Rooted Week 1 - Christ

Uh, so today, come on. I'm going to give you five snapshots, uh, of the person of Jesus, and we're going to do it through his relationship to his main disciple named Peter. I tested you. Come on, Ba Nerds. Peter. Peter is, uh, Jesus's main disciple. And so, we're going to start the story at snapshot number one. I did not get through the whole sermon in the 8:30 service, but come on. The prayer team's praying this service, and we're going to get through the whole sermon today. Okay?

Uh, come on. Give me Luke. Uh, give me the Bible verse. Where we at? Okay. Give me Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5, verse one. Luke chapter 5, verse one. If there's a word that I don't say, you can say the word that I don't say. Uh, it says this. One day, as Jesus was standing by the, uh, lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water's edge, two, two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets.

Okay. Next verse. Give me verse three. He got into one of the boats. So he turns the boat into a pulpit. Okay. He gets into one of the boats belonging to who? Simon's name is Peter. Okay. Simon. Peter. Okay. So he gets into the boat belonging to Simon. And he asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out in the deep water and let the nets down for a catch."

Now, Peter wants to give context. Okay, give me the next verse. Bro, we've been doing this all night. Also, I heard you as a carpenter. You don't know nothing about fishing. Okay? We've been doing this all night, but I need you to hear Peter's words, Master. Yeah. Once you decide that he's Master, you take his advice on marriage, you take his advice on parenting, you take his advice on leading the business, you realize if he's Master, he doesn't need to have ever fished in his life to tell you how to fish. Peter's like, "Hey, dude. I've been fishing a long time. You haven't been fishing. Here we go, Master. We've worked hard all night and we haven't caught anything. But oh, that's that's a good that's that's good but right there. But because you say so."

There are things that didn't work in other seasons, but in this season, God's going to say so. There are things that haven't been successful in the past, but in this season, God's going to say so. Come on. If God said it, then it's already done. But if you say so, I will let down the nets. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

Here we go. Can I teach? This is a miraculous catch of fish. And there's some of us in the room, you would use this miracle to remain a fisherman for the rest of your life. There's some of us that would use the miracle as confirmation that clearly fishing is the only thing Jesus wants me to do. But ain't it just like God to create a miracle in a place that you're not supposed to stay? Ain't it just like God to create such a miracle as to make you have to decide, do I want the miracle or do I want the miracle worker? Do I want the miracle of fish that he just created or will I drop everything and follow this God?

Give me the next verse. What happens in the next verse? Verse seven. Oh, verse nine. For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish, and so were James, John, his sons, Zebedee, Simon's partners. Now Jesus said to them, "Don't be afraid. From now on, you will fish for people." So they pulled up their boats on shore.

Here we go. Left everything. And what? Followed him. Followed him. Followed him. The first thing you need to realize in your relationship with Jesus is you are a follower. Say follower. Follower. Follower. And so many of us, you want more information before you start following. Well, I'm curious right now. I'm just doing my research. Your research has kept you stuck. At some point, you are going to have to take a leap of faith and leave everything and follow him. You're going to have to leave your old identity and follow him. You're going to have to leave your old lifestyle and follow him. You're going to have to leave your old mindset and follow him. And there's so many of us, you're waiting for information that will only come on the other side of a faith step. God, if I know more, then I would follow. And Jesus says, "No, no, no, no. You follow first, I explain second. You follow first, I'll teach you second. You follow first and I'll make it clear second." And there's some of us in the room, you are in analysis paralysis. You're curious about God and you need more information.

And, and I want to give you, uh, snapshot, uh, snapshot number two. Here we go. Snapshot number two. Because the first thing you have to do is immediately say, "I'll leave everything and I'll follow him. I don't want to keep this miraculous catch of fish if it means that the miracle separates me from the one who performed the miracle."

Because some of us, oh boy. Uh-oh. You want Jesus the magician, not Jesus the Messiah. You just want Jesus to come into your life and provide a miraculous catch of fish, but then you're more in love with what he did than who he is. And the first step of being a follower is to say, "I will put Isaac on the altar. I don't care what you've done. I'll give you back what you've done for me, 'cause I'd rather have you. I'd rather have you than anything you've done for me, 'cause I realize I'm a follower. I'm a follower."

Here we go. Can I go a little bit deeper? If I asked most Christians today, "So, why do you follow Jesus?" Most Christians would say because he died for my sins. The only problem here is Jesus is not about to die for Peter until another three years. And there's some of us in the room, you know more about the death of Jesus than the life of Jesus. And the thing that should inspire you to follow Jesus is his joy, his peace, his kindness to other people, his prayer life. His life is inspiring. When I ask you, do you know Christ? I'm asking, do you know the last couple of hours of his life? Or do you know how he treated his neighbor? Do you know how he prayed to the Father? Do you know the wisdom that he had? Because if you are going to live life, you've got to model your life after Jesus's life. And Jesus is so inspiring that Peter leaves everything. I'd rather have that guy. That guy, there's something about him and I want to follow him. Not Sunday to Sunday. I want to follow him on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

Here we go. Snapshot number two. Uh, Matthew chapter 16. Jesus came to. Is anybody learning something today? Okay, first I need to follow. Second, when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples. Okay, this is when you're a disciple, Jesus starts asking you this question. Who do people say that the Son of Man is? It's important that you know what society has to say about Jesus. We're not going to stop. Okay, come on. Come on. They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

Next verse. But what about you? He asked, "Who do you say that I am?" I love this 'cause he doesn't ask Peter, but Peter's like, "I'm bold enough to give an answer. I like Peter." Bold. Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah. Come on, everybody in the room. You are the Messiah. The Son of the living God. You are the Messiah. The Son of the living God."

Here's I'm going to preach this. I got to preach this like I feel it. There are so many of us. You've never had a Matthew 16 moment because you've yet to have a Luke 5 moment. And you're waiting to get this revelation that Peter got in Matthew chapter 16 before you start following him. And if Peter doesn't leave everything and start following, he would never get the revelation of who Jesus actually is. You want revelation first, obedience second. God doesn't do revelation first, obedience second. He does obedience first. You obey, then I'll show.

Can I go off on a tangent? You sure? Did I hear no yeses from the balcony? Did I go off on a small tangent? Here we go. I got some Bible nerds in the room. Bible nerds, here we go. The beginning of Luke's Gospel. The angel Gabriel appears to people. He appears to a man by the name of Zechariah. Bible nerds, come on. Elizabeth's husband. Zechariah. Okay. Zechariah and Elizabeth have been barren for decades. They want a kid desperately. They can't have a child. The angel Gabriel, same angel, appears to a teenage girl who's a virgin. Her name is Mary. Thank God. Okay. Thank God. I was nervous. I was The Zechariah answer made me a little nervous. You know what I'm saying? Okay. Mary. Here we go. The angel tells both of them, you are going to get pregnant miraculously. For Zechariah and Elizabeth, it's it's a miracle 'cause they're old. For Mary, it's a miracle 'cause she's a virgin. Here's how they both respond. Zechariah says, "How's that possible?" The angel gets an attitude. The angel's like, "I'm Gabriel. I stand before God. I came with a message for you and you hit me with questions. Because of your doubt, you can't talk the whole pregnancy." He walked around like 10 months. John the Baptist is born. They got to give him a writing tablet to get the name of the baby. Mary hears from Gabriel and asks the same, "How is this going to happen?" And the angel gives an answer. The Holy Spirit is going to overshadow you and you're going to get pregnant by the power of the Most High. What is the difference between Zechariah and Mary? Zechariah questioned God, Mary asked God a question. Questioning God and asking God questions is not the same thing. If you question God, there's doubt in your heart and he mutes you and puts you on silent. When you ask questions in faith, he brings clarity. God says, "You've obeyed me. You're available. Oh, you're open. Oh, I will receive all of your questions. If you want to ask me questions, I'd be glad to provide some clarity." And you have to ask, am I questioning God like Zechariah or am I asking God questions in faith like Mary? And God begins to judge the difference in your heart posture. There's some of us, you are waiting for a Matthew 16 moment, but you've not yet dropped everything and followed this God.

So, here we go. What do we learn? You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Here we go. Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this is not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you, Peter, on this rock I'll build my church." On the confession that he's the Messiah, the Son of the living God, the church will be built. And guess what? It's been 2,000 years, and the church is still getting built. And the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Here we go. Next. I'll give you the keys to the kingdom. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. He's like, "Hey, let's keep this a secret. Why? We're about to find out why." He then begins to tell them what being the Messiah means. Everybody say Messiah. Messiah. It means that he would go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law. That he must be. Come on. He must be killed. Killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter has the right words but the wrong definition. How does Jesus? How does Peter respond? This is bold. You got some courage if you out here pulling Jesus aside, rebuking Jesus. Here we go. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord," he said, "this shall never happen to you." Jesus turned and said to Peter, the same dude who just got blessed. The same dude who's like, "Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven." Two minutes later, Jesus is like, "Get behind me, Satan. You're a stumbling block to me. You don't have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

Why is Peter misinterpreting the moment? Because Peter has an agenda. Peter wants Jesus to overthrow the Roman government that is oppressing his people group, the Jewish people. And so for Peter, his definition of the word Messiah is Jesus is about to get an army. We about to march into Jerusalem. We ride at dawn, baby. Peter is so sold out to the cause of violent overthrow with an army and Jesus as the commander that he still has a sword strapped to him in the garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus gets arrested, Peter's like, "We about to cut somebody today." And so often we say the right words, but the words are actually to manipulate God to get on page with our agenda instead of surrendering what the Messiah's agenda actually is. Oh, this is why surrendering to Christ comes before prayer. 'Cause what good is it if you pray, but all your prayers are selfish and self-centered? What good is it if you pray, but everything you pray about is stuff you care about, and none of it is what God cares about? Because intercession is you using your earthly authority to pray about stuff that heaven cares about. And if all you pray about is your baby daddy who God told you to break up with five years ago, then you are using your prayer time for your agenda instead of using your prayer time for the stuff God cares about. And Peter knew enough to start following but needed to understand more in order to be a servant. 'Cause if I'm going to actually serve the agenda of the King, then I have to know what is his agenda.

Which gets us to snapshot number three. You learning something in church today? Is this helpful? Here we go. Peter has to get a vision that Jesus is not just a teacher. He's not just a healer. He's not just a rabbi. And he's the Messiah. But this Messiah is going to conquer by dying. This Messiah is going to come. Ooh, can I go on a small tangent? When you know who you are, you don't let any Peter try to redefine your mission. When you know what you've been placed on this earth to do, you are not actually going to succumb to the agenda of any person. At some point, you are going to have to realize nobody around me knows what God has called me to do like I know what God has called me to do. And if there's a Peter who's got human concerns that don't have anything to do with the vision that God gave me, then just like Jesus, I will say, "Satan, you can go ahead, get behind me, because I'm on mission doing what God has called me to do."

Jesus understands that his mission is to die. Period. So Peter's definition of Messiah, which is conquer through power, is not Jesus's definition of Messiah, which is conquer through surrender. I can't. Here we go. Transfiguration. Go ahead, give me the verse. Matthew 17. After six days, Jesus took with him James and John, the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then appeared before them Moses and Elijah. The law and the prophets. The culmination of the entire Old Testament. Moses wrote the law. Elijah is the main prophet. So the entire law and the prophets, which is the Old Covenant, is there with Jesus talking with. Oh. Oh, help me, Holy Ghost. Moses prayed to see the face of God. He was on a mountain when he prayed. "God, show me your face." God said, "I can't show you my face, but I'll walk behind you and you can see the back of my glory." It wasn't thousands of years later between the time where Moses prayed the prayer and the time where he was up on a mountain and finally saw Jesus. Because it may be thousands of years, but God remembers your prayers. And the same Moses that prayed, "God show me your face," gets the answer to that prayer in the life of Jesus. You can't tell me that God does not bottle up your tears and remember what you pray. You don't need to get discouraged that the answer to the prayer didn't come in the first day that you prayed it. Can you have some discipline?

So, I didn't say that in the first service. Here we go. Peter sees Jesus glorified and is like, "Let's stay here. It's good for us to be here." Give me the next verse. Verse five. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son." So now God is like, "Peter, shellax, bro. This is my Son whom I love. With him I'm well pleased. Listen to him." When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground terrified.

Because if you need to know something about Jesus, here we go. He's God. He's God. And this is what Mormons don't get right about God because they think Jesus is a created being. Mormons actually believe that Lucifer and Jesus are brothers. But the thing that makes Christianity Christianity is we believe that Jesus is God. We believe that he is a deity. That he is to be worshiped as God. The Jehovah's Witness will tell you that Jesus is also a created being. But Jehovah's Witnesses are wrong. They are heretics. Mormons are wrong. They are heretics. And at this church, I will preach the truth to you. Don't let anybody deceive you. Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses and every other cult that lies to you and tells you we're Christians too, they are not Christians. They do not believe that Jesus is God. We believe he's God. He's not just a moral teacher. He's not just a healer. He's not just my rabbi. He's God.

Here we go. He is God. Give me the anti-right quote. And for many of us, it's like we have an idea about God and we're trying to force Jesus into that idea about God. But the New Testament actually asks us to do the opposite. According to the New Testament, we find out about God by looking at Jesus, not the other way around. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. That is what Colossians chapter 1 says. That Jesus, if you want to know what God is like, you look at Jesus. So if you think God is angry, but you see Jesus is kind, then your idea about God is wrong. God is Jesus.

Here we go. Can I go deeper? The Bible says God is love, not God has love. God is love. So love is not something he has to muster up. He has to try to love you. He is love. How is it that he can be love? It's because he's relationship. The Father loves the Son. The Son loves the Spirit. The Spirit loves the Father. The Father loves the Son. The Son loves the Father. The Father loves the Spirit. The Spirit loves the Son. He is Trinity. So anytime we try to remove a person of the Trinity, you are making God have to do love, not be love. The reason that God is love is because he doesn't have to love anybody other than himself.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. He's all sufficient. Self-sufficient. He does not make Adam and Eve because he needs something. He does not make Adam and Eve because he's lonely. Oh, help me, Holy Ghost. For a lot of you, this is why all your dating relationships are trash because you are trying to date out of insufficiency. You don't even love yourself. How are you going to love anybody? Love is supposed to exist out of the overflow of what you have in your own being 'cause you are made in the image of God. For so many of us, you're looking for love, demanding something of someone who does not have to give you what you need. And both people are overdrawing their accounts with each other. Whereas love, you're a triune being, body, soul, and spirit. There should be so much love in you, girl. You, you. You should love you. You should have so much love for you that you're like, "Let's export this." You should be like, "Oh my gosh, I got so much love going on. I can afford to love others." The problem is you're so needy because you don't know God. You don't know God. God does not need anything. He doesn't need your money. He doesn't need your time. He don't need you to be in church. He don't need you to sing. You get to give him your money. You get to be in church. You get to give him your worship. You get to sing these songs. This is an overflow. God, you don't need it, but I'll give it because I'm grateful. God, I need to give. I need to worship. I it's what I need 'cause I need to get through Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I need you. You don't need me, but I need you. I need you, God. I need you. I need your grace. I need your mercy. I need you to tell me who I am. I need you. Jesus is God. Period. He's God.

Here we go. Last one. Oh God, I got a minute left. Okay. Snapshot number four. No. No. Give me snapshot number four. We're not going to skip. Give me snap. Here we go. Can I say this quick? Yeah. So, one day Peter's on a boat and Jesus out there on the water. And Jesus is like, "Come on out here." And Peter, if he only knew Jesus as God, would have stayed in the boat. And this is a lot of excuses we make. Well, I mean, Jesus can forgive, but and you bank on his divinity as to give yourself a pass because of your humanity. But Jesus, here's what's awesome. He's not 50% God and 50% man. He's 100% God. And the same God that made Mary is breastfed by her. The same God who made water sits on a well and says, "I'm thirsty." The same God who made manna says, "I'm hungry." The same God, the same God who's wrapped in glory is also wrapped up in flesh. This is called the hypostatic union, that the divinity and the humanity of the Almighty God are wrapped up in one. This is the mystery of what Jesus is. That one moment the disciples are dealing with him and he's talking about he's hungry and thirsty. But then the woman at the well who he told he was hungry and thirsty, he starts prophesying. Which one is it? Are you God or are you human? And Jesus says, "Both. I had to be God so that I could afford to pay the penalty of your sin. But I have to be human so that I owe the debt that you owed. I had to be born to Adam. Because if I was only divine, I could pay it, but I didn't owe it. But I had to be born of a virgin so that I could not just pay it but also owe it. I also like you owe a debt that I alone can pay because I am 100% divine and I'm 100% human." And so Peter sees a human walking on water and Peter gets out of a boat. What would inspire a human to get out of a boat and walk on water? Because he'd also been around Jesus while he was eating. He'd also been around Jesus while he was sipping water. He'd also been around Jesus while he had to take a break and go to the bathroom. And for so many of us, he's only divine and he is not yet human to you.

But here's what Hebrews says. Here we go. That we have a great high priest. What high priest can be the sacrifice and also receive it? What high priest can be the lamb and the priest that accepts the lamb at the same time? You ain't talking to me. Jesus, the Indescribable One. There's only one like him. His name is Jesus. He's the Mighty Warrior. He's the Sovereign King. He's the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. But he's also the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. His name is Jesus. There's healing in his eyes. He's got feet like bronze and hair like wool. He's the Lily of the Valley. He's the Rose of Sharon. He's the Bright and Morning Star. He's divine. He's human. He's a rabbi. He's worth everything. He's worth everything. And I love him. I love him so much. I love him. If there's anything I could do as your pastor, it's to get you to fall in love with Christ. Fall in love with his words, fall in love with his mindset, fall in love with his worldview, fall in love with his character, to fall in love with the person of Jesus, fall in love with him. He's divine. He's human.

Here we go. We have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize, empathize with our weaknesses. There are some of you, he's so God that you run from him. He's also human. He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane with Peter. "God, if there's another way to do this, please don't make me die on a cross." And Peter watched him surrender his will to the Father. "God, but if you want me to get to the cross, I'll do whatever you ask me to do." Because what Jesus modeled is that if you have a relationship with the Father and you're full of the Holy Ghost, even greater miracles will you do than the God that you worship. The Jesus that we live, he commissioned you to go and make disciples, to be on mission with him, to heal the sick, to deliver those that were demon-possessed, to do everything that he did, tempted in every way, just as we were. Yet he did not sin. If you don't see him this way, then you haven't met him. And here's our humanistic worldview. I mean, I don't know. I mean, Jesus don't understand. He understands everything. He understands. And we have this worldview. It's secular. "If you ain't walked a mile in my shoes, you can't tell me nothing." That's crazy. Jesus never been married, but he understands what it's like to be a wife. He understands what it's like to be a husband. He doesn't have no kids, but he understands what it's like to be a parent. And if you have separated and divorced your experience with Jesus and his experience as if he cannot relate to you, then you don't know him.

Snapshot number five. Oh, we got to get out of here. Jesus Christ. Okay, service really should stop right now. Okay, can I say the last thing? Oh, Jesus. No, we don't got time. We got to be out of here. Huh? There's a concert at the House of Blues tonight. You know what I'm saying? We got to go. You feel the Holy Ghost or am I crazy? I hope I ain't doing all this sweating for nothing. It was 28 degrees in here last week. So, I brought a coat this week and now I want to be hot. Last thing, I'mma fly through it. Peter denies Jesus. He finally gets three years in and I don't know if you can relate. You feel like you've made so much progress in three years. And can anybody relate? It's almost like in an instant you go back to your old ways. A servant girl, give me John 18. A servant girl asked Peter, "Hey, this is witnessing, by the way. Somebody else asked you, don't you? Don't you know him?" And Peter, instead of taking the opportunity to preach the gospel, "You also are not one of his men disciples, are you?" He said, "I'm not." And he denies his rabbi.

Can I give you cultural context? In cultural context, this would have meant that him and Jesus would have never spoken again. To deny your rabbi is worse than what Judas did. Judas betrayed Jesus and had so much guilt he hung himself. For a disciple to deny that you are even a disciple of a rabbi would have meant that you should have been alienated and disconnected forever. But there's a little detail here that right when he denies Jesus, there's a charcoal fire. Everybody say charcoal fire. Charcoal fire. That Greek word for charcoal fire is only found two places in the whole New Testament. That Greek word is anthracha. Everybody say anthracha. Do you want to know the only other place where charcoal fire is found in the whole. Y'all didn't realize y'all was going to get some Greek today? I didn't get this doctrine for nothing. Come on. Come on. Come on. I can sweat and holler, but I can also teach you Greek. Come on. Come on. Anthracha. Here we go. Give me John chapter 21. Peter now goes back to fishing 'cause he probably believes, "I've denied Jesus. No way I could have a life in ministry." And now so many of us in the room, God called you and you're back to your comfort zone. Fishing is what Jesus found him doing. And now Peter has denied Jesus and he just goes back to what he knows, back to fishing. And what does Jesus do? They got out on land. They get out from the boat. They've caught some fish and they saw a charcoal fire in place. And Jesus is cooking them breakfast. And now Jesus is going to tell Peter, "Do you love me? You denied me three times. I'm about to forgive you three times because this is a God who's better than you thought he was."

My last point for the day is Jesus is the Peter finally meets the Jesus that Judas could have. Judas didn't get things about Jesus wrong. No. No. Judas didn't understand that if he had walked in front of Jesus and said, "I'm sorry for betraying you," he would have got grace and he would have got mercy. And Peter gets the grace and mercy that Judas should have gotten as well. Your sense of smell is connected to your memories. For some of you right now, if you hug a random stranger, but they're wearing your ex-boyfriend's cologne, you're like, "Woo, you back in 1998." If I whip out some mothballs right now, you're like, "Okay, Grandma. Okay, you back in your grandma's basement." Jesus understands. If I'm going to heal Peter's memory, I need to build the same exact fire with the same exact sin. Because the moment where he denied me, he needs to know, Peter, there's nothing that you've ever done that's a curveball to me. You are not surprising me. I knew you would deny me when I called you in the first place. And there's some of you right now, you think that you've surprised God. You have not surprised God. He knew you was crazy. He knew you was inconsistent. He knew you was wild. But he doesn't need you. So, because he's fully self-sufficient, he's able to be patient with you and walk you into who you need to be. This is the goodness of Jesus Christ that he does not recruit you 'cause he needs you. He recruits you because you need him. You need a revelation of how good he is, how patient he is, how kind he is.

If you're in the room today and you're saying, "You know what, Pastor Manny? Me and God used to be tight and I actually need to start following him again. I need to start serving him again. But you know what? Ultimately, I need to put the fish down and be a fisher of men again." Then I'm going to give you the same invitation I gave last week. We have a 20-minute class after this service. It's called Cultivate. And there's a lot of us, shame and guilt is going to keep you from serving. But not at this church. We don't need you to be perfect. We just need you to be available and honest. If you're in this room and you're saying, "You know what, I got to get back in the game. You've been on the sidelines for too long." Right after I'm done preaching, we have a 20-minute class called Cultivate.