Unshakable: Who Do You Say Jesus Is?

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast with

Pastor Casey Kendall, where our vision is Jesus, our mission is

people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in.

Let's dive in. Amen.

As you've come, we're switching up our order of service a little

bit for you. I just believe we just need to

enter in to the word and all that has transpired in our

nation and and I want to give to us just the revelation of Jesus

in Matthew chapter 16. If you have your Bible handy,

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 16, Matthew chapter 16, if you have your

Matthew 16 · chapter mention Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Bible ready. I just want to read 1 scripture

and we'll go through many more, but I just wanted to read this

to all of us today, Reminding us, instructing us, inspiring

us, standing on what is true and the life that Jesus has given to

us. I don't know what type of week

you've come in here from. I don't know where you have

travelled in from, or the pain of your family or the pain of

being single, the pain of being married or the pain of the

finances that you're in. But I just want you to hear

something in Matthew chapter 16, verse 18 that Jesus told one of

Matthew 16:18

his disciples. The reason being, if there's one

word that could have described my week this week, it is shaken.

I've been shaken. And I want us to know that on

Christ we could be unshakeable even though we feel shaken and

we're feeling that that power and this darkness, the evil in

our land. In Matthew chapter 16 verse 18,

Matthew 16:18

the Bible says and I. Also say to.

You that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

If you would just look at your neighbor this morning and tell

them, neighbor, my neighbor, we will never quit.

We will never quit. These last few weeks for me have

been overwhelming. They've been disturbing, and

there's been a lot of grieving, not just with me, but in our

community. There's been the grieving of

Rosanna, who was a woman in our church who sat right in that

corner and battled cancer bravely.

She worshipped Jesus passionately, she lived for

Jesus fully and on Monday night she entered in to heaven.

And although we celebrate the fact of her homecoming towards

Jesus, we feel the pain and the agony of the loss.

In our own community. From not only just Rosanna, but

from. Seeing a mother in.

Minnesota running down? A street.

To rescue her child from an active shooter while her child

was praying. It's an image that has seemed

to. Catch us it is.

An image that seemed. To grab hold.

Of our attention to just again this week, the innocent.

Slaying of a refugee from Ukraine.

On a. Train in North Carolina from

that now. Moving to a place of watching

Charlie Kirk be assassinated. On a college campus.

In Utah. While he exercised the freedom

of speech and dialogue, a brother in Christ, a man who

stood for Jesus, a man who proclaimed the life of Jesus.

From now, the next day, on September 11th, that we had

celebrated the memorial of 911. And in that moment?

We saw 2977. People lose their lives, and

even more than that from the. Toxicity of the building.

Collapsing now have lost their life in this moment.

I remember 3 months after September 11th in 2001.

Standing on a. Platform overlooking a pit where

the World Trade Centers used to. Stand and I.

Waited there. As a pastor for.

People who had lost loved ones to arrive on that platform when

I was there, it wasn't a time where we saw them rescuing

people. They weren't rescuing people at

this point in time. They were simply.

Pulling out body parts of people to identify.

Them and I remember one family member in New York City.

Overlooking the pit that walked up and she asked this question,

and that one question was why? Why has this happened at this

time? Why in this place, Why in this

moment? And why to them and maybe?

That has been your. Question over this last.

Week is why, and there's a great danger for us in the midst.

Of seeing so much death that everyone of.

Us, because we've seen so much death, we actually stop living

the life that Christ has called us.

To live but I. Just want to speak this into

your life and over our community today and that is this.

We might be crushed. But we're not quitting.

We might be feeling. Pressure, but we're.

Not going to stop pursuing. We might have come into this

place facing tragic, tragic loss, but that doesn't mean that

we actually stop living our lives.

We might have been forsaken, or excuse me, persecuted, but we

are not forsaken. We might have walked into this

place feeling as though we are down, but it is the one who

lifts us up today, The one who The Pharisees couldn't stand

him, and the Sadducees couldn't stop him.

Pilate couldn't find any fault in him, and Herod couldn't kill

him, and death couldn't handle him, and the grave certainly

could not hold him. He is the one who is still

seated on the throne. He is in the midst of this

place, even in the all that we have faced in this week, that we

are not going to shrink and cower away out of fear because

what we have seen and then what we have experienced, we are

going to exercise the same boldness and stand on the same

truth of God's Word that we always have in the person of

Jesus Christ. We are not running to hide.

We are not going to a place where we're going to allow all

of these things to silence the voice of the power of the

gospel. That Jesus Christ did die on the

cross for your sin. That you are a Sinner and you're

separated from God. That Jesus, out of his great

love, hung on a cross and died the death that everyone of us

should have died and lived the life that everyone.

Of us should have. Lived.

It is through Jesus alone that we experience the life power of

freedom and forgiveness, and it is now at this high time that I

truly believe that we have to understand that the gates of

hell will not. Prevail against the Church.

And that we come to a spot in our lives where we understand

that we are going to live for the one who has given all, and

that is Jesus Christ. Do you see, the enemy wants to

create fear. He wants to hold you hostage in

anxiety today. He wants to imprison you with

complacency. And he wants you to throw your

hands up now and stop giving your heart out to people today.

But that is not the witness of a Christian who is bold enough to

stand up and speak in your workplace, the name of Jesus.

Who is bold enough to stand up and say that this is evil, that

this is sin? Who's bold enough to say that

there is a Savior who is Christ the Lord?

That we will come to such a time as this and although we might

feel shaken in our lives and we're grieving, that we can

still stand on the solid rock of Christ Jesus and be unshakable

in our faith. I love what Winston Churchill

once said. He said fear is a reaction and

courage is a decision. He went on to write that courage

is for us the foundational human quality that enables all other

virtues and positive traits to be manufactured and manifested

and sustained in our lives. So if Jesus really is the answer

in all of these of problems that we are facing, why am I not

willing to stand upon His word even in this moment and boldly

proclaim that we will not quit, that we will not stop, that we

will not allow pain to be something that pushes us to the

side? Do you see the words of Jesus

come to us in Matthew chapter 16?

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

He has just been in a debate with the Sadducees and the

Pharisees. And it's interesting that the

Pharisees who believed in the resurrection and the Sadducees

who didn't believe in the resurrection joined a

commonality to come against Jesus even though they were

divided in their own lives. And they come to Jesus and

they're trying to test him. And in a way they're trying to

catch him right where he is at. Jesus, in the midst of Matthew

16 also feeds 4000 people. And in feeding of the 4000 he

comes to his disciples and the Bible says this in verse 13 that

when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked

his disciples saying, who do men say that I the.

Son of Man AM. Here, in this moment of

questioning, Jesus gives to his disciples a question and I

believe we all need. Something in this moment.

I believe we need a revelation of Jesus.

We need a deep seated, rooted revelation of Jesus Christ.

We need to anchor ourselves into the person of Jesus.

They saw the miracles that Jesus did.

But they weren't. Aware of who Jesus is, we need

to have a revelation of Jesus Christ here in this moment.

Jesus is not posing a question so he could validate who he is.

He's posing this question for his disciples to understand who

he is in the midst of their own trial, in their own difficulty

and in their own hardship. And he asked them, who do men

say that I am? And then it goes a little bit

personal. He goes down a little verse now

verse 15. And he said, but who do you?

Say that I am. He goes now from the crowd's

opinion of Jesus. Now to your own personal

opinion. Everything about your life in my

life pivots on this one question.

Who do you say that Jesus is? Everything is surrounded in my

life and based in my life simply upon that question.

Because if I don't have the right Jesus, I will live.

The wrong life. If I don't see who Jesus really

is, I won't give for what Jesus has for me.

And I believe in our age and our time.

You can settle for a lot of opinions of who Jesus is, or you

could settle for the truth of who Jesus is, that Jesus Christ

is Lord, that Jesus Christ is Savior, that Jesus Christ is the

one God's Son who was sent to die upon the cross for our sin.

Everything comes down to this revelation.

And notice what the Bible says. They come up with four separate

opinions of who Jesus is. Some they said verse 14 that

you're John the Baptist. The reason why that was brought

up is because Herod thought because of Jesus's life that

John the Baptist has resurrected from the dead.

That opinion was based. Out of the fear.

Of a man who committed evil. And then again they went on.

Well, some say Elijah, now Elijah.

The Bible prophecies in the spirit of Elijah that he would

be the forerunner to the person of Jesus Christ, and then they

go on. While others say that you're

Jeremiah, and some say that you were actually the fourth thing.

You're the prophets, but. Jesus questions again and says,

but who do you say that I am Now you can give into all types of

opinions about Jesus. You can give into all types of

scenarios about Jesus. But if your version of Jesus.

Doesn't match the Bible. 'S version of Jesus.

You have the wrong Jesus. If I could stand up here and

tell you anything that Jesus, the Bible says in the beginning

was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word.

Was God, the Bible goes. On to tell us about the word

that the word became. Flesh and dwelt among.

Us and we behold his glory, that he's full of grace and he's full

of truth. You see, all of this is pointing

me back to Jesus. Your view of the Messiah was to

be maybe a lot like these people, that he would be the

splendid conquering political king.

But that's that's not how Jesus came.

He came as a humble servant, and sacrificed himself on an old

rugged cross, and died for my sin, my iniquity, and my.

Trespasses. And all of these people were

looking for something else. But Jesus says, but who do you

say that I am? Your view of Jesus will

determine what you do for Jesus. And this is the question that

will determine if you quit in the midst of suffering and

hardship. Because things change, but Jesus

never changes. And so he came, the Bible says

in verse 16 to Simon Peter and answered and said, Simon Peter,

you are the Christ. You are the Son of the living

God. No notice.

Notice the revelation that Peter has.

He says of Jesus that you are the Christ.

Now the word Christ, as you know is not Jesus's last name.

Some people go Jesus Christ and they think that that that that's

that was Jesus's last name. When they said, or Peter said

that you are the Christ, what he was saying is you are the

anointed 1 and you are the Messiah.

And then notice the revelation that you are the Christ.

Notice this, the son of the living God, the words living God

there would refer back to the true God who would come in the

midst of everything that would be false.

So Peter is pointing us back to who Jesus is.

And I think in this moment in our nation, you can be on CNN,

you could be on Fox, you could be on consumed with all these

news stations. But are we consumed with the

person of Jesus? Have we come to a spot to really

see who Jesus is? I love what Elizabeth Barrett

Browning once wrote. She said earth is crammed with

heaven in every common Bush of fire with God, but he, but only

he who sees takes off his shoes and the rest sit around and eat

blackberries. There is something about this

moment that you're in. There is something about the

moment that we are all in that we can deliver the answer to

people and the answer is Jesus. The answer for our nation is

Jesus. He is greater.

Than a political. Party he is more powerful than a

medicinal pill that you might take for your your own panic.

Jesus gives peace to the heart and in that all of Scripture is

pointing me to the person of Jesus to see Jesus for who he

really is. And Peter comes to the spot of

this revelation of you're the Christ.

You are the Son of the living God.

All of scripture is pointing us to Jesus.

In Genesis, Jesus is the breath of life.

In Exodus, he's the Passover lamb.

In Leviticus, he's the high priest.

In Numbers he is the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of

fire by night. Jesus in Deuteronomy, he is the

prophet like unto Moses. In Joshua, he is the captain of

our salvation. In Judges, he is our judge in

Lawgiver. In Ruth he is the the kinsman

Redeemer. In First and Second Samuel he is

our trusted prophet. In Kings and Chronicles, Jesus

is our reigning king. In Ezra and Nehemiah he is the

rebuilder of the broken down walls of human life.

In Esther, Jesus is represented in our Mordecai.

In Job he is our everlasting Redeemer.

In Psalms he is our Good Shepherd.

In Proverbs he is the and Ecclesiastes he is our wisdom.

In the Song of Solomon, Jesus is the loving in bridegroom.

In Isaiah he is the Prince of Peace and in Jeremiah he is the

righteous branch and Lamentations.

He is our weeping prophet. In Ezekiel He is the wonderful 4

faced man. In Daniel he is the 4th man in

the fiery furnace. In Hosea, Jesus is the faithful

husband, forever married to the backslider.

And Joel he is the baptizer of the Holy Ghost and fire.

And Amos, he is our burden bearer.

And Obadiah, he's the mighty one to save.

And Jonah, he is our great foreign missionary.

And Micah, he is the messenger of beautiful feet.

And Nahum, he is our strength and shield.

And Habakkuk, he is God's evangelist.

Crime, revive thy works in the midst of the years.

And Zephaniah, he is our Savior. And Haggai, he is the restorer

of God's lost heritage. In Zechariah he is the fountain

opened up in the House of David for sin and uncleanliness, and

in Malachi He is the Sun of Righteousness rising with

healing in his wings. Can I go on in Matthew?

In Matthew, Jesus is the king of the Jews.

In Mark he is the servant. In Luke he is the Son of man,

feeling what you feel. And in John he's the Son of God.

The Bible goes on to tell us in Acts he's the savior of the

world. In Romans he's the righteousness

of God. In first Corinthians he is the

rock. In second Corinthians he is the

triumphant 1 giving victory. In Galatians, Jesus is our

freedom. In Ephesians Jesus is the head

of the church, in Philippians he is our joy, and Colossians he is

our completeness. And 1st and 2nd Thessalonians he

is your hope. And first Timothy he is your

faith. And second Timothy he is your

stability. And Titus he is your truth and

Philemon he is your benefactor. In Hebrews he is your

perfection. And James Jesus he is the power

behind your faith. And first Peter he is your

example. And second Peter he is your

purity. And 1st John he is our life.

And 2nd John, he is our pattern. In 3rd John he's our motivation.

In Jude he is the foundation of your faith and in Revelation He

is your King. That is coming.

Jesus is coming again. He is the 1st and the last, the

beginning and the end. He is the keeper of creation,

the Creator of all. He's the architect of the

universe and the manager of all times.

He always was, He always is, and He always will be.

On that day, the question will not be, what did you do for me

on that day? The question will be, who is

Jesus, Who is Jesus? Because everything centers

around Jesus and what He did for you, not for what you can do for

him. But I think we've mistaken it

now because the time is short. The time is short.

If I'm watching Rosanna pass into eternity, I always think if

I could just have one more conversation with her.

Time is short for a woman sitting on a train and not

realizing that she would be slain to death in that moment,

or a young man at 31 who's sitting there debating people

and assassinated. Time is short.

Why do we think that we have so much longer to go?

Tomorrow could be your last day on this planet.

Are you right with Jesus? If there's something that this

should do within every single one of us is open our eyes to

how great eternity is and how beautiful Jesus is there there.

There should be something in our lives that causes us to stop

being lukewarm, to stop compromising towards Jesus and

our faith and what we allow in our lives and what we talked

about and what we watched. Earth is fleeting away.

Eternity is what really matters. But we think.

That we. Have a long time.

We say that if we will live till we're 70.

But what if your last breath would be what you breathe today?

What would you leave to this place behind us?

I think it's vital that every one of us hears that God loves

you so much, that he knows who you are and He still.

Loves you right where you are today.

Jesus took everything that I've ever done wrong, and he paid a

debt that I could never. Pay.

And that was the perfection of my own.

Life. He did it for me.

So Peter has his revelation of Jesus and then he has this

confession about Jesus. This is the confession of Peter.

You are the Christ. You are the Son.

Of the living God. You are the one, literally, if

we were to read this in the Greek, they say that you are the

Christ, you are the Son of God, you are the living one.

And if we were just to live in this place today, this we would

understand that there are not many ways to God.

There is one way to God and that is through the person of Jesus

Christ. He is the living 1.

He is the Christ. And because of this confession,

I now will live in a place that this confession produces

boldness and my boldness produces action.

Peter didn't wasn't satisfied, staying on the fringes and

watching. The life of Jesus.

He was not a spectator. I think if I've done anything

wrong in the American church, it is that we have.

Become a spectator place where we watch cool things.

Happen up on a. Stage we produce cool.

Screens and cool images but. What about a holy life?

What about a? Confessional life.

A life. That is willing to say this is

what I'm going. To do actively now to follow

after. Jesus Christ Peter came not with

all of his compliments, but he came with conviction.

And the conviction was, I see Jesus and I will not quit.

He's not the just the confession towards our sin, He's the

confession that Jesus is our Savior.

And in the midst. Of this time here Peter makes

this bold statement and the Lord says this to Peter.

Jesus answered and said in verse 17, Blessed are you Simon

Barjona. For.

Flesh and blood. Has not revealed this to you,

but my. Father, who is in heaven?

My father has revealed this to you.

Blessed are you. And then he says this about

Peter. Peter's confession.

And I also say to you that you are Peter and on the rock.

I will build my church and I want you to hear this.

The gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Oh, how easy it is for us as pastors not to talk about things

that are controversial, not to get into things that would would

would stir up the church or you would lose church members.

Doesn't matter about that anymore.

What matters is are you right with Christ?

And the Bible brings up things that are counter to our culture.

They go against what is popular in our world.

And so the Bible gives to us the complete line that we're called

the walk by and the power of the Spirit to actually live by.

And here in this moment, Peter says you're the Christ.

And Jesus says to him, to his confession, I'm going to.

Build my church. And the gates of.

Hell shall not prevail against it, but I wonder like Keith

Green, when Keith Green died so young on a plane and he would

sing about our lives as he he. Says that we've become.

So numb that we're asleep in the light.

Peter makes this confession. He has this revelation, but I

want you to know today. That with this.

Confession. There's also restoration.

This wasn't the end. Of Peter's story.

Peter just didn't end this story with this.

Great. Proclamation of who Jesus is.

It wouldn't just be days later that Peter would do.

Something that you never thought he would do.

Peter denied Jesus. Jesus told him that he would.

And Peter said no way, no way. And they're in this.

Midst of this revelation in this confession.

Peter's. Story also shows me that there's

restoration and I just want you to know that today there's

restoration. There is a restoration for you

to come back to who Jesus is. There is forgiveness today for

us there. There is life.

There is boldness, there is courage and confidence that's

found in the person of Jesus Christ.

And it is. Here, in this moment.

That Jesus, as Peter denies him three times.

Jesus, in the Gospel of John chapter 21, restores him three

John 21 · chapter mention

times. Peter becomes the mouthpiece,

the patriarch, the leader in the church movement.

But it wasn't until Peter backslid and came to a.

Place where? He said.

Forget all this Jesus stuff. He's died.

All my dreams are dashed. And in that moment Jesus rises

again on the third day. And in this moment Jesus appears

to Peter. He appears to his disciples and

he tells them, tell Peter, I'm alive.

You ever failed, you ever messed up so bad you think that God can

never forgive me of. And you fill in the blank.

This was Peter's God could never forgive me of.

And in this moment Jesus appears with Peter and he has breakfast

with Peter. Peter goes back to his old way

of life of fishing, and maybe you're going back to your old

way of life of drinking, drugs, another relationship, something

else to cover the agony of our week that we escape into.

Netflix, Instagram. I just need something to quiet.

All these voices around. Me and to know what you need is

Jesus, and I want you to know that Jesus will forgive you just

like he forgave Peter and Peter's revelation and

confession. His failing Jesus brought

restoration. And that's the same thing that

Jesus wants to bring to your life today.

In the midst of all that we have faced in this week, we are not

quitting. We're not quitting everything

that you've gone through in this week.

We're not giving up. I've been reading this book

called The Wild Goose Chase about living the adventurous

life that God calls you to and the author shares this story

about a woman by the name of Agnes.

She felt called into ministry when she was a teenager and she

did all of her ministerial training in Ireland and in

India. And one day she approached her

superiors with a God ordained passion and this is what she

said to them. I have 3 pennies and a dream

from God to build an orphanage, her superior said.

You can't build an orphanage with just three pennies.

With three, these 3 pennies, you can't do anything at all, they

told her. And Agnes smiled and said, I

know, but with God and three pennies I could do anything.

For 50 years, Agnes worked among the poor in the slums of a city

called Calcutta, India. And in 1979, the woman that we

know as Mother Teresa won a Nobel Peace Prize.

Listen, he writes, It's a long way from three pennies to a

Nobel Peace Prize. And my question is, is how did a

woman with so little to do, with so little do so much?

And the answer is simple. Never underestimate someone who

has the courage to come out of. The cage.

And to pursue a God ordained passion in restoration with all

these school shootings, a Catholic Church shooting while

kids are praying, the death of a refugee who was seeking safety

in America, the death of a young man who now leaves behind a

widow and two children. Can I ask?

You Christian? What is your Calcutta?

Where is your Calcutta? Eternity is at stake.

And some of you, you've you've never experienced forgiveness,

you've never experienced freedom.

And maybe even all that you have faced this week and what you've

seen has brought you into a place to seek refuge.

And I just want you to hear this, that God sent Jesus

because he loves you and we all. The Bible says in Hebrews 927

it's appointed unto man to die once.

But after this comes the judgement.

We all will be judged, we all will stand before Jesus.

But I wonder what 3 pennies God has given to you that you

believe that he could do nothing with because it's not a lot.

God wants to restore your life. And for some of you, I believe

this is a specific word. He wants to restore your

calling. He wants to restore your

calling. He called you by name.

He called you into this. He's the one that brought you to

this place. And because he called you, he'll

strengthen you to endure. And I believe this is for some

of you, that he's not just restoring your life, He's

restoring your calling through this.

We hope you enjoyed this message and we'd love for you to join us

in person every Sunday at 10:30 AM.

For more information and updates, visit

wearebridgetown.com. Thanks for tuning in and we'll

see you next week.