We Did Not Follow Cleverly Devised Stories First B Jackson 2019-04-28 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Where we can worship together as a family, and let's make it in such a way that Jesus, it's worship in this place. Amen? Amen. Amen. I hear the rolling thunder. Thy bow throughout the universe display. Then sings my soul, my savior, God to thee. How great thou art how great thou art then sings my soul my savior God to thee how great thou art how great thou art And when I fear that God his son not sparing, send him to die. I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing he bled and died to take away my sin then sings my soul my savior God to be how great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art when Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation and take me home what joy shall fill my heart hallelujah Then I shall bow in humble adoration and dare proclaim. My God, how great you are. Then sings my soul, my savior, to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul, my savior, God, to thee. How great thou Amen to them. So, there is a nursing mother's room downstairs. It has a video feed of this service happening at the same time. So, if you feel like you need to get away and go down there, you can get away and go down there. Monday night at First B is happening this week. Carl should be back by then. If he's not, I'm preaching. Hey. So, but he's planning on being back by tomorrow evening from Monday nights and he's in Colossians. Meal music and a message. The meal and the music will be there no matter what. The message will either Carl or it'll be me. We have Awana that's happening at the same time starting off in this room and moving about the church from here. That's kids club. We're pouring scripture into their minds to reach their hearts. It's a good good solid hour and a half or so. 05:45 to 07:30 is Awana. Youth group, normally it is on Tuesday. There's no youth group this Tuesday. We're not doing it on Tuesday. We are doing it on Friday instead. Weather permitting, there is a pizza party in the park. More details to follow. Ask Mike Demetrius. Pizza party in the park sounded nice and alliterative and since the pastor doesn't usually do that and I think the youth pastor's taking that over. So, there it goes. Precept study is happening still on Thursday mornings at 09:00. Jane facilitates that in the fellowship hall, Jane Cranenberg. Thursdays nine to 11:30 and they're studying the book of Acts together. My sister's closet is a it's hard to explain this to me. It is sort of like a high end thrift store that happens for one day only, and it's the people of this church primarily, but other churches too, that get together and they bring the clothes that are lightly used but awesome. And then, for a $10 donation at the door, it's open to everyone to come in and swap clothes. Did that make, is that close to it? My Sister's Closet is the name of that. That's pretty good. May 18, that is happening. If you miss a message, we have a podcast so that you can go back and pick up a part of the message or if I didn't say something enough times and you need to hear it again, you can go back and listen again. That's an electrifying. Anyway, connect hour between services. Blake always sets us up here. So connect hours between services, that happens in between the the end of this one and the beginning of the next one down the hall. So there's coffee and donuts and all that sort of stuff. That happens all the time. Feels like there's something else I'm forgetting to say. If there is, it's going to be in the bulletin. So, there's prayer quest in there and there are upcoming events and there's one thing that happened yesterday. It sort of was. So, yesterday, if you came here yesterday afternoon, you probably saw what looked like a butterfly garden in here. There was a daddy daughter dance that happened last night and it was from about at least four or five of the churches in the valley came together, decorated this place, and then turned it back into the sanctuary that you're all used to this morning and I just really appreciate that that's the case that people come in and they do the work and they do the work to spend the time for the kids and for families and it was just really neat. So, it was an awesome daddy daughter dance here last night and then they turned it back into the sanctuary that we're used to before this morning. I appreciate that. So, anything else? Anybody else? No. Alright. Would you all stand up and greet one another and we will bring you back together in just a minute with a song. Welcome and we're glad you're here. So usually, I know that I affirm a foundation you saints of the Lord he's laid for your faith in his excellent word what more can he say than to you he has sent to you who for refuge through Jesus have led fear not he's with us so be not by his merciful almighty how firm our foundation how sure our salvation and we will not be shaken Jesus and though even hell should endeavor to shake you'll never know never know never forsake that's right to age he stands faithful to the end. Hallelujah. All may fade away he will remain he will remain how firm our foundation how sure our salvation we will not be shaken Jesus Hallelujah. I really like this verse where it says, the soul that is trusting in Jesus as Lord will press on enduring the darkness of storm. No matter what's happening in your life, in my life, no matter how difficult it is, we must go on with our savior. Amen? Amen. And we trust that he is by our side no matter what. And the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ, it is always forever. No matter how... What's happening in your life. When he died for you, when he saved you on the cross, he paid with the blood, with the precious blood. That means your name is written in the book of life. You belong to him. Yes. Life is not easy, and it will never be easy, but that means he is with us all the way through. Amen? Amen. When I was practicing the song, honestly, I was crying at home thinking that the soul that is trusting in Jesus as Lord will press on. Will keep will keep will keep on pressing on the salvation and we'll we'll keep on under... I like when you when you put a slide up there and, how do you call that? Sanctification. Sanctification. Yes. It goes up and down, up and down, and a lot of times up, sometimes down. But Jesus is all the way with us. Amen? Amen. It's a privilege to be here, honestly. You are the fullness of the beauty I see you are You are. You are. You are. Even You are. Though few may stand and your is the life I want to live because I'm not ashamed of the gospel not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I'll stand and say, this is my life. You are the author of salvation and faith. You are you are you are the victory that conquered the grave you are you are though few may stand and proclaim your great name is the life I want to live because I'm you. Not ashamed of the gospel, not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I'll stand and boldly say, this is my life. Not a shame of the gospel, not a shame of Jesus Christ. I'll stand and boldly say, this is my life. I wanna sing that again. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Let's do that one more time. Blake, sorry to mess up you over there. It's so good, honestly. Let's sing that one. And while you sing that one, would you please think about how can you spread the good news at work, at home, in in this valley where we are? Then I'm gonna place a question and... Sorry, I'm from Europe. And if I say something that you don't like, throw it away. Okay? So how many at your work knows you are a Christian? How many of your neighbors knows that you go every Sunday at the church and you worship God and and and you live it out? Oh, just please. Do you... You don't have to answer. It's it's a question that you have to answer yourself. So let's sing that one again. Okay? Not ashamed. Not of the gospel, not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I'll stand and boldly say, this is my life. Not ashamed of the gospel, not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I'll stand and boldly say, this is my life. Praise the Lord. Amen. Father God, thank you for giving us the privilege to be here. It is wonderful and amazing that we have the freedom to gather in this place and worship your holy name. Father God, will you please speak to our hearts this morning in such a way that we we get it. Speak to the Holy Spirit something that when we leave these walls, this this building that we can live it out to you and live it out in our in our community that would worship you. And when we have a chance, God, please give us the strength and the power and Holy Spirit speak to us so we can share the gospel, the good news. People are dying. People are moving from place to place. Give us the strength that we can share the good news before they they live out out of this community, before we don't see them anymore. Father God, no matter what's happening in our life, give us that passion that comes from Jesus Christ, from the Holy Spirit. In your precious name I prayed, amen. Amen. This morning is not about how you sing. It's not about how great we do here on the stage. This morning it's about to worship our savior. My prayer every every Sunday morning, you know, of course, I pray during the week too that is is that when we gather here that we can say, I I went to church this morning and I felt God's presence in that place. That's my prayer. And also when pastor A preaches, I I don't expect the whole sermon will be for you or for you. The Holy Spirit will take few words to your hearts. The Holy Spirit will take few words to your hearts. This... The Holy Spirit will take few words to my heart. And when we leave this place, I want everyone to have something. God spoke to me this morning. And honestly, he can prepare as much as he can, but it's all about your heart, your mind, your attitude, your desire to be here, your your willingness to say, God, I'm here. Speak to me. Say something to me that I need this morning. Amen? Amen. Sorry if I speak too much. Sing loud please. You give life. You are love. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope. You restore every heart that is broken. Let's sing that one more We're in midst lungs. So we poured out our praise. We poured out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we poured out our praise to you. Oh, thank you, Jesus. You give life. You are love you bring light to the darkness you give home you restore every heart that is broken great are you lord it's your breath it's your breath in our lungs all the earth will shout your praise our hearts will cry these bones will sing great Amen. Amen. Would y'all y'all pray with me? Y'all can have a seat God, thank you for this morning. I thank you for for Florine and I thank you for filling his life lord and overflowing into this community. I pray that you do that lord with with me and with each of us that are here this morning. I pray that you would speak a word to our soul directly to our hearts. Lord, that we can apply in our normal daily work a day life. I pray lord that we would see you and that you would spread your divine love and forgiveness, mercy, grace, that your word would be living in us in a way that would bring life and love to this community and this world. So, lord, I pray that you do that right now that you'd multiply the tithes and offerings that people here are placing in these plates saying, lord, we trust you and we want for you. What has changed our life and given us hope and strength to change other lives and give them hope and strength. So, lord, like one beggar telling another beggar where they found bread. May we share your good gospel and advance your kingdom. In Jesus name, would you do your will and your way through this time of offering this morning. Amen. Amen. Lord with all my heart I worship you all I have within Lord, I give you my heart. I give you my soul. I live for you alone. Every breath that I take, every moment I'm awake. Lord, have you away with me. This is my desire worship you all I have within I Amen. Praise the Lord. Amen. Amen. And it's time now for children's church. So, Peak Children's Church is happening downstairs. Where they'll go and get kind of an age appropriate lesson. I hope we get an age appropriate lesson up here too. But I'm pretty sure it's going to happen down there. That's fun. We have This morning, we're up to in our chronological study. We're going through the New Testament in order and we're up to about sixty six, sixty seven AD when this was written. The apostle Peter, the great apostle, as he's been called, he's been called a lot of different stuff. He calls himself a fellow elder. Second Peter one verses 12 through 21 is the latter half or latter two thirds really of this latter half at least of this chapter and I was concentrating on it and you all know speech 101, have you... Has there... How many of you all had a speech class in college? Almost everybody had to have a speech class in college. And in speech 101 they told you, this is the format. I don't care what they say, whether it's impromptu, extemporaneous, well prepared, research paper, whatever. It is tell em what you're going to tell em, tell em, and then tell em what you told em, right? That's the the that's the gist of speech one zero one. So, this morning, we're going do second Peter 112 through 21 and I'm going to tell em what I told him three weeks ago. Tell em why you told him that three weeks ago and then tell em why you are telling em why this week, what you told them three weeks ago, okay? We had Easter and Palm Sunday in between and I'm I like plotting. If y'all hadn't noticed, I like just to slowly plod through and contemplate scripture and let it sink in. You know, a good soaking rain is much better than just a thunderstorm, thunderbuster and then that's it. Tears up a lot of stuff, you know. Give me a moment to breathe. A quick reminder of the first 11 verses and I'm going dwell here for just a minute. Don't get uncomfortable. This is gonna be a little, probably a little longer than it usually is of a reminder. When you see a white slide with black words, usually that means we've covered it. We've covered it before. If you see a black slide with yellow words, it means we haven't covered it together yet. If you see a black slide with white and other complementing colors, it means we're going through it for the first time, alright? That's just my code so that I know what we've been through together. We went through this three weeks ago. Simon Peter, He calls himself a servant and an apostle One who is a slave of Christ and apostle especially for him was one of those who had been sent out by Jesus, right? A servant or slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ. That's the way he identifies himself. To those who through the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ, it's God's business. It's God's work. Through to those who, this is his receiver, to those who through the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours. It's Gentile Christians, Gentile flavored Christians. There's just Christians, right? But they're Gentile flavored Christians and Peter is a thoroughly Jewish flavored Christian. Nothing have I ever eaten that was unclean, lord. Oh, what I have called and what I've called clean, you don't call unclean, Peter. Go ahead. Take and eat. To those who through the righteousness of our God and savior, it's not just for us but it's for all the peoples and y'all are some of those people. That's what Peter's saying in this first line right here. To those who through the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ have received the faith as precious as ours. Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Amen. Always start with grace and peace. Always. Unmerited favor and shalom. Be yours in abundance or multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our lord. In the first two verses, he's already told us what he's going to talk about. Goodness of God and his saving but also the knowledge of God and Jesus our lord. So, this is something that is central to first Peter. That's why I go back and bring it up again. The knowledge of God is going to play a very important role and this this is just a short book. It's only three chapters long. We're going cover the first chapter pretty heavy today. The knowledge of God, very important to Peter. His divine power has given us everything. He's already mentioned God the father and Jesus Christ and when he says, his divine power, he's talking of the Holy Spirit. I think that that's born out through all three chapters of this. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. How? Through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. It's God's work but we have to receive it. Through these, he has given us his very great and precious promises. Amen. Where does he do that by the way? In scripture, right? You'll see that throughout this book. God has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them, you may participate in the divine nature. You will not become gods but you do have the possibility and you have the potential of participating in his divine nature. Having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. He said, he has removed us from the kingdom of darkness and placed us into the kingdom of light. His divine power. Holy Spirit is at work. Peter knows that. Clickety click. First B. Okay. There it is. First B and that is based on what you believe. That is based on what you do with Christ. We talked about that last week. We talked about it pretty much every week. First, B. Exercise the faith that God has given you and put your trust in Jesus and you will be a Christian first. Be. First B, okay? And then it says, make every effort. Now, for at least one guy in the second service but for a lot of y'all, y'all might think, oh, it's all about what I believe. It is all about what you believe but this is scripture and it says, make every effort to add to your faith. Your faith is what saves you. It is through God's grace. It's by grace through faith that you're saved but Peter is saying, don't just stop there. Are you with me? This is going to be a call to holiness. Don't just stop there. Add to your faith. So, first B, he's saying add to what you believe, what you do. So, first B and then do. Are you okay with that? If it was first do and then you'll be, I'd be completely theologically backwards and upside down, right? But this is first B a believer and then do that which believers do. Put your trust and continually keep on entrusting in Christ Jesus. There we go and for this reason, make every effort to add to your faith what? Goodness and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge. I said we're going talk about knowledge a lot. And the knowledge, self control. And the self control, perseverance, and the perseverance, godliness, and the godliness mutual affection and mutual affection love. We talked about mutual affection being brotherly love, Philadelphia love, Philos love, and then the love there is also agape, an unconditional godly type of love. It's not necessarily stair steps in order but certainly, agape love tops the list, okay? When you add to your faith, what you believe, what it is that you do, you're walking it out. So, first B, that's all about faith where you put your faith and then do is that other stuff and it does follow if you believe Lot of times when I'm baptizing people, I said, do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins? And they say, yes. That's your profession of faith right there. I said, do you seek to live after his life by his spirit for the rest of your life and they say, yes. That follows after what you believe. Are you with me? Is this good? Is this making sense to you? We've covered it all before. For if you possess these qualities and that's those qualities right there. If you possess these qualities in increasing measure, that is that slide that Florian was talking about, the sanctification slide, They will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive. Nobody wants to be ineffective and unproductive, do you? Oh, no. And how? They will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's possible to know about Jesus but not be practicing or experiencing or allowing other people to experience his love and presence in your life. Are you agreeing with me? Do you do you think that's true? Okay. You don't want to be ineffective or unproductive. Here was a popular slide actually from the last time we went through this. Ineffective and unproductive. Ineffective, the word is not work in Greek. A or a not and then ergos work. And then unproductive is a and karpas, no fruit. Ineffective synonyms idle, lazy, thoughtless, unprofitable, or even injurious because it's damaging. Unproductive being unfruitful that which is without fruit, barren, profitless, and this is what people want to know because it's the fine print. Several people actually Email me and say, could you send me that slide? Because I want to read that fine print again. It refers to any thought or action that's not originated and empowered by the Lord because it unless the Lord builds a house, he labors in vain who builds it, right? So, that which is not born of faith and birth and empowered by God by definition. That which is not born of faith is sin. Romans fourteen twenty three, that's where it was. It's also in James where he says, to know to do right and not do it. That's sin. Which automatically renders them eternally at least fruitless. You might do great things here. This is the case regardless of how impressive or acceptable these things are in the eyes of the world. If it's not doing anything for the kingdom, it's ineffective and unproductive. Alright, let that sit for a minute. If you possess these qualities in increasing measure, that will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ but whoever does not have them is both nearsighted and blind forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. It is possible that you have been saved and actually somebody else called me this week and said, it sounded like you said, it's possible for you to have been saved and then to renounce it and go back and give it up and be hell bound. Whoever does not have them has not had them. Does that make sense? Are you with me? This is one of those sticky theological issues. I'm going have to keep going on. Whoever does not have these things, this is the fruit of a life that believes. Whoever does not have them is near sighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. I believe that it's possible to be saved and not be effective. Are you okay? I believe that it's possible to be saved and not be productive. What a shame that is though. You're filled with the same power that rose Jesus from the grave and yet you can wander around lifeless, ineffective, and unproductive. Peter is trying to keep that from happening. I'm trying to keep that from happening by repeating what Peter said and what I said three weeks ago. Are you with me? Okay. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and your election. He's saying, I believe that you're Christians. I believe that you believe. I believe that you've been saved and you've been removed from the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of light but he says, make every effort to confirm your calling and your election for if you do these things. First, you gotta be and then, the doing follows that. If you do these things, these faith, goodness, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, love. If you do these things, you will not stumble and that stumble there is not stumble irrevocably and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our lord and our savior Jesus Christ. Amen. So, this is where we start the new text right here. So, so, I will always, Peter says, remind you of these things and that's why I'm telling you what I told you three weeks ago because Peter says, I know that you know. I know that you believe but you still need to hear it. Carl is fond of this and I think Scott Eichen was fond of this phrase before. Carl got here. We're leaky people. We need to hear again. We need to be filled again. We need to have the truth poured into our lives repetitively, repeatedly, continually, however you want to say that because we're leaky people. So, I will always, Peter says, remind you of these things even though you know them and you're firmly established in the truth that you now have. You are believers and I trust that that's true. Don't think I'm condescending to you by telling you again but it's the truth and we need to hear it again. He says, I'm going to remind you and then he said, I think it's right. I think it's right to refresh your memory. So, he said in two verses, I'm going to remind you again. I'm going to remind you. I'm going to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent, the tent of this body. He recognized that this was a temporary dwelling place for him. This place, this body, as long as I live in the tent of this body, I'm going to remind you, I'm going to refresh your memory. Every time that I say it, I'm going to say the same thing. I'm not going to change the gospel. I'm not going to add to it. I'm not going to take away from it. As long as I live in the tent of this body because I know that I will soon put this body aside. I only have a limited time here on Earth and in the limited time I have, what I want to do is dwell on scripture in my own life, apply it to my own life, and share it with everyone else. Are you with me? Are you with Peter? Because I know that I will soon, he says, put it aside. Now, you could say, generally, we have a short lifespan. It's like a vapor is what James says. There's a limited time on Earth for all of us even if it's one hundred years. That's a short time in light of eternity. I know that I will soon put it aside as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. I remember this from John 21 is right after the Peter, do you love me? I do. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Tend my lambs. It was right after that. Jesus has restored Peter on the beach. What a beautiful thing that was. When he said, go tell the disciples and Peter, just in case Peter thinks his denial has removed him from my group of people. Go tell the disciples and Peter, meet me in Galilee and when they meet him in Galilee, Peter girds up and jumps off the boat, runs to him on the beach, and Jesus is making, he's serving them again, making them breakfast. He restores him. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Tend my lambs. Take care. He's already told him that after after your sifting and after your denial, turn and strengthen your brothers. You know, man, what a beautiful thing this is. In John 21, Jesus also told Peter, very truly, I tell you that when you were younger, you dressed yourself and you went where you wanted but when you're old, you will stretch out your hands This is from someone who had just recently stretched out his hands on the cross. You'll stretch out your hands I don't I'm not reading that into the text. That's what he said. You'll stretch out your hands. The normal way for someone to carry their cross was stretched out, tied to the beam, and they had to carry the beam to wherever they were going to be hung. When you're old, you'll stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go and Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And then he said to him, follow me. It's crucified. Tradition has a good tradition actually has it that Peter not feeling worthy to be crucified in the same manner that Jesus was asked to be crucified upside down. I don't negate exactly all that Jesus said here because I know that I will soon put this tent of my body aside as our Lord Jesus has made clear to me and I will make every effort. Oh, he's saying make every effort again. I will make haste. I'll do all that I can while I can. I will make every effort. Now, remember, y'all make every effort to add to your faith. Goodness and the goodness. Knowledge and knowledge, self control, self control, perseverance, and perseverance, godliness, and godliness, mutual affection, brotherly love, and agape love. I will make every effort to see that after my departure, you will always be able to remember these things. Peter loved the Bible. He quotes it all the time. He loved his Torah. He loved his prophets and he quotes him all the time. Can you imagine this humble guy? Now, has two of his books included in holy scripture and from now on, you will always be able to remember these things because I've told you and now I'm telling you what I'm telling you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to keep on telling you. It made it into the book. Ain't that great? I will make every effort to see that after my departure, you will always be able to remember these things. So why does he why does he want to why does he want him to remember these things? He's going to tell us. For this is why, for we did not follow cleverly devised stories. The Greek word there is mythos, mythos, myth where we get our word. We didn't follow after myths. These are not fairy tales. They're not made up. We did not follow after cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power. It wasn't something we just made up. We're not trying to control people. We're just telling you the straight up truth. This is what happened and this is the change that has been wrought. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We saw the goodness and the glory of God. I mentioned way back when we started first Peter that when Peter recognized who Christ was, he fell on his face before him. I'm a thoroughly sinful man. He was convicted of his sin and he recognized him as you are the Christ, son of God, right? For we do not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He goes on to talk about that majesty in the next verse here and he says it and this might throw you for a loop if you don't know a whole lot about the gospels. He received honor and he received glory from God the father when the voice came to him from the majestic glory. The majestic glory is a way of saying God without saying God. Jews have been doing that for years because to take the word God and say it was something they didn't do. As a Christian, he feels access to God through Christ and he says, he received honor and glory from God the father when the voice came to him from that majestic glory saying, this is my son whom I love. With him, I am well pleased. You might think, well, that happened at his baptism. It did happen at his baptism. Spirit of God descended like a dove and it lit upon him and the voice came from heaven. It's a beautiful thing. At the baptism, beginning of his ministry but he's referring specifically right here to another event, the transfiguration. He says so in verse 18, we ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred or holy mountain. Are you with me? Still with me? Yeah, we're halfway through. More than halfway through. Matthew 17, we'll go back to the gospels here. After six days, Jesus took with him Peter. This happened in time and space. As time markers, have place markers. We know this happened. James took with him Peter and James and John, three of his disciples, his inner core group there, the John brother James and led them up a high mountain by themselves and there he was transfigured before them. Transfigured before them. His face shown like the sun. You know, when Moses went up in the Holy Mountain and the light of God shown on his face, it said that and he reflected God's glory but this shining was happening from within. Are you with me there? Jesus was shining, transfigured is the only way that they could say it. There he was transfigured brilliantly before them. His face shown like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light. One of the three of the synoptic gospel, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all say this. One of them says, whiter than anybody could bleach them which I like that Just then, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my son, whom I love. With him, I am well pleased and he says, listen to him. Listen to him. Listen to what he has to say. When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, terrified but Jesus came and touched them and said, get up. He said, don't be afraid and when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus but three guys had the same experience. I won't say vision because it wasn't a vision. It happened. It happened in front of em. It happened where all three of em could see it, not just one of em, okay? Eyewitness testimony of the transfiguration of this son of God. Now, when they looked up, get up and don't be afraid. When they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus and then, as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, don't tell anyone what you've seen. Until the son of man has been raised from the dead. Now, the voice of God almighty just said, listen to him and they still didn't get that he was going to be raised from the dead. Don't tell anybody about this until the son of man has been raised from the dead. Talking about Easter last week and actually, it's Orthodox Easter this week if you didn't know. This is a lot of the church goddess celebrating Easter today. This is right before that. This is last verse in 16. I started with the first verse of 17. Truly, I tell you, some who are standing here, this is when he was with all of his disciples, will not taste death before they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. When they saw the transfiguration, it was the very next thing that they saw and they saw the son of man has he will be in the coming kingdom. Are you with me? It's pretty cool. So, Peter goes on to say, we also have the prophetic message. I have eyewitness testimony of something that I saw. Some people think and wonder, why didn't Peter mention a post resurrection appearance? Why didn't they mention him slipping into the locked room? Why didn't they mention, why didn't he mention all these other things? I think that all of those were places where Jesus was veiled but in that instance where he was seen, transfigured, talking with Elijah and Moses on the top of that mountain, it was something that was different than those other times and so he calls on it, experience but he also says, we also have the prophetic message. I know this to be true because I've seen it with my own eyes. I wasn't deceived. I had other people with me and it was amazing but we also have the prophetic message as something that is completely reliable. If I were to say Malachi four five and see, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. They knew that verse but everybody's like, when when's Elijah coming? What's going on? After that, in Matthew, it says, and John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah and people did the same thing to John the Baptist that they had done to the prophets before him. He's come already. The time is now. We also have this prophetic message as something that's completely reliable and you will do well, Christians, to pay attention to it. As to a light shining in a dark place. His divine power has given you everything for life and godliness. The Holy Spirit is at work. I love that God is so inexplicable and so great. The father, son, Holy Spirit is great. At times, people reduce it. The father, son, and holy book. Are you with me? Where they just read the scriptures, it's kind of dry. There's not a power. He keeps on attributing and will keep on for the rest of this book attributing the scriptures that we have and the illumination of them to the Holy Spirit. We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns. Now, the day, the day, the great mighty day of the Lord. We've been talking about this since Deuteronomy probably before that but definitely since Deuteronomy and all the way to Revelation talking about the great and mighty day of the Lord and that's what he's talking about. You will do well to pay attention to the Bible as to a light shining in a dark place. The reason why I'm repeating myself and why I remind you of these things and why Peter is saying he's reminded is because this is the light that we have that is absolutely true and it's what we can base our lives on. It's the foundation that we can stand on. Guided by the Holy Spirit, through the blood of Jesus Christ, under the direction of God the father, we can and will do well to pay attention to it as to light shining in a dark place. We live in a dark world. Jesus came into a dark world as the light and they rejected it. Don't reject the light that is the scriptures. Don't reject the urging and the tugging that God is doing on your heart and on your mind and on your will. As you read the scriptures, add to your faith. Goodness, perseverance, self control, all those things. Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart. Is that morning star arising to your hearts, Eugene, Morningstar? Ursby's own Eugene Morningstar. I love that name, by the way. He is following after the Morningstar, and I know that. But that is not about Eugene. Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. So, until the day dawns is an objective thing about the whole when time has ended and this is the ultimate great and mighty day of the Lord and then that morning star that rises in your hearts. It won't just be something you've read on a page or experienced through the veil or experienced in a limited or veil fashion but something that you'll see completely and totally transfigured and glorified. Until the day dawns, that is bigger objective thing and then and the morning star rises for good in your hearts. That's the subjective one individual thing. Are you with me? Okay. If you don't think that that's talking about Jesus, it is. Jesus says so in Revelation twenty two sixteen, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David. How can you be both the root and the offspring of David? He is the alpha and he is the omega. He's the beginning. He's the end. He is the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. I'm going to cover these two verses very quickly and this is, I use the NIV translation of this Bible book this time for this reason. There are editorial choices that have to be made when you're translating scripture. All the time, every time. The NIV has made an editorial choice on this verse in particular that you may or may not agree with that this was the right one. There are at least three and I'll go into em I think next week but this is true whether this is what the author intended or not. This is true. It's one of the ways that it can be understood. So I'm giving you a homework assignment this week. Think about this. Think about it. I don't think that this is the right one. Okay? I'll tell you, I'll give you a clue on that. I don't think this is necessarily right one but I want you to be familiar with it because it's still true. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things and that is true. Scriptural prophecy comes true and it was sourced by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks into the heart of the prophet and it comes out of the mouth of the prophet and it hits the page from the prophet. Are you with me? Everybody with me? And it's not something he made up. There's a dual authorship to scripture. The Holy Spirit uses people. The Holy Spirit inspired Peter to say and write the things that are in second Peter and we still have it today and he still reminded us of the things he said through scripture and then Malachi and Joel and John the revelator, all of these prophecies, they didn't come about just by cleverly devised fables. They didn't make it up. Are you with me? This matters. It's really, really, really central to what we believe as as followers of Christ. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things. That's true. I don't think that's what Peter was saying. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will. But prophets, though human, they spoke from God as they were carried along by the divine power, the Holy Spirit. God in his spirit is working today but he is using his scripture and his truth and he's sanctifying lives by that truth. Are you with me? Okay. Alright. I think that's it for the message today. It might have been, it might be kind of heady and it might be something that like, why did it, why would it even bring up that there are three different versions of this? Come back next week, please and see what it is because it really matters and it's part of why the church still argues and fights. How you determine what scripture means and what authority it has in your life. It has authority in your life. If you're a believer. And it matters. It matters what we do especially as we parse things through. We're going into the Lord's supper right now. When he said, I'm going to remind you, I'm going refresh your memory and I'm going to keep on refreshing your memory throughout. This do in remembrance of me. When Jesus said this and Peter was there, right? He said, do this. Can I get the elders to come forward? And I'll say a quick prayer and we'll get this. Remembrance underway. God, would you bless? Would you do it your way, lord? I pray that we would stick close to what has been written and what has been said through the words of Christ. Lord, the words in red and through your word and through the illumination that the Holy Spirit is offering. God, would you please do your will in your way? I pray right now that everyone who believes and trust in Christ would partake after they have confessed their sin, after they have come to you and are whole before you, gone to their brothers and sisters with whom they have something going on. God, would you allow us, lord, to observe this remembrance worthily by the blood of Christ. In Jesus name, we thank you for your broken body and your shed blood. Amen. So, the the version of the Lord's supper that I usually do with a few kind of wanderings and meanderings is from first Corinthians eleven twenty three to 26. It's Paul and since last week, we said, I delivered unto you as of first importance just what I received. He kind starts of that way here. I received from the Lord but I also passed on to you. This is not a cleverly devised fable. This is something that is true and good and on the night, Lord Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, he took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and he said, this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. God, we thank you for coming to live life in a body, in the body of Jesus Christ, to walk in the power of the spirit but in the body. To be tempted in every way that we're tempted yet to be without sin. I thank you for the life that you live that had no sin and no penalty to be paid. I thank you that lord, you took that perfect record and sacrificially gave without the shedding of blood. There's no remission of sin and God I thank you that you shed your perfect and innocent blood on our behalf. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. In the same way after supper, he took the cup saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again. I didn't go into it this week but I hope to go into it next week. When it said, the Lord's coming and power. I want chance to explain that. It's not his just his first coming in a stable in Bethlehem. It is his Parusia is what it says in Greek. It is his second coming. He's coming. He came to save. He will come back. He'll come back to judge. In Jesus name, lord, I play. I pray that you would bless us as we recognize your divine power, as we recognize your divine son, as we recognize the authority of scripture. In Jesus name, lord, we pray that you'll bind us together. Amen. Would y'all just stand and sing the doxology with me and then we'll have a quick benediction and go. Praise God from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures here below Praise him above the heavenly host. Praise father, son, and holy ghost. And now, would you let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your heart to God. May it be just as you have said, lord. Amen.