Holt Venue
Mountaintop
“After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves to be
alone.”
“12. The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone
tablets with the law and commandments I have written for their
instruction.”
15. When Moses went up the mountain, the cloud covered it. 16. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud. 17. The appearance of the Lord’s glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop. (Moses’ face glowed, veil) 18. Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.”
“26. The Lord again spoke to Moses: 27. “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You are to hold a sacred assembly and practice self-denial;
34. “Tell the Israelites: The Festival of Shelters to the Lord begins on the fifteenth day of this seventh month and continues for seven days.
41. You are to celebrate it as a festival to the Lord seven days each year. This is a permanent statute for you throughout your generations; celebrate it in the seventh month. 42. You are to live in shelters for seven days. All the native- born of Israel must live in shelters, 43. so that your generations may know that I made the Israelites live in shelters when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”
So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel. Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him.” But the people didn’t answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only remaining prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us. They are to choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and place it on the wood but not light the fire. I will prepare the other bull and place it on the wood but not light the fire. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The God who answers with fire, he is God.” All the people answered, “That’s fine.”
Then the Lord’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell facedown and said, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!”
“Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transfigured in front of them, and his clothes became dazzling—extremely white as no launderer on earth could whiten them.
Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good for us to be here. Let’s set up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”— because he did not know what to say, since they were terrified. A cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him!” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept this word to themselves, questioning what “rising from the dead” meant. Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” “Elijah does come first and restores all things,” he replied. “Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did whatever they pleased to him, just as it is written about him.”
For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, 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 beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased!” We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.
Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness. We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end of the glory of what was being set aside, but their minds were hardened. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ. Yet still today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Holt VenueREO Town Venue
Help My Unbelief
When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them. When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him.
He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?”
Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.”
He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
“How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father.
“From childhood,” he said. “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”
Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.
After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”
REO Town VenueWestside Venue
I Believe, Help My Unbelief
In the sleepless hours of my early injury, I wrestled against my Reformed
upbringing — no longer were my questions academic, and this was no casual question-and-answer session in a living room Bible study. Lying in bed paralyzed, I fought off claustrophobia with hard-hitting questions. “Let me get this straight, God. When bad things happen, who’s behind them, you or the Devil? Are you permitting this or ordaining it? I’m still a young Christian; if you’re so loving, why treat your children so mean?”
When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them. When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran to greet him. He asked them, “What are you arguing with them about?”
Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.”
He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father.
“From childhood,” he said.
“And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”
Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
He declares that he believes and yet acknowledges himself to have unbelief. These
two statements may appear to contradict each other but there is none of us that
does not experience both of them in himself.
When unbelieving doubt poses a question, it is not interested in the answer
for any reason other than to disprove it. Unbelieving doubt is on the attack.
It is much more interested in the devastating effect of the question itself to
erode the asker’s belief and hope in what is being questioned.
The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, demanding of him a sign from heaven to test him. Sighing deeply in his spirit, he said, “Why does this generation demand a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Believing doubt will always anchor in God’s character and word as unshakable and
then take on questions that harass and attack. Sometimes these are emotional questions; other times they are philosophical or biblical. Sometimes they won’t be answered because they are beyond the abilities of the believer or because they delve into mysteries that nobody can rightly answer. This is when the believing doubter is at his greatest risk. But if he stands fully in his relationship with God, even those unanswerable questions will not overcome him.
When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you: Come out of him and never enter him again.”
Then it came out, shrieking and throwing him into terrible convulsions. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.
After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”
Where are you anchored?
Where has God been faithful to you?
Where are my emotions I feel stronger than the truth I know?
I hope in some way I can take my wheelchair to heaven. With my new glorified body
I will stand up on resurrected legs, and I will be next to the Lord Jesus. And I will
feel those nail prints in his hands. And I will say thank you Jesus. And he will know I
mean it because he will recognize me from the inner sanctum of sharing in the
fellowship of his sufferings. He will see that I was one who identified with him in the
sharing of his sufferings, so my gratitude will not be hollow. And then I will say, Lord
Jesus, do you see that wheelchair over there? Well you were right….when you put
me in it it was a lot of trouble. But the weaker I was in that thing, the harder I leaned
on you. And the harder I leaned on you, the stronger I discovered you to be. I do not
think I would have ever known the glory of your grace were it not for the weakness
of that wheelchair. So thank you Lord Jesus for that.
And now, if you like, you can send that thing off to Hell.
Westside Venue