44,800 wants. So just think about even this 491 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,560 coming week, today and going into this week, you're going to 492 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:52,480 make hundreds of decisions. You're going to make decisions 493 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:56,680 with your calendar. What does it look like for Jesus 494 00:32:56,680 --> 00:33:01,800 to be king? You're going to make decisions 495 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:05,720 about what food to eat, how to care for your body. 496 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:09,840 What does it look like for Jesus to be king over everything? 497 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:19,280 One of the realities for us is that following Jesus is going to 498 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:23,040 be a lifelong journey of discovering who he truly is. 499 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:29,480 It's one thing to be able to say I believe Jesus is the Messiah, 500 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,160 but what you're going to discover is over the course of 501 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:35,000 your life, you're going to continue to discover what it 502 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,520 really means practically that Jesus is the Messiah. 503 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:42,880 If you're, if you're here today and you're almost ready to 504 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,160 believe and you go, but I feel like I have to understand it all 505 00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:48,880 first. I want you to know you're not 506 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:53,880 likely going to understand it all first because Jesus, over 507 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:56,080 the course of your life, he's going to keep showing you more 508 00:33:56,080 --> 00:34:00,000 and more of who he is. And if you're already a 509 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,240 believer, over the course of your life, it's going to be a 510 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,760 journey of discovering what it really means to trust Jesus as 511 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:09,040 prophet, priest, and king. Peter, in these verses, he makes 512 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:13,400 this confession where he says this is the answer, you are the 513 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:15,840 Messiah. But that was not the end of the 514 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:18,360 story for Peter. That's like the beginning of the 515 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:22,360 story for Peter. In the months and the years that 516 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:26,199 are ahead of him, those words, that belief statement is going 517 00:34:26,199 --> 00:34:28,320 to take on a whole new set of meaning to Peter. 518 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:34,080 He had no clue what he was fully saying, and he consistently 519 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:36,679 failed to live like a man who believed like it was true. 520 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:41,440 Like he confesses Jesus as Messiah here, but just a while 521 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:45,639 later he's going to rebuke Jesus when Jesus says I have to go to 522 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:48,440 Jerusalem to die. And he's like, no, you can't do 523 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:52,440 that. There's so many things that 524 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:55,280 Peter's going to discover more about the implications of what 525 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:57,760 it means to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. 526 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,680 So much more room to understand what it means to really believe 527 00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:04,440 this. And over and over again in your 528 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,000 life, you're going to face, you're going to come face to 529 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,760 face with situations that are going to test and stretch your 530 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:13,440 faith in different ways. And if you're in a spot like 531 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:15,800 that, I want to encourage you with something. 532 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:21,920 Just keep bringing yourself back to who Jesus is because it's 533 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:24,240 going to help you make sense of all that's going on. 534 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:28,720 When you're in the spot of the greatest uncertainties in your 535 00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:33,280 life and you don't know what tomorrow holds, step back and 536 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:39,280 remind yourself, I believe that Jesus is King and all things are 537 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:41,760 under His authority. I'm going to be OK. 538 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:47,920 When you're questioning your salvation because you just got 539 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:53,320 doubts and fear, step back. Remind yourself that Jesus is 540 00:35:53,320 --> 00:36:00,640 the priest who paid it all. I, I, I I can't work my way back 541 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,280 to God. He's the priest who paid it all. 542 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:08,200 It's OK. I just need to trust Him when 543 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:10,800 you're looking at the state of the world around us and you're 544 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,360 going I, I can't make sense of all the stuff and the chaos 545 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,440 that's going on in the world. And I don't know whose voice to 546 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:22,560 listen to in the in in the mess of noise of voices that all have 547 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:24,080 an opinion on what's right and what's wrong. 548 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:29,400 Step back, go. Jesus is the prophet who reveals 549 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:33,080 God to us. Everything becomes much more 550 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:38,400 clear when I hear His voice above all the other voices. 551 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:44,240 The reality that Jesus is the Messiah will come to life for 552 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:47,400 you over and over again as you follow Him. 553 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:51,480 It is not something that we just believe one time and then move 554 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:54,200 on. It's what we keep coming back to 555 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:57,920 again and again that shapes how we approach everything in our 556 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,280 life. Remember that. 557 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:07,360 Who do you say Jesus is? Believe it, come back to it, 558 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:12,200 live like it's true. Father, thank you so much for 559 00:37:15,240 --> 00:37:21,960 your word. Thank you for this penetrating 560 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:31,000 question. Who do you believe Jesus is? 561 00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:38,960 Thank you for your word that reveals who Jesus is to us. 562 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:45,560 God, I pray for every person in this room. 563 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:52,520 This will not be simply a statement to check off a list, 564 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:59,640 but it will be a belief that takes root in our hearts and 565 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:08,600 lives and shapes and informs how we approach everything in our 566 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:14,200 lives. Jesus, you are the Messiah. 567 00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:18,720 You are the Christ and we worship You. 568 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:26,920 Amen. Stand together and worship Him.