All right, let's pray. Father, thanks for being such a great God. Thanks for adopting us as your very own children. We just praise you. We thank you for that. We thank you for loving us so much. Holy Spirit, we thank you for being our teacher and our counselor. And we ask you to teach each of us this morning to speak something directly to each of us this morning. Jesus, we just thank you for being the center of our everything, the beginning and the end. Our lives revolve around you, and we praise you, and we thank you for it. And it's in your name that we pray. Amen. So what do you say we just talk about Jesus for a little while this morning? You know, there's so many important things that we have to talk about, but there's something about just stepping back and talking about Jesus, looking at what he said, looking at what he did, looking at what was important to him, following his example. He had a lot of uh He had a lot of interesting days, Jesus did, when uh he was uh living as a man here on earth. And and you also had interesting days where uh all those people around him, uh maybe even more so than uh than Jesus. Imagine just being one of his followers, being people just like us. And the different things that they encountered and different things that they experienced. And this morning we're gonna look at at one of those days. This particular day, there's uh Jesus and three of his friends and followers. They're they're Peter and James and John. Um, Peter and James and John had been friends from way back. They were business partners before they met Jesus. They were in the commer commercial fishing business, and they were partners, and one day Jesus kind of commandeered Peter's boat, and uh through that experience uh got to know Peter, James, and John. And so in Matthew 17, it says, Jesus took Peter and the brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out right before their eyes. Sunlight poured from his face. His clothes were filled with light. This is a moment that I learned, you know, uh, as the transfiguration. That may be how you think of that. And the transfiguration is really just kind of one of those old English words that the Bible was uh uh translated into. I mean, the word we would probably use is transformation. Uh, Jesus is just transformed right before their eyes. And the way he's transformed is that light begins just pouring out of Jesus, emanating from Jesus. Light is pretty interesting in the Bible. Light itself is an inherent part of uh of God and represents his goodness. You know, we read about in the Old Testament, we read about the glory of the Lord or the glory of God, how the glory of the Lord fills the temple. And when we might have an image of what that is, but when it's talking about that, it's talking about light. The glory of the Lord was light. It was light that would emanate from God, that would that would pour um through the temple. The same thing in the New Testament. Remember when the angels visited the shepherds? It says the glory of the Lord shone all around them. It was uh it was that bright, radiant light that was announcing Jesus' coming. And I don't want to get too far off track, but um but if you remember when we talked about heaven, how heaven is not you know some place up in the clouds, how the Bible clearly talks about heaven that is gonna be a renewed and restored earth, a physical place. And and and in the middle, if you will, uh is this huge city. Uh it's called the New Jerusalem, but it's this huge city, kind of the main capital city in heaven. In Revelation 21, it says the city doesn't need sun or moon for light. God's glory is its light, the lamb, its lamp. The nations will walk in its light, and earth's kings bring in their splendor. Its gates will never be shut by day, and there won't be any night. And so here in this moment, the Peter, James, and John are with us, and light is pouring from Jesus. And in a sense, it's a glimpse of what Jesus is going to be like when we all get to see him face to face. It's the transformed, the kind of glorified Jesus. In fact, that's exactly what Peter says. About 30 years later, he writes in 2 Peter, he says that that moment was a preview of Jesus coming again. The light is just emanating from Jesus. But it's not blinding light. Um we know that because Peter, James, and John can not only see Jesus, but he is talking with two other people. He goes on to say in Matthew 17. Didn't they realize that Moses and Elijah were also there in deep conversation with him? Okay, for three Jewish guys, this is like the moment of a lifetime. I mean, it's not just Jesus, it's Moses and Elijah. It's a huge, huge deal. And what happens next is probably all that we need to know about where Peter was at that point in his life. You know, Peter turns into a great, great man. But it was a process. And uh here we'll see kind of where Peter was at. In the next verse, Peter broke in. Master, this is a great moment. What would you think if I built three memorials here on the mountain? One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. Okay, seriously. You got Jesus, Moses, and Elijah in deep conversation. And what's Peter do? He interrupts him. He interrupts him. He thinks like whatever he's got on his mind has got to be more important than whatever it would be that Jesus, Moses, and Elijah would have to talk about. He just bursts right in. It'd be interesting to know what Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were talking about, wouldn't it? We'll never know. Peter interrupted him. And what was so important that he just had to interrupt him was he had this idea that he would build three monuments, one for all of them. And, you know, Peter had to mean this as a compliment to Jesus. Because in the Jewish world, Moses and Elijah were such a big deal. When he said, let's build, or let's not us, I will build three monuments, one for each of you. He had to think of it as a big compliment to Jesus. But this time it's Peter's turn to get interrupted. It says that while he was going on like this, babbling, a light, radiant cloud enveloped them, and sounded from deep in the cloud a voice. This is my son, marked by my love, focus of my delight, listen to him. Peter, James, and John's big day just got bigger. You've got Jesus glowing with light, talking with Moses and Elijah. But now God the Father's presence, a cloud, that deep voice. What a moment. It was too much. It was too much. It was overwhelming. It says when the disciples heard it, they fell flat on their faces, scared to death. But Jesus came over and touched them. Don't be afraid. When they opened their eyes and looked around, all they saw was Jesus. Only Jesus. What a moment. You know, I was trying to put myself in their place. They're just people like us. What that must have felt like, you know, and uh to to see all that and and to be part of that. And the whole thing, it just really freaked them out. What they experienced in a way, Peter, James, and John, is they experienced for them the whole Bible on Fast Forward. You know, they didn't have the New Testament back then. The Bible was was the Old Testament. And all at the same time, there's there's Jesus, who's God's Son, and you can see his power and authority and divinity. You got Moses, who represented all the law and everything that went with that. You got Elijah that represented all of the prophets. You've got signs and wonders and God's voice, and this all happening at once. And it was terrifying. It was too much. They couldn't handle it. It was overwhelming. And so as I was thinking about this, you know, I realized that the whole God thing is overwhelming. It really is. It is just overwhelming. You know, it starts with God Himself. You know, is there a God? What's He like? Does He know about us? You know, and God usually leads us to Himself and to that answer, and then leads us to the Bible. Now, the Bible, that's overwhelming. You know, it's full of so much, so many places and names we can't even pronounce. I mean, Ben did so good today. Pronouncing Jonathan's son's name. I mean, there's so much in the Bible. It was written in two different languages across generations, and it's full of facts and things that are very literal and very specific. It's full of poetry and stories. And so much. It's kind of hard to understand sometimes. You know, some of it's kind of scary, some of it's kind of weird. You know, the whole thing can be overwhelming. And that's just the Bible. You know, then you add centuries of people into the mix, and you've got people and their opinions and their egos and our traditions and all this stuff, all the religion, all the doctrine that is so life and death. You know, we've got to understand predestination and premillennialism and postmillennialism and end times prophecy and all this stuff. You know, you've got to figure out how to look and how to dress and how to how to speak. It's just too much. It can be overwhelming. Unless we do what Peter, James, and John did, which is to look up and see Jesus. Only Jesus. Jesus said in John 5, he said, You search the scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the scriptures point to me. We love the Bible. I love the Bible. I mean, there's so much. And I don't want to minimize that. There's so much through every part of the Bible that we can learn about God and how God often just speaks to us directly as we read the Bible. And we can learn wisdom. We can learn about life, and we can learn about so many things. But we don't worship the Bible. We worship Jesus. The point of the Bible is that it points to Jesus. That's what Jesus said to the religious people. You search the scriptures looking for eternal life. But the scriptures point to me. To Jesus. The answer is Jesus. It has always been Jesus. That was what was happening on the mountaintop. You've got Moses, you've got Elijah, you've got light pouring, you've got signs, you've got wonders, you've got God's audible voice. And it's all summed up by God the Father, who says, This is my son. Listen to him. The whole thing was about Jesus. In Hebrews 1, it says, going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his son. By his son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. The Son perfectly mirrors God and is stamped with God's nature. He holds everything together by what he says, powerful words. See, it all revolves around Jesus. Jesus perfectly mirrors God. If we want to know God's plan to adopt us, it's Jesus. If we want to know if God loves us, look at Jesus. If we want to see what true love looks like, it's Jesus. Is God really kind? Is God really compassionate? Is God really forgiving? He is. Look at Jesus. What's my purpose in life? Ask Jesus. Jesus said the main thing is to love God and to love other people. We can follow Jesus. We want to know how to love other people. We watch Jesus. The Bible says watch Jesus and do what he does. And mostly what he does is love. What do I want to be when I grow up? I want to be like Jesus. See, we're almost exactly halfway through 2010. And uh I don't know, it just seemed like a good time to take a step back and remind ourselves not to get too far away from looking at Jesus. Keep the main thing the main thing. With Jesus, the incomprehensible becomes understandable, the overwhelming becomes manageable, the scary becomes peaceful when we're looking at Jesus. Peter, James, and John had been afraid before. The first time Jesus met them, they went out on their boat. And the three of them were partners, as I said, commercial fishermen. Jesus tells them where to go, how to fish, and their catch is so great, it just breaks the nets and it about sinks their boats. And they're overwhelmed. But what they're overwhelmed by is not the fish. They're overwhelmed by their own sin in the presence of God. In Luke 5, it says, When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, Oh Lord, please leave me. I'm too much of a sinner to be around you. For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. From now on you'll be fishing for people. And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. There's another time when these guys were terrified. They were in a boat again, middle of a terrible storm. They were sure they're going to drown. They look up and they see Jesus. And Jesus says, Don't be afraid. And the storm was calmed. And now here they are in a different storm. It's the whole God thing, all happening at once. And it's too much to process. It's too much to take. Don't be afraid, Jesus says. And that storm was calmed. They look up and they see Jesus. Only Jesus. I guess I just don't want us to be overwhelmed this morning by anything. You know, it could be ourselves. I've been overwhelmed by all three of those these situations in my own life. You know, I've been overwhelmed by my own sin. Just disgusted with myself. Not sure I could forgive myself. Not sure God would forgive me. Don't be afraid, Jesus says. You know, I've been overwhelmed by my circumstances in life, by situations. I've been overwhelmed by God. There's so much to know. You know? I mean, if that was the key of learning everything, it's overwhelming. You know, Paul talks once, and he talks about, he's talking about religion specifically. And there were people that were so proud of basically their degrees and their spiritual accomplishments and all this stuff. And so Paul says, you know, I got a few of these myself. And he starts listening. All these things that that he has done or that he's experienced. And he says that all of it is like dog dew to me. That's what he says. When I compare it to knowing Jesus. When I compare it to knowing Jesus. If you know Jesus, you've already got the main part. The rest is going to be gravy. It's going to be icing on the cake. The point is to know Jesus. The point of the whole Bible is to point us to Jesus. The answer to everything in some way is Jesus. You know, and so it could be ourselves and just our lives and how we've lived and all that that answers Jesus. It could be our situation. And it could just be the whole God thing that seems overwhelming. But it's not overwhelming if we only see Jesus. If we just stop, look up, and see Jesus. You know, if the worship team wants to come up, we'll finish here in a minute. You ever feel like uh, these people say this from time to time, do you feel like, wow, that message was just for me that morning? You know, like he was just talking to me, and I when I'm not the one talking, I have that same experience. And honestly, a lot of times I have that experience when I am the one talking. And I'm not sure that this weekend uh I was gonna talk about something else the today. And yesterday it just seemed like, you know, I don't want to go too many weeks before we do nothing but focus on Jesus. And um. And so I get confused. I get discouraged. I get scared sometimes. I get overwhelmed by how much there is to know about God and all the The aspects of him. But whenever I do, if I just stop and think about Jesus, talk to Jesus, it's amazing. It is amazing what happens to my soul. Just the peace that I feel. How none of that seems that important. Because I'm back to the main thing. It's just seeing Jesus. It makes it all fit together. You know, connecting with him is so simple. It's like God. It's profound and it's simple. It's just humbly turning to him. And just telling them we need him. And in many ways, he takes over from that. From there, he fills us with his Holy Spirit. He surrounds us with people. He teaches us. He shows us what to do next and gives us the strength to do it. He transforms us from the inside out. Just like Jesus kind of was transformed on that mountain from the inside out. And don't be overwhelmed. Don't be scared. Don't be afraid. It's just Jesus. It's connecting with Jesus. In Hebrews 12, it says, keep your eyes on Jesus. Who both began and finished this race we're in. And start that over. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed. That exhilarating finish in and with God. He could put up with anything along the way, cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item. That long litany of hostility he plowed through that will shoot adrenaline into your souls. Let's keep our eyes on Jesus. You know, if you want to stand, let's pray. And then we'll finish like we always do. One more song to worship and celebrate Him. Father, thank you for being such a great God. We do thank you. We thank you for Jesus. Your wisdom and that being the plan all along, your wisdom in all the scriptures pointing to Him. Your wisdom in giving us someone that shows us exactly what you're like. So we know that you're loving, you're kind, compassionate, you care about us. We thank you so much for that. And Jesus, we thank you. We acknowledge you as our King, the center of the universe, the center of our lives. Please help us. Please stir up our hearts. Help us not to be overwhelmed. Help us not to be scared. Help us not to be discouraged. Help us to see you, to look up, look around, and see you. Only you. We love you, we need you, and we trust you. Jesus, it's in your great name we pray. Amen.