Between Two Extremes (Larry Brey)

0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:10.720 Lord, would you meet with us again. I'm glad you 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:13.800 gathered together under the name of Jesus today, wherever you're at, 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:16.600 in one of our locations or part of our epham, 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:19.920 because God's got something for you today. I believe it. 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.280 Because he woke you up today, he puts you in 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:24.199 one of our locations, or he puts you on this stream, 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:26.640 it's because he's got something he wants to speak to you. 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:33.280 I'm gonna be in Matthew chapter sixteen. Pastor Steven's been 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.800 in this season. He's preached about Peter quite a bit. 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.720 And when he preached a couple of weeks ago about 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:44.240 Peter never stop Knocking, and the Lord said, you're Peter. 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:46.800 You need to talk about yourself. You need to talk 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:50.920 about Peters. What the assignment is today? And Matthew sixteen 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.800 it says when Jesus came to the region of Cesarea Philippi, 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:59.080 he asked his disciples, who do people say the Son 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.480 of Man is now? It's good for us to know 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:04.960 in the scriptures that if Jesus is asking a question, 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.600 it's not because he's lacking information. He is the answer. 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:10.880 He knows what you're thinking before you even think it. 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:13.080 He's not asking you to see what the answer is. 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.440 He's asking BASI wants to give you a revelation. I 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.359 wonder what question Jesus is asking you today, because he 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.160 wants to reveal something to you. He's wondering, what do 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:28.120 they say? Say they? They replied, Some say John the Baptist, 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:31.520 others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah, one of the prophets. 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:37.160 But what about you, he asked, who do you say? 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:41.839 You know? Say you? And there's this tension that's set 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:46.360 up in the text between what they and what you. 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:49.680 And I think that's where humanity is found is between 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:54.160 those two extremes. It's in that space. Jesus replied, Actually, 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:59.080 Simon Peter answered, of course he did, as Simon always 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:02.400 feels in that empty space with something. Simon Peter answered, 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.000 you are the Messiah, the son of the Living God, 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:09.040 Verse seventeen. Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon's son of Jonah. 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:11.640 For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.960 but by my Father in Heaven. And I tell you 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:18.200 that you are Peter, and on this rock I will 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:21.240 build my church, and the gates of Hades will not 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:26.080 overcome it, and the title for today's message is this 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:31.480 is between two extremes, between typing into the comments and 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:33.799 I want to force you to the extreme. You got 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:35.680 a person on your right or your left, if you're 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:37.880 in one of our physical locations, pick one of them, 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.600 whichever is your favorite, and tell them good morning. For 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:44.040 those of you online, Epham, type into the comments, whoever 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.080 your favorite person is, just let them know. After you've 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.040 done that, you could have a seat. I know I 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:52.360 created a fight for later in the day. Some of 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:54.360 you you're caught between it, and you're saying I love 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:56.320 both of you because you don't like being forced to 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.320 the extreme. Hey, but one of the values of our 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:03.320 ministry is gratitude is never silent, and it would be 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.520 remiss for me to take this moment to honor our pastors. 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:10.040 Gratitude is never silent. Look at it this way, what 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.120 if what you failed to celebrate today were not in 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:17.320 your life tomorrow. Gratitude is a currency. I wonder how 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:19.359 well you're investing into the people around you with the 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.160 spirit of gratitude. So I just wanted to take a 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:24.920 moment to thank Pastor Stephen and Pastor Holly for the 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.799 way they lead this ministry each and every week. It's amazing. 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:34.400 And he's been my pastor forever seventeen years. And he's 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:37.120 pretty amazing on the stage. But as awesome as he 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.560 is on the stage, he's even better off the stage. 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:41.839 He gathered a group of staff around me early this 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:43.600 week just to pray for me. He took time out 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.360 of his schedule just to create that moment. So Pastor Stephen, 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.360 we love you. And so this story we're in right 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.560 now out of Matthew chapter sixteen, it's a pivot point 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:55.800 in the journey of Jesus. He knows his assignment is 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.280 to get to the cross, but he has not actually 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.520 divulged those details to his desire piples yet. They've been 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:03.480 following him for about a year and a half or so, 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:05.920 they have not heard him talk about I must die 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.919 on the cross. He's about to reveal those things. So 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.280 Jesus is taking his disciples to a place where he's 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.320 going to start asking them some questions. Who do they 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.480 say I am? And who do you say that I am? 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.800 Because the process is about to change, because all of 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:25.200 that is going to be brought into question, and Jesus 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:29.240 is preparing them for the next part of the journey. 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.919 Jesus is asking you questions today because he's preparing you 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.600 for the next part of the journey. So as we 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:39.039 jump into this text, the two words that spoke up 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:44.000 to me about Jesus in this space is identity and assignment. 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.719 It's these are questions of identity. Who do they say? Now, 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.000 he is not starving for attention. He's not trying to 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.880 stroke his ego. He's not a politician trying to see 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.800 how he's doing in the national polls. He's not asking 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:03.240 these questions to float himself. He's asking these questions because, hey, disciples, 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:09.600 who do they say? But more importantly, who do you say? Identity? 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.160 These are questions of identity, but assignment. Jesus knew his 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:16.720 assignment was to go to the cross. Those are two 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:21.240 key concepts. But I wrote this down. Confidence in identity 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:28.080 leads to obedience in the assignment. Confidence in identity leads 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:33.240 to obedience in the assignment. You see will often pray, Lord, 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.120 give me confidence in the assignment. No, no, no, there's 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.120 an order to this thing called faith. Before we deal 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:40.960 with the assignment, We've got to deal with the identity. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:44.040 So as he's going through these two questions, who do 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:46.159 they say and who do you say? I want you 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:48.640 to listen at multiple levels. I want to underscore what 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.760 Pastor Stephen said last week. How will often trivialize the Bible, 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.280 saying it's just, you know, God's little instruction book for people. No, no, no, no, 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:57.560 that's not it. I heard a old preacher man say 0:06:57.560 --> 0:06:59.920 it like this once he goes the Bible. It's basic 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:05.600 instructions before leaving earth. No, it's not basic instructions before 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.960 leaving earth. It's not his little instruction. But no, no, no. 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:12.760 The purpose of scripture is to reveal Jesus. The primary 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:17.520 purpose of the text is to reveal Jesus into your life. 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:20.120 That's why he gives it to us. There's an order 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.960 to the text. So when we start looking at these questions, 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.080 who do they and who do you? The first level 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:30.480 I want you listening at is Jesus. Who do they 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:34.520 say Jesus is? And who do you say Jesus is? 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:39.120 Because there is some teenage boy in another part of 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.000 the country who's watching this in his bedroom with the 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.600 door closed and his earphones on, and he's underneath his 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.320 covers watching this because he knew if they found out 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:50.440 he was watching church, he would get in trouble, but 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:52.960 something has been stirred in his heart and he is 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:55.800 trying to answer the questions who is Jesus to me? 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.240 Who do I say that Jesus is? That's really happening. 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.240 And there's somebody in another part of the world that's 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.280 watching on a screen. And they knew if they found out, 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:06.320 they would be killed for their faith, but they said, 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:08.400 I love Jesus too much, and even if those are 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:13.640 the circumstances, I must follow him. Who do they say? 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.559 And who do you say? And then the next level, 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:21.480 because oh aw Tozer says this. He says, what comes 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:25.000 into your mind when you think about God is the 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:29.680 most important thing about you. What comes into your mind 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.000 when you think about God is the most important thing 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:34.720 about you. So I want you listening at that level 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:36.559 of who do they say he is? And then who 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:38.520 do you say? But I also wants you listening at 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:42.839 the level of you, who do they say that you are? 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:46.839 And then Jesus, who do you say that I am? 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:50.439 And I need you listening at both of those levels. 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:52.640 And some of you are like, oh, I already got 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:54.760 the answer the gold star. I know who Jesus is 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:56.920 you know, he's the word, he's the flash, He's all this. Yeah, 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:58.760 you've been coming to church for twenty years and you 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:00.640 get the gold star, and you get the sticker, and 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.200 you talk about Jesus for ninety minutes on Sunday, but 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.800 you live like hell Monday through Saturday. Because the answer 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.880 is not with your language, it's with their lifestyle. The 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.640 answer to these things are not ultimately described in what 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:15.600 you say, because at the end of this in verse twenty, 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:19.240 Jesus and don't tell anybody he's the Messiah. Why would 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:21.480 he make that out landish claim because he says, it's 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:25.920 not about what you say. Words are cheap, and I'm 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:29.800 tired of you throwing out cheap race. I once you 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:32.240 counting the cost of really what it means to follow Jesus, 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.600 because as these disciples move forward from this moment, it 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:39.200 will cost them everything, but they will come to these 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:43.440 places of who do they say? And who do you say? 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:47.480 In this text, Peter is the central character. He's the 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:49.800 guy that speaks of of course he does. That's Peter. 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.480 He's also called Simon for those of you that are 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.480 knew the church. He's got two names. Simon is the 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.560 birth name he was given. It means shifty, it means fluid. 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:03.640 It almost paints a picture of water, like is that? 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:06.240 But now when he encounters Christ, he's given a new name, 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:10.960 Peter Petrush rock. You want to talk about extremes, water 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.640 and a rock. One other theologian says it was the 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:19.199 name Simon would be translated as flat nosed. Picture a 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:22.559 guy who's constantly running into a wall, like that's Peter. 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.200 He is extreme. This dude is all over the place. 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:29.439 When Jesus says, Hey, the disciples, I need to wash 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:32.040 your feet, He's like, wash all of me. Lord. He's 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:34.000 the guy who's banging on the door. He's the guy 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:36.960 who's cutting ears off. He is so extreme. And I 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:42.400 relate to Peter because I am so extreme. My wife 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:43.959 and i've been a part of the church since we started, 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.000 one of the original eight families, and I remember about 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:49.840 one and a half years into the ministry. We had 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.600 two locations at that point, and we really wanted to 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:54.840 be at another high school that was in the area. 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:58.440 But when we started the church, the principal there didn't 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.679 like churches. But we're sitting in a staff meeting and 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:04.200 now we hear, oh, there's a new principle. I'm like, 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.280 all right, I got my new assignment. I'm gonna go 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.880 get us into that school. So I drive over to 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:10.640 the school and I drive up. There's only a couple 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.760 of cars there because it's a vacation day. Not dang it. 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:15.120 But I walk up to the front door. I'm like, 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:19.320 it's locked. I go to the next doors, go to 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:21.760 the next doors. They start walking on the side of 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:25.400 the school and start pushing on windows. I go to 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:27.679 the back of the school and I see this long 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.160 horizontal window above a dumpster. So i'd climb up on 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.200 top of the dumpster and I push the window and 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.240 it opens up, and I shimmy my way in through 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:40.280 this long, narrow window above a dumpster. And I make 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.480 my way up to the front office and I walk 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:46.880 in and the woman goes, you're Larry Bride from Elevation, Like, 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:48.640 how does you know me? You've been watching me on 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:50.800 close camera. I'm expecting like the cops to bust in 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:54.160 any moment. And she goes, my husband and I we've 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.040 been coming and my kids have been coming for about 0:11:56.040 --> 0:12:00.120 eight weeks now to your Providence location. She said, we 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:02.520 ended up there because we told her kids about two 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:04.280 months ago that we were going to get divorced. Her 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:07.240 husband and I and the kids just begg said, no, MOhm, 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:10.160 we can't do this. How about we go to church. 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:13.840 There's a church meeting at the high school we go 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.240 to at Providence High School. How about we go check 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.160 them out? And through tears, she starts to tell me 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.360 how both of their daughters gave their life to Jesus 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:24.840 and they were committed to making the marriage work and 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:29.000 or staying in it. My goodness, what I'm telling some 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.400 of you is you are way too passive about the 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.640 promises of God. There is a blessing God has for you. 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:37.040 It's on the other side of that door. But you 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:40.559 keep letting. They tell you you can't have access to it. 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:43.240 You keep walking up and say, well, it's not an 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:47.839 open door. Kick the freaking door down. I'm telling you 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:50.960 there's a blessing on the other side. Breaking through a window, 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:57.840 bust through that wall, get your blessing. Come on. We 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:02.960 got to be extreme for the things of God. But 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.120 extreme is like a rubber band. However hard I pull 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:09.800 it this way, it's got a rebound just as big 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.520 to the other side. Because though how many of you 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:17.760 are extreme? Be honest with me. We have extreme highs 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:22.720 and we have extreme lows. Tho, wie, that's the crazy 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:24.920 part about those of us that are extreme. Peter had 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.840 those two because he's now just called you are the 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:34.680 rock I'll build my church. The next couple verses, Jesus 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.160 begins to say, hey, I'm going to go to the cross. 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.920 This is my assignment. And here's what happens in verse 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:43.880 twenty two of chapter sixteen, and Matthew Peter took him 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:48.240 aside and he began to rebuke him. Never Lord, he said, 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:51.280 this shall never happen to you. Jesus turned to Peter 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:55.600 said get behind me, Satan. You're a stumbling block to me. 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:58.320 How do you go from being the building block to 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:03.880 being a stumbling block, Peter? Because we're extreme. In a 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.559 matter of a couple verses, Peter would be this guy 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:11.000 who'd say, Jesus, I'll never ever deny you. I'll never 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.440 deny you. But when they start asking him, do you 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.280 know you know Jesus, he starts denying him, and it 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:20.920 says before the rooster code he wept bitterly. How do 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:24.520 you go from wielding a sword to protect Jesus to 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.440 weeping bitterly because you just denied him because we are 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:33.680 extreme and we're between these two extremes, and it hurts 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:35.640 and even me as I was preparing for this sermon. 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.680 I was here yesterday, over here, going, oh Lord, this 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.800 is awesome, this is exactly what they need. Thirty seconds later, 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:43.360 I'm laying in the middle of it, going, Lord, I 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.200 got nothing. Could we play a sermon from twenty twelve, 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.720 a pastor's theme, And it's so much better Because I'm extreme. 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:55.200 That's why I relate to Peter. And if you're extreme, 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:57.680 maybe you could relate to this. But if I could 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.520 really confess something, it's this. It's like, I give a 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:04.640 lot of weight today. And I know most preachers will 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:06.680 stand up and talk about well back in nineteen hundred 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:11.000 and twenty two. Nope, this is a real struggle. As 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:12.840 I stand before you today, I give a lot of 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:16.440 weight today. If I could really be honest confession time, 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:20.760 I'm a people pleaser. Are there any other people pleasers here? Oh? Please, 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.400 don't leave me in this spitting thing by myself. Come on, please, 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.000 Like I'm a people pleaser. My wife is the one 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:27.880 who really helped me realize that we've been married for 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:32.320 this year, be twenty two years. My wife's Jean, and 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:35.480 she's the one who really helped me realize this and 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.320 early on in the in our marriage, you're one of marriage. 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.200 I'm you're one anniversary. I'm making like this amazing dinner. 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:43.720 So I'm trying to score up marital points for marital blessings. 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:49.760 And but we're at dinner. And for those of us 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.200 that are extreme, it doesn't take very You can get 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.760 from zero too hundred in a fight like that, cause 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.000 you use Here's how you get to a fight really quickly. 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:03.880 You use extreme language. You always, oh yeah, you never, 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.880 Oh yeah you never, Oh yeah, you always. And Michael 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:13.680 Buffer's like, let's get ready to rumble. Don't lie to me. 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.440 Oh you don't fight in your marriage, Oh you have 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:22.760 intense fellowship. No, we fought. And she she helped me 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.640 realize this idea of I'm a people pleaser because she 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:28.640 said something that really pierced me, says, why are you 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:33.520 always angry? I'm like, I'm not, I'm not angry. Stop it. 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:39.640 She was so completely riot, but I didn't know it. See, 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:41.200 I can see parents. I want to talk to the 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.160 dad specifically in here, we got to be really careful 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:48.640 because we become the thermostat for our home. Does is 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:53.680 your frustration determining the temperature of the entire house. Here's 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:56.840 the language of extreme parenting. That's parenting out of frustration. Quit, 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:02.360 don't stop. Not a very big vocabulary, because all I'm 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:04.080 trying to do is to get you to change what 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:07.680 you're doing because it's frustrating me. Stop doing that. Don't 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:10.720 do that, Quit doing that. And what the kids certainly 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:13.720 start to do over time is they will change their 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:18.400 behavior to make dad happy because they don't know why 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:22.000 Dad is frustrated. Because we're walking home in our insecurity 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.880 and we punish our kids and we take it out 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.440 on them, but in the absence of understanding what's causing it, 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:32.159 you always assume it's you. So that kid is in 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:35.360 a place of saying if maybe, if you were a 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:40.320 better kid, they wouldn't be so angry, and you start 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:43.439 to become the governor on the whole atmosphere. And now, 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:47.920 rather than shaping their character, parenting is simply changing their behavior. 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:51.879 And when they change their behavior, that's no longer frustrating me. 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:56.800 We call them a good kid. But when you're acting 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.879 in a way that your behavior is frustrating me. You 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.600 bad kid. That was the home I grew up in. 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.560 It's because there were safe emotions and safe feelings and 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:12.720 save values, but most of them were very unsafe. I 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:14.199 would tell it to you this way. So do you 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.040 know that you have over two hundred unique and separate 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.520 emotions and feelings? But if I were to ask you 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:22.680 how many do you have? You might be able to 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:27.199 list maybe ten, maybe for the overachievers, maybe fifteen. But 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:29.720 do you know how many you actually live in? Two? 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:39.560 Maybe three? Angry, hungry, and numb. That was me because 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:42.440 I grew up in a world that said it's either 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:47.840 all good or it's all bad. I was forced into 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:50.359 the extremes, and I grew up in a home that 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.760 I was simply trying to make dad happy by changing 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.679 my behavior. It started as an eight year old, but 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.280 it's very dysfunctional as a forty eight year old. I 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:04.320 wonder how many of you have been reduced to this, 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:09.840 living in the extremes, because what started as survival turns 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:14.680 into the way you're living. And we talk about generational sin, 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:22.439 that's generational conditioning. Let me illustrate it like this Dalen, 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:25.440 my daughter here. Pull the pull that stand up and 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.040 show me that this is my daughter Dalen. Come to you, honey, 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:32.959 this is my daughter Dayen. Hey, she's amazing, she's an artist, 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:37.919 she's incredible, and she's holding the ultra pack of crayons. 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:42.520 It has two hundred colors inside. I always envied you 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:44.320 kids when I came to school. I didn't get that pack. 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:45.960 I got the pack with just a couple of crayons. 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.760 But what I realized is the way I was raised 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:56.120 is there were safe emotions and safe values. So when 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.960 my wife said to me, why are you always angry? 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:03.520 She was because anger was not safe or anger was 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:08.560 the only safe emotion. Disappointment, fear, doubt, rejection, those were 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:12.360 not safe. So I'm feeling all of these other emotions, 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:17.919 but everything's expressed as anger. Why are you always angry? 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:22.240 I'm not, but it's coming out as anger. You see 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:24.880 what happens when we're people. Please, And what I would 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:27.080 want you to know is that God created all of 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:32.679 these vibrant colors for you to express yourself as a person. 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:44.000 Are you operating according to conditioning or creation? And as 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:48.480 a dad, how dysfunctional of it is? Me? To just 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:57.040 say nope. That hurts me as a dad to know 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:02.639 that my frustration becomes her. And what I got to 0:21:02.640 --> 0:21:05.280 do is the dad is to say no, that's it's 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:08.480 not all good or it's all bad. Those are the 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:12.520 extremes we jump to, isn't it? No, it's all of this. 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:15.880 God wants you to have a little green yellow. That's 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:26.200 a pretty color some neon carrit But when I come home, 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.639 am I forcing her to live like this? Or am 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:37.840 I helping her realize this? Keep drawing all of these 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:41.520 colors God has given you. I apologize for the times 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:44.520 that I punish you for my own insecurity. God is 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:49.280 so much bigger than these extremes, all of this. Usually 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:59.440 I love you. But when I live in a world 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:03.119 that I make it all good are all bad? I 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:05.199 know what side of the equation I generally end up on. 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:09.960 So if Larry is either all good or he's all bad, 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:12.280 I know I'm not all good, so by default I 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:15.359 must be all bad. You see what happens. Saying is 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:17.920 a people pleaser. I give everybody else the ability to 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:20.840 determine my worth. So I'm looking at am I good 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:23.320 based upon how you feel about me? Am I? Good 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:26.240 based upon what they think about me. It didn't start 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:28.600 when you're twenty nine. It started when you were nine. 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:31.920 And what happens in those moments, what we will either 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:34.280 do is we'll swing the pendulum to try to please them, 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:37.679 to try to earn their approval. So I'm always in 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:39.399 this place, so like, are you happy with me? Or 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:41.480 we'll swing it to the other extreme, sage, screw you. 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:44.679 I will reject it, and I will just do it 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:48.000 to get noticed. Some of you have been rebelling your 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:50.320 whole life, and it's a dysfunctional form of people pleasing. 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:53.760 All of it comes from this place of wanting to 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:57.240 be seen and to be known. But at the core 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:00.200 of it, I started to believe that I never liked Larry. 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:04.840 I mean, that's Larry's never good enough. So as I'm 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:06.840 reading this text, I'm looking at it going, God, could 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:11.240 you just give me a new name? I mean, you 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:13.959 gave one to Simon. So I started call myself. I'm 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:17.040 just gonna be Peter. Then, yeah, just call me Peter. 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:21.560 And some of you had tried the new the new city, 0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:26.639 you know, the new relationship. You've got your third new 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:31.439 last name in the last decade, and you realize you 0:23:31.520 --> 0:23:35.600 just keep waking up to the old you. And as 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:37.439 I started to look at this, I'm like, Lord, just 0:23:37.480 --> 0:23:39.240 give me a new name. He said, Nope. God said, 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:41.199 keep looking in my word and I'll reveal it to you. 0:23:43.560 --> 0:23:45.680 I said, Lord, I've heard that scripture preach so many times. 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:48.399 I just need a new name. Said nope, keep looking 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:52.199 in my word and I'll reveal it to you. And 0:23:52.240 --> 0:23:54.919 then I read this. It says, blessed her you, Simon's 0:23:54.960 --> 0:23:59.000 son of Jonah. For this was not revealed to you 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:04.320 by flesh and blood, but by my Father in Heaven. 0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:06.159 And there was there. It jumped off the page at me. 0:24:06.680 --> 0:24:09.240 Simon had been given a new name, but the biggest 0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:14.080 thing he was given was a new nature. The extreme 0:24:14.160 --> 0:24:18.240 that's illustrated in this verse is the flesh in the spirit, 0:24:19.920 --> 0:24:21.719 because you and I, when we are born, we are 0:24:21.760 --> 0:24:26.280 born separated from God because of sin that began with 0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:28.440 Adam and even the garden and it's echo through a 0:24:28.440 --> 0:24:30.480 out of humanity, and all of us are born of 0:24:30.520 --> 0:24:33.240 the flesh, and we are separated from God. And the 0:24:33.359 --> 0:24:37.120 ultimate goal of flesh is self pleasure and self worship. 0:24:37.400 --> 0:24:39.119 And we are living in a culture in in a 0:24:39.160 --> 0:24:42.679 world that everybody's highest epitome of the world's religions is 0:24:42.720 --> 0:24:45.560 if it feels good, do it, because personal pleasure is 0:24:45.560 --> 0:24:48.919 what people worship, and that's your hardwiring of humanity, and 0:24:48.960 --> 0:24:52.240 that is what you have practiced every day outside of Jesus. 0:24:52.520 --> 0:24:55.960 But when you come into relationship with Jesus, you get 0:24:56.000 --> 0:25:00.400 a new nature. That's the ultimate extreme that's been lived 0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:04.000 out in these texts, and it's this tension that's created 0:25:04.040 --> 0:25:05.640 it because we were dead in our sins but were 0:25:05.640 --> 0:25:08.719 made alive in Christ. And when you come into relationship, 0:25:08.960 --> 0:25:13.119 the person of God in the Holy Spirit, comes to 0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:17.080 dwell within you and he says he'll lead you into 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:20.080 all truth. But here's the crazy thing about faith is 0:25:20.119 --> 0:25:23.159 you were saved in a moment, but you're changed little 0:25:23.440 --> 0:25:26.840 by little. Because I'm studying the words of Matthew, but 0:25:26.880 --> 0:25:28.760 can I be honest. I got moments where I'm just 0:25:29.119 --> 0:25:36.040 reciting lyrics from Eminem. I'm like, where'd that come from? 0:25:36.080 --> 0:25:40.280 Because you don't get rid of the flesh. It's still there. 0:25:41.040 --> 0:25:43.679 You've been walking in those patterns for forty two years 0:25:43.840 --> 0:25:45.639 and you're saved in a moment, but all of that 0:25:45.680 --> 0:25:49.479 stuff does not go away in a moment. But now 0:25:49.520 --> 0:25:51.280 we put you into churchy world. It says you've got 0:25:51.280 --> 0:25:53.280 to be all good for the glory of God. I'm like, oh, 0:25:53.320 --> 0:25:59.520 I suck. And it creates this chasm of faith that 0:25:59.600 --> 0:26:01.960 you can never be honest about the real colors that 0:26:02.000 --> 0:26:04.040 you're dealing with because we paint these shades. It's either 0:26:04.080 --> 0:26:06.320 good or it's bad. No, no no, no. All of this 0:26:06.480 --> 0:26:08.840 colors are expressions of humanity, and all of those are 0:26:08.880 --> 0:26:11.840 available to you, and God says, none of those destroy 0:26:12.000 --> 0:26:16.479 what I'm doing in you. But you come to Christ. 0:26:18.560 --> 0:26:21.479 When you come to Christ, you're given a new nature. 0:26:22.320 --> 0:26:26.040 In Galatians six eight, it says this, whoever sows to 0:26:26.119 --> 0:26:32.000 please their flesh from the flesh will reap destruction. Whoever 0:26:32.040 --> 0:26:34.160 sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap 0:26:34.840 --> 0:26:39.600 eternal life. So right there, it shows us that all 0:26:39.640 --> 0:26:44.600 of us are simultaneously people pleasers and God pleasers. And 0:26:44.640 --> 0:26:46.360 I wish I could be extreme. I'm either a God 0:26:46.400 --> 0:26:49.240 pleaser or a people pleaser. Pick the extreme. I'm like, 0:26:49.280 --> 0:26:54.840 I'm both at the same time. That's the crazy part 0:26:55.119 --> 0:26:57.400 about faith. And they don't tell you this that when 0:26:57.400 --> 0:27:00.560 you come to relationship with Jesus. We often pay this picture. 0:27:00.600 --> 0:27:03.440 You gotta have it all right, brother, no longer struggle 0:27:03.480 --> 0:27:05.280 with those things. Get rid of all those things. And 0:27:05.320 --> 0:27:07.480 I'm like, I'm feeling like a failure because all that 0:27:07.520 --> 0:27:11.320 old stuff is still coming with me, and it puts 0:27:11.359 --> 0:27:15.119 me in a place to constantly feel like I'm falling short. 0:27:15.440 --> 0:27:18.400 But I got both of these natures that are competing 0:27:18.840 --> 0:27:21.080 with inside of me. Because there is a moment that 0:27:21.200 --> 0:27:26.240 Jesus becomes your savior. Some of you are going to 0:27:26.320 --> 0:27:28.480 have that moment today where Jesus is going to become 0:27:28.840 --> 0:27:32.080 your savior and you are going to be redeemed and 0:27:32.119 --> 0:27:34.280 you've got your seat in heaven because of the finished 0:27:34.280 --> 0:27:36.679 work of Jesus in your life. It's a beautiful moment. 0:27:37.600 --> 0:27:41.720 You were saved. There is a moment when you face 0:27:41.880 --> 0:27:45.159 Jesus face to face and you will be saved. But 0:27:45.240 --> 0:27:48.920 there's this process between here and they're called you're being saved. 0:27:49.080 --> 0:27:54.480 It means I'm being conformed into his image. You are 0:27:54.600 --> 0:27:59.400 saved in a moment. He's my savior, but the process 0:27:59.480 --> 0:28:02.080 of learning to listen to his voice is when he 0:28:02.119 --> 0:28:04.879 becomes my lord. Because the voice you listen to is 0:28:04.920 --> 0:28:11.080 the Lord of your life, and the purpose of faith 0:28:11.119 --> 0:28:13.880 here in this moment is for you to realize I've 0:28:13.920 --> 0:28:17.400 got that flesh and I've got that spirit, both competing 0:28:18.480 --> 0:28:21.520 for my attention. I've been a part of the church 0:28:21.600 --> 0:28:23.800 since we launched it over sixteen years ago, and this 0:28:23.920 --> 0:28:25.719 extreme side of me has built up a little bit 0:28:25.720 --> 0:28:30.359 of a reputation. And there's actually when we hire a 0:28:30.359 --> 0:28:34.240 new staff, they get a dictionary and like their handbook, 0:28:34.720 --> 0:28:37.240 and in the dictionary there's a thing called and we'll 0:28:37.240 --> 0:28:42.600 have it on the screen. It says, you got l Bed. Okay, 0:28:42.720 --> 0:28:46.080 you got l Bed. I'm Lbed. That's my nickname, and 0:28:46.160 --> 0:28:50.480 so it's a sarcastic term referring to Larry Brye. Often 0:28:50.560 --> 0:28:53.920 when you come came away from an interaction with LB 0:28:54.080 --> 0:28:58.480 profoundly impacted. Now, dependent upon when you meet me, there'll 0:28:58.480 --> 0:29:01.920 be two different versions of being Lbed, because there is 0:29:01.960 --> 0:29:04.360 the side of me that is the bulldozer LB. I 0:29:04.440 --> 0:29:07.400 am gonna frick and run you over. I am gonna 0:29:07.440 --> 0:29:09.160 get the job done, and I'm gonna make it happen. 0:29:09.240 --> 0:29:11.280 And I apologize for those of you that have felt 0:29:11.280 --> 0:29:14.560 the bulldozer version of LB. But then there's this other 0:29:14.840 --> 0:29:19.360 version of LB, pastor LB. It's a place where I'm 0:29:19.400 --> 0:29:22.520 operating according to the spirit, and I'm choosing to listen 0:29:22.520 --> 0:29:24.960 to his voice. And now you have a moment that 0:29:25.000 --> 0:29:27.960 you feel seen. But I also have this other space 0:29:28.000 --> 0:29:30.160 in me and I just kept asking God, God, but 0:29:30.280 --> 0:29:34.520 you just take Simon away from me? Would you? Would 0:29:34.560 --> 0:29:36.520 you just just take if you can't give me a 0:29:36.520 --> 0:29:39.760 new name, which you take away the old nature. And 0:29:39.800 --> 0:29:41.560 here's what he said. You don't get rid of Simon. 0:29:42.560 --> 0:29:44.680 But through the power of the spirit, you don't have 0:29:44.720 --> 0:29:49.600 to play the game. Simon says, you know the game 0:29:49.600 --> 0:29:52.120 you play as a kid. Simon says, you know, clap 0:29:52.160 --> 0:29:55.240 your hands. Simon says, jump up and down a Simon says, 0:29:55.280 --> 0:29:56.920 go to the club, and you do. You wake up 0:29:56.920 --> 0:29:58.840 the next morning with the hangover and not recognizing the 0:29:58.840 --> 0:30:02.880 person next to you, like yeah, Like, Simon says, go 0:30:02.920 --> 0:30:06.280 ahead and gossip. It's okay, you know. Oh yeah. Simon says, 0:30:06.320 --> 0:30:07.920 call the girl let eleven thirty at night because you're 0:30:07.920 --> 0:30:09.480 a little drunk, a little lonely, So why did you 0:30:09.520 --> 0:30:12.800 call her? Anyway, Simon, you don't have to play the game, 0:30:12.960 --> 0:30:19.040 Simon says. Faith doesn't kick Simon out. Faith gives you 0:30:19.040 --> 0:30:21.880 the ability to not let him drive. He is in 0:30:22.000 --> 0:30:26.280 the car, he is with you. But faith is walking 0:30:26.360 --> 0:30:29.160 through these extremes of saying, I've got two voices competing 0:30:29.160 --> 0:30:33.600 for my attention, the spirit and the flesh. Can you 0:30:33.680 --> 0:30:37.320 recognize the last ten times that you were listening to Simon, 0:30:37.800 --> 0:30:40.800 because the reality is it's happening so insidiously you're not 0:30:40.840 --> 0:30:43.920 even aware of it. That voice that's cussing them out 0:30:43.920 --> 0:30:48.240 in traffic, yess Simon. Now maybe growth is this. The 0:30:48.280 --> 0:30:50.520 next ten times you cuss somebody out in traffic, you 0:30:50.600 --> 0:30:53.840 become aware of one of them. And then the next 0:30:53.840 --> 0:30:55.880 ten times after that, maybe you become aware of three 0:30:55.920 --> 0:30:58.520 of them. Maybe the next ten times after that you 0:30:58.560 --> 0:31:02.440 actually don't do one of them. Growth in Christ is 0:31:02.480 --> 0:31:06.640 measured with a calendar, not o' clock. And some of 0:31:06.680 --> 0:31:09.400 you are feeling like you forfeited your destiny because you 0:31:09.440 --> 0:31:12.360 haven't arrived yet. No, no, no, there is some process, 0:31:12.440 --> 0:31:16.760 there's some assembly required to this thing called faith. You 0:31:16.840 --> 0:31:19.760 don't get rid of Simon, but you don't have to 0:31:19.760 --> 0:31:26.560 play Simon says, and in church will often make like 0:31:26.720 --> 0:31:29.160 listening to God and listening to the Spirit really spooky 0:31:29.160 --> 0:31:31.920 and weird. I remember when I came to faith, people 0:31:31.920 --> 0:31:34.600 talk about just listen to the spirit, and I closed 0:31:34.600 --> 0:31:45.160 my eyes. I'm like, okay, I'm listening. And it made 0:31:45.200 --> 0:31:48.080 me feel like I'm an inferior Christian because they would 0:31:48.080 --> 0:31:50.120 talk about hearing from God. I'm like, I've never heard 0:31:50.160 --> 0:31:54.920 an audible voice. Maybe you haven't. God does that. God 0:31:55.000 --> 0:31:56.920 so much bigger, He can do all that. But the 0:31:56.960 --> 0:31:59.320 primary way that God is going to speak through you 0:32:00.240 --> 0:32:04.320 is through his word. The primary way that God will 0:32:04.360 --> 0:32:09.480 reveal is through every other book you read. This is 0:32:09.520 --> 0:32:11.640 the only book that reads you. This is a lie. 0:32:11.640 --> 0:32:15.719 It is active, it reads you. It's a difference. And 0:32:15.760 --> 0:32:17.720 if you look at the story of Peter here when 0:32:17.720 --> 0:32:20.400 he's talking about okay, God, you are the Messiah and 0:32:20.440 --> 0:32:22.560 you are the Son of God. How did those things 0:32:22.560 --> 0:32:24.520 get revealed to him? The Holy Spirit did it. But 0:32:24.600 --> 0:32:28.880 how did he get introduced into Peter's life? Go back 0:32:28.880 --> 0:32:32.000 to John chapter one, Verses forty one and forty two. 0:32:33.760 --> 0:32:37.040 The first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon 0:32:37.080 --> 0:32:40.640 and tell him we found the Messiah, that is the Christ. 0:32:40.680 --> 0:32:42.440 And he brought him to Jesus, and Jesus looked at 0:32:42.480 --> 0:32:45.480 him and said, you are Simon, son of John, you 0:32:45.520 --> 0:32:49.440 will be called Cephis, which is translated is Peter. So 0:32:49.960 --> 0:32:52.400 when Peter is saying that Jesus, who do they say, 0:32:52.440 --> 0:32:54.080 who do you send to him? You are the Messiah. 0:32:54.320 --> 0:32:57.480 Peter had heard that before. It's not something that God 0:32:57.600 --> 0:33:00.360 just dropped into his spirit in the moment. It was 0:33:00.400 --> 0:33:02.360 something that he had heard in his ears and something 0:33:02.360 --> 0:33:03.840 that he had read because it was a part of 0:33:03.880 --> 0:33:06.240 an Old Testament prophecy. It was something that he had 0:33:06.280 --> 0:33:08.680 been reading. And when we say we want to hear 0:33:08.720 --> 0:33:10.560 from you God, we will not hear from God when 0:33:10.560 --> 0:33:13.280 we're divorced from his word. So with you coming to 0:33:13.400 --> 0:33:15.880 church today, it is great because you are hearing God's 0:33:15.880 --> 0:33:17.920 word and is going to reveal him in your life. 0:33:17.960 --> 0:33:19.920 And you can study God's word through the week and 0:33:19.960 --> 0:33:22.840 he will reveal himself to you. But you're the Messiah. 0:33:23.160 --> 0:33:28.440 What's cool about that is as soon as Simon meets Jesus, Jesus, 0:33:28.440 --> 0:33:31.520 oh you're Simon, You'll be called Peter. He didn't wait 0:33:31.600 --> 0:33:33.160 until a year and a half later in the moment 0:33:33.200 --> 0:33:35.440 we just read in Matthew sixty it was at the 0:33:35.560 --> 0:33:38.040 very moment he met Jesus he got his new name why, 0:33:38.200 --> 0:33:40.680 Because in that moment when he came into a relationship 0:33:40.680 --> 0:33:44.440 with Jesus, he got a new nature. When you come 0:33:44.480 --> 0:33:47.080 into relationship with Jesus, you get a new nature. Peter 0:33:47.160 --> 0:33:50.800 hadn't done squat yet God still called him, and Jesus 0:33:50.800 --> 0:33:55.000 saw him. He says, you are Peter, and some of 0:33:55.040 --> 0:33:56.960 you don't feel worthy enough to be noticed by God 0:33:56.960 --> 0:33:59.240 because you're measuring it based upon your behavior. And the 0:33:59.280 --> 0:34:01.640 reason your measure based upon your behaviors. That's what you 0:34:01.800 --> 0:34:04.280 use as a litmus test with every other relationship. And 0:34:04.320 --> 0:34:06.280 if you had the right behavior, maybe they would give 0:34:06.280 --> 0:34:09.080 you their blessing. God say no, no no, no, my blessing 0:34:09.120 --> 0:34:11.640 is not dependent upon your behavior. It's depend upon the 0:34:11.640 --> 0:34:17.440 finished work of my Savior. It's dependent upon Jesus. And 0:34:17.480 --> 0:34:21.960 then in Matthew fourteen thirty three, it's the story of 0:34:22.320 --> 0:34:25.600 Jesus had just walked on water, and now the disciples 0:34:25.680 --> 0:34:27.520 they're all freaking out, and they all get in the boat. 0:34:27.760 --> 0:34:30.080 Fourteen thirty three. It says then those who were in 0:34:30.120 --> 0:34:34.000 the boat worshiped him, saying, truly, you are the son 0:34:34.040 --> 0:34:38.120 of God. So when Jesus asks who do you say 0:34:38.120 --> 0:34:40.040 that I am? You're the Messiah, and you are the 0:34:40.040 --> 0:34:41.799 son of God. Both of those things are things that 0:34:41.880 --> 0:34:45.440 Peter had heard before. They're things that had been communicated 0:34:45.440 --> 0:34:50.799 to him previously. You are the son of God. Now 0:34:50.880 --> 0:34:53.960 what's funny about that is when the devil comes to 0:34:54.040 --> 0:34:59.080 Jesus and he says, if you are the son of God, 0:34:59.719 --> 0:35:03.600 turn these rocks into bread. If you are the son 0:35:03.640 --> 0:35:05.560 of God, jump off the ledge and the angels will 0:35:05.560 --> 0:35:10.480 hold you. See, the devil did not doubt that Jesus 0:35:10.560 --> 0:35:12.839 was the son of God. He was trying to get 0:35:12.920 --> 0:35:15.160 Jesus to doubt that he was the son of God. 0:35:16.120 --> 0:35:18.040 And here's one way that you can start to distinguish 0:35:18.120 --> 0:35:19.960 between the voice of Simon and the voice of Peter, 0:35:20.040 --> 0:35:26.080 between the spirit and the flesh, is if if if 0:35:26.400 --> 0:35:31.799 you are see, Satan knew that Jesus was the son 0:35:31.840 --> 0:35:34.480 of God, but what he chose to do is to 0:35:34.520 --> 0:35:40.680 worship himself rather than worship Jesus. Satan represents the flesh, 0:35:40.760 --> 0:35:44.080 and its desire is to consume you, and it wants 0:35:44.120 --> 0:35:47.600 you to worship the flesh. And that voice is still 0:35:47.640 --> 0:35:50.399 pinging you. But you also have the voice of God, 0:35:50.440 --> 0:35:54.200 the Spirit of God, living inside of you. If and 0:35:54.280 --> 0:35:57.279 I wonder what they are saying to you. If you're 0:35:57.320 --> 0:36:00.640 really a Christian, why do you talk like that, If 0:36:00.640 --> 0:36:04.520 you're really saved, why are you doing that? If you've 0:36:04.560 --> 0:36:10.359 really got this relationship with Jesus. If and when you're 0:36:10.400 --> 0:36:12.880 in your moment you get caught up in your behavior 0:36:12.880 --> 0:36:15.719 and you start to agree with them. Yeah, you're right. 0:36:17.040 --> 0:36:19.040 But I want you to know that you've got another 0:36:19.120 --> 0:36:23.200 voice speaking inside of you because Jesus in the story, 0:36:23.239 --> 0:36:26.239 the two words I gave you were identity and assignment. 0:36:27.760 --> 0:36:30.600 Jesus knew his identity. He was fully God and he 0:36:30.719 --> 0:36:34.440 was fully man's, both of those at the same time. 0:36:35.000 --> 0:36:37.600 But as Jesus is walking through the earth, he's got 0:36:37.600 --> 0:36:40.280 a couple different moments where Heaven opens and God speaks 0:36:40.520 --> 0:36:45.320 to affirm his son. He's affirming his identity. In Matthew 0:36:45.360 --> 0:36:48.120 three point seventeen, it says this, and a voice from 0:36:48.160 --> 0:36:52.880 heaven said, this is my son whom I love, and 0:36:52.960 --> 0:36:57.720 with him, I am well pleased. I love that. Before 0:36:57.840 --> 0:37:00.680 Jesus had done anything in his public ministry, God is 0:37:00.760 --> 0:37:04.640 establishing the identity this is my son. And what I 0:37:04.719 --> 0:37:07.680 want to tell you today is Christ's identity is your identity. 0:37:07.800 --> 0:37:10.520 Because when you have a relationship with him. He now 0:37:10.560 --> 0:37:14.320 his identity becomes your identity because you are co heirs 0:37:14.400 --> 0:37:16.640 with Christ. So everything that God has spoken about his 0:37:16.719 --> 0:37:19.359 son is something that he's speaking about you. You are 0:37:19.400 --> 0:37:22.600 a son, you are a daughter, and with my daughter, 0:37:22.760 --> 0:37:28.080 I am well pleased he's speaking that over you. So 0:37:28.120 --> 0:37:32.080 when the voice of Simon says, Saint Simon says, wait, now, 0:37:32.280 --> 0:37:36.719 my father says, my father says, I'm a son. My 0:37:36.880 --> 0:37:41.680 father says, and he's he is affirming your identity. And 0:37:41.719 --> 0:37:44.960 there's a second time that Jesus has his identity firm. 0:37:45.000 --> 0:37:48.600 To Matthew seventeen, in verses one through five, it says, 0:37:49.000 --> 0:37:52.520 after six days, Jesus took within Peter, James, and John, 0:37:52.560 --> 0:37:54.719 the brother of James, and he led them up a 0:37:54.760 --> 0:37:59.239 high mountain by themselves. There he was transformed or transfigured 0:37:59.280 --> 0:38:01.880 before them. His face shone like the sun, and his 0:38:01.960 --> 0:38:05.960 clothes became as white as light. Just then there appeared 0:38:06.000 --> 0:38:11.280 before them Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Peter said 0:38:11.440 --> 0:38:17.080 to Jesus, of course he does. Peter said to Jesus, look, Lord, 0:38:17.480 --> 0:38:19.479 it is good for us to be here. If you wish, 0:38:19.480 --> 0:38:22.520 I'll put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, 0:38:22.560 --> 0:38:26.000 and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, a 0:38:26.120 --> 0:38:29.680 bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, 0:38:30.239 --> 0:38:34.680 this is my son whom I love. With him, I 0:38:34.719 --> 0:38:40.439 am well pleased. Listen to him. Peter is in mid 0:38:40.520 --> 0:38:43.279 sentence of how about I do this? And how about 0:38:43.320 --> 0:38:45.560 I do this? How about I do this? And the 0:38:45.640 --> 0:38:52.239 voice speaks from having like Simon, shut up. He doesn't 0:38:52.239 --> 0:38:56.040 even let him finish the sentence. You have the authority 0:38:56.840 --> 0:39:05.880 as a child of God to signment. Shut up. And 0:39:05.960 --> 0:39:12.000 what God says is stop talking, Simon and listen to him. 0:39:13.600 --> 0:39:16.560 The voice you listen to is the one that's leading you. 0:39:19.120 --> 0:39:25.080 And what God is saying is just listen. Christ's identity 0:39:26.280 --> 0:39:30.120 is your identity. But our assignment is not the same 0:39:30.760 --> 0:39:37.360 as his assignment, because christ assignment was to go to 0:39:37.400 --> 0:39:44.560 the cross. Here's our assignment. In Luke nine three, Jesus 0:39:44.600 --> 0:39:47.520 said this to them. Then he said to them all, 0:39:48.320 --> 0:39:53.960 whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, pick 0:39:54.040 --> 0:39:59.160 up their cross daily and follow me. And what he's 0:39:59.160 --> 0:40:02.520 saying they must deny themselves. You must deny that, Simon, 0:40:03.120 --> 0:40:07.600 part of you. He says, it's a daily dying to 0:40:07.800 --> 0:40:12.560 that it's easy to trust Jesus in a moment. Will 0:40:12.600 --> 0:40:17.360 I trust him every day in the daily denying of myself, 0:40:18.320 --> 0:40:20.080 And you'll come to these moments where you're like, I'm 0:40:20.080 --> 0:40:22.200 so conflicted. God. Paul would say that at which I 0:40:22.239 --> 0:40:23.680 want to do, I don't do, and that at which 0:40:23.680 --> 0:40:26.759 I don't want to do, it end up doing. And 0:40:26.800 --> 0:40:28.719 when we live in that space and we have moments 0:40:28.760 --> 0:40:31.799 where we just run after Simon, we just feel so 0:40:32.000 --> 0:40:35.320 much shame. But what I want you to hear is 0:40:35.360 --> 0:40:38.920 the voice of God, even in your worst moment, saying 0:40:39.000 --> 0:40:42.800 this is my son in whom I am well pleased, 0:40:43.760 --> 0:40:49.080 And your assignment is to follow him. That's the assignment, 0:40:49.520 --> 0:40:53.600 is to listen to his voice and follow him. And 0:40:53.640 --> 0:40:56.160 what's amazing about this is Jesus would be faithful with 0:40:56.200 --> 0:40:59.279 his assignment because the reason he came on to the 0:40:59.320 --> 0:41:02.360 earth was thing, and that was to go to the cross. 0:41:03.400 --> 0:41:06.680 And Jesus would go to the cross. And when you 0:41:06.680 --> 0:41:10.040 look at the cross, it's an intersection. The cross, it's 0:41:10.080 --> 0:41:13.320 it's it's it's it's an intersection of heaven and earth, 0:41:16.640 --> 0:41:24.960 wrath and forgiveness, life and death. Jesus is between two extremes. 0:41:25.680 --> 0:41:28.520 It's the most extreme environment you could ever imagine, because 0:41:28.560 --> 0:41:30.799 all of the penalty and for all of the sin 0:41:30.960 --> 0:41:34.120 that should have been laid on us was laid on him. 0:41:35.360 --> 0:41:39.120 He is fully God and he's fully man. What kept 0:41:39.160 --> 0:41:44.240 him on the cross in that extreme place? In Hebrews 0:41:44.239 --> 0:41:48.840 it says for the joy set before him, he endured 0:41:48.880 --> 0:41:50.520 the cross, scorning at shame, and he sat down the 0:41:50.560 --> 0:41:54.880 right hand of God. What is the joy in the cross? 0:41:57.080 --> 0:41:59.279 To two levels of joy? I think that's described in 0:41:59.320 --> 0:42:03.840 the text. The first is the joy of his father saying, 0:42:03.840 --> 0:42:06.520 this is my son and whom I'm well pleased, because 0:42:06.560 --> 0:42:10.840 I think he also heard well done, good and faithful servant, 0:42:12.080 --> 0:42:15.279 because he's got that extreme of heaven. But he also 0:42:15.320 --> 0:42:18.799 has the extreme of humanity. So what's the joy with 0:42:18.840 --> 0:42:21.680 the humanity? I believe that when it says for the 0:42:21.760 --> 0:42:25.920 joy set before him, it was you, and it was me, 0:42:27.000 --> 0:42:29.799 and it was his disciples. And what kept him in 0:42:29.920 --> 0:42:34.480 that place was his father's glory and your salvation. And 0:42:34.520 --> 0:42:37.440 he stood in that place between those places, in all 0:42:37.520 --> 0:42:40.319 of that pain, in all of that, so that you 0:42:40.800 --> 0:42:44.560 could be reconciled with God. These extremes could only come 0:42:44.600 --> 0:42:47.440 together through one thing, and it was through the blood 0:42:47.440 --> 0:42:51.800 that was shed by Jesus. And because of his finished 0:42:51.800 --> 0:42:56.160 work on the cross, he created a way for you 0:42:56.480 --> 0:43:00.719 to come into God's presence. He created a way for 0:43:00.840 --> 0:43:06.560 God's love to come see you. Would you stand to 0:43:06.560 --> 0:43:11.439 your feet at all of our locations as you've heard 0:43:11.440 --> 0:43:13.839 the word of God today. The spirit of God has 0:43:13.880 --> 0:43:16.960 shows you that He is real, that he loves you. 0:43:17.680 --> 0:43:19.719 And some of you have never had a moment that 0:43:19.719 --> 0:43:22.319 you've placed your faith in him. You've never begun a 0:43:22.360 --> 0:43:25.319 relationship with him. This is the time that God has 0:43:25.560 --> 0:43:28.960 appropriated for you to begin that relationship. And if you 0:43:29.000 --> 0:43:31.279 have never made that decision, and be my privilege to 0:43:31.320 --> 0:43:33.320 lead us all in a prayer right now for someone 0:43:33.360 --> 0:43:36.359 to begin a relationship with Jesus. And when you begin 0:43:36.400 --> 0:43:39.799 a relationship, he gives you a new nature and then 0:43:39.800 --> 0:43:41.480 He walks it out with you so that you can 0:43:41.560 --> 0:43:44.879 hear him and walk out this thing called salvation. Bow 0:43:44.920 --> 0:43:47.080 your heads and close your eyes at all of our locations, 0:43:47.640 --> 0:43:50.160 joining us online right now for someone to begin a 0:43:50.200 --> 0:43:53.040 relationship with Jesus. Church family, I want you to pray 0:43:53.080 --> 0:43:54.959 with me out loud for the benefit of somebody who's 0:43:55.000 --> 0:43:58.000 making this decision and coming to Jesus in this moment. 0:43:58.920 --> 0:44:03.200 I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God 0:44:04.360 --> 0:44:07.480 who died on the cross and rose from the grave 0:44:08.680 --> 0:44:12.880 to forgive me of my sin. I give you my life, 0:44:13.440 --> 0:44:16.240 I give you my sin, I give you my shame. 0:44:17.440 --> 0:44:22.799 Forgive me, and I'll spend my life following you with 0:44:22.840 --> 0:44:24.719 your head still bowed in, your eyes still close. If 0:44:24.760 --> 0:44:27.439 you just began a relationship with Jesus or you're coming 0:44:27.480 --> 0:44:29.440 back to him, I am going to count to three, 0:44:29.600 --> 0:44:32.239 and when I get there, without hesitation, I want you 0:44:32.320 --> 0:44:35.600 to boldly shoot your hand into the air. One, two, three, 0:44:35.600 --> 0:44:39.400 shoot your hand up all of our locations. Come on online. 0:44:39.400 --> 0:44:42.560 If you just made that decision, let us know about it. 0:44:42.880 --> 0:45:00.640 Come on such family, let's celebrate that at