April 22, 2024 • 48 mins
The day-to-day Christian life is not a mountaintop experience. Life is messy and circumstances can cause us to doubt God. When doubt attacks our faith we need to keep pressing into the Lord.
In this episode Brody walks through the transfiguration of Jesus, the chaos that meets them when they get off the mountain, and how we should fight doubt. Listen as we consider 5 facets of God’s revelation that confirm Jesus’ glory.
Let’s submit our doubt to the Lord and let it grow us closer to Christ.
Resources:
- Respond Women's Retreat
- Luke 9
- Mark 9
- 2 Peter 1:16-18
Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith.
Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to no Sanity Required Today an update from
the Respond Women's Conference,as well as a prayer request that
we want to share with ourlisteners.
And then also going to read yousome responses, emails, texts
that have come in from listenersand share how we've been
(00:22):
encouraged by those listenersand, uh, and share how we've
been encouraged by those.
And then we are going to um, gobehind the flannel graph and
we're going to.
We're going to look atmountaintop experiences and the
grit and grind and dirt ofliving in the Valley, which is
where we spend most of our time,and what it looks like to live
by faith and wrestle with doubt.
(00:44):
That's the main idea Live byfaith, wrestle with doubt.
And then the last thing we'regoing to do and this will be
very brief, but we're going totalk about the fiasco.
A lot of our listeners probablyknow nothing about this, but I
know a bunch of you do, becauseI've gotten texts and emails
(01:04):
probably know nothing about this, but I know a bunch of you do
because I've gotten texts andemails.
But this guy, mark Driscoll,who is a pastor, preacher, kind
of a, I don't know how you'ddescribe him.
If you know him, then I don'tneed to describe him to you, and
if you don't, then I'm sureyou're going to go look him up.
But he's kind of all over theplace.
A lot of people love him, a lotof people don't like him.
(01:26):
I, I don't really have anopinion.
There's some things he says anddoes that are just awesome, and
then some things where you'relike man, this guy, what is he
doing?
But he was speaking at a men'sconference, I think it's in
springfield, missouri, I believe.
I'm not looking at notes here,but I think, if my memory serves
(01:47):
, and anyway, we'll talk aboutthat.
It's a blow up Funny thing.
We'll talk about that.
So we're going to cover severalthings in this episode.
So anyway, so I appreciate youtuning in listening.
We had a week off last week butwe didn't skimp.
We gave you two episodes a weekbefore and so hopefully
(02:07):
everyone's looking forward to usbeing back online.
I know that we are lookingforward to bringing this episode
and so come along, listen along.
Welcome to no Sanity Required.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of
Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters.
A podcast about the Bible,culture and stories from around
the globe.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
All right, I want to start off by talking just
briefly about the RespondWomen's Conference that we had
at SWO this past weekend.
I think we had gosh.
I think we ended up with over600 women, which for us is max
capacity, I guess you'd call it.
The women's conference isalways well attended because we
(02:58):
only I think partially becausewe only do one a year.
We do two men's Be Strongevents, one in the fall, one in
the spring.
Right now, we only do one womenyear.
We do two men's be strongevents, one in the fall, one in
the spring.
Right now we only do onewomen's.
And, uh, I don't know.
People have asked me if that'llchange.
I don't think it will.
Um, I don't, I don't, I don'tever say something is not, we're
not going to change something,cause we might, but, um, that's
(03:21):
how it is right now and but Ithink there were over 600 women
here, and it's just crazy, andit's, uh, it's, it's a retreat.
Well, let me, let me read to youhow we like, how our commercial
reads.
You know how our um promotionreads the respond Women's
retreat is for women of all ages.
(03:42):
Come with your church, a coupleof friends or by yourself to
enjoy a weekend here at Snowbird.
In today's culture there aremany definitions of womanhood,
but in Scripture God calls womento godliness.
This women's conference ispacked with expositional
teaching, fellowship with otherbelievers, high adventure,
recreation.
We hope you can join us thisspring in the mountains.
Click the link in thedescription to find out more
(04:04):
about our women's respondwomen's conference.
So that's, that's, uh, that'sfrom our website and it's just a
, uh, a good opportunity forladies to get together, study
the word of God.
We have Brooke loving good,come in, um, she's, she's a
favorite.
We have Anna Rose Garrett uh,share, and Rose speaks, uh, in
the summer on girls day, girlsnight, um, yeah, so it's, uh,
(04:27):
it's, it's an awesome weekend.
The only time there's a dudeinvolved is I'll bring the
message on Sunday mornings andthat that's a.
We can have kind of a Sundaymorning church worship service
and and uh, other than that,everything is is for women, by
women, led by women.
Uh, uh, an all women band,women led by women, an all-women
band, women teachers, speakers,breakout sessions.
It's a wonderful event.
(04:49):
We just had that and thecontent from that will be up
soon.
I want to move into some textsand emails.
I've gotten One by Sharon.
Sharon lives in California.
She lives, uh, on the Westcoast.
She's in an area where I knowthat, um, it's gotta be tough to
(05:12):
um, to to be a witness for theLord and for the gospel.
And she had emailed earlier, uh, several months ago, about, um,
the episode we did on onreading through the Bible and
how, um, you know, for some ofus it's it's better to slow down
and not read through it in ayear, maybe take two years,
(05:33):
three years, four years,whatever but that we're reading
the scripture, meditating on it,um, but anyway, uh, she, she
sends this email.
No rush in replying.
You mentioned on NSR a fewmonths back that Little uses a
daily Bible reading app.
By chance.
Is this the Bible recap?
Just curious.
(05:53):
I started it, the Bible recap,in January and it's been
extremely helpful to me.
Being in God's Word daily trulyis transforming.
Thanks again for all of thewonderful content that Snowbird
puts out.
Your ministry is a blessing toso many, far beyond the students
who physically step foot incamp.
Thank you, sharon.
That's very encouraging, superencouraging.
So Sharon's using the Biblerecap app.
(06:16):
There's a resource from one ofour listeners.
The app she's asking about isthat little uses, little uses.
It's called the you version, Ithink, and uh, and I I listened
to it a lot with little like ifwe're traveling, which is pretty
normal, like last week wetraveled, and so in the morning
(06:39):
she little always listens to itin the morning.
Last week we were traveling andshe'll play it for the family
to listen to while we're drivingand it's like.
I love it because they read asection of the old Testament and
then give a little commentaryon it.
It's a British couple, olderBritish couple.
They do an incredible job andthey have funny accents and her
name's Pippa and he and he's into hear him talk about Pippa and
(07:03):
then when he prays, this guy Idon't know his name, but when he
prays he'll say Lord, lord, weremember.
It's really funny, but it'sreally good.
It's very practical and I loveit.
I love listening to theirinsights and thoughts and just
simple and practical you version.
(07:25):
They read through a section ofthe Old Testament give
commentary.
Section of the old Testament,give commentary.
Section of the new Testament.
Give commentary.
And then Pippa, his wife, will,will add to what he's covered
in the, in the episode orwhatever.
And it's a, it's a dailyprogram.
I don't know, um, I don't knowthat it goes through the Bible
in a year.
I think it's more than that.
But, um, anyway, it's wonderful.
So there, that hopefullyanswers Sharon's question and is
(07:45):
helpful for others.
Um, let's see.
Uh, a pastor friend namedJonathan in Virginia sent me a
picture of a whiteboard thatsays take a day off, get mauled
by a lion, and he and he writesmy 15 year old saw this on the
SWO Insta story the other day,so we talked about what it means
.
And now she put it on her onour weight room whiteboard.
(08:08):
I love that, um.
And then he, and then hefollowed up.
That was a few weeks ago.
Then he followed up, um, with ascreenshot of the Kentucky
headhunters Dumas Walker trackfrom Spotify.
It looks like he says well, Ihadn't thought about these guys
in about 30 years.
And, uh, he said I'm stoked forthe next two NSRs, don't be a
(08:29):
Dumas today.
So, uh, if you listened to thelast two episodes, I talked
about, uh, the Kentuckyheadhunters song, dumas Walker,
and we were looking.
We were in those episodes.
We were looking at a guy namedDemas, but, uh, I appreciate
(08:51):
that from Jonathanathan, it'sreally funny, uh, and I had so
many comments from people aboutdumas walker and the kentucky
headhunters, so I'm glad I wasable to take some of you down
memory lane and introduce someof you to real country music,
good country music, and uh, that, that, uh, that kentucky
headhunters album, the one thathad doom, let's all go down to
doomless walker it's just calleddoomless walker.
I think um it, that uh albumwas awesome.
(09:14):
There's a bunch of good songson that album and those dudes
you guys see all those guys.
Look the drummer's my favorite.
He's got the bald on top, fuzzyhair, bozo, kind of the clown
hair around the sides of hishead, what, what I would look
like if I grew my hair out anduh, and I think usually he's
shirtless and he's just thispasty, skinny white dude and it
is funny.
(09:34):
Um, all right, so let's turnour attention.
Did I cover everything I wantedto cover?
Oh, one more thing.
I said we talk about the markdriscoll fiasco.
So there's this.
Uh, I've just had a lot ofpeople ask me about it more just
light-hearted um.
One of our listeners and aclose friend of mine, duncan
edge, was the first person thattold me about it.
He sent me a clip.
(09:56):
But I guess there was a men'sconference called the stronger,
or strong together or strongermen be like, something like be
strong um, and I guess it'sreally big and there's, you know
, look to me in the video like acouple thousand guys probably
there and and uh, and they.
It's a real big production.
Like last year there was a clipof they had a monster truck in
(10:19):
the arena driving over a bigpile of dirt, you know, know,
and fireworks going off, youknow, like sparks and
pyrotechnics and getting theguys, you know, yelling and
hooting.
And not my thing, not the waywe do it at SWO, but at ours we
did do an onstage lumberjackcompetition.
So who am I to judge?
I'm not hating on somebody forfor doing some antics and
(10:40):
theatrics and we do games anddifferent contests and things
like that at our camps andconferences.
So I'm not here to judge, um,but I do think you can go over
the top and you got to becareful with that.
We've done that.
We've made that mistake.
But this, this outfit, thestronger men's conference, they
had this guy come on stage andhe, like, swallowed a sword.
(11:03):
He's one of the you know, likethe circus guys that swallow
swords.
He's a sword swallower.
So he's what?
Which?
That's impressive.
Let's just pause and givecredit where credit's due.
Guy shoved a sword down histhroat, um, then he climbed up
this pole and then he got to thetop of the pole and it's tall,
it's probably 40, I bet it's 40feet tall, for sure 30 feet
(11:25):
climbs the top of the pole thisis on stage, by the way, at this
men's conference, if youhaven't seen it and then he
turns, flips around and and allthe while he's got a sword
sticking out of his mouth, butit's all the way down in his you
know chest and belly and thenhe slides down the pole, upside
down.
It is very impressive, veryLike he's not holding on with
(11:47):
his hands, he's upside down withhis legs wrapped around his
pole and he slides and he stopswith the, with the hilt of that
sword just inches from the floor.
He spins around, stands up,pulls sword out Very impressive.
But come to find out.
And the dude does it shirtless.
Come to find out, the dude doesit shirtless.
So that was weird, that wasvery weird.
(12:08):
And he's a little petite butmuscular like a little guy, but
very lean and muscular, very fit.
Looks like a little fitnessguru kind of guy.
And then apparently his otherjob besides sword swallowing is
he's a male stripper.
So you know, you're at a men'sconference, they got a guy
(12:30):
swallowing a sword.
All right, I'm tracking, I'mgood, wait a minute, he's a
stripper and there's a pole inthe middle of the floor and so
it just got weird.
Is this guy a pole dancer?
Is he a sword swallower?
Is he a circus act?
Is he Swallowers he a circusact?
Is he?
Well, I'll tell you, in myopinion, because people have
texted and asked, the wholedaggum thing was a circus act
because after he got done doinghis little, his little stunt,
(12:55):
this guy, mark Driscoll, who's apastor, um, who's super
controversial guy, um, he comesout on stage.
I think it was like maybe laterthat day or the next day.
It wasn't like right after theguy did the circus act, it was
like later.
But he comes out and he goes onthis rant and he's, he's
(13:17):
fussing and hemming and hawingabout the fact that we just had
a stripper on where the men'sconference.
We just had a stripper come out.
So you're kind of like, yeah,I'm tracking with this guy,
that's good, that's good.
Then he starts talking like realweird Old Testament analogies.
He's like the spirit of Jezebelis here.
I'm like I don't think spiritof Jezebel is here.
She's.
I mean, I don't know, I don'tknow what, I, what.
(13:40):
I'm sure there's more contextto that from some of his other
teaching.
Maybe he says the polerepresents an.
It's like an Asherah pole,which, if you know what an
Asherah pole is, it's a foul.
It's thought to have been likea phallic idol for worship with
these pagan deities by thesepagan cultures in the old
Testament.
So what he's saying is this isa sexual worship moment.
(14:03):
That's demonic and pagan andit's plugged into this Christian
men's conference.
So I don't know, maybe he'sright, I don't know.
But he just then the pastor ofthe thing starts yelling at this
guy.
This guest preacher has comeout onto the stage and he's
talking about the strippercircus act they just had.
(14:24):
Then he's saying that was bad.
And then the pastor stands upand kicks him off the stage and
he's talking about the strippercircus act they just had.
Then he's saying that was bad.
And then the pastor stands upand kicks him off the stage.
He leaves the stage, he saysI'm sorry you're, you know
whatever, you're the boss.
And he leaves.
And then he comes back out andthat's not what he says.
He says something to thateffect though, like okay, if you
say so, I'll leave, and uh, andI think he says I received that
(14:46):
, I will receive that, like Ireceived that rebuke.
Then he leaves.
Then later the pastor.
And then the pastor comes up onstage and tells why he just
kicked this guy off stage andwhy he was out of line.
Then later this guy, markDriscoll, and this pastor
whoever get his name they comeout on stage and they sit and
they make up and they make nicewith each other and for 30
minutes they talk about howgreat each other are.
(15:09):
The whole thing was just weird.
So I've had a lot of people saywhat do you think of this?
I don't know, I don't have anopinion that's worth sharing.
I just think it was goofy.
That's all Just goofy, and Ifeel bad for the dudes that were
there.
I looked it up and the cost ofthe event was similar to the
cost of a Snowbird men's event.
You got to pay the bills.
It was, I don't know, $150,$200, $160, something like that
(15:33):
and I don't know.
You got a few thousand guysthere paying that kind of money.
Just preach the word, man.
Just get out there and preachthe word.
We don't need no circus act andwe don't need no circus act.
And then if there is a circusact and you're the guy that that
that's been called upon topreach, after it, maybe you
address it.
But I think maybe just preachthe word you know and maybe, if
you do address it, you say youknow what?
Guys, that was a little bitweird.
(15:54):
Let's just focus on Jesus andlet's get into the word and
focus on the word.
So anyway, I don't have a wholelot of opinion, but a lot of
people I mean tons of peopleasking.
So it was weird.
Here's, here's what I thinkabout it.
Don't go to the stronger men'sconference.
Come to be strong at SWO.
We do one in September, one inMarch.
There you go, got it All right.
(16:15):
Let's turn for the rest of ourtime too.
I want to.
I want to just walk through um,a passage in scripture Um, and
you'll find this in severalplaces.
You'll find it in Luke 9 andMark 9.
Now in Mark 9.
Let me make sure my texts areright.
That's.
Matthew 9 that's not right, mark9, we have a.
(16:39):
We have the story of thetransfiguration of Jesus and if
you're familiar with thetransfiguration of Jesus, you
know it is an incredible story,it's a wonderful story.
It's a story about Jesus takingthree of his disciples up on
the mountain and revealinghimself to them in a very
(16:59):
special and unique way.
Mark 9 and Luke 9 both talkabout it and cover it.
But I want to look at that,some some thoughts from that.
And then, um, the main point ofthe following text, which I
preached last night at red Oakchurch, had the opportunity to
preach at red Oak church lastnight on um, mark nine, the
(17:23):
healing of the demon possessedboy, beginning in Mark 9, verse
14, which is a story immediatelyfollowing the transfiguration.
So, as we go behind the flannelgraph, I'm going to read most
of this just to stay on task,because we're over 15 minutes
into this episode and I want tobe mindful of your time and your
commute.
But I want to give you somethoughts.
The transfiguration, and I'mreading now.
(17:44):
We live in the best time inhistory.
I always remember growing upand the old folks would talk
about two things.
They would talk about the quotegood old days in quote and they
would talk about this with muchfondness.
And then they would talk abouthow difficult life was in the
depression era or during the warwhich was referenced World War
(18:07):
II.
Admittedly, it is easy to lookback at periods of history and
romanticize what life would havebeen like back then.
Pause.
Here I have a friend namedGarnet Park.
Garnet Park is 90 or 91 yearsold.
Garnet's son, keith, and hisdaughter-in-law, betty, are avid
NSR listeners.
So shout out to those guys,love them dearly.
(18:28):
They live in Kentucky.
Garnett is in his 90s now.
Garnett's father was around 60when Garnett was born.
If you do the math, go back 90years and then go back 60 years.
Beyond that, we're going back150 years.
So it is 2000 and, and rightnow it's 2024.
(18:53):
Okay, you subtract one 50 fromthat and what you get is 1874.
So I know a dude, I know a manwho's coherent, and, and, and,
and, and can still communicateand tell stories.
But about 10 years ago Garnettcame and stayed in my driveway
(19:13):
in his camper, came for a visit.
We sat several evenings in arow on the couch and I just got
him to tell stories.
So here's a guy 90 years oldwhose dad was born in the 1860s
or 70s, 1870s I believe and hetells firsthand stories.
He tells first person storiesof his dad talking about life in
the 1880s.
(19:34):
So I can sit down and talk to aman who's telling me stories
about life in the 1880s and it'sa it's.
It's a firsthand, secondhandaccount.
Pretty cool, and I'm alwaysintrigued by how difficult, in
one sense, life was back then,but how awesome in another sense
(19:54):
it was, because of simplicity.
Admittedly, it's easy to lookback at periods of history and
romanticize what life would havebeen like back then.
I do this.
Or we look back at an earlierperiod of our own lives and
imagine that it was better thenthan it actually was.
Do you do this?
I do, but the reality is welive in the most exciting time
in history.
(20:16):
The glory of the Lord has beenrevealed in Christ Jesus, in his
earthly ministry, and this isthe greatest blessing in history
.
For thousands of years, peoplewaited for the mysteries of the
Savior to be revealed.
Thousands of years peoplewaited for the mysteries of the
Savior to be revealed, from thefall of man in the Garden of
Eden, to Noah, to Abraham andGod's promises, down through
Moses, the judges, the kings andall the prophets in between, we
(20:37):
see God show glimpses of hisown glory.
He uses prophets like Elijah,ezekiel, isaiah and Daniel to
reveal much of himself and hisplan for history.
He often appeared in somespecific form, for instance with
Moses he appeared as fire orsmoke.
These scenes are intense, fromthe burning bush encounter to
(20:58):
the given of the tablets ofstone containing the law.
The scenes are extremelyintense, often completely
changing Moses's literal,physical appearance.
Additionally, when God fillsthe tabernacle in the wilderness
with his glory, the scene ispretty spectacular.
Then, when King Solomoncompletes the building of the
temple in Israel, god comes inand fills the temple with his
(21:19):
glory and it is an overwhelmingscene to see through the word
and through my imagination.
Now, some 3,000 years later,the word and through my
imagination.
Now, some 3000 years later,isaiah has visions into the
heavenly throne room and heshares that experience.
It's very powerful,particularly in Isaiah six.
So throughout history we seeglimpses of God's glory and
(21:41):
specific and revealing ways, butnot in full disclosure.
Then, when the shepherds hearthe proclamation of the cross
child's arrival, the angels ofGod surrounding them, they feel
the sky and they sing glory toGod in the highest and on earth
Familiar with that.
The glory of God came infullest revelation with the
(22:03):
coming of Jesus into the world.
Then, through the ministry ofJesus, beginning at his baptism,
we, through the ministry ofJesus, beginning at his baptism,
we see the revelation of hisglory continually being revealed
in more and more clarity.
God is making it clear thatJesus is his only begotten son,
sent into the world to fulfillall of his promises to mankind,
specifically through theprophets of old and the
(22:25):
covenants he made with humanitythrough men like Abraham and
Moses.
But now, in this text thatwe're going to look at, in Luke
nine and Mark nine, we see thefullest revelation yet of who
Jesus, the God man, really is.
God will literally speak fromheaven in this text and confirm
him.
So I want to read the text, thenI want to consider five facets
(22:48):
of the revelation of Godconfirming the glory of Jesus,
and then what I want to do is Iwant to end with a glimpse at
the next scene in the story andsome practical application for
us that I think we can relate tofor us, that I think we can
relate to.
Before we dive into this,before I read this text from
(23:09):
Mark 9, actually I'm going toread the Luke 9.
I'm going to read the Luke 9version.
Before we read this, let megive a definition of the glory
of Jesus.
The glory of Jesus refers tothe element of his magnificence
that reveals he is worthy of allthe praise of heaven and earth.
(23:33):
He is the ultimate majesty onhigh, humble and human.
Now, I don't know if I wrotethis, or I think I.
Probably.
I don't have this in my notes.
I don't have this cited orquoted.
Let's see.
Do I have my Driscoll?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Driscoll.
I'm just talking about Driscoll, that's funny.
My Grudem book I don't have myGrudem systematic theology book
in front of me, I don't have any, but anyway it might be a Wayne
Grudem quote.
I use his systematic theologybook Anyway.
I just I don't want to takecredit for something that's not.
But it doesn't matter, Nobody'strying to get credit for
anything here, Neither is Grudem.
(24:11):
So if it was from him, great.
If it was from Piper orsomebody else, whatever.
But let me read that again.
The glory of Jesus refers tothe element of his magnificence
that reveals he is worthy of allof the praise of heaven and
earth.
He's the ultimate majesty onhigh, humble and human.
So let's read this Luke,chapter nine, verse 28.
I'm reading from the New LivingTranslation About eight days
(24:35):
later, jesus took Peter and thisis eight days later, by the way
, after Jesus has predicted hisdeath, his looming death, his
own death.
About eight days after he'srevealed that to the disciples,
jesus took Peter, john and Jamesup on a mountain to pray.
And as he was praying, theappearance of his face was
transformed and his clothesbecame dazzling white.
(24:58):
Suddenly, two men, moses andElijah, appeared and began
talking with Jesus.
They were, they were gloriousto see, and they were speaking
about his Exodus from this world, which was about to be
fulfilled in Jerusalem.
Peter and the others had fallenasleep.
When they woke up, they sawJesus as a glory and the two men
standing with him.
As Moses and Elijah started toleave, peter, not even knowing
(25:19):
what he was saying, blurted outMaster, it's wonderful for us to
be here.
Let's make three shelters asmemorials one for you, one for
moses, one for elijah.
But even as he was saying this,the cloud overshadowed them and
terror gripped them and thecloud covered them.
Then a voice from the cloudsaid this is my son, my chosen
(25:39):
one.
Listen to him.
When the voice finished, jesuswas there alone.
They didn't tell anyone at thattime what they had seen.
That's Luke's account, mark'saccount, very similar.
I don't think there's anythingadded other than it says his
clothes became dazzling white,far whiter than any earthly
(26:03):
bleach could ever make them.
The idea is that they'reliterally radiating, and so I'll
give you these five thoughts,five facets of the revelation.
What this is is a revelation ofJesus, whereby he's
specifically revealing his glory.
Number one consider theradiating brilliance of Christ's
(26:26):
appearance.
The description and word fortransfiguration that Mark uses
literally means metamorphosed,um.
Literally means I think it'swhat I should have said.
There is, it's in the Greek,metamorphosed, it's like the
word we get metamorphosis from.
But it means it doesn't justmean change, it means brilliant
(26:47):
change.
So the obvious to me, theobvious, um.
Two examples from but it meansit doesn't just mean change, it
means brilliant change.
So the obvious to me.
The obvious um, two examplesfrom from nature would be you
know, the, the, the worm thatbecomes a butterfly, the
caterpillar that comes out abeautiful colorful butterfly.
Or, at this time of year, theleaves are budding here in the
mountains and the trees arebudding.
We've just had cherry blossomsand, you know, dogwoods are come
(27:08):
, have come in.
You know, you get all thesedifferent pops of color and
flower, wildflowers start tocome in.
And so it's not, it's, it's.
It's brilliant change.
It's not just change.
It's brilliant change becausethere's, there is a
metamorphosis that takes placein the life of a teenage boy.
It's called puberty.
He gets acne, his nose andthroat, adam's apple, get big,
(27:30):
his hands and knees get wobblyand big and overgrown, his feet
get long and thick and he looksgoofy and his voice changes.
And he and he doesn't realizethat there needs to be a change
in his hygiene, because now heneeds to wear deodorant and it's
imperative that he brush histeeth.
There's a change that takesplace, but it is not brilliant,
(27:52):
it's anything but.
However, this is the idea ofbrilliant change.
So what?
What we're getting in this wordand the radiating brilliance of
Christ's experience is thebrightness and radiance of Jesus
is coming from Jesus, notreflecting off of him.
You think of a person who is.
(28:14):
I don't know if you've ever hadthis experience where you see
someone who has been you'venever seen them dressed up and
really presented.
You know that maybe they'realways in sweats or jeans, a
t-shirt, hair in a ponytail orwhatever, and then they get
dressed up for an event,something formal, and you're
like, wow, that's an impressivechange.
(28:36):
Well, that change didn't happenfrom the inside out.
That was what you put on madethat lady look more beautiful
and radiant.
What you put on the man, put ona fitted, tailored suit and all
of a sudden he looks different.
But that is not radiating fromwithin him.
The the what's happening here,um is this radiance is coming
(28:58):
from Jesus.
It's a revelation of who Jesusreally is.
That's important.
He is the source of theradiance.
This is different from, if youremember, in the old Testament.
Moses would go up on themountain, he would come down and
his face would be radiating.
It was a reflection of theglory of God.
So it had been 600 years sinceanyone had been eyewitness to
(29:19):
the glory of God and that hadbeen when Moses would come off
the mountain.
600 years was not Moses, but ithad been 600 years since there
were eyewitnesses to theradiance of God's glory being
put on display before human eyes.
But when Moses would come downoff the mountain and he would
display the radiance of God'sglory, it was a reflection where
(29:40):
he had been with God.
What these men were seeing herewas the cloud and the pillar
that was in the wilderness.
They were seeing the fire inthe desert.
They were seeing the smoke onthe mountain.
They were seeing the thunderand the lightning of the law
being delivered.
They were seeing the filling ofthe temple.
They were seeing the visionthat Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6.
(30:04):
They were eyewitnesses to theglory of God.
What did this moment mean forJesus?
Three things.
First, it was a foretaste forJesus of what was awaiting him
in glory.
The cross was before him andthe dark shadow of the cross was
looming and he's given a momentin glorious, visible splendor
and fellowship with the Father.
(30:24):
Second, it was a moment ofsweet fellowship with those who
understood the loneliness ofJesus.
In this moment, I mean justimagine this seeing Jesus
experience joy and fellowshipwith those who understood where
he was and what lay before him.
And this Jesus has givenblessed assurance from heaven
that he is not alone.
He was not misunderstood.
(30:46):
It was a reminder to Jesus thatthe mystery and majesty of the
cross was understood in heaven,though those closest to him on
earth couldn't seem tounderstand it at all.
Jesus has just revealed in theprevious verses that we didn't
read that he's going to die.
He's going to go to the crossand die, and they didn't get it.
These guys didn't get it.
(31:11):
But what we've got in this storyis a voice from heaven
recognizing what's coming forJesus and affirming that.
Third, it was the voice of theFather approving Jesus' work and
Jesus' obedience For Jesus.
That was enough For you and I.
That should be enough.
Is it enough for you to knowthat the voice of the Lord
affirms your obedience?
He says this is my son, mychosen one.
(31:32):
Listen to him.
I love that In Mark 9, it saysthe way it's worded this is my
dearly loved son, listen to him.
So he's chosen, he's dearlyloved.
God is speaking withaffirmation.
Obedience, guys.
Obedience to the Lord is anhonor and we need to understand
(31:55):
we're obedient to the Lord.
Not only is an honor, but itbrings the blessing of God.
And so first we consider theradiant brilliance of Jesus and
all that encompassed that.
Number two, consider thepresence of Moses and Elijah in
this story.
These guys had large roles inIsraelite and Jewish history.
These guys were patriarchalfigureheads from centuries
(32:15):
before.
Think about what these menrepresent.
They had confronted earthlykings and challenged an entire
nation to follow Jesus, tofollow Yahweh.
In a sense, both of them weremessianic figures who
foreshadowed Jesus.
Moses was a type of Christ.
He foreshadowed Jesus in theway that he led the nation of
(32:36):
Israel through the Exodus.
The three men who Jesus wasrevealing himself to would have
grown up with no make-believesuperheroes or villains.
So these disciples that arewitnessing this transfiguration,
they didn't grow up talkingabout Marvel characters.
They didn't have.
They didn't have Hulk orSpider-Man action figures.
They weren't.
(32:58):
They didn't argue over DCversus Marvel.
You know.
They weren't Superman, batmanguys.
These dudes grew up and theirheroes were Moses and Elijah.
They didn't grow up withPatrick Mahomes or John Morant.
They didn't grow up with sportsfigures as heroes.
There were no make-believesuperheroes or villains.
(33:20):
There were no athletes onsocial media.
These guys grew up learning thereal and true stories of Moses
and Elijah and of the otherjudges and kings and prophets.
I think this is interesting.
This story is the first timeMoses has stepped foot into the
promised land.
The true significance is thatthese men are eyewitnesses to
(33:44):
all of this and that these twomen there with Jesus represent
the law and the prophets.
They represent all those oldTestament saints who trusted by
faith that a savior would cometo save them.
They had placed faith lookingforward in the coming Messiah.
These two men in the storyrepresent all of those saints
(34:05):
that had gone before theyconversed with Jesus about the
fulfillment of all of it.
The old saints had died infaith and not having seen the
promises fulfilled.
And now Jesus' day had come andthe promises were fulfilled.
Number three the use of the wordExodus by Moses.
Moses literally uses the wordExodus.
He was the messianic Christfigure in the Exodus of the
(34:26):
Israelites from bondage andslavery of Egypt.
That story was a foreshadowingof the gospel work that Jesus
would do.
Now Moses is asking about thework Jesus will do to redeem man
and ascend back to the Father.
So now Moses is using the wordExodus to talk about the true
Exodus, and this is an importantmoment for Peter, james and
(34:46):
John to hear this conversation.
They'll talk about it later.
You know Peter later will talkabout in second Peter one, 16,
18.
He talks about hey, we werethere.
We saw the glory of Jesusrevealed on the mountain.
The fourth thing that we got toconsider is the voice of God
affirming Jesus's role andauthority.
That's the big idea in thisstory.
God says this is my son, listento him, obey him.
(35:10):
God is affirming the authorityof Jesus.
Jesus is to be listened to andobeyed.
It's good for Peter, it's goodfor us.
Peter had the tendency toadmonish and lecture and
negotiate and instruct Jesus andI think we probably tend to do
the same thing sometimes.
We don't know better than Jesusknows.
(35:33):
We're to simply listen to himand obey him.
This is why we're going back toSharon's email at the beginning
, at the top of the episode here, and episodes that we often do
about the word of God, theimportance of the scripture in
our lives day to day, soimportant so that we know what
to obey and what to listen to.
And number five, consider thedisciples reaction to all of
(35:55):
this.
Um, it's, it's a little bitcomical in the moment and
Peter's like oh, we should dosomething.
Let's build tents, master, it'swonderful for us to be here.
Let's build tents, master, it'swonderful for us to be here.
Let's make three shelters InMark, rabbi, it's wonderful for
us to be here.
So, master, rabbi, it's funnyand he doesn't know what to do.
(36:19):
So he says let's make some tentsand we can just stay here
forever.
That's, that's the epic Like.
That is the definition of amountaintop experience.
We see kids come to our summercamps and they cry at the end of
the week because they don'twant to go home.
It's such a mountaintopexperience, these guys don't
want to go home.
That's funny.
Each of these men who witnessedthis saw it fulfilled in the
(36:41):
resurrection of Jesus.
They saw the fulfillment ofJesus' true glory revealed
through his resurrection.
They were willing to take thegospel to the world and be
persecuted for it.
This wasn't a lie, or elsethey'd have all quit.
Question for us is do we liveunder the authority of God's
word?
Do we reflect on the glory ofChrist that has been revealed?
We're not trying to figure thisout as we go.
(37:03):
We know the end of the story.
These guys are seeing all thisand this is before the cross.
We're reading it.
Looking back at the cross, weknow what happened next and we
can read ahead.
We're living on the backside ofof of the resurrection.
This is the greatest period inhistory that we're living in.
This is the good old days.
It's the good nowadays.
(37:25):
The cross has rotted.
That wooden cross that Jesusdied on is no longer.
It turned to dirt, it rotted.
The tomb is empty.
Jesus' body is not in that tomb.
Jesus is Lord.
The throne is established.
He is in his rightful place atthe right hand of the Father.
So we should live our lives forthe glory of God.
Now what happens?
(37:45):
And this just want to give aparting thought here.
They come down off of themountain of transfiguration.
They returned to the otherdisciples and they see this big
crowd gathering around and what?
And there's like arguing andbickering and there's noise and
it's it's chaotic.
I mean it's just, it's wild.
(38:05):
And one of the men in the crowdsays Jesus, I brought you my
son so you could heal him.
He's got an evil spirit.
It's like controlling him andpossessing him.
We'll let him talk.
It throws him down violently tothe ground.
He foams at the mouth andgrinds his teeth and becomes
rigid.
So I asked your disciples tocast out the evil spirit and
(38:27):
they couldn't do it.
Jesus says to them youfaithless people, how long must
I be with you?
So what happens is Jesus comesdown off this mountain of
transfiguration, which was 9,000feet in elevation.
This is, these guys are way upon this huge, tall mountain.
They have this crazy experience.
They come back down and whatmeets them when they get down is
(38:48):
total chaos.
You got a boy screeching,screaming, whatever like demons
you know controlling him and andand he's like he can't talk.
He can't speak, it's renderedin mute and it's and he's
seizing and he's on the groundbeing tossed about violently,
(39:09):
with foam coming out of hismouth and his teeth are grinding
.
It's a horrific, terrifyingpicture.
And bring this boy to Jesus.
And Jesus is like what, what?
What is going on here?
Like Jesus is witnessing thishappen and the disciples have
(39:29):
not been able the ones that arethere, have not been able to set
this boy free.
Jesus is like how long has thisbeen happening?
And he said since he was alittle boy.
So I don't know how old thisdude is.
Maybe he's a teenager, maybehe's a young man.
I guess I could dig in and lookat the words.
What does it describe and doesit give us some insight into his
age?
But he says these demons arethrowing him into fire and
(39:51):
throwing him into water andtrying to kill him as he
seizures and then flops into thewater and it's like it's trying
to drown him.
Would you have mercy on us?
And he says, if you can.
And I love Jesus' response.
Jesus is like what do you mean?
If I can?
Anything is possible if aperson believes.
And the father instantly criesout I do believe, but help me
(40:12):
overcome my unbelief.
And then Jesus goes on and hesets the boy free and then
afterwards he and he deliversthe boy from the, from the
spirit.
The spirit screams at those,the boy into convulsion and then
leaves him.
The boy looks dead.
Jesus goes over, takes him bythe hand and stands him up,
helps him to his feet.
Later the disciples come up toJesus and they're like okay, why
(40:34):
couldn't we cast the evilspirit out?
And Jesus said this kind canonly be cast out by prayer.
So I go to this story to pointout a couple things.
They come off of thismountaintop experience where
they see the radiating glory ofGod.
But when you think about thetrajectory of the disciples'
lives and existences, themountaintop transfiguration
(40:57):
experience was a one-time thing.
Eyewitnessing the resurrectionof Jesus was a one-time thing.
What their day-to-day lifelooked like was more the chaos
of what they walked into whenthey came off the mountain.
People that don't have faith,people that are under the
bondage and decay of sin andcan't set themselves free.
The disciples struggling to getit done.
(41:17):
But Jesus is like look, it'sjust not that complicated, it's
simple.
Just live by faith, pray, spendtime under the authority of
God's word and scripture andpray, and then you've got this
dad, who I think is important toconsider what he says.
He's like I believe, but I'moverwhelmed by my unbelief.
The idea is, I believe, but I'mracked and wrecked with doubt,
(41:40):
and doubt is a destabilizingthing.
And let me say this the kind offinal point I want to make in
this episode is doubt is not theopposite of faith.
Doubt is not the opposite ofbelief.
Faith and belief synonymouswords.
What is the opposite of faith?
Doubt is not the opposite ofbelief.
Faith and belief synonymouswords.
What is the opposite of faith?
What's the same thing?
That's the opposite of belief.
What's the opposite of belief?
(42:00):
Unbelief.
Doubt is not unbelief.
I'm going to tell you somethingthat I've observed to be very
interesting.
Unbelievers don't tend tostruggle with doubt, doubt.
When you begin to seek the Lordand seek the truth.
And Jesus said all who are onthe side of truth they listen to
me If you're genuinely soulsearching and seeking the truth,
(42:22):
or if you're a believer, aChrist follower, and you're
walking with Jesus.
St Augustine said doubt willnever be far from faith's
shoulder.
Doubt is what attacks your faithand people who live in unbelief
.
They don't tend to doubtbecause there's nothing to doubt
.
They just don't believe.
Just think about that, andhere's why I want you to think
(42:42):
about it, because if youstruggle with doubt, I believe
that is an evidence and a signof true faith.
Let me say it again If youwrestle with doubt and people
tend to wrestle with doubt andthen become so discouraged that
they throw their hands up andkind of give up, no, no, no, no,
no If you're wrestling withdoubt, keep wrestling, because
(43:04):
it is your faith that doubt isattacking.
And so we could in one sensesay doubt is an evidence of
faith.
Now, we should not becontrolled by doubt, but the
fact that we're doubting it's anevidence of the fact that we
believe.
If I don't believe, I don'tdoubt.
(43:24):
I'll give you an example, simpleexample Santa Claus I don't
believe I have no doubts aboutSanta Claus.
I don't believe I have nodoubts about Santa Claus, but I
remember when I was about a fouror five, probably five year old
kid six year, I don't know howold I was, but I remember I was
a little boy and I can stillremember because my parents did
the whole Santa Claus comes andleaves toys and presents and
(43:47):
that we did that and so Ibelieved in him.
And I remember when I startedto doubt and it was this really
interesting process in my littlefive, six, seven, whatever, it
was your old mind.
Where I'm going.
This doesn't make sense, Ican't make sense of this and
(44:07):
that doubt led me to a place ofunbelief.
But once I stopped believing Inever doubted again.
I hope that does that makesense.
I've never doubted theexistence of Santa Claus again.
I just don't believe in it.
When I did believe in it, doubtwas the thing that attacked.
When I pressed into that doubt,what it revealed was oh yeah, I
(44:33):
don't believe in this.
Well, the beauty of this is, ifyou don't believe that Jesus is
the way, the truth and the life,if you don't confess him as
Lord, if you don't believe thatGod raised him from the dead,
then you live in that unbeliefand that's how you exist and you
try to figure life out on yourown the best you can, you try to
make sense of the chaos existand you you try to figure life
out on your own.
The best you can, you try tomake sense of the chaos and you
(44:54):
try to.
But if you believe and youstruggle with doubt, what you do
is you turn into that belief.
You turn into the source ofthat belief, which is Jesus.
You press into him and into hisword and he stabilizes you, he
strengthens you and he gives youthe power to overcome doubt.
So doubt becomes evidence offaith.
(45:16):
I don't believe in the toothfairy, I don't believe in you
know, my family loves the movie,uh, um, not guardians of the
galaxy.
I always get it confused withthat.
I think it's just called a riseof the guardians.
Maybe this movie called rise ofthe guardians.
It's like all of the charactersin the movie are the tooth
(45:39):
fairy and St St Nick and, um,the Easter bunnies in there.
Who else?
The sand man, the Jack Frost,anyway, all these make-believe
creatures.
You know?
Fairytale creatures, not evenfairytale creatures, I don't
know what you call it, but Idon't believe in any of that.
(46:00):
But I don't doubt it.
You know what I've struggled totrust and doubt, and I've
doubted that Jesus was going totake care of my finances, that
God was going to heal a sickloved one, that the Lord was
going to keep my children oncourse to follow him, that God
(46:23):
was going to free somebody Icare about from addiction.
I've struggled with that.
I've struggled with doubt.
At times I've doubted the lovethat God has for me.
I've doubted my own worthiness.
I've doubted because of my pastsin.
Like doubt is a reality for thebeliever.
(46:46):
And we don't get to live on themountaintop and pitch a tent and
gaze at the glory of Jesus.
You got to go to work.
You got to go to work.
You got to go to school.
You got to pick up the kids andgo to soccer practice and you
know, and and you got to changethe oil in the car and vacuum
the floor and haul off the trash.
You got to pay the bills.
You got to.
You got to deal with the IRS.
(47:08):
I'm in the middle of that messright now.
I've got extensions filed on mytaxes because they're trying to
rip me Gosh.
It's frustrating right.
Day-to-day life is not themountaintop experience.
Day-to-day life is the grind ofa world that has fallen and
demons that are real, andsickness and sorrow and
(47:30):
brokenness, and we got to livein it.
And Jesus says the only way youget shed of this is to live by
prayer.
The only way the demon's goingto come out of that boy is
through prayer.
But Jesus displays and showsthat he has the authority to
take command of the situation.
He frees the boy, he stands himup, he looses him from the
(47:51):
chains and spiritual shacklesthat these demons have on him.
He sets him free.
So let's move from themountaintop into the valley, but
let's fix our eyes on Jesus,let's power through the doubt,
let's let doubt motivate ustoward deeper belief and faith
that we put in Jesus and we'lllive by faith.
We walk by faith, not by sight,and that faith is in the son of
(48:13):
God, who loved us and gavehimself for us.
God says in the story this ismy son, listen to him.
And we do well to listen to him.
Y'all have an awesome week.
See you next Monday.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
Thanks for listening to no sanity required.
Please take a moment tosubscribe and leave a rating.
It really helps.
Visit us at SWOutfitterscom tosee all of our programming and
resources, and we'll see younext week on no Sanity Required.
Welcome to no Sanity Required Today an update from
the Respond Women's Conference,as well as a prayer request that
we want to share with ourlisteners.
And then also going to read yousome responses, emails, texts
that have come in from listenersand share how we've been
(00:22):
encouraged by those listenersand, uh, and share how we've
been encouraged by those.
And then we are going to um, gobehind the flannel graph and
we're going to.
We're going to look atmountaintop experiences and the
grit and grind and dirt ofliving in the Valley, which is
where we spend most of our time,and what it looks like to live
by faith and wrestle with doubt.
(00:44):
That's the main idea Live byfaith, wrestle with doubt.
And then the last thing we'regoing to do and this will be
very brief, but we're going totalk about the fiasco.
A lot of our listeners probablyknow nothing about this, but I
know a bunch of you do, becauseI've gotten texts and emails
(01:04):
probably know nothing about this, but I know a bunch of you do
because I've gotten texts andemails.
But this guy, mark Driscoll,who is a pastor, preacher, kind
of a, I don't know how you'ddescribe him.
If you know him, then I don'tneed to describe him to you, and
if you don't, then I'm sureyou're going to go look him up.
But he's kind of all over theplace.
A lot of people love him, a lotof people don't like him.
(01:26):
I, I don't really have anopinion.
There's some things he says anddoes that are just awesome, and
then some things where you'relike man, this guy, what is he
doing?
But he was speaking at a men'sconference, I think it's in
springfield, missouri, I believe.
I'm not looking at notes here,but I think, if my memory serves
(01:47):
, and anyway, we'll talk aboutthat.
It's a blow up Funny thing.
We'll talk about that.
So we're going to cover severalthings in this episode.
So anyway, so I appreciate youtuning in listening.
We had a week off last week butwe didn't skimp.
We gave you two episodes a weekbefore and so hopefully
(02:07):
everyone's looking forward to usbeing back online.
I know that we are lookingforward to bringing this episode
and so come along, listen along.
Welcome to no Sanity Required.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of
Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters.
A podcast about the Bible,culture and stories from around
the globe.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
All right, I want to start off by talking just
briefly about the RespondWomen's Conference that we had
at SWO this past weekend.
I think we had gosh.
I think we ended up with over600 women, which for us is max
capacity, I guess you'd call it.
The women's conference isalways well attended because we
(02:58):
only I think partially becausewe only do one a year.
We do two men's Be Strongevents, one in the fall, one in
the spring.
Right now, we only do one womenyear.
We do two men's be strongevents, one in the fall, one in
the spring.
Right now we only do onewomen's.
And, uh, I don't know.
People have asked me if that'llchange.
I don't think it will.
Um, I don't, I don't, I don'tever say something is not, we're
not going to change something,cause we might, but, um, that's
(03:21):
how it is right now and but Ithink there were over 600 women
here, and it's just crazy, andit's, uh, it's, it's a retreat.
Well, let me, let me read to youhow we like, how our commercial
reads.
You know how our um promotionreads the respond Women's
retreat is for women of all ages.
(03:42):
Come with your church, a coupleof friends or by yourself to
enjoy a weekend here at Snowbird.
In today's culture there aremany definitions of womanhood,
but in Scripture God calls womento godliness.
This women's conference ispacked with expositional
teaching, fellowship with otherbelievers, high adventure,
recreation.
We hope you can join us thisspring in the mountains.
Click the link in thedescription to find out more
(04:04):
about our women's respondwomen's conference.
So that's, that's, uh, that'sfrom our website and it's just a
, uh, a good opportunity forladies to get together, study
the word of God.
We have Brooke loving good,come in, um, she's, she's a
favorite.
We have Anna Rose Garrett uh,share, and Rose speaks, uh, in
the summer on girls day, girlsnight, um, yeah, so it's, uh,
(04:27):
it's, it's an awesome weekend.
The only time there's a dudeinvolved is I'll bring the
message on Sunday mornings andthat that's a.
We can have kind of a Sundaymorning church worship service
and and uh, other than that,everything is is for women, by
women, led by women.
Uh, uh, an all women band,women led by women, an all-women
band, women teachers, speakers,breakout sessions.
It's a wonderful event.
(04:49):
We just had that and thecontent from that will be up
soon.
I want to move into some textsand emails.
I've gotten One by Sharon.
Sharon lives in California.
She lives, uh, on the Westcoast.
She's in an area where I knowthat, um, it's gotta be tough to
(05:12):
um, to to be a witness for theLord and for the gospel.
And she had emailed earlier, uh, several months ago, about, um,
the episode we did on onreading through the Bible and
how, um, you know, for some ofus it's it's better to slow down
and not read through it in ayear, maybe take two years,
(05:33):
three years, four years,whatever but that we're reading
the scripture, meditating on it,um, but anyway, uh, she, she
sends this email.
No rush in replying.
You mentioned on NSR a fewmonths back that Little uses a
daily Bible reading app.
By chance.
Is this the Bible recap?
Just curious.
(05:53):
I started it, the Bible recap,in January and it's been
extremely helpful to me.
Being in God's Word daily trulyis transforming.
Thanks again for all of thewonderful content that Snowbird
puts out.
Your ministry is a blessing toso many, far beyond the students
who physically step foot incamp.
Thank you, sharon.
That's very encouraging, superencouraging.
So Sharon's using the Biblerecap app.
(06:16):
There's a resource from one ofour listeners.
The app she's asking about isthat little uses, little uses.
It's called the you version, Ithink, and uh, and I I listened
to it a lot with little like ifwe're traveling, which is pretty
normal, like last week wetraveled, and so in the morning
(06:39):
she little always listens to itin the morning.
Last week we were traveling andshe'll play it for the family
to listen to while we're drivingand it's like.
I love it because they read asection of the old Testament and
then give a little commentaryon it.
It's a British couple, olderBritish couple.
They do an incredible job andthey have funny accents and her
name's Pippa and he and he's into hear him talk about Pippa and
(07:03):
then when he prays, this guy Idon't know his name, but when he
prays he'll say Lord, lord, weremember.
It's really funny, but it'sreally good.
It's very practical and I loveit.
I love listening to theirinsights and thoughts and just
simple and practical you version.
(07:25):
They read through a section ofthe Old Testament give
commentary.
Section of the old Testament,give commentary.
Section of the new Testament.
Give commentary.
And then Pippa, his wife, will,will add to what he's covered
in the, in the episode orwhatever.
And it's a, it's a dailyprogram.
I don't know, um, I don't knowthat it goes through the Bible
in a year.
I think it's more than that.
But, um, anyway, it's wonderful.
So there, that hopefullyanswers Sharon's question and is
(07:45):
helpful for others.
Um, let's see.
Uh, a pastor friend namedJonathan in Virginia sent me a
picture of a whiteboard thatsays take a day off, get mauled
by a lion, and he and he writesmy 15 year old saw this on the
SWO Insta story the other day,so we talked about what it means
.
And now she put it on her onour weight room whiteboard.
(08:08):
I love that, um.
And then he, and then hefollowed up.
That was a few weeks ago.
Then he followed up, um, with ascreenshot of the Kentucky
headhunters Dumas Walker trackfrom Spotify.
It looks like he says well, Ihadn't thought about these guys
in about 30 years.
And, uh, he said I'm stoked forthe next two NSRs, don't be a
(08:29):
Dumas today.
So, uh, if you listened to thelast two episodes, I talked
about, uh, the Kentuckyheadhunters song, dumas Walker,
and we were looking.
We were in those episodes.
We were looking at a guy namedDemas, but, uh, I appreciate
(08:51):
that from Jonathanathan, it'sreally funny, uh, and I had so
many comments from people aboutdumas walker and the kentucky
headhunters, so I'm glad I wasable to take some of you down
memory lane and introduce someof you to real country music,
good country music, and uh, that, that, uh, that kentucky
headhunters album, the one thathad doom, let's all go down to
doomless walker it's just calleddoomless walker.
I think um it, that uh albumwas awesome.
(09:14):
There's a bunch of good songson that album and those dudes
you guys see all those guys.
Look the drummer's my favorite.
He's got the bald on top, fuzzyhair, bozo, kind of the clown
hair around the sides of hishead, what, what I would look
like if I grew my hair out anduh, and I think usually he's
shirtless and he's just thispasty, skinny white dude and it
is funny.
(09:34):
Um, all right, so let's turnour attention.
Did I cover everything I wantedto cover?
Oh, one more thing.
I said we talk about the markdriscoll fiasco.
So there's this.
Uh, I've just had a lot ofpeople ask me about it more just
light-hearted um.
One of our listeners and aclose friend of mine, duncan
edge, was the first person thattold me about it.
He sent me a clip.
(09:56):
But I guess there was a men'sconference called the stronger,
or strong together or strongermen be like, something like be
strong um, and I guess it'sreally big and there's, you know
, look to me in the video like acouple thousand guys probably
there and and uh, and they.
It's a real big production.
Like last year there was a clipof they had a monster truck in
(10:19):
the arena driving over a bigpile of dirt, you know, know,
and fireworks going off, youknow, like sparks and
pyrotechnics and getting theguys, you know, yelling and
hooting.
And not my thing, not the waywe do it at SWO, but at ours we
did do an onstage lumberjackcompetition.
So who am I to judge?
I'm not hating on somebody forfor doing some antics and
(10:40):
theatrics and we do games anddifferent contests and things
like that at our camps andconferences.
So I'm not here to judge, um,but I do think you can go over
the top and you got to becareful with that.
We've done that.
We've made that mistake.
But this, this outfit, thestronger men's conference, they
had this guy come on stage andhe, like, swallowed a sword.
(11:03):
He's one of the you know, likethe circus guys that swallow
swords.
He's a sword swallower.
So he's what?
Which?
That's impressive.
Let's just pause and givecredit where credit's due.
Guy shoved a sword down histhroat, um, then he climbed up
this pole and then he got to thetop of the pole and it's tall,
it's probably 40, I bet it's 40feet tall, for sure 30 feet
(11:25):
climbs the top of the pole thisis on stage, by the way, at this
men's conference, if youhaven't seen it and then he
turns, flips around and and allthe while he's got a sword
sticking out of his mouth, butit's all the way down in his you
know chest and belly and thenhe slides down the pole, upside
down.
It is very impressive, veryLike he's not holding on with
(11:47):
his hands, he's upside down withhis legs wrapped around his
pole and he slides and he stopswith the, with the hilt of that
sword just inches from the floor.
He spins around, stands up,pulls sword out Very impressive.
But come to find out.
And the dude does it shirtless.
Come to find out, the dude doesit shirtless.
So that was weird, that wasvery weird.
(12:08):
And he's a little petite butmuscular like a little guy, but
very lean and muscular, very fit.
Looks like a little fitnessguru kind of guy.
And then apparently his otherjob besides sword swallowing is
he's a male stripper.
So you know, you're at a men'sconference, they got a guy
(12:30):
swallowing a sword.
All right, I'm tracking, I'mgood, wait a minute, he's a
stripper and there's a pole inthe middle of the floor and so
it just got weird.
Is this guy a pole dancer?
Is he a sword swallower?
Is he a circus act?
Is he Swallowers he a circusact?
Is he?
Well, I'll tell you, in myopinion, because people have
texted and asked, the wholedaggum thing was a circus act
because after he got done doinghis little, his little stunt,
(12:55):
this guy, mark Driscoll, who's apastor, um, who's super
controversial guy, um, he comesout on stage.
I think it was like maybe laterthat day or the next day.
It wasn't like right after theguy did the circus act, it was
like later.
But he comes out and he goes onthis rant and he's, he's
(13:17):
fussing and hemming and hawingabout the fact that we just had
a stripper on where the men'sconference.
We just had a stripper come out.
So you're kind of like, yeah,I'm tracking with this guy,
that's good, that's good.
Then he starts talking like realweird Old Testament analogies.
He's like the spirit of Jezebelis here.
I'm like I don't think spiritof Jezebel is here.
She's.
I mean, I don't know, I don'tknow what, I, what.
(13:40):
I'm sure there's more contextto that from some of his other
teaching.
Maybe he says the polerepresents an.
It's like an Asherah pole,which, if you know what an
Asherah pole is, it's a foul.
It's thought to have been likea phallic idol for worship with
these pagan deities by thesepagan cultures in the old
Testament.
So what he's saying is this isa sexual worship moment.
(14:03):
That's demonic and pagan andit's plugged into this Christian
men's conference.
So I don't know, maybe he'sright, I don't know.
But he just then the pastor ofthe thing starts yelling at this
guy.
This guest preacher has comeout onto the stage and he's
talking about the strippercircus act they just had.
(14:24):
Then he's saying that was bad.
And then the pastor stands upand kicks him off the stage and
he's talking about the strippercircus act they just had.
Then he's saying that was bad.
And then the pastor stands upand kicks him off the stage.
He leaves the stage, he saysI'm sorry you're, you know
whatever, you're the boss.
And he leaves.
And then he comes back out andthat's not what he says.
He says something to thateffect though, like okay, if you
say so, I'll leave, and uh, andI think he says I received that
(14:46):
, I will receive that, like Ireceived that rebuke.
Then he leaves.
Then later the pastor.
And then the pastor comes up onstage and tells why he just
kicked this guy off stage andwhy he was out of line.
Then later this guy, markDriscoll, and this pastor
whoever get his name they comeout on stage and they sit and
they make up and they make nicewith each other and for 30
minutes they talk about howgreat each other are.
(15:09):
The whole thing was just weird.
So I've had a lot of people saywhat do you think of this?
I don't know, I don't have anopinion that's worth sharing.
I just think it was goofy.
That's all Just goofy, and Ifeel bad for the dudes that were
there.
I looked it up and the cost ofthe event was similar to the
cost of a Snowbird men's event.
You got to pay the bills.
It was, I don't know, $150,$200, $160, something like that
(15:33):
and I don't know.
You got a few thousand guysthere paying that kind of money.
Just preach the word, man.
Just get out there and preachthe word.
We don't need no circus act andwe don't need no circus act.
And then if there is a circusact and you're the guy that that
that's been called upon topreach, after it, maybe you
address it.
But I think maybe just preachthe word you know and maybe, if
you do address it, you say youknow what?
Guys, that was a little bitweird.
(15:54):
Let's just focus on Jesus andlet's get into the word and
focus on the word.
So anyway, I don't have a wholelot of opinion, but a lot of
people I mean tons of peopleasking.
So it was weird.
Here's, here's what I thinkabout it.
Don't go to the stronger men'sconference.
Come to be strong at SWO.
We do one in September, one inMarch.
There you go, got it All right.
(16:15):
Let's turn for the rest of ourtime too.
I want to.
I want to just walk through um,a passage in scripture Um, and
you'll find this in severalplaces.
You'll find it in Luke 9 andMark 9.
Now in Mark 9.
Let me make sure my texts areright.
That's.
Matthew 9 that's not right, mark9, we have a.
(16:39):
We have the story of thetransfiguration of Jesus and if
you're familiar with thetransfiguration of Jesus, you
know it is an incredible story,it's a wonderful story.
It's a story about Jesus takingthree of his disciples up on
the mountain and revealinghimself to them in a very
(16:59):
special and unique way.
Mark 9 and Luke 9 both talkabout it and cover it.
But I want to look at that,some some thoughts from that.
And then, um, the main point ofthe following text, which I
preached last night at red Oakchurch, had the opportunity to
preach at red Oak church lastnight on um, mark nine, the
(17:23):
healing of the demon possessedboy, beginning in Mark 9, verse
14, which is a story immediatelyfollowing the transfiguration.
So, as we go behind the flannelgraph, I'm going to read most
of this just to stay on task,because we're over 15 minutes
into this episode and I want tobe mindful of your time and your
commute.
But I want to give you somethoughts.
The transfiguration, and I'mreading now.
(17:44):
We live in the best time inhistory.
I always remember growing upand the old folks would talk
about two things.
They would talk about the quotegood old days in quote and they
would talk about this with muchfondness.
And then they would talk abouthow difficult life was in the
depression era or during the warwhich was referenced World War
(18:07):
II.
Admittedly, it is easy to lookback at periods of history and
romanticize what life would havebeen like back then.
Pause.
Here I have a friend namedGarnet Park.
Garnet Park is 90 or 91 yearsold.
Garnet's son, keith, and hisdaughter-in-law, betty, are avid
NSR listeners.
So shout out to those guys,love them dearly.
(18:28):
They live in Kentucky.
Garnett is in his 90s now.
Garnett's father was around 60when Garnett was born.
If you do the math, go back 90years and then go back 60 years.
Beyond that, we're going back150 years.
So it is 2000 and, and rightnow it's 2024.
(18:53):
Okay, you subtract one 50 fromthat and what you get is 1874.
So I know a dude, I know a manwho's coherent, and, and, and,
and, and can still communicateand tell stories.
But about 10 years ago Garnettcame and stayed in my driveway
(19:13):
in his camper, came for a visit.
We sat several evenings in arow on the couch and I just got
him to tell stories.
So here's a guy 90 years oldwhose dad was born in the 1860s
or 70s, 1870s I believe and hetells firsthand stories.
He tells first person storiesof his dad talking about life in
the 1880s.
(19:34):
So I can sit down and talk to aman who's telling me stories
about life in the 1880s and it'sa it's.
It's a firsthand, secondhandaccount.
Pretty cool, and I'm alwaysintrigued by how difficult, in
one sense, life was back then,but how awesome in another sense
(19:54):
it was, because of simplicity.
Admittedly, it's easy to lookback at periods of history and
romanticize what life would havebeen like back then.
I do this.
Or we look back at an earlierperiod of our own lives and
imagine that it was better thenthan it actually was.
Do you do this?
I do, but the reality is welive in the most exciting time
in history.
(20:16):
The glory of the Lord has beenrevealed in Christ Jesus, in his
earthly ministry, and this isthe greatest blessing in history
.
For thousands of years, peoplewaited for the mysteries of the
Savior to be revealed.
Thousands of years peoplewaited for the mysteries of the
Savior to be revealed, from thefall of man in the Garden of
Eden, to Noah, to Abraham andGod's promises, down through
Moses, the judges, the kings andall the prophets in between, we
(20:37):
see God show glimpses of hisown glory.
He uses prophets like Elijah,ezekiel, isaiah and Daniel to
reveal much of himself and hisplan for history.
He often appeared in somespecific form, for instance with
Moses he appeared as fire orsmoke.
These scenes are intense, fromthe burning bush encounter to
(20:58):
the given of the tablets ofstone containing the law.
The scenes are extremelyintense, often completely
changing Moses's literal,physical appearance.
Additionally, when God fillsthe tabernacle in the wilderness
with his glory, the scene ispretty spectacular.
Then, when King Solomoncompletes the building of the
temple in Israel, god comes inand fills the temple with his
(21:19):
glory and it is an overwhelmingscene to see through the word
and through my imagination.
Now, some 3,000 years later,the word and through my
imagination.
Now, some 3000 years later,isaiah has visions into the
heavenly throne room and heshares that experience.
It's very powerful,particularly in Isaiah six.
So throughout history we seeglimpses of God's glory and
(21:41):
specific and revealing ways, butnot in full disclosure.
Then, when the shepherds hearthe proclamation of the cross
child's arrival, the angels ofGod surrounding them, they feel
the sky and they sing glory toGod in the highest and on earth
Familiar with that.
The glory of God came infullest revelation with the
(22:03):
coming of Jesus into the world.
Then, through the ministry ofJesus, beginning at his baptism,
we, through the ministry ofJesus, beginning at his baptism,
we see the revelation of hisglory continually being revealed
in more and more clarity.
God is making it clear thatJesus is his only begotten son,
sent into the world to fulfillall of his promises to mankind,
specifically through theprophets of old and the
(22:25):
covenants he made with humanitythrough men like Abraham and
Moses.
But now, in this text thatwe're going to look at, in Luke
nine and Mark nine, we see thefullest revelation yet of who
Jesus, the God man, really is.
God will literally speak fromheaven in this text and confirm
him.
So I want to read the text, thenI want to consider five facets
(22:48):
of the revelation of Godconfirming the glory of Jesus,
and then what I want to do is Iwant to end with a glimpse at
the next scene in the story andsome practical application for
us that I think we can relate tofor us, that I think we can
relate to.
Before we dive into this,before I read this text from
(23:09):
Mark 9, actually I'm going toread the Luke 9.
I'm going to read the Luke 9version.
Before we read this, let megive a definition of the glory
of Jesus.
The glory of Jesus refers tothe element of his magnificence
that reveals he is worthy of allthe praise of heaven and earth.
(23:33):
He is the ultimate majesty onhigh, humble and human.
Now, I don't know if I wrotethis, or I think I.
Probably.
I don't have this in my notes.
I don't have this cited orquoted.
Let's see.
Do I have my Driscoll?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Driscoll.
I'm just talking about Driscoll, that's funny.
My Grudem book I don't have myGrudem systematic theology book
in front of me, I don't have any, but anyway it might be a Wayne
Grudem quote.
I use his systematic theologybook Anyway.
I just I don't want to takecredit for something that's not.
But it doesn't matter, Nobody'strying to get credit for
anything here, Neither is Grudem.
(24:11):
So if it was from him, great.
If it was from Piper orsomebody else, whatever.
But let me read that again.
The glory of Jesus refers tothe element of his magnificence
that reveals he is worthy of allof the praise of heaven and
earth.
He's the ultimate majesty onhigh, humble and human.
So let's read this Luke,chapter nine, verse 28.
I'm reading from the New LivingTranslation About eight days
(24:35):
later, jesus took Peter and thisis eight days later, by the way
, after Jesus has predicted hisdeath, his looming death, his
own death.
About eight days after he'srevealed that to the disciples,
jesus took Peter, john and Jamesup on a mountain to pray.
And as he was praying, theappearance of his face was
transformed and his clothesbecame dazzling white.
(24:58):
Suddenly, two men, moses andElijah, appeared and began
talking with Jesus.
They were, they were gloriousto see, and they were speaking
about his Exodus from this world, which was about to be
fulfilled in Jerusalem.
Peter and the others had fallenasleep.
When they woke up, they sawJesus as a glory and the two men
standing with him.
As Moses and Elijah started toleave, peter, not even knowing
(25:19):
what he was saying, blurted outMaster, it's wonderful for us to
be here.
Let's make three shelters asmemorials one for you, one for
moses, one for elijah.
But even as he was saying this,the cloud overshadowed them and
terror gripped them and thecloud covered them.
Then a voice from the cloudsaid this is my son, my chosen
(25:39):
one.
Listen to him.
When the voice finished, jesuswas there alone.
They didn't tell anyone at thattime what they had seen.
That's Luke's account, mark'saccount, very similar.
I don't think there's anythingadded other than it says his
clothes became dazzling white,far whiter than any earthly
(26:03):
bleach could ever make them.
The idea is that they'reliterally radiating, and so I'll
give you these five thoughts,five facets of the revelation.
What this is is a revelation ofJesus, whereby he's
specifically revealing his glory.
Number one consider theradiating brilliance of Christ's
(26:26):
appearance.
The description and word fortransfiguration that Mark uses
literally means metamorphosed,um.
Literally means I think it'swhat I should have said.
There is, it's in the Greek,metamorphosed, it's like the
word we get metamorphosis from.
But it means it doesn't justmean change, it means brilliant
(26:47):
change.
So the obvious to me, theobvious, um.
Two examples from but it meansit doesn't just mean change, it
means brilliant change.
So the obvious to me.
The obvious um, two examplesfrom from nature would be you
know, the, the, the worm thatbecomes a butterfly, the
caterpillar that comes out abeautiful colorful butterfly.
Or, at this time of year, theleaves are budding here in the
mountains and the trees arebudding.
We've just had cherry blossomsand, you know, dogwoods are come
(27:08):
, have come in.
You know, you get all thesedifferent pops of color and
flower, wildflowers start tocome in.
And so it's not, it's, it's.
It's brilliant change.
It's not just change.
It's brilliant change becausethere's, there is a
metamorphosis that takes placein the life of a teenage boy.
It's called puberty.
He gets acne, his nose andthroat, adam's apple, get big,
(27:30):
his hands and knees get wobblyand big and overgrown, his feet
get long and thick and he looksgoofy and his voice changes.
And he and he doesn't realizethat there needs to be a change
in his hygiene, because now heneeds to wear deodorant and it's
imperative that he brush histeeth.
There's a change that takesplace, but it is not brilliant,
(27:52):
it's anything but.
However, this is the idea ofbrilliant change.
So what?
What we're getting in this wordand the radiating brilliance of
Christ's experience is thebrightness and radiance of Jesus
is coming from Jesus, notreflecting off of him.
You think of a person who is.
(28:14):
I don't know if you've ever hadthis experience where you see
someone who has been you'venever seen them dressed up and
really presented.
You know that maybe they'realways in sweats or jeans, a
t-shirt, hair in a ponytail orwhatever, and then they get
dressed up for an event,something formal, and you're
like, wow, that's an impressivechange.
(28:36):
Well, that change didn't happenfrom the inside out.
That was what you put on madethat lady look more beautiful
and radiant.
What you put on the man, put ona fitted, tailored suit and all
of a sudden he looks different.
But that is not radiating fromwithin him.
The the what's happening here,um is this radiance is coming
(28:58):
from Jesus.
It's a revelation of who Jesusreally is.
That's important.
He is the source of theradiance.
This is different from, if youremember, in the old Testament.
Moses would go up on themountain, he would come down and
his face would be radiating.
It was a reflection of theglory of God.
So it had been 600 years sinceanyone had been eyewitness to
(29:19):
the glory of God and that hadbeen when Moses would come off
the mountain.
600 years was not Moses, but ithad been 600 years since there
were eyewitnesses to theradiance of God's glory being
put on display before human eyes.
But when Moses would come downoff the mountain and he would
display the radiance of God'sglory, it was a reflection where
(29:40):
he had been with God.
What these men were seeing herewas the cloud and the pillar
that was in the wilderness.
They were seeing the fire inthe desert.
They were seeing the smoke onthe mountain.
They were seeing the thunderand the lightning of the law
being delivered.
They were seeing the filling ofthe temple.
They were seeing the visionthat Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6.
(30:04):
They were eyewitnesses to theglory of God.
What did this moment mean forJesus?
Three things.
First, it was a foretaste forJesus of what was awaiting him
in glory.
The cross was before him andthe dark shadow of the cross was
looming and he's given a momentin glorious, visible splendor
and fellowship with the Father.
(30:24):
Second, it was a moment ofsweet fellowship with those who
understood the loneliness ofJesus.
In this moment, I mean justimagine this seeing Jesus
experience joy and fellowshipwith those who understood where
he was and what lay before him.
And this Jesus has givenblessed assurance from heaven
that he is not alone.
He was not misunderstood.
(30:46):
It was a reminder to Jesus thatthe mystery and majesty of the
cross was understood in heaven,though those closest to him on
earth couldn't seem tounderstand it at all.
Jesus has just revealed in theprevious verses that we didn't
read that he's going to die.
He's going to go to the crossand die, and they didn't get it.
These guys didn't get it.
(31:11):
But what we've got in this storyis a voice from heaven
recognizing what's coming forJesus and affirming that.
Third, it was the voice of theFather approving Jesus' work and
Jesus' obedience For Jesus.
That was enough For you and I.
That should be enough.
Is it enough for you to knowthat the voice of the Lord
affirms your obedience?
He says this is my son, mychosen one.
(31:32):
Listen to him.
I love that In Mark 9, it saysthe way it's worded this is my
dearly loved son, listen to him.
So he's chosen, he's dearlyloved.
God is speaking withaffirmation.
Obedience, guys.
Obedience to the Lord is anhonor and we need to understand
(31:55):
we're obedient to the Lord.
Not only is an honor, but itbrings the blessing of God.
And so first we consider theradiant brilliance of Jesus and
all that encompassed that.
Number two, consider thepresence of Moses and Elijah in
this story.
These guys had large roles inIsraelite and Jewish history.
These guys were patriarchalfigureheads from centuries
(32:15):
before.
Think about what these menrepresent.
They had confronted earthlykings and challenged an entire
nation to follow Jesus, tofollow Yahweh.
In a sense, both of them weremessianic figures who
foreshadowed Jesus.
Moses was a type of Christ.
He foreshadowed Jesus in theway that he led the nation of
(32:36):
Israel through the Exodus.
The three men who Jesus wasrevealing himself to would have
grown up with no make-believesuperheroes or villains.
So these disciples that arewitnessing this transfiguration,
they didn't grow up talkingabout Marvel characters.
They didn't have.
They didn't have Hulk orSpider-Man action figures.
They weren't.
(32:58):
They didn't argue over DCversus Marvel.
You know.
They weren't Superman, batmanguys.
These dudes grew up and theirheroes were Moses and Elijah.
They didn't grow up withPatrick Mahomes or John Morant.
They didn't grow up with sportsfigures as heroes.
There were no make-believesuperheroes or villains.
(33:20):
There were no athletes onsocial media.
These guys grew up learning thereal and true stories of Moses
and Elijah and of the otherjudges and kings and prophets.
I think this is interesting.
This story is the first timeMoses has stepped foot into the
promised land.
The true significance is thatthese men are eyewitnesses to
(33:44):
all of this and that these twomen there with Jesus represent
the law and the prophets.
They represent all those oldTestament saints who trusted by
faith that a savior would cometo save them.
They had placed faith lookingforward in the coming Messiah.
These two men in the storyrepresent all of those saints
(34:05):
that had gone before theyconversed with Jesus about the
fulfillment of all of it.
The old saints had died infaith and not having seen the
promises fulfilled.
And now Jesus' day had come andthe promises were fulfilled.
Number three the use of the wordExodus by Moses.
Moses literally uses the wordExodus.
He was the messianic Christfigure in the Exodus of the
(34:26):
Israelites from bondage andslavery of Egypt.
That story was a foreshadowingof the gospel work that Jesus
would do.
Now Moses is asking about thework Jesus will do to redeem man
and ascend back to the Father.
So now Moses is using the wordExodus to talk about the true
Exodus, and this is an importantmoment for Peter, james and
(34:46):
John to hear this conversation.
They'll talk about it later.
You know Peter later will talkabout in second Peter one, 16,
18.
He talks about hey, we werethere.
We saw the glory of Jesusrevealed on the mountain.
The fourth thing that we got toconsider is the voice of God
affirming Jesus's role andauthority.
That's the big idea in thisstory.
God says this is my son, listento him, obey him.
(35:10):
God is affirming the authorityof Jesus.
Jesus is to be listened to andobeyed.
It's good for Peter, it's goodfor us.
Peter had the tendency toadmonish and lecture and
negotiate and instruct Jesus andI think we probably tend to do
the same thing sometimes.
We don't know better than Jesusknows.
(35:33):
We're to simply listen to himand obey him.
This is why we're going back toSharon's email at the beginning
, at the top of the episode here, and episodes that we often do
about the word of God, theimportance of the scripture in
our lives day to day, soimportant so that we know what
to obey and what to listen to.
And number five, consider thedisciples reaction to all of
(35:55):
this.
Um, it's, it's a little bitcomical in the moment and
Peter's like oh, we should dosomething.
Let's build tents, master, it'swonderful for us to be here.
Let's build tents, master, it'swonderful for us to be here.
Let's make three shelters InMark, rabbi, it's wonderful for
us to be here.
So, master, rabbi, it's funnyand he doesn't know what to do.
(36:19):
So he says let's make some tentsand we can just stay here
forever.
That's, that's the epic Like.
That is the definition of amountaintop experience.
We see kids come to our summercamps and they cry at the end of
the week because they don'twant to go home.
It's such a mountaintopexperience, these guys don't
want to go home.
That's funny.
Each of these men who witnessedthis saw it fulfilled in the
(36:41):
resurrection of Jesus.
They saw the fulfillment ofJesus' true glory revealed
through his resurrection.
They were willing to take thegospel to the world and be
persecuted for it.
This wasn't a lie, or elsethey'd have all quit.
Question for us is do we liveunder the authority of God's
word?
Do we reflect on the glory ofChrist that has been revealed?
We're not trying to figure thisout as we go.
(37:03):
We know the end of the story.
These guys are seeing all thisand this is before the cross.
We're reading it.
Looking back at the cross, weknow what happened next and we
can read ahead.
We're living on the backside ofof of the resurrection.
This is the greatest period inhistory that we're living in.
This is the good old days.
It's the good nowadays.
(37:25):
The cross has rotted.
That wooden cross that Jesusdied on is no longer.
It turned to dirt, it rotted.
The tomb is empty.
Jesus' body is not in that tomb.
Jesus is Lord.
The throne is established.
He is in his rightful place atthe right hand of the Father.
So we should live our lives forthe glory of God.
Now what happens?
(37:45):
And this just want to give aparting thought here.
They come down off of themountain of transfiguration.
They returned to the otherdisciples and they see this big
crowd gathering around and what?
And there's like arguing andbickering and there's noise and
it's it's chaotic.
I mean it's just, it's wild.
(38:05):
And one of the men in the crowdsays Jesus, I brought you my
son so you could heal him.
He's got an evil spirit.
It's like controlling him andpossessing him.
We'll let him talk.
It throws him down violently tothe ground.
He foams at the mouth andgrinds his teeth and becomes
rigid.
So I asked your disciples tocast out the evil spirit and
(38:27):
they couldn't do it.
Jesus says to them youfaithless people, how long must
I be with you?
So what happens is Jesus comesdown off this mountain of
transfiguration, which was 9,000feet in elevation.
This is, these guys are way upon this huge, tall mountain.
They have this crazy experience.
They come back down and whatmeets them when they get down is
(38:48):
total chaos.
You got a boy screeching,screaming, whatever like demons
you know controlling him and andand he's like he can't talk.
He can't speak, it's renderedin mute and it's and he's
seizing and he's on the groundbeing tossed about violently,
(39:09):
with foam coming out of hismouth and his teeth are grinding
.
It's a horrific, terrifyingpicture.
And bring this boy to Jesus.
And Jesus is like what, what?
What is going on here?
Like Jesus is witnessing thishappen and the disciples have
(39:29):
not been able the ones that arethere, have not been able to set
this boy free.
Jesus is like how long has thisbeen happening?
And he said since he was alittle boy.
So I don't know how old thisdude is.
Maybe he's a teenager, maybehe's a young man.
I guess I could dig in and lookat the words.
What does it describe and doesit give us some insight into his
age?
But he says these demons arethrowing him into fire and
(39:51):
throwing him into water andtrying to kill him as he
seizures and then flops into thewater and it's like it's trying
to drown him.
Would you have mercy on us?
And he says, if you can.
And I love Jesus' response.
Jesus is like what do you mean?
If I can?
Anything is possible if aperson believes.
And the father instantly criesout I do believe, but help me
(40:12):
overcome my unbelief.
And then Jesus goes on and hesets the boy free and then
afterwards he and he deliversthe boy from the, from the
spirit.
The spirit screams at those,the boy into convulsion and then
leaves him.
The boy looks dead.
Jesus goes over, takes him bythe hand and stands him up,
helps him to his feet.
Later the disciples come up toJesus and they're like okay, why
(40:34):
couldn't we cast the evilspirit out?
And Jesus said this kind canonly be cast out by prayer.
So I go to this story to pointout a couple things.
They come off of thismountaintop experience where
they see the radiating glory ofGod.
But when you think about thetrajectory of the disciples'
lives and existences, themountaintop transfiguration
(40:57):
experience was a one-time thing.
Eyewitnessing the resurrectionof Jesus was a one-time thing.
What their day-to-day lifelooked like was more the chaos
of what they walked into whenthey came off the mountain.
People that don't have faith,people that are under the
bondage and decay of sin andcan't set themselves free.
The disciples struggling to getit done.
(41:17):
But Jesus is like look, it'sjust not that complicated, it's
simple.
Just live by faith, pray, spendtime under the authority of
God's word and scripture andpray, and then you've got this
dad, who I think is important toconsider what he says.
He's like I believe, but I'moverwhelmed by my unbelief.
The idea is, I believe, but I'mracked and wrecked with doubt,
(41:40):
and doubt is a destabilizingthing.
And let me say this the kind offinal point I want to make in
this episode is doubt is not theopposite of faith.
Doubt is not the opposite ofbelief.
Faith and belief synonymouswords.
What is the opposite of faith?
Doubt is not the opposite ofbelief.
Faith and belief synonymouswords.
What is the opposite of faith?
What's the same thing?
That's the opposite of belief.
What's the opposite of belief?
(42:00):
Unbelief.
Doubt is not unbelief.
I'm going to tell you somethingthat I've observed to be very
interesting.
Unbelievers don't tend tostruggle with doubt, doubt.
When you begin to seek the Lordand seek the truth.
And Jesus said all who are onthe side of truth they listen to
me If you're genuinely soulsearching and seeking the truth,
(42:22):
or if you're a believer, aChrist follower, and you're
walking with Jesus.
St Augustine said doubt willnever be far from faith's
shoulder.
Doubt is what attacks your faithand people who live in unbelief
.
They don't tend to doubtbecause there's nothing to doubt
.
They just don't believe.
Just think about that, andhere's why I want you to think
(42:42):
about it, because if youstruggle with doubt, I believe
that is an evidence and a signof true faith.
Let me say it again If youwrestle with doubt and people
tend to wrestle with doubt andthen become so discouraged that
they throw their hands up andkind of give up, no, no, no, no,
no If you're wrestling withdoubt, keep wrestling, because
(43:04):
it is your faith that doubt isattacking.
And so we could in one sensesay doubt is an evidence of
faith.
Now, we should not becontrolled by doubt, but the
fact that we're doubting it's anevidence of the fact that we
believe.
If I don't believe, I don'tdoubt.
(43:24):
I'll give you an example, simpleexample Santa Claus I don't
believe I have no doubts aboutSanta Claus.
I don't believe I have nodoubts about Santa Claus, but I
remember when I was about a fouror five, probably five year old
kid six year, I don't know howold I was, but I remember I was
a little boy and I can stillremember because my parents did
the whole Santa Claus comes andleaves toys and presents and
(43:47):
that we did that and so Ibelieved in him.
And I remember when I startedto doubt and it was this really
interesting process in my littlefive, six, seven, whatever, it
was your old mind.
Where I'm going.
This doesn't make sense, Ican't make sense of this and
(44:07):
that doubt led me to a place ofunbelief.
But once I stopped believing Inever doubted again.
I hope that does that makesense.
I've never doubted theexistence of Santa Claus again.
I just don't believe in it.
When I did believe in it, doubtwas the thing that attacked.
When I pressed into that doubt,what it revealed was oh yeah, I
(44:33):
don't believe in this.
Well, the beauty of this is, ifyou don't believe that Jesus is
the way, the truth and the life,if you don't confess him as
Lord, if you don't believe thatGod raised him from the dead,
then you live in that unbeliefand that's how you exist and you
try to figure life out on yourown the best you can, you try to
make sense of the chaos existand you you try to figure life
out on your own.
The best you can, you try tomake sense of the chaos and you
(44:54):
try to.
But if you believe and youstruggle with doubt, what you do
is you turn into that belief.
You turn into the source ofthat belief, which is Jesus.
You press into him and into hisword and he stabilizes you, he
strengthens you and he gives youthe power to overcome doubt.
So doubt becomes evidence offaith.
(45:16):
I don't believe in the toothfairy, I don't believe in you
know, my family loves the movie,uh, um, not guardians of the
galaxy.
I always get it confused withthat.
I think it's just called a riseof the guardians.
Maybe this movie called rise ofthe guardians.
It's like all of the charactersin the movie are the tooth
(45:39):
fairy and St St Nick and, um,the Easter bunnies in there.
Who else?
The sand man, the Jack Frost,anyway, all these make-believe
creatures.
You know?
Fairytale creatures, not evenfairytale creatures, I don't
know what you call it, but Idon't believe in any of that.
(46:00):
But I don't doubt it.
You know what I've struggled totrust and doubt, and I've
doubted that Jesus was going totake care of my finances, that
God was going to heal a sickloved one, that the Lord was
going to keep my children oncourse to follow him, that God
(46:23):
was going to free somebody Icare about from addiction.
I've struggled with that.
I've struggled with doubt.
At times I've doubted the lovethat God has for me.
I've doubted my own worthiness.
I've doubted because of my pastsin.
Like doubt is a reality for thebeliever.
(46:46):
And we don't get to live on themountaintop and pitch a tent and
gaze at the glory of Jesus.
You got to go to work.
You got to go to work.
You got to go to school.
You got to pick up the kids andgo to soccer practice and you
know, and and you got to changethe oil in the car and vacuum
the floor and haul off the trash.
You got to pay the bills.
You got to.
You got to deal with the IRS.
(47:08):
I'm in the middle of that messright now.
I've got extensions filed on mytaxes because they're trying to
rip me Gosh.
It's frustrating right.
Day-to-day life is not themountaintop experience.
Day-to-day life is the grind ofa world that has fallen and
demons that are real, andsickness and sorrow and
(47:30):
brokenness, and we got to livein it.
And Jesus says the only way youget shed of this is to live by
prayer.
The only way the demon's goingto come out of that boy is
through prayer.
But Jesus displays and showsthat he has the authority to
take command of the situation.
He frees the boy, he stands himup, he looses him from the
(47:51):
chains and spiritual shacklesthat these demons have on him.
He sets him free.
So let's move from themountaintop into the valley, but
let's fix our eyes on Jesus,let's power through the doubt,
let's let doubt motivate ustoward deeper belief and faith
that we put in Jesus and we'lllive by faith.
We walk by faith, not by sight,and that faith is in the son of
(48:13):
God, who loved us and gavehimself for us.
God says in the story this ismy son, listen to him.
And we do well to listen to him.
Y'all have an awesome week.
See you next Monday.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
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