Who is Jesus and what does He want from me?

September 16, 2018

So who is Jesus? An historical figure. A wise teacher. A prophet. A crazy man who taught a lot of impractical things. If that’s all He is, He’s easy to ignore, avoid, or dismiss. He changes nothing. But if Peter is right, if the angels who sang at His birth were right, if Jesus is “the Savior, who is Christ, the Lord” then that changes everything; it changes who you and I are. It changes the purpose of your life. The way Jesus saves us from sin and death begins with Him saving us from ourselves.

Mark 8:27-38

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked 

his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and 

others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I 

am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell
anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be
rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days 
rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 
But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! 
For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”He called the crowd 
with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny 
themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life 

will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 
For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they 
give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous 
and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the 
glory of his Father with the holy angels.”