Day 30

Chase: Hello and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Let day drink. I think after a while, just like watch Sunday'cause he was like, Yeah. It's like Mr. Ma. Have you ever seen that movie? For the song. You never seen Mr. Mo? No. Yeah, watch it. Dude gets fired. Yes. Duke gets fired from his job and so he gets to stay home with the kids and just like goes through all that. He starts watching soap off it's so funny. And he goes insane. So Yeah, seriously, like you go crazy. All right. Day thirty. Mm-hmm. Different is to just keep them all. No, I'll get a headache if I do that 'cause I need to get a prescription. I refuse to get it. ⁓ you should get it. ⁓ okay. Three to one pause. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Point Church Podcast. I'm here with Pastor Sam as we are on day thirty. We're on the home stretch here. ⁓ as we're walking through the gospel of Manhattan verse by verse, ⁓ all the way up until our Lin series is over. And today we're in chapter sixteen. It reads The Pharisees and the Sadducees approached and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, When evening comes you say it will be good weather because the sky is red, and in the morning today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening. You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can't read the signs of the tongue. An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign. But no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. So right there. Mm-hmm. When he says the sign of Jonah, what does that? Yeah, this is one of those passages that if you're new to the Bible, definitely I'm not always new the Bible. Yeah. You're just like, What? I don't know. And you skip reading. Yeah. I'm sure I'm the only person who ever just skimmed over a part of the Bible I don't understand. But it's very like, what is happening? Like what is he talking about? So What Jesus is being asked is these religious leaders, same group, Pharisees and Sadducees, give us a sign if you are God. You know, they're still trying to do their duty, yeah, as hypocritical as they may be about it, yeah. That are you God, prove it. And he's done signs and wonders up to this point. But what he's essentially telling them is haven't you seen enough? Haven't you heard enough? Like you you can't make up your mind? Like you're This adulterous generation, think of the the adultery, you know, cheating on the one you chose. Well, they chose God. These religious leaders chose God, but they're not faithful to him. So he's pulling that word out very intentionally. So he's saying here's the sign, here's the way that you'll know I am who I say I am. Here's how you'll know I in fact am God. You'll be given the sign of Jonah. So if you you're like, ⁓ okay, like that name. rings the bell, maybe you've been in your Bible a lot or not, like or skin. Yeah, exactly. That's what we'll say. Like, but almost every VBS puts on Jonah. Yeah. Like in the big fish. Yeah. So the sign of Jonah is that Jonah was a prophet who was swallowed by a big fish and then for three days was down in Sheol in the belly of the fish, which is another way of possibly describing that he died. Yeah. Comes back. Mm-hmm. And then he, you know, preaches to the Ninevites and they repent, they turn from their sin. And he's like, That's the sign of Jonah, that I will be put into the belly of the earth, and after three days, I'll become back to life. And then if I can do that, if that happens, you'll know that I'm telling the truth. That's the sign of Jonah. There it is. Yeah. Connecting your childhood to your adult. Exactly. and then he continues on. Then he left them and went away. The disciples reached the other shore and they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus told them, Watch out and be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were they were discussing among themselves we didn't bring any bread. He must have been rolling his eyes so hard. Like that he's like, Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. And yeah, again, you just have to you just in your mind the iron that Jesus must be giving them because the next thing he said is just yeah, pretty funny. And honestly, like we all probably would have ⁓ yeah, absolutely. Like yeah. We would have been like I'm dying bread. ⁓ aware of this, Jesus said in verse eight, you are you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? Don't you understand yet? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you collected? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you collected real quick? Five plus seven, twelve twelve, twelve disciples. Yeah. ⁓ continuing on it says, Why it why is it that you don't understand that when I told you beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, it wasn't about bread. Then they understood that they had not told he had not told them to beware of the leaven and bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Yeah, so that's where I'm saying the iron is. Yeah. I don't know. Just in my imagination is pretty funny because he's like, guys, bread's not a big deal for me. No. I'm pretty good about bread. I'm pretty good at bringing, you know, something out of nothing. Yeah. Like I did it for four thousand, I did it for five thousand. I think I can take care of a loaf of bread. Yeah. But he's trying to use a point saying leaven is what causes, you know, little bit works its way through the dough. Just a it just takes a little bit. What he's saying is watch out for the leaven. of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the hypocrisy. Yeah. Just a little bit of hypocrisy can work its way into your heart and make a big difference. So watch out to stay clear of that. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Why do people say that or who do people say that the Son of Man is? Yes. So we I just taught on this at our church about a week or two ago. So I have to be careful not to spend forty minutes on this. But what you need to know is Caesarea Philippi is a agriculture, like this is a rural area. Yes. ⁓ Caesarea Philippi is a Roman outpost. And the specific place where they believe this conversation happened, even though it's a rural area, was somewhat of a tourist destination, if you will, more like a worshippers destination, because in Caesarea Philippi was a cave, and that cave was believed to be one of the entrance points into Hades. Like for the pagan Romans to enter into Hades, they believe you could. Do that through this cave ancestral Vilipi. And they would worship at this cave, but they would specifically worship the god Pan. Now, Pan is the god, he is like the ⁓ the god of shepherds, he's the god of the sheep, he is ⁓ like a trickster. So that's where you get the word panic from is like he would create pandemonium, he would, you know, just create, you know, chaos. But ⁓ Pan is also ⁓ considered to be either a grandson of Zeus through ⁓ Hermes, his like messenger, or he is the direct son of Zeus. But either way, he's like a son or grandson of the most high God. So he's standing at that place. He's standing outside that temple, outside that cave that leads down into hell. And this is the entrance point of hell is where Pan is worshipped, the God of the Most High. And that's when he tells them Who do people say that I am? Mm-hmm. Very intentional. Very, very intentional. And verse fourteen says they replied, Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah. So others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. But you, he asked them, who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Right. So This is where it goes from more of the academic to the personal. Like it's a it's a pretty cool piece of trivia that this is where this happens, this cave and it it's happening here. But the personal is there was probably a crowd around them coming to worship Pan, and that's where Jesus is standing, mm-hmm saying, Who do you say that I am? Mm-hmm. Who are you here to worship? Are you here to worship Pan? Are you here to worship me? Because who is the true God? Right. And what we said at our church was, you know, most of us probably aren't tempted to worship Pan. Like, ⁓ is it Jesus or is it Pan? Like I I don't know who my true God is, but but there's a lot of pans. There's a lot of panic. There's a lot of pandemonium in our world because there are gods pretending to be the most high. They go by the name of career success, financial stability. They go by the name of Pleasure and comfort, you know, they go by the names of ⁓ you know, pretending like you have it all together on the outside, the Instagram life. It goes by the corner office, it goes by politics. Is that not a God right now running rain bit in our country and our world? Like there are things that we lift our hearts to other than Jesus Christ. And Jesus stands right there and says, There will be no idols here. I will not share space with any other God. I will not share your heart. Because every other God will leap down to Hades. Every other God will stand in the entranceway calling you to come worship. It's only the doorstep down into hell. And Jesus is standing on the doorstep outside of hell saying, Who will you choose? Who will you choose? And I love that image because Jesus is like, Well, we'll get into it. I'll save it for the next one. Good on. Keep going. Yeah. In verse seventeen, Jesus responded, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. Because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven, and I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth will be lost in heaven. Then he gave the disciples orders to tell no one what That he was the Messiah. Right. So you see now the language of Hades makes sense that he's saying this to Peter. And this is ⁓ when he gives him that name from Simon, which means read to Peter, which means rock. So in the original language it says Petros, why you are Petros, you are the rock. And on this Petros, female truth, I will build my church. So ⁓ this is a beautiful image that the truth of declaring that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Most High God, the the the God, the only one. Directly on the doorstep of hell is what the church is supposed to do. We are supposed to block the way to hell. Amen. We are supposed to stand in the way, smash the idol of pan, smash the idol of whatever God is propping itself up that's calling people, come worship me, come worship me. And ⁓ wouldn't you know it? Keep coming deeper and deeper. And where will you find yourself? Down in Hades. The church. Is not meant to be off in the corner somewhere. The church is not meant to just stand aside and make it easy for people to go into hell. The church is meant to stand in the way and say, you can keep worshiping Pan, but here's where it's gonna go. Yep. Or you can worship the most high God. And here's where you and here's where you're gonna go. And I think when we get that, that changes how we view the world. That change that calls us out of fear, that calls us onto mission, that tells us. Hey, we're not supposed to just be good people on Sundays and just kinda go about our business. Mm-hmm. There are people all around us. Yeah. On their way to hell. Mm-hmm. And we're supposed to make it hard. Are you standing in the way? Yeah. For someone? Like are you blocking their lane to hell? Mm-hmm. Amen. Verse twenty one, it says, From then on, Jesus began to point out the to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem. And suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed and be raised the third day. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke them. ⁓ no, Lord, this will never happen to you. Jesus turned and told Peter, Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me because you you're not thinking about God's concerns, but human concerns. So flipped it real quick from you are, you know, this and that, and now you are Satan. Yeah. He doesn't even call him Simon, he goes full Satan on him. And so like Peter has his best moment with Jesus and his worst moment. And if ⁓ I'm sure some of our listeners, watchers who are Jesus followers, we can all relate. ⁓ you have an amazing moment with Jesus and it seems like the next day you do something that you're like, What am I doing? Why did why did I do that? Why did I say that? Why did I you know, whatever? And ⁓ so this very much y humanizes The disciples, but it's not like Jesus is being vague here. He's like, Okay, guys, here's what's gonna happen. We're gonna go to Jerusalem. I'm gonna suffer. And the ones who are gonna do it are the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, you know, the ones that have been kind of coming after me for a while, and I'm gonna be killed, raised from the dead on the third day. Sound good? Sound like a plan? And then let's go. And then when it happens though, as we get to they're all what's going on? Yeah. He and he's gonna tell you at other times, but he's like, This is what I'm saying. It's not an accident. I'm pre I'm telling you, prepare your hearts for this. And then Peter pulls him aside and is like, Hey, I don't really like this plan of yours. Yeah. I don't really like this plan of yours. And and how often do we pull God of the universe aside and say, Hey, let me you know you got your plan, that's good, it's it's fine. Fun blind. I I've got you know, if I could be your consultant for a minute and tell you how this plan needs to really go. Again, how many of us, if we're honest, have either wanted to or tried in our prayer life or our journaling to be like, you know, God, if you could just come on, just do it my way. Yeah. We even do it without even noticing it. Exactly. And and at least Peter is bold enough and comfortable enough to go to Jesus. We just do it without even saying it. Yeah. And he's like, No, no, no, you're not trusting me. You know, trusting what it's saying that I know what I'm doing. This is gonna be the salvation plan. So yeah, not a great moment for for PR. Yeah. In verse twenty-four it says, Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. Mm-hmm. Again, it seems like Jesus is talking of riddles. Yeah. But this is if you live long enough, you'll you'll recognize this as truth. People who live for themselves, live only for themselves, will find themselves all by themselves. Like good writing. Yeah. But it's like when you're when you're so it's like the person who never goes outside their house because they're afraid of being hurt. Yeah. That person's not up in a good place. No. Like like meant nothing. Like they cut themselves off. So when you live only for yourself, you live a miserable life. Yeah. But when you're like, I'm laying my life down for you, Jesus, like I'm surrendering all to you and I'll go where you send me, that's when you experience joy, that's when you experience peace. That's when you experience meaning and purpose in your life and in a community like no other. That's all the best parts that make life beautiful and good only happen when you lay down your life and say, Jesus, take it. And that's when what you get in return is so much greater. Mm-hmm. Yeah. ⁓ it continues on in verse twenty six for what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in glory of his of his father, and then he will reward each according to whatever he has done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who Who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom? Yeah. So what Jesus is saying is still a word for us today of you know what what good is it to have career success at the end of the day if you don't have Jesus? Like what good is it to have all the pleasure that you could possibly want in this world if you don't have Jesus? What what good is it To have everything your heart's ever desired and then you find it's not enough. Well I mean, don't we know all of us know people that you're like they have everything and they're miserable. What are they upset about? Yeah. They don't they gain the whole world, but they've lost their soul. They've lost the lover of their soul, you can even say. ⁓ but he's like, But when I enter into my kingdom, which is basically his coronation ceremony on the cross, that this is an upside down kingdom, he's You all will see this. You're gonna see the kingdom come. Mm-hmm. You're not even gonna taste death and you're gonna be like, ⁓ the kingdom of God is breaking out. So like lay your life down, join the kingdom and find life, find purpose and everything. Amen. I will be done. Mm-hmm. And ⁓ we thank you. We're gonna stop there for today. We'll pick up in chapter seventeen tomorrow. So we thank you for tuning in and we'll see you next time.