2 Peter 1:16 Why Peter Staked His Life On Jesus

Myths are fun until they ask for nothing and change no one. We’re taking a hard look at why Peter refused to call Jesus a legend, staking his life on what he heard and saw: the transfiguration’s blinding light, a voice from heaven, a crucified teacher sharing meals after death. Eyewitness courage matters, especially when it costs everything and pays in persecution rather than fame. If it were a hoax, it would be the worst one ever devised.

We also follow the long arc of Scripture that points straight to Jesus. From Genesis to Isaiah to Zechariah, the details stack: birth in Bethlehem, ministry in Galilee, a flight to Egypt and return, miracles promised and delivered, betrayal for thirty silver coins tossed into the temple and funding a potter’s field, hands and feet pierced centuries before Rome’s crosses shadowed the land. Taken together, these prophecies don’t read like convenient edits; they read like a map God drew long before the road was walked.

But evidence alone won’t carry a life that stays lukewarm. We challenge the habit of “digging potatoes” at the edge of commitment—the endless almost of waiting to jump in. Faith is not half-measures. It looks like surrender that reshapes desire, like serving when applause fades, like forgiving enemies because the Spirit refuses to let bitterness rule the heart. We share real next steps into community, ways to ask honest questions, and a bold invitation to move from safe spectatorship to a living relationship with Jesus that has weight, risk, and joy.

If this stirred you, share it with a friend, subscribe for more conversations that build resilient faith, and leave a review with your biggest question or next step—what will your jump look like?

Transcript

Welcome And Setbacks In Service

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the City Life Church podcast. We hope it encourages you. If you'd like to learn more about City Life or our mission, connect with us online at CityLifeSandiego.org. And while podcasts and Sunday mornings are helpful, they are no substitute for deeper personal relationships in the church.

Why Follow Jesus, Not Myths

Reading 2 Peter 1:16–21

Prayer For Deepened Faith

Myths Of Egypt Versus Jesus

Eyewitnesses And The Transfiguration

Miracles, Doubt, And Changed Lives

The “Hoax” Video And Martyrdom

SPEAKER_03 0:30

We had um like a bunch of cancellations for our helpers this morning, and I just gotta say, our friend Karen stepped up and is doing the lyrics for the first time ever, and she's killed it. Like she's done great. So she had exactly 17 seconds worth of training. So uh props to her. Uh apparently, I guess if if it's Valentine's Day weekend and you get Monday and then and Friday off, like you go out of town, or you choose to get sick, which I don't think you choose that. So uh I'm pumped that you guys are here, though. I'm glad that to be here together. Today we're gonna be in our Bibles in 2 Peter 1 16. 2 Peter 1 16. And if you don't have a good study Bible, we would love to give you one. We have them on both sides of the room in English, Spanish, Haitian, Crayol, and Tacalig. Um Biblias Bilingue disponibles uh costada del salon. Bonjour, nueva vecila, nuegan bib creo ICM, Puno Gratis, Nasamson o Crayol. Alright, so in our text last week, um Peter wanted to make sure that his readers would supplement their faith. Supplement their faith with goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. But this week we're not we're not as much tackling the what. We're tackling the why. Why follow Jesus? Why practice self-control and goodness when nobody else in the world seems to care? Why practice love when people aren't gonna love you back? And the answer is very simple. We do these things because Jesus is absolutely who he said he is. He is real, he is true. Jesus has boundless love for us. Our God has pursued us before time began. Following Jesus was the most important task on the planet for Peter, and sharing the goodness was a matter of life or death for Peter. And how did we know that? Well, it's because Peter was already risking his life. He wanted this message burned into their brains. And so I hope that you're with me. Second Peter 1:16. Uh let's read God's word. For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Instead, we were eyewitnesses to his majesty, for he received honor and glory from God the Father, when the voice came to him from the majestic glory, saying, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. We also have a prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart. Above all this, you know this. No prophecy of Scripture comes from the Prophet's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man. Instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. This is God's word. Would you pray with me, Church? Father, in your compassion this morning, I ask that you would light a fire in our faith. We want to be so enamored with your love, so compelled by your grace, so sure of your power that we cannot help but live our lives for you. Let your love fill us so full that we overflow to those who mock you. Might our cups overflow with mercy towards our spouses, our parents, our teachers, our friends, our children, and our enemies. Please remind us daily how far reaching your grace is. You made a place for us at your family table. Now let us live our lives making room for others. May we be convinced of your truth and justice this morning, and may we strive to follow you in new ways as your word stretches us. Please teach us. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you. We pray this all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen. Alright, so when I was growing up, I wanted to be, or when I was growing up as a kid, I knew that when I grew up, I wanted to be an Egyptologist. Some of you who know me pretty well know this by now. I was obsessed with Egypt. I had like Egypt like dolls in my house that were supposed to like go with you to the afterlife called Ushaptis. I had a King Tut burial death mask that I made in pottery class as a kid and like was fired in a kiln. It's still on my mom's wall from like when I was like 12, younger than that, actually, like 10. Um I loved Egypt. And I love the Egyptian myths, and I just I thought the myths were fun and I thought they were silly, you know? So you had the God set, and he killed his brother Osiris, and then spread his body uh 14 pieces all over Egypt, and so his wife Isis uh she went all over Egypt and found all the pieces but his heart and put it back together. Um, there are some other versions of that that are less safe for work, so we're gonna stick with heart. Becoming the first mummy in Egypt was Osiris, and he became God of the underworld. Later, his uncle Set cut out the eye of his nephew Horus, who was like a falcon god, and that's how you get the eye of Horus. Have you ever seen those eyes that are used in Egyptian paraphernalia? I had a necklace like that. I'm sure I can find a picture of me with a Horus necklace as a kid. Like that was me, you know. But I I didn't believe any of it. It was a fun myth, you know. And there's so many fun myths about gods. Like, it's funny to think that a goddess transformed herself into a quail to escape Zeus's unwanted advances. Or maybe that the goddess Athena lost a sewing contest to a lady named Arachne. Um, and so she punished that woman by turning her into a spider. Myths are fun, but they're just myths, right? Like, they're just myths, fun lies, fun stories to tell, fiction. Um, but Jesus, Jesus is no silly lie. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was the single most important event in the history of our planet. And when he rose from the grave after dying in front of a crowd of witnesses, when he walked out of the grave with his bloody hands inside, he showed himself to be to at least hundreds of people, if not thousands. Jesus showed he was no fanciful myth, no silly story. Instead, he is the living God, the Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of many. Jesus is no tall tale, Jesus is truth. And so today I'm gonna give you two ways myths will fail, but Jesus never does. My first one is this myths aren't worth dying for, but Jesus is. Myths aren't worth dying for, but Jesus is. Verse uh sixteen said, We did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Instead, we were eyewitnesses to his majesty. We saw this, for he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the majestic glory, saying, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. See, our faith was attested to by thousands of witnesses who saw the miracles of Jesus, who saw the resurrection and his after his murder. These are people who can tell you what they saw. Peter just happened to be one of them who was there. It happened up close for Peter. He heard God the Father talk about Jesus at his baptism. And when they were there with him at Mount Tabor, when Moses and the prophet Elijah showed up to comfort Jesus. This was called the transfiguration. The Greek word for transfiguration would also be metamorphosis. In Matthew 17, it says, Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John up to a high mountain by themselves. He was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun, his clothes became white as light. Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with them. A bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell down, fell face down, and they were terrified. Now I left out a little part of that, but I'm going to come back to it. See, Peter had seen things. Like when you see things, you can't you can't go back. He wanted them embedded in the skulls of his people because Peter knew his time was short. Peter was insistent on the things he saw when he followed Jesus. But surely lots of people question Peter's honesty, right? Like a lot of people want, Peter, man. I know that you said you saw this, but but really, like, come on, it's okay. You can you can you can be real with me. But Peter saw everything. Uh God, through Jesus, gave sight to the blind. He fed thousands of people with a loaf of wonder bread and two fish sticks. He brought people back from the dead. He gave lepers smooth skin. He healed a woman who had been bleeding for over a decade. And then Peter told people about it. And this Jesus guy, though, he did all that, Peter, like really, like, come on, man. People, of course, doubted him. Peter insisted, but he went beyond that. He had seen Jesus murdered. And on the third day, Jesus got up. Here's the thing. Jesus then, after being resurrected, ate a meal with him, multiple meals, sang songs with him, prayed with him. This is not a vapor or a ghost. This is a a man born again, like risen from death. Jesus was with them, and it said that we were eyewitnesses to his majesty. And then we we tend to say though, though, Peter, really, did you just make it up? Like, really, you could be real with me. That's kind of how we live our faith. And I think sometimes people feel the same way about us. Like Jesus didn't really do all those miracles in your life, did he? Like, look, you still have sin. How could Jesus have really done that? How did Jesus heal your cancer? Because you still got diabetes. Like, people don't believe us when God does some huge miracle in our life. But the thing is, he's done miracles in this room with these people. But we recognize, friends, that the cross is foolishness to those who are dying apart from Jesus. But to those of us who are being saved, it's the power of God. We've seen it, we've seen miracles. There are people in here who were addicted to heroin, to methamphetamines, raging alcoholics, terrible husbands, fakers, murderers. And then you met Jesus, and those things started to melt away. We didn't get perfect. No, no, no. We still have issues, but God did something major. You were saved by God for a greater purpose. Because Christians don't follow fairy tales, we follow the risen Christ. But some people just won't believe you, they just won't, no matter what you do. And Peter was up against it too, friends. Now I saw this video this week that I think is a perfect illustration. Like of if Peter was faking, then like there would be a weird reason for him faking. And so what I want to do right now is I want to take a second to show you a little video of what it would look like if Peter were faking and how silly that would look. I saw this on Instagram, I screen captured it on my phone. We're gonna try and show it to you now, okay?

SPEAKER_02 12:02

I need 100% participation for this to work. Yeah, everyone's here. All 12. 11 of us. What's the plan?

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Jesus' name. But stick with me, stick with me, stick with me. I have a plan. Okay, okay, I'm tracking with you. What's next? And then we're going to tell the whole world that you rose from the dead.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

You know what I mean?

Embarrassing Apostles As Evidence

SPEAKER_01 12:38

I love it already. All right, classic, classic, then once. And then we're all going to get broken again. Could you go over that last part real quick? We get more than what's the problem?

SPEAKER_00 12:58

I I like it. I like it. I mean, don't get me wrong, Pete. I love me. I could hoax as much as the next guy.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

What's in it for us? Do we all get riches, fame, and fortune first? Right?

SPEAKER_01 13:14

No, no, get this. You're going to be hated, persecuted, and revolent for the rest of your life.

Seeing With Your Own Eyes

Thomas, Belief, And Blessing

Prophecies Strongly Confirmed

Lukewarm Faith And Commitment

Double Dutch And Jumping In

The Gospel Call And Q&A Invite

Specific Messianic Prophecies

Confidence And Augustine’s Insight

Surfing, Risk, And All-In Discipleship

Life In The Spirit And Next Steps

Final Charge And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_03 13:29

I know that's a silly video. I know that's a silly video. But it but it really it really speaks to something, doesn't it? Like, why would Peter make this up for these reasons? Like, it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense. He was an eyewitness to his majesty, and so he wasn't about to make something up and then be murdered. Like, really not a very good game plan, is it? Like, it's not. And and like I just gotta say, the unique thing about the apostles of Jesus is that they didn't share the gospel for financial gain or power. This didn't get them rubies, this didn't get them cool, cool uh palaces or anything like that. No, this got them death. Outside of John, who was sent to an island to live the rest of his days, they were all murdered for their faith. Peter was martyred about three years after this letter, and he knew death was already stalking him because God had told him already. But instead of despair, he felt urgency. Now, who does that though? Like, I mean, if I'm faking this, like let's just be real, the moment it becomes difficult, I am going to give up. Like, with a quickness, right? Like nothing fake is worth dying for. I'm not about to die for Star Wars. Like, I'm not gonna do that. Um, I I would have been out there saying whatever they wanted me to say. If I didn't believe this, I would be saying, hey, yo, Zeus, whatever. Yeah, okay, Zeus, great. Dionysus, Osiris, Horus, whatever you want me to praise, just don't kill me. That's what I would say. The problem is when it's real, and then suddenly you can't do that anymore. You can't. And neither could Peter, because Peter saw it all happen in real time, and he refused to deny it because Christians don't follow fairy tales. We follow the risen Christ. Jesus lived, died, and walked out of the grave so we can walk boldly with him. Now, here's the other thing. If I were Peter and I were the rock leading this new Christian faith, I would have made sure none of these stories about me made it to print. You know what I'm saying? There are some stories about Peter that are, well, like less than appealing, a little bit embarrassing, right? Like, remember that transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain? I read to you from Matthew, but I left out a part where Peter said, Hey, master, it is good for us to be here. Let's set up three shelters. One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And it's like you can imagine like the dead silence where everybody's like, What? Why? What? Huh? Now, in Mark's gospel, it says uh he was afraid. So he didn't know what to say. Okay, all right. But Luke, he gets even more real with it. And here's what Luke says. Luke says he didn't know what he was saying. Now let me just say, if you're gonna be in charge of this religion, if you're gonna be the leader of this faith, wouldn't you have that scrubbed from the story? Like, why would you have yourself like if I'm gonna be the leader of a religion that has silly myths that's gonna make me rich and I'm gonna be the ruler, I'm not gonna let them make me look stupid. Mm-mm. No, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna pay someone online to scrub my history, right? But there are other times when Peter and his friends, the apostles, the leaders of Jesus' church, they all look stupid, all of them. Jesus is asleep in a boat while a storm is terrorizing them, and they decide that they're all gonna die. Even though God in the flesh is sleeping in the boat, they decide, oh, we're gonna die. Like, you know what? Cut that story. It makes me look bad. Jesus is out there walking on water and they lose their ever-loving minds because they think he's a ghost. Scrub that. Makes me look bad. Brothers James and John tell Jesus that they will call down lightning and thunder on unbelievers if he wants. He's like out here teaching grace and he's like, hey man, do you want me to like call down some thunder on people? Like, that's embarrassing. Scrub that. And then later, do you know what his mom does? His mom goes, like, hey, can you make sure my sons have a good seat in heaven next to you? Like, once again, embarrassing stories that should get scrubbed. And yet, because they're true stories, they get published. When Jesus is walking on water, Peter tries to walk with him and he sinks. That's an embarrassing story. Scrub it. Peter denies Jesus three times at and around Jesus' trial. He even curses a third time when he's asked about it. And actually, if you look at the book of Acts, Peter shows a little bit of what we might call racism towards non-Jewish people. And Paul calls him, Paul calls him on it and says, You gotta stop that right now. And he opposes him to his face. Once again, I would have those things scrubbed from my history because it's embarrassing. But the thing is, is that these stories are not myths, they're true, they're reality, they're real. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Thousands of witnesses. It's amazing how things in person change things, though, isn't it? Like, I'm not talking about videos or the news. Like, we don't even know what's real anymore. Like, it's in it's only gonna get worse. Like you are watching AI videos now that maybe like 10% of you can tell it's AI now. It's going down. The percentage is going down. You will be fooled one day. And there will be a day when wars are started over AI, where wars are carried out on AI, where we think people are dying, that it's not happening. So we have to know to trust what we see and hear. Peter was someone who was there. There are times when I've been accused of like following mainstream media when it comes to bias for this community. But here's the thing I live here, I've been here almost 11 years now, and I've seen things with my eyes. I've seen police pull over my neighbors for flimsy reasons. I've seen them pull guns on people who were no threat at all. I didn't see it on Twitter, I saw it with my eyes, and that changes things. And you know, as I was trying to figure out how to speak this rightly, my wife talked to me and she said, You've also seen people abuse the police, and it's worth saying that as well. I've seen that with my own eyes as well. But here in this community, I've seen them point guns at people, and those same guns pointed at my own house. Things change when you see them with your own eyes in person. I have a bulletproof vest so that I can videotape and so that I can be present for these things. I've seen young women who were held at gunpoint that are in like little tiny dresses from a funeral. Those things are things I see with my own eyes, and I can't change what I see. I'm not being political, I'm telling you, I've seen this. But all that is to say, things hit different when you're there, when you're present. I've never experienced a sporting event like the Padres beating the Dodgers in the playoffs in 2022. I'll just tell you, like, I have a really loud clap. I don't know if you guys know that, but I'm actually I've tone it down in here because it's just too loud. But like I had this idea that every time that something happened in the game, even if nothing was happening, that I had to clap the whole dang game. And my my uh hands were like purple the next day from clapping so hard the whole time, trying to like will my team to win through clap. Like, give me a break. I know, I know, I know. But I just I was there, I was present, and I just tell you, it was so amazing to be there for a game like this. Pouring rain, uh just finally finding a way to beat the the dragon up north, the Dodgers, who you know went on to win, you know, a couple, couple World Series, whatever. But it was such a special moment for me. In the rain, people singing Blink 182, if you know who that band is, they're from San Diego. Like I saw a drunk guy actually pull a chair out of the cement and like carry it off. It was it was next level to be present. And I just tell you, like, I'm so glad that my friend was able to give me those tickets for free to be in the room where it happened. Like, because it'll never change for me. Uh it's always burned in my brain. In the same way, the disciples were present for all these amazing things. They went to the grave swearing that what they saw was true. They were tortured, they were killed, but they never recanted. Now, after the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples swore they saw Jesus again. But one dude was not in the room where it happened. His name was Thomas. You may have heard of him. Some people call him doubting Thomas. Um, but when they told Thomas that they had seen the resurrected Jesus, Thomas was like, Man, please. He said, If I don't see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger in the mark of the nails, put my hand into his side, I will never believe. So about a week later, when Jesus showed up, he was like, Hey, Thomas, put your finger here. Come on, come on, look at my hands, reach out your hand, put it into my side. I mean, really dig in there, Thomas. Get in there good. And Thomas is like, My Lord and my God. And Jesus probably said, never breaking eye contact. No, no, no, no, no, too late. Come on, let's go. Touch it, touch it. But no, here's the thing actually. Jesus replied this way. He said, Because you have seen me, you have believed. Because you have seen me, blessed are those who have not seen me and yet believe. Guys, who is Jesus talking about here? Us. He's talking about us. He's mentioning us. We are blessed when we haven't seen and yet we still believe. But the thing is, there is more to believing than seeing, isn't there? We have evidence of the greatness of Jesus. Not only did his students and hundreds and thousands of people see him, but he checked every prophetic box. And that is our second point. Myths don't carry weight, fulfilled prophecies of Jesus do. Myths don't carry weight, but fulfilled prophecies of Jesus do. So look at verse 19. We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. And you will do well to pay attention to us, to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. See, God had been prophesying about Jesus since the beginning of time. Every page of the Bible points to Jesus. Starting at page one, we follow ancient truth. We follow God's ancient promise. And we see how God has the whole thing rigged for his glory. Now it's easy to be skeptical about the things of faith. I get you. Some of you will never have enough information to say yes to God. I'm sad for you. You'll always have the yes, but what about this? Yeah, but what about this moment? And you will live on the outskirts of faith, never having to fully commit to Jesus. No decision feels like a safe place. And so you just sit there. I'm not taking a side. I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be Switzerland. I'm gonna sit here in the middle. Straddle the line. Never get too deep. But if God is real, though, He is all knowing and He's all loving and He deserves to have say on everything in our lives. He wants all of it. He wants your relationships, He wants your heart, He wants your money. Notice I didn't say I want your money. He wants us to use our bodies for His glory. He wants a say in our sex lives, in our work lives, and the way we treat our enemies. Being faith adjacent and never having to commit to Jesus feels safe. But can we say we don't have enough information to make a decision? I think no. When we say that, it's cowardice. It's also dangerous. You can only sit on the sidelines for so long. Now, once in the book of Revelation 3, Jesus warned a church in Sardinia and he said this. He said, I know your works, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I'm going to vomit you out of my mouth. For you say I'm rich, I have been wealthy and need nothing, and yet you don't realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. Guys, that that warm water is where like toxins live. When water is very cold, it's safer. When water's very hot, it's safer. But when you sit in that warm middle, lots of things live in that kind of water. Now, we have somebody in our church who uh does double dutch, like for real, for real, double dutch. And uh I was looking into double dutch because uh I thought that that it might make a little sense. When uh does everybody know what double dutch is? It's like jump rope, and you have like multiple ropes. And um, when I was a kid, they did double dutch at my school, and I don't think I ever once got into the jump rope without like getting it into my face or my mouth or like other places. Like I just could not double dutch. And so um what happens is when you're waiting to get into double dutch, you might be sitting on the side, like ready to jump in, you've got your hands down and you're ready to jump in, and you're like just like biding your time, right? You're trying to get in there. Now, uh I asked our friend in our church about this, and um, she didn't know this this term, but I learned about it online. Maybe it's in the Midwest or something. But like when you're sitting outside of Double Dutch and you're trying to jump in and you're doing this and you just keep doing it forever, they call it digging potatoes. It's this thing where it's like I'm never gonna fully jump in. And eventually you will lose your place in line. You will be out. If you keep staying on the side and you're like, all right, I'm gonna jump in. All right, I'm gonna jump in. And I have people who tell me this all the time: Pastor, Pastor, I'm gonna jump in. You're gonna see me, you're gonna see the way God works in my life. I swear to you. And it's like they tell me every week, and I'm not even mad that that they're not there yet. I'm just excited for the day that they finally jump in. But I tell you to stop digging potatoes, friends. If we deny Jesus on this earth, he will deny us on the day of judgment. He's given his life to make a way for us. He's fulfilled every prophecy made about him. How you respond to the sacrifice of Jesus is the most important decision you will ever make in your life. We call this the gospel. The gospel, um, in its most simple term, or simplest terms is that Jesus came to this earth, left the perfection of heaven for you and me. Because he loved us and he lived a perfect life for you and me because we were never good enough. We can never bridge the gap and be in perfect relationship with God without God doing the work. And so when God looks upon us in our sin and we repent and we give our lives to Jesus, we can stand firmly upon the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. And he showed that he was bigger than sin, showed that he was bigger than death when he rose again on the third day, overcoming sin and death, showing his scars to Thomas, like, hey, touch this, get your finger in there. Come on. Guys, time touches eternity, and God has given us enough to know this truth. If we truly investigate, truly, I mean, truly, honestly, I believe you will find Jesus is who he said he is. On March 5th, we'll have an event here where you can just ask questions. And we're hoping that you'll send in some of them uh ahead of time, questions from the Bible. And we're not really interested in people who want to fight us. This is only for people who actually have questions that they want answered, not excuses. There's a difference. Now here's the thing: if we truly investigate, I believe Jesus will tell us this. In Genesis 49, 10, it says, The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor. That is a prophecy about Jesus from the book of Genesis. In Isaiah 7, it said Jesus would be born of a virgin, and they would call his name Emmanuel. That is God with us. It came true. In Hosea 11, it prophesied that Jesus would go to Egypt and return to Israel. That was fulfilled in Matthew 2, when King Herod decided to kill all the kids' boys Jesus' age and circumvent that prophecy about Jesus. So Jesus' family fled to Egypt and returned after Herod's death. In Micah 5, 2, it said that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. But Isaiah 9 prophesied that Jesus would start his ministry in a different region called Galilee. How crazy is that? It's like these are so difficult once you start adding them and stacking them and stacking them and stacking them. Both came true. Okay, so already, can you imagine reading these prophecies? Like, how could this ever happen? Born in Bethlehem of a virgin, okay, the virgin thing, okay, that's never happened, but like born in Bethlehem of a virgin, that's kind of a tall ask. Called out of Egypt, how is that even gonna work? He was born in Bethlehem. Doing ministry first in Galilee, how does that work? He he was born in Bethlehem, he lived in Egypt. How is this stuff altogether? But when you stack them on top of each other, you start to see the ways that God's prophecies are undeniable. He said that the prophecies about the way Jesus would teach in parables and riddles, prophecies about how he would not just save Jews, but Gentiles too, and Jesus did. Isaiah said that he would open the eyes of the blind, and he did, and that the deaf would hear, and he would he would take people who couldn't walk, and he'd cause them to leap for joy. Isaiah 40 taught us about how John the Baptist would lead the way for God as Elijah did, and then he did for Jesus. And Jesus quoted the prophecy when telling people about his mission. The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of the sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Jesus fulfilled that. He entered Jerusalem on a donkey, just as it was prophesied by the prophet Zechariah. Zechariah also prophesied that Jesus would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. I read this in my Bible this morning and it just blew my mind. It says, So I took thirty pieces of silver and I threw it into the house of the Lord to the potter. Okay, so what okay, fine. But guys, how amazing is this? Because when Judas betrayed Jesus, it was for 30 pieces of silver. Then he changed his mind. He realized he had done something wrong. So he threw the money back at those religious people in the temple and they said, We can't do anything with this blood money. The religious leaders didn't want to take money used for killing someone, so they bought a field with it. That field was the potter's field. So listen back to that prophecy. I took 30 pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord to the potter. How specific do you have to get for someone to go, okay, God, I understand. You are real. How about this? King David prophesied that they would pierce Jesus' hands and feet. This was 400 years before the Persians began crucifying dissidents. Why would that doesn't even make sense? The kingdom of Rome was not even a thought yet. Crucifying people didn't exist yet. David also said that they would gamble over Jesus' clothing, and guess what they did? And that Jesus' body would not decay and he rose again. See, it was said he would conquer sin and death on a mountain and and he would destroy the burial shroud. How are you going to convince the Romans that Jesus has to die on a mountain called Golgotha, which means the skull? How am I going to convince the Romans to do that? Did they listen to religious people? No. How am I going to convince the leaders of the religion that are against Jesus and wanting to kill him to take that money and use it to buy the potter's field? His enemies? No, see this prophecy. They're all pointing to Jesus. And who is there but Peter to go, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, it's happening. Oh my gosh, what they said would happen, happened. It happened again and it happened again. See, all these things pointed to Jesus and he fulfilled them. This is why we have confidence and we can boldly approach the throne of grace. African bishop Augustine of Hippo was known to have said this. I love this quote. I'll read it to you twice. The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed. The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed. Can I say it again? The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed. The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed. See, Christians, we don't follow fairy tales, do we? We follow the risen Christ. Jesus lived, died, and walked out of the grave so we can boldly walk with him, friends. Now many of you know who Jesus is. Some of you have said you love Jesus, but some of you are still on the sidelines digging potatoes. He doesn't affect much of your life. Maybe you were baptized, but you don't run with his church. You just show up when it works for you. Maybe you show up to church services on Sunday, but you haven't fully jumped into life with Jesus. Let me just tell you, you are missing out. I don't double dutch though, so it doesn't work always for me, but I just tell you this: I do surf. And there have been moments when I've looked down a wave a few feet taller than me, and I just look down and I go, mm-mm. Not today, Satan. I'm not going down that. Mm-mm. No. And I and then I pull back. I don't I don't take the wave. Mm-mm. But I can tell you, then I will watch the wave peel down the beach for what sometimes can be hundreds and hundreds of feet. And I think I'm missing out. So over time I have found myself being more willing to take some of those risks and to dive in because it's an adventure. And I take more and more of those waves than I used to. Does it sometimes have consequences? Yeah. Have I got a concussion? People have told me that I have. I don't really remember what happened, but yeah, I think so. Maybe. I don't know. Probably. Um, I actually had a meeting with some people in this church the night that I had a concussion, and I I think I said some crazy things. I apologize. I apologize. But guys, that risk means you also get some of the most beautiful things you've ever experienced. Walking with Jesus is beautiful. Walking with his church, you might get a concussion sometimes, but it's worth it. I've enjoyed myself walking with Jesus. It's worth it. Life with Jesus is like that. It's in or out. There's no halfway. You either make the jump, you either make the drop, or you're out. He doesn't want you committed to him but choosing to sleep with your girlfriend. He doesn't want that. He doesn't want you committed to him but still allowing anger or drink or work or weed to consume you. Jump in with both feet. It's an adventure. Will people mock you? I promise it. Will he have different priorities for you than you? I promise it. Will there be days when you'd rather seek your peace than forgive your enemies? I promise it, and he will send you to them. Will there be days when he wants you to reconcile with somebody in church? 100% sure. But when we give our lives to Jesus, he also provides his spirit to help us. Our counselor, our helper, the spirit of grace, the spirit of life, our comforter, our advocate. And here's the crazy thing: the more you jump in, the more it becomes automatic. You don't have to think about it anymore. It's easier to hear him speak. Serving becomes more fun. Forgiving and blessing is more like breathing. But you still have to jump in. You have to stop digging potatoes and let God have it all. Because we don't follow fairy tales, we follow the risen Christ. And it won't be easy, but it won't ever get any easier until you release your grudges to Him. We have to give Him our hatred, our trauma, our hurt. We have to give those things to God and we have to watch the way He gives us hope in return. Just do it. Watch the way Jesus uses your old addictions, your old traumas, your old pains to encourage somebody else. If you have yet to give your life to Jesus, find one of us and let us pray with you. Be baptized. Give him your everything. If you already belong to Jesus, but you're still on the sidelines, why not jump in? Jump in with us. Sign up for our next partnership class, find your closest city group, see what it's like to live in community with others, volunteer to serve others in the church. Because it's better for you and it's an adventure. So I say this city life church and guess. Christians don't follow fairy tales. We don't follow Set or Horus or Zeus or Osiris or Isis. We follow the true and living God, the risen Christ. Jesus lived, died, and walked out of the grave so that we now can choose to boldly walk with him. Let's pray.