What Do You Say?(Matthew 16:13-16)

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐃𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐒𝐚𝐲?(𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰 𝟏𝟔:𝟏𝟑-𝟏𝟔)

Contact: amazedandperplexed@gmail.com
Music by: Heavensense
https://soundcloud.com/hvnsen 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, my name is Connor, and I'm Jason, and you are listening to the Amazed and Perplexed Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Well, I want to welcome you, and we are continuing in our pursuit of giving everyone dignity as they interact with Jesus. And so we are in the point. Now he he had brought together several experiences in our last episode referencing the times that he uh miraculously, miraculously reproduced food, uh, and they got it. Uh, there's not a lot of discussion, but they're like, oh yeah, he's not talking about bread. And so they I always wonder what's the next thing he's gonna talk to them about. Um, they do some traveling, we're gonna find out in this next section. We're in uh Matthew 16, beginning of verse 13, but we're gonna do some traveling to get to a place and they ask him a question about his identity. And what's interesting about this to me is does one lead to the other? In other words, after he makes the point that we made in the last episode, yeah, uh, hey guys, I need you to go a little bit deeper here. Quit being so surface. Uh so does this is this like the next logical step in Jesus' mind, not my mind, but in Jesus' mind to say, hey, I really want to press into this idea of thinking deeper. Um, and so I I that's a curiosity I have before we get started. Anything that's on your mind?

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Well, so I had not thought about that until you literally just said it right then, but I think about the connection between the idea of the yeast of Jesus encouraging them to avoid the yeast of the Pharisees, and then um the question he then goes on to say is, Well, who do who do people say that I am? And that question, like it's really fascinating because he doesn't initially ask them, Well, what do you got? He he wants the input of um he wants uh to hear what the general populace is hearing or what the disciples are hearing and how they're interpreting it. Um so I think there is a there there must be some sort of connection between um between what Jesus talks about with the East of the Pharisees and then immediately moving on uh into this question being the next thing.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yeah, I I I think there's something fascinating about considering how Jesus does what he does when you think about specifically leadership training, discipleship training. There is still a disconnect in my own mind because when he leaves them, he ascends into heaven, I still feel like their ineptitude is their main quality, like what you'd experience most. And then the spirit enters them, and then they're able to speak. And I don't have as clear of a sense of the segues that Jesus was developing. I I understand the spirit came in and led them into truth and gave them conviction, obviously gave them giftedness they didn't have before. Um, but at times it's hard to track how did you get these guys from point A to point B? Um, but I do sense this is a a very intentional, like it's been on his mind. You know, now that being said, it's hard for me to discern how much did Jesus know, and how much did how much was his plan, his strategy, and how much did him just saying, Hey God, what do you want me to do next? And the Spirit's like, ask them this, say that. It's it's almost impossible to tell. And and we just have to, you know, work from our best guesses, but they're assumptions. Um, but that is a very curious thing because the big thing to me, and I always come back to this, what do I do with this? And so I'm often at a loss with how do I help these people move past these barriers, whether thinking barriers, healing barriers, uh fear barriers, whatever those are. And so I think there's something to watch. I I was thinking, you know, no, in in games, often there'll be this the game inside the game. You know, in football, you've got the overall game, which team wins, but then you also have this offensive player, and they're gonna go up against this defensive player, and that's the game inside the game. So to me, this is one of those game inside the games that on one hand, he's just living with his apostles and they're just making this trip and he's asking them a question. But on the other hand, there's this deeper stuff he's doing. Uh, and I just a lot of it you gotta read between the lines, you know, it's up to your again, your your own bias is is coloring it, but it's it's fascinating to me.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

So you and I, before we hit record, well, we talked for about an hour before we hit record. But at one point in that conversation, we show time wisely.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Good thing, good thing my very pregnant wife doesn't listen to this podcast. Like, that's why you were gone that long. Um, but we were talking about a book series that I finished, and one of the things I loved about this book series was all the foreshadowing and and all of the things that were communicated in book one and two that didn't have payoff for several books down the road. Um, and there's something about that that we all kind of inherently recognize in in TV shows or movies or books and the value and how that's valuable. Um and yet when I I don't I don't feel like I I use this in my day-to-day life necessarily of like, you know what, I'm gonna I'm gonna seed this right now, and then maybe one day we'll have you know payoff. Maybe in small sort, small little circumstances with my daughter. Um and yet this is one of those things that like when we see it play out in front of our eyes, whether it's in you know, whatever various medias we consume, um, we see how impactful it can be to be able to go back and look and be like, oh, that's what was happening. Now that's what was being done, that's what the author, whether you want to add a capital A there or not, you know, that's up to you, listener. Um that's what the author was was was trying to say. That's the that's the game within the game that you're talking about. And I think um for me, I I've just become very compelled recently about um about about all these sort of dynamics that we see. Um, and also recognizing I think as Jesus is God and he is the author of all things, um he is obviously dealing with them in the moment, uh their needs, their personalities. He's being I think he is being moved by by by them. He's allowing himself to be moved by them. Uh and yet he's also seeding the ground uh for these other deeper things for payoff down the road in season two, you know, if you will. Um But I I do have one thing that I want to add to just give some dignity to these people, just put a little bit of flesh on uh their bones. And so obviously, Jesus at this point, he's he's become famous. Like people are talking about him. Um what is it like to travel with a famous person? You know, what is it like to travel with a famous preacher? Um, and it's not like, oh, you know, this there's this, you know, some listeners might have a well-worn idea of a traveling preacher that gets really famous, or like, you know, you've listened to his pod, you've listened, you know, back in the day, it would have been Francis Chan. You listen to the Francis Chan podcast. Oh man, it's so crazy, it's so great. And oh wow, you you are you're going, you're torn with Francis Chan, or you're torn with, you know, whatever, Rob Bell or whoever those used to be back in the day. I don't keep up with who it is now. Um and so we can kind of understand that dynamic of what it would feel like to get caught up with like, oh wow, this person, he's just communicating about God in a way that we have, you know, this is just amazing. God is doing incredible things here. Um, but it's like never at one point did like somebody like Francis Chan ever claim to be God or you know, claim to be um, you know, we we knew we oh, he's a great preacher, you know. Nobody thought like, oh, this is the guy who's gonna lead the great awake. You know that I mean maybe some people did. And so for the disciples and the people that are listening to Jesus for the first time, they don't know where this is headed, right? Like we they don't we don't necessarily have the framework in you know 21st century America for the traveling uh teacher, preacher, speaker um whose end is not clear, whose goals are not obvious. And so what that would be like um is I mean, I just think it'd be it'd be so fascinating because we know what what sort what sort of impact fame has on uh on people and what the proximity of fame has. And then also not knowing what the end goal is, adding the spiritual level on top of that. There's just a lot here.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Absolutely. Yeah, there really is. So much so I I'm just just thinking about something you said before we start a recording. I I think we're only gonna go down to verse 16. Let's do it. Uh, because after that there's uh uh even more to discuss, so we'll go we'll we'll start in verse thirteen of Matthew sixteen. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you? He asked, Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Now I do want to say the response in in Matthew at least, um it gets to the very end in verse twenty, it says, Then he orders his his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah, because I think that has bearing. But what he says to Peter there is so shocking that we it merits its own episode. So, uh Connor, what amazes you about this interaction between Jesus and his disciples?

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Uh the God of the universe is much more interested in what you think about him than or what you believe about him than what an amorphous crowd believes about him. Um I just I I I think that is that picture um in the nature of the upside down kingdom is just there are times where ge Jesus is breathtaking to me, and this is just one of those times um where you, listener, whoever you happen to be, um, lots of people think lots of things about Jesus. Um there are lots of what I would consider probably false ideas or false Jesuses that people have uh constructed or uh adopted. And there are large groups of people out there who maybe have views on him that are what we believe to be wrong, unhelpful, um blasphemous, and like we can talk about those. I think it's important to think about how a large group of people react to certain things, but ultimately what matters more to Jesus is what do you think? What do you believe? Um, and that the that is the God of the universe who controls everything, who is author over all, um is he's not he is not operating, um, he is not thinking about these things as an emperor lording over his people. What factions does he have on his side? What uh what groups has he won to his cause? He's thinking about what about you?

SPEAKER_01 11:01

I think that is so consistent with him too, and I don't know if I can communicate how different that is than how I was how Jesus, how God was presented to me. It was so corporate, it was so here's what we as a community, here's our community identity, here's what we believe. You must match that belief. And we may not say this out loud, but you cannot disagree much with that belief, you know. And so this idea of what would be your expectation if you're walking with Jesus is that at some point he will ask you a question that's gonna make you uncomfortable, but if you can sit with it, you'll realize he's showing how much he cares about me. And I even think, you know, his words to any number of people that we have covered over and over again in one way or another. I'm like, in each one of those, there's deep care. Um, I'm also drawn to Luke 13, where where they're complaining about the government, they're complaining about what Pilate's doing and and just general, you know, common current events that were tragic. And G's response is do you think you don't need to repent? It's like, what? Uh wait, what a minute. What a minute. There it is. Uh what a minute? We just call it a caller podcast. What a minute. Anyway, wait a minute. Um, but but it is one of those dynamics that this is a consistent piece, and I I appreciate I just that feel of how personalized what his focus is, and that's that part that I think is hard for us. And I think it's short circuits how we receive the gospel because we think I'm just supposed to be groupthink here. And Jesus is like, I never asked for that. Yeah, I'm always the you is always you. What are you thinking? You know, what are you doing? Are you willing? Even things that he might not hold you to, you know, like he tells Abraham, sacrifice your son and doesn't hold him to it. But are you willing to go where I'll go? Because it's not even about the doing, it's about the willingness that you're my Lord, you're my master, you're in charge here. Um, and even if it sounds crazy, you know, and and I mean, if we're to look with fresh eyes at all the things God calls people to in the Bible, so much of it is just if it wasn't in the Bible, we think that is ridiculous. God would never call you to this, except we're like, well, he did. He did. You know, but then we're like, do you have an imagination? Imagine, man, I'm doing good today. Do you have an imagination? If he asked for A, what might B look like? You know, and the point here isn't let's be, let's have wild imaginations, it's just that idea, is he your Lord or isn't he? You know, and what's that calling you to oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

You you said something about how if you if you actually begin to look at uh under under a question and you sit actually sit begin to sit with it, you you'll begin to recognize the care that Jesus has um for the person in front of him. And I I I for me one of the things that I'm I'm really I'm thinking about now is like, man, I I want to be like Jesus in every way. One of the ways I think I really fall short is um if you were to dive beneath my questions and my comments, um, I think oftentimes the sort of care that Jesus has for the individual, if people were to sit with my comments the same way that I want to sit with Jesus' comments, they would maybe not feel the same sort of care that I would I I want, I want to give them. And so this is one of those one of those uh one of those things where it's like if when I s when I talk to people, when I ask them questions, or um if I'm just interested in their life in general, if they sit with the things that we talk about for long enough, are there depths to my care for them that they will not just at first blush see, but on second thought, begin to see even greater depths than they had seen before. And so for me, just right now, this is one of those areas, man, I really want to be like Jesus. I want not just on first blush, man, this guy really cares about me and wants to know me better, but like when they think about it later, when they're telling a story or talking to their spouse about it afterwards, I want them, I I I want to be so I want to care so much about the person in front of me that those game within a game, not that I'm trying to game out a conversation, but just my care and love for the person in front of me drives uh is so is so full that the depths of the conversations that I have um are ones that are are not the typical shallow um shallowness that that I even I um fall prey to. So yeah, man, that for me um it's easy to talk about man, I want to be like Jesus, but this is one of those areas man I I really I want to I really want to be like Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Your comment totally edits what amazes me. I'll say what amazes me or what was on my mind before you started talking. This how you mess everything up.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Uh yeah, it's true.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Um it's the words, the uh but I was just amazed at when you go into a conversation that no, there are conversations we all find ourselves in that we just want to know some things. And so we're asking, and anytime you say, well, this is gonna be a hard conversation, what that means is you want to get to a place and you don't know how to get there, or you don't know how it's gonna go. And so the temptation is just to avoid it. But assuming you're like, no, I'm gonna face it, I'm gonna go in, then you're like, okay, what are the questions that will get me there? Well, first of all, you got to realize statements usually don't get you there with the people. It might win you the argument if it's an argument, but it's not going to bring the other person along and include the other person in a super useful way most of the time, you know? And and what amazed me initially was man, how did he know to ask this question at this time? Because we haven't even touched on the fact Peter's response is dynamite. I'm like, not like so cool. I mean like explosive, like this could blow everything up. And it eventually does. I mean, this is what gets Jesus killed ultimately. Um, now I mean you could say, well, he was questioning their authority or threatening them, but his claims of deity, if he would have just said, I'm just another prophet, I don't think he would have been murdered. You know what I mean? But his insistence of making himself equal to God, that blasphemy, uh, was just too much, you know what I mean? And at least the thing they could cite, you know, they they probably killed him because he bugged them, he threatened their authority, but this is the thing they'd cite is blasphemy, you know. So Peter says this. I don't know how much it took for Peter. I don't know if he weighed the risk of even saying it out loud. But this idea to say you are the Messiah, you are the Christ, you are the presence of God among us, that I mean, that has in our culture day, it's like, okay, whatever. I mean, obviously, there's a almost like a uh whatever, a cliche about, you know, people that are having mental health issues claiming they're Jesus, you know, kind of thing. Um, but this is so explosive. But then your words, it was like, what if all he's doing is saying, what is the most loving thing? What is the most loving thing? And he needs them to be reflecting on what's going on inside of you towards me. You've gone through all this stuff. And part of it, and we haven't really talked even about this recently, but this idea, they might not have known these Pharisees in particular, because I bet they didn't rub shoulders with them. But they were taught to respect the Pharisees, to respect the Sadducees, to respect these teachers of the law, these chief priests. I mean, these were the people, these were the, I don't know if celebrities are the right word, but these were the people of respect. And so Jesus just said, question everything. Yeah, don't trust the yeast of the of the Sadducees, you know, or the Pharisees. And it's like, what? I mean, that and then to immediately, now they're they're doing some travel here, so I don't know how long this trip was, so I don't know how long he was thinking about, how much they were thinking about it. But is it possible that they are really holding this hard? Like, man, how what are we supposed to do with this? Everybody else tells us to respect these guys, and just like don't trust the basics of their teaching. And then the next encounter they have is hey, who do you say I am? Like, there's something really loving about that that is beautiful because they had no idea. I don't even know if they knew that they thought this, but they certainly didn't know they needed to say it.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yeah, man, so that that's really good, and that'll push me directly into what perplexes me. I I so we'll get an explanation for for where this comes from. You know, Jesus next week we'll talk about um that this revelation has come from the Father in heaven. Um, and yet I find myself so perplexed because it's one thing for Peter to say that Jesus is the Messiah. Like they would have had categories. The Pharisees and Sadducees would have been teaching on on the concept of of um of a Messiah. But my understanding is the Pharisees and Sadducees would did not teach, and most Jews now do not believe that the Messiah was going to also be the son of the living God. Um and so, man, uh uh one, it's it's a testament more to to your to to kind of your premise of of the think of of pushing pushing Peter and pushing the disciples um and wanting them to get deeper, wanting them to really analyze how much of the yeast of the Pharisees is in you, how much is actually there, how much is already is baked into the dough, or how much is needed into the dough. Um, because this is one of those things that like without God Peter wouldn't be able to get here. Because Peter could get to Messiah. I I feel pretty compelled that with what Jesus is doing, what he's taught to this point, um a observer could deduce, oh, this is God's Messiah. That's you know, that my understanding for what the Jews would have thought at the time, obviously not everybody agreed with that, but it was within the realm of possibility um for a Jew at that time to think, oh, this is also the the son of the living God. Um that's just that's wild. And so I am just so perplexed. Maybe we'll talk more about it next week. Maybe we'll have some uh better insight. Um, and what does it look like for the father to reveal this to Peter? Um, and like I want so much more evidence of the father revealing this to Peter. Was this an instant, like you said, like he didn't even realize he knew this or believed this until Jesus brought it out of him? Was it something he thought about for a long time and deduced? Was it something he studied? Was it you know what what was it how that how did God God get to Peter in this way?

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Yeah, I I love that that consideration is so Yeah, I I there's so much unanswered about the whole Thing and and my perplexion is this I spend time with people dealing with hard things in their life and also dealing with things that are hard that they don't realize why it's hard. And I will say, here's why I think this is hard, and they'll be like, Well, it wasn't that, and I'm like, Okay. Um, because I try to be really gentle. I try not to push people. This is a lot about my personality. You know, I'm I I've had people say, I think you have, based on my preaching, they're like, I I think you have the gift of prophecy, and by that they don't mean predicting the future. They're simply meaning speaking the truth of God that is needed, speaking it boldly. And there are moments when I'm preaching that I'm like, I I feel that was a that looked like a person with a gift of prophecy. But especially one-on-one, that idea of read the person, of be careful, like not careful, like scared, but like gentle. Like this is a delicate person, this is a person I've talked to people that that have for the first time said out loud that they've been abused. I've talked to people for the first time they've owned that they disagree on doctrinal matters uh with like their parents, their grandparents, their home church, whatever that is. And that it that can be scary, scary stuff. And to not push people too fast. If Jesus had asked me before this conversation, like we're there and we're you know moving into Caesarea Philippi, and he's like, hey, here's what I'm planning on doing, I'd be like, it's too soon. Like these guys are just getting that maybe you don't trust the system you were raised with. Maybe you should there's some deconstruction needed here. And then to turn to this, like this is so volatile. And it's the first time I've ever looked at it this way. To me, it's like, well, of course he did. It's so important that they know his identity. And I do not disagree with the question. The timing, though, now that we're progressing through it this way, is I don't, I'm just saying I'm clueless. I mean, relative to Jesus, I am so clueless to how to do stuff, when to do it. I I sometimes know what to do, but then it's like I've done so many things where I look back and I'm like, I said it too strong. I said it too sharp. Like I I don't question the truth of it, but I was like, I should have been, I should have smiled when I said it. I should have been gentler in the delivery. And of course, we don't know Jesus' nonverbals here, but but yeah, that whole thing is just that reminder. Man, I need Jesus. That's what the reminder is. But how to emulate him. Like, there are some times I'm like, Jesus told the truth, I can tell the truth like that. But to ask people things that will take them to spaces that I just can't see as anything but uncomfortable, it is entirely necessary. But I don't know how to do it. A lot of the time, I don't know how to do it.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

I yeah, I've sat I've sat with people who will talk who begin to talk about their like starting the process of deconstruction, and like they will say things that I believe to be not even just like incorrect about God or incorrect about what the Bible says, like, or getting basic verses like wrong, the opposite of what they what they said. Or saying it's like God says, you know, like never, never in the and I've sat there and been like, oh my, where do where do we even start? Like how do where do we even begin? And like one of the things that has always been hard for me because you you hear somebody say something wrong and you're like, I gotta jump in right there, or I gotta, you know, that's a that's a and then you hear five more things where you're like, oh my goodness, okay. And you kind of like take a step back and go, wow, okay. So we're like six meetings from me really getting to the important stuff. Exactly. Um and again, maybe that's wise, maybe it isn't in any given circumstance. Um, and yet, again, I think w wanting to be like Jesus, wanting to have the trust in Jesus, if you were plotting out his ministry, be like, okay, when are we gonna have the big reveal? Like, hey, you're not just the Messiah, you're the son of the living God. Okay, well, maybe after all the food, maybe maybe Jesus like has he starts shooting bread out of his hands, and then that's that's when he goes, living God. And be like, okay, you know, that seems like a solid point. That's right there. After a lecture, you know, maybe like it, maybe after uh, you know, uh a teaching series, that's when we're gonna read it.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Especially like with that, you gotta step up. You gotta step, yeah, no. Phase one is done, run to phase.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

So I am I am so um I'm so on board with with what you're what you're putting down. And I think this is one of those areas similar to like Peter's uh Peter's revelation being revealed to him by God. I want to operate in spaces where it's like I don't want I don't want my the way I operate in life to make sense on a on a planning board. I don't want the storyline of my life to be like, oh, that was well structured. Act one, perfect setup. Act two, climate great. Act three, the oh, okay. Like that, because that just is not the way if you're living with if you're if you're trying to live with this with a living God and trying to act in concert with him, that just doesn't seem to me to be the way that things uh tend to work out. And so this is one of those areas where it's not satisfying because it's like, well, how do we know? Okay, then well then I'm coming to a circumstance where it's like I'm dealing with somebody and I don't know if if if they need to be pushed, I don't know if they need to, if, if they just need to be listened to, if they just need um a shoulder to cry on, um I don't know when to get to the what at what point, uh how many hours, what would it be? When does the push come? Um it's not satisfying to be like, well, as you grow in the spirit and as you become more like Jesus, God's gonna give it to you in the moment. You're like, okay, but that sounds cool now. That sounds really cool now. But when you're actually sitting with somebody that's hurting, when you're sitting with somebody that has such a warped or broken view of God, and it's like that is a lot more difficult to understand. It is but yet the dignity that that Jesus repeatedly gives us, be like, I'm gonna give it to you. You're gonna grow in the spirit, I'm gonna give it to you. And in the moment, you're gonna um I'm gonna call call you to trust me. I'm gonna call you to trust me with it. Um and then I'm gonna I'm gonna work with that. Like that is so dignifying and absurd. Um, and I love it.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

Yeah, it everything you said I thought just so so good as far as that idea of Jesus, well, God, throughout the span of the Bible, and I'm referring to something earlier that I said, but it's that idea that it's just so unexpected. That the challenge we have is because we have the Bible, and I'm not suggesting God doesn't communicate in a billion other ways, but I I have confidence in okay.

unknown 28:33

That's fine.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

God gave me this Bible, you know, it it's it, I I'm not gonna be in an argument with people about every single word and uh how did the how did the canonization process by and large? I and this is simplistic. I know I'm like, I'll take this Bible, I can work with this Bible. If God didn't want me to have this Bible, I think he would have gotten rid of it. There are too many chances. Um but even in that, if you didn't know what was coming, you'd be like, that's not gonna happen. There is just no way he's gonna put his people through that. Like we just finished uh series on the minor prophets in our preaching. No way he's gonna do that. No way he's gonna exile all his people for all these years, you know what I mean? No way he's gonna send them back without resources right away. No way, you know what I mean? And then he does. You know, and because we've read in the Bible and heard it a bunch of times, we're like, of course. But man, when you're living out, if you took any one of those Bible scenarios and were like, okay, you're just you're just the guy that's walking, you're just the lady that's that's doing this thing, you you would have to be filled with so much doubt. But you'd have to keep because you don't even understand, like walls falling down, and you've never seen that before, never heard that before. I mean, you you can understand, okay, I can understand, but but it's like think about being around a wall that's perfectly still and perfectly structured, and then it just spontaneously falling. You know, it's just like up until the up until it's fallen, you'd be so shocked. Like you'd be like, this can't be happening, you know what I mean? And the same with so many other stories. And and that's the part that I think we lose many times reading the scripture because we're like, well, of course they felt great about it because it's in the Bible, as if they're like, oh yeah, page page 975, you know? And it's like, and that's the part I think is the disconnect many times when I'm working with a person and I want so badly for them to have better relationships or to be more confident in their world or to be absolutely positive that God's given them giftedness that will impact the world. I mean, I just want that for everybody. And I encounter enough people that even if they're like, yeah, yeah, I believe it, but then you're like, no, you don't. And I'm like, Do you really believe? Yes, I do. What question do I ask now? Because they've already lied to me or themselves once, you know, and that part, it's just amazing about that, about Jesus. And the only thing I have, my saving grace is always when I feel stressed, I'm like, how am I gonna do this? I'm like, my job is to love this person and to realize I don't know what that means or what's absolutely best, but I can trust Jesus that if I humble myself and keep loving this person and don't give in to my fear and don't give in to my coping mechanisms and you know, all these kind of things that are that just derail stuff. And I'm like, no God, in this millisecond, in this millisecond, I'm committing to loving you and loving this person and trusting that you can work through me. Man, my life goes better when I do that. But if you want me to write that down and tell you how it went, number one, it won't happen again. It never happens the same way. And number two, I've missed steps. I will never be able to record it.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

Man, that oh man is so so so good. And I I love that it was we we covered approximately what three verses today, maybe four, three. I I I just want to be I just want to be compelled always that uh the God of the universe, um, the creator of all things, when he first, you know, he steps into creation, um we get this first true one of the first true realizations of who of what what where the story is going um and who Jesus is, and it comes from the mouth of a fisherman who we know later, who we know is has racist thoughts, we know um it can just be a b big old idiot sometimes. Um and and God cares so much about what that man thinks of him, who he thinks he is. Um and God thinks God cares about it in the same way for me and for you, for the single mom, for the king, for the peasant, uh all up and down the board. Um that Peter being the one to say this and for this to be the recording, um, is just a further example um that we think of Peter as Peter. We think of Peter as as what we'll see, you know, the uh as what we'll maybe we'll talk about, you know, coming up and and what he'll do and and how he'll um how he'll be later. Um but it is scandalous that this confession, not only that Peter says it, um, but it's truth and that um God wants us to hear it from the mouth of somebody like Peter. Um and so if God wants to hear it from somebody like the mouth of Peter, then you know we can we can trust that he wants to hear it from a mouth like us. Grace, peace, and love.