Where Do We Stand? On Jesus's Identity - TWCC 3-22-26 Guest Preacher Greg Kirkland

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Way Community Church Podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our mission is to show people the way to life with Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: My name is Darahal and I am the pastor of the Way Community Church.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you would like to join us as a member or of you simply need prayer,

[SPEAKER_00]: or if you want to worship through giving, you can find the links and the transcription of this podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm excited because we get to continue our conversation on winter we stand, and today we want to look at where we stand on Jesus to true nature, the true identity of this historical figure, the Bible presents as God's Son and our Savior.

[SPEAKER_00]: I won't be teaching them day but I'm grateful for Greg Kirkman Jr. who is the Chief Operating Officer and Creative Director at our church who is also on our preaching team.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today, Greg Kirkman is going to help us appreciate the true identity of Jesus and so I want to encourage you to follow along in the transcript of this podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: Grab your Bibles.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's study together.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you will, it's Stan with me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Go to the book of Matthew chapter 16 for 13.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: through 20 and it should be on the screen there and as soon as it's there, amen, we're going to read this follows, when Jesus came into the coast of Cessaria, Philippi, he asked his disciples saying,

[SPEAKER_01]: He said unto them, but whom say ye that I am, and Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus answered and said unto him, bless it art thou, Simon Bargeona, for flesh and blood have not revealed unto thee, but my father, which is in heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: And whatsoever thou shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: And whatsoever thou shall loose on earth, shall be loose in heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then charge she his disciples that they shall tell no man.

[SPEAKER_01]: that he was Jesus to Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to talk with you today from this simple thought.

[SPEAKER_01]: Where do we stand on Jesus' identity?

[SPEAKER_01]: Where do we stand on Jesus' identity?

[SPEAKER_01]: You may claim your seats in his presence.

[SPEAKER_01]: Father, we thank you now for this word.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for your presence that is already in this room.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we pray that the presence at this in this room will transcend through the airways and meet those who are watching online where they are.

[SPEAKER_01]: Speak to our hearts today, God, speak through me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for the word that you've given to me that has been ministered to me first.

[SPEAKER_01]: I now decrease and pray that you would increase in me that the people might not see me but that they won't only hear you.

[SPEAKER_01]: We honor you, we bless you, glorify you in Jesus' name.

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Where do we stand on Jesus' identity?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'd like to give this sermon a sub title if I may.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that sub title is the power of the power of the past few weeks.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've been in the sermon series as a church called where do we stand?

[SPEAKER_01]: Where do we stand as a sermon series about the wake community church's stance on a few theological issues in the modern world?

[SPEAKER_01]: It is Dr. Hall and we as a leadership's goal to take a few weeks to help you to do two things.

[SPEAKER_01]: One, be ready to give a loving response to others about what we believe in too, to know where our church and its leaders stand on these important issues.

[SPEAKER_01]: The first week we consider where do we stand on gifts of the Spirit?

[SPEAKER_01]: Second week we consider where do we stand on lead her ship?

[SPEAKER_01]: It was a sermon about women in ministry.

[SPEAKER_01]: Third week we consider where do we stand on politics?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I would like to tell you that if you have not gotten a chance to hear any of the three that have already been preached, I would like to recommend that you go to YouTube.

[SPEAKER_01]: and check out any of those three summons that I've already been preached, especially last week.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because when Dr. Hall pulled out those 3D glasses, I told him I said, Dr. S. Fire.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know I'm old, so it's hard for me to use that vernacular, but I was like, Dr. S. Fire, when you put the blue and the red glass on it, you talked about politics on the blue and red side.

[SPEAKER_01]: How you got to look through both lenses, so you can see, man, that was dark.

[SPEAKER_01]: Whoo!

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I said, you preached that thing, not, you preached it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, it has been an amazing series, would you agree?

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_01]: This week is kind of the same, but a little different.

[SPEAKER_01]: As my kids would say, this sermon is a little 67.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's what I never quite understood what people meant when they said saying difference.

[SPEAKER_01]: This sermon is kind of a same difference.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's same difference because this sermon is in alignment with the way that we stand series.

[SPEAKER_01]: However, it should not be deemed as an official theological stance as was given on the first three Sundays.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not because what we're going to share and discuss is not a core belief of the wake of the church.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not even that we don't all mutually agree on the position that we're going to share today, but the only difference is that myself, as well as our leaders, feel mutually, that it is only the authority of Dr. Hall as the senior pastor to stand before us as a congregation and declare what is a theological position of our church, does that make sense?

[SPEAKER_01]: And so this,

[SPEAKER_01]: subject this sermon today is an alignment with the series and where do we stand, but it is not per se an official theological position of the church although we might agree with what we're discussing.

[SPEAKER_01]: You all with me?

[SPEAKER_01]: The beautiful thing about it is that when I was asked to preach, I was blessed when I asked Dr. Hollis a will if we're gonna be in the series and I don't wanna give a theological stance so cannot just preach about Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: I said, because one thing I know is him, and one thing I know is that we, as a church, have a core value of worshiping Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so he granted me that permission and I was so grateful for that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we began each week by corporately acknowledging and reciting the written position of the church on each subject that we've discussed so far, everybody recalled that there's a position that Dr. Hobel put on the screen and we would all read it together, recited

[SPEAKER_01]: He has shared how the different theological positions taken by the Wake Community Church have not been solely determined by him alone, but by a board of directors approved the illogical committee made up of a vastly diverse group of people who met for weeks to collectively settle upon the theological stances of us as a church.

[SPEAKER_01]: And although we won't discuss an official position of the church today, there is a formal statement surrounding today's discussion that is written not by the board of directors approved the illogical committee of the wake of the church, but this one kind of takes me back to my child to take me back to my youth because I remember as a child.

[SPEAKER_01]: Every Sunday, we were standing and recite this particular written stance, we would either do it in Sunday school, or in our church in New York, the first Baptist Church of Kony Island.

[SPEAKER_01]: They had a banner that was up on the wall and on that banner it said, the Apostles Creed.

[SPEAKER_01]: Am I the only one?

[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody else, Baptist in the room?

[SPEAKER_01]: and they had their apostles creed up on the wall who were standin' who were recited at either at Sunday School or at the beginning of every service.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I want us today not to necessarily read and recite the position of the church, but we are going to recollectively the apostles creed.

[SPEAKER_01]: So let's read that on the count of three, one, two, three.

[SPEAKER_01]: I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

[SPEAKER_01]: I believe in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

[SPEAKER_01]: He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

[SPEAKER_01]: He descended to the dead on the third day he rose again.

[SPEAKER_01]: He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

[SPEAKER_01]: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Does anybody believe that today?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is anybody agree with that creed by the apostles?

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I know what he's done to pass is had everybody put up a thumbs up, if you agree with it, down to the side, if you're not sure if thumbs down, if you disagree.

[SPEAKER_01]: Today, we just go all whole up a thumbs up.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because surely, we all in agreement with that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Look at, look at line three.

[SPEAKER_01]: Line three of the apostles' creed it says, I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: to germane to what we're discussing today in Matthew, chapter 16, verse 13 through 16.

Matthew 16:13–16

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, when Jesus came into the coast of Cessaria, Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, who do men say that I have the Son of Man, and they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets?

[SPEAKER_01]: He sat unto them, but whom say ye that I am?

[SPEAKER_01]: and Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me ask you this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is there anybody in the room that grew up with a black parent?

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that one a trick question for me, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would really want to know.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, just you know what?

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe, let me ask you, are there any brothers in the room who have ever been married at any point in time to a black wife?

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, all right, I asked that question because when I read this passage of Scripture, it kind of made me think about the way a black parent asks a question.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can tell by the way your parent would ask a question that it was leading to something else.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, and I want to declare to all the brothers in the room that if a black woman asks you a question, just automatically assumed that she already knows the answer, so you minus well tell the truth because if you mess around and tell her that, she already know, you're gonna be in more trouble if you don't just tell the truth.

[SPEAKER_01]: Say the thing with the parent, you have a, your parent, you have a come home, and they say, what happened in school today?

[SPEAKER_01]: One of two things is happening.

[SPEAKER_01]: Either the teacher has already called, already sent an email, either that's happening, or it's a trick.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they just trying to see if you're going to set up to something that you have done in school today.

[SPEAKER_01]: Either way, the question is loaded.

[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like Jesus approached this question like a black parent.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because first he asked the question, he said, y'all tell me what you're

[SPEAKER_01]: Who do they say I am out there in them streets?

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, y'all tell me, yeah, I know y'all got your boots on the ground, y'all tell me, what are they saying about me in the streets?

[SPEAKER_01]: Tell me, and so then the disciples, the answer to the question, but what's funny is, even when Jesus asked the question, this is how you know it was loaded.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, he said, hold a man say that I, the son of man, and I.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was saying, I know I am, but I want to know who do they say that I am.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then the disciples answer the question and in true black parent, Jesus formed, he takes this question now and he makes it personal.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, okay, you told me who they say that I am, he is my question to you now, who do you say that I am?

[SPEAKER_01]: And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou, Simon Bargona, for flesh and blood had not revealed it unto thee, but my father, which is in heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: If anyone to water Jesus respond to what he did to Simon's answer.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why did he respond the way he did by saying blessed out now, flesh and blood, has not revealed this to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It had to come from my father and heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was wondering what would make him say that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I like to submit today that it wasn't simply Peter's ability to recognize him as Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, in his initial question, he already knows who he is.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when he asks the question, who do you say I am, Peter couldn't just come, I'm sorry, Simon, yeah, Simon couldn't just come back to him with just, well, you're Jesus, you know, that wouldn't have been good enough, because he knew that.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's been walking with him, he's been talking with him, he's been acquainted with him.

[SPEAKER_01]: It would be just like if I ask you, who do you say I am?

[SPEAKER_01]: And you said, well, you're Grant Kirkland, I know that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Young Sam said, so I don't feel like that was enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it was the way Simon answered the question.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, you are the Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: You are the Son of the Living God.

[SPEAKER_01]: See, many Christians have come to believe that Christ was Jesus' last name.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a movie buff, and so it always strikes me as interesting when I watch movies and they refer to him

[SPEAKER_01]: because I always wondered, where did the age come from and what does it stand for?

[SPEAKER_01]: And how y'all just give Jesus a middle name?

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know where that come from, but y'all then came up with something.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're all tends to believe that Jesus Christ is his first and last name.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the truth of the matter is,

[SPEAKER_01]: while there is great reason to connect the two, they're not exactly the same, because just like today, there are many Gregory's and Ben's and Glenn's and Kelsey's, and not a lot of Quintes, but there are a lot of people who are gonna get me for that, that's my friend, I could do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are a lot of common names that they have, but in those days Jesus was a common name.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was a common name.

[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't just him.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're getting ready to celebrate Easter in a couple of weeks, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Many people look over the fact that in the story when Pontius Pilate had the ability to release Jesus, the cold Christ, who was innocent, or another man who was guilty, guess who the guilty part his name was?

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, Barabas.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Jesus, the called Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: You had Jesus, Barabas, there was Jesus justice, JUS, T.U.S.

[SPEAKER_01]: who was a coworker of Paul.

[SPEAKER_01]: There was more than one Jesus, there were others.

[SPEAKER_01]: There were also many Christs who came prior to Jesus and who were not Jesus that we know of.

[SPEAKER_01]: And nor do we believe or do they believe that the Jesus' work connected to the one that we know.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were Christ in their own right.

[SPEAKER_01]: who came in their own time, who developed what it meant to be a Christ or Messiah in ancient Israel long before the Word was ever applied to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Word Christ comes from the Greek Christos, which was not originally a name, but a title meaning the anointed one.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when we refer to Jesus Christ, we're not calling him as as you would call me Greg Kirkland or Pastor Darrell Hall, what we are essentially doing is placing a title on Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: See, so the thing that made Simon's answers said a part well, that when he answered the question, he said, who you saying that I am?

[SPEAKER_01]: Simon said, you are Jesus the Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: You understand?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what brought me to the subtitle of this sermon, the power of the.

[SPEAKER_01]: The power of the famous or infamous historical figures often included the in their names, usually as a title on epithet, denoting power, reputation, or character traits.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me give you some examples through history.

[SPEAKER_01]: You had Alexander the Great.

[SPEAKER_01]: You had Catherine the Great, William the Conqueror, Attila the Han, Ivan the Terrible, to have any history buffs in the room that can remember that there were many people through history that put the in their name, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a reason why they put the in their name, okay?

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we have some of music lovers in the room.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody recognize Bruce Springsteen, who calls himself the boss?

[SPEAKER_01]: Something about the the right many TV buffs in the room like me y'all could remember back in the day Henry Winkler was on a show called happy days and he called himself the fonts y'all remember the fonts

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was something about the funds, the boss, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we got some babies in here that didn't go over to the greenhouse or some parents or some babies in here.

[SPEAKER_01]: You'll recognize the little obla has spun your girl with the little Bob haircut that comes on in the morning time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Her name is Dora V. Explore.

[SPEAKER_01]: something about when a person puts the in their name, there's something about adding thought to a person's name that differentiates them from all the rest.

[SPEAKER_01]: It places them above any duplicates or replicates.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, although there may be others in the same category, this is the one.

[SPEAKER_01]: no one compares.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when Jesus asked Peter, who do you say I am?"

[SPEAKER_01]: And Peter said, I'm not just going to tell you your name.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to put some respect on your name.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Peter was trying to tell us, when y'all talk about Jesus, when you refer to Jesus, don't just call him Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's Jesus the Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: Put some respect on his name.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's something about the though.

[SPEAKER_01]: When we start to recognize that He is Jesus the Christ, He is Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: the Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is Jesus, the Son of the living God.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is Jesus, the Lord and Savior, the Redeemer, the bread of life.

[SPEAKER_01]: The only begotten Son, the Holy One of Israel, the King of kings and the Lord of Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the

[SPEAKER_01]: Wonderful.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the counselor.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the mighty God.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the prince of peace.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the everlasting father.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the good shepherd and if none of those things made you shout at least everybody in the room on the shot about the fact that he is the way The truth and the life and no man shall come to the Father, but by him.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when you talk about Jesus He's not just Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's Jesus the Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: You got to put some respect on his name heavy on the

[SPEAKER_01]: It's power in the, the Simon responds.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, thou art, the Christ, the Son of the living God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus answered and said to him, bless it all down.

[SPEAKER_01]: Simon, but Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed unto thee, but my father, which is in heaven, let me answer.

[SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever, has somebody ever said something to you that only the Holy Ghost could tell them about you?

[SPEAKER_01]: Only God, it had to be the Holy Ghost to gave them this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ain't no way in the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you might be able to look at me and tell me, I'm always nice.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm always in a good mood.

[SPEAKER_01]: You always carry yourself this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but for you to come to me and tell me that.

[SPEAKER_01]: That had to be the Holy Ghost.

[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody else could tell you that about me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever had that experience with somebody who came to you and read your book and told you something about your life that nobody could have known unless the Holy Spirit gave it to him?

[SPEAKER_01]: That is what has happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Jesus answered and said in to him, blessed our thouel, same in bar Jonah, for flesh and blood had not revealed it unto thee, but my father, which is in heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, look at this.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I will be a my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: And whatsoever thou shall burn on earth, shall be bound in heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: whatsoever that I'll shout loose on her shall be loose in heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: So here's a point that I want to make.

[SPEAKER_01]: If I stand firm on Jesus' identity to him, he will affirm my identity in him to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I got to run that back.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't make the scratch and sound like ducked home, but it was so nice I got to say it twice.

[SPEAKER_01]: If I stand firm on Jesus identity to him, he will affirm my identity in him to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just it happens right here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, check this out.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, which means a son of Jonah or John, for flesh and blood had not revealed to them to thee, but my father, which is in heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 18, and I say also unto thee that thou art beater.

[SPEAKER_01]: No way, man.

[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 17, you've heard of me as Simon by Jonah.

[SPEAKER_01]: The son of Jonah, the son of John, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Just one verse later, you said,

[SPEAKER_01]: But thou art Peter, it means Petra, so a rock or stone.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he says, and upon this rock, I will build my church in the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: And whatsoever thou shall burn on earth shall be bound in heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: What shall be loose on earth shall be loose in heaven?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is something about when you confirm to Jesus who he is?

[SPEAKER_01]: He turns around and affirms to you who you are.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a connection to the fact that I need to stand firm in my life before everybody else who Jesus is in and when he asks me, who do you say I am, if I can tell him you are the Christ, you are the son of the living God in my life, I put respect on your name.

[SPEAKER_01]: He

[SPEAKER_01]: turn around, he'll take your confirmation and he'll turn it to affirmation and tell you since you stand for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I stand for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: You put respect on my name.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to put respect on your name.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just when you tell me who I am, then you, I'm going to tell you who you are to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a connection.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is why we as the Wake Community Church,

[SPEAKER_01]: believe that a core value of our church is worshiping Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because here's another point, worshiping Jesus exalts his identity above mine, but produces results that I can benefit from.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, he that exalts his identity above mine.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it produces results that I benefit from.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's why worshiping Jesus, it means that we stay in His presence, it keeps us in His presence.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at a few verses that come from that, look at Psalm 16 and 11.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, thou wilt show me the path of life.

[SPEAKER_01]: In thy presence is fullness of joy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody said joy.

[SPEAKER_01]: At thy right hand, our pleasures,

[SPEAKER_01]: for having more.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, if I'm in your presence, there's the fullness of joy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Presence, joy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Presence, joy.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's exulting you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I read the benefits.

[SPEAKER_01]: You understand?

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at another passage.

[SPEAKER_01]: Second Corinthians, chapter three, verse 16 through 18.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the King James Version says,

[SPEAKER_01]: when it shall turn to the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: The veil shall be taken away.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is what church, liberty.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as the spirit of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I felt like that was heavy.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I went and checked out Eugene Peterson's version of the Bible, who tends to kind of make things put things in the language terms and in playing text.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to read the same scripture in the message Bible.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says whenever, though, that they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil.

[SPEAKER_01]: And there they are face-to-face.

[SPEAKER_01]: They suddenly recognize that God is a living personal presence, not a piece of chivald stone.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when God is personally present, a living spirit that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're free of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: All of us, nothing between us and God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Our face is shining with the brightness of His face.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we are transfigured much like the what church, the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: There is a connection to worshiping God.

[SPEAKER_01]: and reaping benefits that only come from being His presence.

[SPEAKER_01]: In the presence of the Lord, there's the fullness of joy.

[SPEAKER_01]: The presence is for Him, the joy is for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Spirit of the Lord is our acknowledgement of His identity.

[SPEAKER_01]: The freedom that comes with it is for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the look what the Scripture says, what happens.

[SPEAKER_01]: As we worship God, we end up looking like Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: You ought to look like Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Your worship causes you to look more like Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: It causes you to identify with Him something syncs up when we identify when we exalt His identity.

[SPEAKER_01]: We reap the benefits and we end up looking like Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody in here want to look like Jesus?

[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to be the case at when you see me, you see Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when I see Jesus, I hope that I see me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be a reflection like I'm looking in the mirror.

[SPEAKER_01]: We look like, because I've spent so much time in this presence.

[SPEAKER_01]: Did I look like the one that I've been worshiping?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they talk about husbands and wives.

[SPEAKER_01]: You ever heard that saying that when two people been together so long, they look like each other?

[SPEAKER_01]: Something oughta happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: You oughta spend enough time with Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: You ought to be in his presence so much, so often that they ought to say, you know, you all look like, who look like you and Jesus, something about your reminds me of Jesus, you just said, what would Jesus do?

[SPEAKER_01]: Something about you, I feel like you love like Jesus, I feel like you're talking like Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: You ought to have, and I did to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: that resembles the identity of Jesus Christ, worshiping Jesus, exalts His identity above my, but it produces results that I can benefit from.

[SPEAKER_01]: So now, look at what has happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus has asked to disciples who they're calling Him in the streets.

[SPEAKER_01]: They've responded.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus has asked them, who do you say to that am?

[SPEAKER_01]: Simon has answered, thou art the Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus has affirmed Simon, change his name to Peter, and he has acknowledged the fact that only the spirit of the living God could have revealed us to him.

[SPEAKER_01]: What mess to be up, can I tell you what mess me up?

[SPEAKER_01]: What mess me up is that after all of this, after verse 13 through 19, all of these things happen,

[SPEAKER_01]: And verse 20 says, that Jesus charged He His disciples that they should tell no man that He was Jesus to Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why you put me through all that?

[SPEAKER_01]: Why?

[SPEAKER_01]: You're a little bit of a situation like that when you ask God, why you put me through all that?

[SPEAKER_01]: Why would you ask me that?

[SPEAKER_01]: and put me through there and make me answer these questions and give me this pop quiz.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then I take the quiz, I ace to quiz, you affirm me in front of everybody and then you turn around and tell me, but don't tell nobody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why would Jesus go through the process of having to disciples confirm who he is and then swear them to secrecy?

[SPEAKER_01]: So I started researching and there are some suggestions as to why Jesus told the disciples not to tell who he was.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can I tell some of the suggestions?

[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to make sure y'all still with me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I said, can I tell some of the suggestions?

[SPEAKER_01]: Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-

[SPEAKER_01]: So we could say he didn't want any more publicity.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's a suggestion, that's a suggestion that he didn't want them to tell who he was to them because he didn't want any more publicity.

[SPEAKER_01]: This was confirmed for me, this suggestion to me was confirmed in Mark chapter one, verse 41 through 44.

[SPEAKER_01]: What has happened is Jesus is healed a man of leprosy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, see that you don't tell this to anyone.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is healed a man of leprosy.

[SPEAKER_01]: He tells a man, not a live healed you of leprosy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't tell anybody what has happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: What child thing he did?

[SPEAKER_01]: Just like colored folks.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, hell's a man of leprosy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tells him, now don't tell nobody.

[SPEAKER_01]: First thing to man, he don't tell just anybody.

[SPEAKER_01]: He tells everybody.

[SPEAKER_01]: What Jesus did?

[SPEAKER_01]: After Jesus told me, he goes to tell everybody, and look at what it says in verse 5, verse 45, and in I V, as a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside in lonely places, yet the people still came to Him from everywhere.

[SPEAKER_01]: So a lot of the suggestions as to why Jesus would tell them, don't tell nobody,

[SPEAKER_01]: is because he didn't need any more publicity.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's something about this generation where everybody want to be famous.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can I submit to you that there's a flip side of fame?

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a side of fame that you don't want.

[SPEAKER_01]: Where you can't operate, you can't move like you want to move.

[SPEAKER_01]: People want to judge these celebrities because they build these huge mansions that have bowling out is in basketball courts and movie theaters on the inside.

[SPEAKER_01]: Beyonce can't go to Bollero.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can't even say it, it's so bad that there's a flip side to fame, so Jesus, so there's a suggestion that Jesus will say and don't tell nobody, because I don't need any more publicity, it's already hard enough for me to move.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need nobody else to know who I am.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's one suggestion.

[SPEAKER_01]: Here's another suggestion.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Jews were expecting a political or military Messiah, one who would destroy their enemies and make them a great kingdom again.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, public declaration that he was the Messiah may have led to open rebellion, which was not his mission.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: Last Pentecost Sunday, I preached a sermon when you got that glow.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was about Bruce Lee Roy and the last dragon.

[SPEAKER_01]: Most y'all in here had never seen it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some of y'all wouldn't saw it, watched it after that sermon.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some of y'all didn't.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jackie Floyd told me she wants the two hours of her life back.

[SPEAKER_01]: after watching The Last Dragon.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just think you don't know good movies.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's all about me.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's all I'm saying.

[SPEAKER_01]: So all I'm saying is, since you're gonna get a date, I'm back to Bruce Lee Roy again.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm back to The Last Dragon.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because what this suggestion makes me think about is, the fact that in the movie The Last Dragon, they wanted him to be this roadbusk.

[SPEAKER_01]: Me.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, just go around just fighting folk and just come full and just being this master and taking everybody down They wanted him to be like the villain like shown off show gun of Harlem in the movie But Bruce Leeroy he was mek He was Mao.

[SPEAKER_01]: He walked around in his karate gear and he had his hat on and he had his flip flops and he had his chopsticks and he didn't want to bother nobody He just wanted to be mek he just wanted to be my arm

[SPEAKER_01]: This is saying to me, Jesus, this suggestion rather is saying that Jesus was like, y'all want me to be like, show gun.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be like Bruce Lee Roy.

[SPEAKER_01]: So don't tell nobody, because if y'all tell folks, it's going to cause an uprising.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's another suggestion.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can I give you one more?

[SPEAKER_01]: Last suggestion.

[SPEAKER_01]: The leaders of the Jews were already seeking ways to

[SPEAKER_01]: Later on, they actually started seeking ways to kill him.

[SPEAKER_01]: Public testimony that he was the Messiah may have hastened their efforts.

[SPEAKER_01]: Last week, Dr. Hall preached a sermon on politics and he said that Jesus proclaiming to be King bore more harsh political ramifications and cause political uprising.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, when I start to think about Jesus and his life as an adult,

[SPEAKER_01]: I started remembering the fact that Jesus would oftentimes say, my time is not yet calm.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody, anybody read his in the room?

[SPEAKER_01]: You ever heard Jesus say, ah, my time is not yet calm.

[SPEAKER_01]: I remember when his mother wanted him to change the water in the wind, the wetting in Canaan.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, ah, my time is not yet calm.

[SPEAKER_01]: You would hear Jesus say that all the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: So therefore this suggestion to me holds more weight

[SPEAKER_01]: as to why Jesus would not want the disciples to share who he was, because as the story would progress, when he was publicly acknowledged as the Messiah, watch this, he was killed only one week later.

[SPEAKER_01]: So even though Jesus went through the whole process,

[SPEAKER_01]: of asking who men said he was, then asking the disciples who did they say he was, only to turn around the sweat on the secrecy.

[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't because he didn't want them to spread the word about him.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was just that it wasn't the right time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Got with me?

[SPEAKER_01]: If we skip ahead to Matthew chapter 17, I'm almost done.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: I promise you, Matthew chapter 17, verse nine.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: At this point, Jesus had continued walking with the disciples.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was teaching them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you something funny that had happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: That same Peter who he just affirmed in chapter 16, he turned around and had to rebuke in chapter 17.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just like church folks, you live them up one minute.

[SPEAKER_01]: Next minute, they get above they said, you got to break them back down.

[SPEAKER_01]: You got to rebuke them.

[SPEAKER_01]: All this has happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus had continued teaching.

[SPEAKER_01]: They end up on what they call the Mount of Transfiguration.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what happens is Jesus' identity is confirmed to them by a bright shining light.

[SPEAKER_01]: that shines down to Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: They see Him in the company of Moses and Elijah the prophet.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now the disciples see that Jesus really is who He has been saying that He was all this time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Here's something funny that happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: Matthew 17, verse 9, watch what happens.

Matthew 17:9

[SPEAKER_01]: And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them saying, tell the vision to no man.

[SPEAKER_01]: But watch this, this time he put a timestamp on it.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, until the Son of Man be risen again from the day.

[SPEAKER_01]: What I love about this is that I realized that what Jesus is doing is giving a first hand lesson to God's timing.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's a lesson that many of us could learn today.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because a lot of times what happens is something good happens to us in our lives.

[SPEAKER_01]: First thing we want to do is run and tell everybody.

[SPEAKER_01]: God gives us a revelation about our lives and about our future.

[SPEAKER_01]: First thing we want to do is go and spread that revelation and tell everybody what the Lord said to me about what's going to happen in 30 days of my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to submit to you that sometimes even with good intentions, you can be so excited that we can spread the news too quickly.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you can do more harm than good because you don't have the right concept of God's timing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus was teaching him.

[SPEAKER_01]: He said, I want you to know who I am now, but I don't want you to share who I am until later.

[SPEAKER_01]: But can I take it a shot in part church?

[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all don't win the sleep on me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm done.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm done.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm done.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm done.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm done.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm done.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can I take it a shot in part?

[SPEAKER_01]: The shouting party is, we can be happy to know that later for the disciples is now for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because after the great confession, after the transfiguration, after the miracles, after Palm Sunday, after the teachings, after the Lord suffered the last supper, after the death, after the burial, after the resurrection, we come to Matthew 28, 18 and 19.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can I tell you what it says?

[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus came and spoken to them saying,

[SPEAKER_01]: power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

[SPEAKER_01]: Go ye there for teaching our nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father and who church the sun and the Holy Ghost.

[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, can I tell you when it's time that we are able to tell who Jesus is?

[SPEAKER_01]: Now,

[SPEAKER_01]: Now is the time to tell the world who Jesus is to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's always time to tell the world who Jesus is to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Only you know who in what Jesus is to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have to wait the spread that gospel because Jesus has died and He has risen from the bed.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we all in the room have the opportunity now to go and spread the gospel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And tell the world!

[SPEAKER_01]: that Jesus lives, do I have any testifies in the room?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do I have any witnesses in the room that don't mind going around and showing the people the way to life with Jesus?

[SPEAKER_01]: What he's saying is that right now, we all have the opportunity to go on and say, I'm just a nobody, trying to tell somebody, everybody, about somebody who can save anybody.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now is the time to tell the world how good.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus has been to you, somebody shall Jesus!

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus!

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus!

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus!

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is enough!

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is enough!

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is enough!

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: You feel like you can't witness because I don't have the right thing to say.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can I tell you what to say?

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because Jesus is enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: You don't know how to preach.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can I tell you what you can preach?

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because Jesus is enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: You don't know how to spread the gospel in the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because Jesus is enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: You've got a whole lot of people out there that's trying to make their name great.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I came to tell you that Jesus is enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's always the right time to tell the world that Jesus is enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is my question to you, church.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is my question to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Who do you say?

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is.

[SPEAKER_01]: Something that we all have to come to grips with, that we all can ask ourselves, ask ourselves, who do I say to Jesus is?

[SPEAKER_01]: Can I submit to you today?

[SPEAKER_01]: If you needed one word to sum up who or what Jesus is, that one word from me to you has your brother is enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: Bishop Larry Tronis said, if I lose everything, and still have Jesus, I got enough to start over him.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's enough, Jesus is enough, Jesus is enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so where do we stand?

[SPEAKER_01]: On Christ, the solid rock we stand.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Lord of the ground is sinking sand.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is there anybody that's going to stand on Jesus?

[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah, God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Give the Lord a hand clap of praise now.