The Gospel of Luke: Who do you say that I am? | Christ | Truth | Jesus | Disciples - Video

Sermon notes - 6/1/25 Luke: 9: 18-23 . Check us out at: https://citylightvicksburg.org/ Or check us out here: https://www.facebook.com/citylightvicksburg . Sometimes we misjudge the very people who are standing in front of us. And sometimes who we misjudge will cost us everything. Jesus has 2 questions for His disciples in this section: 1) who do the crowds say that I am? And 2) who do you say who I am? For question 1: they say “some say you are John the Baptist, Elisha, or one of the prophets of old.” This list is not a bad list. These are holy and good men. An honorable list. But these people cannot live up to the truth of who Jesus is. And you cannot learn who Jesus is, by chasing His miracles and blessings. It requires committing to walking and apprenticeship to and with him. This question cannot be figured out by collecting data about Him. For question 2: Peter says “The Christ of God.” Christ means “the anointed one.” It is intended to indicate a coming king - the one with enough power to bring every other kingdom to its knees. And Christ Jesus responds telling them to "tell no one," because He is supposed to suffer, be rejected by leaders, and killed, and then raised up on the third day. Everyone would be bound to misinterpret what Jesus is supposed to be. He tells them that He must be rejected and killed… and He must be resurrected from the grave. Jesus would rise to overthrow the powers of darkness. But the people expected that He would rule a simple government. Jesus was here for something so much greater. The people were expecting a messiah to bow to us, to co-opt our agendas. And Jesus closes with telling His disciples - “anyone who wants to follow me, must give up everything, daily, and follow me.” Once we learned who the messiah is, we learn what it means to follow Him. We must suffer, love, welcome, endure, and in the end, we will overcome. Alignment with Jesus, is not to follow Him to success. But it means to follow Him through suffering, denying our passions, carrying a willingness to suffer - even to the point of our deaths. As you walk, the way you walk shows what you know about who Jesus really is. When we ignore the heart of Jesus, we miss the calling of Jesus. When we read the Bible and we find a part that we don’t like, we easily ignore it, rather than embracing who He is. We must embrace the messiah on His terms, rather than embracing Him on our terms. But take heart, when you trip and stumble, He will have mercy on you, and help you pick your cross back up again.