Will the Real Jesus Stand Up?

Unfortunately, there was a problem with recording this Sunday and only a few seconds of the sermon was captured, Below you will find an outline of the sermon.  We apologize for the inconvienience.

Do You Believe In Jesus?

“Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?”

Matthew 16:13-15

Intro:

The New Atheist movement has not created more atheists, yet; but it has moved many more nominal Christians into the realm of “the Nones” That is a classification that has increased from single digits to 23% in the last 2 decades.  Why has this happened? Andy Stanley says he believes it is the church’s fault, and he might be right.

There is a real good chance that we have been trying to box Jesus into easy to swallow, bite-sized pieces that have left many church goers with the wrong impression of Jesus. In fact, they may have placed our faith in the wrong Jesus.

So it’s not surprising that Jesus wondered what people were thinking about who He was.

¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵ “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?”

Karen Armstrong – The God of your story-time may not be the God who exists.

    I.          Which Jesus are you worshipping/serving?

1. Bodyguard Jesus- (Bad things don’t happen to Christians)

                i.     rescue me – Footprints

               ii.      Keep me safe and healthy and employed

1. OnDemand Jesus- (Provide for me, God)

               i.     OK, Jesus, this is where you come in

              ii.      Fair and selfless requests are always supposed to be answered

1. “Boyfriend Jesus”- (I need to feel His presence)

               i.      He’ll take care of me cause He loves me

              ii.      God is always with me

1. Guilt Jesus- (The answer is No, God)

               i.     Pick yourself up, get it straight, and deal with it if you want me to bless you.

              ii.     If it feels good- His answer is NO!

1. Anti-science Jesus- My Jesus is better than your science

               i.     It either Jesus or science

1. Coincidence Jesus- Coincidence explained away by
               “Jesus did it.  (Parking space …)

 II.          So, will the real Jesus please stand up?

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,
              the Son of the living God.” (CSB)

1. The Messiah

            i.     The Savior- the sin forgiver

1. The Son of God

             i.     The perfect expression of God’s nature and His heart

 Conclusions:

            So isn’t it time for you to exchange your “god” for the God who makes Himself known in Jesus?  Join me for the next 14 weeks as we discover a grown-up God. Let’s follow Him!