"Transformed"

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

I have a pre-Easter message uh simply called Transformed.

For the younger demographic in the room, if you'd like a snappier title, we're gonna call it Transformers More Than Meets the Eye.

Just like just the we we like we took both to focus groups and they were both like but um I think on this on this Palm Sunday when I when I reflect on um you know this 2,000-year-old moment where like hundreds of Jewish people had had verged on Jerusalem and stood in the streets and they were saying, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

And Hosanna uh in that moment and in every context means deliver us, save us, but there's an urgency to it.

It means deliver us right now.

And uh and I love what Pastor Nicole said earlier about Jesus just humbly riding in on a donkey, being the kind of king that the people didn't even know they needed.

A kind of king that was willing to like lay down his rights and his privileges and sacrifice his life so that we might encounter his presence and relationship with God to be, he wasn't he wasn't gonna set them free from that right now political moment, but he was setting them free and all of humanity free from a forever sin condition that they didn't even know they needed delivering from.

And and I'm so thankful that Jesus Christ was transformed, he became God with skin on, and that he laid down his life, and that he rose victorious, and that he's seated at the right hand of God today, um, and that we can know that and have confidence in that.

Why?

So that our lives can be transformed, our lives can be changed.

And so that's kind of what I want to talk about today.

Do you have any friends that have gone through a radical transformation?

Do you know anybody, whether it's like spirit, soul, or physical body, that have gone through like a wild transformation?

You know, maybe you have a friend that struggled in an area and and then they read a book.

And in reading that book, they were like, they learned some new skills and they learned some new information and they had some like deep revelation that changed the way they think about something.

And and then a few months later you're chatting with them and you're sitting there going, wow, this they've changed.

They're different.

And you might even you might even have a close friend or a family member where you're like, Wow, what happened to you?

And they're like, Well, I read I read this book and it changed my life, it transformed me.

Well, tell me more about the book.

And so they tell you about the book, and the next thing you know, you're on your Amazon app ordering that book because you're like, Man, if they read that book and it changed their life, maybe there's something in it for me.

Maybe, maybe, maybe there's some new information or some revelation or some new thinking that God wants to do in my life to bring about change in me.

Do you know anybody that's been radically transformed?

Maybe um, you know, maybe somebody you went to high school with and then you see them at the high school reunion, and then physically they just look really different than you remember them.

Anybody?

Anybody?

And you're like, what happened?

And they're like, Well, I uh I hit the gym, I started working out, and uh, and I started lifting.

And and so you you begin to ask them about their fitness regiment, because they're like clearly, you're like looking at them going, clearly you're different than you were in high school.

And uh I'm not I'm not gonna paint any pictures for you, I'm just gonna say they look different, that's all.

And and so you begin asking them about their you know their routine.

Well, what changed?

Because clearly you've been transformed, and uh that's my best transformer sound effect.

Uh you know, the change is so drastic and so positive.

You're like, well, tell me more, because maybe maybe it's time I actually hit the gym, maybe it's time I started lifting or doing whatever you're doing.

Um, or maybe somebody like radically transformed their uh their eating habits, you know, that maybe they struggled in an area, uh, and because of like their struggle, maybe they had some significant mental health or or physical limitations, and then through diet, through like just simply what they were feeding their body or through cutting certain things out, their life was transformed.

And you're like, wow, what happened?

What what made the difference?

And so they tell you, and then you're like, wow, maybe I should try that too.

And that's kind of the idea I would like to share with this room today.

If uh if you're bored later on this afternoon, go to bodybuilding.com and uh and visit uh search for this article 15 transformations that prove you can change your life.

Uh I went down that rabbit hole uh a couple weeks ago.

Uh it's all a blur now, but uh man, I'm looking at these before and after photos, and some of them I like zooming in on because like there's no way this is the same person.

Like, there's no way.

Um, don't go there now, Sam.

That's uh that's later, later.

Okay.

Uh I see you, but uh you know, in scripture, uh there's this Greek word metamorpho.

It's where we get our English word metamorphosis.

But metamorpho shows up in the Bible in the New Testament, uh, this Greek word, it simply means to be changed, to be transformed.

And when I think of metamorphosis, many of you probably are the same.

When you think of that word, you might think of like um a caterpillar cocooning and and then turning into a beautiful butterfly, right?

Um what what Pixar movie was that?

Bug's Life, thank you.

Um that wasn't in my notes either, but I I like this.

I like this picture of transformation to be changed.

I was this way, but now I'm this way.

I used to be like this, but now I'm like this.

To be changed, to be transformed, to be transfigured is another word that uh um is interpreted from metamorpho, this Greek word.

Think of it this way, Romans 12, uh, a verse we've taught on.

Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform.

Metamorpho, let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Or 2 Corinthians 3 18, uh, an incredible verse that we teach on in our like welcome to church lunches that we've held as really, really important for the church since we launched Evolve five and a half years ago.

We all, with unveiled faces, beholding the Lord, the glory of the Lord, are being, and there's the same word metamorpho, transformed, transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Uh it's why we named our church Evolve, to develop gradually over time, to commit to a lifetime of long obedience in the same direction.

Come, Holy Spirit, thank you that you've changed me, you've transformed me, and for today, I can't help but wonder, what else do you want to do in me?

And then tomorrow morning I get up and I get out of bed and I pray that same prayer.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you've transformed me by the power of a risen Savior.

I'm I'm very different than I used to be, but I can't help but wonder, today, is there something else you want to transform in me?

So here's a question for us to consider.

Jesus was clearly transformed.

How are we being transformed?

And so I want to teach from a story in Matthew 17 today, the story of the transfiguration of Jesus, or the changing, or the tran the uh the transformation, but the transfiguration is often what the story is referred to.

How many of you have read the story of Jesus' transfiguration?

Matthew 17 or Mark chapter 9, I think John chapter 9.

Mark 9 · chapter mention John 9 · chapter mention

Uh it's it's not a super like familiar passage of scripture.

As a matter of fact, in like 24, almost 25 years of serving the church, I've never preached on this text before.

So this is the first time for me here at Evolve.

But uh this is like, you know, some Bible stories stay with you a long, long time.

Other Bible stories you kind of like file under, huh?

And and that's kind of what I think of with this story, because it's a little bit bewildering, it's very supernatural, it's kind of confusing, and and you might read it and go, Oh, that's different.

I never want to read that again.

Uh like what's going on here?

Uh, but I actually think that this is one of the stories in scripture, one of the profound and beautiful moments where heaven clearly comes down and transforms earth.

And it can be found in three out of the four Gospels.

Mark chapter nine and Luke chapter nine, but for today we're in Matthew 17.

Here's what it says Six days later, we'll come back to six days later, Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John.

So Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone.

Now, this wasn't uncommon.

Jesus often withdrew, we've taught on that.

And Jesus often withdrew with all twelve of his disciples, but he also often withdrew with three of the twelve.

Uh, the ones that he was a little bit closer to, uh, Peter, James, and John.

So it wasn't uncommon for these three guys to be like compelled by Jesus to go up to a mountain.

But here's what sets the story apart.

As the men watched, Jesus' appearance was transformed.

Uh Autobots unite.

No, so he was transformed so that his face, I digress.

I'll go back to the text.

His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.

Wild.

And then suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus.

So put yourself in Peter, James, and John's shoes.

They're like, sweet, alone time with Jesus.

We get to go up on the mountaintop and they get up to wherever they go, and then all of a sudden, Jesus is like radioactive.

He's glowing.

His face is glowing, his body's glowing, his clothes are glowing.

And then these two dudes show up, Moses and Elijah, scripture reports, show up and begin talking with Jesus.

And I can't help but wonder like what must have been like to be Peter, James, and John.

Except the Bible tells us, you know, what happens.

Peter exclaimed, Lord, it's wonderful for us to be here.

If you want, I'm gonna make three shelters as memorials, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my dearly loved son, who brings me great joy.

Listen to him.

The disciples were terrified and fell face on the ground, face down.

Then Jesus came over and touched them.

Get up, he said, don't be afraid.

And when they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus.

Pretty great story, huh?

File that a little bit under, like, huh?

What's going on here?

Jesus was clearly transformed.

How are we being transformed?

And so that's the big question I have for us today.

And so, Father, we uh we ask for your presence and your strength and for your wisdom to fill our hearts, lives, our minds, our imagination, our thoughts.

We just simply say, Come, Holy Spirit, you've you filled us up.

Would you would you fill us again?

Would you make all things new for today?

And we ask that your power and your grace and the still small voice, the voice of your spirit leading, would be the loudest thing that we take away from this time together as we go into scripture in Jesus' name.

Amen.

I have four ideas I'd like to kind of pull out of Matthew 17.

The first one is this we can have confidence.

We need to have confidence that Jesus rose from the dead and is coming back again.

And to say we can have confidence, I also want to make maybe want to put it this way: if you've made a decision to surrender your life to Jesus, you need to fight for that confidence.

You need to continue to build that confidence.

You can you need to continue to like develop the muscles, spiritual muscles, that remind you each and every day, I can have confidence that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that he's coming back again.

In Mark 9, Mark's account of this story, he reports it this way Jesus' appearance was transformed and his clothes became dazzling white.

Come on, to all the laundry doers in the room, don't you just like wish that your whites could be a little bit whiter?

He says, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them.

This is how Mark reports it.

Just like, what's your secret, Jesus?

Like, what are you what's your secret?

In Matthew 17, uh, the story begins six days later, and that's important in the context of this story.

As we read about the transfiguration or the transformation of Jesus in Matthew 17, what happened in the chapter before?

What happened six days later in Matthew chapter 16?

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Well, it says this in verse 21.

From then on, Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders and priests and teachers of religious law.

He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

Pause for a moment.

And again, like picture yourself as one of the followers of Jesus, whether you're one of the 12 disciples or part of the 70 that have just like given up everything to follow after this person, you're convinced this is your Messiah.

You're convinced, like Hosanna, set us free right now, deliver us.

You're convinced that this is the one who's been prophesied about, and then Jesus has the audacity to say to his followers, hey guys, it's been good, but I'm gonna die.

That's heavy.

That's hard news to hear for any person.

But in this moment, for the disciples to be like, wait, you're gonna die?

And then he gets goes on in verse 24.

Jesus says to his disciples, by the way, if anyone wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross and follow me.

This is heavy news, Jesus.

This is a very difficult thing to absorb.

This is tough.

Jesus, we need some hope.

We need some assurance that it's all gonna be okay in the end.

Like for you to just said, sort of, I'm gonna die, don't worry, I'll come back from the dead.

Like, uh-huh, sure.

Prove it.

Right?

You can't just throw stuff like that out, Jesus.

I need some hope.

I need some assurance.

And for us here in this moment today, whether you're in the room or watching from home, well, you might be in a season right now that feels dark.

Maybe you've received some bad news.

Maybe you're in a crisis in a relationship at home in a marriage or with a son or with a daughter.

Maybe you're going through something hard at work, and there's a piece of you right now that's feeling hard to connect with Jesus because you're like, I just need a little bit of hope.

I need a little bit of assurance that this is all gonna be okay.

You know, some Bible teachers believe that the sole purpose of the transfiguration, like why this happened for Peter, James, and John, was just to fill them with undeniable hope about the coming resurrection.

You know Jesus this way, let me show you Jesus this way.

You know Jesus as God with skin on, let me show you Jesus revealed in his absolutely whole spiritual condition.

Some people believe that the only reason this happened was just so that Peter, James, and John would be like, okay, we're good.

We've seen the end.

This face shining like the sun and clothes as white as light, this picture of Jesus reminds me of another description of Jesus in the Bible.

And John, remember, he's present in this narrative.

He's he's Peter, James, and John is there.

And John of the 12 disciples is the only one who wasn't killed for his faith.

He lives a long life, and then he has this beautiful revelation of what's yet to come.

And John's revelation of Jesus, listen to this, Revelation 1, verse 12, I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me.

Revelation 1:12

And when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet with a golden sash around his chest.

The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.

His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.

In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp double-edged sword.

His face was like the sun shining in all of its brilliance.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

And then he placed his right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid.

I'm the first and the last, I'm the living one.

I was dead, and now look, I'm alive forever and ever.

And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Do you see the parallel?

Do you see John with Peter and James on the mountaintop getting a glimpse of Jesus?

And do you see John years later, on the other side of betrayal and pain and confusion and crucifixion and death and resurrection?

John has this parallel picture of the risen Christ in all of his glory.

He was transformed, he is transformed, he is resurrected.

We must be also.

This is a figure of the shining of the gospel.

Jesus' face shining in all of its brilliance is the good news of Christ.

I can't help but picture that double-edged sword coming out of Jesus' mouth, representing life-giving words, scripture.

The gospel, the good news.

And then he says, His raiment or his clothes was white as the snow, and this is a figure of the purity of the church.

You and me.

To which it was said by the prophet, though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.

The brilliance of the gospel, the good news of Jesus, the good news about Christ, and the purity of his body, the purity of the church, we can have confidence that Jesus rose from the dead and that he's coming back again for his spotless church, his beautiful bride.

Are we there yet?

No.

Do we have work to do?

Yes.

Is there transformation that the Father longs to work out in each of us?

For sure.

Or maybe you've lost your confidence in the resurrected Jesus.

And perhaps that's something that the Spirit of God wants to transform in you today.

The second idea in Matthew 17 that I want to pull out is this everything in Scripture points to Jesus.

Verse 2, suddenly Moses and Elijah appear and begin talking with Jesus.

Why these two?

Of all the Old Testament Bible figures, like why these two?

Why Mo and Lige?

Like, why these two guys?

Can I call them that?

Is that too familiar?

For a devout Jewish man, like Peter, James, and John, when it came to like the Messiah, when it came to what God had promised, all that these two guys, all that these three men had was the law and the prophets.

That's it.

That's all they had.

They had the good Jewish Torah, and they were schooled in it.

And all they had was the law and the prophets, each pointing to the promise, the whisper of a Messiah.

And so here we have Moses, who represents the law, because God gave Moses the law.

And here we have Elijah representing the prophetic work in the Old Testament.

So we've got Moses, the law, and Elijah, the prophets, together, having a conversation with Jesus.

Want to know what they were talking about?

When the Bible reports that Moses and Elijah showed up and they start talking to Jesus, what they talked about was the fact that Jesus was gonna go to the cross, he was gonna die, and he was gonna be raised to life.

And in that, he was gonna fulfill everything that had been spoken about him for generations.

And I kind of picture it this way.

I'm I I don't know how Moses and Elijah did they like poof show up?

Was there like a cloud that came down, and then when it lifted, they're just standing there?

I don't know.

Scripture doesn't report, but the tone of their conversation must have been one full of absolute like Jesus.

It's actually happening.

It's actually going down.

It's going down for real.

Thank you for laughing at that uh popular culture reference.

But I can kind of imagine them talking with Jesus, like it's really happening, Jesus.

Man, we've been waiting.

We've been waiting.

We we were we talked about it then.

Hundreds of prophecies that predicted when and where you were gonna be born and what you were gonna accomplish in your life and how you and you alone would reconcile humanity with the Father.

It's really happening.

And maybe that's why in Matthew 5, Jesus said, Don't misunderstand why I've come.

I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets.

No, I came to accomplish their purpose.

Jesus is like the fullness of the law and the fullness of the prophecies about me, they all get painted into the picture of who I am today.

Have you lost your love and your hunger for how everything in Scripture points to Jesus?

I want to challenge you this week in your Bible reading, in your quiet time.

Maybe you're reading in Proverbs or Isaiah, maybe even in Leviticus, who knows?

But a simple prayer as you open your Bible and say, Father, would you show me more of Jesus as I go to Scripture today?

Show me how from Genesis to Revelation the story of Scripture is about a God who loves every son and every daughter and always had a right plan at the right time to redeem humanity.

All of Scripture points to Jesus, from the law to the prophets.

This is important.

The third idea I'd love to pull out of Matthew 17 is this the mystery of the gospel is Christ in us.

Matthew 17, verse 4, Peter exclaims, Lord, it's wonderful for us to be here.

Matthew 17:4

If you want, I'll make three shelters as memorials, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.

Have you ever been in a moment with friends or with family where you hear about something and you're like really, really excited and you don't know what to say?

And so you just sort of blurt out whatever comes in mind.

Anybody?

I've had that moment.

I had that moment on an airplane once.

It still goes down as one of my most embarrassing moments in life.

I can't tell the story publicly.

Maybe later.

Um, have you ever had a moment where you just like you were so excited, you just blurted out whatever came to mind, and then you were like, wait, what did I just say?

That's actually what Peter's doing right here in verse 4.

Luke reports it this way: as Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out.

He just blurted out, massive, it's wonderful.

Let's make three shelters in my house.

What's going on, Pete?

You're seeing the fulfillment of like the risen Savior, and you're like, let's build some tents.

It's crazy.

It's wild.

You know, for centuries, human beings have been making feeble and bumbling attempts to capture the sacred moments and capture the divine moments in some sort of physical construct.

And my heart towards that for you and for me today is simply this: just stop.

Ephesians 3, I pray from his glorious unlimited resources that he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit.

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.

Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong, and may you have the power to understand as all God's people should, how wide and how long and how high and how deep his love is.

May you experience the love of Christ, though it's too great to fully understand.

Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

What an honor.

What an absolute privilege.

That the same power that raised up Christ from the dead would take up residence in your life and in mine.

That's it's too great to comprehend.

The divine, the supernatural, you know, that we often pursue in church should never take precedent over the brilliant truth that we are his church everywhere we go.

We run to rooms or to homes or to gatherings or to conferences or to services or to events.

Why to just like try and hold the divine in a moment?

But what's greater, what's fuller, what's wider, what's deeper, the love of Christ made evident and poured out as he sent his spirit so that we might be full of the presence of God everywhere we go.

Don't build tabernacles and tents to contain a moment.

Jesus is like, be my tabernacle, be my tent, Peter.

Take it down the mountain with you.

I know this is special, I know this is cool, but we're not gonna camp here forever.

We've got work to do.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

We're carefully joined together in Him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.

1 Corinthians 3 and Ephesians 2.

The mystery of the gospel is Christ in us.

Have you lost your wonder and awareness of the mystery of the gospel?

And how that is this, this like wild that Christ has taken up residence in you?

When you've made the decision to surrender every part of your life to the Lordship of King Jesus, that his Holy Spirit fills your human spirit and you're made new.

And perhaps that's something the Spirit of God wants to transform in you today.

A deeper wonder and awareness for the mystery of the gospel.

And lastly, my fourth and final idea from Matthew 17 is simply only Jesus.

Listen to him.

The one who was, the one who is, and the one who is to come.

Because even as Peter made feeble human effort to like hold that moment forever, as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them.

And a voice from the clouds said, This is my dearly loved son who brings me great joy.

Listen to him.

What an affirmation from heaven.

What a high challenge from all of the heavens, crying out, the voice of God the Father saying, Yeah, it's true.

This is the one you've been waiting for.

Listen to him.

Listen to him.

And in response, the disciples are terrified and fall face down on the ground.

But Jesus, much like in Revelation, when John falls to his face here, Peter, James, and John on their faces, face down, terrified, and Jesus comes over and touches them.

Says, get up and don't be afraid.

You might be here at Evolve today or watching from home with this like immense weight in your stomach, this fear.

Maybe you've longed to believe in a resurrected Jesus.

Maybe you've longed to understand what it means to like invite the presence of God to transform you.

But there's this fear that takes place, and you're like, man, it's just, what if what will my family think if I follow Christ?

What will my co-workers think?

What's gonna happen to me in my university classrooms next September if I'm boldly surrender to Jesus?

I'm face down and I'm afraid.

What if this is too great for me to understand and the voice of Jesus, like with a gentle hand, like, come on, stand up, eyes on me, listen to my voice.

Don't be afraid.

And then verse 8, when they looked up, I love this.

Moses and Elijah are gone, and they saw only Jesus.

All the law, all the prophets.

Not unimportant, but peripheral.

Why?

Because only Jesus.

Listen to him.

Only Jesus, listen to him.

Rest assured, evolve family.

Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is supreme.

Lord of it all.

There is no one greater seated on the throne.

It's Jesus.

And then the end of the story is they went back down the mountain.

Jesus commands Peter, James, and John, don't tell anyone what you've seen until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.

Now this is curious.

Some things that Jesus made asks of, I'm like, I wonder why.

And the Bible's not clear why Jesus asked this.

All it says is that he said, Pete, James, John, this was beautiful.

We're going back down.

We got work to do.

Please don't tell anybody about this until after I've come back to life.

So the Bible doesn't say why Jesus asked that.

But what's clear is that at some point Peter, James, and John told everybody about this.

What's clear is that at some point they shared boldly about this mountaintop transformation after Jesus died and was raised back to life.

They talked about it.

Or else Matthew, who wasn't there, and Mark, who wasn't there, and Luke, who wasn't there, would not have reported on it.

Right?

It's clear that they talked about it.

Because it was written down as historical reference to something that took place.

And they, as they heard from Peter, James, and John, they're like, tell me more.

Wait, how white were his clothes, right?

And Mark's like, like bleach white?

Okay, I gotta, I gotta, right?

So what's clear is that they talked about it.

But as we close today, let's close with this from this firsthand account of Peter, who was there, as he looked back and reflected on this supernatural heaven kissing earth moment with his transformed Jesus in 2 Peter chapter 1.

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

Here's what Peter says for we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus.

We saw, with our own eyes, we saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes.

When we received honor and glory from God the Father, the voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, This is my dearly loved son who brings me great joy.

With our own eyes and with our own ears.

Guys, we were there, we were on the mountain.

We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

And verse 19, because of that experience, we have even greater confidence.

Everyone say greater confidence.

Can you say it with greater confidence?

Greater confidence.

We have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets.

You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place.

Everything that was written points to Christ, who alone is supreme.

And then verse 19, until the day dawns, and Christ the morning star shines in your hearts.

Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in scripture ever came from the prophet's own understanding or from human initiative.

No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.

And so here's Peter also seeing from the other side of betrayal and crucifixion and burial.

Peter seeing from the other side of denying Christ and being restored and redeemed on the beach after Jesus rose.

Peter seeing clearly the picture of his resurrected king.

And he says to the church, he's like, hey, we weren't making this stuff up.

We saw it with our own eyes.

We heard it with our very own ears.

We heard the affirming voice of God the Father, and because we saw, and because we heard, we have even greater confidence until the day dawns and Christ, the morning star, shines in our hearts.

Have you lost your conviction that Jesus, only Jesus, the one who was, the one who is, the one who is to come, is the way and the truth and the life?

And perhaps, maybe that's something that the Spirit of God wants to transform in us today.

We can have confidence that Jesus rose from the dead.

That he's coming back again.

Everything in Scripture points to Jesus.

The mystery of the gospel, the good news is that Christ rules and reigns in us.

He's taken up residence in you and in me.

And so only Jesus.

Would you listen to him, the one who was and is and is to come?

Jesus was clearly transformed.

How are you and I being invited today and again tomorrow and again the next day into deeper surrender, deeper ongoing work, deeper transformation by the power of Jesus.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit Evolvechurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.