A Short Converation on Matthew 16-18

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0:00 All right. The text for this week is Matthew chapter 16. I'm going to start at verse 13. Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say the son of man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. And he said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.

0:33 And Jesus answered him, blessed are you Simon, Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood is not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I've got Miss Carol force and Mr. Brian Carlson here with me because I like the way they think about scripture. Guys, what does this passage make you think about? Okay, when we talk about the prophets, some people say you're this, some people say you're

1:10 this. And then Jesus says, I'm going to start here with Peter. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And I'm going to start with Peter and the prophets matter. You know, they've built us up to this moment. Here's here's the confession. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Yes, I'm going to build my church on that. You a regular guy who followed me, who was taught well, who leads well, he's going to

1:44 mess up. He's going to make probably bad decisions like he has like we read about. And then it's like a new page in the history. Yeah, that's a very cool moment probably. Like, okay, we're starting something new here with you, Peter. Yeah, with you. Yeah. So we can look back and people can say, well, maybe, maybe he was just a prophet, but then he flips it and he's like, I'm not just a prophet.

2:14 I'm the Christ, the son of the living God. And we're starting over here. Yeah. Because now we get it. Right. Yeah. Or if you knew that time he's like, what do you mean? Oh, Peter knew it. Yeah. Yeah. Like, smack him in the face. Or is he just like, okay, yeah. So what's that mean? I think it's cool that our words matter. Like he asked them personally. Right? He says, no, no, but what do you say that I am?

2:45 And he wants them to speak it out loud. He's gonna cool. Like there's something about, yeah, like lower E, evangelicalism. It's really, I think, powerful in that way. I think it takes on a cultural term that feels yucky to some people. I think like in the true biblical fashion of like speaking out, like, this is who you are. This is who God is. This is really powerful. And I think that, I mean, really Jesus launches his ministry, launches a ministry through Peter

3:25 via his belief, via his words, which is really interesting that how our words can affect the cosmos in a way. I mean, it's almost like, you know, like God's creation. Yeah. He's the words to create the world. And so here is God. Yes, I like that. Like it's almost like if Peter had said, well, I mean, I don't really know. Like is Jesus starting his church center? Is he waiting longer? You know, like, so it matters that Peter had this particular answer in that moment, that

4:01 particular moment. Yeah, I like that. And the idea that the spirit was empowering Peter to say that, like when I, one of the things the story makes me think of is like the optimism of God to keep trying with people. That they like the story were like seven eights away through the Bible and he's trying a new strategy here with Peter and the guys. And it gives me hope that he'll keep trying with me.

4:32 Yeah.