[0:00] This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. If any of the kids would like to come join me sing, they're welcome to do that. Adrian.
[0:15] This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice.
[0:28] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[0:41] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[0:55] Pretty good. Thanks, guys. Good morning. Welcome to our church. We have a gift for our visitors at the Connection site. Please fill out your friendship card for any prayers or concern or just so we can get to know you.
[1:08] It's fun to be part of the welcoming committee here at Hamilton Center. We are glad to have you here at the church this morning. We have a couple of opportunities on our clipboard for ministry.
[1:20] One is that we have a... There should be four there. I need two of them. Great. Thanks, guys. One is if you want to help with the summer Sunday school, they would really appreciate that.
[1:30] And the other clipboard is for our church family picnic, which is next week. It's a potluck picnic. So we ask you to bring a dish to pass and we'll bring the hot dogs and we'll bring the drinks.
[1:41] Okay. And we're going to have one service next week. Anybody know what time it is? Ten o'clock. Ten o'clock in the morning next week. The following week, our services will start for the summer at 9 and 10.30.
[1:55] Just so you know that we'll be shipping that a little bit for the summertime. I also have a note here that they're asking if there's anybody who has the ability to loan the youth a van to go to Michigan for their youth mission trip.
[2:11] They're in need of one. So if you happen to have that ability, I mention that to you as well. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer, shall we? Dear God, we do thank you for this morning. And we just pray a special blessing upon us that you'll pour your Holy Spirit into this place to touch us, lift us up, move us, give us your strength and peace.
[2:30] For it's in Jesus' holy name that we pray. Amen. I'd like to invite you, if you're able, to stand as we're going to sing together, Verest Lord Jesus. There is Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature.
[3:16] For the love of God and man, the Son. Thee will I cherish.
[3:30] Thee will I honor. Thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown.
[3:41] There is the sunshine. There is still the moonlight.
[3:52] And the Lord's finkly starry rose Jesus shines brighter Jesus shines purer Than all the angels heaven can grow Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations Son of God and Son of Man Glory and honor Praise and honor Now and forevermore Be high
[4:52] The Lord be with you. Take a moment, if you will, and greet your neighbor with the peace of the Spirit. I'd like to invite any kids who want to come up and join me now.
[5:15] I want to ask you a question.
[5:32] You know, Jesus told a story, he said about a candle, and he said somebody took that light and they put it under a bushel. You think that's a good idea? Should I do that? No? You don't think that's a good idea?
[5:46] It could catch on fire, couldn't it? Besides which, what would be the point of the candle if this was over the top of it? And you can't even see it, right? Wouldn't have any light, right? Besides which, it might just burn through.
[5:58] You know what Jesus was saying is, is that God's light, the power that he puts in us and the life that he puts in us isn't for people to hide away. It's to share with other people.
[6:08] But if we don't share it, God will burn through and make it happen anyways. Because God's going to share his message with everybody. Okay? So, let's find out what you're thankful for this morning.
[6:19] I've got to go over here and get this. My mom and dad, my little guinea pig. My whole entire family and friends.
[6:34] My family and friends. My dad. All right. Lord, we are thankful for our families, for our friends, for our pets. And we're thankful especially for our dads this morning on Father's Day.
[6:47] Bless us, give us your grace, your joy, your wonder. Lord, we thank you all in Jesus' name. Amen. And now you're all welcome to go out to church school. All the kids are welcome to go to church school now if they'd like to.
[7:10] You know, I'm going to push a little bit. And I'm going to say I'm thankful for two things this morning. Of course, obviously, I'm thankful for fathers on Father's Day. My father was a wonderful father. And it's great to have that image, that life in our lives.
[7:23] And those of you who are fathers, we thank you because you're a blessing to your children. And we thank you for all that you do for them. The second thing I want to thank you for, because I get this opportunity once in a great while, I want to be thankful for Sue, who plays our piano and organ over there.
[7:37] We don't even see her in what she's doing most of the time because we have so much other special music. But this time of year, we get to hear Sue actually play for us a little bit more.
[7:48] So I know she's got a beautiful piece picked out for you because I've already heard it. So I thank God for her and for all the people that bring great joy to our lives. As we're thankful to God for the blessings they give to us, let's return our Thanksgiving with our morning tithes and our offering.
[8:02] Thank you.
[8:32] Thank you.
[9:02] Thank you.
[9:14] Thank you. Thank you.
[9:52] Thank you.
[10:22] Thank you.
[10:52] Thank you.
[11:22] Thank you.
[11:52] Thank you.
[12:22] Thank you. Thank you.
[13:22] Thank you. Thank you.
[13:54] Thank you. So listen, Lord, as each of us lift up to you these things that trouble us and distract us from you this morning.
[14:32] Listen as your children pray.
[15:04] Thank you.
[15:36] Thank you, God, for all these prayers in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen. And now shall we hear the word of God. Good morning.
[15:53] Good morning. Good morning.
[16:05] Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. The scripture reading today is from Luke chapter 9 verses 28 through 42.
[16:19] He should be 3 cases 05, but 1 40 through 95, 7 Zhang, 7 and 8 and theyёрt zelfs and left 6 women in the morning as many yards así. Um... ì comes午後, sevenern, 8 in the morning, and 9 turn to preach the Lord, shall thenate, and then, especially the journey of God.î of his face changed and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
[16:58] As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He did not know what he was saying. While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud saying, This is my son, whom I have chosen.
[17:27] Listen, listen to him. When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and told no one at the time what they had seen. The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out, Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams. It throws him into convulsions, so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him, and is destroying him.
[18:01] I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not. O unbelieving and perverse generation, Jesus replied, how long shall I stay with you and put up with you?
[18:13] Bring your son here. Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion, but Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
[18:26] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you, Tom. On Father's Day, we read about a father who brings his son to Jesus. He says his son is troubled.
[18:46] He's filled with the demonic spirit that's ripping his life apart, that's causing him to do things that are terrible and painful and hurtful. The man says this demon is destroying him, which is what demons do. Ripping him apart, and he comes to Jesus and begs Jesus for help.
[19:11] Some people want to pretend that we don't face demonic forces, that we don't deal with these kind of evil things. And yet last week, we heard that some people meeting for a Bible study in a Methodist church down in Charleston, just reading the Bible together, have a young man who comes in, a stranger they've never met, and they welcome him in. And for 45 minutes, they studied the Bible together.
[19:38] And then this young man pulls out a gun and says that these people are his enemy, and he starts shooting them and kills nine people. Nine people. Imagine if that was a scene when you're walking in this morning, this morning was blood stained on the carpets outside the sanctuary, that this was your brother or father or sister or child. Somebody just took a gun and killed because they were of a different race. They just decided to shoot him dead.
[20:23] Sometimes we want to pretend that the evil isn't there. We want to believe that somehow we can run away and hide from it or live in a world where we won't have to face it. And yet it's out there, this brokenness, this pain, and the world needs God's healing power.
[20:44] They came down off a mountain and it said the crowd was waiting for him, waiting to see Jesus because people need Jesus. They want Jesus. They're looking for him. The demonic forces of this world are destroying them.
[21:02] Jesus turns to his disciples and wonder why they haven't taken care of this. And the people said, well, we beg your disciples to fix this, but they couldn't do it.
[21:13] They didn't have the power of God. Because the power to drive out demons is not within us.
[21:24] The power to drive out demons is only in God himself. Sometimes we read about this stuff and we hear about all this pain and these struggles and these problems and it just feels like a noise.
[21:35] It's driving us crazy. And we just want the noise to stop. And go. Close the door.
[22:03] Go hide in your room. Find a quiet place. I live in Pendleton, so, you know, I don't have to listen to that city noise, right? My backyard is Campbell Boulevard. Think about it.
[22:17] We go to sit on the back patio and all we hear is the roar and the noise and the traffic and the sirens. It just seems like it's filling our lives and we need a place to get away.
[22:30] Genuine power comes when we take a little time away with Jesus. They went up a mountain top. And it says that they were filled with God.
[22:40] In fact, it says a cloud surrounded them. A cloud of God. Can you imagine being surrounded completely by God in every single way?
[22:52] Just dripping off you, God. They were inspired or filled with the Spirit. They went up on the mountain on the eighth day.
[23:03] Does anybody know what day is the eighth day of the week? Six days of the week God used to make the world. And he rested on the Sabbath, which is Saturday.
[23:15] For those of you who don't know that. We do worship on the Sabbath, but you don't. And then the first day of the week, the day of new creation. Sunday, the Lord's Day.
[23:27] The eighth day is when they went up the mountain. You see how that works? Because every Sunday should be a little mountaintop experience. Every Sunday should be an opportunity for new creation, new beginnings.
[23:38] A new start, a fresh way of seeing God. We need these special moments. In the Greek, there's two words for time. One is chronos, from which we get the word chronological time.
[23:52] You know, time that just is measured out in days and minutes and hours and months. And the other is kairos, which are those special moments. Those times in our lives when something so spectacular and magnificent happens that it empowers our lives.
[24:07] It gives us memories to live by. In our relationships, it's those special times when we go away on a vacation or we take a walk in the park with the person we love or even sitting and having a quiet cup of coffee and a wonderful conversation.
[24:19] It's the moments that move our lives forward. Kairos moments, special moments. And God gives them to us, too, where he breaks into our lives in a powerful way.
[24:30] This happened on a mountaintop. In fact, this is where we get the mountaintop experience statement from. Because powerful things happen on God's mountain in the Bible.
[24:42] Have you ever been on a mountaintop? Anybody here? I went up Whiteface Mountain. I've been up several mountains. But I remember standing on Whiteface Mountain particularly. And you're looking around and you're actually above the clouds.
[24:54] And there's no mountains to be seen higher than where you are. Everything is below you. The air is thinner. You feel lighter because you actually are. There's a sense that you don't have the noise and the clutter and the world's troubles around you anymore.
[25:10] And they went up and they experienced God on this mountain. And then a voice from heaven spoke and said, This is my son whom I love.
[25:22] Listen to him. Does anybody remember when we heard this voice last in Jesus' life? At his baptism. At his baptism. The same voice, the same words.
[25:34] Listen to him. And they remember. They re-experience God. My grandson wanted to be re-baptized for his confirmation.
[25:46] And I told him, Well, we don't do that. The reason we don't re-baptize people is because to re-baptize someone would imply God didn't do it right the first time. You follow? Not we didn't do it right. God didn't do it right.
[25:57] And we're not going to suggest no matter who did it, that it depended on people. Baptism is about what God does. But we can remember our baptism. We can remember powerful experiences in our lives.
[26:10] It's why you go through certain rituals at Christmas or at Thanksgiving. You eat a certain meal. Fourth of July, we sit with our family around a lake. They call it the ring of fire.
[26:21] They shoot fireworks and such into a lake. And I'm sitting there with my current family and friends. But my father who's passed away, my mother who's passed away, and people I haven't seen in years are all there with me.
[26:32] I can feel their presence. They call it aminesis in Greek. To remember in such a way that we actually relive it. When we come here for worship, we don't come here just to hear something or just to sing something or such.
[26:45] We come here to experience, re-experience the living God through what we've experienced again and again. We come to the table. And it's not just the people gathered here that we're taking communion with.
[26:57] You're taking that meal with everyone you've ever had communion with in your life. Our parents and grandparents, the saints of all the ages, are gathered with us once again.
[27:07] And we re-experience the wonder of that. Remember Him. Remember whose you are. Be filled, immersed, if you will, just as if you're baptized again into the power of God.
[27:22] So we get away so that we can be filled with the Spirit of God. We also get away so that we can pray. Because in our lives, sometimes it's hard to pray. We've got so many distractions, so many noises in our head.
[27:34] They went up on the mountaintop. It said to pray. Prayer is powerful. In fact, in another version in Mark, when they came down off the mountain, they asked the disciples, why couldn't we heal this man?
[27:49] And they said, because you didn't pray, Jesus said. This only comes out through prayer. Some things can only be healed by God. You may be pretty clever or have great abilities, but there's some things that are beyond our ability, and we need God.
[28:03] What's impossible with us is possible with God. And this is a demonic force. And they need the power of God to take it out, so they turn to God in prayer.
[28:16] And prayer leads to blessing. The glory of God is revealed when they pray. The immensity and the majesty of God is revealed to them.
[28:28] They touch the living God, and they're changed. It says that when Jesus began to pray, his very appearance changed. You know, prayer is not about changing God.
[28:39] We think that we pray to get God to do something different, to be different towards us. Prayer, more than anything, is about changing us. We go to God, and it shifts our perspective of who we are and what we are and what we're about.
[28:55] When we pray, if we pray, as God would have us pray, what do you pray for? Do you pray for just your own thoughts, your own concerns, or do you pray to hear what God would have?
[29:10] Do you pray for yourself, or do you pray for others as well? Did you get a slip of paper when you came in? You didn't, and you want one. Raise your hand, and they'll bring one around for you.
[29:20] Because I want you to do something with this slip of paper. I want you to write one or two names on it, no more than one or two, of people who need Jesus. Now, I don't want you to write last names, just first names, okay?
[29:31] I don't want an identifying name. I just want the first names of somebody you think in your life needs Jesus. Maybe it's a friend or a neighbor, or it could be a relative.
[29:42] Don't write the people sitting next to you in your pews, okay? That's rude. All right? Don't be doing that this morning. Just write the name of somebody who needs Jesus, and you know why?
[29:53] Because next week, we're going to collect these. We're going to have you turn them in at communion, put them in a basket, and next week, we're going to collect them, or this week, we'll collect them, and next week, we'll hand them out to other people to pray for the people you're worried about.
[30:06] Because we believe in the power of prayer. I know people who've been prayed for for years, and then somewhere along the line, God brings them to us. Or to God somewhere else.
[30:17] So just a name. Just a first name. Please don't put anything but a first name. All right? Take a note of that. What do we pray about? We go away to God so that we have time to pray.
[30:28] So we can be immersed in the Spirit of God. And we also go away to God because we need hope. Hope. It says that when they were up on the mountaintop, they saw two people.
[30:39] Did you pick that up? Elijah and Moses. Two dead people walking around and talking to Jesus. Did you think about that?
[30:49] They're dead. They're dead, dead, and gone dead for centuries, dead. And there they are walking around and talking with Jesus. Do you know what that does? It tells us there's hope.
[31:01] That tells us that the valley of death is only a shadow, and it can't destroy us. That through Christ, we can go on to glory. And that even when this life is busting us down and knocking us to our bottom, God can lift us up and still glorify us and give us life forever.
[31:20] And that kind of hope is a powerful thing. We all need it. Because sometimes we get mixed up and we start living for the wrong thing.
[31:30] Jesus turns to his disciples in verse 41, and he says, You unbelieving and perverse generation. You unbelieving and perverse generation.
[31:42] What we are is we're people that lose hope in God and start focusing our hope in all the wrong things. We think if we could just get the money in our 401k, we'll be okay.
[31:54] Don't you remember a few years ago when we saw the money go like this? As the value just disappeared? Trillions of dollars? It can go away at any moment. We put our trust in law enforcement.
[32:05] Our trust in the military. Our trust in the laws. Our trust in the courts. Our trust in everything. But that doesn't stop a young man who decided to kill people at a Bible study. We need trust in the one that can take us beyond this life, through this life, through the valleys of darkness, and lead us to the glory that only God can give.
[32:27] We've trusted in all the wrong things. The things that can't last. The things that won't last. When we need to trust in the things that are eternal. Things of God. We need to remember hope.
[32:40] And last of all, we go away. We go away to hear Jesus. The voice from heaven came to them on that mountaintop and said, This is my beloved son.
[32:51] Listen to him. Could you imagine how different our world would be if we listened to Jesus? Do you think Elijah and Moses were there and that those were just two accidental people?
[33:02] Elijah and Moses. That's the law and the prophets. That's the scripture. That's the word of God. Could you imagine if people lived to Jesus' words? Love your neighbor as you want to be loved.
[33:14] Do unto others as you'd have others do unto you. Forgive as God has forgiven you. Serve. Don't worry about having others serve you.
[33:27] If we listen to the words of Jesus. If we listen to the whispers of Jesus. If we could hear Jesus because we got away to a quiet place where we could hear Jesus instead of the noise and clutter of our lives.
[33:42] Chiris moments. They're the power that drive our faith. God offers us more than a philosophy. God offers us more than rituals.
[33:53] God offers us power. God offers us more than a person. God offers us more than a person. Last week we read this verse from the book of Acts in chapter 1 where it says, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
[34:04] And you'll be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And the power of the Holy Spirit changes who we are.
[34:15] Because it drives out the darkness in us. There's a story Jesus tells about a woman who had an evil spirit. And she swept the evil spirit out of her house and put her house in order.
[34:29] And it was clean and neat. But it was empty. And it says, A little while later, seven demons, worse than the first, came and entered into this woman's life. And made her condition worse than the time she began.
[34:41] Truth is, there are things we can do to push back the demons from time to time. Sometimes we use education or laws or we might use psychology or counseling or all sorts of things.
[34:55] And we get one demon to go away for a short time. But if you look at people whose lives are struggling with this, they face one thing after another after another after another.
[35:06] And as soon as this one's gone, another one seems to come along. And sometimes more and more until they feel like they have to give up. And the reason is because they're empty of the real power.
[35:19] That woman needed was the spirit of God to fill her house, fill her life, just like we do. The only way we keep out the demonic forces in our lives is to fill ourselves up so much with the power of the Holy Spirit that there's no room for anything dark.
[35:33] God offers us that power if we just let Him do it. And that's why we need Kairos moments to transform our living, to change who we are, to give us the power and ability to overcome the darkness.
[35:50] And yet the problem with Kairos moments is they don't last. They're here and then they're gone. Because we can't live up on a mountain top.
[36:03] If we did the Kairos moments, we'd become Kronos moments. And that can be wrong too. One year I went with my daughter to Disney World down in Florida.
[36:14] She was just a young girl at the time. And we had a wonderful day and at the end of the day as we're leaving, she starts crying. And we're like, what is the matter with you? You just had one of the best days of your life. You just had a lot of fun.
[36:25] This cost a lot. Why are you crying? Because it's over. I don't want it to end. I want it to go on forever.
[36:38] But Disneyland is just an experience for a short time. You don't live there. We don't live on the mountaintop either. You can see in verse 36, it says the disciples came down, James, John, and Peter.
[36:52] They came down the mountain and they were sad. They didn't even want to tell anybody. Can't live on a mountaintop. Can't live in church.
[37:03] Well, you can, I suppose. We've got a couch. We've got refrigerators and showers and such. But this isn't a place for living. This is a place for being filled by the Holy Spirit, not to stay here forever and ever.
[37:16] It's just like mountaintops. There's not food up there or water up there or shelter up there. They're a place you go up to, but you don't live there. You've got to come down off the mountaintop. It says that as they were leaving, Peter says, Hey, Jesus, let's build some houses up here.
[37:33] Then we could stay here forever. Now, it doesn't really say what Jesus really answered. I kind of have a feeling he gave him a look like, Seriously, dude? We're not staying up here.
[37:45] This isn't where we were meant to live. This was just a visit. Because you see, sometimes even trying to keep those Kairos moments can just lead to problems we wouldn't even expect.
[38:05] I went to Darien Lake one time with my brother. We were in our 20s. It was kind of a misty sort of a day. Not pouring rain like we saw a minute ago, but just a light little fuzzy rain, enough that it kept everybody away from the park, but the park was still open.
[38:19] There's like about 20 of us in the entire park. My brother and I are wandering around, just walking in and out of the rides. We got to this one. I don't know what you call it. It's sort of a disc kind of a thing. It goes around in a circle, and then it turns.
[38:32] The next thing you know, it's going like this. You know what I mean? So you're facing like this, down at the ground, then up at the sky, and all around like this. Well, being young wise guys in our 20s, the young woman operating the thing, when she starts letting us down off, we said, is that all you got?
[38:47] This is a wimpy ride. Yeah, this isn't like the roller coasters. How come you got stuck on the wimpy ride? And all of a sudden, we went back up again. There's no line, right? And so it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[38:58] It's no big deal. So what? So we're going around in a circle, big deal. We're making all these wise guy statements. Half an hour. She kept bringing us down, taking us up, bringing us down, taking us up.
[39:10] For half an hour, we're spinning around in circles. So finally, we're like, let us off, please. Let us off. We kind of lost all sense of reality, you know?
[39:24] You know, whether up is down, or side is backwards, or what? Not only that, we're starting to feel sick. I started to think of the people in the Bible who try to keep the mountaintop experience forever.
[39:38] People who stayed always in worshiping God or living in that. And you know, the odd part was, is the ones that, only ones I could think of were the Pharisees and Sadducees that Jesus had so much trouble with, who were so busy doing the things of God, but somehow lost the God in the doing.
[39:55] They were in the synagogue all the time. They were in the temple all the time. They knew God's rules. They knew God's word. They knew all about God, but they didn't experience God anymore.
[40:07] They had lost the heart, the soul, the purpose. I understand it's an occupational hazard. I do God's stuff all day long.
[40:18] Sometimes I have to remember to step back and remind myself, I need time with God. People ask me, what's the most important thing I do when I write a sermon?
[40:31] The most important thing I do is sit down and say, what do you want to say? Now, what do I want to say? What do I think? What does God want? The power of God is not in trying to stay in this thing, but to somehow figure out a way to be empowered by it, to take it elsewhere.
[40:49] Now, we're talking about walls. Walls that we as a church, all churches, have built up that keep people from the grace of God. And we built these walls so that people can't even get to Jesus, and the very thing that should be bringing people to God is blocking them.
[41:07] And today I want to talk about selfishness. Sometimes we get selfish in our desire to have Jesus just for us, to keep God in our world and not let anybody else near Him, to stay with Jesus in such a way that we get them all to ourselves.
[41:37] And we make a mess of things. Verse 41 continued with Jesus saying, how long shall I stay with you? How long will I put up with you?
[41:50] Anybody else hear that? And go like, really? Seriously, Jesus? Forever! Always! To the end of the age is said, and here I read it in the book, it says to the end of the age.
[42:02] I hope. I hope. See, inspiration, that powerful experience of God is for the moment. It powers our lives.
[42:13] But it's not the same as taking God with us. We don't need Jesus just for a moment or just for an hour a week. We need Jesus to walk through all of our lives with us.
[42:26] On the mountaintops, but even in the valleys where life is lived. Sometimes I'm not sure if I should have used the word selfishness because we're trying to keep Jesus for ourselves, or if I should have used fear.
[42:41] Because we hide. We hide in our church. We hide in our homes. We hide in our communities. We hide. We hide because we're afraid of this world we live in. We don't want to walk through the dark, shadowy valleys of death.
[42:59] I was listening to the radio when I heard about this event, and actually, our president was responding to it, and he quoted the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
[43:10] I don't know if you're all aware, but his job was, he was a preacher, he was a pastor. That's what he did for a living. And this is what he said, if one will hold on, we'll discover that God walks with us, and God is able to lift us from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform the dark and desolate valleys into the sunlit paths of inner peace.
[43:36] Thank you.
[43:56] Thank you. You know what that noise is? That's the noise of people. People living life. people in a world around us that are struggling through all the things that we face people that need Jesus the crowd gathered at the base of the mountain what do we have kairos moments for we somehow think they're for ourselves we get this kind of selfish idea that it's all about us you know sometimes I think people confuse a rush with the presence of the Holy Spirit I think people sometimes confuse getting emotional with the power of God you know all I got to do really in honesty I shouldn't tell you this is have you go see hallelujah say God is great and pretty soon you're going yeah yeah yeah I feel good let's go out of here out of church I feel better past the time made me feel good that's just a rush man and if I made you feel good that's all that is they can do the same thing at a football game you can watch the soldiers march by in a parade you'll have that same feel that's not God that's me messing with you all right because yes when we open up our emotions it also opens up our heart to experience the power of God but don't confuse get your emotions moved with getting inspired filled by the power of the Holy
[45:24] Spirit one we do to make us feel good the other we do for the world around us the saddest part about this passage is it says that the three apostles Peter James and John these leader apostles they came down off the mountain in 36 and they said they kept this whole thing to themselves you imagine that I want you to picture now you just went up on a mountaintop with Jesus you just saw the glory of God you just saw dead people walking around and talking you just had God surround you and dripping all off of you in every single way and you come down off the mountain and you say nothing like you know I would want to be said dude do you know what just happened to me I've got to tell you this they kept it to themselves wow the power of God is all over them and they kept it to themselves and I'm afraid that's what we're doing as people who call themselves Christians today and I got to tell you if we don't take the grace of God into this world the world is going to bring the demons to us that's what happened in Charleston and it's going to happen more and more not because of the demons out there but because the grace of God isn't going out there we're either going to transform the world or it's going to transform us into brokenness now you might say why wouldn't they share it I know why I know why I know why people don't talk about God they'll think I'm a wackadoodle they'll think I'm some kind of religious crazy guy right I don't want to look like those nut bars on TV it's hard because sometimes sometimes we don't know how to do it but there's a world out there that needs to hear about it and we have the ability to do it the other night my wife invited me out to dinner and I went to join her and she had a couple there with her the woman went to her church and her husband didn't and as I'm eating my dinner she says to me you know Tom he doesn't believe in God what would you say to him to tell him why he should believe in God like oh man it's 11 o'clock I just want to eat dinner I don't want to do this I'm off duty off the clock not doing the God thing right now sorry check it out of that but you know it didn't take very long because I just told him I said there's nothing I can say that proves God there's not an argument for God there's not an intellectual discussion about God God isn't about what happens up here God isn't isn't about the Bible because the
[48:32] Bible is only for people who have God God is about what happens here God is about what happens to transform my life that's entered into my soul that's changed my entire being the direction of my life God is something you experience and if you haven't experienced God there's no point in us even talking about him I went back eating my dinner I didn't say it that loud because the restaurant people would come over you see God is going to put us in a place where we have the opportunity to share what's changed our lives people won't think we're crazy do you know that this world is hungry for Jesus the crowd was waiting for Jesus and they're still waiting for Jesus they want to talk about God they want to talk about God all the time everywhere I go I have people talk to me about God you know they're cutting my hair what do you do for a living oh I work with people oh what do you do with them oh I try to make their lives a little better oh really what kind of job is that okay all right I'm a pastor all right cut my hair would you I don't want to do this and the next thing you know you're working through their pain and their struggle and they're telling you stuff they don't tell anybody because they know you've got something that can change their world they just want you to share it Acts chapter 1 verse 8 remember what it said it says you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses if the Holy Spirit is working within you it's not like you make a choice about it it's something you have to share because God is working in you and you will be a witness to God just in who and what you are and what you do
[50:21] I want you to picture if that tragedy had happened in our church if those were our relatives if that was your pastor if that was if that was people that you knew and loved your children your family your parents your sisters your brothers and they got the fella and they took him to the courthouse and they were arraigning him and the family arrived what are you going to do how can you tell somebody who yesterday had their family shot that they can't say anything and so they let the family come in to speak they weren't speaking to the judge they talked to the man who shot the people they loved and they said you we forgive you we know we took you in we welcomed you into our Bible study we we talked about God with you and you stood up and said that you didn't like our race and killed people that we loved and our lives will never be the same we're always going to feel that pain and that hurt where the people we loved used to be and then he said we forgive you and we really want you to turn to God and let God forgive you too
[51:39] I gotta tell you even the reporters that are reporting this are blown away they're not expecting this this isn't what anybody thought would happen they're choking back tears as they're trying to explain what this family's just done what these people are saying how they witnessed the real grace I don't know if you could do it I don't know if I could do it they were a witness to who God really is changed the whole thing transformed the whole discussion world comes to Christ with problems and a change is not easy it's difficult when you face demons this young boy was thrown to the ground by the demon and tried to try to stop him from getting healed but the healing was there and it's still there in Matthew Jesus says you are the light of the world a city on a hill cannot be hidden neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house in the same way let your light shine before people that they might see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven you are the light of the world do you hear that you it didn't even say God who is the light of the world you are the light of the world you're the ones who can change this world
[53:15] God calls us to change the world you'll receive power and be my witnesses and you will change the lives of everyone you touch if you bring that witness to God immediately after this everybody's saying we need to change the laws we need to change the education we need to change this we need to change that and you know I won't get into all those arguments some are good some are not do you want to know what really would have changed this young man change his heart I really wonder what would have happened if he would have spent a little longer Sue was sharing with me this morning that she heard that he said the next day you know I almost changed my mind after sitting in that Bible study with them what would have happened if he had another 45 minutes with Jesus might they have driven out those demons and turn that world around you're the light of the world take your light out and change this world do you have your lights with you?
[54:19] you got your light? you should remember this song I mean if you don't remember any of them you should know this one this little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine this little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine let it shine hiding under a bushole no Gonna let it shine Let it shine Let it shine Let it shine Don't let Satan Blow it out I'm gonna let it
[55:20] Shine Don't let Satan Blow it out I'm gonna let it shine Let it shine Let it shine Let it shine God calls us to be the light of the world.
[55:40] A little more of God's love can do amazing things. And a lot more will change our whole world. Over the mountains and the sea, your river runs with love for me.
[55:59] And I will open up my heart and let the healers set me free. I'm happy to hear the truth. And I will daily lift my hand.
[56:12] For I will always sing of when your love came down. I will sing of your love forever.
[56:23] I can sing of your love forever. I could sing of your love forever.
[56:35] I could sing of your love forever. Over the mountains and the sea, your river runs with love for me.
[56:47] And I will open up my heart and let the healers set me free. I'm happy to hear the truth. And I will daily lift my hand.
[56:59] For I will always sing of when your love came down. I will sing of your love forever.
[57:10] I will sing of your love forever. I could sing of your love forever.
[57:23] I could sing of your love forever. I could sing of your love forever.
[57:34] I could sing of your love forever. I could sing of your love forever.
[57:45] I could sing of your love forever. Sometimes I think what will people say of me When I'm only just a memory.
[58:19] When I'm home when my soul belongs. When I'm alone. When I'm alone. When no one else will show up.
[58:30] When I'm keeping to the least of us. When I'm worth it more than just a song. I want to live like that.
[58:43] And give it all I have. So let everything I say and do. Points to you.
[58:54] If I'm sitting who I am. This is where I stand. When I can see you back.
[59:05] And never hold me back. I want to live like that. I want to live like that.
[59:24] Am I true? When you are who you say you are. If it makes them really change your heart. Do I live like that love is true?
[59:39] It won't pass. Even if they don't know what I mean. It's a remembrance that I've been changed. When they see me new they see you.
[59:54] I want to live like that. And give it all I have. So let everything I say and do.
[60:07] Points to you. And love is who I am. And this is where I stand.
[60:18] I want to live like that. I want to show the world the love you gave for me. I'm longing for the world to know the glory of the King.
[60:41] I want to live like that. I want to live like that. And give it all I have. So let everything I say and do. Points to you. And love is who I am. And love is who I am. And this is where I stand. And love is who I am.
[60:53] And this is where I stand. Redwood sea of land. And never holding back. And never holding back. I want to live like that. I want to live like that. I want to live like that. I want to live like that.
[61:04] I want to live like that.
[61:25] I want to live like that.
[61:50] I want to live like that. I don't always. Sometimes I just simply don't get it right. I don't know about you. Sometimes I get selfish and self-focused.
[62:01] Sometimes I get afraid. Sometimes I just want to live for me. Sometimes I need to turn that brokenness over to God so that the power of God can break out in me so that it can break out in this world.
[62:14] So let's turn that over to God in our prayer of confession, shall we? Dear God in heaven, I have sinned. I focus on myself. I put my hope in the wrong things.
[62:30] I'm afraid. I hide. I don't share when I should. Forgive me, Lord.
[62:42] Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Drive out the dark demons. Fill me up. That I might be a witness.
[62:54] Your blessing. In Jesus' name we pray. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. It all begins from here. The changes all begin right in here.
[63:07] We can get this changed and transformed. The world and all the darkness around us can be changed too. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.
[63:20] Glory to God. Amen. Lord, I've come to touch your face.
[63:43] Just to feel your warmth impressed Come descend Lord like a dove Touch my heart with your love for me For me Let your healing water flow in this place Let your healing waters flow in this place You're the giver of life Giving new life You're the living word of God Let your healing waters flow in this place Let your healing waters flow in this place
[64:45] Mighty waves of power followed by your praise Let your healing waters flow in this place You know we come to the table of God That we might remember whose we are That we might remember all that God has ever been and can ever be So everyone's welcome to come here And join us At the table The family table That God has set Whether you've been here before Or this is your first time even If you want to have that power of God in your life You're welcome this morning to join us In the blessing that God offers The Lord be with you Lift up your hearts Lift up your hearts
[65:45] Let us give thanks to the Lord our God It is right It's a good It's a joyful thing Always and everywhere to give thanks to God It's a joy To give thanks to God When the blessings pour down Like soft showers on our fields It's a joy To give thanks to God When he's with us Walking through the dark Valley of the shadow of death It's a joy With God When things are going in blessing And it's a joy With God When he faces down the darkness with us And so with all the people on earth And all the angels in heaven We praise his name And we join his unending hymn In saying Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might Heaven and earth are full of your glory Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest
[66:47] Holy are you Blessed is your son Jesus Christ Who came down out of glory To walk in this dark valley of life That we've walked through He lived in the brokenness The pain and the hurt He saw the sin and temptation He saw the worst of mankind He faced persecution and ridicule He faced death and torture Even more he faced betrayal and denial On the night before his death He gathered in the upper room With his own disciples Knowing that they would betray him Knowing they would deny him And abandon him And he offered this meal That we would never forget That they would never forget Who he is He took the bread He gave thanks to God And then he broke the bread He gave it to his disciples And he said, take and eat This is my body Which is broken for you
[67:48] For the forgiveness of sin Eat of this In remembrance of me When the supper was over He took the cup He gave thanks to God And he gave it to his disciples And he said, drink this All of you For this is my blood Of the new covenant That's poured out For you and for many For the forgiveness of sin Drink this Remembering me And so as we remember We relive This power of Jesus Christ His saving Grace His wonder And his strength We join together with him In his holy and living sacrifice And in Christ offering for us As we proclaim The mystery of faith Christ has died Christ has risen Christ will come again Pour out your Holy Spirit On us, Lord Pour it into all of us Immerse us, Lord
[68:48] Fill us Surround us With your Holy Spirit Lift us up To the mountaintop Touch us in every way, Lord That every fiber of our being Is alive with Christ That we might go to the world To the broken, dark world, Lord And bring this great glory And wondrous love That the world might come to you And join us at this table And feast at this heavenly banquet We offer these prayers, Lord As always In the name of the Father And the Son And the Holy Spirit Amen And now as Jesus taught his disciples To pray Let us join together in saying Our Father Who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day Our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those Who trespass against us And lead us not to temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom
[69:48] And the power And the glory forever and ever Amen If you're able, I'm going to invite you To sing with us Go tell it on the mountain Go tell it on the mountain Over the hills Everywhere Go tell it on the mountain That Jesus Christ is born While shepherds kept their watching O'er silent clocks by night Behold, behold, throughout the heavens There shone a holy fire Go tell it on the mountain
[70:53] Over the hills Everywhere Go tell it on the mountain Then that Jesus Christ is born The shepherds filled and trembled When low above the earth Rang out the angel for his That hailed the Savior's world Go tell it on the mountain Over the hills And everywhere Go tell it on the mountain That Jesus Christ is born Somebody said, you can't sing that That's a Christmas song Where's the candy canes anyways, huh?
[71:47] What, Jesus went back in the womb or something? We got to hide him away till Christmas time? You know, that's the problem We think we got to hide these things away It's like we got to keep them secret Just in one little spot One little time of the year We only sing about Jesus at Christmas Maybe Easter for a day or two God wants us to share about Jesus Everywhere and anywhere Bring the light of the world Into the darkness and brokenness To drive the demons of despair And pain away You are the light of the world God has put that light in you Go live that light Go live that light And drive the darkness From the face of this earth May the Lord go with you And be your peace and your strength Now and forever Amen Amen Amen
[72:51] Thank you.