Pastor Jen DeWeerdt’s message, “Who Do YOU Say I Am?”, dives deep into one of Jesus’ most profound questions about His identity. Imagine Jesus sitting with His disciples, asking them to reflect on who they believe He truly is. Peter’s bold declaration that Jesus is the Messiah isn’t just a statement—it’s a life-changing realization. This message will remind us all that recognizing Jesus as the Son of God can transform every part of our lives.
Notes 📓✏️:
Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV) – “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”
Mark 8:27, 28 (NIV) – “Jesus and His disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way He asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
Luke’s account phrases Jesus question, Luke 9:18 (ESV) – “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
In journalism, a “hot take” is a piece of deliberately provocative commentary that is based almost entirely on shallow moralizing in response to a news story, usually written on tight deadlines with little research or reporting, and even less thought.
Crowds find confidence in consensus – even if they are wrong.
Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady. – U2
Mark 8:29 (NIV) – “But what about you?” He asked. “Who do you say I am?”
“What about you?”
“Who do you say I am?”
The theologian A.W. Tozer says it this way…“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
Matthew 16:16 (NIV) – Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:17 (NIV) – Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven.”
If Jesus is the Son of God, it changes everything.
If Jesus is not the Son of God, it changes everything.
CS Lewis writes a profound, thought-provoking thought in his book Mere Christianity….
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him (Jesus): I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else He would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
If He is the Son of God, it changes how we listen to Him and subsequently how we live.
Romans 10:9 states, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
“Theologians speak of Salvation as an experience marked simultaneously by a period and a comma. We are converted in a moment, but salvation is a work in process.”- Dr. A.J. Swoboda
Discussion Questions 📝❓:
- Why do you think Jesus asked his disciples, ‘Who do you say I am’ instead of simply telling them who he is?
- What are some of the different opinions about Jesus’ identity mentioned in the message, and why do you think there were such varying beliefs?
- How does acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God change our perspective on his teachings and how we should live out lives?
- Which of Jesus’ claims about himself mentioned in the message (e.g. bread of life, light of the world) resonate with you the most, and why?