back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 10/20/24
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We're going to go ahead and get started with our service 00:01:17.880 |
All ye who hear, now to his temple draw near. 00:01:34.860 |
Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigns. 00:01:57.840 |
Shelters be under his wings, yet so gently sustaining. 00:02:02.840 |
Hast thou not seen how thy desires have been? 00:02:42.820 |
Surely his goodness and mercy indeed we attend thee. 00:03:27.780 |
Praise to the Lord, the Lord, thou that takest me adore him. 00:03:36.760 |
All that has life and breath, thou that placest before him. 00:03:45.760 |
Like the heaven sent from his people that day. 00:03:53.260 |
Like the heaven sent from his people that day. 00:04:32.000 |
Again, as you guys know, our Taiwan team departed yesterday. 00:04:35.800 |
So please continue to keep them in your prayers. 00:04:47.860 |
So please try to come to church a little bit earlier. 00:04:51.920 |
Obviously, there is extra parking that we have 00:04:56.600 |
So try to please come to church a little bit earlier so 00:05:16.720 |
been married for a while and raised children. 00:05:19.040 |
And so we're going to be having a Q&A session 00:05:23.580 |
And so we're going to be picking their brains of what it was like 00:05:26.280 |
when they were younger, what kind of struggles 00:05:28.200 |
they went through getting married, raising kids, 00:05:30.800 |
and dating, and all that stuff that the younger men, I think, 00:05:40.640 |
Operation Christmas Child, our sister's ministry 00:05:45.640 |
is sponsoring, again, for our Christmas outreach. 00:06:03.600 |
FAM 245, if you are married three years or less, 00:06:07.080 |
there's a workshop that's happening on Saturday, 00:06:21.700 |
our outreach department is sponsoring an outreach dinner 00:06:31.760 |
They'll have a dinner talking about Thanksgiving, 00:06:34.480 |
share the gospel, an opportunity to ask questions. 00:06:37.200 |
And so if you are interested in coming or bringing somebody 00:06:41.720 |
Again, the sign-up tables will be outside as well or online. 00:06:47.600 |
Berean men's, women's flag football, that's November 30th. 00:06:51.800 |
So that's after Thanksgiving, after you've eaten too much. 00:06:58.040 |
so this before Sunday, it's usually a down Sunday. 00:07:16.460 |
So if you go outside, there will be a sign-up table for that 00:07:21.600 |
And I think that it's going to be at the same park, 00:07:30.560 |
The last day to sign up for this is November 1st. 00:07:39.860 |
And so it helps them to get the funds and things that they 00:07:43.880 |
So if you want to provide for that, please visit the table, 00:07:46.380 |
and they'll give you instructions for that as well. 00:07:50.520 |
Let me pray for us and give you an opportunity to give. 00:07:54.320 |
there's a box that you can go visit on the way out. 00:08:02.320 |
We pray that you would help us to lift our eyes, 00:08:10.040 |
to see Christ and his glory in a greater light. 00:08:15.240 |
Help us, Lord God, in the busyness of schedules, 00:08:22.880 |
that you would help us to see clearly how short this life is, 00:08:28.360 |
that we are a vapor that comes and disappears, 00:08:33.440 |
that we would entrust and invest things that are eternal. 00:08:43.200 |
be able to give as an abundance of gratitude and thanksgiving 00:08:49.400 |
into this room with grumbling and anxiousness, 00:08:53.560 |
that you would help us, Lord God, to know you in a deeper 00:08:55.960 |
way, that we would drink of the living water and the living 00:08:59.680 |
bread, that we may know you, that we may proclaim you 00:09:10.240 |
and may it be multiplied for the sake of your kingdom. 00:09:58.340 |
Church family, would you please stand for worship 00:10:30.100 |
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene 00:10:50.820 |
and wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned, unclean. 00:11:05.300 |
Stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene 00:11:18.820 |
and wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned, unclean. 00:11:33.300 |
How marvelous, how wonderful let my soul shall ever be. 00:11:47.300 |
How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. 00:12:27.220 |
He bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. 00:12:42.180 |
How marvelous, how wonderful let my soul shall ever be. 00:12:56.660 |
How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. 00:13:22.620 |
And when the ransomed in glory, his face I last shall see, 00:13:36.580 |
will be my joy through the ages to sing of his love for me. 00:13:51.060 |
How marvelous, how wonderful let my soul shall ever be. 00:14:05.060 |
How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. 00:14:20.060 |
How marvelous, how wonderful let my soul shall ever be. 00:14:35.060 |
How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. 00:14:47.540 |
Lord of every age, author of my faith, first and last the same, 00:15:09.020 |
name above all names, crowned in majesty, glorious Prince of Peace. 00:15:24.020 |
Throne that guides right hand, worth at his command, worth at his command. 00:16:35.020 |
Sacrifice to death, arrest your final breath. 00:16:42.020 |
Dive the world to save, to overcome the grave, to overcome the grave. 00:17:23.020 |
You reign forever, you reign forever, you reign forever, you reign forever. 00:17:37.020 |
You reign forever, you reign forever, you reign forever, you reign forever. 00:19:12.020 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke, Chapter 9. 00:19:29.020 |
Some eight days after these sayings, he took along Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 00:19:37.020 |
And while he was praying, the appearance of his face became different, and his clothing became white and gleaming. 00:19:43.020 |
And behold, two men were talking with him, and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 00:19:55.020 |
Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 00:20:03.020 |
And as these were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah," not realizing what he was saying. 00:20:16.020 |
While he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 00:20:25.020 |
Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him." 00:20:31.020 |
And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone, and they kept silent and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen. 00:20:42.020 |
Father, give us understanding, give us ears to hear, give us surrendered wills, Father God, that as you are the potter and we are the clay, that we may be molded according to what you desire. 00:21:00.020 |
Father, we ask that you would anoint this time with your blessing and illumination. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:21:11.020 |
I think most of you guys by this time have seen the A.I.s that's coming on our social media. 00:21:21.020 |
And it's so good now that they can take a video and place a celebrity's face on it and make it say whatever it wants to say. 00:21:29.020 |
Especially now we are going into the political season, and so much of the information that's being passed out there is being altered. 00:21:37.020 |
And so the opinions that we have are often altered opinions that are deliberately sent out. 00:21:46.020 |
Whether it is an article or a podcast or a clip of a movie, and some with very bad intentions in order to slander and to get the false thoughts planted in people's heads. 00:21:59.020 |
Now, some of it may be just entertaining, but some of it is very dangerous because false things are being spread like wildfire. 00:22:08.020 |
The difference between now and the other periods is that it spreads so quickly and easily. 00:22:15.020 |
And some things that you hold so dearly in saying this is truth may be founded upon things that may not be true with very ill intentions. 00:22:25.020 |
Now, this has always been the case because the Bible says that our enemy is a father of lies. 00:22:32.020 |
And so the primary way that he attacks Christian faith is through lies, through deception. 00:22:41.020 |
And so we have been warned over and over again to remain sober, to seek truth, to discern what is right, what is wrong, what is from God, and what is from the devil. 00:22:54.020 |
We have to be vigilant, especially as we are in a period where we have election coming up in a few weeks. 00:23:04.020 |
And I believe is one of the most important elections that we've had in, at least in my lifetime, just because of what is being fought for. 00:23:15.020 |
I've never seen Christianity being this openly challenged, at least as long as I've been a Christian, 00:23:22.020 |
where this false thinking has entered into the church and so many lies are being repeated like it's truth. 00:23:30.020 |
Again, my point today is not to get you to, you know, like this. 00:23:35.020 |
It's not for political purposes, right, although it is important. 00:23:39.020 |
It's so that we may pay attention to what the scripture says. 00:23:43.020 |
My question is, how did you get here this morning? 00:23:48.020 |
What caused you to say that you believe in Jesus and to follow Christ? 00:23:56.020 |
Did you examine the scriptures and you came to a point where you said, you know what, I believe what Jesus said, what he did was true. 00:24:05.020 |
And the testimony of the disciples and the early Christians are true. I examined it and I've come to believe that it is true. 00:24:13.020 |
How many of you came because you grew up in a church and it was easier to stay on the boat than to get off? 00:24:20.020 |
How many of you sit without day after day, week after week, month after month, because you're afraid of the consequence of seeking the truth? 00:24:30.020 |
You're not sure if you believe, even though you come to church. 00:24:35.020 |
You're not absolutely convinced, so you kind of stay in the middle ground because if you seek the truth, 00:24:41.020 |
either it will disturb you and will convict you that where you are is not where God wants you to be. 00:24:52.020 |
And so there's a bit of fear that you're going to be convicted enough to pick up your cross, 00:25:00.020 |
to go where you don't want to go, to do things that you don't want to do, to say things that you don't want to say. 00:25:06.020 |
Or you may seek the truth and maybe the end result of that is I don't really believe this. 00:25:13.020 |
So therefore, you must leave the church. You must leave your traditions and the things that you work so hard to build. 00:25:23.020 |
And so you deliberately choose to stay right in the middle where you can enjoy the benefits of Christianity, 00:25:32.020 |
yet never fully committing yourself to Christ. 00:25:40.020 |
Either Christ was a crazy man. He said he was God. 00:25:47.020 |
He said that he was going to take away the sins of the world. 00:25:52.020 |
We believe that a man came back from the dead, that he created us, that after we die, that's where real life begins. 00:26:02.020 |
That's what we proclaim to believe. There's no middle ground to that. 00:26:06.020 |
Either he was a madman deceiving the whole world, or he is who he said he was. Which is it? 00:26:13.020 |
If you say he was a madman, you're in the wrong place. 00:26:15.020 |
Every single minute that you spend at church is wasted time. 00:26:20.020 |
Every dollar that you give, every Sunday morning that you could have gone somewhere else and traveled, 00:26:25.020 |
and made more money, made connections, you're wasting your time here. 00:26:30.020 |
Or, if Christ is who he really said he was, maybe, maybe we're not really following Christ. 00:26:49.020 |
And so the question that Jesus asks, "Who do you say that I am?" 00:26:54.020 |
Is the most important question, no matter where you are, even if you are sick, even if you have only 10 days to live. 00:27:00.020 |
The most important question that you need to ask is, "Who do you say he is?" 00:27:09.020 |
Is your life consistent with that confession? 00:27:12.020 |
Or is your life consistent with a cultural Christianity? 00:27:17.020 |
That allows you to feel safe because everybody else is doing what you're doing. 00:27:27.020 |
broad is the way, and straight is the way that leads to destruction. 00:27:35.020 |
And difficult is the way that leads to eternal life. 00:27:47.020 |
Or are you on a broad path where you have chosen the easiest? 00:27:53.020 |
And if you've been in the church, you have friends in the church, you have community in the church, 00:27:56.020 |
the broad and the easiest thing to do is to stay on that path. 00:28:02.020 |
In fact, there's quite a bit of consequence if you walk away from your faith. 00:28:11.020 |
Maybe your parents who raised you in the church will be very disappointed. 00:28:16.020 |
You're going to lose the community that you worked so hard to build. 00:28:21.020 |
And so because of the fear of the consequence of making that decision, 00:28:25.020 |
you hold on, not to Christ, but you hold on to superficial Christianity, 00:28:37.020 |
Not everybody who says to me, "Lord, Lord, shall I enter the kingdom of heaven?" 00:28:41.020 |
You hear that, you know that, yet you ignore that out of fear. 00:28:57.020 |
Jesus has been spending his whole ministry to confirm his identity. 00:29:02.020 |
It's to prepare them for what he was about to do at the cross. 00:29:06.020 |
So every miracle that he performed was to present his credentials. 00:29:13.020 |
Yes, they were hungry, but he fed them to show them that the Son of Man 00:29:23.020 |
Yes, he had compassion on them, but he did that so that they will know 00:29:28.020 |
that that man with same power has the power to forgive sins. 00:29:33.020 |
We've seen just in this text that Jesus has power over natural disasters. 00:29:44.020 |
He had power over demons, and ultimately he had power over death. 00:29:47.020 |
And then he turns around to his disciples as he prepares to go to the cross. 00:29:55.020 |
"Some say you're Elijah, some say you're a prophet, some say you're Jeremiah, 00:30:02.020 |
"You are the Christ of the Son of the living God. 00:30:06.020 |
God has revealed this to you, and upon this confession I will build my church, 00:30:11.020 |
and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." 00:30:16.020 |
He wanted to make sure that this confession is going to be solidified 00:30:24.020 |
So he's about to head to the cross, and before he heads to the cross, 00:30:28.020 |
he takes the three of his disciples, and he reveals to them his ultimate glory, 00:30:34.020 |
so that after he resurrects and the lights begin to turn on in their head, 00:30:40.020 |
and that becomes the foundation upon which they testify about Jesus, 00:30:49.020 |
Every single one of these men gave their lives giving this testimony. 00:30:57.020 |
John, he's the only one who didn't die, but he was miserable 00:31:06.020 |
and then he lived the rest of his life at Patmos writing the book of Revelation, 00:31:10.020 |
and he didn't have a comfortable life, every single one of them. 00:31:13.020 |
They didn't receive glory. They didn't receive honor. 00:31:15.020 |
They didn't receive wealth, but to their death, not only them, 00:31:20.020 |
but all the early believers who saw the resurrected Christ, 00:31:23.020 |
many of them gave their life giving the same testimony, 00:31:31.020 |
Again, the question is, is it that testimony that you believe, 00:31:46.020 |
The word "transfigured" literally means to metamorphosize. 00:31:54.020 |
And while he was praying, the appearance of his face became different, 00:32:02.020 |
He was glorified in his body, and they saw Jesus. 00:32:06.020 |
They spent two and a half years walking with Jesus, 00:32:10.020 |
Matthew's account says Jesus' face shined as the sun. 00:32:18.020 |
Do you remember when Moses seized God's glory, 00:32:23.020 |
That glory just shining off of his face terrified Israelites, 00:32:31.020 |
because that same God that they were terrified of up in the mountain, 00:32:35.020 |
just a glimpse of that shining off of his face terrified them. 00:32:41.020 |
They made him put a veil on him and go inside the tent. 00:32:45.020 |
That glory was shining off of Jesus' face and his body. 00:32:56.020 |
And like it says in verse 27, "But I say to you truthfully, 00:32:59.020 |
there are some of those standing here who will not taste death 00:33:05.020 |
Now some people interpret this a different way, 00:33:10.020 |
is that he's referring to the transfiguration. 00:33:13.020 |
That some of them referring to Peter, James, and John 00:33:28.020 |
But for the first time, they saw the king in his glory. 00:33:32.020 |
And I believe that that's what verse 27 is referring to. 00:33:49.020 |
As Christians, he is a humble king who was exalted 00:33:51.020 |
to the highest place according to Philippians chapter 2. 00:33:55.020 |
That because he humbled himself, even death on a cross, 00:34:00.020 |
And every knee shall bow, every tongue confess 00:34:06.020 |
in the book of Revelation, this is what John sees. 00:34:09.020 |
When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. 00:34:14.020 |
He didn't see Jesus humbled, washing people's feet, 00:34:51.020 |
that has been connected to us all these years. 00:34:54.020 |
Now, if you've ever played that game where you stand 00:34:57.020 |
in a line of 10 people, and one person says this, 00:35:02.020 |
So some people think that maybe Christianity is like that, 00:35:05.020 |
that 2,000 years of being passed down to pass down, 00:35:14.020 |
Well, we know because we have the same words that they had. 00:35:20.020 |
that they have it from eyewitnesses like we do. 00:35:37.020 |
So that's why we're confident that what they believe 00:35:40.020 |
is exactly what we have, because we have those scriptures 00:35:52.020 |
I want to look at these three groups of people today, 00:35:54.020 |
the people, Moses and Elijah, and God's voice himself, 00:36:03.020 |
First, he takes the inner three, Peter, John, and James. 00:36:07.020 |
Wherever you see the names mentioned of the disciples, 00:36:16.020 |
And I always, and I've mentioned this before, 00:36:18.020 |
and this is probably because I'm a middle child, 00:36:24.020 |
Andrew's the one who introduced all of them to Jesus, 00:36:40.020 |
But middle children, when they grow up thinking like, 00:36:45.020 |
I'm not exactly sure why Andrew is not part of that, 00:36:47.020 |
but I think the simple answer is probably the best answer, 00:36:59.020 |
where two or three are gathered together in my name, 00:37:01.020 |
the three testify, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:37:04.020 |
They say if there's anything against an elder, 00:37:06.020 |
make sure it's confirmed with two or three witnesses. 00:37:22.020 |
that Peter was clearly the leader of the group, 00:37:28.020 |
these sons of thunders, could not be separated. 00:37:38.020 |
Maybe Andrew, Andrew, hopefully you understand. 00:37:43.020 |
These sons of thunders, they can't be separated. 00:37:55.020 |
For whatever the reason, these three are there, 00:38:14.020 |
Now today, if somebody wants to prepare for ministry, 00:38:24.020 |
and you learn how to present facts to people. 00:38:26.020 |
You learn how to organize small group and disciple-making, 00:38:52.020 |
because what God desires is not people to learn 00:38:56.020 |
a bunch of facts and to be trained from other men 00:39:02.020 |
and then to regurgitate that to somebody else. 00:39:06.020 |
That's why we are called witnesses, to witness. 00:39:23.020 |
and to tell them what they saw and experienced, 00:39:47.020 |
"And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, 00:39:52.020 |
"and the glory as the only begotten from the Father, 00:40:04.020 |
"but at the transfiguration, we saw his glory." 00:40:12.020 |
and then through the testimony of the disciples 01:06:55.020 |
Help us, Lord God, to break away from religiosity, 01:07:32.020 |
May Christ and His name be glorified in your church. 01:08:05.020 |
♪ Mine was the sin that drew the bitter nails ♪ 01:10:22.020 |
♪ And when He calls me, it will be paradise ♪ 01:10:49.020 |
♪ And when He calls me, it will be paradise ♪ 01:11:20.020 |
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers, in the prophets, 01:11:26.020 |
in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, 01:11:37.020 |
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts 01:11:44.020 |
Father, I pray that Your Word that You have implanted in our hearts 01:11:51.020 |
May it change us, revive us, renew our affection 01:11:55.020 |
and our love for You, that we may be Your witnesses, 01:11:59.020 |
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the end of the age.