Who Is Jesus‽

Matthew 16:13-20

Spotlight Question: “Who is Jesus? Jesus is the Messiah, the promised Son of God

Today’s Point: Jesus is God’s Promised Son

Promised 2) Perfect 3) Powerful 4) Proven 5) Plan for Forgiveness

BEGINNING

Self -Intro

Strangers friends <

4th of July < VBS <  ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First off I want to acknowledge all those involved in this VBS Kick Off—— worship & media, staff & volunteers and some of our youth (HYPE TEAM).

BiBLE STORY LIVE ACTING

Let’s jump into it. In today’s passage, we find Jesus interacting and talking with his disciples. (Matthew 16:13-20)  * Complete Drama Here *

TRANSITION - Thank you Hype Team. As for those lights! can you imagine if we kept them off the rest of service. It would deinfately be hard to follow along in your notes it would be difficulut.

Say 3-2-1…(Lights Turn on) SERMON INTRODUCTION

Light can reveal things, but if that light is not there, we can either completely or partially miss what is right in front of us. Also, we sometimes need a more direct spotlight to be able to look more closely at the details to discover Truth.  

John 8:12 is our VBS theme verse and it says, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 

The hope is to illuminate today’s passage to better understand the Truth that Jesus was declaring. 

Prayer ++++++

Spotlight

The home can be a dangerous place, especially a home with little ones who either A) leave death traps on the floor <in my generation army men or Knex, now a days Legos or MagnaTiles just to name a few>or B) get in random places around the home and scare the budgeeses out of caring adults. This is when turning on lights, especially at night become an adults lifesaver and I had to especially turn on lights when we lived in a duplex due to one thing we had in that house—-STAIRS

Kids & Stair Pictures

*Show Image 1 - Our kids loved these stairs and it was a great way to get out energy. However this would happen at night.

*Show Image 2 - Fievel laying on the stairs

*Show Image 3 - Multiple times.

If I didn’t turn on those lights going down the stairs where the kids rooms were, I would be a broken Pastor Bradley. We’ve been seeing in our series Kingdom Culture how Jesus was showing a different way, a better way. In the same way turning on the lights in the home gives better perspective the hope today is to illuminate today’s passage to better understand the Truth that Jesus was declaring. ) .

Let’s transition back to today’s story and see….

What was illuminated?  

 ___Questions_ can help make us think. (Matthew 16:13-15) 

Mark 4:40, Luke 14:34, John 21:17 

Two Questions were asked in vs 13-15…

Who do people say the Son of Man is?

But who do you say that I am?

Jesus Insight: These questions aren’t the first or last time he will use them. Jesus actually uses questions quiet a bit because he is trying to get the brain moving in his disciples and those around. Mark 4:40, Luke 14:34, John 21:17 

Cultural Insight: The location that Jesus and his disciples were at, Caesarea Philippi, were rich in different belief systems being present. Beliefs from other gods, Roman/Greek and important places for Judaism.

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The GOAT: I’ve heard a similar question asked and it is who is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time). If I were to say:

Who is the greatest basketball player?

Who is the greatest soccer players?

I could keep going, but in a similar fashion Jesus was first asking who do people say that he am and the disciples share that oh your like John the Baptist preparing the way for the Messiah, who people viewed would be the coming GOAT. Others saw him as a prophet who brought a heavy message from God for the people. He then basically turned from others to his followers and saying, “Who do you say that I am?” Basically putting it back on them, to think…that if they truly believed he was the GOAT, and not just some good teacher, but their awaited Messiah, the one would save them!

2. Jesus was a master at asking questions, allowing people space to process and wrestle with question to get to not just the reactive emotion but the deeper thoughts that led to their core belief. Questions can help us think…and that’s good.

That Jesus is the ___Messiah___, the promised Son of God. (Matthew16:16)

Jeremiah 33:15, Mark 4:40, John 4:25-26, 1 John 4:14 

Peter, spoke up for the disciples and shared a Truth bomb that was divinely given. Matthew16:16 .

The Greek Term for Christ (christos) is the same in the OT Hebrew word māšîaḥ, which means “the anointed One. Messiah!

Peter reaffirmed the belief He and the disciples had that Jesus was the Messiah the one they were waiting for back in the OT that was foretold Jeremiah 33:15, the Messiah Jesus declared He was in Mark 4:40, and the Messiah that followers of Christ would later declare in 1 John 4:14. Jesus proved he was not just a contender to be the GOAT but that He was it. He was far better then any other belief in Greek, Roman, or self-delcared God.

Online Ordering: I do it, chances are you or someone you know has done it. I have been more aware of myself as I’ve gained years the importance though to read in detailed the description as well as the reviews. WHY? because I want to make sure it is a true product. I n a similar way the disciples were with JEsus, saw his words and actions, and finally clicked - Yup He is the Messiah.

This is one of the biggest questions we can ask, “Who do you say Jesus is?”

Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Church (Matthew 16:17-20)

1 Corinthians 3:11, Ephesians 2:20-22 

We will be going more in depth when we come back around to this passage in our Matthew series but I do want to spotlight today that this Church, Desert Breeze Community Church has and will continue to declare that Jesus is the Messiah, the promised son of God and that it is on Him that He is the foundation, cornerstone that this Church is built on. We even talked about this last week with this unshakeable foundation (which I recommend going back and watching) helping us with the perspective that it’s not anything we do, but its what He does.

This is where young or old we get to be a part of something greater than ourselves. We get to share the Good News of Jesus Christ that he is the long awaited Messiah, anointed one.

Interobang: My wife likes a band named Switchfoot and a while back they came out with an album called intrrobang. I did not know what that interobang symbol met. I knew period, question and even exclamation but what is interrobang. It looks like this

Slide 1: Interobang.

Basically I came to find out it was made as a mixture of a question mark and exclamation mark. Curiosity and Excitment combined. After finding this out, I think the church should ask others that question prior “Who do you say Jesu is‽ With curiosity and excitment as we get to share the Good News of Jesus being the Messiah. and that is also what we are going to get to do this week.

We don’t have that limitation of how the disciples had to keep it quiet for atime, now because we are now given the permision to share Matthew 28:19-20 with any we meet.

This week we will be shining a spotlight more on Jesus Christ….in recap

Closing

What was illuminated today?  

 ___Questions_ can help make us think. (Matthew 16:13-15) 

That Jesus is the ___Messiah___, the promised Son of God. (Matthew16:16)

Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Church (Matthew 16:17-20)