Scripture referenced 14 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Matthew 16:16 Peter's confession, 'Thou art the Christ, Son of the living God'
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
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Keep this verse
Matthew 16:18
Jesus saying 'upon this rock I will build my church'
18 I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
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Matthew 16:21-23
Jesus foretells his death and resurrection; Peter rebukes him and Jesus says 'Get behind me, Satan'
21 From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
22 Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
23 But he turned, and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
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Matthew 16:24-26
Jesus calls disciples to self-denial, taking up the cross, and warns about forfeiting one's soul
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?
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Matthew 16:27-28
Son of man coming in glory; some standing there will not taste death before seeing the Son of man in his kingdom
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
28 Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
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Matthew 17:1-9
The transfiguration of Jesus before Peter, James and John; Moses and Elijah appear; voice from the cloud
1 After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain by themselves.
2 He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light.
3 Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him.
4 Peter answered, and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, let’s make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
6 When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were very afraid.
7 Jesus came and touched them and said, “Get up, and don’t be afraid.”
8 Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus alone.
9 As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Don’t tell anyone what you saw, until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”
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Matthew 3:16-17
Voice from heaven at Jesus' baptism saying 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased'
16 Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him.
17 Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
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Deuteronomy 18:15
Moses foretells a prophet like himself whom the people shall listen to
15 Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him.
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Matthew 17:10-13
Disciples ask about Elijah coming first; Jesus says Elijah already came and they did not recognize him
10 His disciples asked him, saying, “Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
11 Jesus answered them, “Elijah indeed comes first, and will restore all things,
12 but I tell you that Elijah has come already, and they didn’t recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted to. Even so the Son of Man will also suffer by them.”
13 Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptizer.
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Matthew 21:23-27
Chief priests question Jesus' authority; Jesus counters with a question about John's baptism
23 When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.”
27 They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
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Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
2 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
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2 Corinthians 3:18
We all with unveiled faces looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image
18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
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Ephesians 3:14-19
Paul's prayer that believers be strengthened, that Christ dwell in their hearts, and that they be filled to all the fullness of God
14 For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
16 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,
19 and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
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Ephesians 3:20-21
Benediction: God able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think
20 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Ray walked the congregation through the account of the Transfiguration in Matthew, placing it six months before the cross and connecting it to the broader arc of the gospel story. The central idea was that the same Greek word used for what happened to Jesus on that mountain, metamorpho, appears in Romans 12 and 2 Corinthians 3 to describe what God is doing in believers. Transformation is not something we produce in ourselves; it happens to us as we humble ourselves before God.
What was said
Before getting into the text, Pastor Ray talked through his own life in rough chronological order, not to tell a tidy conversion story but to make a point about how God works. He was baptized at eleven, knew all the right answers before he walked the aisle, grew up in church, and still had to be shown, piece by piece over decades, where his pride and self-righteousness were actually living. The kid he beat up in second grade, the competitive ferocity he dressed up as righteous indignation, the way Tanya was able to show him things about himself he had always felt fine about - all of it added up to a portrait of someone being changed slowly, one step at a time.
That progression was the frame for the passage. Jesus has just told his disciples he is going to Jerusalem to suffer and be killed. Peter, the same man who had just confessed "Thou art the Christ, Son of the living God," immediately rebukes him. Jesus calls him a stumbling block, and the reason he gives is that Peter is not setting his mind on God's purposes but on man's purposes. The disciples knew the right answers too.
Six days after that exchange, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a high mountain, and he is transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his garments became as white as light. Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with him. Pastor Ray acknowledged he does not know how the three disciples recognized them, only that all three gospels agree they did, and that Peter himself later confirmed they saw it together.
Peter's reaction, "Lord, it is good that we are here - if you want, I will make three tabernacles," is where Pastor Ray paused. The religious instinct is always to find something to do. Jesus, Moses, Elijah, the feast of booths underway right at that time - Peter's mind went straight to action, to offering a service. God interrupts him mid-sentence. A voice from the cloud says the same words spoken at Jesus' baptism: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." And then it adds two more words that were not there at the baptism: "Listen to him."
That command to listen reaches back to Moses' words in Deuteronomy 18, where he told the people to listen to the prophet God would raise up. The Pharisees knew that text. They were looking for that prophet. They had the law and the prophets, and they still did not recognize John the Baptist when he came. Jesus tells the disciples plainly that Elijah already came and they did not recognize him, and that the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands in the same way. The people who had the most scripture were the ones most resistant to what God was actually doing.
The word metamorpho appears only four times in the New Testament. Two of them describe the Transfiguration. The other two are in Romans 12 and 2 Corinthians 3. Romans 12 says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind - the verb is passive, meaning it is something being done to us as we give over our conscious will to God's revealed will. Second Corinthians 3 says we are all being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Holy Spirit. The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power at work in people who have trusted Christ. The transfiguration on the mountain was not a strange isolated event. It was a visible picture of what God is doing in every believer, slowly, progressively, one step at a time.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Ray talked about God showing him a little more of himself at a time, from childhood through college and marriage. Can you think of a moment when God showed you something true about yourself that you had been blind to before?
- Ray described Peter jumping in with 'Lord, it is good that we are here, I will make three tabernacles,' and connected it to our tendency to focus on doing rather than being. Where in your own life do you find yourself reaching for something to do for God rather than waiting on Him?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 9,192 words
Speaker 2Sorry. I didn't have a chance to say hi because I was running like a can you get me?
RayWe actually have a little bit late. Would you stand with me? And let's sing some of those folks in from the vestibule out there. We're gonna start by worshiping the king. Oh, worship the king is hymn number one zero four.
Actually, the hymnals are up front. If you want one, you're welcome to them. We'll just sing off the wall. Whatever comes up there, that's what we're singing.
Speaker 2Oh, worship the king, all glorious above, and gratefully sing his wonderful love. Our shield and defender, the ancient of days of billion and splendor and girded with praise. Oh, tell of his might. Oh, sing of his grace. Whose robe is the light.
Whose canopy space. His chariots of wrath, the deep thunder clouds form, and dark is his path on the wings of the storm. All hail to the king in splendor enthroned, glad praises we bring thy wonder make known, returning victorious great conqueror of sin king Jesus all glorious our victory will Amen.
RayThank you, Florine. But standing on the promises, standing on the promises.
Speaker 2Standing on the promises of God standing standing on the promises of God my savior standing standing I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that cannot fail when the howling storms of doubt and fear are sail. By the living word of God, I shall prevail standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my savior standing standing standing on the promises of God Standing on the promises I now can see. Perfect present cleansing in the blood for me.
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free. Standing on the promises of God, standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my savior. Standing, standing. I'm standing on the promises of God, standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, bound to him eternally by love's strong cord overcoming daily with the spirit sword standing on the promises of God standing standing on the promises of God my savior standing standing I'm standing on the promises of God. There are a lot of standing on the promises I cannot fall.
Listening every moments to the spirit's call. Resting in my savior as my all in all, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my savior standing I'm standing on the promises of God
RayAmen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements and here they are. Monday nights at First B happens, guess when? Monday.
Hey, Monday nights. That's right. Monday night at 6PM. There's an alternative service time down the hall. That's where I go to church.
Carl is the pastor preacher of that church and leads the music too. There's meal, music, and a message and then, after all of those three things, as if that were not enough, there's still more. A meaningful gospel conversation. It's really good. Monday nights at first be actually, tomorrow night, it's gonna be the meal as Felix in Guadalupe will be making Mexican Mariscos, seafood.
Good good stuff. After that will be music by the band. Florine will be leading that. And after that, Brad Yates is actually gonna bring the message tomorrow night. And then we'll have a bit of a conversation afterwards.
Monday nights are great. Actually, the next slide is not Awana, but Awana happens at the same time. I'll get to that in a minute. Jackson Hole, there it is. Hey, it is the next slide when Blake's up there.
That's good. It starts around the same time. It started last week. We cranked up the volunteer machine and we put the big circle on the floor and Awana is back. And it's great.
We're pouring scripture into the minds of the kids to reach their hearts. So that's great. Mike D is the commander right now, the head head honcho on that. If you'd like to volunteer to be a listener, you can still do that. 05:45 tomorrow night is the time that it starts.
Jackson Hole Men's Alliance is happening 06:30AM. It's always the first Wednesday of the month in the fellowship hall. So if you are an early riser and you want to get together and kind of be a band of brothers with some other guys from the area, it's it's open to all of the different churches of the valley. So Jackson Hole Men's Alliance, first Wednesday of the month, 06:30AM. That's this Wednesday.
Sisters Saved by Grace is a Bible study that's led by Nancy Baxter on Thursday evenings at 6PM down in the Fellowship Hall. That is a great group. They get together and they also have a meal. And I don't think they do music. I've never heard them singing, but they do love one another well.
And they hang out with each other and they are studying becoming a woman of faith together. There is a fall Bible study study that September through November. They're in the midst of it right now. Deb Buckingham is teaching and Alyssa Hunter is responsible for for coordinating the music. It's right in this room, 10:00 Wednesday morning till twelve.
And this is a new one. This slide is the kind of the new graphic for that, meeting that we are banding together. All of the different youth groups in town are welcome. It's called Student Ascent. The climb, started last Thursday night, together.
And so it's being held at the Tribe Ministry Center on Broadway, kind of across from Mad River, Whole Grocer. It's the other side of Broadway from that. Tribe Ministry Center and Mike D and Natalie Yates and Brian and a few others are doing that. They're asking for anybody who would like to provide a meal for that gathering to volunteer, just talk to Mike D. And they have the message portion and they have the ideas.
But if you'd like to provide a meal, that would be great. They'll let you know more about it if you contact Mike D. And I'm gonna ask Monique if she would come forward again, in this service. I I mentioned Monique. I I appreciate her so much.
And I introduced her as almost pan church. Like, she is a part of all of the churches of this valley. That's not quite exact, but she is a a very, very vibrant member of the capital c church, and she tends to be a unifier and a bringer together. She is going out on mission in obedience to God, and so I wanna pray for her this morning. Would y'all be praying for her?
Would you report back when you come back?
Speaker 2Yes.
RayOkay. Good. God almighty, we ask you that you would accompany not just accompany but that you would reflect your glory off of this humble servant of yours. That, Lord, you would pass your healing touch through her to people who are hurting, that you would bring clarity to decisions that need to be made, not just in her life, Lord, but in the lives of the people that she touches. In Jesus' name, I pray that you would, Lord, do what you do.
Lord, what only you can do. That you would use this obedient servant in humility, to reach, people that are right now in the dark. Would you take them out of the kingdom of darkness and put them into the kingdom of marvelous light? Would you use this young lady to do that? In Jesus' name, we ask a blessing that it would rest upon and transmit through Monique Ephesians.
Amen. Amen. We love you. Amen. That's alright.
You can do that. That's okay. And let's just skip this one. Y'all know what that means. If you wanna write something down on those cards, they're there.
Period. Would you stand with me and sing? We've got a lot of sugar to put in this bag this morning. I feel like we got about 10 pounds of sugar and we got a five pound bag. So let's get go for it.
At the cross.
Speaker 2Light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith. I received my sight and now I am happy all the day. Was it for crimes that I have done? He groaned up on the tree.
Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree. At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith. I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day. The drops of grief can never repay the debt of love I owe.
Dear Lord, I give myself away. Tis all that I can do. At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away it was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the Amen.
RayAnd at Calvary, hymn number four ninety two, we're building towards in the sermon series. We're building towards that the passion week and it's good. We're going to do the Lord's supper here this morning, celebrate communion, and it's good to think of the cross at Calvary. Hymn number four ninety two.
Speaker 2Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not my lord was crucified. Knowing not it was for me, he died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Hardened there was multiplied to me. There, my burden so found liberty at Calvary.
My God's word at last my sin, I learned. Then I trembled at the low I'd spur till my guilty soul imploring turned to cavalry. Mercy there was great and grace was free pardon there was multiplied to me there my burden, soul, and liberty at Calvary. Now I've given to Jesus everything. Now I gladly own him as my king.
Now my raptured soul can only sing of come mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burden soul found liberty at Calvary. Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man.
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did at Calvary. Mercy there was great, and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdens all found liberty Amen.
RayY'all can have a seat and would you pray with me? It's the operatory time. We call it the worship through giving. God almighty, thankful this morning to have a missionary mandate, to have that Macedonian call. Lord, That there are people who are hurting, that don't even know anything about the kingdom of light.
Lord, but you're sending out people. I thank you for our missionaries that are here with us today. Pam, who serves in France. And for Monique, as she goes out again. She's worldwide, Lord.
Thank you for Paco and Didi in Spain. I thank you for the way that you are working from this place, Lord, where you're transforming hearts, and you are drawing people into the center of your outward looking, self giving, loving will. In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that you'd give us eyes to see, and that you would take everything that is offered, Lord. The things that are put in these plates. Money stuff.
Yeah, Lord. But also Mexican food, and all of the other things that people are offering from their own place where where they feel comfortable in you, that they have been given a gift. Lord, wherever we share that gift that you've given, I pray that you'd bless it. In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that you would make an impact on this community and this world through this little batch of humble obedient believers. In Jesus name, Lord, would you bless this offering.
Your will done in your way. Amen.
Speaker 2Amen. Praise the Lord.
RayAmen. Thank you. Bob, Florine. Today today, we are the text today is gonna talk about the transfiguration. The transfiguration of Jesus.
And if I were to think of if you said, what's the weirdest story in the New Testament? I'd probably list the transfiguration. I just think it's an odd story. I've always thought it was an odd story. It's great and I hope that this morning we'll we'll put it in a frame that will help.
But that's what we're going to talk about with the text. I'm going do probably not as much of a brief review, but I do want to do a little word about the rationale for this current gospel study. So I am I am amazed by God's word. Just absolutely amazed by. A lot of stuff we've sung this morning in this service is talking about the truth, the transforming truth.
Calvary is great and that's what we're all of the gospels are building up to this passion week. They're gospel passion narratives with long introductions. We're working in that. The transfiguration happens about six months before the cross. So six months before the cross is when this has taken place.
And we've been building to this for some time in the word. I had a professor when I was in seminary. His name was Terry Holbert. And Terry Holbert was 86 years old when I got there. The very first class that I had was BIB fifty one thirty two, Bible fifty one thirty two, which is the gospels, God's means of redemption.
It was a chronological, geographical study of all of the gospels, all four of them at the same time. I loved it so much. The very next semester, I took the gospel of John from the same guy. He was a missionary in Africa, I think for like seventeen years as a young man. When he came back from Africa, he said Chuck gave him a car.
Chuck. Chuck was Charles Ryrie of the Ryrie Study Bible. So he's an old guy, and he was a Dallas guy. And he, was very influential for me. And what he said long ago, he said, what we're gonna do is helicopter over the area and we're gonna study this in its original context so that it can transform us in hours.
So that's a good way of looking at it. As he approached the computer age, you know, he was there before any of that. And as he approached that, instead of saying helicopter over, he says, we're gonna mouse over it. You know how you mouse over a blue link and the hypertext will just take you into a deeper understanding. So that's what he said he'd do.
So he called his study walking in their sandals. And so walking in their sandals includes considering their path. I'm gonna do something here. Considering their walk is important, but I think it's also important for us to consider our walk. Does that make sense?
Looking at scripture and the transformation, I feel like mister Rogers doing this right now. I'm just gonna put on a pair of sandals and think about where we are walking with them. 83 miles in these sandals from Capernaum to Jerusalem, right? Walking and getting rocks in our shoes. The process that we're going through here, I hope has purpose for all of us, not just some of us.
I'm going to get to that in a little bit. But that's where I want to start. Okay, this. When I was 14 years old, I cared more about this than anything else. So I knew that if I was going to have a vehicle to drive when I was 16, I needed to start working on one when I was 14.
And so I pulled this one out from behind the shop and started working on it. I turned every bolt on that thing. I have replaced the engine in it twice. I painted it twice. I painted it that paint job.
I painted that. When I was 14, 15 years old, I sanded it by hand and I ended up painting it. And I loved it. I shined it up good for that picture and it didn't really look that good. But that's what I cared more about at 14.
Now I was already a believer. I had been baptized at 11 years old. I think it was 11 years old. After a camp at Camp Joy, Jesus, others, and you, you know. I heard a message.
I walked the aisle. I walked the aisle. For me, most of y'all know me as pastor Ray. You've only known me for the last twelve years. The ones who've known me the longest have been twelve years or so.
Maybe fifteen. But I have not always been pastor Ray. Right? That's that's just we don't we don't start out like this. We all start out, whether we want to admit it or not, selfish.
Now I grew up in church. So I had been in church since nine months before I was born. Every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, every Wednesday night, had faithful parents that carried me to church. And I knew the right way. I knew the right answers to all the right questions.
I could've answered them long before I walked out. You know? I knew the theology behind it and was pretty darn proud of that theology, understanding that. Because we train that in. You know, we train that in early.
So in my life, I'd love to look back and think I was a good old Christian boy. I have a boring testimony because I always was raised in the church. I've always been a good little kid. But the truth is none of us are. Even if we were good little boys in church, disciples were good little Jewish boys.
They knew how to act. They knew the expectations. But we see in the gospels them coming to understand a little better and a little better. Remember a week or two ago when we talked about the blind man that Jesus healed progressively where he yeah. I see men walking like trees.
And then he touched him again and he saw clearer. And I'm assuming he came to a more complete understanding. Right? Well, that's the way Jesus shows us a little at a time. So when I was in the second grade, I I told this in the first service.
I kinda couldn't believe it that it came out, but I'm gonna tell it again. Might as well. It's already out there. You know, I'm super competitive. I was in my own self.
I was super, super, super competitive. And the next slides, I'll get to those too. Never mind. Super competitive, and when we played tackle the man with the ball, I was the biggest guy around most of the time in my grade. And people, when they take you down and you're playing tackle the man with the ball, usually it's with a ferociousness, you know?
And I would just turn on those people that took me down. And when they had the ball, I'd clobber them. I we called it clobber the man with the ball. And we'd go after them. And there were kids that in my churchy church mind, I had classified them as bullies.
Billy Joe and Derek. They were the bullies. I won't use their last names, but they were the bullies. And I just had this righteous indignation against those two guys, and they were best friends, and they were mean as the devil. That's the way I thought of them.
But the truth was, when they had the ball, I wanted to clobber them with a special fervor. And it was a special, almost religious fervor. And I had one of them take a cheap shot at me, and we got into a tussle. We got into a fight. I actually got in a lot of fights a long time ago.
That's hard for some of y'all to imagine. You're laughing at the very thought of it. But I got into a lot of fights, my mouth is what got me into most of those fights. I just got a witness from amen. And I got that kid down on the ground and I kicked that kid in the stomach until he spit out blood.
That sounds like a gangster movie. I was in the second grade and I didn't get baptized for three more years But when I walked the aisle, what I thought of is that poor kid. That poor kid. Now, he did do something to me. And I could righteously justify it.
God said, don't do that anymore. Right? Don't try to justify your own anger. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. There is nothing that you can do contrary like that.
You need to love those people. And God Almighty progressively, has been showing me that same lesson my whole life. It's it's amazing. Now, that's a gut punch just to think about. And I I pray God's blessing on that kid.
When I got to college, I I had, you know, step of faith at 11 was walk the aisle, receive Jesus, you know. And I already knew all the answers to questions. I answered them and I believed it was real. And the day I got baptized, I think there were 11 or 12 other people that got baptized that same day. And it was a precious time, but progressively, as I grew older, I started to understand a little better.
Right? Now if when I got to college, I was two years of general classes. I didn't want to make up my mind about what I wanted to do. I liked art more than anything else. So when they had to You have to declare a major today or we're kicking you out of school.
I said, I'm an art major. And I followed a couple of art professors around. And this one, this is a monument to the steam engine that one of my professors was hired to make. And he had received this commission and been paid in advance. And the deadline was drawing close, he called his student, me, and said, would you come help me?
It's a lot of welding. I've got a design, but I am not going to be able to complete it by myself. So we work for weeks, twenty day twenty hours a day. I don't sleep much. I work twenty hours a day for several weeks to get this one.
When I get when we got through with it, he said, you've done more work on this than I have. He let me sign it. So somewhere in Columbus, Georgia, there's a sculpture. And this is what my, you know, will is artist. That makes sense to me.
I think I'd like to do that. So that's one of those things. We did others. I helped put all these together. This is Doctor.
Pemberton who had been in Coca Cola, did that Columbus, Georgia. That's where this park is. I welded that sculpture together, this guy in the center. And then there's an ironworker, Columbus foundry ironworker. And then the Columbus Mills, Phoenix Mills down at the bottom, the lady.
And then a sharecropper farmer over on the right. That's Heritage Park in Columbus, Georgia. I have done stuff. And you know, that's a monument to the steam, a steam powered riverboat. Because they could come up as far as Columbus and haul bales of cotton.
We even made a bronze bale of cotton, probably weighed 500 pounds. It was hollow, and still weighed a lot. But put that together, and that was something that I did. And I was a believer at this time. I had already served a summer as a summer missionary, And it was right around that time.
I did this in that time. It's a American flag, but it's black and white and gray. It was long, long before the Blue Lives Matter flag that you see around today with some sharecroppers overalls on it. They're red, white, and blue. I liked it.
I thought it was cool. I just found the picture of it, so I'm sharing it with you. But I'm trying to imagine and think about my life without the next progressive steps of what God showed for me. If I had the wherewithal and the what say to, you know, to to say what I do, that's what I had kind of chosen is the path I was gonna take. I met Tanya.
During this time in art school, in a photography class, we took this picture on what we now call our first date. And I'm so thankful for her. Golly. The greatest gift that God could have and did give thirty years ago. And I think that when the Bible says that an elder should be the husband of one wife, I think the reason is because men without wives don't see themselves clearly.
Do you get that? Tanya was able to show me some places in my life that I had always felt fine about that were self righteous, proud, ugliness. And seeing that She's great. Sorry. Seeing that in her and seeing who I really was was very much it was very much easier.
And she's super gentle and super soft with me, but she let me see myself for who I was, and I'm thankful for that. That's a progressive thing too where God showed a little more, and a little more, and a little more. And this is the text for today. I mentioned all of that because I I wanna, we're gonna get to or we actually got to it last week about self denial and self denial is if I think that it's because I was a good little church boy and I knew all the answers and I just did everything right all the time, always and I, when I beat somebody up, it was because they were a bully. I probably was the bully.
Does that make sense? These are the texts. I'm not gonna cover all of them today, Matthew, Mark, Luke. I'm only gonna cover it in Matthew. And it starts right here where we actually ended last week.
From that time, this is right after Peter confesses Christ, thou art the Christ, son of the living God. Right? And he had said, upon this rock, I'll build my church. We covered that last week. And I didn't go into the whether it was a statement or whether it was Peter himself.
I asked you to personalize it. What is it that you say that I am? What we say Jesus is matters. And how we live our lives matters because that's how we say who Jesus is. From that time, Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him.
Day necessary for him. He must go to Jerusalem and to suffer many things from the elders, and from the chief priests, and from the scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised up on the third day. And yet, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. This is the guy who just said, thou art the Christ, son of the living God. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke his master saying, God forbid it, Lord.
This shall never happen to you. But Jesus turned to Peter and said, get behind me, Satan. You're a stumbling block to me. Imagine that. Jesus is calling you a stumbling block.
He's he's calling Peter a stumbling block. But we are still doing the same thing a lot of the time today. Not setting our minds on God purposes, but on men's purposes. Peter had seen miracle after miracle. He'd heard the messages.
He heard the parables of the kingdom. He had special insight into the meaning of the parables. You're stumbling block to me, Peter, for you're not setting your mind on God's purposes and humility but on men's purposes and your pride. Then Jesus said to his disciple, if anyone wants gracious, we've got all kind of selections. What do y'all wanna see?
Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself. He must deny himself. That which makes us ourselves. Now, God can use us. We are individually, supernaturally gifted.
When we believe in Christ and have the Holy Spirit, he can use us in new and different ways. But we need to be denying ourselves. Take up his cross, one of the other gospels would say, daily and follow Jesus. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever wants to lose his life for my sake. Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
We covered that last week. We ended right there. I told you I was leaving you off mid paragraph. Well, this is how the paragraph continues. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it.
Whoever loses his life for my sake. Nothing that you do in the Lord by his direction, by his power, nothing that you do in the Lord is ever in vain. For what good will it do if a person gains the whole world? What if you are the most famous artist in the world? Or the most famous boxer, or the most famous race car driver, but forfeits his soul?
Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? We hear that story over and over in blues music, right? Somebody exchanges something for this great talent. But it's always a sad story, and it's in blues music for a reason. It leads to a horrible life.
What will a person give in exchange for his soul? For the son of man is going to come in the glory of his father and with his angels, and he will repay every person according to his deeds. Truly, I say to you, he's speaking to his disciples, there was a gathered crowd, but it was in a super gentile area near Caesarea Philippi. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing right here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. Now, that's a confusing peep confusing for a lot of people, but we know that the disciples were there with him.
And we know that John witnessed the cross. We know that Peter and John went into the tomb. Right? Empty tomb. We know that they saw him post resurrection.
So there are people who saw the son of man coming into his kingdom for sure right there. His disciples were there. Six days later. So this is six days later, Jesus takes with him Peter and James and John. We call this the inner circle.
This is the first time that they've been called out as such. Peter, James, and John Peter's oldest probably of the disciples. John's almost certainly the youngest and the one who would live the longest. James and John, sons of Thunder, sons of Zebedee, fishermen. If we're considering their walk, they were children of a fisherman who were gonna be fishermen and their children would probably be fishermen.
That's the way it was. He took Peter and James and John and he leads them up on a high mountain by themselves. Just the three of them with Jesus and he was transfigured before them. This word, transfigured, is, like I said, if you just look at it and you think, this is weird. It seems to serve not much of a purpose.
It's he's transfigured. What does that even mean? Where have you ever heard that word before? This is the only place I hear of it. Chapel Of Transfiguration up in the park.
Or there is a chapel on a high mountain, Mount Tabor, in The Holy Land that has the Church of the Transfiguration that a lot of tours visit. But you don't see this very often. Part of it is because of the term itself. It's just kind of odd. He was transfigured before them.
Part of it is because it was Jesus who was transfigured, and we don't want to think about him changing. So transform, metamorphothe, is it. If you're a grammar nerd, it is the heiress, past tense, one time event, passive, it happened to him. Indicative, it happened. It's real.
It's not theoretical. Third person singular, that's Jesus from meta morpho, which means to transform or to transfigure. And since it's Jesus, we don't want to think about him transforming because he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Right? But this is from meta, which means after or with, and morpho, which means changing form in keeping with an inner reality.
Properly, it is transformed after being with or being transfigured. Metamorpho is the root of the English term metamorphosis and metamorphized. That is I say that all because if we were using about ourselves, we'd probably say transform. But since it's being used of Jesus, that's why we say transfigure because we don't wanna think about him changing. But it was enough of a difference that it made a huge difference to these three disciples.
There are four uses of this term in the New Testament. There are only four. One of them is here in Matthew. One of them is in Mark. It's the parallel text.
Talks about Jesus being transfigured. I'll get to the others. One of them is in Romans twelve and one of them is in second Corinthians three. I'll get to them towards the end of the sermon. But those two places, it's translated slightly different.
It's not translated transfigured. I'll let it sit with you for a minute. He was transfigured before them. And his transformation or transfiguration looked like this. His face shone like the sun.
Now where does that remind you of? Who else in the whole Bible? Moses. Moses was on a high mountain. Hey, that's another similarity.
He's on a high mountain. He goes up on the high mountain and he in the cleft of the rocks sees just a bit of the glory of God. Right? And it makes his face shine so much that the people beg him to put something over it. So his face shone like the sun and his garments became as white as light.
The kingdom of marvelous light. Blinding white light. And behold, hey, Moses shows up and Elijah. And behold Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with them. Now how do they know it was Moses and Elijah?
You think they wore name tags? I don't know. Moosey Woodling's birthday party was last night up at the wildlife museum. And there were people from lots of different generations. People had flown in.
She'll be 100 at the end of the month. And everybody had a name tag on. You know, I put pastor in parentheses, kind of give fair warning, you know, beforehand. But Moses and Elijah, how did they know? All three.
We we know that they knew. All three of the gospels agree. I don't know how they knew. But they all three saw it. It wasn't just one of them.
It wasn't a hallucination. They saw it. Peter comes back to this point in second Peter and says they saw it together. Behold Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him and Peter responded and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good that we're here. Ain't that funny?
Oh Lord, it is so good that I'm here right now. I'm your man. I can do it. No problem. It's good Lord that we're here.
That just cracks me up. I don't know why. I might be reading it into the text, but it sounds like Peter, doesn't it? It's so good that we're here right now because lord, if you want, I will make three tabernacles. It's oh, feast of tabernacles.
The feast of booths. That's this time of year. Actually, it's next Sunday, technically this year. But it's right at this time. The very next thing that we will hit in the text is the feast of tabernacles.
Probably already underway. And so it makes sense that Peter, good religious boy that he is, Jesus, this is wonderful. I'm glad that we're here. I will do this for you. Oh, the religious mind.
Oh, the human mind that we always want to do. Will you show me what I must do to inherit eternal life? We get that doing a lot. Where it seems that Jesus is much more likely to concentrate on being than it is on doing. So first be.
First, be. Then, allow the spirit of God to transform and move, and then whatever he directs, do it. If you want, I'll make three tabernacles right here. One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And this is funny.
God then interrupts Peter. While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed him and them and behold, a voice from the cloud. Voice from the cloud. Have we heard this before? We have.
Actually, these guys had heard this before. A voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Now, we have heard this in Matthew's gospel. We've heard it in Matthew three. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water and suddenly, the heavens were opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on him and a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
Exact same verbiage. Because God is pleased with Jesus. At the beginning of his ministry and near the end of his ministry, still very well pleased with the humble servant, Jesus Christ. Is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased. Listen to him.
Just listen to him. Pay attention to what he says. Actually, this calls to mind a quote from Moses in Deuteronomy eighteen fifteen in that long speech that lasts from chapter five all the way through 21. This restatement of the law and Moses says, the Lord your God people will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from among your countrymen. To him, you shall listen.
Pay attention. The pharisees were of the people. They had the law and the prophets and they knew this verse and they knew they were to be looking for Messiah, the prophet. In John, it says that they called back this verse and said, this is the guy, some of the people. Right?
Listen to him. Pay attention to what he's saying. When the disciples heard this voice from heaven, they fell down to the ground and they were terrified. Isn't this great? What a gracious, gracious God we serve.
Jesus, seeing them terrified, came over to them and he touched them, put his hand on the back and said, get up. Don't be afraid. It's gonna be alright. And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. Moses and Elijah.
What were they talking about? One of the other gospels tells us they were talking about Jesus' departure. They were talking about the time when he would also depart. But then they left, raising their eyes that they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. The disciples.
Peter, James, and John had this unique glimpse into and it's a mountaintop experience. It was it was actually a mountaintop experience. Mount Of Transfiguration. Was it Mount Hermon or Mount Tabor or Mount Merrell? I don't know.
But I think it's intentionally vague. It was a mountaintop experience. Raising their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus. And kinda like John the Baptist, Jesus must increase and everyone else must decrease. When they were coming down from the mountain, they had this mountaintop experience.
And when they were coming down, sometimes we begin to question what we saw on that mountain. Well, you can always go to Jesus and that's what they did. And Jesus commanded them right there. He said, don't tell this to anybody else. This was specific and unique for you.
Don't tell anybody else until the son of man is risen from the dead. Now he's been saying he was going to be killed and be raised the third day. They didn't wanna hear it. That's where Peter jumped in and said, may it never happen, Lord. You know?
But he's saying, don't tell anybody about this. This is just for you. There are sometimes and some things that God reveals to you about you and about what he is doing, that you'll be the first one to hear that. Does that make sense? You'll be the first one to hear that.
And he says, don't tell anybody until the right time. And his disciples asked him, why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first? They've studied this stuff. They've studied it more than we have as fishermen. But every sermon, it seems like somebody brings up Elijah's gotta come first.
We're supposed to be looking for him and he answered and said, oh, yeah. Yeah. Elijah's coming and he'll restore all things. Elijah's coming and restore all things. We've heard this quite a bit.
But I say to you that Elijah already came. Elijah was he's been here. And they didn't recognize him. The the pharisees who were looking for him, they had the law and they had the prophets and they knew to be looking for him. Sadducees didn't care so much.
They didn't really believe in the prophets. They didn't believe in resurrection anyway. It messed with their theology to believe he was coming back. But I say to you, Elijah already came and they didn't recognize him, but they did to him whatever they wanted. If we think back to a few weeks ago where it says that Herod Antipas had him killed, do we blame who do we blame for that?
The Herodians? Who do we blame for that? They should have recognized the Pharisees should have recognized them, but they were the brood of vipers. Gracious. They did to him whatever they wanted.
They didn't pay attention to him. Actually, I'm gonna skip ahead in the text. I don't usually do this. But Matthew 21, during Holy Week, right before the cross, in those teaching days in the temple area. When he entered the temple area, the chief priest and the elders of the people came to him while Jesus was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing these things?
They were overly concerned with authority. Right? By what authority are you doing these things? How have you set up shop here? Who gave you this authority?
But Jesus responded and said to them, I'll ask you one question, which if you tell me, I'll also tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John was from what source? John the Baptist. What authority did he have to baptize? From heaven or was it from men?
And they began considering the implications among themselves. Well, if we say from heaven, he'll say to us then, why didn't you believe him? Right? You're supposed to be looking for this and he had a message from heaven. Why didn't you believe him?
But if we say, it was for men, we fear the people. For they all regard John as a prophet and he was a prophet. Jesus had already said that among men, there's no one better than John the Baptist. He's a prophet. We fear the people, for they all regard John as a prophet.
And answering Jesus, they said, we don't know. And he also said to them, then neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things. Were they after man's purposes or God's purposes? They were considering the implications and finding out their best path, whatever was politically expedient for them. Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.
Here we go. But I said to you that Elijah already came and they didn't recognize him. They did whatever they wanted. And so also, in this same way, the son of man is gonna suffer at their hands. Oh, I feel like Peter going, may it never be, Lord.
You got 10,000 angels you can call at any time. You feed the troops just by multiplying bread. But it must. The son of man is going to suffer at their hands. He's gonna do so willingly and voluntarily.
He's gonna lay down his perfect record for his enemies. And then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist. That's the last of the text. And Matthew we're gonna go over today. Luke and Mark confirm the same.
Concentrating on their walk and ours. There are things that we don't understand right now. And there are things that as we will humble ourselves, God will show us more clearly. He will probably only show us the next immediate step and not way out into the future. But we can walk in obedience.
Let me share the other two uses of the word Pho. It they are from Romans 12. It says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Thank God that you have propositional truth. You have the scriptures that we can examine them in humility, and the illumination of the Holy Spirit will direct our lives.
As we approach them with humility, he will be transforming us. Actually, this also is a passive verb. So it is not that we are transforming ourselves. Technically, this is a middle or passive. It's an ambiguous form.
So it can be either middle or passive. So to the extent that we are able, we can humble ourselves. God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble, and he transforms us as we give over our conscious will to his revealed will. Does that make sense?
Okay. In humility, don't be conformed to this world. This world is a proud, proud place, and everybody has their own self righteous justification for why they do what they do. I did as a kid. I did as a teenager.
I did, and I still probably do on a lot of different things. But God is saying, don't do that just like everybody else. I'm saying y'all be being transformed by the renewing of your mind. In humility, look into the word. Look into the life of Jesus.
Look into the stories, So that you may prove what the will of God is. It's a blessing for all peoples, and you are carriers of his grace. So that you may prove what the will of God is. That which is good and acceptable and perfect. Perfect.
That's That's the the metamorpho. Metamorpho. That is the transfiguration that is available to us. Transformation. Second Corinthians three is the other place.
Three eighteen says this, but we all, everybody who has trusted in Christ, we all with unveiled faces, we are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord. How is it that we can look in the mirror and see the glory of the Lord? Oh. Because Christ indwells us. And we can, in humility, look and see that he's taking a he has taken a miserable wretch and is using us for his own glory.
I heard somebody say between services, and I love it so much, that God is a master builder, and he uses broken tools. That's good. Thankful. We all with unveiled faces looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord. We are being transformed.
That is happening to us. It's also an ambiguous form. Middle passive. Middle meaning for ourselves, we have something that we can do. We can humble ourselves before God, and he will be transforming us into the same image from glory to glory.
Just as from the Lord, the Holy Spirit. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is able to raise us up and use us for God's kingdom advance. I'm gonna close with Ephesians three fourteen through 19, and then we're gonna have a time of communion. And then I'll come back with the benediction following these verses in Ephesians. Think about this.
Paul God's grace for Paul. Hard headed joker that he was. Right? He had his way. And he was going after Christians ferociously with writs, bringing them in.
And then God showed him who he was. Why are you persecuting me? And with the gift that he was given, in great humility, he carried that message forward for the rest of his life. For this very reason, I bend my knees in humility before the father. The father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
God is the creator of everyone. That he would grant to you, believers in Ephesus, believers in Jackson, believers worldwide, that he would grant to all of y'all according to the riches of his glory, that you would be strengthened with power through his spirit and the inner self in such a way that Christ may dwell in your hearts. Can you think of another religion? Can you think of another God who comes to dwell within you? No.
There is no other. Name above all names, Jesus Christ, so that he may dwell in your hearts through faith. So that when you look in the mirror, you can see the glory of the Lord, that he redeems. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you being rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all of the saints what is the width, and the length, and the height, and the depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. God, would you fill us up?
Right now, as we I'll call the ushers forward and we will celebrate this time of communion where we actually commune with one another and with you. We take you seriously, Lord, that though we do not deserve it, you still lived a perfect life, had a perfect record, voluntarily gave over your innocent blood, shed for the removal of our sin and for the sanctification, for the transformation of our lives out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of marvelous light and going forward so that the gospel may continually advance. You say, Lord, that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. May this be a blessing for everyone who'll receive. Anyone who has believed in you, Lord, whether it was fifty years ago or five minutes ago, it's an open table.
Anyone who will have you enter into their life, Lord. It's open. In Jesus' name, we ask your blessing on this bread as we distribute it. These elements one at a time, God. I thank you for this vivid reminder that we are to take you in.
In Jesus' name, Lord, which bless each one that will partake. And if there's anyone in the room who, Lord, is not a believer and needs to let that pass, I pray that you would impress upon them by their neighbors here. That they too are being called into this kingdom of marvelous light. In humility, Lord, may we be accepting and available for whatever it is you want from us. In Jesus' name.
Amen. On the same night that Jesus was betrayed that's so significant. On the same night that Jesus was betrayed, he broke bread after supper. And he said to his disciples that were still there with him, and the ones that are in this room today says, this is my body which is broken for you. Take this and eat.
Take it in and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. We thank you, Lord, for this meaningful reminder of your perfect life and your sanctifying spirit that allows us to walk in holiness and victory. God, I thank you for your innocent blood that was shed, for the forgiveness of sins. Think of the line from Rock of Ages, May that blood be of sin, the double cure. Save us from wrath.
You've done that, Lord. And make us pure. Allow us to walk out the plan that you have for us in those steps. God, would you bless as we distribute this little plastic cup of grape juice as a reminder and a representative sample. In Jesus' name, amen.
In the same way that he had taken the bread, he also took the cup after supper and common cup at the time, little plastic cups for us. But he was offering this up and saying to his disciples disciples there, this is the new covenant in my blood. This is saying that God has taken on in Jesus, God has taken on the sins of the world. Wow. This is the new covenant in my blood, Jesus says.
Take this and drink. Do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Amen. And Paul says that that every time that we do that, we celebrate his death, the end to sin. Right?
The be of wrath, the double cure. I mean, of sin, the double cure. Save from wrath, make me pure. Paul says that that is we're buried with Christ. We're raised to walk in newness of life.
God, would you show us your will and your way. I've got a benediction here from Ephesians three twenty and twenty one. Blake, there it is. I'm gonna do this right now and we'll close with the doxology. Alright?
They'll sing a hymn to depart. That's what we're gonna do. But think about this. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or we think, according to the power that works within us because God indwells, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Would you all stand and we'll sing the doxology.
Speaker 2Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise father, son, and holy ghost. Amen.
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