We are studying Luke chapter by chapter together. This morning, we are going to be talking about From the Mountain to the Valley. That is our subject matter today. Life is full of mountains and valleys. When I was a little guy, my father had passed away, and my mother remarried. There was a period even before they were married when he would be at our house a lot. We used to play a game together. He would sing a song. The song was, The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas. The prairie moon shines above, deep in the heart of Texas. What was so fun about this song was that he would pick me up in his arms, and he would go around in a circle as he sang that song. Then at the end of the song, he would start spinning a little faster. Hed say, Deep in the heart offff TEXAS! and hed throw me up in the air and onto the bed. I just remember thinking that was the funnest thing in the world. I felt very safe in my dads arms. Usually it was before bed. I was kind of settling down, and he would tell me to close my eyes, so I would. As I was spinning around, I would think any second now. Its going to go faster, and hes going to throw me in the air. I had that feeling of weightlessness as I would sail through the air. Then came the bounce. I never knew how I was going to land. [There was] that tickle in my stomach and the bouncing on that bed. I would spring to my feet, and I would say what any 6, 7, 8 or 9 year old boy would say: I would look at Dad, and Id say, Again! Lets do it again! Hed pick me up again, and the stars at night are big and bright, and around wed go. Deep in the heart of TEXAS, and hed throw me again. Id get up and say, Lets do it again! My children [were] the same way through the years. Theyd want me to do it again and again to them. There is a part of us when we just have a God moment, when God just reveals to us that Hes there, that He loves us, that were in His presence, that were in His arms. Its thrilling; its invigorating; its exciting. There is a certain part of us that just says, Again! Thrill me again! Help me to just live in Your presence. I just want to experience that mountaintop sensation, that overwhelming sense of His love, of His presence, of adventure. We would love to stay in those mountaintop experiences, but we dont. We dont stay there. There are valleys we have to go through. Were going to learn this morning how those mountaintop experiences can help us as we go through the valleys of life as well. The story we are reading today is the story of the transfiguration of the metamorphosis of the change Jesus went through. When we see Jesus in Renaissance paintings, often times, there is a glow about Him. There is a halo… Thats really not how it was. The angels didnt say to the shepherds, This is how youll know the baby. You will find a baby glowing in a manger. They didnt say that. They had told them what kind of clothes He had, so they would be able to identify Him because He was like a normal man. On this day, though, in this moment, there was what I like to call a glimpse of glory. The Disciples were given a short glimpse, a taste, of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. [They were given] a unique sense of His splendor and His majesty in a mountaintop experience. We had just come through the time of the confession of Peter that He (Jesus) is the Christ. Jesus went on to talk about His death, how He would be crucified, betrayed, would die and three days later would rise again. About a week after that, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up onto a mountaintop to pray. Thats where this transfiguration takes place. The Bible says in Verse 29 (page 1026 of pew Bibles), As He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. There was something brilliant, not only about His face, but His clothing as well. Mark describes it this way: It became whiter than any bleach could bleach it. Matthew describes it as like light from the sun, brighter than the sun. Obviously, something supernatural was taking place for this glimpse of glory. It says the two men, Moses and Elijah… Now, why Moses and Elijah? Well, we can only speculate, but some say Moses represents the law, and Elijah represents the Prophets. It was as if the law and the Prophets were with Jesus. Others have other theories as to why those two [were mentioned]. Were not going to get into those this morning. They also appeared in this glory of slender talking with Jesus. They spoke about His departure, which He was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. This word departure pertained to His death. It was not a departure from the mountain or departure from the city, but a departure from this earth. Jesus had gone to the mountain to pray, and He was praying about the cross. He was praying about His death. He was praying about His departure from this earth, the culmination of His ministry. These two had come in a response. There was this dialogue that were not privileged to. Luke tells us what the gist of the conversation was, although he does not go into any details. The reason is because John, James and Peter fell asleep. This seems to be the beginning of a trend for these three. These are great prayer buddies. Here, the Garden of Gethsemane: every time Jesus says, Come with Me and pray, they look at that as snooze time. So, they wake up and they see whats going on. … [when] they became fully awake then, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to Him, Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters-one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Luke adds a little commentary here: (He did not know what he was saying.) This meant he was just speaking off the top of his head. Who, Peter? No way! Not Peter. Hed never do anything like that. What was Peter saying? He was saying, It is good for us to be here. Lets stay here! Do it again! The glowing, thats cool! This is awesome! I feel Gods presence. Lets just stay here! Lets just live here! And that really is how you feel, right? I have a friend; I call him a God-chaser in an affectionate way. Every time he hears about something going on, some supernatural manifestation of God, he is on a plane, and he is out of here. He will fly to wherever in the country those kind of things are happening. He wants to live in that sustained mountaintop spirituality. We have to be careful. Though God encounters our good, if all were doing is pursuing God encounters, that spiritual euphoria and emotion, traveling around following this speaker or this prophet: although God moments are wonderful and good if theyre authentic and real, if were searching for simply an experience, weve not crossed over into that consumer mentality we warned about a couple of weeks ago. We dont want to be in that. We pursue God for whom He is regardless of what happens to us, our emotions or whatever kind of euphoria we may or may not feel. Chances are if we are truly and earnestly seeking God and seeking His presence, there will be those God-moment times. Sometimes theyll come when we are not looking for them. Thats often one of the best ways you know its an authentic manifestation, an authentic glimpse of glory. Youre not even looking for it to happen, and it simply happens. Peter wants to stay there, but hes not going to stay there. It says, …the next day when they came down from the mountain. Its not meant to last forever. Its a glimpse of glory. In this frame, in this place on earth, we only see a manifestation of God in his glory for a short time. We only experience that presence for a little while. Listen to what happens next. Were going to list some benefits of those God-moments in our life, those times when God reveals Himself in a greater way. We feel His presence. They are the goose bumps moments. They are the times of conformation. They are the times of the miraculous, the times of the supernatural. When something intervenes in our lives, and we say, That has to be God, a God sighting, those are the kinds of things we are talking about today. So in Verse 34, While Peter was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. It was not a dark cloud. One of the other Gospels describes it as a bright cloud. This cloud represented the presence of a Father. It was theologically what we call a theophany, a physical manifestation of some way of the tangible presence of God. From this cloud, the voice of God speaks. This happens three times. It happens at the baptism of Christ; it happens at the transfiguration-here in this passage in Mark 9 and Matthew 17; and it also happens in John 12 as Jesus comes into Jerusalem. When God spoke, it was unmistakable. God was speaking from Heaven. Its not like the voice of a man. This is a voice that doesnt come from this plain. This is a voice that comes from up here [and goes] down. This is a voice of incredible authority and power. This was an overwhelming experience for Peter that he would write about just days before he died. Well look at that as we close our service this morning. The voice came from the clouds, saying, This is my Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to Him. When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The Disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen. Do you think there was any doubt, after hearing the voice coming from the cloud, seeing the cloud, seeing the glory of Jesus, hearing the voice, was there any doubt in Peters, James, and Johns minds that Jesus was the Christ at that point? Was there any doubt that He was divine? Was there any doubt He was whom He said He was, that He had come from Heaven to this earth? Was there any doubt of the reality of the presence of God? Was there any doubt they were going in the direction God wanted them to go? No. Where there going to be valley experiences for Peter, James and John? Absolutely. But they would know because of this mountaintop experience that regardless of what valleys they would face of persecutions and suffering they would endure, they were on the right path. Years ago, when I was probably 18, my sisters husband developed brain cancer. He was suffering tremendously. He had never been a spiritual person, never been a Christian, but through this difficult life experience, Matt came to trust Christ as his Lord and Savior. He began to attend Faith Center, Pastor Lyons ministry that many of you experienced last Sunday as he was here speaking for our dedication for our new building. So he started coming, and he really enjoyed being a part of our church. Our church was very small at that time, so he got a lot of individual attention from Pastor Lyon. He really got to know him pretty well. One day, I went over to the house. My sister said, We had a special visitor today. She had a big glowing smile on her face. I said, Who was that? She goes, Well, its pretty special. I said, Oh, Pastor Lyon was here. She said, Oh, no. More special than Pastor Lyon. Now, I know the esteem they hold him in, so I thought if it was more special than Pastor Lyon, thats a pretty short list. In fact, I had no idea who that would be. I said, I have no idea who. She said, Jesus was here today. So my first response was when I heard Jesus was here today was absolutely. Sure He is. You bet, Sis. He is with us every day; Hes with us all the time. She said, No, you dont understand. Jesus was here today! She began to convey to me how she was struggling. Here is her husband, dying. Hes suffering; hes in pain. Youre praying, and he doesnt seem to get better. So, you have all of these cosmic questions. Why is he suffering? Why us? What happens if he dies? What happens if hes not healed, and I have these two girls to raise, and were all alone without his income? Whats going to happen to me? So far from worshipping, she had this heavy stuff, this cloud of wonder and anxiety that she was enveloped with. Shes vacuuming the floor, not exactly a spiritual task. Shes sweating, vacuuming, working hard. Matt is on the couch. In fact, there is no dialogue. In fact, he can hardly talk at this point. Hes very weak. She said all of the sudden into her house, she felt an overwhelming sense of the presence of Jesus. Whats that? She turned off her vacuum cleaner. She walked into the living room, and she said to her husband, Mac, Do you feel that? Mac right now cant speak, but Mac is aware of his environment, and he says, Gods here. She said, I sat down on the couch, and the two of us just began to weep in the presence of Jesus. She said, I felt an overwhelming assurance that He was with me, that He knew what was going on, that whatever the valley-whatever was going to happen-it was going to be okay. It was going to be difficult, but it was going to be okay. He was going to be with me. She said it lasted for about five minutes, and then it left. Shed never gone through an experience like that before. Shes never gone through an experience like that since. There were difficult times. We lost Mac weeks later. He passed away. He went to go be with the Lord in Heaven. The one thing that really sustained her was that God moment, that time when God revealed [Himself]. Now, Im not getting us to rely on our emotions. We dont rely on our emotions. We rely on His Word. We rely on the promises of His Word, but there are times when a God moment is authentic and real, when God gives us a glimpse of His presence. We just want to linger there. We just want to say, Do it again! We feel His embrace. Those moments affirm our faith. They help us in those valley times of life to know He is with us. Hes real. Now, those mountaintops dont last forever. Were going to find in Verse 37, it says, The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met Him. A man in the crowd called out, Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only child. He went on to describe how a spirit would come and seize the boy, how hed go into convulsions, how hed foam at the mouth. This spirit would throw him into fire and water, trying to destroy him. The father was beside himself, begging for his sons life. The Apostles, on one of their previous excursions, had encountered this man. This man had asked them to heal and deliver their son, and they could not, but he believes that Jesus can. Then there is this incredible God moment. Jesus speaks to this demonic spirit. He casts it from the boy. The boy falls lifelessly to the ground, almost looking dead. Eventually, he stands up and is united with his father. He is a new boy. Hes free, and its an amazing thing. These God moments enable us to face the present. They enable us to have hope for the future as well. But to face the present and know there was something about His presence, something about His Word, that this father knew, Theres hope for me today. There is going to be hope for us. Were going to have deliverance. Our subject matter is not demonic possession, but there really are spirits of darkness. This kind of thing, these kind of manifestations can still happen and do happen today. Years ago, when I was a youth pastor-this was probably 23 years ago that this happened to me, I had a very unusual day. We had a school in our church. It went preschool through 12th grade. Some of you have asked when we are going to start a Christian school. My response is when God speaks to me audibly through a cloud, when that envelopes me and then God speaks in an audible, thunderous voice, Start a school. Then. But, anyway, thats another story. So, this young man, a nice likeable kid, a funny kid, athletic, did not like church. He did not like the Christian school. He was there because he had to be. He came to youth group because he liked some of the cute girls there, but his heart was not in the right place at all. He had taken a turn for the worse. Hed gone from being a kid who was struggling with spirituality… Something really bad happened to him. As we began to find out, it turned out that he was listening to Motley Crue, and they had some satanic kind of a song they sing. [He was] listening to that song over and over again. He was lying in his bed, and he asked Satan to possess his body, so he answered that. Thats not a good idea. This is not normative; what Im going to tell you, this is not a normal experience, what we went through. This is a pretty normal school, a pretty normal church, but that day was something supernatural. This young man had a pair of scissors that hed pulled from one of the pastors desks and was threatening the life of one of the pastors with these scissors. He had a real sinister look on his face. I came in there, and I said, What is going on? We eventually talked the scissors out of this boys hands, and others came in. There were three pastors and two others who came in to try to intercede and gain victory. We learned that this boy had written something in the classroom on a piece of paper. He said it scared him because he didnt remember writing it. It was like after he wrote it, he looked at the words, and they were full of hate. They were threatening to kill people in the school. This was a serious situation. He became so frightened, he crumpled it up and he threw it away. One of the pastors said, I think that paper has insight that we need on it. Would you go see if you can find that piece of paper? I said, Sure, Ill go look, so I went into all the classrooms, and all of the garbage baskets were emptied. It was after school Friday afternoon. I went to the janitor and I said, Wheres the trash from today? He said, Oh, thats out in the dumpster. I said, Great. I went out in the parking lot. I opened up the dumpster, and the whole thing was full of crumpled white paper. You can imagine: [it was] the end of the week in a school of preschool through 12th, all of the crumpled up sheets of paper that would be in a garbage can. This thing was full to the rim with crumpled up white sheets of paper. I was like, Theres no way! I dont have the time to climb into this dumpster and look through these hundreds of sheets of paper. What am I going to do? So, I prayed. I said, Lord, please help me to find that sheet of paper. I randomly reached in, and this is the Gods truth. I reached in that dumpster and I pulled out the first piece of paper. It was that boys note. The first one. I shut the dumpster, and I remember it being a windy day. You can attribute this to wind, and I wont argue with you. I shut the dumpster lid-it was a plastic lid, not a heavy metal one; it was a plastic lid. I shut it, and as I walked off, the lid opened up really hard and bang, bang against the metal part. I went, This is a strange day. I walked in the room, and we began to read. We got some clues, some things he needed to renounce, confess and get rid of. We broke through and had deliverance in his life. It was a long afternoon, but I remember that God moment. I remember that time when God let me know He was going to give us victory. I shared that with the other pastors, the miraculous find of that letter. I was like, God is going to see us through this, guys. That became a God moment that allowed us to face that valley we were in. That young man called me just several months ago out of the clear blue sky, and hes now married with children. He said, I want you to know how much you meant to me and your ministry meant to me. I hope to come to Faith Community some time. You just were a real blessing in my life. That was a shocker to me. I had no idea I had gotten through to that kid up to that point. There is another thing we want to look at here. Heres this wonderful experience, and everybody is amazed. They were all amazed at the greatness of God, while everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did. While this mountaintop experience took place, Jesus said to His Disciples, Listen carefully to what Im about to tell you. Whenever somebody tells you that, it means there is something really important; youd better sober up and listen. He said, The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. Thats a downer, isnt it? Youve just seen this deliverance. This boys excited, and his dads excited. They know what Hes been through. They see that Hes free. He looks like a new young man. Theres a mountaintop experience. Jesus all of the sudden comes with this bad news. Why? Was He being a killjoy? Was He being a party crasher? He didnt want them to be happy? Not at all. What Jesus was telling them was reminding them, Listen, the valley is coming. The valley is coming. When the valley comes, men, you need to remember these times. Remember the manifestations of Gods power? Remember His presence. Remember the words I spoke to you because some dark days are coming. Be aware! These God moments help prepare us for our future because you and I dont know what valley experiences we might face tomorrow, next week or next year. In our lives, in the lives of people we care about, every single person in this room-and I dont mean to be doom and gloom-but in the near future, probably in some way you will encounter a valley. Some of us are going to encounter economic valleys with the economy. Some of us already have. Its not good right now. There are layoffs coming in our community this summer. In fact, I think were probably going to do a series as we get close to that on Gods economy. Were going to start talking words of hope and faith into the people of this community. Valleys come. Do you know this God moment helped prepare Peter for his death-this story, right here, of the transfiguration? Ill show you. Lets turn in our Bibles to 2 Peter 1. First and second Peter are written in the mid 60s. If you recall in the history of the Roman Empire, at this time, a man by the name of Nero came to power. Rumor has it that he burned down Rome. To squash that rumor, Christians became the scapegoat. Some horrendous, wicked things were done to the Christians under Neros reign. It was under Neros reign that Paul would lose his life and that Peter-a short time from when this book was written-would lose his life as well. There are two what we call testamental books in the New Testament. They were kind of written as a last will and testament because they knew death was eminent. One of them was 2 Peter. This was Peters sort of last will and testament. The other is 2 Timothy as Paul writes from prison knowing that his death was eminent. Both of them used the same word departure that Luke used in Luke 9 about Christs death. So Peter knows that death is eminent. What does he recall to give him hope about the future? Lets read it in Verse 13 (page 1204). He reminds him of certain truths, and he says, I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made it clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. We did not follow cleverly-invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this voice that came from Heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain. Peter recalls the transfiguration. As he looks towards his departure, he doesnt know what that valley is going to look like. He doesnt know how he is going to die or when hes going to die. He simply knows its eminent, but he looks back on that day. He remembers that moment where Jesus was radiant, where the Father spoke and He was in His presence and wanted to build a shelter and just live there. Peter says, I know my God is in charge. He uses that same story to give them hope. He says, We have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. He writes to these people who may too fall prey to Neros persecution. His audience is enduring suffering. He writes about that a lot in 1 Peter. He says, You know what? Youre going through a valley right now, but I want you to know Ive been to the mountain. Gods real, and Gods going to see you through. That same word is for us as well. We dont know what days lie ahead, what valleys we might face. We know this one thing: Psalms 23. What does it tell us? Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear for thou art with me. God doesnt leave us in the mountaintops and say, Oh, I see youre going to the valley. Im just going to stay here. When you come back, well talk about it. No, He goes down in the valley too. About a year ago, we had a very special singer with us named Jeannie Owens. Jeannie wrote a song which I think is one of the greatest songs that has ever been written in contemporary Christian music. It has to do with Gods presence and comfort. She sang that on this stage not that long ago. Before we receive communion, were going to reflect on that. Im going to ask our ushers to come forward and begin to distribute the communion elements. As the elements are being passed out, Id like you to just reflect on the message and the words of this song. If youre here this morning, and you are a believer, [then] you are a part of our family. Whether you have been attending here for a short period of time or just here if you are a confessor of the Lord Jesus Christ, youre welcome to receive communion with us. Lets listen to this song, If You Want Me To. Were going to read from 1 Peter 2:24. He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed. Chapter 3:18, For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit. Lets pray: Lord, this morning weve been talking about from the mountain to the valley and how those God moments, those glimpses of glory, prepare us for the valleys of life. Regardless of what emotions we go through, what experiences we have, Your word is real. We depend on that. Were not looking for our emotions to be our strength but [for] the reality of Your promise and the presence of Your Holy Spirit. What we just read in 1 Peter was talking about that from the other end of the spectrum. It was talking about one who went into the valley, so we could go to the mountain. It was talking about a Savior who bore sin so we could be forgiven of sin, a Savior who tasted death so we could know life, a Savior who entered into the realm of the dead so we could one day live in the very presence of God. For that this morning, we worship You and celebrate You. Thank you for the gift of salvation, for our Lord Jesus Christ, for the blood that was shed, for His body that was given up and for the atonement and sacrifice that brought us life. Remembering His suffering, celebrating His resurrection, we now receive of this Lords Supper. I will read to you this morning from 1 Corinthians 11:23 (page 1136). Paul says, For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me. Lets receive together of the Lords body. In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lords death until He comes. Lets receive together of His blood. Amen. Well be closing our service in just a moment. I want to invite you [forward]. If you need prayer for anything today, we have people who are ready, willing and able to pray with you. They are simply your brothers and sisters in Christ. Theyre not more holy than you, more spiritual than you. Theyre simply just fellow people on the journey that would like to pray with you. Ive noticed that in different services, we kind of trickle up a little bit. Id love to see the floodgates open up. Id love to see some of you [come forward] after having a message like this, and maybe you just [say], I need somebody to talk to and pray with me. Theres a response that comes when we hear about these kinds of messages about Gods presence. So, I invite you to come forward for whatever it is you need to pray about. We have people who will meet you up front, pray with you and minister to you today. Lets stand together as we close in prayer. Were going to continue on in Luke next week where we left off. Pastor Tulios services start at 11 oclock, so that is exciting! We are starting a new church within our church. Well start off small, and well grow, but our Spanish-speaking service starts at 11 oclock in the youth room today.