Rugby Elim Church – A vibrant, growing, hope-filled community of people who have been changed by an encounter with an extraordinary person, Jesus.
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For [Applause] good morning and welcome we are so glad that you have joined us today for those people that joined us online welcome for those people who are in the building anybody in the building well we got people in the building as well you are so welcome and
For those people who join us for the very first time we give you a very special welcome let’s give them a massive welcome right now we are so glad that you are here amongst us and for those who don’t know who I am my name is
John it’s my privilege to be one of the pastors of this great church CH and I say that so often and the reason why I say is the great church is because we are an amazing people yes and the truth is that this building is not the church
This is a school but we are the church and we make up the Church of the Living God if you were here last Sunday morning will you just wave right now to me and for those who are here here or those who may be watched online you may
Remember that last Sunday morning we had you for christ here amongst us because in the last week the school here has been a place where has experienced the presence of God it’s a school that acknowledges God if you look around you right now you’ll see on the wall we got
Scriptures talk about Harmony talks about respect responsibility inspiration all these different things but over the past week you for christ have been in this room and they’ve been declaring the praise of God Amen and we prayed last Sunday that God would move here over this past week and you know what God
Moved here this last week speaking into the lives of young people speaking into the lives of the school community and one of the things that we did this morning we ga as leaders and this was my prayer God will you spoken so powerly to some young people that today they would be
With us on a Sunday morning and they’ bring their parents today we have young people and their parents who this week were impacted by what took place so we welcome you today and um I just want want encourage you right now if you haven’t turned around shake them Somebody by the hand
Or give them a high five just do that right now and just greet them and welcome them um into this place Today Brilliant when you’ve done that maybe just take your seats just for a few Moments uh for for those you are part of the live of rugby elim I’m sure that every one of you will know that we are on a particular Journey right now whereas a church Community we are going through the New Testament together and reading it in a way like we’ve never
Read it before as we go through the love death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and I’ve Lov some of the stories that I’ve heard over the past week of how people are engaging with this I heard the one story of somebody’s gone to work and he’s reading it at work and their
Colleagues were asking the question that looks like an interesting book what is that other people saying I didn’t realize that you were a Christian but because they’ve taken this to work is opening up conversations with people which is absolutely incredible and one of the great things that’s happened
Today and I can see that our children lots of them have got it already that we’ve got a verion for our children as well and so they’ve got their own Bible today which is incredible and as I was um yeah let’s give him a round of applause it’s
Fantastic CU one of the things that we we talk about here as a life of church that we believe that God has called us to be a church for every nation and every generation that God is as much much interested in adults as he children I believe that children have a special
Place in the heart of God by the way but God is interested in every generation and one of the things that happened this morning was I got down the front and I was like what is that on my jacket because on my jacket there was a
A Peg and I I don’t like the fact that nobody told me that there was a peg on my jacket it’s like you know when you go out for a meal I think I talked about it last Sunday and you go out for a meal you got food all around your mouth and
Down your chin and nobody says anything I didn’t like the fact that none of my friends none of my family told me that there was a peg on my jacket I’m like Sam what are you been doing you know I mean I don’t think this has been washed
Recently and then somebody said to me there’s a message on it and actually there’s a scripture on it it’s Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16 says let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find Grace to help us in a time of
Need come on it’s time to own up who put the peg on me who put the peg on me somebody must have got it put it on me who was it you going to own up was it you that put the peg on me stand up let’s give this young man a massive
Cheer today in that amazing and we’ve started to craze now who knows where we’re going to go next how many how many other people come out here come on come out the front so everybody can see you cuz not everybody can see you when you’re there so can we
Get other microphone that’d be great come on let’s give him a cheer as he comes right now brilliant come and stand up here would you tell everybody your name abite abite abite how many people did you Peg around about eight or seven eight or seven people got
Pegged if you’ve got pegged would you like just to check out your clothes right now cuz you might not have realized you got pegs you got pegs yeah I can see your peg on the pegs is it the same message for everybody different messages a different message for different people beautiful
Why have you done this today because I thought people were feeling down so if I give it to them they’ll feel more happier wow is’t that amazing wow whose idea was this it was one of the um see over there with the baby she told me to Hanah
Hannah Hannah you are guilty of an amazing Ministry of pegging people wow we’ve started a trend if you’re watching online try it at home try it in your church cuz you know what you’ve been such a blessing I think to to so many of us here in this building today who’ve
Got pegged if you didn’t get pegged this week maybe you get pegged next week all right come on let’s give him a round of applause right now thank you uh so much and you know I didn’t know if I should share this today but I think I
Need to share it in the light of how how I’ve just got pecked cuz the last 48 hours for me has been really really tough really really difficult it’s started on Friday afternoon as I had a phone call to say that my youngest brother Tim who will be 50 this year
Who’s got incredible special needs when he was born they said he wouldn’t live they said if he lived he wouldn’t walk and he wouldn’t talk and here he is years coming up to the age of 50 at the end of this year but the phone call came
Through to say Tim is in a in ambulance is on the way to hospital in kering because of his severe disabilities I’m the one who can communicate with him the best out of all of our family and it’s a privileg able to do that so I got in the car and I
Drove to kerin long story sure I got there and I got home at 6:15 yesterday morning after spending the whole evening the whole night with my brother Tim what they found was they finally got a blockage in his bowel and they they tried some procedures and on Saturday morning I
Left him to drive back home and I got home I had 2 hours sleep and then I phoned the hospital to find out how he was doing and they said to me thank you for phing us back we left a message for you I was like I’m sorry I never got
Your message they said we need you to get back Asa P we need to take him down for surgery as soon as we possibly can we need consent from you so I got back in the car I drove back to Kin I got there about 11:00 yesterday
Morning and then he was taken down into theater and they said we’re going to try and do Keyhole surgery in order to be able to clear the blockage away we were waiting and waiting and waiting my brother my older brother and I were waiting and waiting and waiting
We’re like this doesn’t feel good right now and event we’re told that actually has been transferred to ICU I must be honest at that point I was not the man of faith and power for the hour I was a man of paste and flow for the hour because I’m human like you’re
Human and we stood there and they said in a moment you’ll see him come through but we’re going to warn you right now he’s not going to look great and so they wied him in and we spent time then talking to the doctor the great news is
That they said we’ve cleared the every blockage has been disappeared there’s no cancer or anything like that it’s all been cleared it’s gone but we’re putting him into ICU right now because he needs to be cared for and looked after it’s the best place for him to be at 9:15
This morning he was being brought out of sedation I’ve had a message from my older brother to say that he’s coming around right now he’s coming through thank God that God does amazing things and I got pegged I got pegged with this we may receive mercy and find Grace to help us
In our time of need thank you that I’ve got Grace and I’ve got Mercy to help me in my time of need you may have got that Peg but God knew I needed to have that Peg to read it today to know that God’s
Grace is there to help me in my time of need and the grace that’s there for me is the grace of God that is there for you right now because he is the god who never ever changes he’s The God Who is faithful and he’s The God Who is true so
I’m going to invite us to stand together right now and I just wonder as we’re standing you know the Bible says the Book of James that you have not because you ask not and right now if for whatever reason it may be it may be only you and God
Knows but you need to know some Grace and some mercy at work in your life will you join me in raising my hand right now that says God I need your grace I need your mercy to help me in my time of need that right now as we’re lifting up
Our hands we’re saying God we are approaching you with confidence we are approaching you with boldness God because you tell us that we will receive grace and Mercy father today we lift up our Hands In This Place hands and hearts that are open to receive your grace and to receive your mercy thank you that you are close to the Brokenhearted that you lift up all those who are bowed down father we acknowledge
That you are our healer today that you are our God and God I pray today that for all of us right now may we experience your grace may we experience your mercy may we experience that strength that comes as we look to you and Look to You alone we lift up our
Eyes today to the one who never ever changes the one who is faithful and the one who is true and we call upon your name today cuz you are the same God and you are worthy of our honor and our praise come on let’s give up a praise offering to our God today Hallelujah I’m calling on the god of Jacob who love inures through generations I know that you will keep your C I’m calling on the god of Moses the one who opened up the ocean I need you now to do the same thing for me of me oh God my God I need you oh God my
God I need you now how I need you Now oh Rock oh Rock of Ages I’m standing on your [Applause] faithfulness on your faithfulness [Applause] I’m calling all the god of Mary who favor rest upon the Lord I know with you all things are possible I’m calling on the god of David who may shepher boy courageous I’m may not face going to Li but I’ve got my own giant oh God my God
I need you oh God my God I need you now how I need you now oh rock Rock of Ages I’m standing on on your [Applause] faithfulness on your faithfulness oh my God oh God my God I need you oh God my God I need you now how I need you
Now or rock Rock of Ages I’m standing on your faithfulness on your Fa standing on your faithfulness We Stand upon your faithfulness Jesus oh my God I stand upon your [Applause] word you you hear your children then you hear your children now you are the same God you are the same God you answer PR back then and you will now you are the same God you are you were provided you were provided you are providing now you are the same God you
Are the same God you moved in power God move in power now you are the same God you are the same God you are a Healer you are a Healer now you are the same God you are the same God you are a savior you are a
Savior you are the same God you are you are oh God my God I need you oh God my God I need you now how I need you Now sing or rock or rock rock R I’m standing on your faithfulness on your faithfulness oh God my God I need you oh
God my God I need you now how I need you how I need you how I need you now oh rock Rock of Ages I’m standing on your faithfulness on your Faithfulness standing on your faithfulness you’re the God who never changes you are the same God you are the same God you hear your children then you hear your children now you are the same God you are the same God you are depress back then and you will answer now you are the say is you freay the captives you fre the captives then your free in house right now you are the same
God you are the same God you touch the Le I feel you touch right you are the same God you are the same God oh God oh God my God I need you oh God my God I need you how I need I need you I need you oh
My of Ages I’m standing on your faithfulness on your faithfulness oh my God oh God my God I need you I need you now how I need you oh rock Rock of Ages I’m standing on your faithfulness on your faithfulness And your Faithfulness I’m calling I’m calling on the holy spir oh mighty River come and fill me up again come and fill me up again come and fill me up again let’s make it our prayer come and fill me again sing Come and fill me up Again me Again [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] H fill me up again fill me up again fill me up again Spirit come fill me up again I just feel like I need to say this to us this morning this morning when I went to fill up my water bottle cuz it was pretty much empty after this morning’s prep I
Went to the back and the love DEET filled me up and uh yeah my bottle was empty and he filled me up and the water came straight up out of the top and it was overflowing and I hope deette doesn’t mind me saying this but he was a little
Bit embarrassed because it went all over me and he was a bit like oh you know and I was like don’t worry about it you know I’m into the Overflow we need a bit of the Overflow don’t we and I just feel like God might be saying to us today that
Don’t be embarrassed about the Overflow you know we’ve said time and time again you know it’s going to get a bit messy you know we’re up for the mess you know and if God’s doing something inside of you don’t be don’t be afraid don’t be embarrassed there might be tears there
Might be laughter there might even be a little bit of shaking but don’t be embarrassed cuz God’s here and it’s the Overflow and that’s okay with him and it’s okay with everybody here so we’re praying for the Overflow today fill me up [Applause] again fill us up Again How I Live how I live for the moments when I’m still in your presence whole noise dies down lord speak to me now you have all my attention I will linger and listen I can’t miss a thing Lord I know my heart wants more of you my heart wants something new so I
Surrender all all I want is to live within your love being UND done by Who You Are My Desire is to know you deeper Lord I’ll open up again through my fears into the wind cuz I am desperate for a touch of [Applause] Heaven you’re the fin you’re the fire in the morning you’re the cool in the evening the breath in my soul hold the life in my voice there is no hesitation in your love and affection it’s the sweetest so Lord I know my heart want more with you my heart wants something new so I all all I want is to live within your life be done by Who You Are My Desire is know You Lord I’m an open up I throw my FS into the wind I am desperate for attack our Heaven [Applause] sing Open up my heart to you I open up my heart to you now to do what Only You Can Jesus have your way in me now I open up my heart to you I open up my heart to you now do what Only You Can Jesus have your way have your way
Have your way I open up my heart to you I open up all my heart to you now do what Only You Can Jesus Jesus have your way in me Now [Applause] Happ cuz all I want is live within your love we can by Who You Are My Desire is to Know You Lord how love another again from my to the way I am Dan of Heaven We need a touch from you we need your touch just one touch from the King oh Hallelujah One Touch changes everything just one touch let’s just keep pressing in Church how desperate are we Today so all I want is we [Applause] [Applause] God Holy Spirit you are welcome here come let this place and fill the atmosphere your glory god is what our hearts long for to be be overcome by your presence [Applause] Lord your Presence there’s nothing there’s nothing worth more that will ever come close no can compare you’re a [Applause] living your Presence have tasted and SE hope the sweetest of love when my heart becomes free and the shame is [Applause] under your Presence let’s sing Holy Spirit Holy Spirit you are [Applause] here this place and F the your glory god is one our hearts love for to be overcome by your PR Holy Spirit Holy Spirit you are welcome here let is blessed in the atmosphere Your Glory God is what our hearts long for to be overcome by your presence Lord your [Applause] [Applause] prence let us become more aware of your presence let us experience the glory of your goodness let us become more aware of your praise let us experience the glory of let us be let us become more aware of your praise let us experience the glory of your
Goodness be found more aware of your presence let us experience the glory of your good oh Holy Spirit are welome here come bless this the Earth Your Glory your glory god is one our heart love to be overcome by your praise by your presence [Applause] Lord father that is our cry today that is our cry holy Spirit fill our Lives Holy Spirit may we be the very carriers of your presence God may your glory be seen may your glory be displayed it’s you that we long for God it’s you that we cry out For God fill fill us fill our world with your glory fill our town fill our nation we pray amen with your glory fill our world with your glory god as the waters cover this God fill we Pray just going invite you just take your seats just in these moments just keep just playing just for a few moments I don’t want to interrupt maybe what God is going to do later on today just want to say a few things to you want is say tonight that we the church
Are continue to pursue his presence in a place of humility in a place of hunger and so tonight we are at dun church Baptist Church we’re going to go to their building tonight and we’re going to fill that building with praise and worship and prayers as we call on
Jesus if you haven’t joined us already ready for the past 5 weeks maybe two words why not come if we’re serious about God moving we need to gather together and it’s been incredible over the past five Sunday evenings so tonight we done church Baptist at 6:30 p.m. wouldd love for you
There to be there with us on Thursday night this week for the first time we’re going to go and pray pray and worship in this season I know you’ve done it before but in this season we’re going to gather at 7:30 p.m. right there in the center of Darry by pasi’s
Bar or the Anglican Church that’s right there in the center we’re going to pray God let your kingdom break out in damond tree let the kingdom of God come in powerful ways we’d love for you to join us on Thursday evening for about an hour
Some us may go and get a coffee together if you want to bring your Bible with you bring your Community Bible experience Bible with you we may gather around some of those questions together as I said right the commencement today it’s been great just to see what God’s been doing
And Martin just come just not so quickly but there’s a microphone there because you know the Bible says give honor where honor is due and I love what is happening around the Community Bible experience in the life of our church but if he wouldn’t have been for all of the
Hard work and the commitment that Martin has done since the end of last year we wouldn’t be in the place that we are today I know Martin doesn’t want me to do this but Martin thank you it is so so appreciated we so Martin share well it it’s it’s been a privilege
I mean I’ll be glad when they’re all gone so the best thing for me standing at the door selling them is getting to know people I didn’t know to I might come on the welcome team who Knows that’s been fun but no I’ve been in two groups where we studed it this week and it’s just been amazing what five simple questions have provoked in in people some people have been Christians for years it became a place they could ask the question that they’d
Now being a Christian so long they were too embarrassed to us but at that meeting they were able to and it was just amazing to see what God is doing and so many positive comments that have been made can I say about the what yeah um people are some people aren’t able to
Get to a physical group so one of the things that we’ve done and there might be a slide about this um is we’ve set up a WhatsApp Group which if you’re unable to get to a physical uh group you can sign in to this WhatsApp group use that
QR code and we can have a discussion over those five questions in the WhatsApp group so do this is for those who aren’t in a group we don’t want to fill it with people who just love talking but so I can’t be part of it no
John definitely not um so but but we really would love to have you in there if you’re not able to get in any kind of group but if you can gather together friends someone was just telling me this morning I’ve just got together with a a
Couple of my friends she was looking at the manual we’ve produced and she said we don’t need this do we and I said no you don’t really it’s just those five questions and allow God’s spirit to move as you gather together um so just want to encourage you get into the word of
God and just see the power of the word of God in your life and in the lives of other people brilliant thank you Martin that’s great thank you and then also just to say that on Wednesday evening last week we started Alpha there there was about 25 guests on Alpha last
Wednesday that’s rubbish come on 25 guests on Alpha last Wednesday which was amazing if you are new to Faith you’re new to the life the church you got friends you got family you got neighbors that want to know more what life is all about Alpha on Wednesday night at 7:30
P.m. is the place to be you know it’s incredible and also our open Live group as well Joe and Becky are leading that again Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. if you’re not part of a live group that is a place to be on Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. down in Cambridge Street at
Our church premises down there you know I it’s my privilege to be been the pastor of well three churches really and um the first church that I pastored I was 23 and there’s 23 people in the congregation on my first Sunday how mad is that 23 23 people I must be
Honest on that first Sunday when I preached I haven’t got a clue what I preached on cuz it was nearly 30 years ago I fast forward till like 24 maybe 24 years ago I think it was about that that I became the pastor sorry 23 years ago that I became the
Pastor of the church in kingst in Birmingham you know what I can tell you right now the first two sermons that I preached on that first Sunday in the morning and the evening I actually remember the first sermon that I preached in rugby elen you probably don’t but I do because they were
Significant to me and you know today we are so privileged because we’re going to hear pastor Joe preach at rugby elim for the very first time and you know my prayer is your that as you bring the word of the Lord to us today and I say that not flippantly as
You bring the word of the Lord as you bring the word of God to us today may this be a memorable occasion and I you know I go around a little bit and some of you guys have been with me in places where when you invite somebody to come and
Speak the place just erupts and they do particular things so whatever is comfortable but come on let’s give Joe the massive warm welcome as he comes yeah why not absolutely yeah no J no J believe you bro all right well thank you for that everybody I feel very much welcome how
Are you all doing good good good glad to hear it it’s a real privilege to be able to share uh today um I’m really really excited for what God is going to say because I believe that the Lord is already speaking to us today and he’s
Going to continue to speak to us today um I believe that and I believe that God wants to release us into Freedom into new levels of experiencing his goodness and His glory um how are we getting on with with these good doing all right yeah yeah okay good if anyone is still
Kind of not sure just like it’s still the New Testament it’s still God’s word it’s just in a different order but uh but we still we still going to meet God in this so don’t worry don’t worry too much about it if you’ve got one of these
Um we’re going to be unpacking a piece of scripture that was in uh Thursday’s reading uh which was on page 23 um I believe so you can turn to it there yeah halfway down page 23 and basically what we’ve been reading up to now um we’ve
Been looking at the life of Jesus would you imagine and um we’ve been looking at his ministry his ministry in Galilee in in particular and we’ve seen how Jesus teaches in the synagogue and we’ve seen how Jesus interacted with people who others might have considered Sinners and
He ate with them and we’ve seen that Jesus he heals people he casts out demons uh he feeds the 5000s um and people are really excited about who this Jesus guy is there’s a lot of excitement as we’re going to see in our text but there’s also a little bit of confusion
Around who Jesus is as well uh there’s a lot of ideas flying around about who Jesus is at this portion in the story and this passage we’re looking at today is all about getting to the heart of that identity of Jesus finding out who Jesus is so if you’ve got it halfway
Down page 23 or uh Luke 9:18 um if you’re in a conventional Bible uh and I’ll start reading it’s a bit of a long passage we’re looking at two episodes today just because I really love the Bible and I couldn’t help myself so here we go once when Jesus was praying in
Private and his disciples were with him he asked them who do the crowds say I am they replied some say John the Baptist others say El and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life but what about you he asked who do
You say I am Peter answered God’s Messiah Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone and he said the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders the chief priests and the teachers of the law and he must be killed and on the third day
Be raised to life then he said to them all whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me for whoever wants to save their life will lose it but whoever loses their life for me will save it
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit their very self whoever is ashamed of me and my words the son of man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the father and of the Holy
Angels truly I tell you some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God we’re going to keep going about 8 days after Jesus said this he took Peter John and James with him and went onto a mountain to pray as he was praying the appearance 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 and we can stop there Lord God we just pray that you would open our eyes to see your glory today that you’d speak to us help us to know you more in Jesus name amen
Amen so one of one of the great things about having one of these uh community Bible experience books is that without the chapter and verses and the headings that sometimes other Bibles get it means that those two stories that would normally have different headings and feel quite separate we can actually see
How they’re quite related aren’t they they’re related uh in time because they’re eight days apart uh they’re related in in theme they’re talking about Jesus identity um and they’re related in a number of other ways that I won’t bore you with right now um and at the beginning of this passage Jesus is
Praying and maybe he feels in his spirit that there’s a question that comes up that he needs to ask his disciples so he turns to his disciples and he says who do the crowds say that I am and we know we’ve read the response some say John
The Baptist some say Elijah some say one of the prophets from long ago because the crowd in Jesus day they they’ve heard Jesus teach and they’ve seen the many miracles and they went out in their thousands to get a glimpse of this Jesus but they weren’t really sure
Who he was there’s a little bit of confusion around that and I kind of get what that’s like uh CU growing up you know I’m a twin I’m an identical twin uh if I had some foresight I would have brought a picture to show you but I
Forgot about that um and we often got confused a lot um growing up people would my twin’s name is Alex and so people would often mistake me for Alex growing up uh and in fact my sisters are also twins Jolan and justella so two sets of twins in my family and so you
Can imagine there’s a lot of confusion about who we are and you kind of get used to it um as you get older uh but there’s confusion around who Jesus is in this text isn’t there the crowd are confused some say John the Baptist some say Elijah some say one of the prophets
From long ago these are all good guesses but they’re all wrong and so Jesus asks a second question who do you say that I am who do my disciples my followers say that I am and Peter answers decisively he says God’s Messiah yeah Jesus is that
Anointed one of God the one who God has chosen to rule the Nations disciples know who Jesus is so my first question today for all of us here for whoever’s watching online who do you say Jesus is who do you say Jesus is because there’s a lot of confusion in
Our day as well isn’t there about who Jesus is yeah there are plenty of people in our day who think that Jesus was a good moral teacher but it was nothing more than that and our Muslim friends uh they believe that Jesus was a prophet to
Be revered but but he was nothing more than that and there are people who we work with who we live alongside on our road on our streets our friends our neighbors and for them Jesus is a figure of History who has no relevance in their lives at
All it’s a lot of confusion about who Jesus is so it matters what our answer is when we ask who do we say Jesus is and there might be actually a few people here with us today who are in that crowd group they they relate to the crowd they’re not really sure maybe
You’re not sure who Jesus is you’ve heard that you know Jesus lived long ago did Miracles apparently rose from the dead and this group of people seem to really love him but you’re not really sure for yourself who Jesus is and if that’s you today I would want to just say if you
Want to know Jesus which is one of the best things you can do if you want to know Jesus look to the Cross amen look to the cross of Jesus because this word Messiah that that Peter uses in our text is it means a lot of things to a lot of
People it’s got a lot of baggage and uh it’s not very clear what that means and so Jesus made it very clear what that meant he made sure that they knew what that meant because immediately as Peter said that it was God’s Messiah Jesus says the son of man must
Suffer he must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders the chief priests and the teachers he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life Jesus isn’t the the type of King to take what he wants by force that’s right he is a suffering Messiah
He is a suffering King and if you’re here today and you want to know Jesus look to the Cross because the cross is that place of Jesus suffering it’s the place where Jesus who is fully God and fully man he he bore the weight of our
Sin and our shame on that cross and he put that to death once and for all Jesus was fully sympathized with our struggles yeah in life and at the cross he saved us us from our sins this is who Jesus is yeah he’s a suffering Messiah and the cross was the
Place of his victory amen and disciples are the ones who are able to see that and who who hold on to that and believe that and confess that Jesus is Messiah that he is King that he is Lord and so for many of us in the
Room we are those disciples we make that confession yeah we believe that Jesus is Messiah he’s Lord Lord he King he defeated and conquered sin at the cross and for those of us who’ve made that Journey from the crowd to the disciple I still think there’s there’s
Further that Jesus wants to take us Jesus has more for us as well and that’s what we see in the next part of our passage is it’s an episode often called the Transfiguration and it says about 8 days after this which actually in itself is weirdly specific eight days after Jesus
Had said this and you might wonder why why eight days um can I get nerdy can I get nerdy with you it’s okay I quite like doing that um you know so how long is a is a week seven days Sab so Sabbath cycle is
Is seven days long and so the eighth day is the first day of the new week right yeah and if we were to skip forward in Luke’s gospel get to the resurrection account when was the the empty tomb found by the disciples on the first day of the week
Okay so this Transfiguration story is actually uh foreshadowing and pointing us forward to the resurrection account so that we’re meant to hold them to together and we’ll come back to that we’ll come back to that um so eight days after Jesus said this he took Peter John
And James and went uh went up a mountain to pray and just notice again again when in our first story Jesus was praying and his disciples were with him in the Second Story Jesus Took Peter John and James yeah and they went to pray there’s a lot more intention in
This second story isn’t there yeah Jesus took them and I believe because Jesus was responding to the confession that Peter made earlier he wanted to take him further he wanted to take him higher to a greater level of understanding of who he he is and so he takes them higher
Literally cuz they went up a mountain and he Reveals His glory to them yeah good because Jesus wants to reveal his glory to his disciples you know Jesus is uh the radiance of God’s glory and the exact rep representation of his being and in Jesus the fullness
Of God dwells in human form which means that Jesus is glorious and and beautiful and worthy of our worship and in his life on Earth that Glory was in part veiled by his Humanity but in this moment in in the Transfiguration moment Jesus Took back
The veil to reveal the glory of the Son of God and as he was praying the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning now if you’ve read this before you’ll you’ll know that the next sentence is a bit of a curveball uh
Because then Moses and Elijah appear in glorious spender and they’re talking to Jesus I mean like they’re having this really powerful Moment Like Jesus and his disciples like the disciples are seeing the glory of Jesus and it’s incredible and and then Moses and Elijah are also here and some some reason
They’re talking to Jesus now um so where do they come from and who invited them to the party that’s my question when I when I read that um but I I’ve got three reasons why I think that’s here again I’m it’s a bit nerdy but it’s okay it’s okay it’ll be over quickly
Don’t worry uh three quick reasons before we before we move on Moses and Elijah are there I think to demonstrate that Jesus stands in perfect continuity with the Old Testament scriptures um so Moses is uh one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history as Was Elijah they were
The two giants of Israel’s prophetic tradition and um Moses is associated with the law the Torah which is the first five books of our Bible um and Elijah is associated with the prophetic tradition uh that makes up the rest of uh the the Hebrew scriptures and the
Phrase the law and the prophets is a new testament way of talking about the Old Testament essentially the Hebrew scriptures the law and the prophets um and so the fact that Jesus is talking with Moses and Elijah shows us that Jesus comes in uh in conversation with
The Old Testament it comes in continuity with the law and the prophets the second reason I think they’re there is because it shows that Jesus and uh the departure that he was to fulfill uh in Jerusalem is the Fulfillment of the law and the prophets because you know Moses and
Elijah they weren’t there to talk about the weather they were apparently talking about uh the departure that Jesus uh was bringing to fulfillment in Jerusalem what was about to happen in Jerusalem any takers anyone shout out the crucifixion yeah exactly yeah Jesus was about to be
Crucified on a Roman cross and 3 days later he was about to rise from the dead this is his departure it’s an interesting word uh the the if you were if you have conventional Bible it might have a footnote next to that word departure and say this word in Greek is
Exodus Exodus which also happens to be the name of a book of the Bible the second book of the Bible and in that book of the Bible God famously delivers his people from bondage to and and from slavery in Egypt he defeats pharaoh and the gods of Egypt and also the uh
Passover is established there where there’s the the the blood of the Lamb provides salvation and protection for the people of God so I wonder if maybe what Jesus is going to do in Jerusalem is going to be some kind of freeing people from uh SL slavery and
And bondage to the powers of darkness and maybe maybe the the blood of Jesus is going to do something for I don’t know it’s just an idea it’s just a thought I don’t know yeah but this is why Moses and Elijah are there Jesus is fulfilling the story
Of the law and the prophets that was building up to Jesus and Jesus is the climax of it all one more reason why I think Moses and Elijah are there uh to show that Jesus is greater than Moses and Elijah um both Moses and Elijah had uh powerful moments in encounters with
God on a mountain so if you remember Exodus 33 Moses uh as his Really Brave prayer he says Lord Show Me Your Glory and God answers his request actually and he makes his goodness pass by him um and and it’s a really powerful moment and then Moses comes down from the mountain
And his face is radian is shining because he’s reflecting the glory that he saw um and then hundreds of years after Moses on the same Mountain actually uh Elijah hears God in a gentle whisper and so both of these men had powerful encounters with the Living God
And then here we are on a mountain and Jesus is revealing his glory and Moses and Elijah are with him and but Jesus is he’s the he’s the centerpiece of this story and Luke I believe is trying to tell us that uh Moses and Elijah when
They went up that M Mountain Jesus is the god who they met there Jesus is the one whose Glory they saw and experienced and so as great as Moses and Elijah are Jesus is greater amen so that’s the kind of nerdy bit over Jesus Reveals His glory to his
Disciples and I believe he does that to to confirm that confession that Peter made that Jesus is the Messiah but Jesus does so in a way that makes it clear that he’s a messiah he’s the Messiah of the Old Testament and that means he is a suffering Messiah
That everything that’s about to happen in Jerusalem his death and his resurrection is the Fulfillment of God ‘s Redemptive story right through the law and the prophets right through the Old Testament and so the Transfiguration story is trying to teach us that but I think it works on many levels as well
Because as we saw earlier this story points forward to the resurrection of Jesus where Jesus defeats death and he rises in glory and I believe that we we read this today and it ought to remind us that we do not serve a dead God that’s right Hallelujah we serve a
Living God He Is Risen and he speaks to us here and now today Jesus is interested in Walking With Us speaking to us touching our lives today because he is the Risen Lord and he wants to reveal his glory to us as we walk with him and talk with him day by
Day and I believe that we can do that one of the paths to encountering Jesus is is prayer is isn’t it because Jesus Took Peter John and James up a mountain to to pray right to pray and I don’t think that the disciples were there just twittering their thumbs and playing
Catch with a rock while Jesus was off praying I think they were praying they were praying and prayer was that place where they encountered the glory of God and I believe that the Lord would remind us that prayer is the place that we encounter the glory and the goodness of
God prayer is the place we find that he Comforts us isn’t it prayer is the place where God directs us he speaks to us prayer is the place we encounter the glory of God and another way of encountering the glory of God is through the scriptures because again Moses and
Elijah they were there and they represent the law and the prophets and the truth is we cannot understand who Jesus is apart from the scriptures apart from the Old Testament and the New Testament and so the Bible opens up our eyes to see the glory of God and so
Essentially what I’m saying is read your Bible and say your prayers which sounds very basic when when I was a kid um me and my siblings would often stay at my my Nan’s house U my nan is a wonderful woman and she uses love for Jesus um and whenever we stay
Over at hers right before bed she will say read on our Bible say op prayers and and that’s basically the same advice that I’m giving today but it’s you know it’s these same two things and others besides them that Christians have done for centuries and the Lord
Jesus has met us here in these places of prayer and in the scriptures time and time again Jesus speaks to us in these ways so don’t don’t give up on prayer and don’t give up on your Bible we are working our way through the New Testament so if you’re not on board get
On board because Jesus wants to meet us here now there’s there’s one story uh one sentence in this story that I really really love and this is really the main thing I wanted to draw to our attention today so you can if you’re if you’re timing me you can stop start the timing
Now cuz this is the start of the sermon says Peter and his companions were very sleepy everyone say very sleepy very sleepy but when they became fully awake they saw his glory are we awake today tap the person next to you ask him are you awake I’ve been known to send people to
Sleep with my preaching by the way so as a genuine question it’s an interesting detail they were sleepy yeah but it’s kind of relatable isn’t it like anyone like been praying and they start to feel very sleepy any like s fans just like it’s okay don’t lie in church s
Fans if you’ve not if you if you’ve not got your hands up I’m like I’m not sure you’re telling the truth there we’ve all been there we’ve all been there it happens but Peter and his companions they they were very sleepy but when they became fully awake they saw his
Glory how many of us fail to see the glory of God because we’re asleep how many of us are just feeling a bit disinterested and dis engageed from God at the minute because we’re asleep you know the um the word for sleepy in this text um the Greek word is
The word hnos is where we get our word hypnosis and I think some people in our day and age in the church today are hypnotized by the pleasures of this world yeah come on we are distracted by the cares of this world and we’re asleep and I believe that God wants to
Wake us up because we don’t see his glory if we’re asleep it’s only when we wake up that we see his glory what good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit their very self some of us are distracted pursuing career over pursuing the presence of
God some of us are caught in cycles of addiction pursuing pleasure instead of pursuing the presence of God yeah we need to wake up yeah we need to wake up because when we wake up we see that Jesus is glorious yeah and that there is nothing else that will
Satisfy our heart like Jesus there’s nothing else that compares to beholding his goodness and His glory there’s a a a Psalm that I love Psalm 17 and it ends with this phrase as for me I will be Vindicated then I will see your face and when I awake I will be
Satisfied with seeing all rightness yeah and some people in our world are fast asleep chasing pleasure chasing wealth but only Jesus can satisfy amen our heart Jesus is better he’s better than anything that the world can offer so are we going to wake up are we going to wake
Up now I’m going to wrap up and maybe the band can can join me but I’ve mentioned that the this story that we’re we’re looking at it’s it’s working on many levels and so in the story Jesus Reveals His glory to his disciples so that uh they recognize that
Jesus is Messiah and he’s a suffering Messi time but it’s also pointing us forward isn’t it to the resurrection of Jesus and reminds us that we today today can meet the Risen Lord Jesus he’s here to speak to us he’s here to reveal his glory to us but the story is doing one
More thing it’s pointing us forward actually to the the coming of the Lord amen because he will come again Amen in his glory and in the glory of the father and of the Holy Angels and I sometimes think that we as a church not this church but as the church globally we’ve forgotten
That the Lord is coming abely come on and I feel strongly that every generation of the church has to fully fully fully believe that Jesus is coming soon soon that’s what he said I am coming coming soon and sometimes we can think he’s a bit delayed you know he been 2,000 years
What’s he what’s what’s he doing but I’ll remind you of something Paul says in in Romans 13 He says understand the present time the hour has already come for you to wake up from your Slumber because our Salvation is nearer now than when we first believed wake up from our
Slumber because our Salvation is nearer now than when we first believed I don’t know when any of you guys became Christians when you started following Jesus but Jesus and his return is nearer now than that time yesu and so we should be eagerly eagerly waiting and anticipating he’s coming cuz he’s coming
Soon and Jesus tells a lots of of Parables about how when he comes again he he doesn’t want to find us sleeping he wants us to be awake yes he wants us to to watch Amen to be awake and so my prayer is that whenever the Lord comes that I be awake amen
Okay we’re going to pray if you’re able would you stand with me cuz I I believe that we have some praying to do to to shake off the Slumber uh and so firstly I just want to say if going back to earlier if you are
One of those people who are in the crowd you you kind of you’ve heard of Jesus but you’re not sure who he is can I just say take a closer look right take a closer look at Jesus and you know you’ve already heard that we run an alpha
Course on a Wednesday um Wednesday yeah is they’re looking at Jesus on Wednesday so this will be the time sign up and go cuz Jesus is the most beautiful most glorious one you will ever meet Hallelujah so take a closer look and if you’re one of those like like me a
Disciple a disciple of Jesus you love him and you follow him I believe that the Lord is saying there’s more there’s a higher level there’s deeper intimacy so let’s go let’s go higher and see his glory and there will be some here today and if you’re honest you’ve been Asleep you need to wake up amen to wake up or else you will not see his glory and you know when I Was preparing this talk earlier in the week um one one of the days I I was really tired and it felt quite weird and I had a full day of
Sleep full not day full night of sleep and I was just tired for the whole day and at at some point I was just like I’m not having this and I and I rebuked the the tiredness which might sound like a weird overp spiritual thing to do but actually
I think far too often we settle for things in our lives that do not belong to us they are from the enemy and they’re trying to distract us from what God has for us and so sleep slumber we’re done with that amen amen and I and
I I want to pray this for us as a church Community but I do think there’s an element where you need to take ownership in your own life if you have been asleep that you need to rebuke that Slumber and bring yourself to to to life again so um
I don’t know if you’re comfortable with this but I’m sure that some of you are and if you just pray out loud and and if you need to rebuke the Slumber then rebuke it if you need to ask the Lord to open your eyes to see his glory then do
That but let us pray because we all need to take ownership we all need to wake up we all need to be ready to see his glory because he’s coming again Lord Jesus we thank you because you are so interested in showing us Your Glory we thank you
Lord because you uh you love us and you you’ve brought us real close to you and Lord we don’t want to live a life of distraction we don’t want to live a life where we are confused about who you are we want to see you clearly because you’re glorious God and there’s nothing
Else that will satisfy us nothing but your glory nothing but your goodness and so we pray Lord God that you would open our eyes to see your glory and if we’re asleep Lord wake us up and we rebuke the Spirit of Slumber and we rebuke the
Spirit of sleep and we say wake up arise and shine for Christ shine his lights on you Jesus come and have your way Jesus come and have your way wake us up oh God we pray Amen brilliant thank you Joe Joe if you forget your sermon I won’t forget your first sermon and I’m sure that many people won’t forget the first sermon uh that we’ve had the privilege of listening to we’re going to worship God and I don’t want to distract and
Hopefully what I say will not be a distraction but the older I get the more I wake up early so in my house I’m very often the first person that is awake very early iwake no alarm clock it just happens and I’ve just asked Sam’s permission we communicate to one another so this
Morning I woke I I woke I took Sam a cup of coffee and I went back to doing whatever I was doing and I came back up and said Sam are you okay it’s wasn’t feeling great and I just want to say today you know it’s not about us feeling great
Sometimes we don’t feel great you can look at people on this platform you can think wow look at them guys they’ve got it all together sometimes we don’t feel great but he doesn’t stop us serving Jesus and then Sam I don’t think we’ve been married for 25 years I don’t think
She’s ever asked me to do this before but she said John will come over and help me to get up and I literally went over and we pulled back the covers and I said here you go love and I want to say today the some of us that need to get alongside
Other people and say cuz there’s some people right now and they’re in bed they’re really sleeping and they want to get up but they haven’t got the strength to do it on on their own and they need brothers and they need sisters they need family of God that says you know what
You want to get up I’m going to help you to get up and take that person by the hands and help them I could not do it unless Sam was willing she was willing and I really sense my spirit today that we need to be family around each other and there are
Times when we need to say to one another I need to go to my daughter at times and say hope you’ve got to get up cuz you got to get to school but Dad I don’t want to and I want to say to some people
Come on get up get up if someone stayed in bed she would have missed out on this morning and some of us are missing out on stuff right now because we are lying in bed let me say it clearly get up and if you’re saying I can’t get up do what PSM
7 said will you help me will you help me to pray will you help me to read will you help me to get to the house of God will you help me to get into a life group will you help me to get to Alpha let’s do whatever we can because when
We’re fully awake we see his glory come on let’s see his glory right now church we awaken our souls we awaken our souls we speak to ourselves right now and we say every distraction every every disturbance be put to one side because today God we want to see your glory and
As we see your glory we’ll be like those Disciples of old and God we will fall down on our knees we’ll prostrate ourselves in worship and we will glorify and magnify you King Jesus we won’t wait for heaven because heaven has already come to Earth Earth in the person of
Jesus and we join heaven on Earth and we cry out God you are worthy you are worthy come on Church you are worthy you are worthy King Jesus it was my cross you bore so I could live in the freedom you died For and now my life is yours and I will sing of your goodness forever More Worthy is your name Jesus you deserve the praise worthy is your name Worthy is your name Jesus you deserve the praise worthy is your Name And now by shame is gone I stand amaz In Your Love Undeniable Hallelujah Your Grace goes on and on and I will sing of your goodness forever more Worthy is your name Jesus you deserve the praise worthy is your name Worthy is your name Jesus you deserve praise worthy is your sing worthy Worthy is your name Jesus you deserve the praise worthy is your
Name Worthy is your name Jesus you deserve the praise Worthy is Youry is your Name be exalted now in the heavens as your GL Phil these place you belong you set our praise you’re name above all prise be exalted now in the heavens as your glory fills this place you Al deserve Our Praise you’re the name above our be exalted now in the heavens as the
Glory FS this place you alone deserve Our Praise you’re the name of our exed be exed now in the heavens as go who fills this place you alone deserve Our Praise you’re the name of Our [Applause] Wor Worthy is your name Jesus you Des you Des Worthy is your name Worthy is your name Jesus you deserve the is your name wor is your name j [Applause] [Applause] Des Worthy is your name Jes J you deserve the prise Worthy is your name Worthy is your name Jesus you deserve the praise worthy is your name worthy Worthy is your name Jesus you deserve the praise worthy is your Name He Worthy is your name Jesus you deserve the praise worthy is your sing worthy Worthy is your name Jesus you deserve the praise worthy is Youry worthy worthy so worthy you’re so worthy worthy so worthy you’re worthy of my praise I didn’t plan to do this but I have a sense in my spirit right now we need to do something and today you know as family we don’t stand in a place of judgment we stand in a place of love and this is a family today woke
It may be a big family right now but this is family and if for whatever reason right now you know that you need to wake up I just want you to put it with your hand right now this is not judgment this is family this is reality come on I I
Thank you come on there’s more of you today just put your hand up right Now and just keep your hands up for those whove raised them anybody else these are the people that have got Goods these are the people that are willing to own up to stuff come on keep your hands up come on keep them up now family look at the people right
Now and out of Heart of Love there’s some commitments that need to be made it’s not just about a moment but this is a moment and I want to encourage you if you are close to somebody right now go and stand with that person and go and
Pray come on you need to look around you family and I I want to ask you just to pray for that person don’t ask them questions just pray for them and there’s people right now who have got their hands lifted up and we need more people
To go there’s people toight to my left to your right just come please come on we don’t want anybody to stand alone we don’t leave anybody in a bed today but it’s not just about a moment because it may be that you need to exchange some
Numbers you need to find out where some people live you need to do some life with these individuals come on just pray over them right now come on just pray just pray it’s a moment just a moment in God and I want to speak to our online community right now cuz I sense within me for those people that are watching live right now for some of you there’s reasons why you cannot be in the building we thank God for this vehicle that we can use but I sense to some
People to use a terminology you are in bed right now I don’t know it’s a literal bed or a physical bed but for some of you I believe that God’s saying that this is a moment to throw off the covers and even some stuff has been a
Distraction to you I want to encourage you throw off the cover let us know how we can help you because we don’t believe that we’re made for isolation we believe that we’re made for Community we’re made for family and if we can help you we want to help you
To come alive in Christ Jesus it doesn’t mean that you’re not alive but we want you to become more alive so God we speak to every person online right now we speak to every person in this room for people God that right now is struggling for people that want to be
Awake and people want to be alert people want to be life but for whatever reason it may be they’re not we pray in the name of Jesus that God they would come alive in you that God their eyes that have been heavy would be opened to see
Your glory and to see your Splendor and to see your majesty God we thank you that we can look up because our Redemption draw Us near thank you God that in the world of chaos right now one thing that is certain is that Jesus Christ is coming
Again that soon and very soon we are going to see the king and what a glorious what a wonderful day that is going to be so God may we fix our eyes on the things that are unseen may we fix our eyes on Jesus that God we wouldn’t
Be filled with worry but God that we be filled filled with worship praise and adoration to The Great I Am We Praise You King Jesus and we worship you in all God’s people said amen as I’ve said already commit to the journey with some people commit to the
Journey may we help one another and not hinder one another and we’re going to close off our service today with a not of Praise can we do that cuz I’m ready to let rip you know one of the things that I had to do this morning I had to make a
Choice cuz I knew that at quter 9 today my brother they were going to seek to wake him up in I seeu and I made a commitment God no matter what I’m going to worship you today King Jesus I cannot allow the worry to overcome I need to
Worship you so we’re going to go out a note of Praise as we do we’re going to take up our offering I do need to give an announcement I need you to hear that for one year we’ve just over a year we’ve had Marco we’ve had David
Journeying with us on our eldership and we are delighted that they want to continue on the journey but we need to have absolutely we need to ask for your confirmation and so on the 17th of March for the membership of the life of the church here we’ll be giving you the
Opportunity to to be able to uh confirm that we want them to serve in the life of rugby eling for the season that is ahead of us we will send out the details but 17th of March there will be a special church meeting in order to be
Able to do that for those who are here we’ll be able to physically do that or we may even just be able to do it on our phones anyway but on that day we will have the opportunity to do that are we ready to praise him are praising the
Valley of Praise on the mountain whatever the season we will praise God thank You I’ll Praise You In The Valley Praise You On The Mountain I’ll praise you when I’m sure praise you when I’m down I’ll praise you when I’ve numbered praise you and surrounded cuz praise is a we my enemies [Applause] drown as long as I’m breathing I’ve got a reason to
Brea the Lord of my soul praise the Lord for my soul I praise you when I feel it I praise you when iore I praise cuz I know you still in control my praise is a weapon it’s more than a sound my praise is the shout that brings J go down
As long as I’m breathing I’ve got a reason to PR the Lord my soul you sing praise the Lord of my soul I won’t be quiet my God is alive how could I keep it inside PR to Lord all my Soul I praise CU you Sovereign praise CU you R praise CU you R and defeated the grave I praise cuz you’re faithful praise cuz you’re True Praise cuz there’s nobody greater than you I praise because you’re sovereign praise CU you Reign praise CU you Rose and defeated the grave praise CU you’re faithful
Praise CU you’re true praise God there’s nobody greater than you PR the Lord my soul let me you sing praise the Lord my soul praise the Lord Praise the Lord of my soul PR the Lord of my soul I won’t I won’t be quiet my God is alive how could I
Keep it ins I won’t be I won’t be quiet my God is alive how could I keep it inside I won’t be quiet I won’t be quiet if my God is alive how could I keep it inside PR the Lord for my soul praise the Lord oh my Soul [Applause] Singana Jesus Will lifting you high Great Is Our Savior you’re bringing all things to life sing sing H Jesus we lifting you high Great Is Our Savior you’re bringing all things to life we come [Applause] In the walls are coming down the streets are singing now as we lift up a holy shout the world are caling down our prise will make a way so open up the gates singana Jesus Will lifting you high great is our saor you’re bringing all things to light [Applause]
We the are coming down the streets are singing now as your glory is breaking now the walls the crashing down I’ll praise the name away so open up the gates let your kingom come great and glorious one singana Jesus we lifting you high Great Is Our Savior you’re bringing all things to life
Sing Jesus we lifting him high Great Is Our savior you’re bringing all things to life we come it [Applause] life Com this is the Cry The Cry of our hearts St your Rive with us this is the time the time to arise Spirit awaken your church captives are free and blind eyes will see good news is preached to the PO we lift up the cry we lift up the shout Jesus is Sav
To Jesus we lifting you high gra is your savior you’re bringing all things to love come on S Singana Jesus been lifting you high Great Is Our Savior your bringing all things to light we come it a [Applause] [Applause] light we come [Applause] in this is the C come on this is the Cry The Cry of our hearts start your Revival with us this is the time the time to arise Spirit awaken your church captives are free and bl will see good news is preached to the
Poor the lift up the cry we lift up a shout Jesus is [Applause] saing Did you