 Good afternoon pastor David. Hey John welcome everybody to a random moment unfiltered with pastor David You know pastor we had our Israel meeting this last Sunday and Bill was here in and as he was going over the itinerary I was thinking about the different places that we visited and one of my favorite places that we Go to is Caesarea, Philippi and what makes it more special for me is the devotion that you give or the teaching that you gave there and You asked a question and you prefaced it By asking by saying this is the most important question in mankind Pastor, what was that question? Yeah, it's in Caesarea, Philippi it is a location where Jesus would take his men to actually have a vacation or a time of recreation Because Caesarea, Philippi at that time was kind of like a resort place. It was a resort area and So Jesus took his men there and as he did so he was taking his men to give him a place of relaxation and recuperation Because they're so busy in ministry and so not only did Jesus go to Caesarea, Philippi, but others would go there. It actually had a an established town resort because in that area it was cool, it's there by Mount Hermon and It's just a real relaxing area and it has a Cave that is there that water will come out from and and and it's been there for for many centuries and all and it has become one of the Main sources of the Jordan River There are actually three sources that Converge into the single that make the Jordan and this is one of those locations and so it's just a beautiful place and so Jesus is there with his his men and He asked them that most important question and I love to go to this place for this reason It's because that is the most important question that can be asked of anybody and that question that He asked is who do men say that I the son of man am and so that's the question every person has to answer Just this week. I had somebody who's been posting on Facebook and and actually wanting to argue with me Concerning who Jesus Christ is and all and and this person needs to answer that question because she thinks that That Jesus is just a manifestation of God but does not see him for who he actually is the second person of the Trinity and So I've written to her in response on a couple of occasions already Because she's missing the answer the answer. She is giving is the incorrect one And so she needs to know the true answer to the question as the Bible teaches that he is God in the flesh and so when Jesus asked the question of his men who do men say that I the son of man am He's already supplying the answer to them by saying the son of man the son of man is a Messianic title found in Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 in Reference to messiah as the son of man and so he supplied the answer It's one of those open book tests that you used to have on occasion in School well, the reason he's asking that is because His men being men are being influenced by the chatter that is Already taking place related to to Jesus's mission in his personhood You know Herod believed that Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected after and he says it he says this is not none other than John who might have beheaded There are others who thought of Jesus as being a prophet or even Jeremiah and You know, so they had various ideas and again the church over the centuries has been influenced by man's Opinions of who Christ is and we do get we do get influenced by what others say And so Jesus wants to clarify their confusion and so the most important question is who he is Who do men say that I am is the first question. Oh, some say John Jeremiah Elijah one of the prophets They supply these answers, but then he goes on and personalizes it by saying, but who do you say that I am? See, so it's not enough that I can repeat what others have said or have even been influenced by what others have said It's who I personally consider him to be and that's when the apostle Peter says you are the Christ the son of the living God and Blessed are you Simon by Jonah flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, but my father in heaven this Information that you just supplied this belief that you just confessed to is a Supernational kind of an awareness that the Spirit of God My father's spirit has made you Aware of it isn't something that you through your great studies or even walking with me But it's the fact that that God has revealed this to you and that's what we talked about while we're there because It takes God to awaken us to who Jesus Christ is in the spirit of God draws us To that awareness through the conviction of the spirit And so I guess the biggest question and I don't guess I should say it like this the biggest question That those who are watching right now need to answer for themselves Is who is Jesus Christ? Is he the Son of God the Savior of the world? second person of the most holy Trinity who died on the cross that he might be a substitute for us Because the scripture says the soul that sentence shall die the wages of sin is death And so Jesus took upon himself my sin In order that he might be able to forgive me completely and then to give me something That I never had before which is his his righteousness and he became sin for us that we might through faith in him Become the righteousness of God in him And so that's the best and most important question when one could answer who is Jesus Christ and that will ultimately Determine our eternity it determines our eternity and so pastor. Thank you so much It's one of again one of my favorite teachings that when we do go to Israel I hear you say because now it becomes personalized. It's not who my mom and dad thought it what who Jesus is It's not what popular belief is it comes down to who do I say exactly that Jesus is and so Thank you so much and you know again you guys you have to come to Israel because when you're Sitting there in Caesarea Philippi and you're hearing these but Jesus is saying you can almost imagine them sitting in those Those little cutout areas and with the water coming down. Yeah, and you can hear the water flowing down Yeah, Bonyas temple exactly. There's that that water source that they believed was the gates of hell They called it the gates of hell So when Jesus says that you are Peter and upon this rock I shall build my church and the gates of hell are not going to be prevailing against it Well, he's got as his backdrop this pagan site that is called the gates of hell and so he's he's drawing Distinction between what truth is and what the mythology of the Greek was Well, thank you pastor David and we look forward for you guys to come join us this Sunday at 8 30 a.m. And 1045 as you're taking us through the book of Mark. Yes. It's a very interesting Yeah, why do you fear? That's gonna be a good one. Well, we'll see It is when you read it. Let's see how I can present it. You I'm not gonna spoil it, but you shared a statistic with me earlier and Iopening it can be and so want to invite you guys to invite your friends to come on out and join us and Again, we have our Israel trip coming up still time to sign up would love to have you guys join pastor David and Marie on This amazing trip and so pastor. Thank you so much church family. We'll see you next week God bless you. We'll see you on Sunday