In today's message, we explored the profound truth that Jesus Christ is the greater prophet, surpassing all the prophets of old. This understanding is not just a theological concept but a practical reality that impacts our daily lives. We began by examining the context in which Jesus declared Himself greater than Solomon and Jonah, highlighting His unique role as both king and prophet. This declaration was made in response to the religious leaders who sought to discredit Him, yet it revealed His divine authority and mission.

We delved into the significance of the prophetic role, which is to represent God before humanity, complementing the priestly role of representing humanity before God. The prophets of the Old Testament, such as Moses and Elijah, were raised by God for specific purposes, delivering messages of deliverance and discipline. However, Jesus embodies the fullness of these roles, being greater than any single prophet or all of them combined.

The transfiguration event, as recorded in the synoptic gospels, provided a glimpse into the divine glory of Christ, witnessed by Peter, James, and John. This moment revealed the deeper reality of Christ's nature, beyond what is visible and tangible. It underscored the truth that there is more to reality than meets the eye, a reality that is accessible through faith.

We also reflected on the historical figures like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, who were uniquely positioned for their times, drawing a parallel to how God raises leaders for His purposes. Yet, even these great leaders pale in comparison to the greatness of Christ, who is the ultimate deliverer and guide.

In conclusion, the message challenges us to live with the awareness that Christ is the greater prophet, whose teachings and life offer us a fuller reality. We are called to listen to Him, to trust in His provision, and to live in the light of His resurrection and promised return. This understanding should transform how we perceive our circumstances, knowing that there is always more to the story than what we can see.

**Key Takeaways:**

1. **Christ as the Greater Prophet:** Jesus is not just a prophet among prophets; He is the culmination and fulfillment of all prophetic voices. His life and teachings reveal the heart of God, offering both deliverance and discipline. This understanding invites us to see beyond the immediate and trust in His divine purpose. [37:00]

2. **The Transfiguration's Revelation:** The transfiguration event reveals the deeper reality of Christ's divine nature. It reminds us that there is more to reality than what is visible, urging us to live by faith in the unseen and eternal truths of God's kingdom. [47:44]

3. **Historical Parallels and Divine Purpose:** Just as God raised leaders like Moses and Elijah for specific times, He continues to work through individuals today. However, Christ surpasses all, offering a greater deliverance from sin and guiding us through life's challenges. [52:25]

4. **The Role of Faith in Understanding Reality:** Faith allows us to engage with the unseen realities of God's kingdom. It challenges us to trust in God's provision and promises, even when circumstances seem dire, knowing that He is greater than any situation we face. [55:33]

5. **Living Between Resurrection and Return:** As believers, we live in the era between Christ's resurrection and His promised return. This reality calls us to live with hope and expectation, knowing that Christ's ultimate victory assures us of His presence and power in our lives. [01:16:29]

**Youtube Chapters:**

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:01:00] - Introduction to the Series
- [00:05:00] - Jesus Confronts Religious Leaders
- [00:10:00] - The Role of a Prophet
- [00:15:00] - Historical Leaders and Divine Purpose
- [00:20:00] - The Transfiguration Event
- [00:25:00] - Moses and Elijah's Significance
- [00:30:00] - Christ's Greater Role
- [00:35:00] - Faith and Unseen Realities
- [00:40:00] - Living Between Resurrection and Return
- [00:45:00] - Christ's Teachings and Miracles
- [00:50:00] - The Power of Deliverance and Discipline
- [00:55:00] - Conclusion and Call to Faith
- [01:00:00] - Closing Prayer and Dismissal

**Bible Study Discussion Guide**

**Bible Reading:**
1. Mark 9:2-8 - The Transfiguration of Jesus
2. Matthew 12:41-42 - Jesus speaks of being greater than Jonah and Solomon
3. Hebrews 1:1-3 - Jesus as the ultimate revelation of God

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**Observation Questions:**

1. In Mark 9:2-8, what significant event takes place on the mountain, and who are the key figures involved in this event?
2. According to Matthew 12:41-42, why does Jesus refer to Himself as greater than Jonah and Solomon? What does this imply about His identity and mission?
3. How does Hebrews 1:1-3 describe Jesus' role in relation to the prophets of the Old Testament? What does this passage say about His nature and authority?
4. In the sermon, how does the pastor describe the significance of the transfiguration event for Peter, James, and John? [47:44]

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**Interpretation Questions:**

1. What does the transfiguration event reveal about the nature of Jesus, and why is it significant that Moses and Elijah appear with Him? [47:44]
2. How does the pastor draw parallels between historical leaders like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and the role of Jesus as the greater prophet? What does this comparison teach us about divine purpose and leadership? [52:25]
3. In what ways does the sermon suggest that faith allows believers to engage with unseen realities of God's kingdom? How does this perspective challenge our understanding of reality? [55:33]
4. How does the pastor explain the concept of living between Christ's resurrection and His promised return? What implications does this have for how believers should live their lives? [01:16:29]

---

**Application Questions:**

1. Reflect on a time when you faced a situation that seemed overwhelming. How can the understanding that Jesus is the greater prophet and deliverer change your perspective on that situation? [57:40]
2. The sermon emphasizes the importance of listening to Jesus' teachings. What practical steps can you take this week to ensure you are actively listening and responding to His voice in your daily life? [01:04:30]
3. Consider the historical leaders mentioned in the sermon. How can you identify and embrace the unique role God has for you in your current context, knowing that Christ surpasses all earthly leaders? [52:25]
4. The pastor speaks about the role of faith in understanding unseen realities. What specific area of your life requires you to trust in God's provision and promises, even when circumstances seem dire? [55:33]
5. How does the concept of living between Christ's resurrection and His return influence your daily decisions and priorities? What changes might you need to make to live with hope and expectation? [01:16:29]
6. The sermon highlights the importance of recognizing that there is more to reality than what is visible. How can you cultivate a mindset that is open to the unseen and eternal truths of God's kingdom in your everyday life? [47:44]
7. Reflect on the pastor's call to live with the awareness of Christ's ultimate victory. How can this assurance impact the way you approach challenges and opportunities in your life this week? [01:14:26]

Day 1: Christ as the Fulfillment of Prophecy
Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of all prophetic voices, embodying the heart of God through His life and teachings. Unlike the prophets of old who delivered messages of deliverance and discipline, Jesus surpasses them by being the culmination of their roles. His declaration of being greater than Solomon and Jonah highlights His unique position as both king and prophet, revealing His divine authority and mission. This understanding invites believers to see beyond the immediate and trust in His divine purpose, knowing that His teachings offer a fuller reality. [37:00]

"For Moses truly said to the fathers, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.'" (Acts 3:22, ESV)

Reflection: In what ways can you actively listen to and apply the teachings of Jesus in your daily life, trusting in His divine purpose for you?


Day 2: The Transfiguration and Divine Reality
The transfiguration event, witnessed by Peter, James, and John, offers a glimpse into the divine glory of Christ, revealing the deeper reality of His nature. This moment underscores the truth that there is more to reality than what is visible and tangible, urging believers to live by faith in the unseen and eternal truths of God's kingdom. The transfiguration serves as a reminder that faith allows us to engage with the unseen realities of God's kingdom, challenging us to trust in His provision and promises. [47:44]

"And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." (Luke 9:29-31, ESV)

Reflection: How can you cultivate a deeper faith in the unseen realities of God's kingdom, especially when faced with challenges that seem overwhelming?


Day 3: Historical Leaders and Christ's Supremacy
Throughout history, God has raised leaders like Moses and Elijah for specific purposes, yet even these great figures pale in comparison to the greatness of Christ. Jesus surpasses all, offering a greater deliverance from sin and guiding believers through life's challenges. This understanding encourages believers to recognize the divine purpose in their own lives, knowing that Christ is the ultimate deliverer and guide. [52:25]

"By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin." (Hebrews 11:24-25, ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on a time when you felt guided by God through a challenging situation. How can you rely on Christ's guidance in your current circumstances?


Day 4: Faith and Unseen Realities
Faith is the key to understanding and engaging with the unseen realities of God's kingdom. It challenges believers to trust in God's provision and promises, even when circumstances seem dire. This understanding transforms how believers perceive their circumstances, knowing that there is always more to the story than what is visible. By living in faith, believers can experience the fullness of God's kingdom and His divine purpose for their lives. [55:33]

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1, ESV)

Reflection: Identify an area in your life where you struggle to trust in God's unseen work. How can you begin to cultivate a deeper faith in His promises today?


Day 5: Living Between Resurrection and Return
Believers live in the era between Christ's resurrection and His promised return, a reality that calls them to live with hope and expectation. This understanding assures believers of Christ's presence and power in their lives, encouraging them to live in the light of His resurrection and promised return. By embracing this reality, believers can experience the transformative power of Christ's ultimate victory, knowing that He is greater than any situation they face. [01:16:29]

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." (Philippians 3:20-21, ESV)

Reflection: How can you live with a greater sense of hope and expectation, knowing that you are in the era between Christ's resurrection and His promised return?

Week two of a series entitled, Something Greater is Here, and this is a passage, those words came right out of the mouth of Christ when he was being confronted by the religious leaders because his ministry was becoming so popular. The reason it was popular is because of the things he was doing. It wasn't popular because people really at that moment knew who he was or anything to the depth of that we know today, certainly, but he was really beginning to gain an audience and so it began to annoy the religious leaders and on this day he had cast out a demon from a man and it drew a massive crowd and so the Pharisees decided that what they would do is try and discredit him and the method that they used to discredit him was by saying the only reason evil spirits listen to him is because he himself is an evil spirit and that he is the son of Beelzebub because Beelzebub's son would listen to Beelzebub and then of course Jesus looked at him and said, you know, that doesn't make any sense if you really stop and think about it because if a house divided against itself will surely fall, then Satan certainly isn't casting out Satan. And then he began to teach them that what they were seeing was something greater that had ever been seen before and he said, I am something greater than Solomon is here and something greater than Jonah is here and there's a reason why he used those two, but certainly king and prophet, a greater king, a greater prophet, but we know throughout the ministry of Christ he's referred to, as we saw last week, the greater priest. Today we're going to see the fact, what does it mean that he's not just a great prophet, not just that he's the greatest, he's the greater prophet, as he himself said. Next week we'll look at greater king. And so the interesting thing about these messages is hopefully not just some theological understanding, but you will see how practical it is when you understand Christ is the greater priest and today he is the greater prophet. [00:30:57] (123 seconds)

And so, I think what you're going to see today, you already contextually comprehend that if you were to look at the Bible and its history, God chose and raised up these individuals for a unique time, like Esther, for such a time as this, and did extraordinary things through them, never to be replicated nor duplicated, hard to even conceive it could be exceeded. But the truth of the matter, can you just imagine if we were to find somebody in our nation that was George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan all in one? That he was, and not any one person was greater than any one of them, but there was somebody that was greater than all of them simultaneously. Who would you, who would that be? Right, it's Greg Farrell. I know it's on, right, see, it's possible, right? When we think about that in the Bible and you start thinking about the prophets, you know, Abraham, believe it or not, is the first prophet. Then we have Moses, the epic. He is the prophet of Israel while there's more. And then you have people like Elijah and Elisha and Jeremiah and Daniel and Ezekiel. Think about the prophets. Imagine if you could get one person, right, who could exceed any one of them. Can you imagine if you had one person exceed all of them simultaneously? That in one person, you saw everything God ever did in every prophet he had before. Who would that person be? Jesus Christ. They not only pointed to him and indicated who he is and what he would do, he actually is greater than all of them combined. [00:36:08] (111 seconds) Edit Clip


Now, the role of a prophet was to do two things. First, it was kind of the complement of being a priest. Remember last week, we saw the priest would represent man before God. The prophet would represent God before man. It's just the other side of the coin. It's kind of the continuum of communication. You can't just have us talking to God. We got to have God talking to us, and that was the prophet. Much of the prophetic work is speaking for God. Very little of the prophetic work is speaking forth God. You know, what's going to happen? Future telling, not fortune telling. Very little of the prophetic office did that when you really look at, you know, the office of the prophet in the Old Testament. But they did both. They spoke about what God wanted people to hear, but they also told people what God said about what's about to happen, what will eventually happen, what might immediately happen, okay? Those are the two offices. Today, you're going to see two men who represent that office, which is really extraordinary. So, here we are. We're going to look at Mark 9, okay? This story is told in Matthew 12, Luke 11, and Mark 9. So, with all three of the synoptic gospels recording it, it must mean it's important. So, here we go. After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain where they were all alone. So, the scene, if you have just even a little bit of Old Testament history, you've probably seen the movie Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston. And, you know, Charlton Heston would get his greatest revelations. He would have his greatest experiences with God on top of Mount Sinai. That's where God would give him the instructions. That's where God would give him the Ten Commandments, the law. That's where God told him what to tell the people so that when they moved out of Egypt, well, they were already out. When they moved into the promised land, they would have the instructions they needed to live as promised people. And basically, what God was saying through Moses is, a promised life without the principles of God is not a promised life. It's a problem, okay? And so, Moses had an experience high up on that mountain. Now, there's another guy you're going to see in a moment in this story. His name is Elijah, okay? Elijah had two powerful experiences with God, one alone and one with a massive crowd of foreign worshipers. And on that mountain, God would demonstrate himself powerfully publicly, but the private moment was so compelling. [00:38:19] (160 seconds) Edit Clip


And what you'll see in Matthew's gospel today will seem kind of mysterious, seem kind of ethereal, like we should have a lot of smoke blowing right now. But it's not. It's extraordinarily practical. Just follow through. It's really like nine verses, I think, maybe eight verses of a very powerful moment in the life of Christ and the ministry of Christ. But there's so much more to the moment than, if you will, the moment. And that's the whole reason. So today, as we look at Christ as the greater prophet, it isn't just that he's greater than anyone. He's greater than all of them at once. And that is the key to who he is, right? We can experience a fuller reality because Jesus is the greater prophet. [00:45:53] (45 seconds) Edit Clip


And when we see the reality that he overcame his own death you got to understand there's got to be something more to reality than what is just measurable tangible touchable seeable and knowable that you know what you look at Israel and the Gaza Strip and that conflict. And you know what we're supposed to know? It could be otherwise. There's a reality that we do not see. But we know it exists. We may not know it. But we know it's there. And it doesn't have to be that epic. It could be a family. Who's battling cancer. We don't see everything in the midst of the drought. But we know. We know. Because we follow the greater prophet. The prophet who proved by raising himself from the dead. [01:13:43] (72 seconds)

And what's so compelling is christ is a prophet declaring now he's not just teaching he's now declaring something that's going to happen in the future he's in that prophetic office now and you know what happens to a prophet who declares something that's going to happen that doesn't happen you kill him he's like don't tell anybody until i've validated the reality that i'm a prophet so say nothing of what you've seen here until you see me alive again in fact it's so much more dramatic than that because in this text probably not in matthew but mark makes a point of it it see it says had risen not had been risen which would imply someone else raised him from the dead which we know the bible ascribes that to god the father and the spirit but this again is in the active voice in the greek he's basically saying don't tell anybody until i raise myself from the dead it's when the subject and the object are the same thing he wasn't just saying don't tell anybody till i'm resurrected what he said through mark is don't tell anybody till i raise myself from the dead [01:11:29] (79 seconds)

and we know what happened he raised himself from the dead and now we like like peter james and john stood between the transfiguration and the resurrection we now stand between the resurrection and the second coming our eyes too have seen something that is indescribably miraculous but it wasn't on top of a mountain it was at the mouth of an empty tomb [01:13:10] (32 seconds)

And He overcame the darkness, plague of death for you. He is the greatest teacher. He is the one who's able to take a complicated law and not abolish it, but praise God Almighty, fulfill it. The law no longer stands against the follower of Jesus Christ. You're not above it, but you're not beneath it. It now becomes a boundary of protection, rather than a system of punishment, if you should violate it. So you and I now know when Christ could take thou shalt not kill and say, but you've heard it said, thou shall not kill. But I say unto thee, if you get angry in your heart, it is as though you already have, because he knows. If you can control your anger, you're never going to murder. He's the one who can drill it down to the simplicity of, thou have heard it said that you should not commit adultery. But I say unto thee, if you have lust in your heart, it's as though you already have. Because if we can control our eyes and our lusts, we're never going to violate the relationships of our life. It's a little bit easier to understand and comprehend what God wanted, because we have the great teacher that explained it. [01:04:30] (76 seconds)

And the heart of God through Christ is revealed. He's greater than Elijah. You're never going to run out. There's never going to be a day when you hit the spiritual well and find that it has run dry. You're not. The well runs deep. You have the Spirit of God in you. Jesus said, those of you who drink from me shall never thirst. Now, sometimes we start thirsting for the wrong things and Christ has got to get our attention, send a little drought to dry up those things so that you'll go back to the one pure well. Yep. The brook that Elijah drank from. But as there was bread in the widow's house, so there shall be sustenance in your soul. I am the bread of life, Christ said. Elijah just provided a feeding miracle. And Christ himself is the miracle. There's always a greater alternative on the tower, on Mount Carmel. When Christ, when Elijah is having to battle with the prophets of Baal, there's 600 of them. It's 600 against one. And Elijah's the one who called him out. He said, all right, big boys, it's competition day. You get all of you against me. 600 of y 'all, one of me. So they go up on Mount Carmel. And it is go time. It's kickoff. And so they got to set the rules. And Elijah says, let's do this. You get an altar, I'll get an altar. You sacrifice all, whatever you're supposed to do to your gods, I'll sacrifice to my God. And then we'll pray. And whichever altar is consumed by fire, that is therefore evidence of who the one true God is. And the prophets of Baal are like, you got it big boy. And so Elijah's like, oh really? You go first. I'll kick off to you. So he kicks off and there they are. And they spend 12 plus hours like begging a God that didn't exist to send fire. And of course, Elijah being much like, he's my kind of guy, he starts trash talking. And he literally says at one point, is your God on the toilet? I mean, where is he relieving himself? And literally he says that. And they start beating themselves with sticks. They're now flagellating themselves to the point of blood because they can't get their gods to respond. And that's the reason because they don't exist. And Elijah finally said, okay, second half, my turn. And when he gets the ball, before he ever says a word, he tells all the servants, go get his mother. [01:07:19] (167 seconds) Edit Clip

The New York City of Boston Gistrood quelque part. I'm super excited to celebrate how the future constructed is where it will have a pass on and in your life. I can say, you can start to actually discover the future of the selected one teaching wherever we go.

While us, we're preparing two vielä children on the coast, from D-Dog yeast, that we ought to learn and to learn a different way.

Week two of a series entitled, "Something Greater is Here," and this is a passage. Those words came right out of the mouth of Christ when he was being confronted by the religious leaders because his ministry was becoming so popular. The reason it was popular is because of the things he was doing. It wasn't popular because people really at that moment knew who he was or anything to the depth that we know today, certainly, but he was really beginning to gain an audience, and so it began to annoy the religious leaders.

On this day, he had cast out a demon from a man, and it drew a massive crowd. The Pharisees decided that what they would do is try and discredit him, and the method that they used to discredit him was by saying the only reason evil spirits listen to him is because he himself is an evil spirit and that he is the son of Beelzebub because Beelzebub's son would listen to Beelzebub.

Then, of course, Jesus looked at them and said, "You know, that doesn't make any sense if you really stop and think about it because if a house divided against itself will surely fall, then Satan certainly isn't casting out Satan."

Then he began to teach them that what they were seeing was something greater than had ever been seen before. He said, "I am something greater than Solomon is here and something greater than Jonah is here." There’s a reason why he used those two, but certainly king and prophet, a greater king, a greater prophet.

But we know throughout the ministry of Christ he's referred to, as we saw last week, the greater priest. Today we're going to see the fact, what does it mean that he's not just a great prophet, not just that he's the greatest, he's the greater prophet, as he himself said. Next week we'll look at greater king.

The interesting thing about these messages is hopefully not just some theological understanding, but you will see how practical it is when you understand Christ is the greater priest, and today he is the greater prophet.

In American history, I think if we asked anybody, you could probably pinpoint one or two or maybe four or five at the most, but really one, two or three leaders in our nation that were uniquely called, uniquely gifted, uniquely positioned, where it would be really, really easy to say they were a great leader, one of the greatest leaders in our nation's history.

I mean, simply, certainly you would start with the first one. You would have to go to George Washington, who is called the father of this nation. But what he did and how he did it and how he birthed this nation, and it wasn't just birthing the nation. At first, we had to set ourselves free from the oligarchy, if you will, the tyranny of another nation.

We had to battle and fight a war and shed blood in order to have freedom. But as we know, freedom in and of itself can become very chaotic if there is no order. And so his heart was not to be president. He did not want it. But they continued to wear on him, and he finally agreed that he would serve not only as the first general to lead the entire United States military but also the first president. Very unique. You can't even replace that, right? You can't duplicate that or replicate that. Just once in human history, once in American history.

I think it'd be easy to say that Abraham Lincoln was one of those. That what George Washington was, Abraham Lincoln in many ways was the opposite of that. Because the enemy now was from within. We weren't having to fight against a foreign nation and foreign power that was using tyranny to keep us, if you will, enslaved.

We were a people who were using racism and slavery to keep a people enslaved. And God chose and raised up this unique person, a guy who failed twice running for the United States Senate, could not be elected in his own home state as a senator, finally ran and was elected as president of the United States. Unique, I don't think there's another one coming.

And that is not to diminish the work of a Martin Luther King who certainly stood upon the shoulders and continued carrying that ball down the field. But when you think about it, you can think about an FDR, if you will. Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a time when our nation was reeling, you know, and the depression was destroying individuals. God raised somebody up.

Or Ronald Reagan, who was raised up by God, a uniquely positioned man to tell Gorbachev, "Tear down that wall, set those people free."

And so, I think what you're going to see today, you already contextually comprehend that if you were to look at the Bible and its history, God chose and raised up these individuals for a unique time, like Esther, for such a time as this, and did extraordinary things through them, never to be replicated nor duplicated, hard to even conceive it could be exceeded.

But the truth of the matter, can you just imagine if we were to find somebody in our nation that was George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan all in one? That he was, and not any one person was greater than any one of them, but there was somebody that was greater than all of them simultaneously. Who would you, who would that be?

Right, it's Greg Farrell. I know it's on, right? See, it's possible, right? When we think about that in the Bible and you start thinking about the prophets, you know, Abraham, believe it or not, is the first prophet. Then we have Moses, the epic. He is the prophet of Israel while there's more.

And then you have people like Elijah and Elisha and Jeremiah and Daniel and Ezekiel. Think about the prophets. Imagine if you could get one person, right, who could exceed any one of them. Can you imagine if you had one person exceed all of them simultaneously? That in one person, you saw everything God ever did in every prophet he had before.

Who would that person be? Jesus Christ. They not only pointed to him and indicated who he is and what he would do, he actually is greater than all of them combined.

And what you'll see in Matthew's gospel today will seem kind of mysterious, seem kind of ethereal, like we should have a lot of smoke blowing right now. But it's not. It's extraordinarily practical. Just follow through. It's really like nine verses, I think, maybe eight verses of a very powerful moment in the life of Christ and the ministry of Christ.

But there's so much more to the moment than, if you will, the moment. And that's the whole reason. So today, as we look at Christ as the greater prophet, it isn't just that he's greater than anyone. He's greater than all of them at once. And that is the key to who he is, right? We can experience a fuller reality because Jesus is the greater prophet.

Now, the role of a prophet was to do two things. First, it was kind of the complement of being a priest. Remember last week, we saw the priest would represent man before God. The prophet would represent God before man. It's just the other side of the coin. It's kind of the continuum of communication. You can't just have us talking to God. We got to have God talking to us, and that was the prophet.

Much of the prophetic work is speaking for God. Very little of the prophetic work is speaking forth God. You know, what's going to happen? Future telling, not fortune telling. Very little of the prophetic office did that when you really look at, you know, the office of the prophet in the Old Testament. But they did both. They spoke about what God wanted people to hear, but they also told people what God said about what's about to happen, what will eventually happen, what might immediately happen, okay?

Those are the two offices. Today, you're going to see two men who represent that office, which is really extraordinary. So, here we are. We're going to look at Mark 9, okay? This story is told in Matthew 12, Luke 11, and Mark 9. So, with all three of the synoptic gospels recording it, it must mean it's important.

So, here we go. After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain where they were all alone. So, the scene, if you have just even a little bit of Old Testament history, you've probably seen the movie "Ten Commandments" with Charlton Heston. And, you know, Charlton Heston would get his greatest revelations. He would have his greatest experiences with God on top of Mount Sinai.

That's where God would give him the instructions. That's where God would give him the Ten Commandments, the law. That's where God told him what to tell the people so that when they moved out of Egypt, well, they were already out. When they moved into the promised land, they would have the instructions they needed to live as promised people.

And basically, what God was saying through Moses is, a promised life without the principles of God is not a promised life. It's a problem, okay? And so, Moses had an experience high up on that mountain.

Now, there's another guy you're going to see in a moment in this story. His name is Elijah, okay? Elijah had two powerful experiences with God, one alone and one with a massive crowd of foreign worshipers. And on that mountain, God would demonstrate himself powerfully publicly, but the private moment was so compelling.

Because Moses was the George Washington. He's the guy who had to lead the forces that had to set them free from an anarchy, from an empire that was imposing its will on the Jewish people, on the Hebrews, enslaving them, not letting them be free. And God chose him, if you will. I know Abraham is, but as the father of Israel, he's the one that would lead them out, lead them through, and lead them in. That was Moses.

But Elijah, he's more the Abraham Lincoln. He's the man that God would raise up during a time when the enemy was from within. That Israel had been so disobedient and so distracted, when they got into promise, they didn't follow the principles that God had given them through Moses.

So God sometimes uses a prophet and he gives them the voice of deliverance, and sometimes he uses a prophet and gives them the voice of discipline. It's both voices. But they both have the same intent to lead you out of and lead you into.

Now, I hope you're beginning to see how Christ is both and yet greater still. So up on this mountain, he takes three people with him, which is really important because the most compelling mountaintop experiences were always for the person. But now we got witnesses. We got three people that are about to experience something that has never been seen, never been heard, never even imagined before in the human mind.

These three men are about to engage in what is so compelling, okay? And it is the reality, okay, that there is actually another reality, that there's layers to creation that go deeper and well beyond the senses of humanity, that you can touch, taste, see, hear, and measure, that the ability for man to imagine, and these are the words of Walter Brueggemann, my favorite author, it could always be otherwise, that at any given moment, the Christian mind must never forget, it could be otherwise, that that which you're actually seeing right now, are you taking into effect that there is that unseen layer, that there's things that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind can know, that there really is something powerful, there's a reality that is substantially more significant than reality.

That's why I said no, it's not mystical, it's not mystery, we're not getting out a Ouija board, I don't need smoke, it's not a seance. In fact, it's just, there's more to reality than the dimensional world in which you and I live, and these three guys are about to experience it, okay?

And you'll see in a moment why. So, there Jesus was transfigured before them. Mark writes, his clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could possibly bleach them. These men are given an opportunity to see that there was a layer to Christ, a reality to Christ that wasn't measurable, that people, you just weren't going to see it unless you had a special opportunity to be engaged by it, that only these three guys saw the fullness of the glory of Jesus Christ, only those three.

And this happens before the crucifixion, this happens before the resurrection. He actually takes them up, and all the fullness of, he transfigured his metamorphosis, kind of like what a butterfly's doing right now, getting ready to flap its way out of that cocoon. It's just the glory of that which is inside is then fully revealed on the outside.

And here's these three men who have been walking with Christ at least a year, maybe two at this point, who have seen just the ordinary things. They've seen the miracles, they've seen the feedings, they just saw the casting out of the demons, and what they're seeing is powerful and wonderful, but God knew, Christ knew, they need to know, if you will, there's more to Christ than meets the eye, that there's a reality beyond what you're seeing right now that is glorious and wonderful.

And just remember what I'm about to say, they saw it before the crucifixion and resurrection. The truth is, if you're in Christ, you got to see it afterwards. So God is giving them a previous glimpse of something that is so profound and so wonderful, and it's this: there's always something more to reality than just meets the eye, okay?

So you experience a full reality before we experience the fullest reality of Christ. So what we're waiting for now, they were waiting, did not know, they did to some extent, crucifixion and resurrection, we're waiting for return.

So while we're living between resurrection and return, what we learn from this passage from the three gospel writers is, never forget there's more to Christ than met the eye. Don't just compare him to the prophets of old, realize that he is greater than all the prophets of old, that as you and I journey through this world, there is a glory that you may not see unless God chooses to reveal it, but that doesn't mean it's not real.

That yes, there are powers and principalities of darkness, that next week you'll see it, the kingdom of heaven is here, it's at hand, it's not touchable, it's not tangible, it's not measurable, but it doesn't mean it's not real.

And as you and I walk through life, you can imagine, they were getting ready to witness with their eyes the worst possible thing they could ever think would happen to their rabbi, and that's true for you and me. We walk into situations we could have never seen coming, we walk through this world struggling, sometimes we're like the Hebrews, oppressed by situations, and what we need is someone who can walk into our world and deliver us from that.

But we got one that's greater than Moses, and if you fail to continue to comprehend that it could be otherwise, that there is more to this than meets the eye, that you, like Israel, you may stay enslaved for far longer than you're supposed to, or maybe it's the disobedience, and God finally shows up, as he did in the life of Elijah, to say it's time for discipline, and now you find yourself in a three-year drought, and you're wondering what's going on.

Never forget, it could be otherwise. There's always more to the story than meets the eye, and that's the power of this moment.

And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Now, this is just supernatural, mind-blowing, inconceivable, but real. Now, Elijah, we know, never died. He was just taken off the face of the earth at the end of a ministry day. Moses, we know, did die. We know he died because God went to Joshua and said, "Moses, my servant is dead. Now then, you and these people."

But we also know from the book of Jude in the New Testament that the archangel Michael fought with the devil over Moses' bones, and obviously, the angel won because the bones ended up in heaven. They're not still in the ground. So, he just experienced kind of an early second-coming rapture.

So, you've got two physical containers that are now in heaven. And when Jesus is on top of this mountain, he is giving these three men a glimpse into a radical conversation with these two prophets, okay? Elijah and Moses. The other two gospels go Moses, then Elijah. The order is not necessary.

And here's what Peter says to Jesus, "Rabbi, it's good for us to be here." Absolutely good for you to be there. Couldn't get any better than that. So, you combine these two incredible prophets together in one moment. And Christ is having a conversation with them.

And what he's ultimately trying to reveal is the ministry of Moses and the ministry of Elijah are not only combined in Christ, they're superseded by Christ, as it was with Moses. Christ came into this world to speak to the power systems. From the very day that he was born, he was marked by death, just like Moses.

It was at the bottom of the birth stool that Pharaoh said, "Strangle every single solitary boy before they're strong enough to live." So, it was with Herod at the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. "Kill every child under the age of two."

As Moses came and was born to go to a people, but more importantly, to speak to power. To speak to the power systems of this world who at times think that they're in control of everything. To politicians who think they're in control of everything. To the rich at times who have thought they're in control of everything. To the poor who at times think they have control over nothing.

To the vulnerable, to those who have tasted racism and injustice and suppression and oppression, Moses went. But think about Christ. Who did he come for? He came for the liar, for the loser, the lunatic. He came for the leper. He hung around the drunkards, the whores, and the prostitutes so much they called him one.

Surely he's a friend of these gluttons. He's just like them. How dare he be friends with tax collectors? How dare he touch a leper? Christ was not the least bit concerned with the power systems of this world. He came and turned them completely upside down.

But he also had the courage to stare Pilate straight in the face and say, "You have no authority to take my life. I have the authority to lay it down and the authority to take it back up again." He stared down Rome completely, eye to eye, face to face, and never backed down, never backed away.

And like Moses, never used strength nor violence to conquer or overcome. He used the very same things that Moses would use to break the stranglehold of Pharaoh: miracles. Creational miracles. God starts by turning water into blood. And then God starts using aspects of creation.

I don't know about you, but the frogs would have gotten my attention. It would have buckled my knees if there were frogs everywhere. And so then he uses hail, and then he uses locusts. God uses whatever he wants to use. You know why? Because everything's at his disposal, because he's the sovereign God Almighty, and he finally broke the back of Pharaoh, not by using anything in creation or from creation.

He used death, and it was finally the death of the firstborn in Egypt that set the people free. No telling how many hundreds or possibly thousands of firstborn children died that day. We don't revel in that agony, but we do realize it reveals God's glory.

And when God says, "Let my people go," he means it. But then you think about an Elijah where six, seven hundred years later, he's got to now represent God because the people are so wayward. These very same people who experienced the fullness of God's greatness, his grace, they have walked through the Red Sea. They have literally drank water from a rock. They've had manna served to them every day. They lasted 40 years in the wilderness, and their shoes and clothes never wore out. Quail out of nowhere. His presence was with them all the time, right?

In the tabernacle with a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night. They finally get into promise, and you know what they did? Exactly what God told them not to do. Don't forget my principles, okay? And they forgot them.

And so now we're six, seven hundred years into utter disobedience. The kingdom of God, that Israel is completely split. They've had their own civil war. They were not able to reconcile it. So they have a north and a south that are two completely different nations. Two completely different kings running, one the north, one the south. And they are all depraved and decadent.

And God chooses this guy. This guy who dresses funny, eats funny. He's the precursor to John the Baptist. This man's name is Elijah. And think about the message that God sends. Like saying, "Let my people go." Woo-hoo-hoo! We love Moses, right?

Elijah's message is, "It's not going to rain for three years. Congratulations, Israel. Enjoy the drought." Oh my God. You see, because sometimes God acts in ways on this earth and within humanity, within human history, and he says, "I've seen enough. You don't want me? Good. Then you don't get my rain."

It's a rough place to be. Especially if you're Elijah and you didn't do anything to deserve it. It's like Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, right? Those three guys are carried off to Babylon. They obviously didn't do anything wrong because God honors them.

And the truth is, there will be seasons in your life and my life where God may be disciplining one member of your family. But the drought affects all of you. God may be disciplining one nation for one reason. And we don't know it because he's sovereign. And it affects every citizen.

And Elijah is this guy who, he's the one who declares it and he's got to live in it. But God does something extraordinary. That even in the midst of scarcity, when the rain had stopped, God led him to a brook where there was plenty of fresh water.

That even in a drought, there was something to drink. And when that brook dried up and God intentionally dried it up to motivate Elijah to move from that comfort zone, Elijah goes all the way to the northern tip of the kingdom.

And in the northern tip was a widow with a son. And that widow had enough dough left to make one sandwich, half for her son, half for her, and then they were going to die. And Elijah shows up and says, "Hey, ma'am, make a sandwich for me first and then you." She said, "I don't have enough to do that. If I make it for you, there's nothing for us."

He said, "Trust me. Make a sandwich for me and you'll never run out." She made a sandwich for him, and she never ran out. Because it takes faith to act on the word of God that says, "Give me what you have left, all that you have left, and you'll never run out."

Like, can you imagine, you know, like you're down to your last 10 bucks, and God shows up and says, "How much is your mortgage? 1,100 bucks. Give me the 10, and you'll be fine."

"I ain't giving you the 10. That's my Big Mac, boy. I'm going to go get me a Big Mac meal, and then I'm going to get evicted and learn to live on the streets, but I'm eating that Big Mac."

And you're like, okay. Imagine the faith that that took in a drought. In other words, circumstances don't have to dictate your expression.

But lo and behold, Elijah didn't go there because she was going to run out of bread, but because she was going to run out of hope. Because shortly after that feeding miracle, her son died. And of course, she goes to Elijah and says, "So is that what you came to do? To deliver the very punishment of God?"

And he said, "Where's the boy?" And Elijah goes in the back room, lays on that boy, and that boy comes back to life. Because death is still worse than a drought, but it's still no match for God. Right.

And you really think Elijah went up there because she was going to run out of bread? No. It's because that boy was going to run out of breath. He's not greater than either one of them. He's greater than both of them simultaneously.

And that is your prophet. He's the one who comes to preach the message of deliverance. But he's also the one who has to preach the message, okay, of discipline. But even in discipline and drought and devastating circumstances that surround, there's still a provision. He still provides. He's still great.

And this is what they see. No wonder Peter, I don't think he understands the totality of it, but no wonder he wants to stay there. We experience a full reality of Christ when we understand. He is that. He is. He's the greater prophet.

And I'll give you a list of a couple of things that's greater about him in just a moment. Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my son whom I love."

Okay, you see what God's doing, right? And in Matthew's gospel, you know, that Moses was the greatest prophet ever. So Matthew writing to the Jews like, "There's one thing greater than being a prophet. A prophet of God is an honor, but a son of God, that's quite unique."

Elijah, woohoo! Prophet of God is quite an honor. Son of God is quite unique. This is my son, who is a prophet. No question about it. In fact, remember in Mark chapter 8, when Jesus asked Peter, "Who do people say I am?"

"Well, you're the Christ. You're the prophet." You're right. And Jesus didn't deny any of that. Okay? The very next chapter is when they went up on the mountain.

So what we have, I'm not making this up. It's not just that he's greater than Moses, and it's not just that he's greater than Elijah. He's greater than Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah. You put them all together at any one moment, they still are not as great as Christ is.

Because he's not just a prophet, he's also the son. And he's your Lord. And he's your savior. And the father says, "I love him."

Now, what does he say? What was the prophet always supposed to do for God? Speak. Listen to him. Isn't that the biggest challenge of all? It's to just listen. Listen to him.

And at times, do what he says. Listen, you got to know, Moses is, he's a representative of the law. And Christ takes the law, and he gets it all the way down to two things. There's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of commands, let alone the thousands of commands that are contained in what's called the Midrash, which is the commentary of the Old Testament.

And Christ looks at him, at the thousands of things that are required. It's like, nah, just love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. You fulfill the law. You're good. Wow, right? I mean, it's just phenomenal, okay?

Listen to him. Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. Because in a moment like that, and at any given moment in life, what's more important than being with Jesus?

In Matthew, you see Peter say, "Hey, you want me to build some tents? We'll stay right here. I'll build one for you. I'll build one for Moses. I'll build one for Elijah. And we'll all stay right here."

And you're like, "No, man, we got to go back down. This is the greatest moment, okay?" When we experience it, we realize what it's ultimately powerfully pointing towards.

These prophets were pointing towards something that was not just greater than them individually, greater than them corporately, greater than everything combined at one given moment. So, we experience that when you understand the epic story of Scripture.

So, Moses. Jesus is greater than Moses. He truly is the greater exodus. Moses led Israel out of Egypt. Christ leads people out of sin. That's amazing.

In fact, what touches off the exodus, what happens the night before the exodus is finally unleashed? We understand these great miracles that ultimately, I didn't put it in the right order, preceded it. But what happens on the night before the exodus? It becomes one of the most sacred holidays celebrated on the Jewish calendar: Passover.

So, on that night, God told Moses and He told the people, He told the nation. Egyptian and Jew alike could be delivered when the angel of death passed through if you put blood on the doorpost.

So, as the angel of death passed through, the claim was, and it happened, is that the firstborn of every family will die if you don't put blood on the doorpost. Well, here's the truth. The angel of death passed over many, many houses. It passed over the home of Moses.

But what's unbelievable, if you comprehend this, is that Jesus didn't experience the Passover. Death didn't pass over Him. It passed right through Him. He's the blood you need to put on your doorpost.

He's the firstborn Son of God. Moses was able to tell everybody about a faithful expression of blood on a doorpost. But Christ is the sacrifice. It's His blood that now has to go over your heart.

And how does God provide that? But by taking the life of His firstborn. Death did not pass over Him. It passed right through Him. Not to get you and me free from Egypt, but to get us free from sin.

And if you've accepted Christ, and you have that blood of His sacrifice on the doorpost of your heart, you will never know death, you will never see death, you will never taste death. Jesus says those three things in the Gospel accounts very clearly.

Oh, you'll die, but you won't know death, see death, or taste death. You won't have that experience ever to feel what it's like to be separated from God Almighty. To be absent from that container is to be present with the Lord.

And He overcame the darkness, plague of death for you. He is the greatest teacher. He is the one who's able to take a complicated law and not abolish it, but praise God Almighty, fulfill it.

The law no longer stands against the follower of Jesus Christ. You're not above it, but you're not beneath it. It now becomes a boundary of protection, rather than a system of punishment, if you should violate it.

So you and I now know when Christ could take "Thou shalt not kill" and say, "But you've heard it said, 'Thou shall not kill.' But I say unto thee, if you get angry in your heart, it is as though you already have," because he knows.

If you can control your anger, you're never going to murder. He's the one who can drill it down to the simplicity of, "Thou have heard it said that you should not commit adultery. But I say unto thee, if you have lust in your heart, it's as though you already have."

Because if we can control our eyes and our lusts, we're never going to violate the relationships of our life. It's a little bit easier to understand and comprehend what God wanted because we have the great teacher that explained it.

And you think about the 10 plagues that broke the stranglehold of Pharaoh's back. And they were all used to break power. You look at the miracles of Christ, and it was to set people free.

He walked on that water. He didn't have to turn it to blood. He fed 5,000 with a small child's loaf of bread. He was the one who was able to raise Lazarus from the dead and give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf.

He's the one that actually touched a leper while he was still in his leprosy. That the miracles he performed actually have messages, not just demonstrations of power to show that God is powerful. The miracles of Christ demonstrate that God is personal.

That each one of them has a statement that's attached to them that runs far deeper than just the fact that God can. They demonstrate who God is. And the heart of God through Christ is revealed.

He's greater than Elijah. You're never going to run out. There's never going to be a day when you hit the spiritual well and find that it has run dry. You're not. The well runs deep. You have the Spirit of God in you.

Jesus said, "Those of you who drink from me shall never thirst." Now, sometimes we start thirsting for the wrong things, and Christ has got to get our attention, send a little drought to dry up those things so that you'll go back to the one pure well.

Yep. The brook that Elijah drank from. But as there was bread in the widow's house, so there shall be sustenance in your soul. I am the bread of life, Christ said.

Elijah just provided a feeding miracle. And Christ himself is the miracle. There's always a greater alternative on the tower, on Mount Carmel. When Christ, when Elijah is having to battle with the prophets of Baal, there's 600 of them.

It's 600 against one. And Elijah's the one who called him out. He said, "All right, big boys, it's competition day. You get all of you against me. 600 of y'all, one of me."

So they go up on Mount Carmel. And it is go time. It's kickoff. And so they got to set the rules. And Elijah says, "Let's do this. You get an altar, I'll get an altar. You sacrifice all, whatever you're supposed to do to your gods, I'll sacrifice to my God. And then we'll pray.

And whichever altar is consumed by fire, that is therefore evidence of who the one true God is." And the prophets of Baal are like, "You got it, big boy." And so Elijah's like, "Oh really? You go first. I'll kick off to you."

So he kicks off, and there they are. And they spend 12 plus hours begging a God that didn't exist to send fire. And of course, Elijah being much like, he's my kind of guy, he starts trash talking.

And he literally says at one point, "Is your God on the toilet?" I mean, where is he relieving himself? And literally he says that. And they start beating themselves with sticks.

They're now flagellating themselves to the point of blood because they can't get their gods to respond. And that's the reason because they don't exist. And Elijah finally said, "Okay, second half, my turn."

And when he gets the ball, before he ever says a word, he tells all the servants, "Go get as much water as you can and drown this sacrifice." So they do. They come and they saturate. He said, "Okay, go get it and do it again."

He said, "Okay, go get it and do it again." And now all the wood, in fact, they dig a trench around to make sure the fire doesn't spread. The entire trench is filled with water.

And all he barely gets the word "God" out of his mouth, and the fire drops, and God honors that sacrifice, and he laps that up. He laps up all of the water.

And tragically, every one of the opposing prophets died that day because they were leading people to worship non-existing gods. They were deceiving them, leading them in ways that experientially they were experiencing things, but eternally what they were going to experience was going to be death, and God took their leaders out.

Think about the sacrifice of Christ. When Christ cried out to his father from the cross, he didn't respond. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He didn't send down lightning. He didn't send down confirmation.

He was being mocked, ridiculed, beaten, stabbed, spit on, cursed at because he wasn't dying so that everybody around there would get punishment. He was dying so that everybody around there would get deliverance.

I'm telling you, man, you've got a far greater prophet in Christ. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders, "Don't tell anybody what you've seen."

"Don't do that. They'll think you're really, they probably if they think you're crazy. But you wait until the Son of Man is risen from the dead."

And what's so compelling is Christ is a prophet declaring. Now he's not just teaching, he's now declaring something that's going to happen in the future. He's in that prophetic office now.

And you know what happens to a prophet who declares something that's going to happen that doesn't happen? You kill him. He's like, "Don't tell anybody until I've validated the reality that I'm a prophet."

So say nothing of what you've seen here until you see me alive again. In fact, it's so much more dramatic than that because in this text, probably not in Matthew, but Mark makes a point of it.

It says "had risen," not "had been risen," which would imply someone else raised him from the dead, which we know the Bible ascribes that to God the Father and the Spirit.

But this again is in the active voice in the Greek. He's basically saying, "Don't tell anybody until I raise myself from the dead."

It's when the subject and the object are the same thing. He wasn't just saying, "Don't tell anybody till I'm resurrected." What he said through Mark is, "Don't tell anybody till I raise myself from the dead."

And we know what happened. He raised himself from the dead. And now we, like Peter, James, and John, stood between the transfiguration and the resurrection. We now stand between the resurrection and the second coming.

Our eyes too have seen something that is indescribably miraculous, but it wasn't on top of a mountain. It was at the mouth of an empty tomb.

And when we see the reality that he overcame his own death, you got to understand there's got to be something more to reality than what is just measurable, tangible, touchable, seeable, and knowable.

You look at Israel and the Gaza Strip and that conflict. And you know what we're supposed to know? It could be otherwise. There's a reality that we do not see.

But we know it exists. We may not know it. But we know it's there. And it doesn't have to be that epic. It could be a family who's battling cancer.

We don't see everything in the midst of the drought. But we know. We know. Because we follow the greater prophet. The prophet who proved by raising himself from the dead.

They kept the matter to themselves discussing. Think about this. What does he mean? Again in the active voice. What does he mean rising from the dead? Like what? What is he? What?

They're not overwhelmed by. Think about it. They don't have any questions about Moses and Elijah. How'd you do that? I mean think about it. If I were on that mountain, I'd be like, "You know why?"

Because I live in the post-resurrection era. I live in the era where the dude said he would raise himself from the dead. And he did. Therefore I don't have any problem believing anything else.

I'm sticking with the dude that raised himself from the dead. And if he said he's coming again, the judge of the living and the dead, and his kingdom will know no end, I'm good. That's the ultimate reality.

I know he's coming. He'll make all rights wrong. All justice will be served. All power will be impotent. But all needs will be met. All heartaches will be removed. All tears shall be dried.

And true freedom will finally and fully and completely be experienced. Because greater director and guide all the way. He's going to lead us not just through the wilderness into Israel. He's going to lead us through the wilderness of this world into heaven.

He's the one that will come alongside when you've run out of hope. And you know what he might just say to you? "Give me what you got. Watch what I do."

"Well, my marriage is out of love." "Give me what you got. Let me show you what I can do."

"My hope has come to an end." "Give me what you got. Let me show you what I can do."

He's ours. And the truth is that alternative reality that is equally as real is that which you can see, taste, touch, and smell, and know. You can engage that.

And you don't have to go up the side of a mountain and experience this glorious transfiguration, although that would be wonderful. All you have to do is believe.

You have to demonstrate faith. Faith, faith, faith, that he is who he says he is, and that it really could be otherwise. That that which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can know, doesn't mean it's not real.

And that if you allow your imagination to run wild about what heaven could be, you'd still come up short. Just imagine.

Father, we love you. You have not left us without a witness. You haven't left us with the intangible. We live on the side of the resurrection that's already happened.

But you ask us, like Peter, James, and John, to live with faith in the glory that is coming. We've had to wait a lot longer than they have, but we've seen so much more than they did.

And, Father, the reason why you give us your word is not to tell us what happened, but to tell us how to live. And I pray that if someone is in this room today that has never faithfully confessed that they're a sinner and faithfully confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord, they do it right now.

That you would send the Spirit of Christ into this room as the Moses that they need to lead them out of sin. And the Spirit of the living God that will then come and indwell them and guide them through the wilderness of this world as they journey towards heaven.

For without faith, it's impossible to please God. Father, we pray these things in Jesus' name and all of God's people said, "Amen."

Let's give God a hand clap of praise in this house today. All right, you wonderful people, go enjoy this beautiful day. And you've got a beautiful week ahead of you. May God richly bless you.

You are dismissed. You are dismissed. You are dismissed. You are dismissed. You are dismissed. Thank you. You are dismissed. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.