The Lord of Glory!

And you don't have to act like an auctioneer this time around, so bless

you do. I have lipstick at my forehead. So Father, we just

there's a place in the Bible where it intercessive were marked on their forehead.

Serious, So Father, I just thank you just for a beautiful day.

Lord, You've made it and we rejoice in it. Father, I thank

you for the oil of your word and the fire of your word. You

said, jeremat to Jeremiah is my word not like a what like a hammer

solo? Oh oh emmer, it's supernatural role. Hell my word shot?

So Lord brand stop it. So Lord, thank you. And that was

an apostolic angel about an increase in the power of the word, like the

scripture word in a higher level of anointing to create revelation and salvation. And

you know what I'm talking about, Oh Lee, I ought to say,

I'm speechless, but why you put the microphone in my hand? I got

to tell you down that how was this Like there's really nothing else to say

except yes and praise the Lord. Really, and at the same time,

because there's nothing else to say, there is so much to say, and

so with the Lord helping me, I want to say a couple of things

before I even say what I feel like is actually the heart of the message.

We just had these couple of days of a conference called Entering His Glory.

All you Entering His Glory? People that are still here, stand up?

All right? Oh check the sections. Look at this one. It's

highly populated with the Entering his Glory fanatics kind of, but there's enough in

here to see the rest. And then over here Elizabeth, you guys,

you got to really bring it because you know you're kind of surrounded. I'm

kidding you, Okay, sit down. Glory. Glory is a word that's

used a lot. We talk about it. It fills a lot of our

sermons and our language and stuff. But I've meditated, actually for two or

three years on this fact that we seldom actually take the time or the effort

together to focus on what we're really talking about when we use the word glory

in the reference to the and Scripturally, there are two events in the life

of Jesus that all of the glory talk is all of his all of the

glory talk is directed at, and that is his transfiguration. Can you say

transfiguration and his resurrection? And when you say resurrection. I'm talking in the

Bible. So until John's revelation, which is, as Justice said, the

revelation, Justin said, the revelation of Jesus Christ, not the revelation of

the Antichrist. Until John's revelation, Jesus' resurrection was talked about as seeing him

when he was still bodily in the earth, in his resurrected form, in

his resurrected glory. And there's some powerful and beautiful realities that we should allow

ourselves to center on in order to fully absorb this idea that we understand about

the Gospel of the Kingdom, because it's really rooted and based in those two

revelations that human beings in their mortal life actually saw when they saw Jesus say

glory this morning. We have experience together the story in the Bible in Luke

five when Jesus heals a man who was let down through the roof of a

house, and all the ministry that has happened in the context of an atmosphere

of what we might call open heaven. But don't think of heaven as somewhere

out there, up there or beyond, because if you have been given the

unique gift of the revelation of knowing that Jesus is the Son of God,

and have attached yourself and your whole life to that faith. You have been

given a very unique gift. But you are also now living, say now

living in two dimensions simultaneously. And the writer of the Hebrews some people say

Paul, but others say it might have been a woman apostle discipled by Paul.

There were those who wrote Hebrews. In any case, the writer says,

you have now say, now, come to Mount Zion, the city

of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. How many of you, how

many of us in here? First thing, when we woke up this morning,

we said, man, I'm dwelling in the heavenly Jerusalem. But that's

what scripture says. And in you the spirit that has been made alive,

and in whom dwells the spirit of the Sovereign Lord. You literally are made

alive, raised and seated with him in his throat, even though your body

was laying in your bed thinking, oh my goodness, another bad hairday or

something similar. Oh there's so much happening. But we experience, so to

say, two dimensions at once, and in the atmosphere of the worship.

We were in the atmosphere of heaven really now, even though you looked around

and you just saw a bunch of people worshiping the Lord and caught up in

what we call glory, and it opened something wherese suddenly there was a surging

of the river, not coming out of somewhere up there, but literally from

Christ within the church, seated in his throne. The river surged, and

the ministry and the prophetic words and the impressions, and people starting to go

to one another, encourage one another and speak to one another, and some

very powerful and dramatic things happened in some hearts were significantly life changing way touched

in those few moments. We are a privileged people. But can I say

this, Cross Kingdom and anyone who is visiting here today, you are most

privileged. This is not normal church. I go around the world. I

have the privilege the honor of experiencing and fellowshipping with and relating to some of

the most unique and powerful gatherings of believers. There's not one in my experience,

which is not all it, but my experience, forty nine years of

experience, there's not one like this and if I can exhort you, don't

miss it, don't take it for granted. Go out into the streets in

the neighborhood and bring your friends, your family, strangers, sinners, bring

them to get a drink, to be touched, to be born again,

to be discipled in this place. And I want to say, in the

dual leadership, double anointing under wen yoke, that is Lisa and Justin Carpenter.

God went around the world through the cosmos and picked these two people and

put them here. And you should get up every morning and say, there

is in our city and in our life the most unique gift, and say

thank you Jesus. My heart is deeply touched by you guys all the time.

And it's not just because Cole was with us for about three months in

Charlotte recently, but that's part of it. And call if you're listening,

I'll give you all the credit. But we experience this story in the Gospels

where Jesus heals a man that was let down through the roof of a house,

and that's what happened today, let down through the roof of this house

created by these two in their faith, and all of you who've joined to

them in the Lord and participate. You've created a space that can be opened

for someone who can't walk, can't see, can't move, to enter and

be healed. So praise the Lord. Really, really, mass is going

to be surprised when I go home and say, well, hone, it's

been good. I'm going to Texas. God, you know that in that

house was all the big muckety MUCKs in the counties and in the towns around,

really, all the big you know, we know all the Bible,

and we heard the people with all the power and money and authority, and

they were all gathered to hear from Jesus. But there were friends of Jesus

who knew a man that had to get to Jesus, and all that business

got there wasn't enough room for the broken or the regular to get into that

space. So they just climbed on the house and dug a hole through the

roof. Climb up and dig friends, and bring somebody on a stretcher with

you. Man, It says when they let the bed down with the sick

man on it, and Jesus saw their faith unity said to the sick man,

your sins are forgiven. Come on come on, your sins are forgiven.

And you know all those muckeyy MUCKs sitting around him down there on the

floor level of the house, they're like, my er, my mama,

we were wont mama, molly if he were waul And then he says,

well, in order that you may know, I do have the power to

forgive sins. Get up off your bed and walk out here. This is

your calling, So do it. Do the stuff all the more. Do

the stuff. Do the stuff. Say Alpha Omega, beginning and end,

Chief, Cornerstone, deliverer, everlasting, Father, Lord of Light, good

shepherd, for God's sake, stand on your feet, friends, Holy One

of Israel. I am that I am, King of Kings, Lamb of

God, Lion of Judah, Son of the Father, Prince of Peace,

Jehovah, Sabooth, Captain of Armies, Redeemer, unquenchable fire, victorious warrior,

express Image of God. Yahweh, Science, conqueror, my nearest kinsman

and chief of ten thousand to my soul. Give him a kiss. Never

gets old. You may be seated, since you're standing in your resurrection.

Now two events. If we speak of the glory of God, Oh Man,

Okay, Isabelle, daughter of Destiny. That's you know somewhere in your

name, daughter of Destiny. And the two things that I saw is your

patience and this is these are two things for you to develop, okay,

because the Bible says it's in your patience that you possess your souls. And

the Apostolic way is that patient endurance is what will lead you to completely fulfilling

the call of God and being ready for his appearing fully equipped and having accomplished

what He's called you to. So say, patience. Your other one,

Isabelle is your reading. Reading reading as in reading books and reading. And

I have a strong impression that the Holy Spirit wants to be your helper and

your teacher, and guy do you in everything you read? And there's something

having to do with your future and your calling that will be nurtured by your

right reading following his inspiration. And so we bless you, and it's good

to see you and praise the Lord, and that you know that we spoke.

That brings joy to my heart. That I saw that for you,

and then you reminded me that we had met before, so yeah, amen,

and before that during worship the gentleman on the end that already got you

know, I mean super loved on today. I guess it's the best way

to say it. I saw you before all of that, during worship,

and when I looked at you, your countenance and in fact, even your

clothes were so elevated that I saw you as like the chief executive of a

global corporation. Completely. It was incredible, and you were walking with such

easy power. And at the same time there was in you a humility and

a relatability that made you not just attached to that high upper echelon, but

to the lowest of the low, the ones rejected and forgotten and you know,

cast out. It was just the most beautiful, if you wild,

dichotomy in a way. And I had the impression that that second part of

you, the humble thing, has actually been something that has snagged you and

would continue to be like a weight on you, especially in terms. And

this is the way I heard it from the Lord. He said, he

keeps remembering who he is, and what I want to do is I want

to make him remember who I know he is. And so there's something today

that is joining these two beautiful aspects of who you really are, as first

and as last, and bringing it into a manifestation of the fullness of Christ

in you the hope of glory. And I can't tell you how blessed I

was to see you. After that, some time you came and kneeled began

responding to the Lord, and then people be mister Antenna's over here. About

the time I'm getting this download about you. He said, what are you

feeling? So I start describing. Well, I see that guy back there,

d d blah, and Justice was like, whoare He said, that's

my brother. God is good. Take up your bed and walk and don't

look back. Well. In second Peter, he says, we did not

follow cleverly devised fables when we made known to you the power and of our

Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eye witnesses of his majesty. For he

received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from

the majestic Glory, saying, this is my beloved son, in whom I

am well. Please listen to him. When did that voice come in the

majestic Glory on the mount of Transfiguration. No, he did say, this

is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased at his baptism, but this

one Peter is speaking of the experience of the transfiguration stayed in the middle of

Peter's vision and ethos and drive all the way through his missional calling into the

three days that it took him to die being crucified upside down in Rome next

to his wife, and this grounded him. He was an eyewitness of something

where he saw the eternal Son of Glory when he was still just a mortal

man in the earth, prior to when they saw him hung up and crucified

on the tree, Say Glory, tell your neighbor, neighbor, we need

to see him as he really is. We cannot speak of the glory or

entering his glory apart from these two main events in the New Testament that refers

to his glory, and that's his transfiguration and his resurrection. And that day

on the mountain Peter, James, and John and significant to what they would

be immediately launched into over the next few years, two of whom would be

martyred not long after, and one of whom would be assigned to take care

of Mary until she died a natural death death and then be father to the

churches, James over the Church and Jerusalem. Peter sent on to Rome,

both Martyred and John living on to see. You know, John is the

only one. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. All the gospels talk about

the transfiguration. They give the report that they heard from the eyewitnesses. John

didn't talk about it. Why do you suppose that is because he saw him

on the Isle of Patmos right years later. He saw Jesus as he really,

standing in the midst of the churches. Derek, you used to like

to say that Jesus stood in the midst of the churches to deliver his message

in each of the set. He went to each of the churches to deliver

a message. If you weren't in church, you wouldn't get the message that

applies today. So we must see Jesus as he really is, not as

tradition or opinion or fantasy, or some prophetic word or some idol in our

heart make him out to be. And it's funny that if you actually think

about that. I don't know if you've ever considered that, when you do

actually see him in his appearing, he's not going to be six feet tall.

He's going to be the guy that walked through the wall and said,

look here, Thomas, see the marks from the crucifixion. Now believe He's

awesome. This is our God, And two thousand years later we are still

experiencing him. How does that? It is the Holy Spirit with us and

then communicating these realities. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to connect with any of

this. But not everybody has been given this gift, and you are a

gift to giver. And take this gift and share it and share it around.

We must see Jesus as he really is. And John Ford says the

hour comes and now is when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and

truth. Today, say today, Jared, is it? Jared? Jared?

Say today? Say it? Come on today, man, my brother,

Justin's brother. I don't even know what's your name? Jason, Jason?

Say today? She caught off our shobah Isabelle, say today, take

advantage of today. There's only twenty four hours, and a few of those

are already gone. Hallelujah. Faith will elude the ungrateful as much as it

will the proud and true worship begins with thanksgiving. We said all those glorious

things about who he is, and it's just a pin prick. Thanksgiving towards

God and praise for his goodness matters. It transforms us. On the mount

of transfiguration. The disciples fell on their faces when they saw Him as he

really is. Our worship changes our circumstances, not the other way around.

And the more you become a worshiper in truth, say in truth and in

the spirit. That's just different from intellectual and emotional assent or harmony. It's

a supernatural decision, a state of being. The more you become a worshiper,

the quicker it will be a work of redemption, glory and sanctification that

happens in you right now. It transforms you. He'll give you a transfusion

from be negative that's a T shirt to oh positive, Hallelujah, revelation.

You are worthy, o Lord, to receive glory and honor. For you

created all things, and by your will they will exist and were created.

John saw Jesus as he is, and he said, one of the elders

said to me, do not we behold, Say behold the lion of the

tribe of Judah. The root of David has prevailed Jesus still considers himself a

part of an ethnos and ethnic race of people. I hear religious strongholds beginning

to crumble and crash and cry out, no, he's a Jew. Anti

Semitism is on the rise again and for the first time in its history as

an actual national politic, our leaders and influencers, and the cultural shift in

America is turning on Israel. Let me tell you something. There will be

plenty of reasons for you, intellectually or even emotionally not to be a supporter

of Israel and defender of the Jewish people. But God hasn't changed his mind.

And if you truly are standing with him, just stand on that side

and leave the debate to everybody else if you have to, All right.

When Jesus talked about his judgment goat and sheep nations, it wasn't individuals,

sheep and goats. He wasn't talking about individuals, though it might apply,

you know, those ones that are always going but this and but that,

but something else instead of bed right, it could apply, But he was

talking about nations, Whole groups of people, whole society's governments, groups of

people that would be judged on the whole in terms of how they wait for

it. He went on to say, treated my brothers, the Jewish people,

well that was for free, so make sure you're not. But but

they did this, but they did that. But they're doing this. But

warning. After the Resurrection, Jesus disciples were walking on the road to Emais

and as he came alongside them, they thought he was just another traveler on

the highway. They didn't have eyes to recognize him for who he was.

And while they walked along started talking. They were referring back to the things

they knew about Jesus or heard or had seen from a distance, historically,

reasoning in their minds, and they were unable to recognize that it was him

alive, right there walking along with them. Their limited revelation of him limited

their revelation of him. We need to see Jesus as he really is.

Are you tracking? All right? Let's go on Second Kings your remember's story

and second King six where Elishan is Buddy, We're in a certain city.

A whole army was looking for the prophet of God. They needed to get

rid of him because he was the strategic nuclear weapon that Israel had that would

tell in advance all their military strategies and what their king was planning, and

then go to Israel's king and say, well, this is what they're going

to plan, and you need to do. And so they were after him

to kill him. And they had brought their armies and surrounded the whole city.

And his servant got up in the morning to take the pot out or

get some breakfast or do something, and he saw that they were surrounded and

ran back in. Oh, my master, my master. The prophet just

sort of yawned, scratched, stretched, come on out here in the yard,

went back around. You see all these chariots and horses. Yes,

sir, look up and open your eyes. Bah Jehovah Sabboth, the captain

of armies is with us. Say there are more that are with us than

there are against us. And see this is another reality of open our eyes

that we might see. We do because of Christ's work in us and the

power of his resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. We've been made

alive, raised up and seated with him. So we are dwelling in two

dimensions. And the second one is not perceptible to the natural eye, but

you know it, and come participate. So reminds us of Bartimaeus. You

remember the story of Bartimaeus blind Bartimaeus, h says, Actually he exemplifies the

transformation we receive when we see Jesus as he really is. Bartimaeus had every

reason to remain in darkness, dependent on the mercy and providence of others for

his assistance. You remember, he was a beggar. He'd been to the

priest. You had to go to the priests who were the doctors in those

days, and the lawyers, and they would check you over and if you

were legitimately blind or legitimately they would give you a special garment called the beggar's

cloak. That was your stamp. It's like the thing that people get to

go get food stamps or whatever, a card. It was their stamp of

approval that legitimized them on the streets to beg for support, to get others

to support them for food and everything else. And if you didn't have one,

you couldn't do that. But he had lived in that blind beggar's cloak,

in that identity and real human experience his whole life. And then he

started hearing these stories about the man from Galilee and the possibility that he was

the one they were waiting for. And he was sitting in a certain place

on a street corner, begging for alms on a day that that man came

to town and people started saying he could hear them. Look, look,

it's Jesus. It's not Jesus of Nazareth, and Bartimaeus suddenly said, this

is it. I'm going for broke right here. And it says that he

jumped up and threw off the beggar's cloak. Friends. He was still blind

as a bat, still completely dependent on someone even to take him by the

hand and help him walk two steps, and he threw away everything that he

trusted in, had trusted in, or could trust in, and he threw

it off, and he cried out, son of David, have mercy on

me. And it's kind of funny. We don't think of Jesus as a

sense of humor, but I guarantee you he had one blind man stumbles towards

him, and Jesus looks at him and said, what can I do for

you? Son blind? Bartimaeus's powerful story he saw Jesus by faith. When

he heard his voice, he rose up in response. And you see,

he got new inner eyes before he got new natural eyes, because he saw

Jesus as the son of David, and that was the reference to the expect

the expected one, the Messiah that was to come have mercy on me.

Wow, that's good stuff. He was transformed. Without a second thought.

He rose up and through the eyes of his faith, he ran towards the

glory. And it was transformed when he stepped into the revelation of who Christ

really is, no longer thinking of himself as a helpless beggar, and a

healing for his natural eyes moved right along. We saw some of these events

in here today down through the roof. Turn to your neighbor and say,

bring somebody say it again. So, because we're going to need to move

on, I want to, I hope briefly but contextualize. Can I just

ask you to read your Bible more and stop waiting to get to church to

hear somebody quote a few verses. You should come here so accustomed to the

whole story of scripture, not just truncated little pieces cut and paste out and

stuck on your refrigerator. The whole story. It's very important because it will

shed light on these pieces that so impact us, okay, and the transfiguration

is one of them that its whole story is a whole story of God's redemption

narrative. And so I just want to mention the order of events that surround

in Luke's one chapter. You can go home today and read it while you're

you know, getting your potato salad ready for the eclipse. You know that

kind of honestly, I mean, God, God, God bless you if

you're an eclipser or a hang on every new prophetic word that comes out of

the extreme prophetic. But can I I mean I can tell you without saying

it or listening to any prophet what it means. If there's any meaning in

the fact that this track only goes over America and runs over seven cities called

Nineveh. Yeah, it should make anybody who reads the Bible think about Jonah.

And if you do that, then you must first and foremost hear the

word of your Savior, who used the sign of Jonah, and he was

pointing to his resurrection. So the eclipse tomorrow for you Christians in Kerville,

whether you see it or not, God is saying pay attention to the resurrection.

Well, that went over like a lead balloon. See, there are

foundations, and we're supposed to move on. There are six basic ones,

and the resurrection is one of them. We're supposed to move way beyond.

But most of us don't even know half of what the resurrection actually means.

We preached about it during Glory. You can probably you know, beg Barroler.

I don't know if you should steal it. You could probably get a

fuller message on the resurrection from what we went through. And I tried this

morning. Oh my goodness, first service shoot. I came in here,

jacked up on caffeine, and then Justin said, you've got about twenty two

minutes. I looked at him, Oh, well, I heard twenty two,

but it was a caffeine buzzy in my head and I got up.

It's one of those ones I would never want to go back and see or

hear from myself. It's intense. So if you're interested and you get it,

if you can, if you can regulate the speed, turn it to

about fifty percent, and you might be able to hear it. I talked

about the Resurrection, so we want to talk about the transfiguration. So here's

the context in the whole chapter of Luke. Okay, the first thing that

happens, and watch this, it's an arc. Okay, first thing that

happens. He starts with sending out the twelve with power and authority to cast

out demons and heal the sick. And they go out and do it and

come back and give a report. WHOA. The next thing that happens in

this arc leading up to the pole, the revelation ultimate of his glory is

Herod, who has now decapitated John, who was Jesus' cousin. Jesus loved

him. You read his moment, little talked about, but it's there.

It got him. He had to just get away and get with God and

work through it. They'd grown up together as kids. Come on, John

had preceded him. John was the one that paved the way for Jesus.

John was the one that, as his cousin, humbled himself and elevated his

younger cousin. I mean all of that means something in human terms, and

Jesus was fully a man anyway. So Herod has killed John, and Jesus

knew about it. But Herod, the Tetrars say, Tetrarch, who is

a governor they split the province. There were four of them, but he

had ultimate political authority and power over the locale where Jesus was and all the

disciples as well. Herod, the top dog, the top dude, wanted

to see Jesus face to face in person. That's significant. That is significant,

and it says, this is Herod speaking in verse nine of Luke nine

John, I have beheaded, But who is this? Of whom I hear

such things? And so Herod sought to see him. You can feel the

slimy political, creepy sharp strategy behind that, but it's in the story of

the Lord revealing his glory. Keep that in mind. It's meaningful in our

day. You have to wonder if Herod had seen him at that time.

You know, Jesus kept trying to had to hide himself and escape because they

tried to kill him a lot of times. But there was only one way

he could die at one time in one place, and that was specifically in

passover on a cross on a particular hill outside of Jerusalem, in order to

fulfill the prophecy of scripture. So they couldn't have taken him anyplace else,

though they tried many times. The next thing that happens a second dramatic event

of miracles in the eyes, in the presence of his disciples and the multitudes.

It's the feeding of the five thousand, and you remember humh Jesus first

said to his disciples, you give them something to eat. We don't bring

anything. You got any peter, You got any bread in your pocket?

Oh no, I didn't even think about it. I'm hungry. There's a

little kid who had and here's historically it's possible that that little kid's mama had

a cottage industry, and then all these gatherings of crowds now that were coming

around this rabbi throughout Galilee was cooking up lots of stuff and giving it to

her little kid, and he was going off out there with his baskets and

selling food. It's quite possible that that's what that was. Didn't make sense

for him to have multiple ones with him unless he was either coming or going

home to the market or else. He was in business. And that's a

cool thing to think about. If it was his little business and he came

and said I'm sewing this Jesus right, that's a kind of a neat idea,

but it's very possible that that's actually what was going on. And so

he took those five lows and two fish and looked up to heaven. He

blessed and broke them and gave them to the disciples to distribute. It's still

going on. So when you feel like you come up short to the demand

that is put on you by the circumstance of God, by the circumstance of

God. Oh, only works once, call to mind how it works,

said Jesus, this is what I've got to do something. Oh Jesus,

thank you for letting me take just a brief little holiday in my mind and

heart circling around the miracle of life that God has done in my two sons

and what He has brought them to do now professionally, and where they're working

and influencing. And I just took a little sidebar that came out of that

attempt to look like a superhero. So then the next thing that happened after

he fed the five thousand is he has this confrontation with his disciples. He

says, who do men say that I am? Can I ask you that

question? Who are you hearing? What are you hearing? Maybe even what's

going on in your own head about who Jesus is. It's important that you

clarify and certify exactly the revelation that you have of him, and people around

need a clear, certified revelation of who Jesus really is. Said they,

well, some of them are saying you're a prophet. Some of are saying

you're Elijah, come back from the dead, some of are saying you're this,

you're that, whatever. And Jesus says, no, no, who

do you say that I am? And you remember Peter's reply, you're him.

You are the one our forefathers, all of our history, ourselves have

been waiting for, and you're here at last. You are the son of

God. And in the Jewish mind, that was the delineation for that man

who would come to redeem Israel in God's ultimate display of his glory and his

sovereign power. And then remember what Jesus told Peter. This is why it's

important who do you say that he is? Because that will become the foundation

on which you will live your entire life. So it's critical to see him

as if you just see, oh, gentle Jesus, long white robe,

sandals, long hair, little flowery for him to see carrying a little lamb.

It's gonna lead you down a garden path. I'll tell you right now,

you won't be ready when he comes. Oh gosh, he's coming to

judge the earth, and because he took the judgment on himself, he's going

to have utter mercy and delight over everyone who has received the exchange for that

judgment. The others are hanging out there with their judgment still hanging on them,

and they're going to meet the judge when he comes. So that's why

your gift is important to share. Really. So, so there's that confrontation

again. All of it's leading and the context of the transfiguration where he shows

his glory ultimate because each step it's a higher revelation of his glory and power.

And then finally, ultimately then he predicts his own death and resurrection,

and he says to them, the son of Men must suffer many things and

be rejected by the elders and chief priests, inscribes, and be killed and

be raised the third day. And you know, the guys who walked with

him no concept why, because they were so convinced that he was Israel's Siah

to come and deliver them from the oppression of Rome and set up the physical

throne of David once again. There in Jerusalem and in the temple, they

were missing it by a mile and a half or ten. And he said

to them, if any and this is this is this leading to the transfiguration,

and that revelation is where he says the thing we quote all the time,

if anyone say, anyone desires to come after me, let him deny

himself. Do you know that phrase right there stands in stark contradiction to the

way most of our popular Christianity functions. We need to see Jesus and desire

to be like him, deny and take up his cross. That's a death

instrument. It's not a piece of jewelry. It's a death instrument, and

it's not a pleasant one. But if we do this, it also helps

us in reality suffer our sufferings, because he's in it with us and we're

in him in his cross. It makes a difference and it will help us

not you know, Bell, Oh poor me, Look what's happened. Everybody

mistreats me. This is so painful. I'll never get over it. I've

got to go back to counseling for the nine thousand times and go over it

all again. Sorrybody slapped me. I'm got to get rid of this,

Okay, say take up your cross every day and follow him. And then

he says, truly, I tell you, there are some standing here.

This is two thousand years ago in that spot on that day. There are

some standing here. And in his mind he knew who they were, Peter,

James and John. So that you know, people were like, oh,

what does that mean theologically? But they died and then what Edward,

No, read it. It's very simple. Peter, James and John were

standing there in these disciples when Jesus said this, and he said, some

of you are going to see the Kingdom coming in its power and glory before

you die. And in a few hours or a couple of days later,

he took those three with him and did it in the transfiguration. Yeah,

some of you, you know, exegetic fanatics, can drop the question on

that one out of your notebook. Now you know what happened. And then

the next event, Go read Luke, you'll see it. The next event,

Jesus has transfigured on the mountain and it becomes the culminating revelation of the

entire advance in those few days of all the disciples and then ultimately Peter,

James and John going up with him to the mountain, and suddenly all of

that falls into line and makes sense and they see him as he really is.

So I'm going to are you all right? Some of you are all

right, the rest of them are like, I need let's just do this.

He took Peter, James and John with him and went up onto a

mountain to pray. There are several places where Jesus goes to the mountain to

pray. I personally believe this was not the first time that he went to

this place and had this experience, but it's the first time that he took

his disciples, any of them with him. And he did it on purpose

at the time that he did it specifically so they would know when they saw

him die that he was the same one that they saw when he came up

out of the grave. And because they were to be senior leaders of advancing

and promulgating the gospel, so the message had to be right. And already

cults and heresies, and immediately after his death many of those things rose up.

But there were three, Peter being one of them, that were eyewitnesses,

so they had the clear message, and that was important that it be

laid in the foundation of the Gospel as it was going forth into the nations.

As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, his clothes

became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah.

Can you say men? Those were actual embodied persons. It wasn't a

vision of trance or ghosts. It was reality. Say reality in the other

dimension, present on the mountain. Come on, you dwell in two dimensions

simultaneously. Moses and Elijah appeared in glorious splendor. What's that glorious splendor?

It's not some tertiary intermediate time. It's literally, literally, they appeared in

their eternal embodiment. It's very unusual. Your eternal embodiment is going to be

glorious. Majesty or magedy depends if you see him as he really is.

Oh Lord, And this is so funny because, like a flash of lightning,

suddenly Moses and Elijah are there and they're all having a conversation, and

they were speaking about his crucifixion. So you see it's connected, which he

was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem, and Peter and James and John

were very sleepy. Let that settle in for just a minute. Something astounding

is happening. And the flesh is so dragging its reality on Peter, James

and John that they're almost dozing off. That's a message. We're an events

of the day that should have everybody going, oh, not just an eclipse,

but at the events of the day and the fact that in the midst

of this we have a message. The message we should be fully awake.

And it says they became fully awake and they saw his glory. Say they

saw his glory and they saw the two men standing with him. And as

the men were leaving that Lucas really downplaying this. As these other two were

saying, okay, well, checkulator stepped back into invisibility. Peter said,

Lord, hold on, let's build some shelters, some tabernacles and just hang

out up here. This is incredible. We didn't realize all this was going

on all the time, but now we do. Un let's just camp out.

Church is almost over. You're going to have to leave this shelter and

go out there and do the stuff. This is what was happening to them.

He said, uh uh, I'm allowing you to experience the reality of

this other dimension and get a wah in order to take it out there and

do the stuff say transformed. While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and

covered them, and they were afraid. As they entered the cloud, and

a voice came from the cloud saying, this is my son whom I've chosen.

Listened to him, and when the voice had spoken, they found that

Jesus only was left. Say Jesus only, look at your neighbor and say,

neighbor, don't get distracted. It's Jesus only. Sell somebody else say

neighbor, don't get distracted. Jesus only. Matthew adds something, Matthew,

this is Luke's goottsibel we were reading. Matthew. He kind of looks kind

of playing it down. When the disciples heard the voice speaking from the glory,

they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. And it says,

but those of you who are here for entering his glory, what do we

know about God? No? No, well, yeah, she said he

likes big butts close, but no cigar. Again and again and again.

In your bibles, read them. Events are unfolding, and suddenly God comes

in and it says, but Jesus, God always has a big thank you.

So Matthew points that out and he says, but here go. They

don't know what to do. They're terrified, or we're all going to die

whatever. I don't know. They're confused. But Jesus came and touched them.

That happened this morning, happened for Jason. Jesus just put his big

butt right in your face and your heart happen to Jared, Come on,

so good, so good? Remind him, remind him? Would you?

Hey? Remember that Sunday Jesus put his big button your face. Jesus came

and touched them, say touch them, Say it again, say it again.

And here's what he said. Get up, don't be afraid. If

you don't get anything else out of today. This is the word for you.

Get up and don't be afraid. That'll take you a long ways.

Tomorrow morning the alarm clock rings and you're thinking, oh, I know what's

happening today, and Jesus will say, get up and don't be afraid.

When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one, but Jesus only

say Jesus only, and the disciples kept them kept this to themselves and didn't

tell anyone at that time what they had seen. Huh, that would be

a miracle. But Jesus told them, don't tell anything. Now there was

a strategy and everything that he did timing. Say, timing is everything.

Say that again, because even you carrying the oracles of God and meeting with

those who need the gift, sometimes timing is everything. Timing is everything.

And Mark puts something else in his gospel. He adds this as they were

coming down the mountain is where you find out why they didn't tell. Jesus

gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of

Man had risen from the dead, and so they kept the matter to themselves,

discussing what does he mean when he talks about rising from the dead.

You don't always have to know it all. Just keep getting up, not

being afraid, denying yourself, picking up your cross, and following Jesus only.

You'll make it. You'll do it okay. In a way, anti

climax centered around the revelation of his glory, who he really is, On

the amount of transfiguration, what's the first thing that happens when he comes down

the mountain. Anybody know he heals a little demon possessed boy. He demonstrating

his utter cosmic authority as God supreme they just saw on the mountain, belongs

in the middle of the masses in need. And where is he today?

Where? How in the church? You're it, Jesus. Feet are not

touching the earth except through yours. His hands are not touching the people except

through yours. His eyes are not beholding people face to face except through yours

until they get born again like you. And then they also can see him

face to face all the time. Thank you Jesus. Yeah, the little

boy is healed. It happened the next day. Some say when he came

down from the mountain, a man from the multitude cried out, saying,

teacher, look on my son. I begged your disciples to asked it out,

and they couldn't. And Jesus said, faithless and perverse generation, how

long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring him to me.

And while he was still coming, the demon threw the boy to the

ground and convulsed him, and Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child

and gave him back to his father. That was that man's only child,

and he was a boy. The family lineage would only continue through that boy,

So that healing was so important in so many ways for many people.

The sons that young man would have when he grew up and got married,

and their sons, so on and so forth. Your work in obedience to

Jesus matters. You will never know the fullness of what may come from your

being willing to speak a word to a person, to minister the gospel to

somebody, to reach out and lay hands on someone and heal them, or

cast a demon out. So do the stuff, say do the stuff.

And then once again he predicts his own death. And do you know what

the disciples do. They start an argument about who's the greatest. Oh,

yeah, we can point our finger if any one of us would have been

around those days. Don't tell me we'd be doing any different. We only

know all this stuff because we get to read all the cliff notes. Were

not so smart. Somebody told us what really happened. And then after they're

arguing about who's the greatest, And then John pops up and says, Lord,

we saw these people casting out demons and we told them to stop it,

and Jesus is like, hang on, they were doing what well.

They're casting out using your name and casting out demons. They don't have anything.

If they're not coming along, they're not following us, Jesus's son.

If they're not against us, they're for us. And if they're doing those

wonderful works in my name and the authorities on it, trust me, they're

on our side. Don't forbid them, say don't forbid them, and believe

it or not, that's the end of my Exejesus on Luke, chapter nine,

And I'm going to exit with Jesus in a moment to have lunch and

go back to Charlotte. Whether or not you love art, can I suggest

something to you that might be spiritual? Yeah? I'm serious. Down through

the ages, artists have been obsessed with pictururizing the Gospels, the events in

Jesus' life, and so many other things. And there are some really good

ones. And one of the really good ones that I love, and I

usually have, you know, this big picture of it when I'm giving this

message, and I think they're gonna pop it up. But there's a an

Italian artist in the fifteen hundreds named Rafael, and those of you who are

art lovers and into art or maybe art teachers, you know ten times more

than I do. I just know enough to be, you know, excited.

But this is one of my favorite paintings. Rafael did these massive,

massive things. He was on the cusp of changing some of the norms of

art at the time. Anyway, blah blah, blah blah. He died

very young. He died when he was thirty seven. But the last painting

that he did, and he worked on it for years for several years,

was one in the standard of a lot that he did. It was a

painting that was fifteen feet high and six nine feet wide nine by fifteen,

so the people in it were almost life size. He painted the transfiguration,

and as he was dying, he asked that they bring that painting and put

it in front of him so that he could meditate, essentially on what was

about to happen to him as he was lifted up into glory and made a

transition from darkness into light. And he painted this picture. And if you

get a chance the next couple of days, just go and read about it,

look at it, and meditate on it. A little. Let me

tell you a couple of things. Why something like this speaks prophetically. We

like imagery, don't we. Well, anyway, you see Jesus lifted up,

and it's interesting he painted him as though he's crucified. See the angles

of his feet, it's almost they're nailed to the cross, and his arms

are stretched out. That's very interesting in and of itself. It's profoundly spiritual,

whether he realized it or not. And of course there's Moses and Elijah

on either side of him, and then you see the three Disciples and they

you know, they were commissioned by people, and so they always had to

add a couple of folks that weren't actually in the events that they painted about,

but they were paying for the painting, so they would always stick them

in somewhere. So we got a couple of guys over there under the tree

who weren't on the mountain, but they had something to do in Raphael's life

or the commissioning here, and you see Peter, James and John are later,

and it's funny because even their postures are very much like hiding their face

in absolute terror. And then Peter's like, I know, I'm supposed to

be afraid, but I'm kind of looking through my fingers because I got to

see this. So even their characteristics are somewhat picturized in this. So we've

got on this side of the this is the mass of people. Okay.

So you see there's a line in the middle of the painting that's the top

of the mountain, and it's contrasted to what was going on at the foot

of the mountain. The top of the mountain was in pure light. Jesus

revealed as he really is at the same time at the foot of the mountain.

This side, this is all his other disciples over here, and you

can see down here they've got the Bible. They're trying to, you know,

rely on the word or whatever. And this side is the multitudes with

the family, the mom not the women in pink, the mom in green

over there, the father and green and the little boy that needs deliverance and

healings. So they're coming to the disciples, and the disciples are all,

you know, talking and wondering and this and that and something else. And

if you notice, there are some on both sides that are actually reaching up,

in other words, pointing to Jesus as the answer. A couple of

the disciples are saying, the Lord has the answer. Of course, in

the real situation, theoretically, where did we start? In Luke chapter nine,

they already had been sent out with power to cast out demons and heal.

What happened a few days later? Here comes a case and suddenly they've

forgotten. What were they expecting of Jesus. Maybe this was because they weren't

then seeing him as he really is. I said earlier, they're limited revelation,

limited their revelation of him. And that's what happened on the road to

Emmaeus with the disciples that were walking along like I probably you know, we

went up, ah, thank you, And he added this woman in the

middle. But do you know why I like her? I like her because

for me, she represents the spirit of the Lord, saying to the church,

look at this need and rise and heal. And then of course Jesus

does come down and do that glorious work. So I have gone over,

but thank you, and we're dying. Thank you for listening. For more

messages and other resources, please subscribe to this podcast or go to our website

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