[0:00] Good morning, everyone. And a warm welcome to this service this morning. It's good to see all of you. It's good to see a number of visitors with us this morning as well.
[0:13] And if you're able to stay behind, as has been on the notices on the screen, there's tea and there's coffee at the end of the service. And it would be good to get a chance to meet you and enjoy some fellowship together.
[0:26] So a warm welcome to the visitors and to those who've maybe come for the first time or just moved in here. It's good to have you with us as well. There's Crest through, am I right? For anyone who needs to use that in the service. The Sunday school is running for primary school aged children.
[0:45] Is it back to normal Sunday school today? Back to normal Sunday school today. So the Sunday school leave after the second item of praise. And for any visiting children, if there are any, you're very welcome to go with them as well. Or stay if you'd like.
[1:01] There's no evening service here tonight. And the reason for that is because there's the communion season in Leverborough over the weekend. And so there's a service at Leverborough tonight. And you have details of that on the screen and a fellowship time afterwards.
[1:15] I'm not going to go through all the notices. There's lots of them. I will note that the Kirk session meet tomorrow night at six. So please, if the elders could take note of that.
[1:27] Prayer meeting will be led by Scott, who's been off for the last... Well, I say he's been off. He's been working hard the last couple of months, but he's been away from us.
[1:38] And it's good to see them back today with us. And so Scott will take the prayer meeting on Wednesday and be encouraged to come along to that. And also he'll take the morning service next Sunday, God willing.
[1:51] And I'll take the evening service. One more thing maybe to note is that Solus are holding a Confident Christianity event in the MA Hall on Saturday, 23rd August.
[2:04] That's next Saturday, 10 to 12.30 p.m. We had one of them with us last year. And they're essentially people who help us to know how to have conversations about Jesus.
[2:16] Help us to know how to be those who evangelize and who defend the faith. And so the theme of it is conversations that count and the truth about truth. And so there is an encouragement to go to that if you're able to next Saturday in Storname.
[2:34] Lots of other notices. You've had the chance to look through them yourselves in the time before the service. And also in the email that came out to you. If you are wanting the email of all the notices and don't have it yet, please speak to Stuart perhaps and we can organize that for you.
[2:52] So let's worship God now and let us sing to his praise from Psalm 40. Psalm 40 verses 1 to verse 5. I awaited for the Lord my God and patiently did bear.
[3:04] At length to me he did incline my voice and cry to hear. He took me from the fearful pit and from the mighty clay. And on a rock he set my feet establishing my way.
[3:16] Down to the end of verse 5. We stand to sing and we sing to God's praise. Psalm 40 verses 1 to verse 5.
[3:51] Psalm 40 verses 1 to verse 5.
[4:21] He put a new song in my hand.
[4:51] May he shall see it and shall fear. And on the Lord be I.
[5:09] O blessed is the man whose trust upon the glory lies.
[5:26] O Lord my God who many are. O Lord my God who many are.
[5:44] The wonders of us turn.
[6:00] Thy gracious thought to us were far. Thy gracious thought to us were far. Thy miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle Let my worthy Lord And come in number one Let's unite our hearts in prayer together.
[7:05] Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that we are able to gather together this morning on this day that has been set aside from all other days, the Lord's Day.
[7:28] We thank you that we gather in the name of the Lord Jesus, your Son, our Saviour. And we praise you as we remember week by week for the promise that we are given, that where two or three meet together in the name of Jesus, you will be with us.
[7:47] And your promise is to bless us. And so we pray for that blessing. And we acknowledge with thanksgiving that as we make that request, as we ask for blessing, we are asking for grace.
[8:04] We thank you for the wonders of your grace that the psalmist was so aware of and sang out. And yet, as we meet together this morning on the other side of the cross, we see so much more of the wonders of your grace.
[8:26] We thank you that what the psalmist could only see dimly, the promise of a Messiah, that we are able to see clearly as we look to and fix our eyes upon Jesus, the Son of the living God, the Christ, the one who came from heaven to this world to save us from our sin.
[8:52] And we thank you that he has done it. That was the words that resounded from the cross. It is finished, done it. We thank you, Lord, that at the cross, Jesus laid down his life so that we could have life that is everlasting.
[9:09] We thank you that at the cross, Jesus took the curse of our sin away from us and promises that blessing of God to all who believe.
[9:21] And so we pray that you would give to each one of us this morning the gift of faith. We know that even the faith that enables us to see Jesus and reach out to Jesus in response to the gospel is a gift from God.
[9:35] And so we pray for that gift, that we may be given eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts that are stilled and open to the gospel.
[9:47] And we ask that as we hear the call of Jesus that we would come and know the rest that only he can give. So bless us, Lord, we pray. You know, each one of us here, we thank you for every person who is here, every home that's represented, those who meet in the building here, those who watch at a distance, who may have the desire to be with us, but who are cast down at this time.
[10:14] We ask, Lord, that you would be at work in each one of our lives, in all of our homes. We ask that you would meet us at the point of our need. For those, Lord, who are struggling with illness, we pray for your healing hand to be upon them.
[10:29] We think especially of young Lydia in Glasgow. And we pray on for her, Lord. And we ask that she would know your healing touch and the grace that is sufficient for each day.
[10:41] We pray for Peggy and for Andy and for Elaine and for the wider family, for Rory in hospital in Glasgow as well with his sister. We commit them as a family to you.
[10:52] And we ask, Lord Jesus, that you would be at work in their lives and that they would know that you are God and that you are with them and that you are for them. We pray for all others who are ill.
[11:04] We pray for those who are grieving. We pray for those who are anxious, for those who are confused and not knowing the best way to go in terms of decisions. We thank you that we can take everything to the Lord in prayer.
[11:17] And so we ask, Lord, that you would help them as we pray that you would help us. We thank you that we can take all our troubles, all our cares, our anxieties, knowing that you care for us.
[11:30] And we thank you that we can take our sin as we confess it, all our sins and griefs to bear. We thank you that we can carry them to the Lord in prayer and that the blood of Jesus is strong enough, powerful enough to cleanse us from all sin.
[11:47] So be at work in our lives, we pray, in our community, we pray. Be at work in this nation. We ask, Lord, that you would turn us back to yourself, to your word, to see the Lord Jesus.
[12:01] And we pray for a world that is groaning, a world that is so much ill at ease, restless in conflict.
[12:12] We think of summits at this time, seeking to bring peace into areas of turmoil. And we pray for those that you've allowed to be in positions of leadership.
[12:26] Sometimes we struggle to understand why there can be certain people in these positions at certain times, but you are the God who is sovereign, and you are the God who has said that we are to pray for all those who are in authority over us.
[12:41] And so we pray for them and ask, Lord, that as world leaders meet together, that they would be aware of their smallness, of their inadequacy in and of themselves, that they would look to the Lord Jesus, that they would look for the wisdom that comes from heaven.
[12:57] And we pray, Lord, that where there is war, that you would bring peace. So hear our prayers. Continue with us. Bless us as we seek to worship you and give us to know that you are close to us.
[13:13] Give us that refreshment and that strength that comes from knowing that you, Lord Jesus, are the rock of our salvation, the one who has lifted us from the mud and the mire of sin and who has set our feet in that steady place.
[13:29] In Jesus' name we pray all these things. Amen. Boys and girls, would you like to come forward, please? Boys and girls, would you like to come forward, please?
[13:53] How are you all today, boys and girls? I think I'll come down here. Can anybody tell me what on earth is this?
[14:10] Bible. Not a Bible, no. I'm going to ask Olivia.
[14:21] Nice to have you, Olivia. It's a fan. So how does it work? What's it for? It's for fanning you down. When you're too hot. When you're too hot, it's for fanning you down.
[14:32] So, do you know how it works? You push the button. That's quite good. Push it again. Oh, that's a bit better.
[14:45] One more time. And that's blowing your fringe right off the top of your head. And so, this is a fan. And when we were on our holidays, and we were in Keswick, in the Lake District, and it was quite hot.
[15:04] It was weather kind of like it is today. And it was quite hot. And we were in a big tent, in a big meeting. All these people sitting even closer than we're sitting today.
[15:14] And it was hot. And so, there was people with these fans, and they were, you're hearing them, and they were going like that, and kind of trying to cool themselves down.
[15:25] And I was thinking, I wish I had one of these things. But we didn't have one. And then when we went over to Italy, it was absolutely boiling. And so, we thought, we need to buy one of these fans.
[15:40] So, when we were in Italy, we only had one fan. And how many of us are there? There's Anna, and there's Grace, and there's Lois, and there's Mary, and there's me.
[15:53] And when the sunshine came out, everybody wanted to use the fan. All at the same time. So, it would be hot, and I'd be saying, let me have a wee shot of this.
[16:03] Oh, that's nice. And then one of the girls would be saying, can I get a shot? You've had it for five minutes. I've only had it for five minutes. Oh, but I want a shot. And then they'd have a shot, and then the other one would say, oh, what about me?
[16:14] I'd like a shot. Give me a shot. Walking down the street, and they're all using this. So, everybody was fighting over this fan. And then we took it back to Harris.
[16:26] This is not the best date we're telling you this story. Took it back to Harris. Where do you think the fan's been since we came back to Harris? It's been in the bottom of our drawer.
[16:43] And apart from on days like this, in buildings like this, nobody's interested in the fan. Because most days, is it boiling hot in Harris?
[16:57] Most days, no, not really. And most days, do we need some more wind? Most days, no. There's plenty of wind in Harris.
[17:10] So we don't really need to go and buy a machine that'll give us more wind than we've already got. So, what I'm trying to say, boys and girls, is, what was so precious for one week in Italy, once you got Harris, nobody cares about it.
[17:31] And that made me think about lots of things in this world. Because there's lots of things in this world that we really, really want. If you could have anything today, what would you, what would you choose for?
[17:45] Somebody said, anything you want, I'll buy it for you. You can have it. What would you choose? What do you think? Anybody?
[17:58] Maybe, Shawnee? A mansion. Maybe there's one coming. Maybe. Yeah.
[18:10] What would you like, Olivia? A dog. A what? A dog. A dog. A doll. A doll. A doll. Okay. Yeah.
[18:23] Maybe a new football strip. Maybe a new pair of trainers. Football boots. Maybe more money in the bank. Maybe. Maybe.
[18:34] Your dad would want a new car, wouldn't he? See, there's all these things. And we really, really want them. And sometimes we save up for ages to try and get them. And.
[18:48] We only use them. For a wee while. When we're in this world. And even if we bought something and we used it all our lives. We're actually only in this world for.
[19:01] For a wee while. And then after this world. There's eternity. And how long is eternity? It's forever.
[19:13] It's a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long. Long. Time. Forever. Forever. So.
[19:25] What we need to be thinking about is not getting the things that we'll only have for a wee while in this world. But what is most important is that we will have something or someone who will be with us all the way through life here.
[19:45] And then all the way through death. And then forever. Forever. In heaven. If we trust him. And who is that? Who is that?
[19:57] God. Jesus. Because Jesus promised that if we trust him he'll never leave us. He'll never forsake us. He'll be with us every day in scolari.
[20:09] Some of you are now in school. Primary one. And then all through school. And then when you start your work or maybe if you go to university Jesus is still with you.
[20:22] And when you get older start getting grey hairs he's still with you. And then when you get balder and it starts falling out there he's still with us.
[20:33] And when we retire he's still with us. And then even after we die in this world Jesus promises that he has a place that we will be with him forever in.
[20:47] And Johnny do you know what he said? He said in my father's house are many mansions. So boys and girls let's be sure that we are trusting in Jesus that we have Jesus as our friend and as our saviour.
[21:07] Will we pray together? Let's close our eyes and let's pray. Lord God we thank you that you loved us so much that you sent your son the Lord Jesus to come into this world to be our saviour.
[21:22] And we thank you that he's more precious than anything that we might own in this world. We thank you that he's more precious than silver or gold or houses or cars or toys or clothes.
[21:34] and we thank you that when we have Jesus we have peace and we have joy we have rest and we have a friend who sticks closer than a brother that stays with us all through life and who carries us safely through death into life that is everlasting.
[21:56] The father's house that place of many mansions. So we pray that all of us the boys and girls and all of us would have Jesus as our saviour and our friend and as our Lord.
[22:08] And we pray all these things in Jesus' name and for Jesus' sake. Amen. Thank you boys and girls for listening so well. We're going to sing now Mission Praise 52 God sent his son they called him Jesus.
[22:23] Jesus. We'll stand to sing. He gave to love He ran for you He burned and died To find my Father An empty veil is there to prove my Savior is Because He lives I can face tomorrow Because He lives all fear is wrong
[23:31] Because I know, I know He holds the future And life is worth the living just Because He lives I speak to hope I'm new or baby I feel the right And joy He is But later still The passion This child can face from saying it Because He lives Because He lives I can face tomorrow
[24:34] Because He lives All fear is wrong Because I know, I know He holds the future All fear is wrong Because I know, I know He holds the future And life is worth the living just Because He lives And then one day I'll cross the river I'll fight my time No longer be And then I'll stand His way to victory I'll see the future I'll see the lights of glory
[25:34] And how low He lives Because He lives I can face tomorrow Because He lives Because He lives Because I know, I know He holds the future All fear is gone Because I know, I know He holds the future And life is worth living Just because He lives Okay boys and girls, if you head through to Sunday school Remember to pray for them as they go And if we could turn in our Bibles please to Matthew chapter 16
[26:53] Matthew chapter 16 And we will read We'll read from verse 13 actually to verse 20 of the chapter Matthew 16 and read down at verse 13 to verse 20 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi He asked His disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is?
[27:38] And He said, some say John the Baptist Others say Elijah and others Jeremiah Or one of the prophets He said to them, but who do you say that I am?
[27:49] Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ The Son of the living God And Jesus answered him, blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you But my Father who is in heaven And I tell you, you are Peter And on this rock I will build my church And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one That he was the Christ Amen And may God bless that reading of his word to us We'll sing again now to God's praise And we'll sing again from Psalm 40 The last two stanzas of Psalm 40
[28:49] The last two verses of Psalm 40 Verses 16 and 17 We sing in Gaelic And we remain seated when we sing in Gaelic And I'll read the two verses that we'll sing in Gaelic I'll read the verses in English In thee let all be glad and joy Who seekingly abide Who thy salvation love Say still, the Lord be magnified I am poor and needy Yet the Lord of me a care doth take Thou art my help and saviour My God notarying me These two verses of Psalm 40 And we'll remain seated to sing to God's praise A miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of miracle of
[29:58] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[31:28] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[32:30] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[33:52] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji it's a promise that we need to hang on to. We thank you that we have the promise that even though it may not always look like it or feel like it, the gates of hell will not prevail against the church of Jesus. That Jesus will build his church and that work will continue until time is no more.
[34:53] So hear our prayers and help us, we pray. We pray for those in Liverpool who prepare to gather around the Lord's table this morning and we ask Lord that they would know your presence in a special way. We pray for Gordon as he preaches in Carloway for the first time as the minister in training this morning. We ask that you would bless him and the family and that you would guide them and lead them as they seek to serve you and we thank you for Scott and for Fiona and for the girls and for Angus being back with us today. And we ask Lord that you would bless them as they continue to train for ministry and Lord that you would guide them and lead them into the path that you would have them walk on.
[35:35] So hear our prayers and help us, we ask, and we ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. For most of us I think probably one of the biggest struggles that we have in life is busyness and I feel that myself and I hear it continually when I get the chance to speak with people.
[36:05] busyness of life is something that we struggle with and it seems to affect us from from the very earliest of years the children they're always on the move their lives are are busy they're they're in scolari they play school and they're into school they have after school clubs they've got football they've got highland dancing they've got they've got six different things going on all the time they're busy little people teenagers are busy in a different kind of way on computers and scrolling through reels and responding constantly to snaps and messages and notifications and all kinds of platforms that I don't understand young adults those in middle age there is just relentless constant demands in terms of work and and family young adults are always longing for retirement and yet the bad news is that my observation seems to be that the those who are retired seem to be the busiest people of all going from here to the mainland and back continually fingers in all these different pies looking after grandchildren from dawn till dusk life is hectic and that's not a new thing because even as we look at the the section that we read this this morning and look at the verses around it we can see that life was busy for jesus and life was busy for the disciples of jesus and so as we pick up at verse 13 of matthew 16 we see that the disciples are being pulled aside by jesus for some quiet time three points in the time that we have this morning first of all we'll see the disciples being pulled aside for some quiet time with jesus and then as he gathers them around him he then initiates a conversation where he explores the questions that are being asked about the identity of jesus so quiet time with jesus questions plural about jesus that come from all the people out there and then the last thing we'll see is or we'll hear over here is uh this question this personal direct question that comes from jesus to the disciples back then and to us today so first of all quiet time with jesus verse 13 now when jesus came into the district of caesarea philippi the first thing we can note here is just the location we're given the pin the coordinates of where jesus was taking his disciples and going into the district of caesarea philippi was a deliberate decision by jesus he doesn't drift in there he deliberately goes there one commentator leg says jesus deliberately led the disciples away from the area inhabited by jews to a more sparsely populated area where those who did live were largely gentiles so we note the location we see where jesus takes his disciples and we can ask the question why did he take them there and i think there's at least three possible answers and the first answer to the question why does he take them to this location is he takes them there to caesarea philippi because things were heating up in terms of the clashes between jesus and the disciples and those in religious and civil authority we can see that there are clashes that are increasing
[40:09] intensity between jesus and the authorities in matthew 16 in the earlier part of the chapter that we studied two weeks ago we see the pharisees and the sadducees those who were enemies really coming together and approaching jesus with evil intent they're out hunting down jesus and so there's a clash between jesus and the pharisees and the sadducees matthew 15 step back a few verses again and we see that jesus is clashing with the pharisees and the scribes and we can step back to chapter 12 and we see jesus clashing with the pharisees and the scribes again but all the way through the gospels there are these clashes and they're increasing in intensity and everything at this point we sense is very tense and we can get the sense at this point that the the enemies of jesus uh they are they're starting to close in on him and jesus still has much in the way of ministry to do so what jesus does is put some distance between his enemies and himself and the disciples and the way that he could put some distance between them and him was by heading into this area of caesarea philippi so the first reason that jesus takes them there is just to get some distance between him and his enemies things are heating up he needs to create some distance some space the second reason that jesus went into this district of caesarea philippi was just to get some relief from the the constant needs of the crowds sometimes you know we hear people saying uh i need to recharge my social battery there's been so many people around and there's been so much going on i need just some some quiet downtime to recharge the social battery and for jesus if we just glance over the last two chapters we can see that the demands on jesus time and his energy have been constant relentless glance at matthew chapter 15 and if we just scan through the verses we can see crowds that are constantly coming to jesus for healing there's an endless line of people who are coming to to jesus for for for healing and such as the compassion of christ he sees them he doesn't say come back in the afternoon he doesn't say i'm too busy just now he sees them all we see a canaanite woman in chapter 15 and she's pleading with jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter jesus helps her we see jesus caring for the the spiritual needs of the people as he preaches not a twenty minute sermon once a week but this is continual crowds are gathering he's spending whole days pouring himself out and preaching he's caring for the the spiritual needs of the people we see him caring for the physical needs of the people as he feeds four thousand men plus women and children from just a few bits of fish and a few rows that's matthew 15 one chapter glance through matthew 14 it's more of the same more healings
[44:10] more preaching the feeding of the five thousand from two small fish and five little rows you know it has been relentless for jesus the demands on him are continuous and what we sometimes forget is that jesus is a man he isn't superman he's a man fully human so he gets tired in exactly the same way that you and i do and so jesus goes away from the crowds for a short period 25 miles north of the sea of galilee into the district of caesarea philippi where the people will not be gathered around him in the way that they are here so that's the second reason why caesarea philippi firstly to create some space between him and his enemies who are closing in secondly just to get some some peace to recharge to to get some rest one commentator ross says probably jesus had gone there to escape as a retreat from the pressure of the crowds and opponents in his own land so he crosses the border into this other land there's one more reason though and that's the reason that i really want to to underline that the third reason that jesus went into that place caesarea philippi was for the sake of the disciples hendrickson the commentator says to bring about the right atmosphere of quietness serenity and privacy the lord decides to go with his disciples into the district of caesarea philippi so why did jesus go there because the disciples needed quiet time with jesus after all that was their that was their primary call if you're a disciple of jesus if you're trusting christ if you're following jesus then your primary call with their primary call is to be with him to have quiet time not sleeping time quiet time with jesus and in this quiet time that jesus has created by going to this location he is going to reveal more of himself and his identity and more of his mission to them but the point for us to note in application is that every disciple of jesus whether we're thinking about those back then and there or those here and now every disciple of jesus it is crucial that that you and i have quiet time with jesus we need time where we move away from the crowds and retreat from the busyness of life to be still
[48:10] with jesus why do we need quiet time with jesus well think about it a few different ways quiet time with jesus is time where you and i are recharged spiritually and we have these devices don't we we're using them all the time but every night we plug them in at the end of the bed or whatever it is to recharge them because if we don't recharge them they're useless tomorrow they last for an hour and they're done so are we if we don't have quiet time with jesus this is where we are spiritually recharged in the time that is set aside for us to be quiet with jesus isaiah chapter 40 says those who wait upon the lord they're the ones who will renew their strength in quiet time with jesus it's time where he reveals more of himself to us and we need that clear vision of jesus we're not going to get it in the busyness of the world we're going to get it as we take time to be still and read god's word and pray it's in the quiet time that we take with jesus that he reveals more of who he is to us and he reveals more of what he would have us do day by day we're saved by grace ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9 but we're saved for works that god has prepared in advance for us to do how are we going to know what to do if we don't day by day take quiet time with jesus to say where would you have me be who would you have me go to where do
[50:05] I put my energy and when we think about this particular day the lord's day this is a day that you and i have been gifted where we are commanded to stop unnecessary work and spend quiet time with jesus it's a gift so let's be encouraged today in as far as we can to put down the phone and close the ipad and ask jesus to minister to us as we wait quietly in his presence but then tomorrow morning then into tuesday as the week gets on work gets hectic family life gets fraught still day by day we need quiet time with jesus so let's not neglect it this is not anything you haven't heard before this is not new but this is the hardest thing to do so we need a constant reminder of the fact that we need quiet time with jesus and what a privilege to know that god the son he has time for us morning by morning there might be somebody else you phone and you say have you got five minutes for a call no i'm too busy call back later you knock on the door you got time for a visit no no there's things going on not today never hear that from christ what a privilege we have day by day morning by morning to have quiet time with jesus so not let's not neglect it speaking to myself first and all of us let's not neglect it but let's cherish it because the truth is there is no greater there is no richer time than time that is spent quietly in the presence of jesus quiet time with jesus that's the first point second point is questions about jesus verse 13 so having taken the disciples over the border into the district of caesarea philippi jesus asked his disciples verse 13 who do people say that the son of man is and they said some say john the baptist others say elijah and others jeremiah or one of the prophets so jesus when he gathers the disciples around him in that place he begins to speak to them he begins with a very general conversation a conversation about all the people out there and he says to the disciples in verse 13 who do people say i am who do people say all the people outside who are having the conversations all the gossip all the chat what are the people saying who do people say that i am that was the question that jesus asks the disciples and that was the question of the day that was the
[54:05] question that everybody was talking about who is this jesus how could they not be asking this question about the identity of jesus think about the things he was doing think about the courage of jesus you have these pharisees and sadducees and scribes all the men in the dark suits the heavy authoritarian characters everybody's terrified of them they're ruling the place but jesus is not terrified of them he stands up to them he's clashing with them think about the courage of jesus that's what they were seeing this incredible supernatural courage as this one man aged 32 33 stands up against the whole establishment fearlessly think about the wisdom of jesus all these crowds are gathered to hear him preach and when jesus spoke he has this authority that no other religious leader has when jesus spoke he's not quoting this rabbi and that rabbi he's not quoting from dusty commentaries when jesus spoke it was as if god was speaking directly from heaven and the reason it felt as if it was that way is because it was that way god the son was speaking so the wisdom of heaven was coming down to earth as jesus preached the wisdom of jesus the courage of jesus and then the miracles of jesus which are replete in this section jesus you can scan through the previous few chapters he's healing the chronically sick he's opening the eyes of the blind he's unblocking the ears of the deaf he's giving mobility and strength to those who are lame he's giving rest and peace of soul to those who are tormented by evil spirits he's even given life resurrection life to those who were dead so it is no wonder that the people back then were asking questions about jesus as we fast forward from the back then to the here now one thing that we can note in terms of the current culture in the uk is that there are more people today asking questions about jesus than there has been for many years the christian institute say this bible sales i'm quoting from their newsletter bible sales are booming thanks to increased interest among generation zed christian publisher spck reported an increase in bible sales of 87 percent between 2019 and 2024 and identified it as a generational culture shift so at the moment more people are reading the bible and asking this question who is jesus and more people are going to church we're told the bible society in their newsletter reports a notable rise
[58:05] particularly in young men aged 18 to 24 coming to church in the uk so people right here and right now are asking questions about jesus maybe you are here this morning i believe there will be some people here in the room this morning who are here because you have questions unanswered questions about jesus and it's good to ask questions about jesus but asking questions is not enough playing with theories about who jesus may or may not be it's not enough dabbling in religion or religions it's not enough occasional church attendance it's not enough we need to get to the truth of who jesus is we need to see that he's more than john the baptist he's more than elijah he is more than jeremiah he's more than one of the prophets what we need to see is the uniqueness of jesus we need to see that he is more than any other religious leader he's more than a great moral teacher he's more than a good man c.s lewis in his book mere christianity underlines this truth with that famous quote it's a relatively long quote but bear with me it's worth sharing c.s lewis says i am trying to here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about jesus i'm ready to accept jesus as a great moral teacher but i don't accept his claim to be god that says c.s lewis 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 of a 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 mad man 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 as we read on in the chapter we can see here that
[61:50] Jesus doesn't leave the conversation with his disciples open and vague he doesn't allow the disciples to have a place that they can harbor doubts he doesn't say to the disciples it's great that you're asking all these questions now let's go and do something else now what he does is he presses in on the disciples he wants them to see and believe and profess faith in him as saviour and lord as the christ the son of the living god and that takes us to our last point there's quiet time with Jesus in that quiet time Jesus he gets the disciples asking questions about Jesus and then there's this question that is fired from Jesus straight into them there's this million dollar question from
[62:52] Jesus Jesus verse 15 said to the disciples but who do you say that I am and it's important before we apply this to ourselves it's important to think ourselves back into that place I don't know was Jesus in a room with the door closed when he had his disciples around him we don't know exactly what the environment was but we know that he's there and they're all around him and they have he has their full attention so there's this open conversation tell us what all the people are saying and then Jesus says but but who do you say I am and if we can think ourselves into that room can you just imagine the atmosphere change in that split second as the question goes from a safe general question about the people out there to a piercing personal question about you who do you say
[64:12] I am says Jesus as he looks them in the eye who do you say I am I can imagine I can imagine you'd have been able to hear a pin drop in that moment as Jesus question just hangs in the air and fills the room waiting for this response enough about the crowd says Jesus we've had that conversation enough about what the people out there are saying what about you all in this room what are you saying who do you say that I am one commentator at Barclay says our knowledge of Jesus must never be at second hand our knowledge of
[65:13] Jesus must never be at second hand a man might know every verdict ever passed on Jesus he might know every Christology that the mind of man had ever thought out he might be able to give a competent summary and teaching about Jesus that every great thinker and theologian ever gave and still not be a Christian Christianity never consists in knowing about Jesus it always consists!
[65:46] in knowing Jesus Jesus Christ demands a personal verdict he did not ask only of Peter he asks of every man and woman and boy and girl you what do you think of me so how will the disciples answer we used to be the commentator says if anyone else asked who do men say that I am we would think him either mad or arrogant but in the case of Jesus a right confession of who he is is basic to salvation see being saved is not about what we do our good works that's how the culture thinks of it it's not about how many scores that we rack up in church it's not about how many good works that we can show that we have done salvation is about believing in
[67:03] Jesus it's about knowing who he is Jesus made that clear in John chapter 6 and verse 28 and verse 29 we see there those coming to Jesus and they ask a question in John chapter 6 verse 28 we see crowds religious leaders and they come to Jesus and they say to him what must we do to be doing the works of God Jesus answered them this is the work of God that you believe in whom he has sent salvation is about believing in the one who was sent it's about believing in Jesus that he is who he said he is the apostle Paul made that clear in Romans chapter 10 verses 9 and 10 he says if you confess with your mouth that
[68:04] Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved for it's with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved so what was going on in the hearts of the disciples is there faith in Jesus well we know that there is because Jesus has already said that there's faith in the hearts of the disciples it's little faith he says that in verse 8 of chapter 16 he says that in verse 31 of chapter 14 he says the disciples you have little faith but it's saving faith because it's faith in Jesus and he is the one he is the only one who saves but for the disciples if that little faith is to grow and develop it needs to be professed needs to be spoken out and so
[69:27] Peter likely speaking not just for himself but on behalf of the disciples he makes that profession Simon Peter replied you are the Christ the son of the living God you're the Christ says Peter you're the promised Messiah says Peter you're not another in a long line of prophets you're the one that all the prophets we're pointing to says Peter you're the saviour and Peter says you're the son of the living God not just a man not just a great moral teacher not just a gifted preacher not just some super charged medical doctor you're the
[70:39] God man says Peter you're God the son that was Peter's profession that was his answer to the question from Jesus and blessing followed the profession that Jesus answered him verse 17 blessed are you Simon bar Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven so how does this apply to us as we finish well it applies to us in exactly the same way that it applied to Peter the room is a different room but what is going on in here today is exactly the same as what was going on in there that day today through the word of
[71:41] God that is accompanied we believe by the spirit of God Jesus is asking the same question to each individual you're saying what about you not them but what about you who do you say that I am and if you and I can see that Jesus is more than a prophet but that he is the Christ the Savior if we can see that he is more than just a man but that he is the son of the living God that's not because we have high intelligence that is because
[72:42] God the Father in heaven has revealed it to you and that revelation is given to us so that we will believe in Jesus so that we will ask him to be be our savior and take away our sin so that we will bow before him as our Lord and God and offer him our lives and having believed that we will not be ashamed of him but that we will profess faith in him as Peter did and then know the blessing that comes from knowing Jesus and from making him known let's conclude by singing in response the words of mission praise 323
[73:59] I hope we can sing it if we can't sing it from our hearts don't sing it with our mouths this is a response to what Jesus is saying to us to his word today I'm not ashamed to own my Lord or to defend his cause maintain the honour of his word the glory of his cross we'll stand to sing to God's praise I'm not ashamed to own my Lord or to defend his cause maintain the honour of his word the glory of his cross
[74:59] Jesus my Lord I know his name his name is all my trust nor will he put my soul to shame nor let my hope be lost!
[75:28] !!!!!!!!!!
[75:39] !!!!!!!!!!!
[75:50] !!!!!!!!!
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