MAY 1 2022 | Believe S1E2 | Figuring Out the Transfiguration

Sea Change Church · MAY 1 2022 | Believe: Ep 2 - Figuring Out the Transfiguration
Mark 9:2-8
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

this week for some strategic meetings with us and then we're going to do have him as well speak today so he'll be our speaker so I want to let you know that he is coming up and let me also just read the scripture if you have your Bible or if you have your bulletin we can check it out Mark 9 2 through 8 in the NIB chapter 1 chapter 1 after six days Jesus took Peter James and John with him and led them up a high mountain they were all alone there he was transfigured before them his clothes became dazzling white whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them and there appeared before them Elijah and Moses circle both of those names they're going to come back in the sermon who were talking with Jesus you can circle that one too Peter said to Jesus Rabbi it's good for us to be here let us put up three shelters one for you one for Moses and one for Elijah verse 6 he did not know what to say they were so frightened then a cloud appeared and covered them and a voice came from the cloud this is my son whom I love listen to him suddenly when they looked around they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus the word of the Lord well my goodness traces let me tell you the news my head's been wet with the midnight dew I've been down on bended knee talking to the man from Galilee he spoke to me with a voice so sweet I thought I heard the shuffle of angels sweet he called my name and my heart stood still when he said John go do my will go tell that long tongue liar good morning family it is fabulous to be here I've come all this way just to come home truly you are family I just love it absolutely love it I've got some good news I've got some bad news and I've got some utterly tragic news for you the good news is that I have been carefully trained in international speaking to have that correct timbre of voice to speak slowly and clearly so you can understand the Scottish accent the bad news is that when I get excited all that goes out the window and the really tragic news I am so excited to be here you have no idea it's brilliant being here so I'll have to try and contain myself and if you lot had your wish we'll get on with it alright that said so I've been up a few mountains in my time I've climbed Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia 14,000 feet I did that in one day got altitude sickness I didn't listen to my wife Elspeth she told me to climb steadily and drink water steadily what would she know she's only an emergency physician I've climbed the Merida range in Venezuela which starts at 5,000 feet and goes on up that didn't work out well sickness and fatigue on that one at that time I ignored the rules and I drank unpurified water Elspeth dived into her backpack and produced an intravenous giving set and a bag of fluid and I was soon right as rain what kind of person takes that on holiday with them and I've cycled up Val-Turon in the French Alps 8,000 feet on a route that is 26 miles of non-stop climbing round and round and up the mountain going in the ETAP event of the Tour de France I was utterly emptied by the heat and the effort so emptied I couldn't even do that pathetic bargaining prayer you sometimes do you say okay God if you do this for me then I'll be a good boy couldn't even do that I just I was just emptied so Holy Spirit I can't do it I cannot get up this mountain if I am to get this mountain it's got to be you can you give me a backy can you just get me up I prayed to the Holy Spirit and I felt lifted as on eagle's wings you know that scene from the Lord of the Rings where the giant eagle scoops them up and takes them off to safety that is what I felt and at that very moment from another country not knowing this Elspeth my wife texted to my bike computer on the handlebars but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength they will soar on wings like eagles Isaiah 40 31 and then Chris plays that as part of the opening set of the music thank you Lord so I can't say that I know a lot about getting up mountains but I have climbed a few so Jesus takes three mates out for a hike they're together fresh air exercise shooting the breeze life is good they go up a mountain and Jesus changes he's transfigured and Elijah and Moses are there this is getting a bit trippy what's all that about then in what ways are we being asked to believe and what's helping our belief Jesus transfigured brighter than bright is he just showing off his latest bling is Moses and Elijah are they his new posse we need to know why Moses and Elijah were there and then we can see what's the message for us all it's a good question the sort that you can hang on to and answer for yourselves one of those dinner party questions who from history would you most like to have over for dinner well apart from the Holy Trinity which two biblical characters would you choose up on a mountainside maybe Adam because he could show you where the best fig trees are maybe King David because he's used to being out in the wilderness and he can show you the straight path up there maybe Deborah one of the wisest judges so you know the conversation is going to be good and the advice will be fine maybe Paul because he's going to have an opinion about everything who would Jesus choose this is about Jesus as recorded in the gospels the new testament we're moving from the old testament looking afresh at the new testament at a gospel learning we're going to look at a little bit more of God's revelation for us his love his plans for us all so what was the revelation what are we being invited to believe as we step out on our faith journey that pastor Adam was talking about last week well let's take Moses Moses was called the ultimate law giver and he was careful to acknowledge God as Lord God gave Moses not just the laws but his trust and the people gave Moses something as well they gave him a lie and eventually he believed it even Moses needed the redemptive power of Jesus and Elijah what's he doing up on the mountainside why well he's often held up as the ultimate prophet of God's people we say prophet and we think of foretelling and predictions but really it's more correct to describe it as forth telling a prophet goes out and speaks God's word as revealed to them they don't just predict the future but they speak God's word they tell the gospel now the word gospel is anglo-saxon a language that's given us Dutch German English even the Scottish dialect in anglo-saxon gospel is got spiel literally good news now got is not good as in nice that would be fremung in anglo-saxon got means virtuous worthy a gift and spiel is not just news as in the scoop the headlines that would be tidings which gives us tidings when Jesus was born the shepherds in the fields were given the headlines by the angel glad tidings of great joy a king is born for you no spiel is news that needs to be spoken in Scotland when we go to the local corner store for the groceries we don't actually say we're going for the groceries younger generation you probably want to look away at this stage this is from a time before smartphones before any telephone we talk about going for the messages so before phones people would go to the store they'd buy their food get their groceries and they would leave and collect messages from within the community tell aunt Sally she can come to dinner tomorrow did you hear that old John got hurt at work yesterday for the community to thrive it's not just the groceries the food it's the messages actually didn't somebody once say that man does not live on bread alone anyway so Elijah described as the greatest of prophets and he certainly spoke out the got spiel that God gave him and then up there on that mountain there's Jesus Jesus is just wonderful that's all I've got to say really at the end of the sermon okay I'll go a wee bit more so Jesus redeems it's what he says it's what he does it's who he is it's his nature it's like water on a dusty soil it cannot not seep in and restore and refresh likewise Jesus he cannot not offer love and redemption and relationship now we aspire to be more Jesus like and so we must strive to do what he does and for that we need to listen to what he says to what is revealed to us and we need to believe it so I'll give you the main takeaway if you listen to Jesus and then do as he says you'll be just fine this is not so much a three point sermon as a three person sermon and we'll start as I said with Moses so back in the wilderness at the rock of Meribah Moses dishonored God God responded in love and Moses listened to the people not just to God but they were lying now remember again as pastor Adam said last week as he was explaining Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me person two just before the scripture reading today the disciples were having a conversation with Jesus about who he is is it Elijah John the Baptist now in many ways it was seen that said that John the Baptist was Elijah they dressed the same they both preached in the wilderness a message of repentance they both stood up against kings and they had high profile enemies Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament and as it ends it says see I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes Elijah was sent out and he spoke out he spoke the got spiel and three Jesus came to save us his very name sets it out the Hebrew form of Jesus is Yeshua and that comes from Yahweh Lord and Mosheah which is Hebrew for to save Yeshua Jesus God saves and Jesus knew Old Testament times he was there was it John 8 58 very truly I tell you Jesus answered before Abraham was born I am actually of course Jesus was there right at the start John 1 12 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God Jesus is on mission Pastor Harry is good and correct when he describes himself as youth pastor on staff well Jesus is Messiah on mission and this is not just redemption bridging the gap enabling us to reach the father that's the way it's not just the godly teaching his words his actions so that we can draw closer to him the truth there's also the offer of perfect relationship with father God in eternity the life okay let's start with an easy question but one that you can get wrapped up in there's quite a few rabbit holes in it do you believe the lies of man let me take you to Meribah out in the desert the Israelites have been rescued from slavery in Egypt they've grumbled and sinned and turned from God and what's God done in response he's loved them and saved them and protected them the people demanded water to drink Moses asked God and doing as instructed he struck the rock and water came out for the people to drink the rock that was struck was a symbol of Christ the life-giving water flowed from the struck rock the life-giving living water flows from Jesus he told the Samaritan woman at the well whoever drinks the water I give them will never be thirsty time passes they go wandering in the wilderness I sometimes wish that at least one of them had had a fit bit and we could have worked out how many steps did they do that would have been something but they ignored God and focused on their own here and now I'm thirsty I want a drink now so the Lord gave Moses another command Moses had achieved so much by doing exactly what the Lord told him this time started no differently he was told to speak to the rock and water would flow now this is a Moulin Rouge moment Moulin Rouge the film by Baz Lerman now in that there's a scene where the tension is mounting something is going to happen it's either going to go this way for safety or this way and the hero is going to be betrayed and as it goes forward in the film and the music mounts up a bit and there's a slight pause and you suddenly realize which way it's going to go and he's caught up in the moment the tension mounted you could see it was going to go one way or the other and just when you realized which way it was going to go this bloke sitting along for me in the cinema in the silence went uh-oh so this is Moses uh-oh moment he's been told what to do speak to the rock he's there at !

the people are grumbling he's got a staff and uh-oh he hits the rock was God's word not enough Moses had acted through human anger because he had been attacked not through holy indignation because God had been dishonored again there's a good Scots word that sums this up when your course of action is so obvious and so good and you still choose the other thing you're not just an idiot you're an eejit Moses you eejit what were you thinking man the rock a symbol of Christ had already been struck once just as Jesus was to be sacrificed once the second time just speak to the rock all we need to do now to seek the blessings of Jesus grace is to ask Jesus Moses and Aaron even assumed a power that was God's when they said must we bring water out of this rock they put themselves in God's place and of course God noticed when you break the law there is a consequence so numbers 20 12 but the Lord said to Moses and Aaron because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites you will not bring this community into the land I give them Moses came into agreement with a lie because he later said Deuteronomy !

421 the Lord was angry with me because of you and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance the Lord solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land those were Moses words but what does the Bible say were God's words you will not bring this community into the land I give them God said that Moses would not lead the people into the land but he didn't say that Moses himself would never get into the land now we know from the Bible from our own experience that God is love he's a loving caring compassionate father so do you think it likely that he's spending all his days stalking Moses studying him waiting for that one moral failure when he can say ha you failed in your leadership you fail you're out you're excluded just so that God can have his very own Gandalf moment standing at the promised land saying you shall not pass do you think Moses resigned himself to the people's lie not to God's word I will die in this land he said I will not cross the Jordan he came to Mount Nebel the Lord showed him the whole promised land and Moses died so we'll leave Moses there for a while not in the promised land but dead and buried somewhere and we'll move on to another question now this one needs a bit more in the thought process to get to the answer do you believe the mission of man see the Old Testament does not actually end with sending Elijah it closes with the prophecy of what Elijah will do Malachi 4 5 he will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the hearts of the children to their parents flip forward into the New Testament an angel comes to Zechariah telling him that his wife Elizabeth will give birth to a son to John the Baptist Luke 1 17 tells us that the angel went on to say and he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous it's almost as though God has got a plan you remember that some said John the Baptist was Elijah we often compare a sports star to an iconic sports star from before Manny Mercado is so good for the Padres he is the new Tony Gwyn really a bit controversial physically actually really oh of course not still though I mean whether or not you like baseball Mercado Gwyn the Padres not bad for a visiting Scotsman anyway the angel made it clear John would go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah he had a mission now we can read for ourselves in the Bible just how faithfully John the Baptist carried out that mission he heard God's calling on him and he responded he pioneered he went there first he spoke the gotch spiel final question and this one you really need to think the consequences of the answer do do you believe in the revealed love of Jesus it's all about Jesus of course it's all about Jesus just before our scripture reading this morning Jesus has been in Caesarea Philippi with his disciples likely he goes next to Mount Hermon that's the nearest closest mountain whatever and this turns out to be crucial the whole area is in the promised land well within the boundary of the lands given by God to the Israelites he took Peter James and John with him there's three of them now in Roman law as in so many jurisdictions you need two items of evidence or witnesses !

to act as corroboration sorry I'm a lawyer I'm an attorney this kind of thing excites me the Californian penal code section 1111 says a conviction cannot be had upon testimony of an accomplice unless it be corroborated well Peter had two witnesses James and John James had two witnesses ! Peter and John and John had two witnesses in James and Peter it's not so much that they witnessed Jesus transfigured but they were witnesses to each other seeing it so that they could then go forth and speak it out there would be no doubt in court over what they saw and what did they see Elijah talking with Jesus Elijah the prophet returned now our witnesses !

all tell us that Elijah was there not a ghost or a shade or a stunt double Elijah what was forth told about Elijah again you can have the new Elijah in Elisha you can have the new new Elijah in John the Baptist but here was the original here was Elijah the so-called greatest prophet fulfilling a prophecy the gospels even name Elijah first rather than Moses even though the culture of the time was that you revere the old one you speak about the old person first is that right Pastor Jim and then Pastor Adam but even that was part of the detail of the prophecy and here was Moses actually Moses actually talking with Jesus and where were they in the promised land yes Moses had fulfilled the law that God had pronounced over him in Numbers 2012 you will not bring this community into the land I give them if you break the law there is a consequence but through the redeeming power of Jesus Moses himself had now made it into the promised land and notice almost in passing that they're both talking with Jesus they're not just shelf ornaments put on one side they're in relationship with him the way the truth the life and so we come finally to the third person and if you've been struck by the wonder of Elijah being the prophecy of the word completed by Jesus if you've been struck by the awe of Moses the law fulfilled by Jesus well now we come to the most important part and typically with God he's not flashy or dramatic he simply says ten words ten resounding words that sum up who Jesus is to God and what we must do this is my son whom I love listen to him so what's the conclusion here what ties all this together one the law giving of Moses Jesus came to fulfill the law two the prophecies of Elijah Jesus is the ultimate forth telling he is the word he is the got spiel and three above all listen to Jesus God calls us to listen to Jesus if you listen to Jesus you too will go forth and speak the truth and remember as Saint Francis of Assisi famously didn't actually say preach the gospel always if necessary use words if you listen to Jesus you too will move into the place that God has promised you God's got a plan and he wants to love us protect us and provide for us if you listen to Jesus and then do what he says you'll be just fine Amen right on we're going to take communion thank you Tim that was amazing great really really good word and to all our friends in Scotland who are watching for one of the services online I know you have a bunch of supporters there that are here before you start thinking Tim's too cool with all this Padre stuff first of all yesterday he goes I'm going to do a great pirates !

and then he says and I'm going to say who's the current right fielder I have no idea Jim who's your current right fielder? Oh it rotates so some rotating rando player I'm going to tell them that this guy has taken Tony Gwynn's spot and I'm like you're not going to tell San Diegans that some random right fielder and so he went with that in the first service anyways but he used Manny Mercado and he got pulled up by two guys in the hall in between services like hey you cannot do that so foul ball is what we would call it fantastic message the thing that I really got out of it I'd never seen before is when that rock was hit the first time Jesus brought life out of the rock and he was struck but then the second time he specifically told Moses don't strike the rock because it's been struck this time the word will bring the life and the water and I'd never seen that before so powerful we had a great Holy Spirit night this week and we had some words and I felt like Tim had a couple words came to me which means the Holy Spirit gave me some thoughts as Tim was speaking I'll do one minute on this before we take communion but edge of breakthrough and others of you have broken through I look at Chris over there with the men's ministry Chris Freund he's broken through and so one many of you are on the edge of breakthrough and it's going to come through that three part revelation one the word of God and the law are you about the mosaic word of the Lord he is the !

the ! are you going to build your life on that number two the prophetic vision that God has for your life that is shown in scripture but there's also prophecies that God has for your life he's excited about you are you going to believe in that and then the other one in order to fulfill that is to follow the word of Jesus do what I say and a lot of times I want all that I just don't want to do what Jesus says that's really up to you Jesus now is just inviting you into that and then the final thing is for many of you who feel like hey I've crossed over but you don't know what to do now the word I felt in the back was plant seeds some of you have gotten to a place you have been married now you're married you've been waiting to have that job now you have that job you've been waiting for that to get into that school now you've gotten into the school or whatever it is God wants you to plant seeds and so be a sower and so what does that look like so that's the word there's three things God wants to do he wants you to stand on the !

he wants life communion is for you the Bible actually encourages you it commands you not to take communion if you haven't done that all you have to do in your heart is to say Jesus I don't understand you but I want to make you Lord and follow you and we can take it from there go to the next step table we'll take it from there ! God I don't understand you but I want to follow you because of what I'm hearing and I feel it do that right now and take communion with us and we'll get you baptized and so that's the first thing as we hold the communion today let's just hold it and meditate on that word that following Jesus believing in God's promises for you and realizing that he was broken he was struck so we wouldn't have thank you Jesus we're holding in our hands the suffering of Jesus and the new life of Jesus let's just hold that we bless you Jesus let's just bless him in your heart we bless you Lord we give you praise we bless you and we want your word we want your truth let's take the bread if you would pull the bread out we're going to hold it we're going to take together it's really important that we take this together Timmy would you fix this for me because I can't do it with a mic in my hand give me yours I'll steal yours there we go I'm going read this and then we're going to break the bread something I and said take this and divide it amongst yourselves for I tell you I won't drink again on the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes he took bread gave thanks and he broke it and gave it to them saying this is my body given for you do this in remembrance of me so in remembrance of Jesus if you would take the bread and break it and then let's take it together in the same way after the supper he took the cup now this symbolizes his blood he said this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood this is the shed blood of Jesus the cleansing the life is in the blood which is poured out for you do this in remembrance of me let's take the cup now in our hearts we extend your hands right now I want to bless you we believe that God says whoever you bless will be blessed and that's still true today God does the blessing but we can bless and it says he will bless who we bless so I want to bless you if you extend your hands Lord Jesus we bless these people with as much of you as they want we open their hands God and let them come alive Lord Jesus someone's had numbness in their hand if that's you come forward and pray after the service we want to pray for your hand if you've had numbness in your hands or feet we want to pray for you for healing that God would come alive and all of us some of us we can feel our hands and feet perfectly but we've had numbness and it stems from a numbness in our hearts we bless you that your heart may beat again we bless you with the water that flows from the rock but not the striking of the rock because Jesus was struck to put away the curse to put away the brokenness and to walk in the redemption of new life we give you new life today new thoughts water is no longer bitter we pray God for sweet fresh water upon your people we send them out now to make a difference in the world Lord God whether it's at a cafe they go to whether it's at a mutt strut or a dog park God wherever it would be whether it is looking to the face of their children and saying I love you whether it is giving grace to their spouse we bless them Lord Jesus and they will no longer walk in the curse and we send them out now as an army of God's love and consolation for you are the way the truth and the life and we will share it God we bless you today if you need !

prayer come up after the service we have people that are going to pray for you if you want to know more about the church about Jesus go to the next steps table there's people there if you need a cup of coffee go to the cafe Lord we bless you we send them out now in the name of the Son and Holy ! Spirit ! Amen! Have a great week! We love you! ! We'll see