Rewind — the teaching platform built on your church’s own preaching

The big idea

The claims of Jesus demand a response.

Jesus of Nazareth has shaped human history more than anyone else, and the record of what He said about Himself leaves no room for neutrality. Examined in His own cultural context, Jesus repeatedly claimed to be fully God, He lived as the perfect human who alone gets to define what it means to be human, and He is the only Savior and only way to the Father. Because these are His own claims, not just later church teaching, every person must decide what to do with them — reject Him, dismiss Him as crazy, or fall at His feet as Lord and God.

A story from life

Story about an embarrassing sit-up incident on the preacher's first day of high school

Point 1 of 7

Jesus is fully God — understood in His own cultural context, His words and actions were unmistakable claims to deity, not a modern Western-style declaration.

A story from life

Story about the preacher's young sons taking a photo with a police car

Point 2 of 7

Jesus claimed equality and oneness with the Father, which is why His own culture accused Him of blasphemy and tried to stone Him.

Point 3 of 7

C.S. Lewis's trilemma: a mere man who said what Jesus said would be a liar, a lunatic, or Lord — 'good moral teacher' is not an option Jesus left open.

He would either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he's a poached egg or else he would be the devil from hell

— Pastor Rocky High

Either this man was and is the son of God or else a madman or something worth

— Pastor Rocky High

Illustration

Quote laying out the 'liar, lunatic, or Lord' trilemma about Jesus

Point 4 of 7

Jesus is a perfect human who, as Creator become flesh, has the authority to define what it means to be human — including gender, marriage, and sexuality — even when that clashes with culture.

But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about him being a great human teacher

— Pastor Rocky High

A story from life

Story about the preacher's first grocery shopping trip in college mistaking vegetables

Point 5 of 7

All people are sinners in need of a Savior, and the church must hold truth and compassion together rather than using Scripture as a weapon.

Related passage

A story from life

Story about the preacher's brother coming out as gay and the family/church's response

A story from life

Story about the preacher's son injuring his thumb and the decision to go to the hospital

Point 6 of 7

Jesus is the only Savior and the only door to the Father; there is no other way to salvation.

Jesus' central mission was seeing humanity stuck in sin with no way to get out on our own

— Pastor Rocky High

Point 7 of 7

Because Jesus is the only way, every person must personally decide to trust Him — the claims of Jesus demand a response from each of us.

Through Jesus Christ, anybody

— Pastor Rocky High

Take it into your week

Application

The pastor's takeaway is that you cannot stay neutral about Jesus — you have to decide what to do with His claims to be God, to define what it means to be human, and to be the only way of salvation. He calls Christians to hold truth and compassion together, admitting the church has often wielded Scripture as a weapon instead of speaking truth in love, and he calls everyone to be honest that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," so no one gets to feel superior in their particular struggle. Most directly, he invites anyone who has never trusted Jesus to do so now, praying to receive Him as Savior, and asks those who did to raise their hands so the church body can celebrate the new life Jesus has given them.

Keep going

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