Who Do You Say That I Am? (Luke 9:18-22)

Amen.

So good to be in the house of the Lord.

You know, the the safe people come on rainy Sunday mornings, amen.

We we pray for rain and then it rains and we don't come to church and then we wonder why it doesn't rain, right?

Uh but the safe people are here this morning, amen.

Man, before I get started, we got one more announcement.

Noah, if you could give Cheryl the mic.

Cheryl is gonna make one quick announcement.

Cheryl, y'all give it up for Cheryl, one of our elders and hope group leaders.

Her group, you you stand down here if you want to.

Okay, I just wanted to uh welcome everybody and say, uh please come next Sunday evening.

My hope group is sponsoring Rachel Frost.

We're doing a spaghetti uh dinner for her because she's going through cancer treatment.

It's very, very expensive.

Um, and so our hope group, if you're not involved in one, you really should get involved in one because they love you and we love her, and we're gonna put that together, and we just wanted to make sure everybody knows about it.

All right.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you, Cheryl.

You can sign up for that in the church center app.

Yeah, give her a hand.

You can sign up for that in the church center app.

You gotta eat, you gotta eat dinner anyway.

Uh, I think it's$12 or$15.

What do we decide?

$12.

Uh, and so you're gonna spend$12 at McDonald's these days.

Might as well get a home cooked meal.

Amen.

Amen.

Right?

So, all right, this morning.

Well, I did my very best to get here earlier than I did last night.

Uh, you can ask Walt, Shelley, and Gwen.

We had a great plan, uh, but the Lord had a different plan.

Amen.

And so the Lord meant for me to be just a little bit tired this morning because when I'm a little bit tired, I'm a little bit more spicy, okay?

And so I just want to say up front, this was the Lord's plan all of long.

So if I step on your toes, blame him.

I tried to catch a six o'clock flight, okay?

We had every intention, and right as our plane got here, the skies opened up in Guatemala and it slowed down.

So we live in a world where everyone has an opinion about everything.

Everyone has an opinion about politics, everyone has an opinion about your parenting.

Amen.

Everybody has an opinion about the cowboys.

Everybody has an opinion about church.

It's amazing how much the church is in the news.

All we want to report is the bad churches.

We don't want to report the faithful pastors that show up every Sunday after landing at 9:30 at Houston last night and show up and preach.

But everybody also seems to have an opinion about Jesus and what we should believe about Jesus.

But one of the dangers is we could spend so too much time listening to what everybody else says about Jesus that we never answer the question for ourselves.

Because Christianity isn't ultimately built on, is ultimately built on a question.

What does everybody else think about Jesus?

It's built on what who do you say that he is?

It's not built on other people's opinion.

Listen, you can listen to all the podcasts in the world about Jesus, but if you don't proclaim who he is, you have nothing.

Now, like I said the last time I preached, Luke 9 is the turning point in the Gospels.

The disciples have watched Jesus heal people, they've watched him cast out demons, they've watched him calm storms, they've watched him raise people from the dead, they watched him feed thousands of people with almost nothing.

They've seen enough evidence, and now Jesus asked them a question Who do you say that I am?

You could know everything else, and you could know what everybody else says about Jesus, but eventually you have to decide who Jesus is to you.

And let Jesus define what it means for him to be the Christ.

So if you're taking notes this morning, the title of my message is Who Do You Say That I Am?

Who Do You Say That I Am?

If you have your Bibles, grab them.

Go to Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

We are gonna start in verse 18 this morning.

If you don't have your Bibles, tap the NFC tag there on the chair in front of you and the church center app will pull up.

My sermon notes is there.

Their team does a great job at putting our notes, my notes there, and you can excuse me, you can even fill in the blanks there.

One more quick announcement.

Truck retreat is coming up.

If you haven't signed up for truck retreat yet, the signs are out.

Uh, drove by the funeral home this morning, and the sign is already out there, so it's happening, whether you like it or not.

So if you'd volunteer, it's gonna be an amazing event.

Uh, also, we have a need for candy.

It is out there.

Uh, it is our biggest outreach of the year.

Uh, every year we have about a thousand people that show up at the funeral home, and it's always awesome, and we get to spread the love of Jesus.

Uh, in a time that our world tends to trend a little dark, we trend a little light.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's just get into it.

Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

We're gonna start in verse 18 this morning.

Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him, and he asked them, Who do the crowds say that I am?

And they answered, John the Baptist, but others say Elijah, and others that one of the prophets of old has risen.

So the first point that I have for you this morning is don't confuse knowing about him with knowing him.

Don't confuse with knowing about Jesus as being the same as knowing him.

Notice where he starts.

Jesus is praying, and then he asks, Who do the crowds say that I am?

And they answer, John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets.

Now, none of those were insults.

They thought very highly of Jesus, but they just didn't think highly enough.

They had seen miracles, they'd heard his teaching, but they had still missed who he really was.

And still and people still do this today.

You can have a high opinion of Jesus and still completely miss who he is.

You can come to church every Sunday and completely miss who he is.

If you asked me, who is Crystal?

And I said, you know, she's a really nice person.

She's kind of good looking too, right?

But I'm leaving out the most important part.

Who is Crystal to me?

She is my wife, she is my everything, she is my other half.

The Bible says that we are one.

So if I stop with she is one sexy mama, I miss the point.

Why?

Because that's what the crowd was doing with Jesus.

They said he's a prophet, he's a teacher, he's a miracle worker, but he's more than that.

He's the Christ, he's the Messiah, he's the King.

So I want to warn you this morning: be careful who defines Jesus for you.

TikTok should not define who Jesus is to you.

Facebook should not define who Jesus is to you.

A podcast should not define who Jesus is to you.

Somebody else's faith, maybe the faith of your mom and dad, should not define who Jesus is to you.

You have to know Jesus yourself.

Or when you get to heaven, he's going to say, Depart from me, I never knew you.

Guys, I want to encourage you this morning.

Stop listening to everybody else's opinion about Jesus and spend more time with Jesus.

Now listen, I love podcasts, I love books, I love listening to the preachers, but nothing beats opening your Bible, praying, listening to God, and worshiping Him.

Those other things should supplement that time.

But if you don't have time to pray, read your Bible and worship, you don't have time to listen to podcasts.

If you don't have time to pray, read your Bible, listen to worship music, then you don't have time to scroll TikTok.

Listen, a lot of people are gonna say, Pastor, you just, Pastor, I don't have a whole lot of time.

You know, I'd like to believe you.

But on a Sunday morning when the Cowboys play at noon, I always know my first service is gonna be larger than my second service.

So something is important to you.

Your life is proclaiming what is most important to you.

You make time for what is most important to you.

Because I love you all very much.

But if Crystal calls me and says, Baby, I need you to do something, guess what?

You're gonna get a no, and she's gonna get a yes.

Because she's most important to me.

So if the cowboys get a yes and Jesus gets a no, what's the most important to you?

Because let me tell you, Jerry Jones doesn't care if you get to heaven.

Now, the Jerry Jones that is an elder of this church does, but not the Jerry Jones that owns the cowboys.

Just to be clear, okay?

Because I know some of his family are texting him in service right now.

Guys, listen, culture doesn't get to define Jesus, Jesus defines Jesus.

The crowd can tell you what they think about Jesus, but only Jesus can reveal who he really is.

Let's keep reading, verse 20.

Then he said to them, But who do you say that I am?

And Peter answered, The Christ of God.

Second, Jesus asked the question of all questions.

That's the title of my message.

Who do you say that I am?

I love that little word in the Bible.

When there's a but in the Bible, you need to look.

Because Jesus goes, but who do you say that I am?

Because the butt's important.

Remember, with our spouse, when your spouse says, I love you, but what comes after the butt, gentlemen, is important.

You're doing such a great job around the house, but you need to listen after the butt because the but is important.

Okay?

Jesus says that's what they say, but what about you?

Eventually, Jesus moves the question from they to you who do you say that I am?

And Peter answers, the Christ of God.

Now, Christ isn't Jesus' last name.

You know, I knew that I was in Texas immediately because I heard Jesus Christ many times walking around the airport, and they weren't praising him.

Uh and Jesus Christ is not his last name.

The Greek word Christos means anointed one, the Messiah.

Peter is saying, You are the one, the promised king, the messiah we've been waiting for.

That's what he's saying.

They had watched him heal, they had watched him provide, they'd watched him calm storms and raise the dead.

And Peter finally connects the dots and says, You are him.

You are the one that we have been waiting for.

Guys, there's a difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing them.

You know, social media has made us very strange.

Because I meet a lot of people throughout my life.

And one thing that's funny between Crystal and I is I will have random people, no matter where we are in the world.

My kids always laugh.

Dad has a friend somewhere wherever we are.

And someone will walk up to me, Pastor Todd, it's so good to see you.

And I'm just like, hey man, how are you?

It's so good to see you.

And I walk away, and Crystal goes, Who's that?

I go, I don't have no, I don't have no idea.

And she always laughs.

She goes, Well, you act like you know.

I said, I promise you, hand on the Bible, no clue who they are.

Because here's what social media does.

You watch my sermons, you watch my clip, you watch my podcast, you think we're best friends.

But I have no idea who you are because we've never spent time together.

I could know a baseball player's stats, I could watch every game and still not know him as a person.

We can do the same thing with Jesus.

We can know his stories, we can sing his songs, we can know the verses in the Bible, we can know theology, but Jesus doesn't ask, how much do you know about me?

He asks, Who do you say that I am?

Because here's the thing you can meet me as a pastor and you can walk through my bio and talk about all my degrees and accomplishments, but do you know what my favorite drink is?

Because only my best friends know what my favorite drink is.

Diet Dr.

Pepper is the answer.

And I've been drinking Coke Zero because that's all they have in Guatemala for the last two weeks.

And I got to the Houston Airport, I was like, where are you, Diet Dr.

Pepper?

I smell you.

And after eating some very mediocre Wendy's, I found one.

But guys, if he's king, I don't just consult him, I obey him.

If he's just a teacher, I can disagree.

If he's just inspiration, then I can ignore him.

If he's just a miracle worker, I can use him like a genie in a bottle.

Like a genie in a bottle.

Focus, people, okay?

But if he's Christ, the anointed one, he gets my life.

You can't live on somebody else's revelation of Jesus.

You have to know him for yourself.

Let's keep reading.

Verse 21 through 22.

And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

The third thing that we must do is let Jesus be the Savior.

Let Jesus be the Savior.

This is where the passage takes a turn.

Peter gets the title right.

You are the Christ.

But he doesn't fully understand what that means.

They expected a messiah of power, of victory, to sit on the throne, to overthrow the Romans.

But Jesus says the Son of Man, which is his favorite thing to say about himself, must suffer.

Must is the word.

They expected a throne, Jesus gave him a cross.

They expected conquest, Jesus gave them sacrifice.

They expected him to destroy the enemies.

And he came to die for them.

This is why the Jews still miss in the day.

They were looking for one thing, and Jesus was the exact opposite.

What looked like everything going wrong was actually God's plan unfolding before us.

Guys, I want you to hear this this morning.

What may look like everything is unfolding in your life is God's plan actually unfolding in front of you?

Amen.

Have you ever watched a game where your team looks completely defeated?

Nothing's going according to plan.

And you think it's over.

It's almost from the first step of a Dallas Cowboy game.

Sitting there watching the Dallas Cowboys game in Braz in Guatemala and they're in Brazil.

And they let him just march down the field, kick a field, go and lose.

Down, was it 21-3?

Something like that.

28-3?

21-3.

And I sat back and watched as they came back.

Because sometimes you think it's over.

But when Arch Manning has the ball, it ain't over.

That's how the disciples heard Jesus.

Messiah.

Yes, King.

Yes.

But suffering?

Rejection?

Death?

Like, this doesn't make sense to me.

This sounded like defeat.

But look, what looked like defeat on Friday became victory on Sunday.

Sometimes what looks like God is losing is actually God winning.

Following Jesus doesn't mean life gets easier.

Sometimes there's a cross before the glory.

So don't mistake hardship for God's absence.

What looks like defeat, maybe where God is doing his greatest work in your life.

Jesus was killed, but he was raised.

Friday looked final, but Sunday proved that it wasn't.

So this morning I want you to be encouraged.

Don't mistake a hard chapter for the end of the story.

God still has resurrection in the plan for your life.

There's nothing that this world can throw at you that your God is not bigger than.

Or the monsters on TV.

Anybody?

No?

Okay.

I'm a lineal, I can't help it.

There's always the veggie tails.

But think of the greatest hurdle in your life.

Think of the greatest frustration in your life.

And God is bigger than that.

You know, that was one thing that was tough this week.

We went to Guatemala.

And every time I go there, God shows me something different.

We went to a school with a deaf population.

There were some deaf kids, there were some autistic kids.

And I noticed I had not seen that anywhere else in any other city.

And I've been to close to 20 schools across Guatemala.

And Crystal asked me this question.

She said, Why don't we see those kids in any other school?

There's a simple answer, but we don't want to talk about it.

The simple answer is those kids are discarded.

Because life is so tough that they can't imagine dealing with that hardship.

And I sat in my hotel room after talking to my wife on the phone about that, and I'm like, God, how can I live in a world that is that solid?

That is that rough.

I was also in a town where it was one of the largest sex slavery towns in Guatemala.

Where families were literally selling kids so they could feed the rest of their family.

How can we live in a world that this is this fallen?

And you know what the simple answer was?

I'm still greater than all of that.

Because we were still there to bring hope to those that needed hope.

We can still bring hope to those that are in deep pain.

And that even though it looks like things may need to be defeated, God is still on the throne.

So I want you to be encouraged today.

It doesn't matter what you're facing in your life, the God that you serve is still bigger.

So what are our transformational moments this morning?

As the worship team comes back, y'all don't be distracted.

They can't walk outside because it's raining.

So they're all so sweet that they'll melt outside.

So what are our transformational moments this morning?

Number one, do you know Jesus or do you just know about Jesus?

Are you like one of those random people that comes up to me at Walmart that says they go to my church and I have no idea who you are?

Or do you actually have a relationship enough to know Jesus?

Because here's the thing.

I want to beg to argue with you that if you go to this church and you walk up to me at Walmart, I should probably know who you are.

I may not know your name, because unless my wife's there, I don't know your name.

Because I'm not a namesperson.

My wife is the namesperson.

So don't walk up to me and go, what's my name, Pastor?

Because I'm not gonna know.

That's why God gave me crystal.

But I'm probably gonna know that you're from the church.

If we have a relationship.

So do you have enough relationship with Jesus that when you get to heaven, he's gonna be like, What's up, bro?

Or is he gonna be depart from me?

I don't know who you are.

Number two, who do you say Jesus is?

And does your life reflect your answer?

Listen, our priorities are reflected in our lives, whether we like it or not.

Listen, if I tell my wife that she's a priority to me and that I'm never at home, does my wife feel that I'm at a priority, that my family is a priority?

No.

Even if serving the church, a good thing, takes me away from my family, a good too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with listening to podcasts, but if it replaces your Bible reading and speaking to the Lord, it's a bad thing.

Because knowledge about Jesus doesn't give you a relationship with Jesus.

And number three, can you still trust Jesus when his plan doesn't look like you expected?

You know, the reason why the disciples struggled so much, and you'll watch, they ran and hid when he was crucified, is because they were looking for the wrong thing.

And I think sometimes we as church people are looking for the wrong thing.

You know, I joke, we pray for rain, and then when it rains, we don't come to church.

That's just human nature.

We we have the nature to get it wrong a lot of the times, and we kind of get it wrong without having to try too hard, right?

Anyone else stay in trouble all the time?

Right.

But what Jesus says is if you will come to me and have a relationship with me, I can direct you the right way.

So in just a moment, our worship team is gonna lead us to one more song.

Our prayer people are gonna be at the side.

I want you to ask the simple question, who is Jesus to you?

And then I want you to answer the question Does my life reflect that?

Because if it doesn't, you need to change something.

Because if he is the most important thing in the world to you, then how you spend your time should match that.

But before we get there, I know there's people in this room this morning that don't have a relationship with Jesus.

Jesus can't be your everything if you don't have a relationship with him.

So I'm gonna ask everybody to bow their head and close their eyes all over the room.

And if you don't know Jesus, if you don't have a relationship with him, I want you to know that God is in love with you.

He's not in love with a future version of you, he's not in love with some someone different than you, he's in love with you right now, and he wants to be in a relationship with you.

So if you feel God tugging at your heart this morning, I'm about to say a prayer, and you can repeat after me.

And if you feel God leading you, just repeat after me, dear Jesus, I'm a sinner.

I need your love in my life.

Forgive me where I failed you.

I give my heart to you today.

Take my life, use it for your purpose, in Jesus' name.

Amen.