WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.919 Last week we started back the Gospel of Mark, so we spent all of the spring semester, and 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:11.700 this is now our 23rd look at the Gospel of Mark. 00:00:11.700 --> 00:00:15.060 So part two in this autumn season. 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:20.320 Remember from the very beginning of Mark's Gospel, Mark says that his Gospel is the beginning 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:21.320 of the Gospel. 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:26.580 He's telling us about the history of Jesus Christ, and there's no birth narrative. 00:00:26.580 --> 00:00:28.679 He jumps right into it. 00:00:28.679 --> 00:00:34.359 He skips the first 30 years or so, and we get instead the shortest Gospel, the most 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:38.200 action-packed Gospel, likely the earliest Gospel. 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:43.000 And so Mark's giving us a very direct look at some of the most important moments of Jesus' 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:45.799 ministry as he looks to go to the cross. 00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:52.399 Last week, Derek looked at the Transfiguration story, and that story is one of the climaxes 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:54.240 of Mark's Gospel. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:01:01.120 Jesus goes up the mountain, and he takes Peter, James, and John with him, and his glory is 00:01:01.120 --> 00:01:02.120 unveiled. 00:01:02.120 --> 00:01:04.120 His glory is revealed. 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:08.879 And Elijah and Moses from the Old Testament show up as witnesses, along with Peter, James, 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:12.719 and John, and they worship him. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:15.760 And you can remember in the Old Testament that Moses was on Mount Sinai. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:20.879 He went up Mount Sinai, and the glory cloud of the Lord came down. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:26.199 In the Old Testament, that's called the Shekinah glory of God, and then Elijah went up a mountain 00:01:26.199 --> 00:01:27.199 too. 00:01:27.199 --> 00:01:29.679 He went up Mount Carmel, and the fire of the Lord came down. 00:01:29.679 --> 00:01:32.399 The glory of God and fire came down. 00:01:32.399 --> 00:01:38.239 And here in the New Testament, there's a new mountain, and Elijah and Moses are both there, 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:42.399 and there's a new message, and that's that the glory has come down again. 00:01:42.399 --> 00:01:47.959 In the Old Testament, it was the glory cloud or the fire, and now it's Jesus himself. 00:01:47.959 --> 00:01:48.959 He's the glory. 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:49.959 He's the glory of God. 00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:52.399 He's the glory of God come down. 00:01:52.399 --> 00:01:55.239 Jesus deserves to be worshiped. 00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:57.199 That's really the big idea there. 00:01:57.199 --> 00:02:01.599 Now this week, Jesus, Peter, James, and John come down the mountain. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:04.119 So they were up the mountain. 00:02:04.119 --> 00:02:05.119 It was glorious. 00:02:05.119 --> 00:02:08.159 They come down the mountain, and it's not. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:09.759 It's not glorious. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:11.359 That's really what this passage is all about. 00:02:11.359 --> 00:02:15.959 What happens when you come down the mountain? 00:02:15.959 --> 00:02:17.959 We'll see two things, two lessons. 00:02:17.959 --> 00:02:18.959 This is what happens. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:24.240 You realize the importance of worship, and then secondly, you realize the importance of 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:27.480 weakness for worship. 00:02:27.480 --> 00:02:29.040 So let's think about that together. 00:02:29.040 --> 00:02:31.520 First the importance of worship. 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:34.760 Peter, James, and John and Jesus come down the mountain. 00:02:34.760 --> 00:02:38.719 They've seen the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:43.000 Now, can you imagine that? 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:48.360 That is a life-changing experience, needless to say. 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:51.960 It's why we call it the mountaintop experiences. 00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:53.920 They literally had a mountaintop experience. 00:02:53.920 --> 00:02:55.760 They saw the glory of God unveiled. 00:02:55.760 --> 00:02:56.760 It changed their lives. 00:02:56.760 --> 00:02:59.320 They would never be the same after that. 00:02:59.320 --> 00:03:02.400 Now maybe you've had something like that in your life. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:11.920 You've had moments where in worship or in some context of life where the glory of God 00:03:11.920 --> 00:03:18.120 and the love of God for you became so real, you didn't just believe it, you could sense 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:19.439 it. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:20.800 You could taste it. 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:22.840 It became palpable to you. 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:26.480 And you might talk about that as some kind of mountaintop experience or something like 00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:27.480 that. 00:03:27.480 --> 00:03:32.200 A spiritual awakening, this moment of great renewal in your life where the fire really 00:03:32.200 --> 00:03:37.920 came down and you could really sense God's love for you. 00:03:37.920 --> 00:03:42.560 The theologians of the past have called that experiential religion, moments of experiential 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:47.200 religion where you really do experience God's love and you can taste and see it in a new 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:49.239 way. 00:03:49.239 --> 00:03:55.799 Then you come down and what happens when you have something like that and then you come 00:03:55.799 --> 00:04:01.719 and hang out with everybody else, you immediately realize that people are kind of the same as 00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:03.280 you left them. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:08.719 You went away and you had this moment where God's love became so real that you could taste 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:09.719 it. 00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:16.839 And then you come back to reality and everybody is still annoyed and bitter and frustrated 00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:19.759 and mad and arguing. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:22.399 Jesus Christ, Peter, James and John, they go up the mountain, they have a mountaintop 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:23.399 experience. 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:25.399 The love of God becomes so real to them. 00:04:25.399 --> 00:04:27.679 They see the glory in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:04:27.679 --> 00:04:29.879 They come down the mountain and what do you find? 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:35.879 If you look at verse 14, they come down and there's a great crowd in all the different 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:40.399 factions of the religious people at the time are arguing with each other. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:42.719 There's a demon. 00:04:42.719 --> 00:04:44.000 Everybody's mad. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.160 The disciples we find out at the end of the passage have no faith. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:52.199 Jesus comes to them and says, you're a faithless bunch, you're a faithless generation. 00:04:52.199 --> 00:04:56.040 And so you go and you have a mountaintop experience, then you come back down again and the world 00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:59.240 is kind of how you left it. 00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:00.399 Very little faith. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:02.040 Everybody's arguing with each other. 00:05:02.040 --> 00:05:05.800 People are bitter, upset, angry, mad and all the religious people who are supposed to 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:08.319 be agreeing are all in factions. 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:10.279 And that's exactly what happens in this patches. 00:05:10.279 --> 00:05:15.679 Now if you just back up just a tiny bit to the end of last week's passage that Derek 00:05:15.679 --> 00:05:23.000 read from, verses 12 and following, 12 and 13, when Peter, James and John were coming 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:30.639 down the mountain with Jesus, they said, everybody is saying that for the Messiah to truly come 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:32.519 first, Elijah has to come. 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:34.000 That's a prophecy. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:35.000 Elijah has to come. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:44.199 Jesus says, well, Elijah already did come and Elijah, the new Elijah is John the Baptist. 00:05:44.199 --> 00:05:46.720 And he said, and they did to him whatever they wanted to do. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:47.720 They beheaded him. 00:05:47.720 --> 00:05:48.720 They killed him. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:50.639 So a new Elijah has already come. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:54.319 You remember the two people on the mountain, Elijah and Moses. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:58.839 And so Mark has been building a case, we've talked about this throughout this gospel, 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:05.279 that Jesus Christ has come to be to appear as the new Moses. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:08.560 He's come to be a greater Moses in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew and Luke. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:11.759 He goes up the mountain and he gives the law. 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:13.919 Like it's the Ten Commandments all over again. 00:06:13.919 --> 00:06:14.919 He's the new Moses. 00:06:14.919 --> 00:06:18.559 He's the mediator of God's people like Moses was on top of Mount Sinai. 00:06:18.559 --> 00:06:22.319 You see, they said, for the Messiah to come, there has to be a new Elijah. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:25.399 And Jesus says, there has been John the Baptist. 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:27.000 But where's the new Moses? 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:30.759 And the answer that Mark's been giving us is Jesus Christ is the new Moses. 00:06:30.759 --> 00:06:31.920 He's the new mediator. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:33.199 There's a new Elijah. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:34.199 There's a new Moses. 00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:35.959 Now, why does that matter? 00:06:35.959 --> 00:06:42.399 Because when Moses was up on Mount Sinai, remember, he received the Ten Commandments. 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:44.639 He came down back into the valley. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:45.639 And what did he find? 00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:48.759 You know, Moses had a mountain type experience. 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:50.160 He saw the glory of God. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:52.680 His face was actually shining. 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:59.920 And he came back down the mountain and there was the religious people all in faction arguing 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:00.920 with each other. 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:04.759 There was a demon, the golden calf in their midst. 00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:09.399 You see, when Moses came down, he looked out and said, oh, faithless generation of Israel. 00:07:09.399 --> 00:07:14.639 When Jesus comes down the mountain, he says, oh, faithless generation of disciples. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:15.639 Jesus is the new Moses. 00:07:15.639 --> 00:07:20.439 He's come back down to the same exact situation as when Moses came down from the mountain 00:07:20.439 --> 00:07:24.360 in the Old Testament and happened upon this golden calf. 00:07:24.360 --> 00:07:26.079 They said, you know, we had a problem. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:29.879 We had a demon come in our midst and we didn't know what to do about it. 00:07:29.879 --> 00:07:31.399 So we made our own way. 00:07:31.399 --> 00:07:34.439 And the Israelites in the Old Testament said, you know, we had a problem. 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:35.439 You left. 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:36.600 We didn't know how to get to God. 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:38.920 So we made a golden calf to be our new mediator. 00:07:38.920 --> 00:07:42.480 It's the same exact situation all over again. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:48.040 Jesus comes down like the new Moses, finds his disciples failing in the exact same ways 00:07:48.040 --> 00:07:51.160 as the Israelites had failed in the Old Testament. 00:07:51.160 --> 00:07:55.879 And you're meant to see, you're meant to look at this passage and say, the disciples are 00:07:55.879 --> 00:07:58.840 ultimately failures. 00:07:58.840 --> 00:08:03.320 Jesus goes up to have his glory unveiled, the disciples who are left behind forget about 00:08:03.320 --> 00:08:04.320 him. 00:08:04.320 --> 00:08:07.320 Now, three lessons. 00:08:07.320 --> 00:08:09.560 What does that matter for you? 00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:10.560 Three lessons. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:15.280 You could take these things from each of the perspectives of the different characters 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:18.279 that show up in the story. 00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:24.000 First, imagine being Peter, James and John. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:26.719 Peter, James and John, they've been up on the mountain of transfiguration. 00:08:26.719 --> 00:08:30.879 They've seen the glory of Jesus unveiled. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.000 Their hearts are on fire. 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.679 They've never had an experience like this before. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:42.279 The first thing we learn, I think, in these two stories combined is that there is a reality. 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:51.559 There is a reality and a possibility for real gospel renewal where you really do have moments 00:08:51.559 --> 00:09:00.199 in your life where God changes your heart or brings you back by showing you how palpable 00:09:00.199 --> 00:09:03.639 and real God's love is for you. 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:08.000 There really are mountaintop experiences. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:12.240 Some of you can tell stories from your own life about that where you can say, these moments 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:19.080 of renewal are the moments I remember where God showed up and where God changed my heart 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:20.879 and changed my life. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:24.560 When I was wandering away and I was struggling, I came to worship. 00:09:24.560 --> 00:09:25.879 I came to this conversation. 00:09:25.879 --> 00:09:28.279 I came to scripture. 00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:32.960 It was as if the love of Jesus Christ became real for me again. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:35.399 I not only believed it by faith, but I sensed it. 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:36.480 I tasted it. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:37.480 I touched it. 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:39.279 There really are these moments in life. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:43.120 There are these mountaintop experiences. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.839 Where does it take place most often? 00:09:45.839 --> 00:09:49.079 In this passage, it takes place when they're on the mountain. 00:09:49.079 --> 00:09:51.000 That means that where does this happen? 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:56.159 It happens in worship because the New Testament over and over again is trying to give you 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:02.879 a sense that coming to worship with God's people is like coming to the mountain of the 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:04.679 living God. 00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:06.879 It's like approaching the holy mountain. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:13.759 When you come to worship, you come with the possibility that God will show up and change 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:15.399 you and change your life. 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:19.039 Now the question today is, do you believe that? 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:25.360 Do you believe that when you come to worship with God's people, that God wants to come 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:30.159 and change your heart and change your life and give you gospel spiritual renewal, set 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:31.759 you on fire, turn you upside down? 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:33.679 Do you believe that? 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:36.559 Even more, are you looking for that? 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:37.559 Are you looking for that? 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:38.559 Let me ask you this. 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:40.519 Do you struggle with this? 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:47.719 Like me, do you come to St. Columbus on Sundays, if that's your regular thing, because this 00:10:47.719 --> 00:10:48.719 is where you go to church? 00:10:48.719 --> 00:10:53.699 Because you come to St. Columbus on Sundays, or do you come here to meet with God's people 00:10:53.699 --> 00:10:57.479 so that you can encounter the living God? 00:10:57.479 --> 00:10:59.159 Do you prepare in that way? 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:02.119 Do you come and say, I'm coming to meet the Lord today. 00:11:02.119 --> 00:11:04.079 I'm coming to sit in the presence of God. 00:11:04.079 --> 00:11:06.479 I want to be changed. 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:13.240 So if you're struggling this morning, like so many of us, it seasons in our path as Christians. 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:20.480 If you're struggling and you say, I'm stale, I don't feel spiritual renewal, I don't feel 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:28.360 gospel renewal, have you come to approach and encounter the living God today? 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:30.800 Is that what you've come, is that what you're awakened to? 00:11:30.800 --> 00:11:34.759 Is that the purpose of you being here? 00:11:34.759 --> 00:11:36.519 The mountaintop experience really is possible. 00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:42.879 Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, he says it like this, we now, after Jesus, we all can have 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:44.519 unveiled faces. 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:47.159 Remember Moses went up the mountain, he had to veil his face. 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:48.759 He couldn't see the fullness of God's glory. 00:11:48.759 --> 00:11:53.840 But he says now, as a Christian, you can have an unveiled face, beholding the glory of the 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:59.960 Lord and being transformed consistently into the image from one degree of glory to another, 00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:01.720 for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 00:12:01.720 --> 00:12:02.720 He says, this is real. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:03.720 You can do this. 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:04.879 It's impossible. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:07.560 God really can show up and change you. 00:12:07.560 --> 00:12:08.560 Are you looking for that? 00:12:08.560 --> 00:12:10.360 Do you want that? 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:16.759 The second thing here, the second lesson, not just imagine being Peter, James and John 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:22.960 having a mountaintop experience, but imagine being the disciples. 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:28.800 I think if anything in this passage, Mark is trying to get us to see that if you are somewhere, 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:35.159 if I am somewhere, I'm in the valley while Jesus is up on the mountain. 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:41.359 I'm the disciples dealing with this problem while Jesus was being transfigured. 00:12:41.359 --> 00:12:43.839 They remember Israel at the base of the mountain. 00:12:43.839 --> 00:12:49.120 Moses was up on the mountain and they said, Moses is gone, he might be dead. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:50.599 I don't know. 00:12:50.599 --> 00:12:52.279 We've got to figure out another way. 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:53.919 Let's build the golden calf. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:56.719 In the same way, the disciples were being told implicitly. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:00.040 The disciples here are saying, Jesus is gone. 00:13:00.040 --> 00:13:02.440 I don't know what he's up to on that mountain. 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:04.200 We've got to find our own way. 00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:08.080 You read this in verse 29. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:13.240 Jesus says that the demon could not be driven out by anything but prayer. 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:17.879 When you read that in the context of the Moses story, you realize that what he's saying is 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:23.080 the disciples tried to drive out the demon that showed up without prayer. 00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:27.280 Meaning they tried to do it without any reliance on God. 00:13:27.280 --> 00:13:29.720 They tried to just basically say, I've got this. 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:33.920 I can do this by my own skills and talents, my own abilities. 00:13:33.920 --> 00:13:35.560 They tried to do that and they couldn't do that. 00:13:35.560 --> 00:13:40.600 They were completely self-reliant, not dependent in any way on God. 00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:43.840 You see what's happening here? 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:48.040 This is an invitation today to honesty. 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:54.919 It's an invitation to be honest, that there has to be, for true worship to actually happen, 00:13:54.919 --> 00:14:01.599 there has to be a recognition and an acknowledgement that because we don't see Jesus yet with 00:14:01.599 --> 00:14:06.759 our eyes, because he is on the holy mountain of the Lord right now, exalted in the heavenly 00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:14.679 places, that we as disciples are living down in the valley and that we are prone to wander 00:14:14.679 --> 00:14:16.179 away. 00:14:16.179 --> 00:14:19.839 That we're prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. 00:14:19.839 --> 00:14:24.120 The disciples' actions here are an invitation for every single one of us to say, if you 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:29.519 want to experience real change in worship, one of the conditions for that is to come 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:35.559 to worship and say, I know that every week I am prone to walk away. 00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:37.559 I'm prone to wander. 00:14:37.559 --> 00:14:42.759 I'm prone to say, I want sight, not faith. 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:46.840 And all I have right now is faith and not sight, and that actually causes me to want 00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:49.200 to leave it all behind. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:52.399 And that's exactly what had happened to these disciples, and I think Mark's trying to say, 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:56.960 this is you, this is me, this is the Christian walk. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:58.960 And he's actually doing something surprising. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:04.240 He's reversing what happens here, reversing, flipping on its head what they do here, because 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:10.519 I think he's actually telling us that actually the condition for true spiritual renewal for 00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:15.279 God to really show up this morning in your life and change you is to actually come and 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:18.159 say, that is me. 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:25.360 I know, I can say, can you say, right now to the Lord in prayer, I am prone to wander, 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:27.399 Lord, I feel it. 00:15:27.399 --> 00:15:33.759 Because I cannot yet see you with the eyes of sight, I struggle with the eyes of faith. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:36.559 It's easy for me to walk away. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.199 And he actually wants us to say that. 00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:42.440 That's the condition for coming to the Lord in true worship. 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:49.200 Now third and finally, for point one, imagine not only Peter, James and John's mountaintop 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:55.240 experience, imagine not only the disciples' valley experience, but imagine Jesus and how 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:57.640 he sees all this. 00:15:57.640 --> 00:16:07.120 So Jesus comes down the mountain, and he sees fighting, faction, a demon, suffering, no 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:13.600 faith disciples, a ragtag group that he's been training, but aren't doing so great. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:18.279 And remember, Jesus has been on the mountain. 00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:24.600 For a moment, the curtain was pulled back, and Jesus' ultimate glory was unveiled. 00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:30.560 And for a moment, you see that this man is God himself, the creator of the universe, 00:16:30.560 --> 00:16:33.159 the King of kings, the Lord of lords. 00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:38.120 And when he comes down the mountain, I would have to think that he immediately remembers 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:40.759 what he's come for. 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:45.519 For a moment, all of his glory was unveiled, utter satisfaction in the presence of God 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:48.279 the Father and God the Spirit, with God the Son. 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:53.600 And then he comes back down, and he sees this mess, and immediately he realizes, I was born 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:55.360 to die. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:57.360 I was born to suffer. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:58.679 He says it at the end. 00:16:58.679 --> 00:17:03.359 At the capstone, at the very end of this passage, he reminds them the Son of man is about to 00:17:03.359 --> 00:17:04.359 be killed. 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:09.079 And you see, Jesus Christ deserves to be on the mountain, but he chose to come down to 00:17:09.079 --> 00:17:11.000 the valley. 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:16.679 He deserves to have nothing but glorification in the presence of God, his face shining, 00:17:16.679 --> 00:17:19.879 everybody else looking at him and saying, who is this? 00:17:19.879 --> 00:17:25.639 But he comes back down the valley, and he sees that the disciples aren't really men 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:31.120 of faith yet, and he remembers, I've come to suffer. 00:17:31.120 --> 00:17:34.920 I've come to be for them because of what they are not. 00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:40.080 I've come for this ragtag group that really isn't that great and is not that polished 00:17:40.080 --> 00:17:44.240 and that has very, very weak faith at its best. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:50.000 He realizes that his path to the mountain, his path to glory again, is actually to go 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:52.200 into the ultimate valley. 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:57.160 That's what he awakens to again because he says it at the very end of this passage. 00:17:57.160 --> 00:18:02.559 Now, before we move on to the second and final point, Mark has told us in three different 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:08.720 passages already in his gospel, Jesus Christ has come to die for you, for the sins of the 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:16.319 world, and Jesus says to the disciples and to anybody who wants to follow him today, 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:19.160 that grace is not cheap, it's costly. 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:20.160 And so he says it like this. 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:24.840 He says, if you want to follow me, you've got to also take up your cross. 00:18:24.840 --> 00:18:27.080 You're going to suffer too. 00:18:27.080 --> 00:18:32.440 So forgiveness is free, but entering into the path of the Christian life is not cheap. 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:33.840 It is costly. 00:18:33.840 --> 00:18:34.840 You are going to have to lose. 00:18:34.840 --> 00:18:39.400 You're going to have to lose relationships and time and talent and treasure and all sorts 00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:40.400 of things to follow me. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.200 You're going to have to bear a cross too. 00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:45.640 He said that three or four times already in Mark's gospel. 00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:50.920 And I think when Peter, James, and John go down the mountain with them after seeing what 00:18:50.920 --> 00:18:57.240 they had seen, they too must have realized, oh boy, the people are like we left them. 00:18:57.240 --> 00:19:04.000 You know, I too have to with Jesus step back down into the valley and bear my cross. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:09.200 He's talking about, you see, the invitation to bear the cross as the path of the Christian 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:10.200 life. 00:19:10.200 --> 00:19:11.880 Jesus says it in the other gospels. 00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:16.000 He says in this life, you will have tribulation. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:22.320 So you have mountaintop experiences where the love of God becomes so real. 00:19:22.320 --> 00:19:24.320 Have you had that in your life? 00:19:24.320 --> 00:19:30.640 And then you go back down into the valley and you want everybody around you to be on 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:32.720 fire for Jesus, as they say. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:34.880 And it's just not that way all the time. 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:37.080 And sometimes you're not that way. 00:19:37.080 --> 00:19:41.840 And you're struggling with your faith and you're doubting and you're having real uncertainty. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:46.879 And Jesus says, look, in this life, you are going to have tribulation. 00:19:46.879 --> 00:19:50.679 You are going to have to walk through the valley. 00:19:50.679 --> 00:19:51.679 You're going to have to suffer. 00:19:51.679 --> 00:19:52.759 That's not just a Christian problem. 00:19:52.759 --> 00:19:53.759 That's a human problem. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:55.559 That's a human problem. 00:19:55.559 --> 00:19:59.119 You know, see, when you encounter suffering, you know, there's only a few ways to approach 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:00.119 suffering. 00:20:00.119 --> 00:20:05.399 Either you're in the midst of it, you're about to get there, or you've been there. 00:20:05.399 --> 00:20:10.839 And when the valleys of life hit you, you can have a couple of possible responses. 00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:15.879 One response can be that you lose things, you lose the things that you really love in 00:20:15.879 --> 00:20:19.319 life and your heart gets really hard. 00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:24.679 And you become angry and you become bitter, you become jealous, you become hateful and 00:20:24.679 --> 00:20:29.720 spiteful and vengeful or deeply sorrowful. 00:20:29.720 --> 00:20:35.039 Or you learn something that is surprising and that's that it is actually possible to 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:40.679 live in your heart as if you're standing on the mountaintop viewing the face of God while 00:20:40.680 --> 00:20:45.360 you're walking through the midst of the valley, where it's actually possible to have joy and 00:20:45.360 --> 00:20:50.039 for the suffering to actually make your joy go up, not down. 00:20:50.039 --> 00:20:52.000 That's what Christianity says it offers. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.600 That's what Jesus says it offers. 00:20:53.600 --> 00:20:54.600 How do you do that? 00:20:54.600 --> 00:20:56.560 How do you get there? 00:20:56.560 --> 00:20:57.920 You have to face the tribulation. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:20:58.920 You have to suffer. 00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:04.840 But how do you become a great person, a mountaintop person in the midst of valley-like pain? 00:21:04.840 --> 00:21:07.400 And the answer is worship. 00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:10.519 The answer is worship. 00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:16.440 The answer is actually that the real secret of becoming a person of joy in the midst of 00:21:16.440 --> 00:21:24.599 the valley is to regularly, regularly, regularly come to the Lord and get out of your head 00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:27.079 and lose yourself. 00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:33.160 Get out of your own mind, get out of your own thoughts and cross the threshold and say, 00:21:33.160 --> 00:21:38.480 my only object for these next few moments is to look up and see the face and the love 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:39.960 of the living God for me. 00:21:39.960 --> 00:21:50.319 Now, let me ask you, do you approach God daily? 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:56.720 Do you have a moment every day where you step across the threshold and say, I am now entering 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:00.279 the presence of the living God in a unique and special way? 00:22:00.279 --> 00:22:02.240 I want to hear the voice of the Lord. 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:06.720 I want to come to Him through the mediation of holy scripture and prayer and find the 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:09.319 living God for me right now. 00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:11.519 Do you have that in your life? 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:16.119 That is what can actually make you into a changed person. 00:22:16.119 --> 00:22:18.639 The secret of life really is just worship. 00:22:18.639 --> 00:22:22.919 The more and more and more you give yourself away to God in worship and behold His face, 00:22:22.919 --> 00:22:27.399 the more and more and more you find that you become a person who can have joy in the midst 00:22:27.399 --> 00:22:28.399 of the valley. 00:22:28.399 --> 00:22:34.279 Jesus Christ walked through the ultimate valley so you could live on the mountain even when 00:22:34.279 --> 00:22:36.559 you're walking through the midst of the valley. 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:41.679 And the real key and the real secret for that is just to say, I've come to worship. 00:22:41.679 --> 00:22:43.919 I've come to get out of my own head. 00:22:43.919 --> 00:22:47.079 I'm not here today because I go to St. C's. 00:22:47.079 --> 00:22:50.639 I'm here today to encounter the living God. 00:22:50.639 --> 00:22:52.480 All right. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:58.480 Secondly and finally, not only is worship incredibly important, we see here but also 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:02.720 weakness, the importance of seeing your own weakness in worship. 00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:07.240 Now we've already sort of said this but let me tune into this a little more in the case 00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:13.039 of this demon-possessed boy and his dad. 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:18.279 So let me just give a brief side note on a tricky bit in this text. 00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:25.240 We're told in this passage that the demon that takes over this boy oftentimes will throw 00:23:25.240 --> 00:23:27.319 him into fire. 00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:34.399 The text says he will cause him to convulse into foam, all these symptoms that the demon 00:23:34.399 --> 00:23:35.480 causes. 00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:40.079 This is one of the famous passages where for the past couple of centuries, some New Testament 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:45.720 scholars have come and said, look, in the Gospels when we see these demon possessions, really 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:49.240 what's going on is just medical problems. 00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:54.799 So a lot of scholars have come to this and said, this is just an epileptic, I can't say 00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:56.799 it. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:59.599 Like there it is, seizure. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:01.960 I knew I would get it eventually. 00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:05.119 Epileptic seizure, I shouldn't try again. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:08.759 They've just come and said, look, that's actually what's happening in the demon possession stories 00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:15.399 is that these are first century people and they're working with a pretty underdeveloped 00:24:15.399 --> 00:24:21.039 understanding of medical history and an underdeveloped view of what religion really is. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:23.440 And so this boy is suffering from seizures. 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:24.440 It's not a demon. 00:24:24.440 --> 00:24:26.960 Look, you can't do that. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:31.519 Here's why you can't do that, because all throughout Mark's Gospel, there are plenty 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:36.600 of people who have medical problems that Jesus heals that aren't demon possessed. 00:24:36.600 --> 00:24:37.960 It's that simple. 00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:41.600 They come across many, many people and they don't say that's demon possession. 00:24:41.600 --> 00:24:44.400 They say that's a medical problem. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:47.600 First century people are not dumb. 00:24:47.600 --> 00:24:51.880 And so it's a real chronological snobbery to say something like that. 00:24:51.880 --> 00:24:53.840 Maybe we could ask a question like this. 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:59.799 And imagine, read the Gospel of John and then ask yourself, could I have written this? 00:24:59.799 --> 00:25:04.519 And the answer is none of us are smart enough not to write the Gospel of John. 00:25:04.519 --> 00:25:05.519 Have you read it? 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:07.799 No, that's not what's going on here. 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:09.359 This is a demon possession. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:11.039 Mark knows the difference. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:13.480 Jesus knew the difference. 00:25:13.480 --> 00:25:17.679 What happens in this demon possession is really important because remember the problem. 00:25:17.679 --> 00:25:22.639 The problem is that this is a golden calf-like incident all over again. 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:24.360 The disciples have failed. 00:25:24.360 --> 00:25:28.560 They are a faithless generation, we're told in this passage. 00:25:28.560 --> 00:25:32.320 Just like the Israelites were a faithless generation when Moses was up on the mountain. 00:25:32.320 --> 00:25:40.120 So we're meant to see the disciples' failure as one of the primary points of the passage. 00:25:40.120 --> 00:25:44.520 Nobody has faith except for one person. 00:25:44.520 --> 00:25:46.880 And that one person is the dad. 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:51.800 We know very little about him, but he's desperate for the life of his boy. 00:25:51.799 --> 00:25:58.319 And so he brings his boy hoping beyond hope that maybe Jesus can help him. 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:02.639 So the dad is the only person in this passage who has faith, we're told. 00:26:02.639 --> 00:26:06.599 Now you say, wait a minute, does he? 00:26:06.599 --> 00:26:08.919 Does this dad actually have any faith? 00:26:08.919 --> 00:26:15.159 Because when you look down at verse 22, we're told that when he describes what happens 00:26:15.159 --> 00:26:21.519 to his boy, his son, what the demon does to him, he says, now, if you can do it, you 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:23.480 can do anything, Jesus. 00:26:23.480 --> 00:26:28.119 If you can do anything, Jesus, have compassion on us. 00:26:28.119 --> 00:26:34.359 In Jesus, we know what he meant because Jesus immediately in 23 says, if... 00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:38.519 So nobody has faith in this story except the dad, but when the dad exhibits his faith, 00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:48.000 he says, if Jesus, you are able in some way to do something, that would be really great. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:54.440 And then Jesus says, 23, what do you mean, if? 00:26:54.440 --> 00:27:00.880 And so immediately you realize that Jesus realizes that this dad's faith is not so good. 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:03.920 He's similar to the disciples. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:09.880 And back before that, just right before that, when Jesus says, how long has this been happening 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:10.880 from childhood? 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:13.880 He gives this long list, he throws them into fire, he throws them into water. 00:27:13.880 --> 00:27:18.400 And you immediately get the sense that this man has come as a last resort to Jesus. 00:27:18.400 --> 00:27:21.760 He's come thinking, I don't really know if this is going to be any good. 00:27:21.760 --> 00:27:23.880 I don't know if this is going to work if maybe. 00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:25.280 Peter, James, and John are standing there. 00:27:25.280 --> 00:27:26.280 What are they thinking? 00:27:26.280 --> 00:27:29.240 You know, Peter, James, and John have got to be like, you did not see what just happened 00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:30.240 on top of the mountain. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:34.640 You know, you're saying, if to this man, I saw what happened to him. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:38.640 I saw the witnesses Moses and Elijah show up with his face unveiled. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:46.480 They know the dad, the only man with faith in this story at best, it's incredibly weak. 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:48.520 At best, it's incredibly weak faith. 00:27:48.520 --> 00:27:54.840 And so then he responds and says, okay, I believe, you know, I've taken a step towards 00:27:54.840 --> 00:27:58.440 you Jesus, help my unbelief. 00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:00.080 And so he admits it. 00:28:00.080 --> 00:28:03.560 He says, I'm looking to you for help, but I have doubt. 00:28:03.560 --> 00:28:05.200 I have uncertainty. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:06.680 I'm not so sure. 00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:08.880 I'm not sure how this is going to go. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:12.160 I'm not exactly yet sure what to think about you. 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:13.160 He owns that. 00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:15.640 He completely admits it. 00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:21.840 Now three lessons as we close at three lessons in the first point, let's have three lessons. 00:28:21.840 --> 00:28:23.440 How about it in the second point? 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:25.400 Make it a nice outline. 00:28:25.400 --> 00:28:27.400 Three lessons here. 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:35.700 First, this dad came looking for Jesus, hoping beyond hope that Jesus could do something 00:28:35.700 --> 00:28:42.200 for him, save the life of his son, looking for the possibility of life. 00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:44.640 And he came uncertain. 00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:46.480 He came with doubt. 00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:54.440 And Mark is teaching us here that the quality of his faith and the quality of your faith 00:28:54.440 --> 00:28:57.759 is not what saves you. 00:28:57.759 --> 00:29:00.080 You know, you come to Jesus with weak faith. 00:29:00.080 --> 00:29:02.840 It is not the quality of your faith that saves you. 00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:07.720 It is not the quality of your faith that gets Jesus to do something for you. 00:29:07.720 --> 00:29:13.399 Jesus came to save you despite your terrible faith, your weak faith, your little faith, 00:29:13.399 --> 00:29:15.119 your doubts. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:16.799 It's not the quality of your faith that saves you. 00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:20.159 It is only him, the object he saves. 00:29:20.159 --> 00:29:26.079 You know, the man says, if you can, and Jesus turns around and saves his boy. 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:27.199 It's not the quality of your faith. 00:29:27.199 --> 00:29:30.759 You see, actually, let's bring it back to the first point. 00:29:30.759 --> 00:29:36.480 What is the condition for having a real encounter with the living God today and being changed 00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:37.799 in the midst of worship? 00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:43.839 The condition is actually, remember saying, I know, I'm prone to wonder, Lord, I feel 00:29:43.839 --> 00:29:45.720 that today. 00:29:45.720 --> 00:29:53.440 Or saying, I know that my faith at its best is a spark, that I do have wavering faith, 00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:57.759 that I do come with different levels of faith, that I do come with doubts and struggles and 00:29:57.759 --> 00:29:59.200 uncertainties. 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:03.799 Jesus turns around and says, okay, I'll save your boy. 00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:05.319 Jesus has time for that. 00:30:05.319 --> 00:30:10.200 All right, secondly, maybe you've come today. 00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:12.039 I see faces I don't recognize. 00:30:12.039 --> 00:30:16.960 Maybe you've come today and you've been looking for hope. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:19.799 You've been looking for somebody to save you. 00:30:19.799 --> 00:30:25.000 You know, you've been looking for meaning in this life. 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.880 Maybe you've walked through a season where you finally hit the valley, you've suffered 00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:34.000 in a way that's been pretty unique for you and that's hit you really hard. 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:38.359 Maybe you would even say today, I never expected to be a religious person. 00:30:38.359 --> 00:30:43.559 I have lots of conversations with people that say I never would have expected to be a religious 00:30:43.559 --> 00:30:44.559 person. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:47.160 I start with it like that, but here you are. 00:30:47.160 --> 00:30:48.160 Here I am. 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:52.680 I don't really know what I'm looking for, but I know that the life I've been living 00:30:52.680 --> 00:30:55.440 has not provided me the things that I need. 00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:56.440 I'm looking for hope. 00:30:56.440 --> 00:30:59.320 I'm looking for salvation. 00:30:59.320 --> 00:31:01.799 This man came in a very similar condition. 00:31:01.799 --> 00:31:03.420 He was uncertain. 00:31:03.420 --> 00:31:05.320 He was doubting. 00:31:05.320 --> 00:31:06.560 He was looking for hope. 00:31:06.560 --> 00:31:09.560 He was looking for salvation. 00:31:09.560 --> 00:31:12.799 Jesus has time for that. 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:14.560 Jesus has time for that. 00:31:14.560 --> 00:31:19.799 He has time for you if you're coming today and saying I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking 00:31:19.799 --> 00:31:22.799 for, but I'm hoping to find salvation. 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:23.799 Jesus has time for that. 00:31:23.799 --> 00:31:28.639 He wants you to draw near and He wants to turn around and say, okay, I'll save you. 00:31:28.639 --> 00:31:32.879 He said to this man, I'll save your son no matter how weak your faith might be. 00:31:32.879 --> 00:31:37.879 You might say today, I'm just not sure yet that I have enough proof. 00:31:37.879 --> 00:31:42.960 I want sight and Christianity says right now you've got to live by faith. 00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:46.279 Let me ask you, what would be enough for you? 00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:48.519 What would be enough? 00:31:48.519 --> 00:31:53.839 Maybe you're starting to awaken to this simple fact that without faith in God, maybe you're 00:31:53.839 --> 00:32:00.720 realizing it's really hard to move forward and claim any real sense of meaning, of justice, 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:08.039 of a moral order, of life itself, of an origin story, of purpose, of hope. 00:32:08.039 --> 00:32:10.599 What would be enough to really prove? 00:32:10.599 --> 00:32:14.599 And instead, actually what the Bible does is it comes to you and says that the path is 00:32:14.599 --> 00:32:24.719 not find great understanding and then believe, but instead it's believe and then seek understanding. 00:32:24.719 --> 00:32:30.639 Believe even weakly and He will save you and then He will bring you towards understanding 00:32:30.639 --> 00:32:31.639 over time. 00:32:31.639 --> 00:32:36.480 You will actually grow in confidence and certainty and knowledge over time, but take a step forward. 00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:39.639 At some point, if that's you today, you have to decide. 00:32:39.639 --> 00:32:40.639 You have to make a decision. 00:32:40.639 --> 00:32:42.679 You have to say, I'm going to believe. 00:32:42.679 --> 00:32:44.079 I'm going to take the step of faith. 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:45.519 I'm going to move forward. 00:32:45.519 --> 00:32:49.039 Even though I can't see, I don't have all the answers, I have doubts and uncertainties, 00:32:49.039 --> 00:32:51.240 Jesus had time for that. 00:32:51.240 --> 00:32:54.559 His brother wrote in the book, his biological brother and his disciple wrote in the book 00:32:54.559 --> 00:32:58.079 of James, be patient with those who are doubting. 00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:00.359 God has patience for that. 00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:01.879 Believe and then seek understanding. 00:33:01.879 --> 00:33:03.359 That's the invitation. 00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:09.799 Lastly, by the way, I hope that you can see Christian or curious today that this is good 00:33:09.799 --> 00:33:10.799 news. 00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:11.799 Yeah? 00:33:11.799 --> 00:33:15.399 Do you know that Jesus has time for a weak faith? 00:33:15.399 --> 00:33:17.839 He has time for doubt. 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:23.519 This is good news for everybody, for everybody today. 00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:29.399 Lastly, finally, back to the beginning, are you struggling to worship this morning? 00:33:29.399 --> 00:33:30.599 Are you struggling to worship this morning? 00:33:30.599 --> 00:33:36.919 Are you struggling to worship meaningfully, to have an experience of God today? 00:33:36.920 --> 00:33:42.720 William Keller really helped me see this final fundamental point that I did not notice at 00:33:42.720 --> 00:33:43.840 first. 00:33:43.840 --> 00:33:51.039 He says this, that renewal requires bringing to God that which is most precious to you. 00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:57.080 The last thing, to really encounter the living God this morning, you've got to see that renewal, 00:33:57.080 --> 00:34:02.279 spiritual renewal, requires bringing to the Lord today that which is most precious to 00:34:02.279 --> 00:34:03.279 you. 00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:08.800 The man brought the most precious thing in his life to Jesus, his son. 00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:17.639 It could be the case that you've been, like me at times, unwilling to approach God and 00:34:17.639 --> 00:34:23.360 lose control of the things in your life that you're holding too closely, the things that 00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:25.079 are most precious to you. 00:34:25.079 --> 00:34:30.279 In other words, that you come to worship but you have functional idols, things that you 00:34:30.280 --> 00:34:35.480 love truly more than you love God on a daily basis. 00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:42.000 It could be your success and your reputation or a person, a relationship, a hope for a 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:43.000 relationship. 00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:45.480 You say, actually, this is the God of my life. 00:34:45.480 --> 00:34:46.840 This is the thing I want the most. 00:34:46.840 --> 00:34:49.440 This is the thing that would bring me the most satisfaction. 00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:51.840 I know that deep down in my heart. 00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:57.200 One of the invitations here is to see that in weak faith, you've got to come to the Lord 00:34:57.199 --> 00:35:01.359 and say, I'm losing control of the stuff all around me. 00:35:01.359 --> 00:35:02.359 I can't control it. 00:35:02.359 --> 00:35:09.119 I can't control my family and my successes and my bank account and my reputation and 00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:10.439 my security. 00:35:10.439 --> 00:35:12.439 I don't have ultimate control. 00:35:12.439 --> 00:35:13.960 Whatever God ordains is right. 00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:15.799 I know I'm going to step into the valley. 00:35:15.799 --> 00:35:16.799 I know it. 00:35:16.799 --> 00:35:18.399 I know I'm going to lose. 00:35:18.399 --> 00:35:20.319 I know it. 00:35:20.319 --> 00:35:27.039 When you lose, if that thing you lost was your functional God, you will be destroyed. 00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:29.480 You will be crushed. 00:35:29.480 --> 00:35:33.360 You will come to a place of deep, deep sorrow. 00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:38.519 But if God is your functional God, if God is your God, if the Lord is your God, then 00:35:38.519 --> 00:35:42.119 you have something you can never lose no matter what. 00:35:42.119 --> 00:35:46.119 And then the Lord gives you everything else as a gift. 00:35:46.119 --> 00:35:50.920 He says, shoot for heaven and then earth makes sense. 00:35:50.920 --> 00:35:53.519 Even when you're in the midst of the valley, you have the possibility of joy. 00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:55.360 You have the possibility of the mountain. 00:35:55.360 --> 00:36:00.880 You know that one day, no matter how bad the valley gets, you are headed for the mountain, 00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:09.519 the vision of the living God, true hope, true joy, true family, true society, true success. 00:36:09.519 --> 00:36:13.240 If you come to worship this morning and you say, show me your glory, Lord, I want a real 00:36:13.240 --> 00:36:14.800 encounter. 00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:16.559 Show me that your love is greater than life. 00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:18.960 I give you my precious things. 00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:20.079 He will show you. 00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:21.079 He will. 00:36:21.079 --> 00:36:23.280 He will show you the glory of Jesus' love. 00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:29.760 That Jesus lost everything in the most ultimate valley so that you could have the mountain 00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:31.920 of God. 00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:32.920 Let's pray together. 00:36:32.920 --> 00:36:37.640 Father, we ask today that you would teach us, teach us, Lord, in our hearts what it means 00:36:37.640 --> 00:36:39.920 to truly worship. 00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:45.960 So we ask now for an encounter with you, and we do encounter you as we come to the Lord's 00:36:45.960 --> 00:36:47.960 table. 00:36:47.960 --> 00:36:51.920 So you promise, Lord, to show up when we take and we eat. 00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:52.920 So we ask for that. 00:36:52.920 --> 00:36:56.200 Oh, Lord, be near as we draw near to you. 00:36:56.200 --> 00:37:01.960 Show us yourself in the body, in the blood, the real presence of Jesus Christ accompanying 00:37:01.960 --> 00:37:03.159 the sacrament. 00:37:03.159 --> 00:37:07.680 We ask for that now so that we could taste and see and experience the love of God, that 00:37:07.680 --> 00:37:12.360 we'd sense it, not just intellectually know it. 00:37:12.360 --> 00:37:13.360 So we ask for that now. 00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:25.200 In Christ's name, amen.