Discipled by Jesus 

Discipled by Jesus: 
Who do you say I am?

This is from the book Discipled by Jesus.  Book by Hal & Debbi Perkins

Matthew 16:13-20 NLT
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” 15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” 20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.



“Jesus asked His disciples to think about His very essence, His nature, and then to express their conclusion to Him, in front of each other.  When we are gathered, might Jesus want to ask us this same question?  Would it be helpful for us, His contemporary disciples to routinely answer this question?” Perkins

A.W. Tozer once said “"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

Our answer to the question “Who do you say I am” is what monumentally defines who we are for eternity. It affects how we view ourselves and others, and how we treat ourselves and others. So let’s try and answer some important questions today…


I. Who do people say I am?
“Considering Jesus? relative importance to us, the conversations in the foyers of the church or in our cars as we drive would be expected to be primarily, if not mostly, about Him.† But if conversations about Jesus are minimal or non-existent in the cars of church families or foyers where we worship, the children legitimately perceive Jesus? relative importance to about one or two hours out of every one hundred and sixty-eight.” Perkins, Hal;

John 8:14-15 NLT
14 Jesus told them, “These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me. 15 You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone.


John 8:19 NLT
19 “Where is your father?” they asked. Jesus answered, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”


John 9:24-34 NLT
24 So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.” 25 “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!” 26 “But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he heal you?” 27 “Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” 28 Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.” 30 “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. 32 Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.” 34 “You were born a total sinner!” they answered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue.


II. Who do you say I am?

John 17:3 NLT
3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.

“The more clearly we answer Jesus’ question, the greater will be our accuracy in knowing Him.  The greater our accuracy in knowing Jesus, the greater will be our faith in Him and our love for Him and others.  The greater our faith and love, the greater will be our inward and outward Christlikeness, our character and ministry, and our productivity now and for eternity.  Knowing Jesus better through accurately answering His question  leads to tangible, meaningful, eternal life.”   Perkins, Hal

“Conversely, the more distorted or absent our answer to Jesus’ question, the more indifferent to Jesus we will be.  Or confused about Him.  Even ignorant of Him.  The more indifferent to, confused about, or ignorant of Jesus we are, the more we will inevitably default to trusting in someone or something other than Jesus.  And giving ourselves to someone or something else.” Perkins, Hal

Philippians 3:8-9a NLT
“8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him…”



III. How can you tell people about someone you barely know?

James 4:8a NLT
8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you…


Psalm 145:18 NLT
18 The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth.

IV. Get to know Jesus
John 8:24b  …for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.”


“What is true of the family is true of the church. To change the culture of the church, change the conversations. When our conversations include and honor Jesus, growth in knowing Him, believing Him, and loving Him occurs. He inhabits the praise of His people. Relationships are influenced by His love, grace, and wisdom flowing in and through the Body.”

How do we get to know Jesus? We make him the center of our lives.
Get in the word, join bible studies, get into a discipleship group, listen to christian music, read about him,