This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:01] Go ahead and grab a seat. Everybody, it was just a couple months ago that my friend Ryan Pearson, I rang the doorbell on this building for the first time. That was back in November. We had had a couple of exciting sundaes and we were thinking, man, we got to take our church to the next level. I know. What could we do to take our church to the next level? Maybe God could give us a place to do a wonna. That was our idea. And so we were like, let's go ask a few churches if they would allow us to have a wanto at their building. And we went up to a few churches and we rang the doorbell and we met one of the pastors that was here. And it's a very friendly guy. And he said, Do you think that one night a week we could come in here and do a wonna? You know, it's for kids, it's memorizing Bible verses and we're not big church. What do you think? And he said, well, actually, and he told us of a sad story about how the church was going to have to leave the property. And so they couldn't let us use a.

[00:00:56] And as planting a church, it was hard to hear about a church closing and our heart went out to them.

[00:01:01] But then as Ryan and I were driving away, we were like, whoa, that means maybe a different church could go into that building. And we began to pray and God opened a door for us to make an offer on the building. And God opened a door for the landlord to accept that offer. And God opened the door on January 1st for us to move into this building. And today, God has opened a door for us to have our first service here in this place.

[00:01:29] You think you think we can do a wanto in here? You think this place will be all right for Awana?

[00:01:34] You see how much greater God was thinking than what we were thinking.

[00:01:39] Now, I don't know what's up? What's up with us? And first, services in crazy weather. But if you were at our first service at Mareena High School was like the hottest weather we've had in Huntington Beach in a decade. And now we got like the monsoon. You know, I don't know what's going on. But I do remember one thing I said at that first service as I was looking at a bunch of miserable, sweating people in the bowl at Marina High School. I said, hey, if God takes us here in Marina or he takes us into comfortable, so comfortable seats with AC, here's one thing you can count on. We're going to do a CompassHB Bible church. We're gonna preach this book right here. All right. And so that's what I want to do right now, is I want to open up this Bible to Matthew, Chapter 16 versus 13 to 18. We have picked a special text that we're going to work through all week. We'll be working through Matthew, 16 and 17, a very special week in the life of our church. And I want if you are unfamiliar with the Bible and but if you've got one of our Bibles, it's on page 822. So it'd be great if everybody could turn there. We're going to turn to a bunch of Bible passages. You don't know where they all are. At least you could find Matthew 16 on pages, eight hundred page eight hundred and twenty two. I believe this is the most critical passage in the gospel of Matthew or any of the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It's the turning point. It's the confession of who Jesus really is and wants the disciples say who Jesus really is. Things change from then on. So read with me. Well, maybe one of the most famous passages in all of the Bible. Matthew, Chapter 16. Start with me in verse 13, please. It says now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesar Reia Phillip High.

[00:03:25] He asked his disciples, Who do people say that the son of man is?

[00:03:30] And they said, well, some say, John, the Baptists and others say Alija and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

[00:03:39] And he said to them, But who do you say that I am? And Simon, Peter replied, You are the Christ, the son of the living God.

[00:03:52] 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.

[00:04:15] We want to make it very clear right from the beginning.

[00:04:18] As excited as we are to be in a building here in Huntington Beach, we're not going to build this church on a building. Jesus Christ is going to build this church on the rock of who he is. Can I get name in from anybody on that day when I put our confidence in the fact that we have a place we want to put our confidence in Christ. That's why we want to direct our attention to this passage. And as you study the Bible, the more information you have about the Bible, the more it's going to help you to understand. It's I don't know when you read in verse 13, let's start from the beginning when it says Jesus came into the district of Caesar Rio. Philip, why? I don't know if that's just one of those Bible names of cities that you've never been to or never planned to be at. You don't really know what, Cesira.

[00:04:59] A pie is. But it helps if you do know it tells you something. That's an important detail. And so let me just put a map of Israel up here on the screen. Wait a minute. We've got screens, everybody.

[00:05:14] Now, I know some of you guys who have been to normal churches. You're like, what are these people so excited about? I could point to a picture. This is amazing. So there's Israel right there. OK, now let's talk about some places in Israel that you're familiar with. Kay, who's heard of Jerusalem? Anybody ever heard of Jerusalem? OK, that's in this. That's in the south. OK. So in the southern area right here by the Dead Sea, we've got some places maybe I've heard of Jerusalem being kind of the capital city. And then you got Bethlehem, Jericho, maybe you've heard of them. Right. And so we know Jesus. He ends up dying there in Jerusalem. That's kind of a hub of everything in Israel. That's the central point for the Jews. But then we hear a lot about the north area of Israel, the Sea of Galilee. And you can maybe think of Jesus walking on the water or calling the disciples who are fishermen. And we know that Jesus grew up in Nazareth and we hear about Capernaum and these other coastal towns. So you've got the southern part around Jerusalem. You've got the northern part around the Sea of Galilee. And most of the accounts of Jesus in the gospels happen at one of those two different places. So maybe you're familiar with them. But when it says season three of Philip Pie, we're talking about the way up north here. We're talking about a territory that is modern day Syria. Not even really in the in the nation of Israel anymore. So when it says we went up to the region of the district of Caesarea, Philip PIJ, what it's saying there as we left it all behind for a minute, we got out of the the hubbub of Jerusalem where the religious leaders were really starting to hate on Jesus and come against him. And we even moved away from Galilee, where these massive crowds were starting to follow Jesus around because of his teaching and his miracles.

[00:07:06] Now, we've kind of gone on a little retreat. This is like a getaway, like we're trying to hide. And here now where it's quiet, where it's just Jesus and his inner most disciples here, we're going to now have kind of as we retreat away, the most important conversation that Jesus in his disciples have ever had.

[00:07:26] So we're getting away to focus on what really matters. We're going way north. That's what you should hear when you see hear the idea of Caesarea Philipot. And that's what we want CompassHB Bible Church to be. There's a reason we call ourselves Compass because we want to point people in a certain direction. I don't know if you've noticed, but it's very hard in the hubbub and the bustle and the busyness of Orange County. Right. Everybody here is a busy person. I don't even have to ask you. Right. That's just how it is. It's hard to quiet yourself. It's hard to slow down and just take a moment with you and your family, much less to quiet your soul. And to have a conversation about what really matters. Many times this week, did you have a conversation between you and God or with someone else about death? Death is pretty much the biggest problem that we're facing in life.

[00:08:25] Did you have a problem with anybody about their their heart, the internal part of their being? We call it a soul. Did you have a conversation about not how you're doing, how your days go and what it's on your to do list, but you on the inside?

[00:08:41] It's very hard to talk about these things in Orange County, California, in the year 2015.

[00:08:46] So much superficiality, so much busyness whenever you come into this place. Here at Compas, where we want to take you is way north, OK? We want to take you above everything that's going on in the day to day. And we want to have the conversation here that really matters. And Jesus Christ, he's going to kick off. What I'm suggesting is the most important question that you're ever going to be asked. Look at it with me in verse 13. He starts with a lead up question. And he says, Who do people say that the son of man is now the real question he's going to get to? Clearly, this is a setup question.

[00:09:22] The real question is in verse 15. Who do you say that I am? Most important question, any person in this room will ever be asked. The ultimate test in life. It's a pass or fail test. Who do you say Jesus is?

[00:09:38] But before he gets to that, he starts with what's the talk? What do people say? What are the ideas that are out there? Who do people say that the son of man is? And the answer comes here in verse 14. Well, some say John the Baptist. Others say Alija and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Now, Jesus, he. He is clearly a different kind of dude here in Israel. I mean, no one ever in the gospel accounts tries to deny that Jesus did real miracles, that he did things that could not be naturally explained. In fact, even his enemies. They couldn't try to act like the things didn't happen. They just said that demons were the reason that Jesus could do miracles.

[00:10:25] But everybody had to admit there was something unique. Such special supernatural about Jesus Christ.

[00:10:32] And so there was a lot of talk.

[00:10:34] And the consensus here is, well, maybe he's John the Baptist now at this point. John the Baptist is dead. Everybody that they mention here has already died.

[00:10:43] So how can this man do these supernatural things? The prevailing theory going around was that he must be somebody from the past who has risen from the dead. So he must be somebody who's come back. And that's why he can show us a glimpse into the other side. And so people have their different little theories about who he is, something. John the Baptist kind of pick your favorite Old Testament prophet. For sure. He's a prophet. He's a man of God.

[00:11:11] He's a spokesperson for the Almighty. That's the consensus here. Now, notice they don't answer with the negative view on Jesus. Everything that they say here is a good thing, being a prophet, speaking for God. All of these men that Jesus is compared to here, John the Baptist, Alija, Jeremiah, they're all held in high regard in the Bible. So these are good things that they say about Jesus Christ. And you know what? That's really the problem. The problem is too many people are saying good things about Jesus Christ and not God, things about Jesus Christ.

[00:11:48] Too many people have lowered Jesus from who he really is. The answer was in the question. It says, Who do people say that the son of what is Jesus say there?

[00:11:57] Who do people say that the son of man is the son of man? Was Jesus his favorite way to refer to himself? Jesus has many different names that are that is used to describe him in the New Testament. But the one he like to drop was, well, I'm the son of man, and he would say that. And so when he says, who do people say that? The son of man is that you could look at Mark Chapter eight or Luke Chapter nine, where it says this same account. And it's also said, who do people say that I am? Because that's how Jesus would refer to himself is as the son of man. Now, right there, that son of man, it sounds like he's saying born of a woman, a normal man. But if you know your Old Testament, if you know your Bible, you're going to realize Jesus is already giving a hint to the answer of who he is. Turn to Daniel, Chapter seven. Let's go back into the Old Testament, because Jesus is dropping a reference that this is going to make a lot more sense if you know what he's referring to, because in Daniel Chapter seven, it refers to one like a son of man. And when I hear son of man, that sounds humble. That sounds lowly for a title for God, but not if you've ever read Daniel. Chapter seven versus 13 to 14 on page here. Seven hundred and forty five if you got one of our Bibles. Look at this with me. It says in Daniel, chapter seven, verse 13, I saw on the night visions.

[00:13:16] Here's an Old Testament Prophet Daniel, and he makes this prophecy behold with the clouds of heaven. There came one like a son of man, and he came to the ancient of days. So here's this guy riding on the clouds and he comes to the ancient of days, which is a title to God, the father in heaven. And this one, Riding on the clouds, is presented before God, the father in heaven. And to him, the son of man was given dominion and glory and the kingdom and all peoples, nations and languages should serve him his dominion. That means his absolute, unquestioned authority. His dominion is an ever lasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed. You see? That's the answer to the question. OK, who do people say that the son of man is profit, doesn't cut it good moral teacher doesn't cut it. Anything less than the one with absolute authority over all living beings.

[00:14:26] That's who Jesus Christ really is.

[00:14:30] And so we've got to say that the biggest problem we've got is this middle ground view of Jesus. Let's get that down for point number one. No more middle ground.

[00:14:39] We got to be done with this Jesus Christ. That'll just kind of calm and sprinkle some blessing on your life and do a bunch of good things for you and just kind of be the savior that you want em to be because he's really all about you. We got to watch out for how people talk about Jesus Christ. You know, if I were to ask you, who do people say that Jesus is today? There's a lot of different answers that you could give me to that question, because politicians, all the politicians in American history always refer to Jesus in a popular way, in a positive way. But it doesn't seem to me like they they are following Jesus Christ. Now, get a man from out of town. I right. All right. I mean, if somebody knocked on your door and they were telling you about Jesus Christ, do you think they would be telling you about what the Bible says about Jesus Christ? Or would they probably be Jehovah's Witnesses? Very friendly people with the yellow literature that they'll leave if you're not there. Maybe you've seen that before, right? Do they believe that Jesus is God? What kind of. They believe that Jesus is a God, that Jesus was created by God and then Jesus created everything else is kind of a middle man. Which is impossible because the creator cannot be created. But that's what Jehovah's Witnesses would tell you about Jesus Christ. How about what the Mormons would say about Jesus Christ? Would the Mormons tell you that Jesus Christ is God? Yes, they would. And they'll be happy to. And they're probably the friendliest people that you're going to meet on the street. Right. But then if you dig a little deeper and you find out what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints really teaches, what they teach is that Jesus was born the brother of Satan and that he went the right way and Satan went the wrong way and he became a God.

[00:16:26] That's not what Daniel said at 13, 14 is saying.

[00:16:29] There's a lot of bad information about Jesus, in fact, I would go so far as to say more people in Huntington Beach have heard the wrong view of Jesus than the right view of Jesus Christ. And the truth is, the biggest problem is churches like ours who are giving you this idea that Jesus will love you if you don't do what he says.

[00:16:51] Like, you can have all the salvation of Jesus, but none of the lordship of Jesus Christ in your life like you can somehow experience his blessings without being under his dominion. That's the biggest problem, is this half way view on Jesus, where he's done everything for you and requires you to do nothing for him. You're not going to meet that Jesus Christ in the Bible?

[00:17:15] No. There's one who's coming on the clouds and every I will see him and everyone will mourn because he has absolute authority.

[00:17:23] And you have to do what Jesus Christ says. That's the implication of the scriptures.

[00:17:31] And so we've got people here today in this room right now who would say after this service positive things about Jesus Christ. But unless he calls the shots in your life, unless he is the one that is above all things and he gets to tell you whatever he wants you to do and you're ready to do it, then you don't have the right view of Jesus Christ.

[00:17:52] You have a weak sauce, middle view of Jesus that is so common right now.

[00:17:58] So many people think they know him. And what does he say, my friends, on that day? Many will say to me, Lord, Lord. And what will he say to many people who think they know who he is?

[00:18:11] Depart from me. I never knew you.

[00:18:15] There's a lot of people who have the wrong view of Jesus that are sitting in churches exactly like this one. And they don't see who he really is. Do you see that Jesus Christ is someday going to come on the clouds?

[00:18:31] This is the problem that they had in the time of the New Testament. They wanted a messiah. They were like, OK, let's do this right here. We like this. See verse 14. Daniel 714. Dominion Glory Kingdom that. Yeah, we'll have that right now. Let's make Israel the biggest, baddest, best nation on the planet and all the other nations they can bound down to our messiah who will reign over them. That sounds good. Every Jew was longing for that messiah to come and reign and judge.

[00:19:00] And then came Jesus Christ. And he didn't assert himself to that authority. In fact, he humbled himself and he died on a cross. No Jew wanted their messiah on a cross.

[00:19:12] See? And they totally misinterpreted who he was.

[00:19:18] They were ready for somebody to reign and conquer. And they got a humble savior instead, and they rejected him and said, crucify him in our day. It's pretty much the exact opposite.

[00:19:30] Say, Oh, we want the humble savior. Oh, come and make me stop feeling guilty about my sin.

[00:19:36] Oh, come and take away the burden of all the bad things that I've done. But then to be the boss, then to be the ruler, then to get to reign over me and tell me what to do. See, that's the part where tripping out about isn't it. Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I say?

[00:19:55] That's what Jesus Christ thinks.

[00:19:59] You're gonna call him Lord, if that's your answer to who is Jesus?

[00:20:01] He's the Christ. And you've got to be ready to do what he says.

[00:20:06] We've lost the meaning of Messiah when it says that he's the Christ. Let's make sure everybody gets this note of you're taking notes. Write this down. Christ equals Messiah. Christ is the New Testament way to say an Old Testament idea of Messiah and Messiah. If we were to translate it, it means anointed one. Hopefully, if you've been coming to Compass, you've heard this before, you can nod your head at me right now and let me know your track. Right. But if you're just joining us, Jesus is the anointed one. And everyone who got anointed in the nation of Israel had a position of authority.

[00:20:37] Kings got anointed because they ruled over the people, prophets, God anointed because they spoke with the authority of God himself, priest God anointed because they could bring people straight into the presence of God. Everybody who God anointed was an authoritative representative of God himself. And so when the Messiah comes, he's going to have an authority that people have forgotten about.

[00:21:03] Jesus Christ.

[00:21:05] I mean, the truth is we should be longing for the Messiah, just like the Jewish people were. Do we not need somebody to come and make things right in this messed up world? Do we not need somebody to ride in on the clouds and save the day right now? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm talking to Americans. My bad.

[00:21:23] Because we are the biggest, baddest and best nation on the planet, right? And we kind of like that. Because we've got a government that's of the people and it's for the people and it's by the people.

[00:21:36] So who's the Lord? Who's the king? Who's the prophet? Who's the priest in America?

[00:21:42] Say.

[00:21:44] I don't know why Burger King's still in business, if you go to Burger King. You should come talk to me after the service because I don't go there and I ask people, do you go there? Can't find anybody who goes there. But I still see it all over the place. And I whenever I drive by Burger King. They've got such a catchy slogan that so unbiblical. I can't get it out of my mind. Right. What is it your way?

[00:22:09] Right away. Anybody ever heard that before at Burger King now? Right. It's in there. Right. And there you are, king of your domain, kickin back a big beefy patty. That's America right there.

[00:22:21] See, we think that we are in charge. You think, you capitalist. You person who believes in this recent experiment called democracy. You think that you're in control of your own life.

[00:22:40] That's wrong. Jesus Christ is in control of your life.

[00:22:45] Jesus Christ is the lord of heaven and earth. And someday he's going to come on the clouds. We're not making this up. This is this is the future. Look at Philippians Chapter two with me, what they were longing for in the Old Testament.

[00:22:58] We should be longing for in the New Testament because it's still yet to happen. Oh, Jesus came and Jesus died and Jesus rose. But let me ask you, where is Jesus Christ right now and what does he look like? Because right now he's at the right hand of the father.

[00:23:15] Right now, the son of man is standing before the ancient of days and he's getting ready to get back on his clouds and ride back in and rule and rain and exercise of authority and judgment.

[00:23:28] That's where Jesus is. And here's a passage. It describes his humility, his love, the sacrifice that we've already sung about that we want to celebrate. And then it says this in Philippians, chapter two, verse nine, Philippians Chapter two, verse nine. It says, Therefore, God has highly exalted him.

[00:23:50] And that's bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

[00:23:55] So that that the name of Jesus every knee should bough in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is. What does it say? They're my friends.

[00:24:09] Amen the boss, the one who is in charge.

[00:24:14] And when everybody gets down on their knees and confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, the Lord, whatever title you want to use for his DHT.

[00:24:26] God is gonna be pleased.

[00:24:28] It gives great glory to God, the father when his son is exalted to his rightful place. Do you believe this? Can you see this? We can't see it by sight.

[00:24:39] So I'm asking if you have the eyes of faith this morning. Can you see a day that is yet in the future when Jesus Christ will come on the clouds? And every single person, whether they believed in him or not, will now because it's a fact.

[00:24:56] That he is lowered and your tongue will confess, you will say it.

[00:25:01] You will hear it come out of your mouth. He has the authority and dominion over my life.

[00:25:07] That's who he is. That day is coming. This is reality. We're not making this up. This is what the Bible clearly teaches.

[00:25:16] And the reason we're gathered here this morning is to make sure that everybody here can say by faith what someday you will say by sight that Jesus Christ is Lord. You need to make a good confession of who Jesus is in your life. Just like Peter did. Just like every person will do. Have you seen it here right now? Who do you say Jesus is?

[00:25:39] I'm not talking about if you know that he's Lord. And that's the right answer. I'm talking about is that the real answer for your life?

[00:25:47] But you live to do one very simple thing, obey your Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:25:53] That's your do. That's even your desire. It's your delight. It's not a duty. It's something you do because you want to do it because you love Jesus Christ. Because you believe who better to call the shots? Who better to tell me what to do?

[00:26:08] Could I ever have a better master? Shirley sing. Shirley Satan. Shoot my own self could not tell me what to do. Like my loving Lord Jesus Christ. Who else?

[00:26:20] What I want to run my life. Hopefully that's what you're saying. Very quietly. Because we're that kind of church. Right? But hopefully you resonate with that. Go back to Matthew, 16, and that's what Peter says, and you just got a notice here. The official language that all of a sudden starts coming out. Right? We throw out the teaser question, OK? Who do people say is the son of man is we get a lot of good answers that are all the wrong answers. And then we ask the question. But who do you say that I am? Pop quiz. Pass or fail? Eternity hangs in the balance. And notice how all of a sudden here in verse 16, Simon Peter replied, Right. Like, how does it get so official all of a sudden? You know, it's like I just call him Peter. Do you just call him Peter? Right. But now all of a sudden he steps forward.

[00:27:07] Right. And he's Simon. Peter, like notice.

[00:27:09] This is a very important thing that he's about to say. You are the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, the son of the living God, which is to say that he is one, in essence with the father. That is a statement of DHT. I'm not calling you a prophet. I'm calling you God. That's what he says right there. I see you for who you really are. And Jesus answered him. Notice the official the official ness of this. Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah. I mean, now all of a sudden this guy's got all these different names. Right. It's like, well, Simon, Peter came forward and answered. And then he says, right, you are. And that's like Simon, son of Jonah. That's what bar means there. Son of Jonah. Do you see what just happened? Who am I? You're the Christ son of living God. You're right. Simon, son of Jonah. We're like exchanging official names here. Right. I mean, there's this is a very. They're trying to draw your attention. This is a unique statement here. In fact, this is like the turning point once once Peter says this. Now, if you look down in verse 21, the heading there, Jesus four tells his death and resurrection. You want to do something fun, go read Matthew one through 16 all the way up till there. And you'll see that Jesus never talks about his dying or his rising again until this moment where they say who he is. And once they say him for who he really is, then he says, Now, let me tell you what I came here to do. Now you know who I am. Let's get to the second part. What I'm here to do. But first, they had to see that he was the Christ. And it says here in verse 17, blessed are you. Oh, wow. That's so.

[00:28:48] Privileged that you would know that Simon, for Flesh and Blood, has not revealed this to you.

[00:28:54] You can't figure this out for yourself. You can't learn this. But my father, who is in heaven, the only way that you can see Jesus on the clouds, the only way that Jesus can become Lord of your life, where you want to live for him is if the father reveals it to you.

[00:29:10] So. God has to save you. You can't save yourself.

[00:29:16] You can't be a better person. You can't try harder. Coming to church isn't going to earn you points or stickers in heaven.

[00:29:23] God has to reveal it to you. And he says, wow, Peter, do you realize what you just said? The only way you could know that and truly have put your faith in that is because God opens your eyes to see who I am.

[00:29:38] You see a man before you. But behold, I am God.

[00:29:42] That's what Jesus is saying. And you get it. What a privilege.

[00:29:48] I mean, if you can say here this morning that Jesus Christ is the Lord and you know that you live in obedience to him, do you realize the only reason that you can say that is because God revealed it to.

[00:30:02] Because he was good enough to open your eyes to see.

[00:30:06] Go to Second Corinthians chapter for a passage that describes this enlightenment, this eye opening, this revelation where God gives someone sight to see Jesus for who he really is. There is no other way that you're just going to one day get it unless God reveals it to you and it describes it here. And Second Corinthians, chapter four, verse three. Look at this, says An, Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. And so many people are are perishing. They don't know God. They're out in the darkness.

[00:30:46] They're lost.

[00:30:48] And here's what's happened. Verse four. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ. Who is the image of God? Another statement of his duty for what we proclaim is not ourselves. We're not here to talk about CompassHB Bible Church. No, we're here to talk about Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves. We're just servants. We're just servants of the master. For Jesus sake, for God who said Let light shine out of darkness, let there be light has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Everybody here was born blind.

[00:31:36] That was what this passage is saying.

[00:31:39] You cannot see who Jesus really is. You may think you know the facts about him. But to see him by faith to where your life is, surrender to his lordship, to where you become his servant. No, God, he reveals that to you. He opens your eyes so that you can see the glory that is Jesus Christ.

[00:31:58] I mean, clearly, you can see, by the way, they take his name in vain.

[00:32:02] By the irreverent references that are made to churches like this one all over America.

[00:32:08] All of the time, there is not a high view of Jesus Christ in America right now here in here in Huntington Beach. People don't worship him as God. They claim they don't see it.

[00:32:20] He's coming riding on the clouds, but they can't picture it. They market.

[00:32:24] They think it's something that is fictitious, made up to make people feel better about themselves.

[00:32:32] And some of us here, we have had the privilege of God opening our eyes and now we can see what is real. Now we could see that Jesus Christ in his coming both in how he came before to pay for our sin and how he will come again to reign over us. That is the glory of God. And our eyes see it and we worship it. And we love it. And it reorients our entire lives to where now my passion is Jesus Christ. Have your eyes been opened?

[00:33:02] My friends.

[00:33:04] To see the glory of Jesus Christ, can you see it here this morning? Can you worship it from your heart? Can you live for it? Do you have a desire for Jesus that never goes away, that you can always see revived and brought back in your heart?

[00:33:20] Have your eyes really been opened? It's a work that God does.

[00:33:25] Who do you say that Jesus is? It's not most people you can tell they don't get it because they refer to a Jesus of the past.

[00:33:34] They refer to a man who lived 2000 years ago. The question is in the present tense. Who do you say Jesus is right now?

[00:33:45] Some people in this room could see him and some people you kind of understand what we're talking about. But your eyes have not really been opened to see the glory.

[00:33:57] How can you know which person you are?

[00:34:00] How can you know if you're spiritually seeing or blind? Here this morning, go to ax chapter two. OK.

[00:34:06] Turn with me to ax chapter two and let's look at the first sermon of a church and Jesus made a promise. We'll go look at it in a minute. You are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church. And Peter was Simon. Peter Simon Bar Jonah. He was the appointed spokesperson who preached the first sermon of the church. And he preaches it here and acts, too. And you could read the whole sermon. It goes on for a while. There's a miracle. The Holy Spirit shows up, draws a great crowd with a loud sound of a mighty rushing wind. They're speaking in different languages, so people from all over the world can understand what they're saying. So a massive crowd comes together and Peter preach it. And guess what? He preaches that Jesus is the Christ, the Lord and his ends. His sermon with this, an ax to verse 36. He says, let all the house of Israel. Let every single person who can hear my voice. All the Jews at that time. Let everybody know. Therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom you crucified. I mean, can you imagine walking right back to the same people who shouted Crucify him and rejected Jesus? And now you go to him and say, hey, I just want to make it clear who Jesus is. He's the Christ. He's the Lord. And by the way, you killed an.

[00:35:35] That's how you preach sermons right there. That's pretty intense.

[00:35:40] You got your pointy finger out and you're saying it's your fault that he died. Now, how can you know if you see Jesus as Christ and Lord? Well, you'll have the response that these people had that day.

[00:35:53] Many of them. Look what happens in the next verse when they when they really got who Jesus was. It says now when they had heard this, they were cut to the heart. They were convicted over their sin. They realize that Jesus had died in their place. And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

[00:36:19] See, when you really see Jesus, you do something about it.

[00:36:23] There's no way that you have ever seen the glory of Jesus and had your eyes open. If your life continued to be the same as it was before. You can't see the glory of the almighty lord and just keep going about your Orange County busy life.

[00:36:37] It will shake you to your core. It will change you from the inside out.

[00:36:42] And they know they need to do something. And here's the response. This is what we would still say to anybody here today. And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized.

[00:36:51] Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ. Why? Because your sins need to be forgiven. And then you'll get this new life. You'll get the gift of the Holy Spirit.

[00:37:01] Oh, how great it will be for the promises for you and your children and for all who are far off people meeting on the other side of the world and in their first service in a new building. 2015, everyone whom the Lord, our God calls to himself. And then with many other words, he bore witness and he continued to exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. You can't keep living like everybody else. Turn around. Repent.

[00:37:31] Stop the sin.

[00:37:33] And those who received his word. Those who could see Jesus and believe they put their faith in what he was saying. They were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

[00:37:44] Now, that's how you do a first service right there. You know what I'm talking about. That is impressive.

[00:37:50] The eyes were open. The people could see.

[00:37:54] And what you see when you see Jesus is you see your sin for what it is and you don't want it, and you turn from it and you want more of him. You want to serve him.

[00:38:06] That's what we see here.

[00:38:07] They're willing to get baptized in front of everybody to say that now my life, I've been washed of my sin. I have this new life in Christ. And I want to let everybody know publicly my main interest, my primary purpose. My number one consuming passion from this day forward will be Jesus Christ forever.

[00:38:28] Nothing will ever excite my heart like living for him. That's what they say. And a church breaks out, revival takes over the city of Jerusalem. That's what happens when people see Jesus Christ. It's more than knowing the facts. It's when your heart gets made new and you get the Holy Spirit and you turn from your sin. When did you turn from your sin to follow Jesus Christ? Who do you say that Jesus is? I'm sure we have some people who realize right now I didn't really know Jesus walking in here this morning.

[00:39:09] And I hope we have many people like that throughout our days that God gives to us in this building. And if you ever want to talk to somebody after the service or if you bring a friend and they want to talk to somebody, because maybe usually the way I hear people answer the question of who do you say Jesus is if they don't know Jesus, they answer it with this question.

[00:39:29] Well, what should I do? Say, OK, now I see who Jesus is. And I realize if he's the Lord and he's the judge and he reigns supreme. Well, I don't live up to his standard. So tell me, somebody help me out of my sins. Get forgiven. How do I get saved like you guys are always talking about? How do I start this new life living for Jesus Christ? Well, any time you come into this room, there's always people that you can talk to.

[00:39:53] Hey, we've got this team that we're gonna call CompassHB Connect and they'll welcome you. You know, every church has got a greeting team. Thank you for being here. So good to have you. But really, what they want to do is they want to talk to you about this question right here. They want to talk to you about your soul. I mean, will greet your body, but we want to talk to your soul.

[00:40:11] That's what we want here at this church. I mean, we'll give your body, don't it? Don't get me wrong, we've got a whole room dedicated. OK. I. But I care about who you think Jesus is.

[00:40:22] I care about the state of your soul right now. I care about where you're going to go when you die.

[00:40:28] Because your body is temporary.

[00:40:32] We got people who want to talk about outside this door. There'll be a compass connect table. You could pour out your heart. Those people have been trained. They're ready to talk to you up in front of this door. There will be people here ready to talk to you. I will be standing up here after the service. And it would make my day, if you would want to come and say to me, what should I do? See, because people who see Jesus do something about it. They respond to God's revelation. Let's get that down for point number two. We want to respond to God's revelation. You can't say you've seen Jesus without a radical transformation in your life, a turning from sin and a living for him. Many people will call Jesus Lord. But few people live like say. And the people who live like it are those who have really seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Go back to Matthew 16, because I want to get to this promise that should be so inspiring for us as a church that wants to lift.

[00:41:33] Hi, the name of Jesus Christ. Well, here's a promise that he says it's like Peter, right? Answer. You pass the test. And then he just drops the ultimate promise here for people like us living in the New Testament time of the church, he says. And I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock, see little wordplay going on here. This is Matthew, 16 18.

[00:41:55] You're Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So the name Peter means rock. See? And so he's doing a little wordplay. You say in your petrossian on this, Petra, that's in the Greek language. I'm going to build my church. Now, there's been a lot of debate. There's a lot of confusion about how to interpret that particular verse right there, because we have some. So people that we know, a certain church who has kind of said that, that what Jesus has done here is he has made Peter the first pope and he is given now, Peter, the authority to lead the church.

[00:42:38] How Peter thinks and that kind of has led to the papacy, which has led to what we know today as Roman Catholicism. And so that's one interpretation that people have where it kind of puts a man as a guy who's the head of the church. Now, personally, I don't believe any man should ever be running the Church of Jesus Christ. I think he can do a fine job of that on his own. And I think when it says the rock here, we're not referring to Simon, Peter, Simon, Bach, Jonah. No, we're referring to the correct answer.

[00:43:09] We're referring to the revelation that God gave to him. We're referring to the good news that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. That is the rock that the church is built on. That's the foundation for everything after. If you don't start with the right foundation, it will crumble and fall. It has to be Jesus, the Messiah, the Lord God.

[00:43:35] That has to be what we're building.

[00:43:37] And if you've got that foundation, basically, Jesus says, I'll take it from there.

[00:43:41] Basically all building.

[00:43:44] Let me promise you something that I'm going to do. You keep exalting me. You keep worshiping me. You keep obeying me. And here's what all do. And this should encourage all of us who are just starting this new church. I will build my church.

[00:43:58] That's what Jesus says.

[00:44:02] And if you want to invest your life in something that, you know is going to yield a great reward, if you want a bandwagon, jump on a winner, OK, then I would recommend giving your whole life to the Church of Jesus Christ. Only thing promised.

[00:44:19] Guaranteed success. Is Jesus building his church? Yes.

[00:44:26] You're like, wow. I'm going to come and check out this church. I'm gonna get a part in this church is just getting started. They don't even know what they're doing. Clearly, look at some of this stuff. Right. I'm going to come in here and I'm going to become a part of this church. Good decision. Good decision. A lot of hobbies you could be doing on a Sunday morning. It's a lot of ways you could be spending your time sleep being one of the things that we're all thinking about at this time. Right. Or lunch might be something that's starting to come into your brain or stomach. However you work, you know what I mean?

[00:44:57] But if you decide I'm going to invest myself in this promise right here, I'm going to believe that this is true and I'm going to leave that he has all authority. And so if he says I'm going to build my church, then he can do it.

[00:45:09] And I want to start being a part of that.

[00:45:12] I want to give my time to that and I want to give my money to that. And I want to get to know these other people that Jesus Christ died on the cross for so they could have their sins forgiven. And I want to start loving people like Jesus loved people. I want to start seeing people not like we see people as like a race or a gender or whether they're rich or poor. I want to start seeing people as souls. And I want to start seeing people, whether they're in the light or whether they're in the darkness, whether they can see Jesus or whether they're still blind. And I want to know how to talk to people and lead them into the light of Jesus Christ.

[00:45:47] Best way you could ever spend your life.

[00:45:51] To invest. Turn off First Corinthians, Chapter three. I mean, Jesus makes the promise that he's going to build the church. But here's the amazing thing.

[00:45:58] If you call Jesus Lord and you're ready to serve him, he will use people like us here at Compass Bible Church, Huntington Beach, to build his church. That's what it says. First Corinthians, Chapter three. Look with me, first Corinthians, chapter three, start in verse nine. And he says, Here we are, God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's. What does he say? They're my friends building. We talked about this place. Twenty eight thousand square feet of raw sanctification, is that what we're talking about here?

[00:46:35] This is the building. Right here. Saved souls collected here in this fellowship. He says you are the building.

[00:46:46] And according to the grace of God given to me, I am like a skilled master builder. I laid a foundation. And now somebody else is building upon it. And let each one take care how he builds upon it. We can all grab a mop. Grab a broom. Grab a shovel. Grab a hammer. And we can all start building on the solid rock foundation of Jesus Christ. There's enough work for everybody here to do for the rest of your life to build that sense.

[00:47:14] So make sure you're building on the right foundation. And hey. Hey. Verse 11. No one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid. It's Jesus Christ. He's what you build the church on, the fact that he's the Messiah. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation, there's two types of ways you can invest into the Church of Jesus. You can build on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, giving your best serving the Lord with all your heart. Or you can build on it. It says here with wood, hay, straw leftovers. What time you got? Little bit of cash in your pocket. Maybe no serious investment. Well, each one's work will become manifest for the day, will disclose it because it will be refueled by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. And if the work that anyone has built on the foundation, if you build on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, if your work survives, well, you're going to receive a reward.

[00:48:11] But if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss. Though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

[00:48:20] So there's going to be an evaluation.

[00:48:23] You're a servant, it's saying you're a slave. And your master at the end, he's going to come to you and he's either going to say, well done, good and faithful servant. Or he's going to say, hey, you didn't really invest your life, you didn't really build on the right foundation, or you built your company or you built your family or you built your portfolio, you built up a great network of people, but it didn't build on the rock of Jesus Christ.

[00:48:50] The one thing that promises to last. What are you investing your life in?

[00:48:57] And so many people there live in there, given everything they've got and it's all going to crumble. Point number three, please build your life on the rock. Make sure you've got the solid foundation. I'm saying this to you because I care about you. I don't preach these things because people like them. I have a lot of people don't like them. I preach these things because I want you to see that if Jesus isn't the foundation, then what is your life going to amount to? If you're not living to do what the Lord says, then what will it matter when you meet him? Someday you will stand before Jesus as a soul and he will evaluate your life. He is the Messiah, the Lord. He is God. Are you ready to meet Jesus Christ? If you were to die today, could you stand before him and would he say. Well done. Look at how you invested your life. There is a reward? Or would it be?

[00:49:54] Insufficient foundation for your life.

[00:49:57] Jesus preached a sermon, his most famous sermon is called the Sermon on the Mount. It's in Matthew Chapter seven. Maybe you've read it before.

[00:50:04] And at the end of the sermon, he used his analogy of building on a rock. And he says, hey, there is a man, and he built his house on the rock.

[00:50:11] And a storm came and the winds blew and the house stood firm and there was another guy. He built his house on whatever he wanted to build it on sand, built it on himself, built it on making money, built it on. Pleasure. And the storm came and the wind blew and the house fell down.

[00:50:34] And here's the last line of Jesus's sermon and great was the fall of that house.

[00:50:43] He walks away. End of sermon. And I don't want your house to fall down. I don't want this house to fall down.

[00:50:54] I want you to be able to stand in front of your lord, and the only way to do that is to make sure that you have put your faith in Jesus Christ for your salvation. And today is the day we don't come here because this is the first service in the new building. We came here because this is the first service for some people to see Jesus Christ. And today is your day of salvation.

[00:51:16] If you know you don't know him, you can know him right now. Don't put it off.

[00:51:23] Zelma Ruki pastor. It's the first time I've ever had a building, I guarantee you some things aren't going to work out. And I just want to apologize right now. OK. OK, if you didn't get a good parking spot, I'm sorry. We're gonna work on it. All right. I'm just learning how to how to pastor a church.

[00:51:41] But I've been doing this for a while. As far as addressing souls with Jesus Christ, I've had the privilege of working with people of all different ages. I kind of specialized with young people, though for over a decade.

[00:51:52] I, I preach the gospel of Jesus to young people. And when you do youth ministry, see, they have this idea that you should take everybody away, like take them way up north or take them somewhere out of the way out of a city where you could just kind of get them isolated and when you do camp.

[00:52:09] So that's what we do for the young people. We do a winter camp and we do a summer camp for 12 years. I went away with young people and de camp two times a year and was like, eventually, if I'm gonna keep doing this, I got to learn how to do it right. And I tried to do it to the best of my ability. And eventually we got to start our own camp.

[00:52:29] And we called it revival. And the whole point of the camp, yeah, we had fun. We played crazy games. And, yeah, we tried to get everybody hanging out because what the young people to be welcomed in included. But the main thing we wanted to do was help eyes be open to see Jesus Christ.

[00:52:44] And we called it revival. And we started we started doing it for years. And you know what we saw? We saw young people become completely new right in front of us. And we saw him start getting saved. And I started to think to myself, you know, why don't churches, why does one doesn't like the whole church go way up north sometimes? Like, what is it? The whole church do camp. I started thinking about we need church camp.

[00:53:12] Why is it just the young people that get to go away and worship Jesus all week long and they're all getting saved and great things are happening? Right. And they know you're an adult. You don't get Jesus like that anymore. I mean, what's up with that? And so I started pitching this idea to everybody. We're going to camp for the entire church and people looked at me like, uh. Yeah. Yeah. Youth pastor. You know what I mean?

[00:53:34] You don't understand how the real world works, where people got jobs and mortgages and you can't get all the dads and the moms and the little kids all over there playing crazy games at camps. Ha ha. Have got an idea. What if we do camp right here? Say, what if this is like we setup for revive?

[00:53:55] What if we bring people back Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, Sunday after Sunday for year after year? What if we just see people get saved?

[00:54:03] Right here. Say.

[00:54:06] What if we started thinking, like, we need to have a revival now, like we set up the tent for a week. But like we're in a building for as long as God will let us be here.

[00:54:15] See? What are the young people get all the excitement, why can't the church have? You think this is anything different than a tent that we're sitting in right now? You think this is going to last forever?

[00:54:30] The only building that will last forever is the one Jesus Christ is building in his people that he saves.

[00:54:39] People tell me your days of revival are over. You're not. You're not seeing that kind of stuff anymore. People have said that to me. Let me tell you something about revival, let me tell you something about when Jesus saves people. It never stops. You dropped your baby off in the infant room here at our new building. You handed your baby to this young woman who got saved at Revival, who moved up here to plant this church because she loves Jesus Christ. If you worshiped today. And you heard that keyboard being played. You heard somebody who got saved by Jesus Christ at one of these revivals.

[00:55:17] Young, unsuspecting people wanting to get away for a weekend and have fun with their friends and then all of a sudden they saw Jesus Christ and their life changed forever.

[00:55:29] So that's what needs to happen to you. That's what needs to happen to everybody in Huntington Beach. That is what we are here to do, is see a revival that is going to begin and not end until Jesus Christ comes riding on the clouds and everyone gets on their knees.

[00:55:46] It says with their tongue. He has bought. We say that today. Who do you say Jesus is?

[00:55:58] I pray for these people, I pray for myself. I pray that you will give us. The view of Jesus Christ and all of his glory, and that we would worship him with all of our hearts and got my heart breaks for those who are here today.

[00:56:13] Having a great time, hopefully, in our new building, but God may be missing the point. Of seeing who Jesus is, God, please open eyes right now. Bring people out of the darkness and into the light.

[00:56:26] Let them see Jesus in his glory. Let let us see our sin for what it is. Cut people to the heart so that they would come up to me or one of our people here at the doors and say, What shall I do?

[00:56:39] And God, let us see you save people not only here this morning, but Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, next Sunday, when we have baptism service, as we have here, the testimonies of people that you have already saved. God work a great revival in the city of Huntington Beach. Let this building just be a tent that we're setting up for a little while, but we're going to get people excited about the glory of Jesus Christ until he comes and we get to see it with our eyes. Let us see it now by faith. We pray this in Jesus.