Who Do You Say I Am? | Pastor Daniel Floyd

As we move forward into the fullness of 2026, we can't help but look back with gratitude at all the incredible ways God showed up at Gateway Church in 2025. Lives were transformed, hearts were welcomed into God's kingdom, and faith was declared publicly and boldly. >> On behalf of the generous people of Gateway Church, uh we want to give you $10,000.

Through your generosity, communities were impacted, churches were strengthened, and hope reached places that needed it most. Children sported new backpacks filled with school supplies, and hands were raised, not only in worship, but in service. As thousands mobilized to meet real needs right where they live, new friendships were formed, marriages grew stronger, and people discovered they didn't have to go through life alone.

And now we look ahead with faith, with expectancy, trusting that what God has in store for this year is greater than we could ever imagine. Come on, let's put our hands together for Jesus and all that he did in the year previously. Oh, come on. You can do better than that.

Come on. 9,100 people said yes to Jesus. More than 2,000 people baptized. Glory to God. God is doing great things all over the church. And uh it's a great season to be ahead. But how many of you know that God has more in our future? Um that he is the Bible says unto him now unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly and above all that we can think, ask or imagine.

There's more. God's not done and we're not done. There's more people to reach, more people to love, more compassion to give. And uh we're more focused than ever on doing that very thing. And uh we're beginning a brand new series today. On your way in, you should have gotten one of these devotional guides.

And I want to draw your attention to it because we created this so that during the week, you could continue to dive into what this series is all about. And so there's a daily devotion for you. There's instructions even on how to use it. And so I want to encourage you to every day as we head into Easter, this will take you all the way to Easter Sunday.

Um we're looking at the questions that Jesus asked in this new series called That's a Great Question. Um, and so you can get a copy today and of course if you're online or watching this on demand later, then you can um, get it there. Do want to say hello to all of our campuses and everyone joining us online prison campuses on demand later.

And of course, a big shout out, Tammy and I were at Prosper last week and had a wonderful time at the Prosper campus and God's doing, can I just tell you church, God's doing wonderful things across the entire life of the church and uh, it's exciting to see how he's moving in wonderful ways.

And uh I think we've made it to seven and so we have three more to go and we're going to do it before the summer. We were trying to do it before Easter but the snowstorm stopped us. Had to reschedule. So um let me jump into the text.

We're beginning this series today on questions. We're going to look at the first question in Matthew chapter 16 of this series says this. When Jesus came to the region of Cesaria Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the son of man is? and they replied, "Some say you're John the Baptist, others say you're Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked.

Here's the question we're going to look at. Who do you say I am? And Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah." Some translations will say, "The Christ. You're the son of the living God." And 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.

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades." That's important to remember, will not overcome it. Let's pray. Before we do, I just want to take a moment and uh in this time of prayer, pray for everything that's happening around our world.

I'm sure you saw the news and uh all the conflict that's happening there in the Middle East and Iran specifically, but all that region. And uh want you to know that we have ministry partners over there and we have partners that have been training pastors for years, hundreds of pastors um that obviously we can't name their names, but have gone into Iran and they feel like this is fertile soil for the gospel to go forward in great ways.

And so we want to pray for the peace of God to be on that region. But most of all, we want to pray the light of the gospel would go forward like never before. This may be a moment in history where the light of Jesus would break into the heart of the Muslim community in ways we've never seen before.

How about that? So will you join me in praying that towards that end? Father, we thank you for the opportunity to worship today. And we pray for what's going on around our world. We pray for peace. You are the God of peace. You are the prince of peace.

And God, we pray today for all of our partners in that whole region, God, between Israel and Iran and the UAE and Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Lord, so many so many people we serve with globally. Lord, we pray your protection and your hand on them. We pray wisdom over them.

Most of all, we pray the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the only one that can truly set someone free, would shine brightly. Lord, may may thousands and thousands come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ in this time. Lord, you have a way of turning what the enemy means for evil into what is good.

So, we trust you to do it. Now, our hearts and minds are open. Would you speak to us through your word today? We believe we'll never be the same. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Everybody said a big amen. >> Amen. So, how many of you remember third grade?

Some of you had to go back a while, right? you're like, "Whoa, I got to go back a long way." So, uh, I remember third grade, Gravity Elementary School. Miss Walker was my teacher and, um, and my mom and dad were about to go to teach parent teacher conference, which, um, I usually got this conversation before I went.

I don't know if my older sisters got this conversation, but Daniel got this conversation, and it was this. Is there anything we need to know before we meet with your teacher? Any parents? Do you have that kind? Anybody? Wait. Okay. Nobody else had. Just me. just the mischievous one.

And uh sometimes I would be like, "Well, there's a couple of things." And uh with Miss Walker specifically, I said, "Well, she's going to tell you that I asked too many questions because that's what she tells me in class." And my smart mouth, which often got me in trouble, um said this, but I think it's cuz she doesn't know the answers.

I apologize to all the teachers. God bless you. We thank God for you. You're a gift to our community. And I'm sorry if you have me right now in your third grade class. I apologize. Um, but I've always loved questions. I I love questions. If you sat down with me, I'm going to end up doing a lot less talking and a lot more listening because I love questions.

I think questions are powerful. I love learning about people. I love learning people's perspective. Matter of fact, we were in our small group, Tammy and I small group that we're in this week and to get to know kind of an icebreaker to get to know every everyone. Our small group leader actually had a bowl of questions and that's how we began like asking questions to learn about each other, right?

Questions are powerful, are they not? I mean, think about the life-changing questions that happen in your life that you have to answer. What school are you going to go to? That's kind of a big one, right? Because you form friendships and then you get an education if that's the path you took.

Like, think about this one. Um, will you take this job? That question has a big impact on your future. Some of you, you look back at the answer to that that yes, you said yes to a job and it put you on a trajectory that changed your life.

Right? There's power to questions. How about this one? Will you marry me? That's a big question, right? Here's a question, gentlemen, you never ask a lady. Are you pregnant? Just write that down. Are never ask that no matter how confident you are, right? There's just the power to questions.

And in this series, that's what we're going to be looking at is Jesus often asked questions. And I want to remind you, not because he needed an answer, but because he wanted to reveal something often about himself and reveal something that was in the listener. And so, as we lead up to Easter and and we look at this time in this season where we begin to focus on Jesus and the resurrection and his ministry on earth, we're going to explore these questions.

And in this, I hope that you see something new about Jesus, but also I hope it uncovers something new in you. And I want to remind you, Jesus doesn't ask questions because he's lacking information. So there must be a deeper point that he wants to uncover in the questions that he asks.

And in this instance, we just read in Matthew chapter 16, Jesus is in the setting of Cesaria Philippi. And that that geographical setting is important. So go to school with me for just a moment. My seminary professor, I mean seminary professor, I'm just joking to all the professors told me that context is king and setting helps you understand the text better, right?

And so he's in this place called Cesaria Philippi. Now Jesus lived, if you're new to the Bible and new to scriptures, Jesus lived and did his ministry in a place called Compernum, which was on the shore of this sea called Galilee. All right, is everybody with me? Say amen.

And so it was not a quick trip, you know, they didn't have a car and they did this by foot. And so it was not a quick trip to this place called Cesaria Philippi. And matter of fact, it's not a place that any good Jewish boy would find themselves.

Cesaria of Philippi was a place that was uh had a temple established to the god Pan. Pan, the god Pan. Matter of fact, I have a picture for you of what it looks like today. This is what Cicia Philippi looks like today. And I show you this because I want you to see that cave.

It wouldn't have looked like this in Jesus' time. It wouldn't have been as pronounced, but in that cave was a statue to the God Pan. Are you with me so far? And so the God Pan was half goat, half human. And they believed that this god could move between Hades and Earth.

And so in that cave where the statue was was a spring. And according to temple writings that were discovered there, they called this place the gate of Hades. This is where pan was worshiped. The god of sex, the god of fertility, the god of music is what they believed.

And so I don't think it's any mistake that Jesus takes his 12 disciples to ask this question because I think our god is very intentional. And he takes his disciples up to this place, this place of pagan worship. this God, this gate known as the gate of Hades and he's going to pronounce to his disciples this question and the revelation that comes out of this question.

And so here he is with them and he begins this conversation which he could have had anywhere. And he says, "Hey, who do people say the son of man is?" And of course, they all are ready to talk. Some of you say, you know, Jeremiah. Like they were ready.

They they've been scrolling. They'd seen the gossip. They've been listening in on the they've been over ease dropping on people's conversation. Some people say you're John the Baptist. Some say you're Elijah. Some say you're Jeremiah. Those are Elijah. Jeremiah. Old Testament prophets. John the Baptist. The one that was the forerunner that was born before Jesus to announce his arrival.

Some say you're one of the prophets. So basically what they're saying is there's a whole lot of opinions about you and basically it's that you're moral and you're good and you're spiritual and you're powerful because of the miracles that you've done. And then he closes it down. He kind of narrows the question down.

This is the one we want to deal with today. And he says, 'Okay, but what about you? I don't care what the cultural opinion today is because there's always been cultural opinion about Jesus. How many of you know that? If you don't know the cultural opinion today about Jesus, for some is that he's a good teacher or he's a fairy tale or he is oppressive or irrelevant.

There's always been opinions about Jesus. But he says, "What about you? I want to know what you think. Who do you say I am?" And I think that question is one we have to wrestle with today. Who do you say Jesus is? Now, it's interesting to me that it seems like from the text that all the disciples got quiet and only Peter would speak up, which Peter's my favorite because he carries a knife.

Okay, you need to read your Bible. It's in there. Garden of Gethsemane. Whole thing happens. It cuts a guy's ear off. Okay. And Peter is like, "Ready, shoot, aim. If you don't know weapons, that is not the order that you go in." Okay. I just kind of like his tenacity.

I'm like, "Let's go get it and we'll figure it out later." Right? Like I just I love the And so Peter steps up and he's like, "You're the Christ. You're the Messiah. You're the son of the living God." And Jesus responds to him, "Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you."

In other words, that's not something you know because you studied well, Peter. But that was a revelation from my father in heaven made that known to you. In other words, Peter in that moment, maybe before, but it first expressed in this moment that he got a revelation that this wasn't just a good rabbi and he wasn't just a great teacher, but he was the very son of the living God.

Peter got this revelation. The word revelation, if you're new to church, just simply means this. It just means it's revealed to him. It means it was unveiled to him. It's it's the uh it's the aha moment. It's the light bulb moment. If you're with me, say amen. It's that like, "Oh, I see that now.

I understand that. I I didn't see it before, but now I now I see it." And can I tell you something? You can have proximity to Jesus, but if you never have revelation of Jesus, things don't really change in your life. And my concern is that we can be all around spiritual things.

I mean, he'd been walking with Jesus for a little while and not know who he really is because it's the encounter. It's the revelation of Jesus that will that will change things in your life. You know, another way to think about this whole idea of revelation is this.

Uh Tammy and I have a very religious appointment on Thursday evenings and that is our date night. um it takes a lot for us to miss it and sometimes schedules and kids, but anything else we we don't miss Thursday night date night. And since moving here, we have um tried to hit we we love new restaurants and so we've hit all kinds of new restaurants.

We've only visited about one or two um repeatedly because it was that good. And so we've been to all these different places. We'll look them up. What is, you know, what is Michelin saying? What is the Forbes list? Like I look up all the things. Where do I go?

I love I love good restaurants. And so I was telling a friend of mine here, I was like, "Man, I went to this restaurant and that restaurant that." He was like, "I've lived here my whole life. I didn't know those were here because you can be in something so much that you don't really see what's around you."

That's revelation. That's going, "Oh, I've been around it." Peter had proximity to Jesus, but it was in that moment he had a revelation of who Jesus was. And can I tell you something? That's what you need in your life. You need a moment of revelation of this is who he is.

The Christ, the son of the living God. Are y'all with me this morning? This is who he is. He is not our homeboy. He is not your good luck charm. He is not who you just run to whenever there's a crisis in your life. No. According to the scriptures, he is the pre-existent one.

Meaning, before anything ever was, he was. I don't want you to have a small view of Jesus. He is the lion and the lamb. meaning he is mighty, but he is also gentle. He is the resurrection and the life. That means death couldn't even hold him down. This is who he is.

I'm trying to for a moment to get your view bigger of this great God that we serve because sometimes we can come in and do our religious thing and check our church box and we forget. No, this is God who is sovereign. This is the one that hung the stars in the sky.

This is the one who took dirt and made humanity out of it and breathed into them the breath of life. This is our God. But he's also personal. He's loving and compassionate and kind and empathetic and he's more wonderful and he's more gracious and he's more accepting and he's more forgiving than you could ever think or imagine in your mind.

But don't minimize him to the place cuz he is a consuming fire and he is who took down Goliath and he is the parter of the Red Sea and he is the one that takes five loaves and two fishes and feeds thousands of people. Can I have a church today?

Help me preach this. This is our God. He's not something we put on the shelf until we need him later. And so the question remains, who do you say that he is? Who do you say that he is? This is what Jesus was getting with these disciples. Doesn't matter what the crowd says.

Doesn't matter what popular opinion says. Who do you say that I am? And Peter said, "You're the Christ, the son of the living God." And so if that's the case, then that means he's Lord. That means he's Lord over all. I love what CS Lewis said. There's only three options of who Jesus was.

He was either a liar, he was a lunatic, or he's Lord. See, it's not possible for Jesus to be a moral person and a good teacher. He can't just be that because no person is good if they knew they were not the son of God, but they professed to be because they're a liar and that makes them not moral and it makes them not good.

Or he was a psychopath who claimed to be the son of God and really thought he was, but he wasn't. And the only other option is that he's Lord. And if he's Lord, then man, that changes a whole lot of things for us. And that means a whole lot of things for us.

And so the question remains for you. I can't answer it for you. Who do you say he is? And why does this matter? I think Awtoer summed it up greatly when he says, "What you think about when you think about God is the most important thing about you."

Because watch me. Listen. Everything in your life is downstream from that. Your values, your relationships, how you spend your time, where you put your energies, how you treat people, how you interact with others, how you love people, all of it is downstream from what you think about when you think about God.

And if he is Lord, then man, it changes a whole lot for us, doesn't it? So, I want to give you three things today that I think it should shape in your life if you declare he's Lord. Not just a good teacher, not some good thoughts that I should listen to when everything's aren't going well in my life.

No, but he is Lord of my life. Then there are some things that this should shape in your life. If you're with me, say amen. >> Amen. >> All right. You may say oh no later. But number one, it should it shapes your daily choices. It shapes your daily choices.

Luke chapter 9 23 said this. Then he said to them all, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Can I tell you something? The predominant um picture or metaphor in the New Testament is not that the early church called themselves Christians.

That was a title given to them. The early Christians called themselves followers. There's a difference between taking a title and having action. Called themselves followers. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it. This is the this is the upside down way of the kingdom of God.

You want to save your life, then you got to give it away. But whoever loses his life for me, you give your life away, you'll save it. And what good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit their very self? If the answer to the question, who do you say that Jesus is, and you say, oh, absolutely, in my life, he's Lord, that it should shape your daily choices.

And Jesus says it looks like this. Daily taking up your cross and following me daily take it's it's the consistency. It's the it's the daily routine. Are y'all with me? The Friday we were coming home from school and Abigail was in the back seat and she was telling me how much money she had saved up and she had saved up $140.

And I was like that's pretty good baby girl. And I said remember cuz I had told her this before. We had talked about this before. I said, remember 14 of that belongs to the Lord because whatever God puts into your hand, a tithe of that belongs to the Lord.

It's not yours. It belongs to him. So if you keep it, you're robbing him. Is that too strong? Okay, just just honest. And so I said, "That belongs to the Lord." And she goes, "I know, Dad." And then she said something to this effect. It was in this ballpark.

I can't remember exactly. It was in this ballpark. And then she was like, "I just don't want to waste my money like that." I thought she sounds like some Christians I know. We got some sanctification work to do on her, but she's nine, everybody. We'll get there. All right.

We'll get there eventually. But isn't that the thing we push against in our journey of faith? The thing that makes us uncomfortable? Can I tell you dying daily is uncomfortable? Dying daily taking up your cross and dying to the thing you want to do. Oh, I want to give him a piece of my mind.

No, but if he's Lord, then it should affect my daily choices, which should cause me to take up my cross daily and mean I want to give him a piece of my mind, but I'm gonna give him love instead. I I want to eject when it's hard, but I'm going stay in the uncomfortable because I'm daily being shaped by the fact that he's Lord of my life.

I'm I'm daily going to forgive those who hurt me and not carry bitterness in my heart. Why? Because I've answered the question that he's Lord. And if he's Lord, then I'm not in control of my life. I've surrendered control to him and I've said, "You are Lord." And so whatever you tell me to do, that's what I'm going to do.

What you tell me to think, that's how I'm going to think. How you tell me to operate is the way that I'm going to operate. That's what I've decided when I say that he's Lord. And so it affects my daily choices. It does affect if I serve, and it should affect how I'm generous, and it should affect how I give forgiveness, and it should affect how I love others around me, my daily choices.

Like people shouldn't be able to see me through Monday through Saturday and be surprised that I follow Jesus. >> There are no incognito Christians. >> There are no undercover like undercover boss. You remember that show? There's no undercover Christian. No, because it should affect my daily choice. There should be something about me that people look and go, "Man, you're giving your life away when you could keep it."

And you know, no, whenever I give my life away is when I gain it. But if I try to keep it, it's when I lose it. I'm living in a different kingdom. I'm a part of a different culture. I'm a part of a kingdom culture. Are y'all following me? >> It should shape your daily choices.

Number two, it should shape your identity. I had a professor and small group leader in college that was so kind to invite me into a small group and guy named Bill Jones, Dr. Bill Jones. And we were talking and you know, you're in that age where you're in your late teens and early 20s and I think we all deal with insecurities if we're honest um our entire life.

But in that age, it just seems intensified. And I'm talking to Dr. Jones about this and I'm like just trying to figure out who I am and I'm out on my own, you know, for the first time and just trying to, you know, it's it's a lot. Everybody have grace for all of our young adults.

All right? It's a lot trying to figure it all out. And he took me to Ephesians chapter 1. He actually had me memorize the whole chapter. And he said, I want you to allow God's word to shape who you are. And I want you to put this on repeat in your life.

I want to read you this. Ephesians chapter 1 3-6. It says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us." Everybody say, "Blessed us." >> So evidently, I'm blessed. That's part of my identity in the heavenly realms. And what am I blessed with?

Every spiritual blessing in Christ. So what Christ did for me on the cross and what he gave to me at the point of salvation is lacking nothing. Can I say it to every believer in the room? You lack nothing because you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

That's really good news and deserves a better amen than you're giving. For he chose us. For he chose us in him. So, not only am I blessed, but I'm chosen by God. That God saw me and as what a great word from Pastor Galani last week, he preferred me.

Wow. That should speak to your value. That should speak to the love that God has for you. Chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless. He's got a journey he wants me to go on. In love, he predestined me to be adopted to sunship.

So, not only am I blessed, not only did he prefer me, but he also calls me son. He doesn't just call me servant which man that would be enough for the king of the universe the lord the god sovereign over all creation I would be happy with just servant status everybody but he called me son and as a son that means I have inheritance and as inheritance I have access to things of god come on are y'all getting this is who I am and he did it through Jesus in accordance listen to this with his pleasure and will.

He didn't do it begrudgingly. In other words, God wasn't in heaven going, I'll call them son and I'll choose them and you know they're no good sinners, but I'll bless them. And it said according to his pleasure. I mean, just let that sink in for a minute. The God of the universe was in heaven going, "Oh, I can't wait.

I Oh, this is a good day. It's a great day. So and so is going to raise their hand and come to faith. And in that moment, they're going to be blessed and chosen and adopted his son. And this is the best day ever. Every day someone crosses from death to life is the best day ever because God did it according to his pleasure and his goodwill."

And that's who you are, church. You're forgiven. You're loved. You're accepted. You're part of the beloved. That's just a Bible word that means you're loved a whole lot. You've been chosen by God, loved by God, embraced by God, accepted by God. This is your identity. Your identity is not in what you own.

It's not in the career you've built. It's not in the life you've created. It's not in the school that you get into. It's not in the academic pursuit that you have. It's not in the sport you play. All those are wonderful things. And I think God takes pleasure in his children enjoying the good things of life.

But at the core, that is not who you are. Who you are is a child of the most high God. That is your identity. Period. So if he's Lord, that is what's going to define my identity. Not even what I feel, not even the temptations that I have, not even the mistakes I make or the sin that I may so easily fall into.

That is not what is going to identify me. My identity is rooted in the person of Jesus Christ. And it was his good pleasure and his goodwill to do it. know that it would be to the praise of his glorious grace. Why do we come in here and worship and why do we lift our hands and why do we clap?

And maybe you're new to church and you're like, "Man, these people are really excited." It's because of this. Cuz while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. When we had no way of getting to heaven, God came to us and he did it because he loved it and he loves us.

So that's why we worship. That's why we're expressive. That's why we lift hands to heaven. Because this great God has called us sons and daughters. Wow. If he's Lord, that's who you are. Number three, last thought. If he's Lord, it shapes your obedience shapes your obedience. James chapter 1 verse 22 says this, "Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.

Do what it says." I don't know how much clearer you can get. Do what it says. In other words, what James is saying is you can hear the word, but if you never apply the word, then you've been deceived. In other words, more Bible studies won't change you.

More Bible studies that you live out will change you. Are you with me? >> It's when you actually apply the word. And doing this for 32 years, I I preached for the first time when I was 17. I have to tell you that story one day. I had this I was going to run my whole school to Christ and uh I had this message.

I thought it'd be 30 minutes. It ended up being six. I learned you got to study a lot more. Come a long way. But doing this this long, I have people all the time, no doubt, I'll have this conversation often come up, "Pastor, I just want to know the deeper things of God."

The deeper things of God. And I'll usually respond with, "Are you serving? Are you in a small group? Are you having a daily quiet time? Are you loving people that are hard to love?" Maybe we start with the basics, everybody. Maybe we get back to blocking and tackling.

If he's Lord, then how can I not serve in the house of God when he's called me to use my gifts to build up the body of Christ? That's a clear command. How about we do that one? Are you returning the tithe? Oo, it's got quiet in this church.

I knew you'd shout on point two because I knew three was coming. So, are y'all following me? If he's Lord, then it should affect my obedience in the basics in the little things. These are the training wheels of Christianity, not the master's class. So, I should be obeying in the little things.

And as I obey in the little things, guess what? I'll learn obedience in the harder things. Hebrews chapter 5:8 says this. I'm kind of coming in mids sentence so that's why the grammar seems off but it says this son though he was so talking about Jesus the son of God though he was the son of God he learned listen to this he learned obedience from what he suffered.

We'll get to that in a minute. Jesus had to learn to obey. And once made perfect, you may be thinking, Jesus had to be made perfect. Once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who will obey and was designated by God to be the high priest in the order of Melkisedc.

So, let's park on this. Are y'all with me? >> Obedience in the hard things. Obedience in the painful things. The Bible says Jesus learned obedience. Now, this isn't the concept that Jesus was going from disobedience to obedience because he didn't disobey because he was the perfect son of God.

Imagine growing up with him as a sibling. Would you act more like Jesus? Okay. Anyways, it wasn't that Jesus had to reign in rebellion in his heart to learn to obey. No, it's that the son of God put on flesh came into the earth became and experienced life like one of us so he could be the atonement or he could be the sacrifice for our sins.

And so he had to learn something he had never experienced. That's the idea. And so as a child he had to learn obedience. Oh, this is what obeying a parent feels like. Not because he was disobedient, but because he had never experienced it. Are y'all following me? And so he learned obedience and he learned part of the lesson of obedience came through suffering, came through pain, came through hard things.

It came through the garden where he said, "I really don't want to do this, but not my will." Learning obedience. Are y'all following me? Not my will, but your will be done. And then the Bible says, "And so he was made perfect. It was suffering." And we don't we don't love talking about this.

We like the more I'm blessed and I'm forgiven and I'm loved and all that is true. But the the Bible says that he he learned obedience through suffering. And it was that learning that made him perfect. Now it wasn't that he needed to be made perfect because he was imperfect.

The idea of the word perfect there is the idea of complete. And it has the idea idea of completing a course like a course of study like you would go through a semester at a university. Are y'all following me? I want you to get this everybody with me. like he would complete a course and so so the course God the father had Jesus on was complete and suffering was part of the course so that he could be give eternal salvation to all of us.

In other words, his purpose hinged on him walking through pain so that his pain would help complete what the father needed to happen in his life so he could be the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. This is why we can say as believers that no pain in our life is ever wasted if we'll allow God to work in our pain.

I'm not saying my theology doesn't believe that God sends pain. But my theology does believe that God works all things together for the good of those who love him and are the called according to his purpose. And so here's what I want to say to you today. If you're walking through suffering and you're walking through pain, first I'm so sorry.

And I'm not trying to minimize it. And I'm not trying to say it isn't hard. And I'm not trying to say that there aren't days where you're like, "God, where are you?" And I just want to encourage you that if you will stay obedient in the middle of the uncomfortable, and you'll continue leaning into God in the middle of the uncomfortable, I believe that God will do in your life what he did in the life of the model for us, which is the person of Jesus.

And he is completing something in you. There is some character completion taking happening. There is some faith muscle being built. There is something God is doing on the inside of you. And when you complete the course, you will be ready to fulfill the purpose that God has ordained for you.

What God is doing in you is preparing you for what God has for you if you will stay obedient in the hard things. Come on, put your hands together if you believe it. So, it's not just obedient in the little things. It's obedient in the hard things. It's when I cried all the way to church, I'm still going to lift my hands to heaven.

It's when I didn't feel out of like getting out of bed, I'm still going to get on my knees and pray. It's when the word doesn't seem to be speaking to me or jumping off the pages of me, I'm still going to open it up because I am trusting the character of God.

I trust the trustworthiness of God and the faithfulness of God. And my Bible says the God that did it before is the same God that'll do it today and the same God that'll do it in all of your tomorrows. And so, I trust the character of God. And so I just want to speak over somebody's life today that you're walking through a hard thing.

God isn't doing it to you, but God will leverage it to do something in you to accomplish every purpose he has for you. So the question remains, who do you say he is? And your answer to that question, it shapes a whole lot of things in your life.

And if he's Lord, really Lord, then man, it should shape your daily choices. You should look different because he's Lord. Should shape your identity. You should be rooted in who he says you are. And man, it should definitely shape your obedience. Do you receive the word of God in your heart today?

Come on. You receive it. Will you pray with me? Every head bowed, every eye closed. Maybe today is a revelation day for you. It's a aha moment. It's a you've been around it, but you never really saw it and you're seeing it for the first time. Maybe church has just been a religious act that you do or something you're supposed to do or what everybody in your family does, but you've never made Jesus the Lord of your life.

You've never surrendered your life to him. If you've never done that, I want to give you the opportunity to make him Lord today. The Bible says that we all have a problem that none of us can solve and it's called sin. And that sin separates us from a loving God.

And that's why Jesus came because he never wanted that. He wanted relationship with you. Daily, moment by moment, hour by hour, minuteby minute relationship. And if you've never entered into relationship with Jesus, I'm not asking you even if you have a membership at some church. I don't know that God cares about that.

But I do know he cares if you've made him the Lord of your life. And so if that's you today, you'd say, "Pastor, I want that. I need a fresh start. I need a new beginning." Then in just a moment, we're going to pray. But before we do, I want to know who I'm praying with.

And so I'm going to count to three. And when I do, I just want you to shoot your hand up high enough and long enough for myself to see. And then we're going to pray together. So if you say, "Pastor, that's me. I need a new beginning." Hands are already going up.

One, two, three. You just shoot your hand up high. Just keep it up. God bless you. God bless you the very very back in the balcony. God bless you. I see you. I see you and you and you. It's amazing. I see you in the very very back under the balcony.

God bless you. More importantly, God sees you. It's incredible. Church, will you pray this out loud with me for the benefit of those who just slip their hand up? Just say, "Jesus, I need you. I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. I believe you died for me.

I believe God raised you from the dead. Today I make you my Lord and Savior. Thank you for a brand new beginning in Jesus name. Everybody said a big amen. Come on. Can we celebrate all those who made that decision today? Incredible.