1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,740 Speaker: Matthew chapter 16 is where we're starting. 2 00:00:03,859 --> 00:00:08,200 Um, and I don't know if you've ever thought about this before, but 3 00:00:10,445 --> 00:00:12,495 Maybe you, as a parent, you've probably thought about this. 4 00:00:12,506 --> 00:00:14,515 What do I want most for my kids? 5 00:00:15,046 --> 00:00:15,245 Right? 6 00:00:15,245 --> 00:00:17,226 Maybe if you're a student, maybe you've never thought about that 7 00:00:17,465 --> 00:00:20,855 from a parent's perspective, but what would you want most, right? 8 00:00:20,855 --> 00:00:22,195 What would you want most for your kids? 9 00:00:22,195 --> 00:00:27,136 What would you want most in the whole world if you could have anything, right? 10 00:00:27,136 --> 00:00:29,355 What do you think would be the best thing for someone? 11 00:00:29,486 --> 00:00:31,535 Or maybe you've … You could take that even to God. 12 00:00:31,535 --> 00:00:33,675 What does God most want for me? 13 00:00:34,486 --> 00:00:37,586 What does God, of all the things that God could give me, that God wants 14 00:00:37,586 --> 00:00:42,285 for me, what does he want me to have, to know, to feel, to be, to think? 15 00:00:42,285 --> 00:00:44,045 What does God want for me? 16 00:00:45,145 --> 00:00:49,986 Um, well, I don't wanna speak for, for everyone in the room, but what I want 17 00:00:50,156 --> 00:00:56,265 and what we in True North are, what your leaders want most for you, uh, is not to 18 00:00:57,665 --> 00:01:02,265 have a, a great school career, high school career, middle school career, and, and be 19 00:01:02,266 --> 00:01:04,245 the ASB president and have a lot of fun. 20 00:01:04,455 --> 00:01:07,315 Uh, that would be great, but we don't necessarily want that for you. 21 00:01:07,595 --> 00:01:10,906 We don't necessarily even want you to, to get really smart about the 22 00:01:10,906 --> 00:01:13,706 Bible and learn a ton of things and, and facts, information. 23 00:01:13,706 --> 00:01:17,136 That'd be awesome, but we don't necessarily want that for you as 24 00:01:17,136 --> 00:01:18,606 the, what we most want for you. 25 00:01:19,065 --> 00:01:21,396 Um, actually, uh, I actually don't 26 00:01:21,525 --> 00:01:23,985 What I want most for you is not just for you to go to heaven. 27 00:01:24,946 --> 00:01:26,755 That's not what I want most for you. 28 00:01:27,806 --> 00:01:32,856 What we want most for you in True North is for you to get to know Jesus, right? 29 00:01:32,856 --> 00:01:36,765 'Cause if you have heaven without Jesus, it's not really heaven, is it, right? 30 00:01:36,765 --> 00:01:38,496 And we've talked about that before. 31 00:01:38,685 --> 00:01:43,515 But what makes God, what makes God so good, what makes the Bible 32 00:01:43,515 --> 00:01:46,645 so good, what makes Christianity so good is you get Jesus. 33 00:01:46,656 --> 00:01:47,925 That's the whole point, right? 34 00:01:47,925 --> 00:01:50,745 The whole point isn't to get hell out of the way. 35 00:01:50,745 --> 00:01:53,134 The whole point isn't so you can feel at peace. 36 00:01:53,145 --> 00:01:55,925 The whole point isn't so you can have good friends who help you. 37 00:01:56,626 --> 00:01:59,005 The whole point is that you get Jesus. 38 00:01:59,354 --> 00:02:02,825 And so that's what we're gonna do in this series this, this year. 39 00:02:02,825 --> 00:02:05,826 We're gonna be looking at some of the questions that Jesus asked people. 40 00:02:06,025 --> 00:02:10,405 And more than anything, what I want for you i- is I want you to get to 41 00:02:10,405 --> 00:02:13,185 know Jesus, the, the person, right? 42 00:02:13,185 --> 00:02:16,615 Jesus, um, yes, the man, the, the God man, right? 43 00:02:16,635 --> 00:02:20,115 I want you to … This is the, the closest thing you'll get this side of 44 00:02:20,176 --> 00:02:24,195 heaven to, to look Jesus in the eye and, and have a conversation with him, right? 45 00:02:24,195 --> 00:02:27,545 To, to hear the questions he's asked real people just like me and you. 46 00:02:27,596 --> 00:02:29,915 Maybe even people y- your age, right? 47 00:02:29,926 --> 00:02:31,575 Some of the disciples were probably pretty young. 48 00:02:32,305 --> 00:02:34,545 And the questions he asked them, the way he talked to them, I 49 00:02:34,545 --> 00:02:36,876 want you to get to know Jesus. 50 00:02:36,876 --> 00:02:40,735 Um, and not just facts about Jesus, but I want you to get to know Jesus 51 00:02:42,185 --> 00:02:44,466 like, like, like a real person, right? 52 00:02:44,466 --> 00:02:47,975 To, to know what he's like and to have a relationship with him. 53 00:02:48,096 --> 00:02:51,435 And so we're starting with Jesus' most important question, okay? 54 00:02:51,435 --> 00:02:54,635 We're starting with Jesus' most important question in Matthew chapter 16. 55 00:02:54,645 --> 00:02:56,685 We're gonna be starting probably in verse 13. 56 00:02:57,385 --> 00:03:02,321 Um- So if you aren't already there, turn there in your Bibles. 57 00:03:02,332 --> 00:03:05,571 Matthew 16, we're gonna start in verse 13. 58 00:03:05,582 --> 00:03:09,781 Jesus is having a conversation with his disciples here, and I'll put it on the 59 00:03:09,781 --> 00:03:11,571 screen for if you don't have your Bible. 60 00:03:11,571 --> 00:03:14,811 So Jesus, he comes to these, this area, Caesarea Philippi. 61 00:03:14,811 --> 00:03:18,872 He asks his disciples, "Hey, who do people say that the Son of Man," that's 62 00:03:18,872 --> 00:03:20,081 him talking about himself, right? 63 00:03:20,351 --> 00:03:22,311 Um, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 64 00:03:22,531 --> 00:03:22,742 Right? 65 00:03:22,821 --> 00:03:23,411 "What do you think? 66 00:03:23,411 --> 00:03:24,281 What do people think about me?" 67 00:03:24,751 --> 00:03:24,941 Right? 68 00:03:24,941 --> 00:03:27,682 What, what kind of things do people think about Jesus, right? 69 00:03:27,682 --> 00:03:28,991 He's been doing some miracles. 70 00:03:29,001 --> 00:03:31,471 If you were with us two years ago, we went through the whole Gospel 71 00:03:31,471 --> 00:03:34,652 of Matthew, and Jesus is doing some miracles, he's doing some teaching, 72 00:03:34,652 --> 00:03:35,652 and he's like, "What do people think?" 73 00:03:35,652 --> 00:03:35,831 Right? 74 00:03:35,831 --> 00:03:38,321 We're about two-thirds of the way through the Gospel of Matthew. 75 00:03:38,601 --> 00:03:39,421 What do people think? 76 00:03:40,072 --> 00:03:41,551 And the disciples, here's what they said. 77 00:03:41,552 --> 00:03:43,881 They say, "Well, some people think you're John the Baptist, that you're 78 00:03:43,881 --> 00:03:45,071 John the Baptist raised from the dead." 79 00:03:45,072 --> 00:03:45,891 I don't know if you remember. 80 00:03:46,180 --> 00:03:49,981 Um, if you remember Herod, he thought that, um, Jesus was John 81 00:03:49,991 --> 00:03:51,161 the Baptist raised from the dead. 82 00:03:51,491 --> 00:03:54,061 Um, others say Elijah, others say Jeremiah, right? 83 00:03:54,061 --> 00:03:56,351 Two of the more famous prophets from the Old Testament. 84 00:03:57,311 --> 00:04:01,462 And then Jesus asked them, he says, "But who do you say I am?" 85 00:04:02,622 --> 00:04:06,031 And that's really what makes this question so appealing, right? 86 00:04:06,052 --> 00:04:10,402 Is Jesus says, "Well, yeah, sure, other people might think those things about 87 00:04:10,402 --> 00:04:17,391 me, but what really matters most about you is not how tall you are, or what 88 00:04:17,391 --> 00:04:20,231 friends you have, or what school you go to, or who your parents are, or where 89 00:04:20,231 --> 00:04:24,701 you're from, or what your SAT score is, or, or what, anything else, right? 90 00:04:24,702 --> 00:04:28,031 What matters most about you is how you answer this question: 91 00:04:29,131 --> 00:04:31,531 Who do you say Jesus is? 92 00:04:32,721 --> 00:04:36,601 Who do you say in your heart, not just to your parents when you're trying to get 93 00:04:36,601 --> 00:04:39,422 them to stop asking you questions about church, not just to your leaders when 94 00:04:39,422 --> 00:04:43,331 you're trying to fit in in small groups, not just on a, on a test when you're 95 00:04:43,331 --> 00:04:46,752 trying to answer questions about, oh, you know, what, what do I think I should say? 96 00:04:46,752 --> 00:04:49,741 But who do you really say Jesus is? 97 00:04:50,331 --> 00:04:53,491 That's the question that we're gonna ask ourselves tonight, and I think 98 00:04:53,631 --> 00:04:56,451 Jesus is asking all of us this question. 99 00:04:58,918 --> 00:05:00,958 And again, I, I want you to see the difference, right? 100 00:05:00,958 --> 00:05:03,538 He starts with, "Oh, what do, what do people think about me?" 101 00:05:03,828 --> 00:05:04,078 Right? 102 00:05:04,078 --> 00:05:04,928 Just what do people think? 103 00:05:05,488 --> 00:05:08,168 And then he turns on them and says, "Well, what do you think?" 104 00:05:09,387 --> 00:05:11,228 'Cause it d- really, it doesn't matter what other people think. 105 00:05:12,088 --> 00:05:13,568 It matters what you think. 106 00:05:13,608 --> 00:05:18,327 So our first point tonight is get to know Jesus for yourself. 107 00:05:19,717 --> 00:05:22,568 Get to know Jesus for yourself 108 00:05:26,758 --> 00:05:29,798 Is anyone here one of those people that, uh, you watch the video of the 109 00:05:29,798 --> 00:05:31,158 rollercoaster before you go on it? 110 00:05:32,268 --> 00:05:33,878 I remember when we went to Six Flags, there were some people in 111 00:05:33,878 --> 00:05:35,748 the car, like, watching videos. 112 00:05:35,748 --> 00:05:36,808 "Oh, should we go on this one? 113 00:05:36,808 --> 00:05:37,397 What do you think?" 114 00:05:37,397 --> 00:05:37,627 Right? 115 00:05:37,937 --> 00:05:38,728 You know those people. 116 00:05:38,928 --> 00:05:42,107 I just would rather not watch the video or go on the rollercoaster. 117 00:05:42,107 --> 00:05:42,878 That's my preference. 118 00:05:42,897 --> 00:05:46,198 But, um, I just… 119 00:05:46,447 --> 00:05:48,707 The, the thing, what my problem, right, 'cause I, I'm not a 120 00:05:48,707 --> 00:05:49,647 huge fan of rollercoasters. 121 00:05:49,647 --> 00:05:50,197 What, what… 122 00:05:50,227 --> 00:05:52,267 the, the problem with some of the videos, right, is you 123 00:05:52,268 --> 00:05:53,857 just, it's not the same, right? 124 00:05:53,857 --> 00:05:55,957 Like, it doesn't look that bad, and your friend's trying 125 00:05:55,957 --> 00:05:56,847 to convince you to go on it. 126 00:05:56,848 --> 00:05:57,368 "Oh, it's okay. 127 00:05:57,368 --> 00:05:57,727 It's okay. 128 00:05:57,727 --> 00:05:58,158 It's fine. 129 00:05:58,238 --> 00:05:59,488 You know, it's not that big of a drop. 130 00:05:59,488 --> 00:06:00,597 See, watch the video," right? 131 00:06:00,638 --> 00:06:03,998 And it's like, well, you don't, you don't really know, right? 132 00:06:03,998 --> 00:06:06,007 'Cause you, you gotta feel it in your stomach, right? 133 00:06:06,008 --> 00:06:08,008 You gotta, you gotta hear the, you know, it sounds like it's gonna 134 00:06:08,008 --> 00:06:09,198 fall apart on the way up, right? 135 00:06:09,198 --> 00:06:13,118 You gotta, you gotta feel it and be there and feel the air and hear the people 136 00:06:13,118 --> 00:06:17,417 screaming, and it kinda sounds like, you know, like a, like a, some kinda 137 00:06:17,467 --> 00:06:19,618 crisis or a war, right, that's happening. 138 00:06:19,618 --> 00:06:22,167 But, um, you have to experience it, right? 139 00:06:22,168 --> 00:06:24,767 If you just watch the video of the rollercoaster, you can't… 140 00:06:24,778 --> 00:06:26,617 One, first of all, you can't say, "Oh yeah, I've been on 141 00:06:26,617 --> 00:06:27,187 the rollercoaster," right? 142 00:06:27,197 --> 00:06:28,337 Imagine if, if someone was like… 143 00:06:28,337 --> 00:06:28,978 Did you know that big… 144 00:06:28,978 --> 00:06:30,857 What's the name of that big one at Six Flags that just opened? 145 00:06:31,908 --> 00:06:32,967 Does anyone know what this thing's called? 146 00:06:32,978 --> 00:06:33,947 There's that giant one. 147 00:06:33,987 --> 00:06:35,548 Isn't it, like, a world record? 148 00:06:36,497 --> 00:06:36,917 Oh, yeah. 149 00:06:36,927 --> 00:06:36,947 Um. 150 00:06:37,297 --> 00:06:37,327 Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. 151 00:06:38,798 --> 00:06:39,957 Speaker: Does no one know what this thing's called? 152 00:06:39,957 --> 00:06:40,908 Tormenta. 153 00:06:40,908 --> 00:06:41,568 Tormenta. 154 00:06:41,677 --> 00:06:42,337 There we go. 155 00:06:42,798 --> 00:06:42,818 Yeah. 156 00:06:42,818 --> 00:06:43,487 Tormenta. 157 00:06:43,517 --> 00:06:43,837 Yeah. 158 00:06:44,368 --> 00:06:49,897 Um, like, if someone told you, "Oh yeah, I've, I've been on the Tormenta. 159 00:06:49,908 --> 00:06:50,688 I know what it's like." 160 00:06:51,417 --> 00:06:52,218 And you're like, "Oh yeah? 161 00:06:52,307 --> 00:06:53,098 What was it like?" 162 00:06:53,357 --> 00:06:54,687 And they say, "Well, here's the video." 163 00:06:55,267 --> 00:06:55,347 Right? 164 00:06:55,357 --> 00:06:57,247 You would say, "Well, you, you don't really know what it's like." 165 00:06:59,270 --> 00:06:59,360 Right? 166 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:01,500 You have to experience it for yourself. 167 00:07:01,510 --> 00:07:03,960 Maybe even with the rollercoaster, you have a friend that you, you're like, 168 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:07,949 "Okay, we're about similar rollercoaster level," and so I send them on the 169 00:07:07,949 --> 00:07:10,640 rollercoaster first, and if they tell me it's okay, then I'll do it. 170 00:07:10,949 --> 00:07:11,229 Right? 171 00:07:11,270 --> 00:07:13,940 That's, that's kind of me with, with some movies, 'cause I don't 172 00:07:13,940 --> 00:07:16,709 like a lot of different movies, 'cause I get scared easily. 173 00:07:16,950 --> 00:07:19,719 And so I'll be like, "Well, how does it compare to like this movie?" 174 00:07:19,729 --> 00:07:21,919 Or like, "Oh, if this person saw it, then I could do it," right? 175 00:07:24,934 --> 00:07:28,684 The thing with, with Jesus is you can't have someone else get 176 00:07:28,684 --> 00:07:30,994 to know Jesus for you, right? 177 00:07:30,994 --> 00:07:34,644 You can't just watch the YouTube video of Jesus and say, "Oh yeah, I know him." 178 00:07:36,044 --> 00:07:40,864 And it's easy when you grow up in church to be surrounded by people who 179 00:07:40,874 --> 00:07:45,723 know Jesus, or maybe you're talking with people who know Jesus, you're 180 00:07:45,723 --> 00:07:50,294 talking about Jesus a lot, but you've never actually gotten in the seat 181 00:07:50,573 --> 00:07:52,623 and, and gone for the ride, right? 182 00:07:52,633 --> 00:07:55,043 You don't actually know Jesus for yourself maybe. 183 00:07:55,683 --> 00:07:57,313 You're just around people that do 184 00:08:00,262 --> 00:08:06,402 You can't get to know Jesus just because your parents know Jesus, right? 185 00:08:06,402 --> 00:08:09,272 You can't get to know Jesus just because you go to church, or you 186 00:08:09,272 --> 00:08:16,221 serve at church, or you hear sermons, or you know facts about Him, or you 187 00:08:16,222 --> 00:08:20,612 have your 400-day Bible app streak. 188 00:08:20,981 --> 00:08:25,451 That doesn't mean you, you've gotten to know Jesus necessarily, right? 189 00:08:26,602 --> 00:08:29,252 You have to do it for yourself. 190 00:08:30,321 --> 00:08:34,861 You can't know Jesus by association with people that know Jesus 191 00:08:38,822 --> 00:08:43,572 You also can't get to know Jesus with just kind of vague ideas about Jesus. 192 00:08:43,631 --> 00:08:47,821 You notice Jesus asked them, um, in this passage, he says, "Who do you say I am?" 193 00:08:47,822 --> 00:08:47,892 Right? 194 00:08:47,982 --> 00:08:50,701 All the people, they have kind of ideas about Jesus, right? 195 00:08:50,702 --> 00:08:52,602 They're like, well, he, we, we know he's religious. 196 00:08:52,802 --> 00:08:54,392 We know he's from God. 197 00:08:54,762 --> 00:08:59,082 We know he's doing all these really important and, and cool things, right? 198 00:08:59,082 --> 00:09:02,141 Because they, they associate him with the right types of people, right? 199 00:09:02,152 --> 00:09:04,002 John the Baptist, Jeremiah, Elijah, right? 200 00:09:04,021 --> 00:09:07,781 These are some of the, the holy people that they would think of, right? 201 00:09:10,150 --> 00:09:12,880 So they had the right idea, the right direction, right? 202 00:09:12,939 --> 00:09:15,430 I, I had a soccer coach, when you tried to do something, he would 203 00:09:15,430 --> 00:09:17,170 say, "Oh, good idea," right? 204 00:09:17,170 --> 00:09:19,929 Which meant you didn't actually do it, but you tried, right? 205 00:09:21,079 --> 00:09:24,079 Good ideas about Jesus aren- isn't the same as knowing Jesus. 206 00:09:25,050 --> 00:09:25,140 Right? 207 00:09:25,170 --> 00:09:26,180 You can have some good ideas. 208 00:09:26,180 --> 00:09:28,719 Oh, yeah, I, I, I think Jesus really existed. 209 00:09:29,069 --> 00:09:30,920 That's a, that's an important idea about Jesus. 210 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:31,900 Doesn't mean you know Jesus. 211 00:09:32,269 --> 00:09:33,890 Or, yeah, I think Jesus really was God. 212 00:09:34,209 --> 00:09:36,939 It's an important idea about Jesus, but it doesn't mean you know Jesus. 213 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:38,390 Right? 214 00:09:38,390 --> 00:09:42,850 So if you just have some ideas about who Jesus is, it doesn't mean you know him 215 00:09:47,917 --> 00:09:53,867 Real Christianity is not just talking about Jesus or having 216 00:09:53,867 --> 00:09:56,167 some church involvement. 217 00:09:56,468 --> 00:09:58,677 I heard one person call it churchianity, right? 218 00:09:59,157 --> 00:10:03,147 Um, it's, it's following Jesus, right? 219 00:10:03,147 --> 00:10:04,287 It's having a relationship with him. 220 00:10:04,287 --> 00:10:05,098 It's talking to him. 221 00:10:05,098 --> 00:10:06,877 It's hearing from him through his word. 222 00:10:06,877 --> 00:10:09,467 It's wanting to be with him. 223 00:10:10,317 --> 00:10:13,037 And that's what it's like to get to know Jesus. 224 00:10:14,777 --> 00:10:17,657 And maybe you, maybe you hear sermons, and you go to small group, you talk 225 00:10:17,667 --> 00:10:20,137 about it, and you, and you, you sit back and you think about it. 226 00:10:20,137 --> 00:10:23,808 Well, yeah, you know, I, I, I do think Jesus probably existed. 227 00:10:25,358 --> 00:10:29,097 Well, that's not knowing Jesus, right? 228 00:10:29,097 --> 00:10:31,578 Or I, I do think, you know, I do think Jesus had some 229 00:10:31,578 --> 00:10:32,657 really important things to say. 230 00:10:33,377 --> 00:10:35,838 That's not knowing Jesus. 231 00:10:37,177 --> 00:10:40,887 So I, I don't want you to stop short of knowing Jesus by just knowing 232 00:10:40,887 --> 00:10:42,647 some stuff about Jesus, right? 233 00:10:42,647 --> 00:10:46,187 Or spending some time around people who know Jesus, right? 234 00:10:46,187 --> 00:10:48,187 You need to know Jesus for yourself. 235 00:10:48,198 --> 00:10:49,807 Your parents can't do it for you, right? 236 00:10:49,987 --> 00:10:51,738 If they could, if, if they could, they would. 237 00:10:53,037 --> 00:10:55,357 If, if they could, they, they, they would with all their heart. 238 00:10:55,677 --> 00:10:56,197 But they can't. 239 00:10:56,208 --> 00:10:57,918 You have to do it yourself 240 00:11:01,123 --> 00:11:08,503 Real saving Christianity, real saving faith is it's personally grasped 241 00:11:08,613 --> 00:11:14,123 and experienced and lived out and believed, and it's yours, right? 242 00:11:14,123 --> 00:11:15,223 It's, it's you own it. 243 00:11:15,664 --> 00:11:16,784 It's your thing, right? 244 00:11:16,784 --> 00:11:19,794 There, there's a point where your sports, for some of you, they stop 245 00:11:19,794 --> 00:11:22,953 becoming your parents' thing and they start becoming your thing, right? 246 00:11:23,934 --> 00:11:26,073 Your parents don't have to force you to go to practice. 247 00:11:26,103 --> 00:11:28,534 You wanna go to practice, right? 248 00:11:28,534 --> 00:11:29,584 It's your sport now. 249 00:11:29,584 --> 00:11:33,193 It's not, "Oh, my parents just, in, just threw me out on the softball field and 250 00:11:33,193 --> 00:11:34,944 said, 'All right, you're doing this.'" 251 00:11:35,003 --> 00:11:35,034 Right? 252 00:11:35,044 --> 00:11:38,143 It's like, "No, I actually woke my parents up to get here on time," right? 253 00:11:40,262 --> 00:11:41,202 You need to own it. 254 00:11:42,012 --> 00:11:45,612 So ask yourself, you know, "Do I really own my relationship with Jesus? 255 00:11:45,612 --> 00:11:46,141 Is it mine? 256 00:11:46,202 --> 00:11:48,752 Do I take initiative to spend time with Jesus? 257 00:11:48,931 --> 00:11:50,641 Do I take initiative to talk to Jesus? 258 00:11:50,882 --> 00:11:56,171 Do I make the, the time to talk with other Christians and, and 259 00:11:56,582 --> 00:11:58,082 grow in my relationship with God? 260 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,602 Or is it just people pushing me into it?" 261 00:12:03,891 --> 00:12:07,631 Because you need to do that for yourself, right? 262 00:12:07,631 --> 00:12:09,861 You have to know Jesus for yourself 263 00:12:14,982 --> 00:12:17,342 Something else about this question, though, uh, that we wanna look 264 00:12:17,342 --> 00:12:19,112 at is the, the answer, right? 265 00:12:19,112 --> 00:12:21,242 So Jesus asked them, he says, "Who do you say I am?" 266 00:12:21,472 --> 00:12:25,172 And then Simon Peter, always the spokesperson for the disciples, 267 00:12:25,182 --> 00:12:29,651 says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 268 00:12:30,102 --> 00:12:31,531 And then Jesus says, "Good answer." 269 00:12:31,632 --> 00:12:31,972 Right? 270 00:12:32,021 --> 00:12:32,552 Thumbs up. 271 00:12:33,322 --> 00:12:36,321 He says, "Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah," that just means son 272 00:12:36,322 --> 00:12:39,751 of Jonah, "for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you." 273 00:12:39,751 --> 00:12:42,732 You didn't figure this out 'cause you were really smart, um, or 'cause you 274 00:12:42,732 --> 00:12:46,382 tried really hard, but God, my Father in Heaven, revealed this to you. 275 00:12:46,391 --> 00:12:48,162 He told you who I was. 276 00:12:48,162 --> 00:12:49,921 He showed you who I was. 277 00:12:51,931 --> 00:12:55,062 So Jesus' response, I th- to Peter's answer, I think shows us 278 00:12:55,062 --> 00:12:58,691 something about knowing what, what it means to get to know Jesus. 279 00:12:59,661 --> 00:13:00,991 Uh, there's a couple things I want you to see here. 280 00:13:00,991 --> 00:13:06,312 First, when Peter says something, he's using these … Like, he says Peter's the, 281 00:13:06,441 --> 00:13:08,362 or he says Jesus is, is the Christ, right? 282 00:13:08,362 --> 00:13:08,791 The Messiah. 283 00:13:08,822 --> 00:13:10,951 That's like a, that's an Old Testament thing. 284 00:13:10,962 --> 00:13:16,051 M- it's a, it's a, it has to do with how God has shaped history to 285 00:13:16,052 --> 00:13:17,882 show what Jesus is gonna be like. 286 00:13:19,022 --> 00:13:22,771 So it's not just, "Oh, well, I, I just think Jesus is whoever I think he is." 287 00:13:23,312 --> 00:13:25,532 It's, "I think Jesus is who God says he is." 288 00:13:25,651 --> 00:13:25,811 Right? 289 00:13:25,812 --> 00:13:27,922 'Cause the whole Old Testament is saying there's gonna be this 290 00:13:27,922 --> 00:13:31,141 person who's gonna come, and he's gonna fix everything, essentially. 291 00:13:31,272 --> 00:13:31,482 Right? 292 00:13:31,482 --> 00:13:33,651 There's gonna be someone who's gonna come, and they're gonna, they're gonna 293 00:13:33,651 --> 00:13:35,062 get rid of all the problems in the world. 294 00:13:35,062 --> 00:13:37,141 They're gonna, um, save people from their sins. 295 00:13:37,141 --> 00:13:38,401 They're, they're gonna make everything right. 296 00:13:38,401 --> 00:13:39,891 They're gonna fix the, the messed up world. 297 00:13:40,111 --> 00:13:42,491 And that's the Messiah, and he says that Jesus is that guy. 298 00:13:42,721 --> 00:13:44,592 He's the guy God says he is. 299 00:13:46,081 --> 00:13:49,781 And then Jesus also says that you can't figure this out on your own, right? 300 00:13:49,781 --> 00:13:50,721 God has to help you. 301 00:13:51,290 --> 00:13:55,201 So the only way you get to know Jesus is through God, with God's help. 302 00:13:55,901 --> 00:13:56,081 Right? 303 00:13:56,081 --> 00:13:59,031 You don't get to, you don't come to Jesus and say, "Well, here's 304 00:13:59,031 --> 00:14:00,731 who I think you are, Jesus." 305 00:14:01,541 --> 00:14:03,021 I don't know if you ever heard anyone say something like that, 306 00:14:03,022 --> 00:14:04,841 but my God would never do that. 307 00:14:05,261 --> 00:14:05,571 Right? 308 00:14:05,691 --> 00:14:07,341 Or my God would never say that. 309 00:14:08,881 --> 00:14:13,581 Well, is your God real, or did you just make him up? 310 00:14:15,191 --> 00:14:15,381 Right? 311 00:14:15,381 --> 00:14:19,181 You have to, to get to know who God is on his terms. 312 00:14:19,361 --> 00:14:22,501 God decides who he is, and y- we learn from him. 313 00:14:22,842 --> 00:14:22,932 Right? 314 00:14:22,961 --> 00:14:24,501 We don't say, "Oh, well, here's who I think. 315 00:14:24,541 --> 00:14:25,472 I think God's like this." 316 00:14:26,131 --> 00:14:28,211 Or, "Yeah, you know, my, my parents are like this, so that 317 00:14:28,211 --> 00:14:29,442 means God must be like this." 318 00:14:30,511 --> 00:14:30,601 Right? 319 00:14:30,621 --> 00:14:32,121 That's not how we learn about God. 320 00:14:32,142 --> 00:14:34,741 We take what God says, and we says, "Okay. 321 00:14:35,071 --> 00:14:37,921 Now, that's who I believe Jesus is." 322 00:14:38,051 --> 00:14:42,401 So point two, get to know Jesus on God's terms. 323 00:14:45,071 --> 00:14:45,131 Right? 324 00:14:45,142 --> 00:14:48,051 You, you can't make up who Jesus is for yourself. 325 00:14:48,952 --> 00:14:48,982 Right? 326 00:14:49,092 --> 00:14:52,762 You can't just take your favorite things about Jesus and then get 327 00:14:52,762 --> 00:14:55,491 rid of the other things that you don't like so much about Jesus. 328 00:15:03,811 --> 00:15:07,862 Jesus might not always be who you expect him to be, and that's a good thing. 329 00:15:08,722 --> 00:15:09,002 All right? 330 00:15:09,002 --> 00:15:13,242 If, if God always met your expectations about God, um, God always did 331 00:15:13,242 --> 00:15:15,651 what you wanted, who's really God? 332 00:15:17,091 --> 00:15:17,331 Right? 333 00:15:17,331 --> 00:15:20,781 If God always did the things that you thought God should do, well then 334 00:15:22,201 --> 00:15:23,851 it sounds like God's serving you. 335 00:15:24,021 --> 00:15:25,771 You're not serving God, right? 336 00:15:26,671 --> 00:15:27,991 Um, I heard about this one couple. 337 00:15:27,991 --> 00:15:33,732 They were, they were dating, and, um, they had a, a big, a big argument, and 338 00:15:33,901 --> 00:15:38,581 the girlfriend, she asks the boyfriend, she says, "Are you really in love with me, 339 00:15:38,822 --> 00:15:41,392 or are you in love with the idea of me? 340 00:15:42,751 --> 00:15:45,911 Do you just love having a girlfriend and, and you really just like the idea 341 00:15:45,911 --> 00:15:48,992 of what it's like to be dating someone and, and, and in a relationship with 342 00:15:49,001 --> 00:15:50,901 someone, or do you actually love me? 343 00:15:51,631 --> 00:15:53,102 Do you actually know me? 344 00:15:53,611 --> 00:15:58,671 Or do you just want the idea of, oh yeah, this type of girl? 345 00:15:59,642 --> 00:16:02,391 Or do you actually care about me, who I am?" 346 00:16:04,877 --> 00:16:08,387 And, and the, the point of that, right, is, is there's sometimes what happens, 347 00:16:08,387 --> 00:16:12,867 right, is we, we build up our own image of, of what people should be like. 348 00:16:13,088 --> 00:16:14,528 And maybe you've done that with Jesus. 349 00:16:15,278 --> 00:16:19,158 Maybe you've taken your expectations of what you think Jesus should be like. 350 00:16:19,278 --> 00:16:23,087 Well, Jesus shouldn't send people to hell 'cause He's loving. 351 00:16:24,537 --> 00:16:28,088 Or Jesus shouldn't let bad things happen to me, because if He 352 00:16:28,088 --> 00:16:31,267 loved me, He, He, He wouldn't let anything hard happen in my life. 353 00:16:32,727 --> 00:16:37,637 Or maybe you've, you've taken ideas about yourself and, and put them onto Jesus. 354 00:16:38,838 --> 00:16:38,968 Right? 355 00:16:38,968 --> 00:16:43,097 Oh, well, Jesus just accepts everyone 'cause He cares about them 356 00:16:45,646 --> 00:16:45,846 Right? 357 00:16:45,846 --> 00:16:49,156 And, and we, what we've done is we've said, "Well, I think love means affirming 358 00:16:49,216 --> 00:16:54,075 everyone for everything they do and supporting everything they do, rather 359 00:16:54,075 --> 00:16:55,515 than wanting what's best for someone." 360 00:16:56,785 --> 00:16:56,985 Right? 361 00:16:56,986 --> 00:16:58,985 And we've taken that and put that onto Jesus and said, 362 00:16:58,986 --> 00:17:00,065 "Well, Jesus must be like that." 363 00:17:00,905 --> 00:17:03,995 So there's different ways we do this, but, but basically what, what's 364 00:17:04,006 --> 00:17:10,744 happening is we're projecting onto Jesus instead of learning from Jesus, right? 365 00:17:10,744 --> 00:17:15,525 You see this thing, this projector, right, is taking an image from my computer and 366 00:17:15,526 --> 00:17:17,555 putting it on the whiteboard, right? 367 00:17:18,755 --> 00:17:23,816 The difference between a projector and a TV, right, is a TV is, is 368 00:17:23,816 --> 00:17:25,415 showing you what's happening. 369 00:17:25,974 --> 00:17:28,255 A projector is, is putting something on here. 370 00:17:29,815 --> 00:17:30,045 Right? 371 00:17:30,045 --> 00:17:34,865 We, when we come to God, right, we say, "God, show me who you are." 372 00:17:35,606 --> 00:17:37,895 We don't say, "God, I think you're this way." 373 00:17:41,198 --> 00:17:45,668 And so that kind of, maybe, maybe you've caught this already, that, that 374 00:17:45,668 --> 00:17:47,548 kind of gives us a, a problem, right? 375 00:17:47,548 --> 00:17:51,508 Because if you, if you look back at our verse, he says, "You couldn't 376 00:17:51,508 --> 00:17:52,427 figure this out on your own. 377 00:17:52,438 --> 00:17:53,257 God had to show you." 378 00:17:54,608 --> 00:17:59,968 So then how do I get to know Jesus if God has to show me, right? 379 00:18:00,008 --> 00:18:01,048 Do I just sit around and wait? 380 00:18:01,127 --> 00:18:03,718 Like, do I, you know, just start meditating and hope I get a vision? 381 00:18:03,718 --> 00:18:04,897 Or, or what do I do, right? 382 00:18:04,898 --> 00:18:07,918 There's just people that that's how they try to find God, right? 383 00:18:07,918 --> 00:18:11,748 They, they sit and wait around for God to show them something, right? 384 00:18:11,748 --> 00:18:14,448 Or maybe you just open your Bible to a random spot and say, "All right. 385 00:18:14,448 --> 00:18:16,367 Well, God, show me who you are," right? 386 00:18:18,147 --> 00:18:21,248 There, there's things that we do maybe to try to figure out who God 387 00:18:21,248 --> 00:18:25,647 is, and we expect Him to show us. 388 00:18:25,647 --> 00:18:29,617 But I … What I think is part of this is how does God reveal Jesus to us? 389 00:18:29,658 --> 00:18:30,988 How do we get to know Jesus? 390 00:18:31,338 --> 00:18:32,457 How do you get to know Jesus? 391 00:18:32,457 --> 00:18:34,597 Well, you get to know Him God's way. 392 00:18:35,217 --> 00:18:38,827 And Peter got to know Jesus by hanging out with Jesus, right? 393 00:18:38,827 --> 00:18:40,757 He got to, you know, go fishing with Jesus. 394 00:18:40,757 --> 00:18:42,697 He got to walk around with Jesus. 395 00:18:42,697 --> 00:18:46,537 He got to see Jesus feed people and teach people and serve people. 396 00:18:46,908 --> 00:18:49,198 So Peter got to live with Jesus, but you and I, we don't get 397 00:18:49,198 --> 00:18:50,137 to do that right now, right? 398 00:18:50,137 --> 00:18:53,247 We don't get to go on walks with Jesus, right? 399 00:18:53,247 --> 00:18:55,968 We don't get to, to sit and hear Jesus talk. 400 00:18:55,978 --> 00:18:58,738 We don't get to have conversations and ask Jesus questions. 401 00:18:59,217 --> 00:19:03,058 The way that God has given us Jesus is through a book, right? 402 00:19:03,058 --> 00:19:03,977 He's given us the Bible. 403 00:19:05,667 --> 00:19:09,097 And if God wanted us to all meet Jesus and have Jesus walk 404 00:19:09,097 --> 00:19:11,577 around i- in here, He would. 405 00:19:12,228 --> 00:19:16,398 But, but God, in His wisdom, God's way smarter than us, He thinks that 406 00:19:16,408 --> 00:19:22,107 we should have a book instead of the man Jesus walking around for 407 00:19:22,117 --> 00:19:23,437 thousands of years talking to people 408 00:19:25,806 --> 00:19:31,416 And one reason is because you get to know Jesus for yourself at any time, right? 409 00:19:31,426 --> 00:19:36,256 You don't have to, to say, "Well, oh, I heard Peter say this about Jesus," right? 410 00:19:36,256 --> 00:19:37,475 You, you get to see Jesus 411 00:19:39,500 --> 00:19:40,780 Live whenever you want, right? 412 00:19:41,500 --> 00:19:44,600 Um, but God has given us a, a book to get to know Jesus. 413 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,389 And maybe you're thinking, "I don't like reading," right? 414 00:19:47,780 --> 00:19:49,050 "The Bible's hard to understand. 415 00:19:49,050 --> 00:19:50,460 It's hard to read." 416 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:54,639 Well, this is how God has given himself to us. 417 00:19:55,079 --> 00:19:56,150 He said, "Here I am. 418 00:19:57,329 --> 00:19:59,110 You look in this book, you'll find me." 419 00:19:59,459 --> 00:20:05,150 This is how God has shown himself to us, right, with words and pages and sentences. 420 00:20:06,409 --> 00:20:12,230 And so if we really wanna get to know him, that's where we find him, right? 421 00:20:12,230 --> 00:20:19,309 You don't find God in, as regularly at least, in dreams or feelings 422 00:20:19,349 --> 00:20:21,939 or … 'Cause, and also those are hard to figure out, right? 423 00:20:21,950 --> 00:20:23,740 It's hard to figure out, well, how do you know a dream's from God? 424 00:20:24,639 --> 00:20:26,319 How do you know a feeling is from God? 425 00:20:27,430 --> 00:20:30,449 Well, you need something you can trust, which is why it's helpful 426 00:20:30,450 --> 00:20:32,149 that God wrote a book, right? 427 00:20:33,430 --> 00:20:37,979 And so if, if you say, "I love God," and you wanna get to know him, you're 428 00:20:37,989 --> 00:20:42,740 going to spend time in his book, 'cause that's how God said, "Here I am." 429 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:47,410 I mean, I was, uh, I was in a long-distance relationship for a while. 430 00:20:48,069 --> 00:20:48,820 Um, it worked. 431 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,660 We celebrate our anniversary on Monday. 432 00:20:51,850 --> 00:20:59,329 But, um, and I spent a lot of time on the phone, right? 433 00:20:59,459 --> 00:21:02,790 Um, and all the parents are like, "Well, you, you know, we had to pay for, 434 00:21:02,819 --> 00:21:04,609 you know, 20 minutes of, of calling." 435 00:21:05,020 --> 00:21:12,060 Um, um, and, but I spent a lot of time looking at my phone, right? 436 00:21:12,069 --> 00:21:16,519 I spent a lot of time doing this, right, when I was in a 437 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:17,320 long-distance relationship. 438 00:21:17,479 --> 00:21:18,919 Is it 'cause I was in love with my phone? 439 00:21:19,810 --> 00:21:19,940 No. 440 00:21:20,060 --> 00:21:20,240 No. 441 00:21:20,529 --> 00:21:23,639 It's because the phone was how I saw Shay. 442 00:21:24,259 --> 00:21:25,919 The phone was how I heard from Shay. 443 00:21:26,029 --> 00:21:29,040 The phone was how I related to Shay, right? 444 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:31,899 So if you love Jesus, if you wanna get to know Jesus, this 445 00:21:31,899 --> 00:21:32,899 is how you get to know him. 446 00:21:34,639 --> 00:21:39,009 This is, this is the, the way you see Jesus, and you hear from Jesus, 447 00:21:39,009 --> 00:21:42,880 and you, you get to know your savior, your friend, your king. 448 00:21:44,279 --> 00:21:47,769 And so it, the, when we talk about reading the Bible, right, it's easy 449 00:21:47,770 --> 00:21:50,759 to, to say, "Oh, well, it's, you know, it's just this book and it's old. 450 00:21:50,759 --> 00:21:51,610 It's hard to understand." 451 00:21:52,499 --> 00:21:55,280 But again, it's, well, I, I wanna get to know Jesus, right? 452 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:56,319 That's what, really what it's about. 453 00:21:56,759 --> 00:21:59,110 We're not … Your parents, when they tell you to read the Bible or 454 00:21:59,110 --> 00:22:01,679 when we tell you to read the Bible in True North, it's not just because we 455 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:03,919 want you to be smarter or 'cause we wanna make you miserable or because 456 00:22:03,919 --> 00:22:05,149 we're trying to get you to do things. 457 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:08,169 It's because we want you to know Jesus, and this is where 458 00:22:08,169 --> 00:22:10,550 you see Jesus, in his word. 459 00:22:11,919 --> 00:22:14,529 So if you say, "I love Jesus," you're, you're going to say, "I'm 460 00:22:14,529 --> 00:22:15,880 gonna spend time in his word. 461 00:22:16,210 --> 00:22:18,639 Even if it's hard, even if I don't understand it all the time, even 462 00:22:18,639 --> 00:22:19,839 if I have a ton of questions." 463 00:22:20,380 --> 00:22:22,179 Good news is you have a lot of people that wanna answer your 464 00:22:22,180 --> 00:22:23,380 questions right now, right? 465 00:22:23,380 --> 00:22:24,099 You've got your leaders. 466 00:22:24,100 --> 00:22:24,719 You got your parents. 467 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:27,439 You got people that, that care about you and wanna help you. 468 00:22:27,439 --> 00:22:27,679 But 469 00:22:30,982 --> 00:22:34,932 You're going to spend time in God's word to get to know Jesus. 470 00:22:34,932 --> 00:22:38,002 You're gonna spend time praying to get to know Jesus. 471 00:22:38,402 --> 00:22:41,951 Which by the way, that's really what, what the point of all these things are, right? 472 00:22:41,962 --> 00:22:42,591 Even prayer. 473 00:22:43,232 --> 00:22:47,182 The, the best part about prayer is not to get things from 474 00:22:47,182 --> 00:22:50,541 God, it's you get God, right? 475 00:22:51,941 --> 00:22:55,571 Um, maybe a lot of the conversations you have with your parents are to 476 00:22:55,572 --> 00:22:57,141 get things from your parents, right? 477 00:22:57,822 --> 00:23:00,831 But I'm sure your parents would feel much more loved if you just talked 478 00:23:01,101 --> 00:23:03,142 to them because you wanted to, right? 479 00:23:03,151 --> 00:23:05,581 Not just because you were trying to get stuff from them. 480 00:23:06,822 --> 00:23:07,947 And that's how it is with God, right? 481 00:23:07,947 --> 00:23:09,772 The, the best part about prayer is I get to talk to God. 482 00:23:10,561 --> 00:23:14,041 I get to, to talk to him 'cause I love him, right? 483 00:23:14,041 --> 00:23:17,091 And really that's the point of, of praying 484 00:23:21,574 --> 00:23:26,164 So we wanna get to know Jesus the way God has revealed Jesus 485 00:23:26,164 --> 00:23:28,974 to us, has, has shown Jesus to us 486 00:23:32,514 --> 00:23:36,864 And that involves, which it's funny 'cause Jesus says, right, um, 487 00:23:38,124 --> 00:23:42,383 flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but Peter practically did 488 00:23:42,383 --> 00:23:44,244 have to get to know Jesus, right? 489 00:23:44,244 --> 00:23:48,043 Peter didn't just wake up one day and, and know everything about Jesus and 490 00:23:48,434 --> 00:23:53,093 have three years of a relationship built with Jesus just because, right? 491 00:23:53,104 --> 00:23:55,063 The- practically, there were, there were things that happened. 492 00:23:55,063 --> 00:23:56,844 It's kinda hard to understand maybe. 493 00:23:57,143 --> 00:24:00,583 Um, the best way I could think of explaining it was, um, because 494 00:24:00,604 --> 00:24:03,924 God has to work, but you have to work alongside that, right? 495 00:24:04,133 --> 00:24:07,683 So maybe you, you think about, um, when you turn on your sink, right? 496 00:24:08,013 --> 00:24:08,373 Who… 497 00:24:08,483 --> 00:24:10,663 Or when you flip on a light switch, who turns on the light? 498 00:24:11,753 --> 00:24:13,094 Well, you turn the switch, right? 499 00:24:13,103 --> 00:24:17,253 You flip the switch, but if there's no electricity, is the light gonna turn on? 500 00:24:18,143 --> 00:24:18,503 No. 501 00:24:18,873 --> 00:24:19,223 Right? 502 00:24:20,704 --> 00:24:23,683 Reading the Bible is kinda like flipping the, the light switch. 503 00:24:24,353 --> 00:24:24,543 Right? 504 00:24:24,544 --> 00:24:30,103 You can read the Bible all you want, but if God is not showing himself to you, or 505 00:24:30,103 --> 00:24:32,543 there's a-- the, the Pharisees read the Bible a lot, and they didn't know Jesus. 506 00:24:32,743 --> 00:24:32,933 Right? 507 00:24:32,943 --> 00:24:35,383 There's, there's a lot of people that read, that read a lot of the 508 00:24:35,384 --> 00:24:36,933 Bible and don't know Jesus at all. 509 00:24:37,573 --> 00:24:37,603 Right? 510 00:24:37,613 --> 00:24:41,083 They're gonna hear, "Depart from me, I never knew you," from Jesus. 511 00:24:42,424 --> 00:24:46,013 So you can flip the switch, right, you can, you know, memorize the verses 512 00:24:46,013 --> 00:24:48,743 and read the Bible and, and take lots of notes in the sermon and, and 513 00:24:48,744 --> 00:24:54,003 know all this stuff, but you need the electricity from God to help you, right? 514 00:24:54,003 --> 00:24:57,263 And that's where God shows himself to you through his word. 515 00:24:57,943 --> 00:25:03,683 Um, and so when we get to know Jesus, w- we put in effort, right? 516 00:25:03,683 --> 00:25:07,803 We still have to flip the switch, but God is the one who provides the power. 517 00:25:07,803 --> 00:25:12,253 So this last point is gonna be kind of about our switch flipping, so to speak. 518 00:25:12,253 --> 00:25:12,463 Okay? 519 00:25:12,463 --> 00:25:15,863 So we need to get to know Jesus with our head and our heart. 520 00:25:16,483 --> 00:25:16,793 Okay? 521 00:25:22,350 --> 00:25:23,470 Well, you can think about this maybe. 522 00:25:23,510 --> 00:25:24,910 We need to get to know Jesus with our head. 523 00:25:24,910 --> 00:25:26,290 We need to know stuff about Jesus. 524 00:25:26,950 --> 00:25:29,560 We need to know the right things about Jesus, but we also need 525 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:31,450 to know Jesus personally, right? 526 00:25:31,460 --> 00:25:33,940 That's, that's the simple way of putting this. 527 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:38,880 I need to know the right things about Jesus, but I also need to have a 528 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:41,179 personal relationship with Jesus, right? 529 00:25:41,179 --> 00:25:43,379 Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 530 00:25:43,910 --> 00:25:45,159 That's how we answer Jesus' question. 531 00:25:45,820 --> 00:25:49,800 Now, in the Gospel of Matthew, we've heard demons call Jesus the Son of God too. 532 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:51,499 So what makes that different? 533 00:25:52,199 --> 00:25:55,169 Well, the demons know Jesus with their head, but Peters know Jes- Peter 534 00:25:55,170 --> 00:25:56,999 knows Jesus with his heart, right? 535 00:25:56,999 --> 00:25:57,689 That's the difference there. 536 00:25:57,889 --> 00:25:59,870 So we don't just have right information about Jesus. 537 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:03,239 We need to have that personal relationship with Jesus as well. 538 00:26:03,479 --> 00:26:05,670 But you can't have the personal relationship if you don't have 539 00:26:05,670 --> 00:26:08,440 the right information, right? 540 00:26:10,584 --> 00:26:12,694 Um, in Spanish, are y- uh, have you taking Spanish? 541 00:26:13,564 --> 00:26:17,844 I, uh, somehow I, I, so I took Spanish three without taking Spanish two. 542 00:26:18,274 --> 00:26:23,124 Um, but one of the things I learned in Spanish is that there's two 543 00:26:23,124 --> 00:26:25,944 different words for to know something. 544 00:26:26,503 --> 00:26:27,443 And you can correct me if I'm wrong. 545 00:26:27,843 --> 00:26:31,764 Uh, from my understanding, there's two different words for to know. 546 00:26:32,104 --> 00:26:36,373 There's, um, the t- one that means to know facts, right? 547 00:26:36,714 --> 00:26:38,554 Um, which is ser. 548 00:26:39,194 --> 00:26:41,134 And then there's conocer, right? 549 00:26:41,134 --> 00:26:43,844 Which is to be familiar with something, right? 550 00:26:44,333 --> 00:26:47,534 Um, our Spanish speakers are nodding, so we're good. 551 00:26:47,973 --> 00:26:51,783 Um, but there's two different words 'cause there's just two 552 00:26:51,784 --> 00:26:53,294 different types of knowing, right? 553 00:26:53,294 --> 00:26:58,413 You can know facts about something, but not know it that well, right? 554 00:26:58,413 --> 00:27:01,674 You can know a lot of facts about a city, but you've never been there. 555 00:27:02,903 --> 00:27:08,193 You can know a lot of facts about a person, but never talk to them, right? 556 00:27:10,470 --> 00:27:11,810 That's kind of what we're talking about here. 557 00:27:12,110 --> 00:27:16,990 You need both facts and familiarity, closeness, to get to know Jesus. 558 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:22,110 Right, so getting to know Jesus, your brain is not optional. 559 00:27:23,100 --> 00:27:23,280 Right? 560 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,260 Using your brain to get to know Jesus is not optional. 561 00:27:25,450 --> 00:27:29,249 You have to understand words, and you have to understand what they mean, and you 562 00:27:29,249 --> 00:27:32,160 have to understand things like what does it mean that Jesus is the Christ, or what 563 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:35,559 does it mean that He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, or what 564 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:37,469 does it mean that He's a good shepherd? 565 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:40,409 You have to understand facts and words and sentences and how they 566 00:27:40,409 --> 00:27:43,769 work, and you have to read the Bible and, and put effort into it. 567 00:27:44,229 --> 00:27:44,339 Right? 568 00:27:44,389 --> 00:27:48,509 God just doesn't just put the thoughts in your head, right? 569 00:27:48,749 --> 00:27:52,920 But at the same time, if all you do is know facts, you, 570 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:54,230 you don't actually know Jesus. 571 00:27:54,249 --> 00:27:55,779 You just know facts about Jesus, right? 572 00:27:59,078 --> 00:28:05,058 And so, um, the facts about Jesus, right, the theology, the Bible verses, that's 573 00:28:05,058 --> 00:28:09,028 kinda like, if you think about it, it's kinda like wood for a campfire, right? 574 00:28:09,028 --> 00:28:13,358 You can have all the, the best fuel, but if there's no sparks, you got… 575 00:28:13,358 --> 00:28:14,818 You don't have a fire, right? 576 00:28:15,437 --> 00:28:19,768 But your fire will be healthier and bigger and cooler and last longer 577 00:28:20,197 --> 00:28:22,518 if you have better fuel, right? 578 00:28:22,518 --> 00:28:25,337 If you have, you know, gasoline and all the cool stuff that 579 00:28:25,338 --> 00:28:26,387 makes a big fire, right? 580 00:28:26,857 --> 00:28:28,507 Um, you can tell I wasn't a Boy Scout. 581 00:28:28,818 --> 00:28:34,547 But, um, good theology, right, good knowledge about God, good Bible 582 00:28:34,547 --> 00:28:37,828 study, it's like getting a lot of really good fuel for your campfire. 583 00:28:38,797 --> 00:28:41,227 But if you don't use it with your heart, there's no sparks. 584 00:28:42,087 --> 00:28:42,687 There's no heat. 585 00:28:43,247 --> 00:28:43,947 There's no fire. 586 00:28:44,168 --> 00:28:48,067 All you've got is just a big stack of wood and some gasoline. 587 00:28:49,087 --> 00:28:53,028 But lighting it on fire is when you get to know Jesus, right? 588 00:28:53,028 --> 00:28:55,857 Psalm 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." 589 00:28:56,098 --> 00:29:00,677 Right, when you taste something, you don't just stare at it and look at it, right? 590 00:29:01,168 --> 00:29:04,777 I had, um, a really great slice of cheesecake from Starbucks the other day. 591 00:29:05,287 --> 00:29:08,627 Um, and I could know all the ingredients that were in the cheesecake. 592 00:29:08,627 --> 00:29:09,748 I could know how they baked it. 593 00:29:09,748 --> 00:29:12,997 I could know, um, how long it had been on the counter for. 594 00:29:13,148 --> 00:29:15,367 I could know everything about the cheesecake, right? 595 00:29:16,527 --> 00:29:21,527 But if I just stand there and look at it, I'm not experiencing it, right? 596 00:29:21,557 --> 00:29:22,537 I'm not enjoying it. 597 00:29:23,317 --> 00:29:24,547 You have to taste it, right? 598 00:29:24,548 --> 00:29:26,518 You have to, you have to bite into it. 599 00:29:27,557 --> 00:29:30,468 And so knowing Jesus with your head is like staring at the cheesecake and telling 600 00:29:30,468 --> 00:29:33,897 you, oh, there's this many grams of sugar, and they used this many eggs in it, and 601 00:29:33,898 --> 00:29:37,308 they used this much food coloring to make the thing look good and whatever, right? 602 00:29:37,828 --> 00:29:40,118 You can know all the facts about it, but if you don't taste it, and you 603 00:29:40,118 --> 00:29:41,637 don't enjoy it, you don't know it. 604 00:29:42,997 --> 00:29:47,687 And so that's really what True North is all about, is we 605 00:29:47,688 --> 00:29:49,177 want you to get to know Jesus. 606 00:29:49,237 --> 00:29:54,148 We want you to experience Jesus in a personal way, but not apart from really 607 00:29:54,148 --> 00:29:56,167 knowing the right things about Jesus. 608 00:29:57,477 --> 00:30:01,828 And so those things work together for you to have a relationship with Jesus, 609 00:30:01,828 --> 00:30:03,207 and that's really what it's all about. 610 00:30:03,207 --> 00:30:05,178 John 17:3, it's our, our last thing here. 611 00:30:05,567 --> 00:30:07,418 It says, "This is eternal life," right? 612 00:30:07,418 --> 00:30:08,217 So what's eternal life? 613 00:30:08,217 --> 00:30:08,777 Going to heaven? 614 00:30:09,147 --> 00:30:10,127 Getting my sins forgiven? 615 00:30:11,217 --> 00:30:11,537 No. 616 00:30:11,988 --> 00:30:16,917 "This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and 617 00:30:16,917 --> 00:30:18,187 Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." 618 00:30:18,527 --> 00:30:18,597 Right? 619 00:30:18,837 --> 00:30:23,007 What makes heaven heaven is knowing God, is knowing… 620 00:30:23,018 --> 00:30:24,787 Having a relationship with Jesus. 621 00:30:24,787 --> 00:30:26,047 And that's what we want for you in True North. 622 00:30:26,067 --> 00:30:30,477 So what I wanna ask you tonight is think about who do I say Jesus is, not 623 00:30:30,477 --> 00:30:32,437 just with my head, but with my heart. 624 00:30:33,617 --> 00:30:35,697 Okay, let's pray, and we'll go to small groups. 625 00:30:39,942 --> 00:30:44,822 Father, thank you that you have made yourself available to us through Jesus. 626 00:30:44,822 --> 00:30:48,852 We get to know you, um, because of Jesus. 627 00:30:48,862 --> 00:30:50,912 Jesus reveals you to us. 628 00:30:50,912 --> 00:30:54,862 He shows us what you're like, and we get to see your love and your patience 629 00:30:54,862 --> 00:31:04,302 and your kindness and your anger and your faithfulness through a person who 630 00:31:04,342 --> 00:31:06,471 has flesh and, and bone much like us. 631 00:31:07,411 --> 00:31:11,181 And so I pray for our students here and their parents that you would help all 632 00:31:11,182 --> 00:31:13,622 of us to get to know Jesus even better. 633 00:31:13,622 --> 00:31:16,731 I pray for those of us who do know Jesus, who have a relationship with him, that you 634 00:31:16,732 --> 00:31:22,412 would help us to keep getting to know him and to enjoy him and grow closer with him. 635 00:31:23,482 --> 00:31:27,652 I pray that for students here who aren't sure if they know Jesus, that they 636 00:31:27,652 --> 00:31:33,141 would, uh, keep pursuing him, that they would keep meeting him where he is in 637 00:31:33,141 --> 00:31:37,611 your Word, and that they would get to know him and ask you to, to help them. 638 00:31:38,201 --> 00:31:41,292 And I pray for students here who don't wanna know Jesus, that you would 639 00:31:41,292 --> 00:31:44,332 convince them that knowing Jesus is better than whatever they want most, 640 00:31:44,531 --> 00:31:48,372 that knowing Jesus is better than, than anything this world has to offer them. 641 00:31:48,872 --> 00:31:50,121 So thank you for this time together. 642 00:31:50,552 --> 00:31:51,531 We pray this all in Jesus' name. 643 00:31:51,891 --> 00:31:52,281 Amen.