WEBVTT 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:05.000 Well, good morning to all of you here, good morning to everyone online. 00:00:05.940 --> 00:00:12.179 Today is the last day of Epiphany with Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent later this 00:00:12.179 --> 00:00:13.400 week, as Tommy mentioned. 00:00:14.439 --> 00:00:20.000 Epiphany is a season that celebrates moments in Jesus's… 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:20.640 Is that me? 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:28.480 I'm not sure what I'm doing, but it sounds like a DJ scratch record, but I'm not that 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:28.760 good. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:37.179 I want to say this is my…scratching on my scruffy beard, but I can keep going. 00:00:37.939 --> 00:00:38.799 That was last year. 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:45.460 So Epiphany is a season that celebrates moments in Jesus's life where God or something of 00:00:45.460 --> 00:00:46.299 God is revealed. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:52.420 And the season starts with the Magi giving gifts to Jesus to commemorate that he is a 00:00:52.420 --> 00:00:53.740 light to the Gentiles. 00:00:53.879 --> 00:00:59.980 It includes Jesus's baptism, where Jesus is revealed as the Son of God to John the Baptist, 00:00:59.979 --> 00:01:01.859 and the crowds that are gathered. 00:01:02.619 --> 00:01:08.659 It includes Peter's confession of Jesus as Messiah on behalf of the disciples, or at least 00:01:08.659 --> 00:01:09.359 most of them. 00:01:10.359 --> 00:01:15.239 Paul's encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, where he learns that to persecute 00:01:15.239 --> 00:01:17.379 the church is to persecute Jesus. 00:01:17.379 --> 00:01:24.060 And then finally, Jesus's presentation at the temple, where Anna and Simeon prophesy to Mary 00:01:24.060 --> 00:01:29.560 and Joseph and everyone standing nearby about who this baby is in Mary's arms and who he 00:01:29.560 --> 00:01:29.979 will be. 00:01:29.980 --> 00:01:33.560 So there's a lot going on in Epiphany, it turns out. 00:01:33.900 --> 00:01:34.500 It turns out. 00:01:34.579 --> 00:01:39.520 And I must admit that when I was in preschool, I didn't focus on Epiphany very much. 00:01:40.859 --> 00:01:45.280 It's probably fair to say that it's a season that bypasses most of us. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:51.920 To be very honest, Epiphany for me this year, like most years, is this post-Christmas, New 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:56.740 Year season where next year starts like a cannon gunfire. 00:01:57.079 --> 00:01:58.079 It's suddenly on. 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:01.840 We jump into everything suddenly without any ramp up. 00:02:02.099 --> 00:02:04.040 This year, winter was supposed to happen. 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:07.460 Registration for summer camp opened. 00:02:07.859 --> 00:02:12.300 And you've got to rush in and get your kids in camp for summer before all the spots fill 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:12.479 up. 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:15.960 School application materials for the fall are due. 00:02:16.480 --> 00:02:17.740 It's all in Epiphany, right? 00:02:17.860 --> 00:02:18.980 Like, Epiphany. 00:02:19.920 --> 00:02:23.300 Book fairs, Valentine's Day remembrances. 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:28.580 Yeah, the Valentine's Day remembrances. 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:33.680 And then a whole week-long winter break for the kids right at the end of the month. 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:37.540 And if you're not going anywhere, there's this panic moment of what do we do with our 00:02:37.540 --> 00:02:38.379 kids for a week? 00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:41.360 So that was my Epiphany, right? 00:02:41.400 --> 00:02:44.060 So all this to say, a whole lot just kind of flew by. 00:02:44.060 --> 00:02:46.759 Not much Epiphany action on my end. 00:02:47.420 --> 00:02:49.740 Except today, it's the last day of Epiphany. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:54.520 And all the readings, as Tommy said, revolve around Jesus' transfiguration in keeping with 00:02:54.520 --> 00:02:54.960 the season. 00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:58.199 So the passage we're looking at today comes from Matthew. 00:02:58.340 --> 00:03:04.400 But all three synoptic Gospels, that is Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they all include this moment 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:09.159 in Jesus' life, each focusing on unique details from this experience. 00:03:09.939 --> 00:03:11.340 And it's a great passage. 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:15.620 And I feel like every time I preach, I say about the verse I'm preaching on, it's a great 00:03:15.620 --> 00:03:16.080 passage. 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:20.539 But I don't remember a preacher ever getting up and sighing and saying, I got stuck with 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:21.099 this today. 00:03:21.460 --> 00:03:22.879 So it's a good one. 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:23.539 It's the Bible. 00:03:24.920 --> 00:03:28.719 So Matthew's passage all by itself has lots to dig into. 00:03:28.860 --> 00:03:35.180 But it functions as part of what literary scholars call a chiasmus, which is when a part of a text 00:03:35.180 --> 00:03:39.319 appears in sequence, and then the sequence is repeated in reverse order. 00:03:39.319 --> 00:03:46.299 Our gospel passage, this mountaintop experience, is linked to an immediate episode right after 00:03:46.299 --> 00:03:50.659 Jesus comes back down from the mountain and exists as a whole unit. 00:03:51.419 --> 00:03:53.079 And we'll get into that in a second. 00:03:53.459 --> 00:03:58.099 It's preceded by a conversation with his disciples about him going to the cross. 00:03:58.579 --> 00:04:03.819 And then that same conversation is repeated after the mountaintop experience and this valley 00:04:03.819 --> 00:04:04.900 floor experience. 00:04:04.900 --> 00:04:10.319 And then even beyond that, there are these two broad horizons that the passage links 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:10.599 to. 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:15.300 There's a forward and a backward linkage to two major events in salvation history, the 00:04:15.300 --> 00:04:16.379 exodus and the cross. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:19.480 So with all this in mind, let's dig into Matthew. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.500 The scene is set by Matthew right away. 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:28.480 Jesus takes his inner circle of disciples with him up to the top of a mountain where he would 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:29.319 spend time praying. 00:04:29.500 --> 00:04:30.879 This was a fairly normal thing. 00:04:30.960 --> 00:04:32.100 They'd done this lots of times. 00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:34.280 And Matthew gets right two things. 00:04:34.780 --> 00:04:40.720 While Jesus is praying, he is physically altered before their eyes, his face shining like the 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:43.500 sun and his clothes also becoming light-filled. 00:04:44.660 --> 00:04:50.040 Mark adds that his clothes were radiant, intensely white, and Luke says his clothes were dazzling 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:50.379 white. 00:04:50.520 --> 00:04:52.960 This was an encompassing experience. 00:04:54.200 --> 00:04:59.680 And Luke adds that the disciples were almost asleep when all this happened, but then they quickly 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:00.760 became fully awake. 00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:07.459 At that same instant when they notice Jesus has changed, they see Moses and Elijah appear 00:05:07.459 --> 00:05:10.019 in their glorified state speaking with Jesus. 00:05:10.599 --> 00:05:14.920 And it's really interesting because Peter seems to recognize them and know who they are. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:16.199 I'm not sure I would. 00:05:17.539 --> 00:05:21.579 And as if this isn't enough, a whole bright cloud overshadows them. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:27.839 And that word overshadow is the same word that Luke used when he was describing the Holy Spirit 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:30.500 coming upon Mary in Jesus' conception. 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:36.259 And then further still, after all of that, yet more, they hear the audible voice of God. 00:05:37.239 --> 00:05:38.560 And then it's all gone. 00:05:39.879 --> 00:05:44.939 And there's Jesus in his regular earthly body saying to them, get up, there's nothing to fear. 00:05:44.939 --> 00:05:49.899 And so I was kind of picturing at this point Jesus saying, you know what, I'm tired, I'm 00:05:49.899 --> 00:05:50.579 going to go sleep. 00:05:50.740 --> 00:05:53.779 And the disciples just kind of stared at him and like, we're not tired anymore. 00:05:54.300 --> 00:05:55.480 I'm not sure I can sleep. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:59.100 And Jesus goes to sleep and they just kind of talk about the whole thing all night. 00:05:59.779 --> 00:06:00.560 It was a lot. 00:06:01.699 --> 00:06:04.199 So a couple things to notice about this passage. 00:06:04.699 --> 00:06:06.279 Jesus is seen in a new way. 00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:12.699 As the gospel of Matthew progresses, the disciples have this growing understanding of who Jesus 00:06:12.699 --> 00:06:13.159 is. 00:06:13.719 --> 00:06:20.019 And only 11 verses earlier, Peter confesses Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living 00:06:20.019 --> 00:06:20.359 God. 00:06:21.359 --> 00:06:25.819 But what that means goes to a whole new level for Peter when he gets to the top of that 00:06:25.819 --> 00:06:26.119 mountain. 00:06:27.119 --> 00:06:33.099 What Peter sees when he sees Jesus radiant with light, talking to Moses and Elijah, when 00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:40.879 he hears the audible voice of God is a revelation of who Jesus is, of Jesus' identity that adds 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:44.780 depth and texture to Peter's confession just 11 verses earlier. 00:06:46.400 --> 00:06:50.100 It comes home, and Tommy alluded to this in his opening. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:53.140 Jesus is utterly human, but he is utterly God. 00:06:54.220 --> 00:06:59.760 And the contrast here is with Moses and his mountaintop experience that we read about in 00:06:59.760 --> 00:07:00.040 Exodus. 00:07:00.180 --> 00:07:02.000 In fact, Moses had a couple of these experiences. 00:07:03.100 --> 00:07:09.160 In particular, Exodus 34, 29 says that when Moses came down from one of his mountaintop 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:15.439 times with God, it says that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:15.720 God. 00:07:16.100 --> 00:07:17.080 He wasn't aware of it. 00:07:17.180 --> 00:07:21.379 When he came down, people saw this and asked him to put a veil over it for a while until 00:07:21.379 --> 00:07:22.160 it faded away. 00:07:23.280 --> 00:07:26.600 But with Jesus in this moment, his skin isn't shining. 00:07:27.400 --> 00:07:28.760 It's emitting light. 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:29.759 It's like the sun. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:30.620 It's like the sun. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:34.439 And that light even lights his clothes up so they're radiant as well. 00:07:35.659 --> 00:07:38.459 Moses reflected the light of God's glory. 00:07:38.659 --> 00:07:41.699 Jesus emits the glory of God because he is God. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:44.560 And that glory comes from within him. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:47.259 Jesus is so much more than Moses. 00:07:47.259 --> 00:07:54.579 And to underscore this, Jesus is seen speaking with Moses and Elijah, making it clear that 00:07:54.579 --> 00:08:00.279 this isn't just Jesus experiencing another repeat Moses experience like he's just another 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:00.620 Moses. 00:08:01.379 --> 00:08:03.000 There's a categorical difference here. 00:08:03.659 --> 00:08:07.759 Jesus is speaking with the representatives of the law and the prophets. 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:12.980 He is the one from whom the law came and from whom all prophecy comes. 00:08:13.259 --> 00:08:17.360 And he is the one who fulfills the law and all prophecies of the Old Testament. 00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:21.839 In this way, too, Jesus is much more than Moses and Elijah. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:27.620 This revelation of Jesus is completed by the audible voice of God. 00:08:28.500 --> 00:08:34.600 This is the second of three times in the Gospels where it's recorded that God speaks audibly 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:36.759 and publicly to Jesus. 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:39.040 The first was at his baptism. 00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:42.340 The second, in this passage today, at his transfiguration. 00:08:42.920 --> 00:08:48.659 And the third was in John 12, 27, 28, when Jesus is kind of talking to the crowds out loud 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:51.620 and he says, now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? 00:08:51.700 --> 00:08:55.340 Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I've come to this hour. 00:08:55.920 --> 00:08:58.840 And then he turns from the crowd to his father and says, 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:00.379 Father, glorify your name. 00:09:01.340 --> 00:09:04.180 And then a voice comes from heaven, I have glorified it. 00:09:04.179 --> 00:09:05.839 And I will glorify it again. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:12.739 The voice of God atop of the mountain in our passage today echoes the words God spoke 00:09:12.739 --> 00:09:14.479 at Jesus' baptism. 00:09:14.939 --> 00:09:18.959 This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. 00:09:19.459 --> 00:09:21.759 But then he adds the words, listen to him. 00:09:22.779 --> 00:09:27.779 These words from God position Jesus relative to Moses and Elijah. 00:09:27.779 --> 00:09:35.539 Jesus is not only the one through whom the law came, and he's not just the preeminent prophet, 00:09:35.659 --> 00:09:36.720 he is God's son. 00:09:37.059 --> 00:09:43.699 And his words to the disciples are a charge to listen to his words above those of Moses 00:09:43.699 --> 00:09:46.000 and Elijah, above the law and prophets. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:46.740 And so he says, listen to the disciples. 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:52.980 This would be a very strong statement for Peter and the others who are faithful Jews. 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:59.980 so what is God doing in all of this this is one of my favorite questions to ask 00:09:59.980 --> 00:10:06.159 anytime I read the gospels because in my mind nothing in the gospels is ever said or done for 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:11.120 nothing either in the stories themselves for the people in the stories or for us as the readers 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:17.340 I'd mentioned that there's a forward and a backward linkage in this story to exodus and the cross 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:23.920 while what happened to Jesus on top of the mountain centered on his identity that moment 00:10:23.920 --> 00:10:31.259 also points to God's purposes through Jesus all three synoptic gospels say that Moses and Elijah 00:10:31.259 --> 00:10:37.720 spoke with Jesus but only Luke says what they talked about Luke says they were talking about 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:45.780 his departure which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem and that word departure which is in the 00:10:45.779 --> 00:10:54.279 ESV translates the Greek word that Luke uses which is exodus Moses and Elijah speak to Jesus about the 00:10:54.279 --> 00:11:00.980 exodus he's about to accomplish in Jerusalem a reference to his death on the cross and just as 00:11:00.980 --> 00:11:07.980 Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt of slavery bondage and the combined oppressions of 00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:15.299 empire that served dark spirits so Jesus would lead all people from their sin their brokenness and 00:11:15.299 --> 00:11:22.479 wounding and their captivity to dark powers and lead them to his father his kingdom and his fullness 00:11:22.479 --> 00:11:29.919 of life the passages that precede and follow this moment on the mountain are ones in which Jesus tells 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:35.899 his disciples that he'll go to Jerusalem in fact and he'll die and he'll rise again but his disciples 00:11:35.899 --> 00:11:43.479 don't understand it like not even a little bit and this is the but this is the exact topic of 00:11:43.480 --> 00:11:49.720 conversation between Jesus Moses and Elijah on top of that mountain and what God is doing in this 00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:56.680 moment one of the things he's linking this revelation of who Jesus is and this revelation that he embodies 00:11:56.680 --> 00:12:04.940 indescribable otherworldly glory with his suffering and death in God's mind these things are not in an 00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:11.580 odd tension there's they come together in fact Brendan Manning who wrote the ragamuffin gospel and a whole 00:12:11.580 --> 00:12:18.820 bunch of other writers not least of all Paul all said that the glory of God was revealed in the cross it's very 00:12:18.820 --> 00:12:27.820 counterintuitive when you compare Jesus transfigured with Jesus crucified God is saying that in this story that the 00:12:27.820 --> 00:12:34.920 glory of God is revealed equally in both radiant light-filled moments and grueling suffering not 00:12:34.920 --> 00:12:42.020 different glories not different sides of glory the same glory of God but I think God's doing something 00:12:42.020 --> 00:12:47.500 else more immediate not just for us who are reading the story but for the disciples and even for Jesus 00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:54.700 this week past week at the Wednesday foundations class we talked about prayer and how with God there are 00:12:54.700 --> 00:13:00.860 seasons where God seems to be manifest and seasons where he seems to be hidden and what and we talked 00:13:00.860 --> 00:13:07.340 about what God is doing in each of these seasons of life the mountaintop experience was an experience 00:13:07.340 --> 00:13:14.040 of God's manifest presence right God and the things of God Jesus glowing with light the glory cloud 00:13:14.040 --> 00:13:20.200 Moses Elijah the audible voice of God direct powerful in your face unmistakable experiences 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:26.360 and in one thing that God does in these kinds of moments is build our faith 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:33.360 gives us a line of sight into something that is past the earthly veil and we and we see something that 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:37.960 is true about reality and it grows our faith in who God is and what reality is really like 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:45.840 and he does this so that we can use that faith in the seasons when God seems hidden these are times when 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:52.480 God seems silent or absent or even when things are really hard and we suffer Jesus's crucifixion is 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:58.399 said to have taken only taken place only 40 days after this experience on top of the mountain so it 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:07.040 wasn't too long after and God gifted the disciples and even Jesus with this experience to prepare them for 00:14:07.040 --> 00:14:14.740 what was about to come the disciples faith in Jesus would be tested far beyond what seemed realistic or 00:14:14.740 --> 00:14:21.779 reasonable fair or kind when they saw Jesus gruesomely executed and for Peter there was the extra layer of 00:14:21.779 --> 00:14:28.500 not just watching Jesus die so terribly but carrying with him the awareness that he denied Jesus to save his own skin 00:14:30.180 --> 00:14:35.940 the collective pain grief disorientation from this traumatic traumatic event was overwhelming 00:14:36.659 --> 00:14:42.019 but the memory of what they experienced on that night on the mountain would serve to bolster their faith 00:14:42.019 --> 00:14:48.980 among the readings for today we is the quote from one of Peter's letters he refers to this the experience 00:14:48.980 --> 00:14:54.659 he had as something that was important for his faith it says it's an experience that Jesus 00:14:54.659 --> 00:15:02.819 Peter carried with him his whole life but this is even true for Jesus whose suffering would be and was beyond 00:15:02.819 --> 00:15:09.939 our comprehension and it's hard to imagine that Jesus needs anything all his entire job was to go around helping 00:15:09.940 --> 00:15:16.820 people so to imagine that Jesus needed something is is doesn't really sit easily with us but he was fully human 00:15:16.820 --> 00:15:23.460 he had all the same needs and frailties that we have and in that moment God gifted him with a connection to the 00:15:23.460 --> 00:15:30.420 glory he had in his father's presence from before the foundation of the earth he was gifted with the encouragement of 00:15:30.420 --> 00:15:38.900 Moses and Elijah and the affirmation of his identity in his father's love all this would be needed when he cried out from the 00:15:38.899 --> 00:15:47.059 cross 40 days later father why have you forsaken me so there's a more proximate connection between this 00:15:47.059 --> 00:15:52.819 manifest experience of God and the hiddenness of God and it shows up in the combination of these verses 00:15:52.819 --> 00:15:57.860 from this morning and the passage that follows we didn't read it but again in all three gospels 00:15:58.500 --> 00:16:04.980 the synoptic gospels these are linked together Jesus comes down the mountain with Peter James and John 00:16:04.980 --> 00:16:11.060 right into a crowd on the valley floor and the other disciples are there trying and failing to cast a 00:16:11.060 --> 00:16:17.700 demon out of a boy brought by his father to get help it's literally a movement from a mountaintop 00:16:17.700 --> 00:16:24.420 experience to the valley floor experience from the manifest glory of God to the confronting the stubborn 00:16:24.420 --> 00:16:31.460 resistance of the demonic so the details of this are for another sermon but the main point Jesus makes in 00:16:31.460 --> 00:16:38.420 this passage is after he casts the demon out and sets the boy free is faith the manifest moments of 00:16:38.420 --> 00:16:45.860 God create faith and they sustain our faith in hard times in the face of hardship and suffering and in 00:16:45.860 --> 00:16:53.620 those moments when God seems hidden when we exercise that faith it grows Jesus did what the disciples were 00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:59.940 not able to do he defeated the demonic that was resisting the other disciples and he called them to greater 00:16:59.940 --> 00:17:08.820 faith even when it's hard so what does all this mean for us so my sermon process i go through the week 00:17:08.820 --> 00:17:15.460 i'm thinking about stuff and then i treat my wife jen with random thoughts along the way i'm thinking 00:17:15.460 --> 00:17:19.860 about this you know i think this passage connects like this da da da and she always listens to me and 00:17:19.860 --> 00:17:26.259 nods and then she says yeah but what's the application and uh and it always jars me out of my thoughts that 00:17:26.259 --> 00:17:35.220 knowing cool stuff is just not enough and uh she's right so three applications um the identity of jesus 00:17:35.779 --> 00:17:42.660 our faith is rooted in the person of jesus in the revelation of who he is and we need to see more of 00:17:42.660 --> 00:17:50.500 who he is and ever expanding experiences in prayer in scripture and worship and this doesn't mean we seek 00:17:50.500 --> 00:17:55.700 experience for its own sake or that we go around chasing feelings for their own sake but that we 00:17:55.700 --> 00:18:02.180 should ardently seek the person of jesus and be open to experiencing him not only when he shows up but 00:18:02.180 --> 00:18:10.740 when he shows out the other takeaway for me is the lord wants to sustain us in hard times the gift of 00:18:10.740 --> 00:18:18.900 god's manifest presence whether it's subtle or overwhelming is itself all by itself a gift but it's the 00:18:18.900 --> 00:18:24.900 kindness of god to us to give us these experiences so that we can carry them with us and treasure them 00:18:24.900 --> 00:18:28.660 in our hearts later when we experience pain and suffering and hardship 00:18:31.380 --> 00:18:36.500 this doesn't mean that if god gives you an amazing experience you should know that you're about to 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:42.900 suffer and i want to just set that aside but you should welcome these experiences and treasure them in 00:18:42.900 --> 00:18:50.580 your heart hard times will come but stay in the now these these experiences from god are sweet and 00:18:50.580 --> 00:18:57.460 important to build our faith and to shore us up when hard times come and the other takeaway for me is 00:18:57.460 --> 00:19:07.060 that our faith the faith that god creates is grown and stretched in the valley the dad who brought his son 00:19:07.059 --> 00:19:13.059 to the other disciples to be freed to see his son freed from a demon wasn't entirely without faith it's 00:19:13.059 --> 00:19:18.819 just that his faith was low and the other disciples who were there who were trying to cast the demon out 00:19:18.819 --> 00:19:23.460 after all their time with jesus and after all they saw with him even their own ministry tour where they 00:19:23.460 --> 00:19:31.299 were casting demons out themselves they had faith but not enough what matters is that jesus took the dad's 00:19:31.299 --> 00:19:37.779 faith however faith however small and did great things with it jesus asks us to put our faith however 00:19:37.779 --> 00:19:43.940 small whatever it is that we have in him in him and then watch him do what's beyond us when we use our 00:19:43.940 --> 00:19:49.940 faith like that especially in hard times it grows let me pray for us 00:19:49.940 --> 00:19:58.980 lord jesus 00:20:02.340 --> 00:20:08.900 moments with you where you're in our face radiating your glory are amazing overwhelming 00:20:10.500 --> 00:20:11.380 and we want them 00:20:13.620 --> 00:20:17.380 but we don't want the hard parts the hard parts of life 00:20:17.380 --> 00:20:26.660 lord peter was tempted to build three booths or tents or something so that everybody could hang 00:20:26.660 --> 00:20:29.780 out and just kind of stay in the moment but they had to come down off the mountain 00:20:32.260 --> 00:20:39.940 lord i ask that you tune our hearts to you the person and let us experience you the person as you 00:20:39.940 --> 00:20:48.740 really are in all your glory and amazingness but also lord let us experience you when it's hard 00:20:52.580 --> 00:20:58.420 so lord draw close to us wherever we are this morning whether it feels like we're on the mountain 00:20:58.420 --> 00:21:02.580 or in the valley draw close to us because you love to be with us in both both places 00:21:02.579 --> 00:21:16.579 and come share yourself and your presence with us we thank you amen 00:21:16.579 --> 00:21:20.579 you