Latest / Heart Check Podcast / Christianity 101 (Who is Jesus?)
Transcript
- 0:00If you've ever wondered who Jesus actually is, or you've
- 0:03heard people say things like Jesus was a good teacher, or
- 0:06Jesus was a prophet, but you're not really sure what the Bible
- 0:10says about him, this Yo, what's up, everybody?
- 0:26Welcome back to Heart Check podcast.
- 0:28I'm your host, Pastor Lowe's. Yeah, let's go.
- 0:35Hey, I'm so excited to be with you guys.
- 0:36My Heart Check community. I love you guys.
- 0:39I'm praying for you guys. This week we hit 100 subscribers
- 0:42on YouTube. Yeah, let's get another round of
- 0:45applause, man. It is amazing and incredible to
- 0:48stand back and just see what God is doing in and through this
- 0:51ministry. I think you guys who have joined
- 0:54this heart check fam, I pray over you.
- 0:57I pray that you continue to support and encourage and just
- 1:00let other people know about this.
- 1:01If you get, if you benefit from this podcast, share it, tell
- 1:06people about it, post it on your social medias, man, it is
- 1:09appreciated. I love you guys.
- 1:11I pray that you continue to be blessed by this.
- 1:13But last week we dove into our new Christianity 1 01 series.
- 1:17And last week this we specifically talked about how do
- 1:20we read the Bible? But this week we're diving into
- 1:23what I love. I'm excited about who is so
- 1:26important, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords.
- 1:28We are discussing who is Jesus really?
- 1:32Because maybe as I said in the beginning, you've heard people
- 1:34say, man, Jesus is a really good teacher.
- 1:36Or even people who don't believe in Jesus say, Oh, no, I believe
- 1:39a Jesus lived, you know, 2000 years ago, but he was just like
- 1:43a really good teacher, a very wise man, you know, a prophet
- 1:46for the day. And you're sitting there
- 1:48thinking, man, what does it look like for me to believe in Jesus,
- 1:51the Jesus of the word, the Jesus in Scriptures, the Jesus that
- 1:54Christianity teaches about? And so I love that we're doing
- 1:57this because it's vital for us to truly know who Jesus is, who
- 2:02he is and what we believe in. And Scripture tells us that.
- 2:06And today we're going to talk about that, something that is
- 2:08central to our Christian faith. If you are not a believer in
- 2:12your listeners, I hope it leads you closer to the one who
- 2:15created you and loves you and has purpose for your life.
- 2:18But for those who have put their faith in Jesus, and sometimes
- 2:21you have conversations with unbelievers or you're struggling
- 2:23to explain who Jesus is, I hope this equips you and blesses you
- 2:28in a way to really believe what you believe and be able to teach
- 2:31others what you believe. As Peter says, to have a reason
- 2:34for the hope you have. And so today we're talking about
- 2:37Jesus, God, the Son, God and flesh revealed to humanity.
- 2:42And it's an interesting because I'm going to try to keep this
- 2:44within, you know, a 30 ish, 40 ish podcast.
- 2:48So it's a lot to unpack within that frame, but I really hope
- 2:52you guys are encouraged by this. But this is a super important
- 2:56conversation and I just want to walk through what Scripture
- 2:59teaches us about who Jesus is and what it means to believe in
- 3:03him. So if you're taking notes from
- 3:05my note takers, note takers are world changers.
- 3:07So write this down. We're going to go through a
- 3:09list. But first, I want to say, if
- 3:12you've asked this question, why we can believe in Jesus, why can
- 3:17I be certain that Jesus is real, that he lived, that he died,
- 3:22that he rose again? How can I believe that?
- 3:25If you've never read the book of John, which, oh cool.
- 3:27Look, we're quoting John first thing last week.
- 3:30I hope you're in your in the letter in the Gospels of John as
- 3:34we challenge you last week to start there in your Bible
- 3:36studies in your personal time. But in John chapter 20, after
- 3:40Jesus appears to the disciples following his resurrection,
- 3:44Thomas, one of his apostles, one of his inner circle, his
- 3:48disciples who walked with him, one who we often call doubting
- 3:51Thomas, who what he's known for 'cause he doubted if Jesus
- 3:55actually was resurrected and was alive.
- 3:57But he gets to touch Jesus's resurrected body and then he
- 4:01finally believes. But then John writes something
- 4:05powerful to all future followers of Jesus, You and I, people who
- 4:10are to come, people are going to put their faith in Jesus.
- 4:13Even though they didn't see Jesus, they still follow Jesus
- 4:16and they believe with their whole heart that God raised him
- 4:18from the dead. But he says in John chapter 20,
- 4:21verses 30 through 31, John says this.
- 4:23The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in
- 4:27addition to the ones recorded in this book.
- 4:29But these are written so that you may continue to believe that
- 4:32Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in
- 4:36him you will have life by the power of his name.
- 4:42I love that verse. I love that verse because it's
- 4:45amazing. It reminds us that we have God's
- 4:47word to point us to who Jesus is.
- 4:51When we open up the living word, living in active God's breathed
- 4:55out word, it teaches us about who Jesus is and why we can be
- 5:00certain on why we believe what we believe God's word.
- 5:04That has way more manuscripts and we'll dive into that in
- 5:08episode way more manuscripts, way more I over 500 eyewitness
- 5:12accounts of Jesus's resurrection.
- 5:14People who saw this, people who died for this because they knew
- 5:18it was true. And so without God's word,
- 5:20without scripture being revealed to us through the power of the
- 5:22Holy Spirit, we wouldn't even be able to know who God is.
- 5:26This entire series, even last week talking about how to read
- 5:30the Bible. Why I wanted to dive into this
- 5:32Christianity one-on-one is because I want to encourage you
- 5:34guys and I want to help push you in a kind Big Brother way that
- 5:38reading God's Word, believing what it says, learning more
- 5:42about who God is, is so vital to your walk with Scripture.
- 5:45It would not be possible for us to know who He is, to be more
- 5:49like Him without the Bible. And some of us have it on our
- 5:52phones. We have so much access to it and
- 5:55we don't utilize it. We don't make it a priority in
- 5:57our lives. So my prayer is you start to
- 5:59open up your word every day, learn about God, read about him,
- 6:03know that his living Word is piercing through your heart.
- 6:06It's transforming you. It's making you to look, look,
- 6:09and act and talk more like Jesus.
- 6:11So Scripture is alive and active.
- 6:13I love that. Second Timothy 3 tells us all
- 6:15Scripture is inspired by God. It's useful to teach us what is
- 6:20true and to prepare us and equip His people.
- 6:22Second Timothy 3, Second Timothy 316 teaches us this.
- 6:27And ultimately, God's Word is what points us to Jesus, and we
- 6:31have to remember that. But number one, we're going to
- 6:33get into these points as to who Jesus really is #1 Jesus is
- 6:39fully God. So for my note takers, Jesus is
- 6:42fully God. The first thing we have to
- 6:44believe when we say we believe in Jesus Christ is this.
- 6:47Jesus is fully God. The apostle John opens his
- 6:51gospel with one of the most powerful verses in the entire
- 6:55Bible, my dad's favorite verse, a verse that I love so much
- 6:59because there's so much richness and theology and just powerful
- 7:05imagery and, and purpose and intentionality.
- 7:08When John wrote this verse, I always say this joke.
- 7:10I know John was sitting there trying to figure out how to
- 7:12start his gospel and asking the Holy Spirit to work through him.
- 7:15And when he wrote this verse, I know he had to stand back and be
- 7:18like that is fire. That is fire.
- 7:22That's a fire verse revealed through the Holy Spirit through
- 7:25my hands. Because John 11 says this.
- 7:28In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the
- 7:32Word was God. What?
- 7:35You might read that and go, what?
- 7:36What does this mean? In the beginning was the Word.
- 7:40The Word was with God and the Word was God.
- 7:43Let me ask you something first. Do you know who the word is?
- 7:48Capital W word is in John 11. Who's John referring to when he
- 7:52says in the beginning was the Word, the word was with God and
- 7:55the word was God. The word is Jesus.
- 8:00And this might be one of the most fire opening verses because
- 8:03John is unpacking so much in just one verse.
- 8:09Because this verse carries so much depth.
- 8:11John establishes right from the start, Jesus is God, point
- 8:17blank, period. Ain't no questions about this.
- 8:20Jesus is God, God in flesh, and he's revealing that in the first
- 8:25verse of his gospel. No confusion, no hesitation, no
- 8:28maybes. Jesus is God, but he is also a
- 8:31distinct person within the Trinity along with the Father
- 8:35and the Holy Spirit. And the word word here in Greek
- 8:40in the original language was logos.
- 8:42And even logos. This this is where it gets
- 8:44really, really interesting and really cool.
- 8:46The Greek word logos had deep meaning for both Jewish thinkers
- 8:50and Greek philosophers. So both Jewish people and Greek
- 8:54people would have read this first verse from John and they
- 8:58would have been like, wow, mind blown.
- 9:01Because John is establishing right from the jump a very deep,
- 9:05rich, purposeful, intentional biblical theology right here in
- 9:11his verse, his first verse for everyone who is reading it.
- 9:14For Jewish rabbis, the Word of God, Logos, was often a way to
- 9:19describe God himself interacting with the world.
- 9:24And for Greek philosophers who would have heard this, the logos
- 9:28was the power that brought order to the universe instead of
- 9:32chaos. We're gonna get to.
- 9:36We're gonna get to. It's gonna be fun unpacking
- 9:37this. It was the Force that held
- 9:40everything together. The Force is strong with you,
- 9:44Luke Skywalker. I'm sorry I had to get a little
- 9:47nerdy. Star Wars, it was the force that
- 9:49held everything together, Jesus, the Word, the power that brought
- 9:52order to the universe, that took the chaos and brought order to
- 9:57it 'cause God is a God of order, not chaos.
- 10:01This is deep meanings in this first verse and that should
- 10:05remind us of another passage. Colossus.
- 10:07Colossus, Colossians 115 through 17 says this.
- 10:11Paul writes Christ is the visible image of the invisible
- 10:15God. He existed before anything was
- 10:18created and is supreme over all creation.
- 10:22For through him God created everything in the heavenly
- 10:26realms and on earth. He made the things we can't see
- 10:30such as Thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the
- 10:33unseen world. Everything was created through
- 10:37him and for him. He existed before anything else
- 10:41and he holds all of creation together.
- 10:45Does that sound like what we just read in Logos?
- 10:48Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God.
- 10:51He created all things. He is supreme over all creation.
- 10:54Everything was created through him and for him.
- 10:57He existed before anything else. He is alpha and Omega.
- 11:01He is beginning and end. He is forever.
- 11:04He is out of time. He is God.
- 11:07He holds all creation together. He is the force that holds it
- 11:11together. He is the power behind bringing
- 11:14order to the chaos. Logos in the beginning was the
- 11:18Word. The Word was with God and the
- 11:21Word was God. Jesus is fully God.
- 11:26Jesus is over creation. He holds it all together.
- 11:29He is the Messiah, the anointed one, the one in the Old
- 11:33Testament who was promised. So John is essentially saying to
- 11:37both Jews and Greeks, you've been talking about the word for
- 11:41centuries, You guys have been talking about the Word for
- 11:44centuries. And guess what?
- 11:46Let me tell you who he is. It's Jesus, the one we followed,
- 11:51the one we believed in, the ones you guys rejected and spit on
- 11:55and mocked and brought to persecution and killed on a
- 11:58cross. He is Logos.
- 12:02He is the force, the power. Everything was created for Him
- 12:06and through him He holds all of the world in his hands.
- 12:10As we used to sing as kids. He's got the whole world in his
- 12:15hands. He's got the whole world in his
- 12:18hands. Yeah, that's Jesus, my darks.
- 12:22Jesus. He is the alpha and the Omega,
- 12:24the beginning and the end. He is God.
- 12:28The IM claim as some other religions, specifically Islam,
- 12:33some of these other belief systems that try to argue the
- 12:35point of well, Jesus never said he was God.
- 12:38So he was just a teacher. He was just a prophet.
- 12:41He wasn't really who, who believers tried to say that he
- 12:45is. You know, some of these other
- 12:47religions and belief systems try to make that claim of, well,
- 12:51Jesus never said he was God. He never said that himself.
- 12:55So Jesus was just this teacher. He was just this prophet.
- 12:57He was this wise man. He wasn't fully God.
- 13:00This is why this point is so important for us, and This is
- 13:04why I wanted to touch on it #1 we have to start with and agree
- 13:07on as followers of Jesus, that Jesus is fully God.
- 13:10There's another powerful moment that shows Jesus claiming his
- 13:14divinity. And Exodus 3, God appears to
- 13:16Moses in the burning Bush. If you've ever heard this story
- 13:18before, which is pretty incredible, Moses asked God what
- 13:23he should tell the people when they asked him, because God
- 13:26tells Moses, go back to Egypt, set, let my people go.
- 13:30You are going to lead this. You're going to, you're going to
- 13:32bring our people, the Israelites, God's chosen people
- 13:35out of slavery in Egypt. And so Moses is like, what am I
- 13:38supposed to say to them that's going to make them believe me?
- 13:41A man who's a murderer and a stutterer?
- 13:43I can't talk. I can't, I can't go.
- 13:47Sorry, I gotta add a joking who am I to go to the Pharaoh and
- 13:52tell him that God, the one true God sent me?
- 13:56Who am I? So God responds to Moses in
- 14:00Exodus 314. He says I am who I am.
- 14:04Fire say this to the people of Israel.
- 14:08I am has sent me to you. God reveals his name as I am.
- 14:16I am. Now Fast forward to the New
- 14:18Testament. Jesus is speaking with people
- 14:21who are questioning who he is. And in John 858, Jesus says, I
- 14:27tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am fire.
- 14:39Jesus uses the same name God used for himself in Exodus.
- 14:45He's declaring his equality with God.
- 14:49Jesus is not just a wise teacher, he is, I am, he is God.
- 14:57We gotta, we gotta know this and believe this and proclaim this.
- 15:02Jesus is fully God. Point #2 for my notetaker is my
- 15:05world changers. We need to also, when we're
- 15:09asking who Jesus really is .2 Jesus is also fully human.
- 15:14Yeah, this this is going to be one that's going to be hard to
- 15:17we're never going to fully grasp on this side of eternity.
- 15:20Jesus is fully God, but Jesus was also fully human.
- 15:24The second thing we must believe, if we say we believe in
- 15:26Jesus and want to know who he truly is, is Jesus is fully
- 15:30human. One of the most incredible
- 15:31truths of Christianity is that our God understands us.
- 15:37No other belief system can say that their God truly understands
- 15:42them, that Jesus is called Emmanuel, which means God with
- 15:47us. God didn't stay distant from his
- 15:50creation, He came to dwell among us.
- 15:54Philippians 26 through 8 says though he was God, he did not
- 15:59think of equality with God as something to cling to.
- 16:02Instead, he gave up his divine privileges.
- 16:04He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human
- 16:09being. When he appeared in human form,
- 16:12he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's
- 16:16death on a cross. Listen to what we just read
- 16:20guys. Jesus left heaven in all his
- 16:23divine privileges to come to earth to live amongst his
- 16:26creation and experience all the human experience while also
- 16:30still being fully God. That is incredible.
- 16:35Jesus came to earth. He, he decided he wasn't even
- 16:38gonna cling, even though he did not think of he.
- 16:41He. Oh my goodness, I can't speak.
- 16:44Though He was God, he didn't think of that as something to
- 16:47cling to. He gave up his divine
- 16:49privileges. He humbled himself and came and
- 16:53was born in a Manger, in a, in a cow, through in a, in a barn.
- 17:00The God of the universe, the God who created you and I, the great
- 17:04I am. He died a criminal's death,
- 17:08humbled himself in obedience to God.
- 17:12Don't read that or glaze over that, not sit on that today.
- 17:16That's the God you worship, that He is fully God, but also fully
- 17:21human and understands you. He understands us, Hebrews 217
- 17:27through 18 says. Therefore, it was necessary for
- 17:29him to be made in every respect to like us, his brothers and
- 17:33sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High
- 17:36Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice
- 17:41that would take away the sins of the people.
- 17:43Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing,
- 17:47He is able to help us when we are being tested.
- 17:51Guys, the writer of Hebrews then goes on to say this a couple
- 17:56chapters later. One of my favorite verses in
- 18:00passages, this high priest of ours understands our weaknesses
- 18:04for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not
- 18:11sin. So I want you to hear this
- 18:13today. If you're listening to listening
- 18:15to this podcast, wherever you're at, pause and take a deep breath
- 18:20right now. And I want you to hear this.
- 18:21Whatever you're going through in life, Jesus can truly say He
- 18:26gets it and understands that He's with you, that He is not
- 18:31forsaking you or left you, that God is sitting next to you, that
- 18:35He is wrapping His arms around you.
- 18:37He's letting you know that He loves you and He cares for you
- 18:40and He understands what you're going through 'cause He's went
- 18:43through all the same suffering and testings as we do, yet He
- 18:48did not sin. So we are more than conquerors.
- 18:51Through Christ. We find victory in Jesus, even
- 18:55though there's many trials and troubles and sufferings that
- 18:57come in this life. Take heart because Jesus has
- 19:01overcome this world and He dwells in us.
- 19:04He isn't this distant God and power hungry ruler who just
- 19:09Lords over you and tells you what to do.
- 19:11He is intimately involved in our lives and understands what it
- 19:16means to be human and experience all that we do.
- 19:20He loves and cares for us in a powerful and personal way.
- 19:25But guess what, we can also trust in His deliverance for us
- 19:31in those testing times in life, because He did not sin.
- 19:35He is fully God, fully human, but fully God, fully human and
- 19:40His experiences, but fully God and His deliverance for us
- 19:43'cause He is powerful enough to help us to give a self-control,
- 19:47to have the fruit of the Spirit come out of our lives in these
- 19:50situations, in these experiences, in this grief, in
- 19:53this hurt and this pain we may experience in this life cause
- 19:55trouble will come. We got God, we have Him.
- 20:00He did not sin. He is powerful enough to hold
- 20:05your hand and lead you through the fire.
- 20:07Whatever you're going through, He is with you.
- 20:10He was perfect and He is the perfecter of our faith.
- 20:15We can fully rely on and trust in Him because He is fully God,
- 20:20while also knowing He gets us because He was fully human.
- 20:25Point #3 For my note takers world changers, Jesus was the
- 20:30perfect sacrifice. So when we asked the question
- 20:33who Jesus really is, Jesus is fully God, Jesus is fully human,
- 20:36and Jesus was the perfect sacrifice.
- 20:39What do I mean by that? Jesus being fully God and fully
- 20:42human made him the only sufficient and perfect sacrifice
- 20:45for our sins once and for all. The world tries to prove that
- 20:50Jesus didn't actually walk this earth.
- 20:53What he did at this point in time can't really argue that
- 20:56it's been corroborated and and firmly believed by people who
- 21:00don't even believe in Jesus. And that is a core belief we
- 21:03must cling to in our faith. Jesus was God coming to earth
- 21:07and taking on human form and doing life with his creation
- 21:11while never committing a sin and living a perfect life so that he
- 21:15could be a perfect sacrifice. Because we've talked about this
- 21:20guys, now it is through him we are able to be reconciled to God
- 21:25the Father. Jesus closed that gap between
- 21:28humanity and God our Creator. Without Jesus being fully God
- 21:32and fully human, his death on the cross wouldn't be sufficient
- 21:36for our reconciliation to God. We must believe Jesus lived a
- 21:40perfect life, died for our sins, and God raised him from the
- 21:43dead. Because we've talked about this
- 21:44guy's sin is in this world because of our ancestors, Adam
- 21:49and Eve made the choice to disobey God.
- 21:52So sin entered this world. We were separated from God.
- 21:54God is holy and perfect and righteous.
- 21:57He is sinless. He can't be around sin.
- 22:00So we have from the beginning of time we talked about last
- 22:02episode when we read the Bible, it is pointing us to Jesus from
- 22:06Genesis. God is leading his people back
- 22:09to him, his creation, the ones who were made in his image.
- 22:13Because God loves us and he created us for relationship, but
- 22:16sin because of our choices, because of wanting to not be
- 22:19obedient to the one who created us to live in his love, we
- 22:23choose sin, we choose disobedience and we're separated
- 22:26from God. But as we read, Jesus now became
- 22:30our high priest, he bridged the gap between US and God the
- 22:33Father, that through our faith in Jesus, we now have a right
- 22:36relationship with God again. So we must believe Jesus lived a
- 22:40perfect life, that the the lambs, the sacrifices of OT,
- 22:44they are no more. They couldn't.
- 22:46They couldn't accomplish perfection, only God in flesh,
- 22:50could we? They were continuing to kill
- 22:52animals and put their sins on them, but continuing to be
- 22:54sinners just like we are. All have fallen short of the
- 22:57glory of God. All of us are sinners.
- 22:59All of us need saving. And so Jesus came to save us.
- 23:04We got to believe in His perfect life, died for our sins, and God
- 23:07himself raised Him from the dead.
- 23:10These three component components can't be ignored when you're
- 23:13saying you believe in Jesus. We believe in His finished,
- 23:16perfect and completed work on the cross, as Paul says in First
- 23:20Corinthians 1512 through 20. But tell me this, since we
- 23:25preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying
- 23:28there will be no resurrection of the dead?
- 23:31For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not
- 23:34been raised either. And if Christ has not been
- 23:38raised, then all of our preaching, all of this podcast,
- 23:41all of what I do, what I'm called to be pastor loath is
- 23:45useless and your faith is useless.
- 23:48And if we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have
- 23:52said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can't be
- 23:55true if there is no resurrection of the dead.
- 23:59And if there is no oh, sorry, and if there is no resurrection
- 24:03of the dead, then Christ has not been raised.
- 24:06And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is
- 24:08useless and you are still guilty of your sins.
- 24:12In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost.
- 24:16And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more
- 24:20to be pitied than anyone in the world.
- 24:23Paul's, but in fact, as Paul finishes, but in fact, Christ
- 24:30has been raised from the dead. So now that we know that what
- 24:36we're preaching, what we're doing, how we're living is not
- 24:38useless, it is everything. Jesus is everything because he
- 24:44rose from the grave. He is alive, sitting at the
- 24:47right hand throne of God. Jesus is our savior.
- 24:50Jesus is everything, so we should live like it, act like
- 24:54it, talk like it, tell people about Jesus, pray for people's
- 24:58souls. Because we know that there's a
- 25:01resurrection of the dead. But who's being raised from dead
- 25:05to life and living an eternal life?
- 25:08Not those who haven't put their faith in Jesus.
- 25:11Not those that believe he's fully God, fully human.
- 25:13That he came and He was the perfect sacrifice, lived a
- 25:15perfect life, sinless, and took our sins onto Him and died the
- 25:19death that you and I deserve, and then rose from the grave
- 25:21three days later. That not only put our faith in
- 25:23Christ, we have eternal life. It is not useless, it is
- 25:29everything. Christ's life, Christ's life,
- 25:33death and resurrection are foundational to our faith.
- 25:37Without it, we are lost and dead in our sins.
- 25:40It is only because of what Christ did in his life, death
- 25:43and resurrection, that we are saved and reconciled back to God
- 25:46the Father. Jesus paid it all.
- 25:51One payment for the dead of the whole world, completed as Jesus
- 25:56says on the cross. Before he takes his last breath,
- 26:00it is finished, Romans 58 says. But God demonstrates His own
- 26:05love for us in this. While we were still sinners,
- 26:08Christ died for us. Well, we were still rebellious,
- 26:12still wanted nothing to do with God.
- 26:14For those who are still living and rebellion and in sin and
- 26:16still and still spiritually dead, Christ died for you.
- 26:21He loves you. He took your sins onto him.
- 26:24He didn't even deserve it yet. He did it because He loves you
- 26:28and because He wants you to come to and put faith in Him, to find
- 26:32eternal life in Him. And that's my prayer for you if
- 26:35you haven't yet #4 for my note takers, World changers.
- 26:38Last one, Jesus is the only way. Last but not least, if you
- 26:45believe in Jesus, you believe Jesus is the only way, the only
- 26:48truth, and the only life, eternal life purpose.
- 26:54All of the things of why we're here will not be found in
- 26:57anything else except Jesus. First and foremost, because
- 27:00Jesus is the one who created us. Jesus is the one who holds the
- 27:04world in his hand. Jesus is the one that everything
- 27:06was created for him and through him.
- 27:08Jesus is the force behind bringing order to the chaos.
- 27:11Jesus created you. And so Jesus is the only way,
- 27:15the only truth, the only life. There is nothing outside of him.
- 27:18There is no other belief in John 14 Thomas, one of Jesus
- 27:22disciples, he asked him doubting Thomas, he asked him how will
- 27:27they know where he is going after Jesus speaks about going
- 27:30to prepare a place for them in heaven and how will they know
- 27:34how to get there? So Thomas is like Jesus, you're
- 27:36telling us this stuff, but like, how do we know that you're going
- 27:40to prepare a place for us in heaven and and how will we know
- 27:43how to get there? And I love this Jesus answered
- 27:45him and he said I am the way I am the truth and I am the life.
- 27:51No one can come to the Father except through me.
- 27:54John 14 six my favorite verse. It's all my bio.
- 27:59Jesus is the way. He is the only way.
- 28:01He's the only truth and he's the only life.
- 28:03No one can come to the Father God.
- 28:06Nobody can bridge that gap. No one can restore a right
- 28:09relationship with God. No one can be made right in his
- 28:11sight. When he looks down at you and
- 28:13sees his son or daughter, he doesn't see that unless you've
- 28:17put your faith in Jesus. Sometimes we kind of say this in
- 28:22the church. Everyone's created in God's
- 28:25image. Yes.
- 28:27Not everybody is a child of God. Children of God are people who
- 28:31have put their faith in Jesus so that when when God looks down,
- 28:34he sees Jesus, he sees his son, he sees his children.
- 28:40Not everybody's a child of God, but everybody is made in God's
- 28:43image. There is no other way to God
- 28:46except Jesus, not Buddha, not Muhammad, not John Smith, nobody
- 28:52else. There is no other way to God.
- 28:55Not being a good person, not making good choices in the sense
- 28:59of a worldly way, not saying, well, I've, I went to the, you
- 29:02know, I served the homeless, I went to the jail.
- 29:04Again, that's great. And that's an overflow for
- 29:08believers when we put our faith in Jesus.
- 29:11But not Buddha, not Muhammad, not John Smith, not you, not
- 29:15your uncle, not anybody else is gonna get you to eternal life.
- 29:20Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only one who can
- 29:24give eternal life. This is just biblical truth and
- 29:28facts, some people say. But I'm a good person or my
- 29:34family, remember my family, my family friend or my family
- 29:38member is a good and nice person.
- 29:39Don't and but they don't believe in Jesus.
- 29:41Are they OK? Scripture says all have sinned
- 29:45and fall short of the glory of God.
- 29:47We have all sinned and are separated from God because of
- 29:50it. Everybody falls short and is
- 29:55separated from God. But we are able to be made right
- 29:58with God and receive grace and forgiveness through Jesus
- 30:01through faith in him. So to wrap all this up, what do
- 30:06we do with this? So after learning all of this,
- 30:08what do we do with it? Man?
- 30:10Jesus, like you've hit me with all of this truth through your
- 30:13word like I'm, I'm feeling convicted or I'm I'm maybe some
- 30:17things are stirring in you right now that Jesus is speaking to
- 30:19you right now after learning all this.
- 30:22You might be asking though, what do I do with it?
- 30:24Believing Jesus is fully God, fully human and lived a perfect
- 30:28and sinless life that led to death on a cross for our sins
- 30:32that he resurrected from to now be seated at the right hand
- 30:36throne of God in the name above all names.
- 30:39What do we do with this for the non believer?
- 30:43I'll start here first for those who are listening to this
- 30:45podcast and you have not put your faith in Jesus, I want to
- 30:49tell you, I want to say this to you.
- 30:51If you choose to believe in Jesus and confess he is Lord and
- 30:55believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
- 30:57will also resurrect on the day he returns.
- 31:01That is truth, and I'm praying that for you, you will receive
- 31:05eternal life and walk the streets of gold in paradise
- 31:09where there is no more death, no more sorrow, no more pain, able
- 31:13to live in perfect unity and joy with your heavenly family, with
- 31:19the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
- 31:22And even before that, you were able to experience life on this
- 31:26earth the way Jesus intended you to.
- 31:29Not without death or trials or pain or sorrow, because that
- 31:32doesn't come until the next life, but to have life to the
- 31:36full because Jesus, Jesus, you now know who your Creator is.
- 31:41You've put your faith in Jesus and you can have life to the
- 31:43full because you know the One who created you with purpose.
- 31:46You can have full satisfaction and hope in a world that offers
- 31:50the opposite. You are able to have joy and
- 31:53suffering and hope and trials. You are able to have faith and
- 31:56contentment no matter the circumstances in your life,
- 31:59because you know Jesus, the one who never changes and will
- 32:03always be present, always be with you.
- 32:06You know him, you are able to worship a God who always shows
- 32:10up and loves you and wraps you in his arms in the highs and
- 32:13lows and says I got you, I understand what you're going
- 32:17through, but guess what? I did not sin.
- 32:19I am perfect. I am your creator, I am your
- 32:21savior, I am your Lord, I am your friend and I am with you
- 32:25and I got you and I'm loving you through this and I'm going to
- 32:27help help lead you through this that I have not forsaken you or
- 32:31left you. You get Jesus.
- 32:34If you put your faith in Jesus, you get Jesus.
- 32:36You get everything, the one who is the ultimate blessing in this
- 32:41life, in life, period. Everything else, as I say, is
- 32:45just a cherry on top. And my encouragement for
- 32:49believers. If you listen to this and
- 32:50you're, you're a follower of Jesus, you've put your faith in
- 32:53Christ. You've confessed that Jesus is
- 32:54Lord and you've believed in your heart that God raised him from
- 32:57the dead. My encouragement for you
- 33:01listening to this wherever you're at, watching this
- 33:03wherever you're at, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, in your
- 33:07car, in your home, hanging out with a friend, whatever it
- 33:10means, wherever you're at, I want to say this to you, keep
- 33:14persevering, keep enduring, keep clinging to His truth and be
- 33:20encouraged that God, that the God you worship is alive and
- 33:25true, that everything you believe is truth.
- 33:28You can cling to that in the moments of doubting that we all
- 33:32have, in the moments of struggling to be like God, are
- 33:34you here? I don't hear you, I don't feel
- 33:36you. I'm reading your word and it
- 33:38feels like I'm not even connecting to you.
- 33:40God, have you left me? God, why am I in this horrible
- 33:43situation? Why, if I'm going through this
- 33:45pain, God, where are you? Keep persevering, keep enduring,
- 33:50and keep clinging to Him. Because God is alive and He is
- 33:53truth and He is with you. Stop letting the world, your
- 33:56flesh and the enemy try to get you to second guess that you are
- 34:01in His hand and no one can snatch you from His hand.
- 34:06He's got you. Respond to His love and grace
- 34:09that He lavishes on you with obedience and devotion to His
- 34:13Word and the time with Him. Let your life be consumed by
- 34:17Jesus. Let everything you do flow, Flow
- 34:20from a heart that is chasing after Him.
- 34:23Be his good and faithful servant and everything you say, think,
- 34:26or do, magnify and glorify Him so you can become less, so He
- 34:32can become greater. That is my prayer and hope for
- 34:36you. I love you guys so much.
- 34:39I'm thankful for you. I'm praying this message
- 34:43encouraged you, blessed you, challenged you to be more like
- 34:46Christ, but not to just be more like Jesus, but to stand firm on
- 34:51your belief in Jesus, to know who he really is and proclaim
- 34:55that and let everybody else know about Jesus as well, 'cause you
- 34:59are where you are for a reason. You have been born at this time
- 35:04period. You've been placed in the job
- 35:05you have for the school you're at or in the family you're in
- 35:08for such a time as this. God is purposeful and God had
- 35:11good plans He planned for you long ago and you're in it and
- 35:14live it out. And for those who have not put
- 35:16their faith in Jesus, I pray that you do 'cause he is
- 35:20everything and without him there is no life after this with him.
- 35:28Let me pray so we can get up out of here.
- 35:33Lord Jesus, I love you. Lord Jesus, I thank you.
- 35:38Jesus, you are fully God, You are fully human.
- 35:40You are the perfect sacrifice, and Jesus, you are the only way.
- 35:44And I pray that we start to live that way, that by our life,
- 35:48people see you, by our actions, people hear you, by our words,
- 35:51people see you. That people just are around us,
- 35:54that they're surrounded by you and that we proclaim your truth.
- 35:58Lord Jesus, that we pray for those who we think, oh, they'll
- 36:00never believe in. Jesus.
- 36:01God, anything is possible with you and we pray for all people.
- 36:06We pray that they come to put their faith in you.
- 36:08Jesus, I pray that our heavenly family grows.
- 36:11I pray that we're bringing them to heaven with us.
- 36:12God, I pray that we are obedient to you, that we give you all of
- 36:16our hearts and that we believe unashamedly and and
- 36:19purposefully, intentionally in you, that we give you all of our
- 36:23hearts, Jesus, and we chase you with everything that we are.
- 36:26We love you. God, we thank you.
- 36:27I pray for your hand and your blessing and favor over all
- 36:30those listening right now that they're filled with your spirit,
- 36:33filled with your comfort and your peace and your purpose.
- 36:35I love you. Jesus, I thank you.
- 36:36We pray this in your powerful and loving and gracious name,
- 36:41Amen. I love y'all.
- 36:44God bless.