Who Gets the Final Word | Sunday Livestream | Feb 15, 2026

0:19 My soul will rise to praise you. I'll sing to the one who answers whoaves me from my You are faithful and your love. You are faithful and your love. You are faithful and Your love endures forever.

1:10 Forever shakes when you send your spit. You love the mountain when you speak. The sea splits when you command it. You're the one who sets me free. You are faithful

1:55 and your love. You are faithful. And your love endures. You are faithful. And your love endures forever. Forever more.

2:46 I'll sing with the sing I'll sing with the heavenly shouting out your arms. I'll sing with the sing I'll sing with the heavenly shout out. I'll sing with the ones again. I'll sing with the angels. I'll sing with the heavenly shout out. I'll sing with the singout.

3:45 You are endur forever. Ever Oh, are you

6:13 Oh, I have days I lose the fight. Try my best but just don't get it right. Well, I talk a talk that I don't walk and miss the moment right before my eyes. Somebody with a hand I could have just past myself. So help me be a little more like mercy, a little more like grace, a little more like kindness, goodness,

7:00 love and faith, a little more like patience, a little more like peace, a little more like Jesus, a little less like me. There's no denying I have changed cuz I've been saved from who I used to be. And even at my best, I must confess to see the way you see.

7:50 Somebody with a hurt that I could have helped. Somebody with a hand that I could have helped. And I just can't see past myself. Lord help me be. A little more like mercy. A little more like grace. A little more like kindness, goodness, love and faith. A little more like patience, a little more like peace, a little more like Jesus, a little less like me. I want to feed the beggar on the street. Love to be your hands and feet. Really give what I receive. What help me be?

8:40 I want to put you first before all else. Love my neighbor as myself. In the moment no one sees. Lord, help me be a little more like mercy, a little more like grace, a little more like kindness, goodness, love and faith, a little more like patience, a little more like peace, a little more like Jesus, a little less like me. like Jesus like me

9:46 down. I got the little green light. There we go. See, wasn't me. Maybe it was. Welcome everybody. Welcome who are here and brave the cold. And welcome those who are braving the internet problems. We love you too. You can always come back and later and watch it like I do. Um, we have these wonderful connect cards and it not just for you newbies. You can uh it's for your old, you know, your your seasoned your seasoned members. You can put your name on it, but I like what here you can, you know, request a meeting or just tell you

10:33 something that's really happening that you experience Jesus this week and Jesus even today. You know, we want Jesus. You want we want you to experience Jesus today. So, fill it out and put it back into the card basket in the connection desk. Then yeah and you can also do this on the valley on the website or in the app or website or whatever. So you online people you're taken care of. Get connected. That's right. Get connected. Connection is awesome. Then um after a brief respit we are now going to do the leadership training

11:19 after worship today. Yay. But the exciting news is Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. Um, let's see. We have uh there there are Oh gosh, I didn't even put down the services and the time. See right there. But if I know Pastor Ryan is going to be available during the day. If you can't make that at 5:00 pm, um, you can come and he will do ashes for you. and those who are going away, he will also give you a little packet. It not something you throw in the ocean, but put on your head. Um, then I'd like to bring up our special guest, Lauren.

12:07 Yes. And she's gonna talk to you about grief share. Are you grieving? Do you feel lonely? Are you looking for support? Um, grief share is for you. Um, it's a 13week um, support group. It's not counseling by any means, but it it is a support group. It's faith-based. Um, we watch a video, we have discussion, you get a workbook that you can work through the week if that's something you're interested in. Um, if you want to know more about it, come and see me or you can pick up one of these flyers or if you have someone in mind um you can pick

12:52 one up. Um but yeah, you don't have to be alone in your grief and nor do the ones that you love. And you sometimes you feel alone in a room full of people. And if that's you, then come come check us out. It's on Thursdays. That's important. Starting this week from 6:00 to 7:30. All right. And it's starting to get Oh yeah. >> Lighter, longer, >> all good things to say. So, uh, turn to your neighbor and say how glad you are that they're here today.

13:53 So now we get to the fun part, the call to worship. The Lord reigns. Let the nations tremble. He sits enthroned between the cherubam. Let the earth shake. In our first part of of our worship is our giving liturgy. And one of the things that in the giving liturgy, we have this little card called step into stewardship. If you feel called to take the next step or take the first step, go ahead, check the box. You don't even have to put your name on it and then put it in the offering box. So,

14:38 it's a good tool to say, "Yeah, I think I want to step." But now, those who have stepped and those who are planning on stepping and those who we want to encourage to step, let's do the giving liturgy. Um, oh, there's a video. Well, I didn't even have to say anything. At Valley Chapel, we believe everything belongs to God. So when we give, we're not being generous with our things. We're practicing faithful stewardship of what God has entrusted to us. And we don't give to the church. We give with our church community as we learn to steward God's resources together.

15:25 Learning to become a faithful steward is a journey. And it's not one you're meant to walk alone. God has given you this community to walk with you as you learn, listen, and grow. One tool we use for this is the stepping into stewardship card. It helps you to pause and ask if God is inviting you to take your next step of stewardship. And when you fill it out, it allows us to be praying with you as you take that step in faith. So take a moment here and now and ask, "Holy Spirit, are you inviting me to take my next step of stewardship today?" Because we don't all give in the same way at the same time. We don't pass a plate. You'll see the different ways to

16:11 give on the screen. However you give today, this moment itself is an act of worship, a way of saying with our lives that God is God and we are not. Now let's unite our giving by praying this giving liturgy together. I'll be leader and you guys can be all. We give today not to draw attention to ourselves but to point all the glory to Christ alone.

16:56 >> Jesus is the center of our worship. We give not because we have much but because you gave us gave us everything for us. >> Jesus be the center of our lives. >> We give so that in all things in this church and in the world Christ may be lifted up. >> Jesus be the center of it all. If everyone would please stand so we can all worship together,

17:54 oh Lord of my heart. not be all else to me. Save that thou art my best thought by day or by night. Waking or sleeping, thy presence my bow my wisdom and my true word. I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord.

18:48 Thou my great father in me dwelling with thee >> riches I he not nor empty praise. Thou my inheritance now and thou and only are first in my heart.

19:36 My king of heaven, my treure thou art. King of heaven, my victory. May I reach heaven's joy, a bright heaven, heart of my own heart. But ever before still be my vision.

20:26 >> No matter where you are in your life, let's just all put everything aside and just say, "Here I am to worship you, Lord. Light step down into darkness. Let me see. This heart

21:12 adore you spent with you. >> Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together lovely, allto together worthy, allto together wonderful to me.

21:58 King of all days. Oh so highly exalted. Glorious in heaven above. Humbly you came to the earth. You ced all for love sake became whole. So here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together lovely,

22:45 allto together worthy, allto together wonderful to me. I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross. I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross. >> Here I am to worship.

23:31 Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together lovely, allto together worthy, allto together wonderful to me. Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together lovely, all together worthy, all together wonderful

24:19 to me. >> Thank you, Lord. finding myself at a loss for words. And the funny thing is it's okay. The last thing I need is to be heard, but to hear

25:05 what you would say. >> Word of God speak. Would you pour down like rain, >> washing my eyes to see >> your majesty to be still and know that you're in this place. >> Please let me stay and rest in your holiness. Word of God speak. >> Finding myself in the midst of you,

25:53 >> beyond the music, beyond the noise. All that I need is to be with you. And in the quiet, to hear your voice, word of God speak. Would you pour down like rain, washing my eyes to see your majesty to be still and know that you're in this place. Please let me stay and rest

26:40 in your holiness. Word of God speak. Would you pour down like rain, washing my eyes to see your majesty to be still and know that you're in this place. Please let me stay and rest in your holiness. Word of God speak. finding myself at a loss for words.

27:29 And the funny thing is, it's okay. Would you pray with me? Gracious God, we thank you for this day and the chance to gather together in person and online. We come to you this morning carrying a mix of burdens and blessings. We ask for your healing touch on those of us who are sick, in pain, fearful, and recovering. We pray also for those who are celebrating, finding healing, and are experiencing joy today. We thank you for being with us through all of it.

28:15 God, help us to stay and rest in your holiness. Help us to attune ourselves to you, to see how you move, and to hear your still small voice. Help us to act on what you guide us to do in Jesus name. Amen. Good morning. I'll be reading from Matthew chapter 13 17:es 1-9.

29:02 The transfiguration. After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, the brother of James, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun. His clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them, Moses and Elijah, talking of Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. And a voice from the

29:47 cloud said, "This is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. Listen to him." When the disciples heard this, they fell faced down to the ground terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. As they're coming down from the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." Um, is my mic on? Scott, good to go. All right. Uh, good morning everybody. Uh,

30:34 kids, if you guys want to come and join me, I'd love to have you come. If if this is your first time here, I want you to know that you are welcome to come up and join. I I got a little message for you guys. And, uh, you're welcome to bring a grown-up if you want. And then after after we're done with our kids message, uh there's some fun activities to do down in the kids' room. So, come have a seat. I'm moving to the chair these days because uh well, I'm sick of sitting on the floor. Put it simply. All right. So, let me grab my stuff real quick. Yeah. So, yeah. You guys find a spot? Good to see you all. I am very happy to be with you. I'm excited to tell you

31:20 guys about that story that you just heard. If you weren't listening closely, um which Okay. Sometimes you kind of get in the middle of the church service and you're you just kind of like zone out. Yeah. But let's I I want to tell you this story really quick. So we we just heard a story about something that happened kind of happened to Jesus. Happened with Jesus. He had invited a couple of his disciples to go with him up on this hill, right? So, you can picture a hill heading up a hill. They get up to the top of the hill. And when they get to the top of the hill, as you're imagining this, suddenly Jesus starts like glowing, like so bright that they're like, "H, it's kind of hard to look at." And as they're looking at him, two more people

32:06 show up. A guy named Moses and a guy named Elijah. Now, if you don't know from the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah are people from the Old Testament. Moses is the guy who led Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness to head to the promised land. And Elijah was a prophet that God had sent to Israel to to try to get them back on the right path. And these two guys show up and Jesus is there and he's glowing. And Peter, one of the disciples that was there, is like, "This is incredible. what's going on? We need to make this moment last forever. So, he said, "Can I build you guys houses so we can stay here?" That was what he said. I want to build you guys houses. Um, and he didn't end up building them

32:53 houses. And actually, he he kind of closed his eyes for a second and when he opened his eyes, it was just it was just Jesus. Just like it looked like normal Jesus again. But something special happened just before he closed his eyes. And this is the part that I really want you to hear. So, let's see here. It says, "While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. And a voice from the cloud said, this is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. Listen to him." And we believe that that voice was God saying that Jesus is my son. I love him.

33:39 I'm happy with him. And then what was that last thing that he said? Did you catch that? Listen to him. That's what he said. Listen to him. And that's what I wanted. That's what's so important about this story. You see, we listen to Jesus because he's the son of God. That's why we listen to Jesus. And that's a really important thing for us to remember as followers of Jesus because I mean think about it this way. Who is somebody in your life that when they talk you listen? Go ahead, Alice. What do you think? >> Your friends. Yeah. Go ahead. >> Your parents. Yeah. Anybody else? >> No, you don't listen to anybody else.

34:27 That's a bad choice. She goes, "But how do you know when somebody's really important to listen to?" >> What do you think? Go ahead, Alice. >> I kind of feel like I get like butterflies in my nervous. >> Oh, and somebody's really important to listen to, you get butterflies in your tummy and you get a little nervous. >> Yeah, >> that's fair. I kind of get that, too. I understand that feeling. Well, in this story, the reason we we're knowing that Jesus is an important person to listen to is because God himself said it and God made everything. So, it's kind of whoever's in charge, right? We listen to whoever's in charge. What was that, Roy?

35:13 Did God make this place? Yes, 100%. Yeah. >> And yes, workers did, too. Workers helped. >> Yeah. Yeah, like Evelyn just said, the Lord's in the workers. So God, one of God's favorite ways to work in our world is to help people do the jobs that he has called them to do. So God invited people to build this place that we're sitting in right now, not because this place is special, but because he wanted this place to be used to help people get closer to him. And that's what we do here on Sunday, right? We come to get closer to Jesus. So, this place is doing its job. >> Yeah. So, let me let me uh just give you our big idea for today and and Brandon will

35:59 put it up on the screen. I believe our big idea is just simply this. Jesus is God's son. He's the one we listen to. So, as Christians, we believe that Jesus is the primary person, the first the main person we listen to. So we we we start and end by listening to Jesus. And some ways that we can listen to Jesus. Here's some some ideas. So we can learn the stories of Jesus by hearing Bible stories. We can pray to Jesus and ask him to tell us things. We can uh try to follow him and notice how it works. We can talk to grown-ups who are learning how to listen to Jesus. These folks out here are here to help you learn how to listen to Jesus.

36:44 And listening to Jesus doesn't mean we get it perfect and we always understand everything right. But it means that there's somebody we can listen to who we can trust and he is worth listening to. So can I pray with you guys? Dear God, thank you so much. Thank you that you want to talk to us. I mean you you made everything that ever existed everywhere. And there are some people who think they're too important to talk to us, but you don't. You want to talk to us. You want to talk to these kids. you want to talk to us here in little old Warsaw, New York. And Lord, you love us so much that you want to tell us uh what would be best for us because you care for us. So, we thank you for that. And we ask that you just make your voice clear so that we can do what you say in Jesus name. Amen. All right. Thanks you

37:31 guys. You got some volunteers that are going to be waiting out by the doors. You can go follow them over there. Okay. You got some fun activities. Worthy worthy is the lamb. Worthy, worthy is the lamb. Oh, how wonderful you took our place.

38:17 Oh, the preious blood that made away. Worthy, worthy is the lamb. >> Good morning, church. It's good to be with you. Um, I uh want to just take a moment before I dive into my sermon. Um, if this is your first time here or first time back in a while, welcome. I'm really glad that you're here. I I I don't think it was an accident that God brought you here today. Um and I'm curious to see what

39:04 he's doing and how he wants to speak with you. Um maybe how he's already spoken with you. Um I'm just grateful that you're you are here. And whether you buy any of this stuff or not. See, being a come come to church doesn't mean you believe everything you hear, right? Um, but there's a there's something beautiful to taking the chance and trying to learn and trying to listen and and I I pray that God will speak to you today. Um, before I really dive in the message, I just want to draw everybody's attention to something. So, this coming Wednesday starts uh is Ash Wednesday. If if you're not familiar with Ash Wednesday or Lent as a season, Ash Wednesday is the day that begins the

39:50 season of Lent. Lent is a season where we prepare our hearts for Easter. Now, that's kind of vague and and you might not know what that means. What what it means to prepare your heart for Easter is to get yourself spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically in a place where you realize just how much you need Jesus. And it makes Easter that much more rich when we have spent Lent remembering why we needed Easter in the first place. um and a traditional practice that many churches in many denominations, Lent and Ash Wednesday are not just a Catholic thing, though the Catholic Church does practice these things. Um we're not a Catholic church, but uh we practice this here. The we during Lent a lot of times Christians

40:37 will fast and fasting is just another tool, a way that you can draw yourself closer to Jesus. It's not an obligation. You are not required to fast. Nobody is going to hold your feet to that fire. But it is I'll speak from experience. If you engage in fasting well and if you engage in Lent very intentionally, it can be a powerful experience of drawing closer to Jesus. And and uh I' I've printed out a tool for you. It's at the connect center. So you can stop by there on your way out when you're dropping off your connect card and you can grab one of these. Um, and this was uh published by the bishops of the free Methodist Church. And it is just simply a one-page tool that can help you listen to the spirit and say, "How would

41:24 you have me fast so that I can draw closer to you?" And they break it into three different parts. They say, "You might fast uh in order to focus on God. You might fast in order to learn to trust God. Or you might fast in order to make space for God. And it gives you descriptions of that and how you can decide what to fast from because it's not just fasting from food. I know I've had very very meaningful experiences especially in today's culture of fasting from social media. Um if I could pray if if if this would not be good for me to have never give me a button that lets me control your life as your pastor. But if I had the button I would just make you all do it. But I will not do that. um fast from something that is pulling you away from Jesus can

42:10 be a really powerful way to draw closer throughout the season of Lent. And you typically start that fast on Ash Wednesday and you conclude it um just before Palm Sunday. So it's four it's just over 40 days I think total. Um so I encourage you to do it and if you decide not to, nobody's going to breathe down your neck but it will be worth your time. Let me dive into what we're talking about today. So today we are ending a series. Um and our our sermon series are typically we're exploring one particular idea in scripture. And the question that we've been exploring is this. It's when Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say that I am? Now here's the reality. Most people,

42:57 particularly here in the United States, don't just reject Jesus outright. Um, in general, people relate to some version of Jesus that has been shaped by their personal experiences, their family culture, their church experiences, whether they're good or bad, their personal needs, and and they we we've formed a version of Jesus in our minds. And and many who have rejected Jesus have actually not rejected the real Jesus but just the Jesus that they had in their head, the one that they shaped by their own experiences. And this series has been a process of us as a church

43:42 saying like, is the Jesus that I'm following or the Jesus that I'm pushing back against the real one? Because Jesus wants us to know him, the real Jesus. in and and he asked his disciples this question very intentionally. Who do you say I am? Because it matters. Who you say Jesus is has a significant impact on what it means for you to follow him. And as you heard with the kids today, we're talking about listening to Jesus, which when I say listening, don't just uh don't hear like hearing the words that he says, but listening as in following and obeying, doing what he says.

44:29 The the story that we just heard of the transfiguration shows us what listening to Jesus actually requires of us. Um so today on transfiguration Sunday, that's the transfiguration is the word that we use to describe that event. Um we come to this moment where Jesus just stops letting other people define him. And you hear the voice of God say, "No, this is who Jesus is. This is who the real Jesus is." Um in our big idea, like I showed you with the kids, I'll show you right up front again. Our big idea is that Jesus is what do you say he is? He is God's son. He is the one we listen to. That simple. Also that complicated,

45:17 right? When Jesus is fully revealed to us, we are pressed with a decision. When we actually see the real Jesus, we are pressed with a decision about whether we will listen to him or not. Whether he we will do what he says or not, whether we will continue to shape our lives into the form that he has presented to us or if we will conform him into our ideas of how he should be. And and I'm going to leave you with a question today and I I'll give it to you right now so you have the entire sermon to chew on it. You can ignore the rest of what I'm saying and just think about this question. Will I allow Jesus to reveal his true self to me or will I remake him in my

46:04 own image? That's it. It's a simple question. It's a profound question though. Will I allow Jesus to reveal his true self to me or will I keep remaking him in my own image? Let's open up Bibles. If you brought your Bible along, open it up to Matthew chapter 16. Um, if you did not, there are Bibles in your pews. We will have the words on the screen, but I highly encourage you to have a Bible of some form in your hand. And I am no uh physical Bible elitist. Like, if you want to be on your phone, I one of my primary places that I read my Bible is actually right on my computer. Um, so if you want to pull out a phone to follow along on your Bible, I encourage you to do that. just have some

46:50 way of looking at this yourself because by being here together, reading our Bibles, it's giving you practice. Because one of the main things I hear from folks in church is like, I don't read my Bible much because I'm really intimidated by it and then it ends up collecting dust on a shelf and then I feel really bad that it's collecting dust on the shelf. And I don't want you to feel bad that your Bible's collecting dust on the shelf. Um, so instead, let's get familiar with it and practice it. And every week when we come in here, open up a Bible just to get in the habit. So you're opening up to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 17. Uh if you don't know how to navigate your Bible that right at the very beginning, there is a table of contents. You're looking for Matthew in the table of contents. And then there are chapter headings before every single chapter, a number

47:35 before every chapter. You're looking for the 18th or the 17th chapter. Um or actually 16. Sorry, I said Matthew 16. We're starting in 16. And the scripture reading was in 17. Matthew chapter 16. This is just a quick recap of what this series has taught us. In Matthew chapter 16, starting in verse 13, what happened is this. When Jesus came to the region of Cesaria Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the son of man is?" He's talking about himself. "Who do people say I am?" And they replied, "Some say you're John the Baptist, Jesus's cousin. Others say you're Elijah. Others instill others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. And then Jesus turns the question on his disciples. But how about you? Who do you

48:22 say I am? And Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the son of the living God." So right from the beginning, Peter gives the right answer to Jesus's question. And and Jesus right after this essentially is like how blessed you must be, Peter, because the father gave you special knowledge to know that. You don't know that because you're smart. You know that because God gave you something special in that moment. And and you know what? At this point, it looks like Peter gets it, but actually he doesn't yet. He'll get there, but he doesn't actually get it yet. He just got the right answer. We can get the right answer and still not get it.

49:08 Um, we can say the right things about Jesus and still not fully understand him in the core of our being. And yet Jesus does something really remarkable here. He doesn't wait for g for Peter to have perfect theology or to have perfect courage or to follow him right or to really get it. Instead, the first thing Jesus does after Peter gets this answer right is he he says, "Peter, I'm going to entrust a lot of leadership to you." In verse 18, Jesus says, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock," which the word Peter, the name Peter means rock, "on on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." This is the beginning of many different

49:55 commissionings that Jesus gives to his disciples, Peter being one of them, to say, "I'm going to build something, and you guys are going to be a huge part of Like the kids said, like, did did God build this church? Yes. Did people build this church? Yes. Same here. Did Peter build the church? Sort of. Yeah. Did God build the church? Yeah. It's this partnership. But before Peter misunderstands Jesus, before Peter resists Jesus, before Peter actually ends up denying Jesus, Jesus commits himself to Peter. And he's offered the same thing to you. You don't have to fully understand Jesus for Jesus to be fully committed to you. I want to let that sink in. You do not

50:42 need to fully understand Jesus for Jesus to be fully committed to you. Jesus doesn't give up on his church. He doesn't give up on people. Even when we're imperfect and confused, when we're unfinished, when we push back, Jesus never gives up on us. We have a tendency to give up when we feel like a situation is hopeless or a person is hopeless. Jesus doesn't do that. Big part of why we follow him. But Peter, so Jesus gives Peter all this responsibility and he commits to Peter and then almost immediately after Peter blows it. He completely gets it wrong. Jesus, after Jesus gives Peter all this authority and this responsibility, Jesus

51:30 says, "And by the way, all you disciples, um, I'm going to die. They're going to kill me." And Peter goes, "Well, hold up a minute now. That's not okay. I won't let it happen. I'll stop them." And Jesus's response to him in uh, verse 23 is, "Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. Okay, so the person that he just gave the keys to the kingdom, get behind me, Satan. Gosh, I'm so grateful for Peter. See, we don't often reject Jesus wholeheartedly. We actually instead what

52:16 we do is reject the parts of Jesus that don't like line up with the way we want Jesus to be. And then we criticize other people for not following the Jesus that we've created and we get ourselves in a whole mess. And Jesus is not rejecting Peter. Jesus is correcting Peter. It's a big difference between rejecting him and correcting him. He's correcting him because Peter has formed an image of Jesus that is uh that would never be killed and that's not the real Jesus because the real Jesus was killed and he knew that that was going to happen. So he rejects Peter's false image of him right there. And then Jesus continues after that and says to the rest of his disciples,

53:01 including Peter, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me, to step into death. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for me will find it." What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the son of man is going to come in his father's glory with his angels and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. Truly I tell you, some of you who are standing here will not taste death before they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. Jesus is presenting a gospel that requires us to follow him through great

53:48 suffering because it's a gospel. It's not because the suffering itself is good. It's because that's where Jesus went. And the salvation is with Jesus. and to and there's a lot of us who are like I like Jesus until he tells me to go through something like that and then I I don't think that's the real Jesus anymore. If you want to follow Jesus, you go where Jesus went and he went to a cross, will you? So then we hit Matthew 17. We're at our scripture reading for today. So it comes right after this whole conversation. So he told Peter to get behind me. They're trying to wrap their minds around what like who do you say I am? And here comes

54:33 the story of the transfiguration as Jesus's answer to his own question or at least the father's answer to the question Jesus asked the disciples starts in verse 1 and two. After six days, so this is about a week later, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, the brother of James, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. there he was transfigured before them. Now it's interesting uh Matthew, if you read the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew uh wrote this account of Jesus's life and Matthew almost never includes how long things take from one event to the other except here's an interesting pattern to notice.

55:19 It's an unusual detail because you're showing this intentional seven-day gap between one event and the next. Six more days after what we just read. Six days followed by a cloud and divine revelation. If you uh are a Bible nerd, which I encourage you to become a Bible nerd, um we are the best kind of nerd. To be a Bible nerd means that you've read through the stories. It's kind of like when if somebody's a Lord of the Rings nerd and you mention one story, they're like, "Oh, yeah, but that that one time back here when when this happened, that means that it's tied to that and it's all connected." And you're like, "What are you talking about?" Be that kind of Bible nerd. Because that's what just happened here. If if you are

56:04 if you're reading back in the Old Testament, you'll notice that there's this pattern of whenever there are six days and then a cloud, God is about to reveal himself because that's happened before. It actually happened uh in Exodus 24 to Moses and it happened to Elijah, the two people who happen to show up on this mountaintop. Matthew is basically saying to the listener, and Matthew is mostly writing to Jewish people who would understand some of this history. He's saying, "Pay attention. This moment is as significant as the moment when God's people got the Ten Commandments, if not more. And Jesus leads Peter, James, and John

56:51 up this high mountain. And that's another thing. Anytime people are going up a mountain, something important is about to happen in the Bible. So if you're reading your Bible and you see the word mountain, pause. Something important is about to happen. Pay attention. And Matthew says that he was transfigured before them. I mean, Jesus just revealed something about himself. He it it it's like he uh it's like he had been covered by a veil and they just pulled the veil back and now you see the real Jesus, the one that they had been kind of blind to because they've been seeing him more normal and now you see him as he truly is, which is radiant. His face shines like the sun. His

57:36 clothes become white as light. So it's really interesting. Matthew, one of Jesus's disciples, is trying to show you later people who would want to know Jesus. He wants to show you something about who Jesus is here. And he he's showing us that the glory that once happened back with Moses. Because when Moses went up on a mountain after six days and then a cloud showed up, Moses came back down the mountain and his face was glowing from just looking at God. And now Jesus is glowing like Moses was and more so. And then in verse three, who appears but Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Now there's symbolic

58:21 significance here. The symbolic significance is that Moses represents the law that was given to Israel. Elijah represents the prophets. The prophets are people that God sent to Israel to say, "Dude, you're doing it wrong. get right. Both are ways that God in his wisdom offered to his people as a as a way of getting back on the right track. He offered the law and that actually failed them ultimately. And he offered them the prophets, people who would come and who would rail against the the the abuses of the people. And they just killed all the prophets. And now you have Jesus standing amidst Elijah and Moses

59:08 and they're talking to each other. Elijah and Moses essentially represent everything that came before Jesus. And it's interesting Luke in his gospel account talking about this event in Luke chapter 9. Feel free to turn there if you want. It's Luke chapter 9:31. I'm not going to turn to it right now. But he he said Luke said that they spoke about Jesus's departure, his exodus which he was about to bring bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. So they're having a whole conversation about what Jesus is about to do. And the law and the prophets are not correcting Jesus. They're not replacing him. They're talking with him about what he's about to do and how all of this has been pointing towards something significant

59:53 coming next. And then Matthew in the way he tells this story just kind of like lets the moment resolve itself. M he continues and says so Peter uh he he shows what how Peter responds right they see nobody except Jesus ma Jesus Moses and Elijah and Peter responds so interestingly he's like blown away by this right he's seeing the heroes of the faith standing there with Jesus and he says Lord it's good for us to be here if you wish I will put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. So, he essentially says like, "Okay, these are really important dudes.

1:00:38 I'm going to give you guys equal homes. I'm going to I'm going to give you all this stuff because Jesus, you are just as important as those guys are." And I bet Peter thought, "Man, I'm saying something significant right now. I'm saying Jesus is just as important as Moses and Elijah." And Matthew doesn't like Matthew's account doesn't respond to that right away. While Peter's still explaining what he's going to do for them, a bright cloud covered them. And a voice from the cloud essentially said, "Shut up Peter." That's really what happened next. Peter's like explaining, "I'm I'll build these houses and they'll be beautiful and you'll be able to stay here and you guys will all be the same." And it's really good because we got the old and

1:01:23 we've got the new and we got Jesus and he's just as good as these guys. And the voice from the clouds says, "This is my son." Does he talk about Moses and Elijah? No. This is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. Listen to him. He didn't say listen to them. Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell face ground down to the ground terrified. This was a corrective statement. Peter's trying to equalize them and and they just heard a voice, the voice of the father saying, "Shush, you're not doing it right. Listen to him. Not all three of them. Him."

1:02:17 and they get down terrified because when you get corrected by God that's scary. But then Jesus came and touched them which is exactly what Jesus does when we are overwhelmed. He comes to us and he offers himself physically said get up. He said don't be afraid. Verse seven. And when they looked up they saw no one except Jesus. Moment was over. That's as far as we're going to read today. Um I I think the ending of that story paints the picture of what I I want to show you in the scriptures to me.

1:03:04 Jesus is primary. Everything else must be understood and followed after Jesus. It must be understood through Jesus. When God finishes revealing who Jesus is, there are no other voices left to hear. And I think sometimes as followers of Jesus in a world with a lot of voices in our ears, we feel like we need to follow Jesus but with like a slant towards one of the other voices. And God is so clear right here. It's not Jesus with some other voices. It's just Jesus. And this frustrates us because sometimes

1:03:52 Jesus isn't as specific as we want him to be. Sometimes we want him to lay it out so clearly for us and we don't hear that clarity. So we go to a voice that sounds like it gives us the details that we're looking for. But we actually start following those details so much that we stop listening to Jesus. Jesus alone carries the final authority. So the this series all along asking that question, who do you say I am? This matters not because you need to be right about Jesus. It matters because your answer to that question reveals

1:04:39 something about the state of your soul. If you say that Jesus is this list of very specific things and these list of rules that you must follow, he is the culmination of the rules that he's given you. Then you're worshiping Moses. You're worshiping the law. If Jesus is just your your your personal sense of what God is saying, maybe you're worshiping Elijah. That Jesus wants us to focus on him primarily, everything else colored by Jesus. This text doesn't ask, "Do you like Jesus?" This text doesn't ask, "Do you understand everything about Jesus?" to ask, "Will you allow Jesus to tell you

1:05:25 who he is? And will you keep shaping your life by him? All right, I'm going off script a little bit on this one. Something that I have come to understand about the scriptures When we read our Bible, we often want our Bible to just be really simple and clear on like what do we do, what do we not do, how do we follow the rules, right? We want it to be simple. And Jesus does give us clear direction.

1:06:12 Don't get me wrong. He gives us clear direction, but it's often not as specific as we've asked for. I'll give an example. Jesus says, "You're going to have false teachers out there who are going to tell you that." They're going to tell you to do things and believe things that are not of God. And the disciples are like, "Well, how do we tell that they're false teachers?" And Jesus says, "You'll know them by their fruit." That's the end of his sentence. He doesn't say, "What does the fruit look like?" Now later on Jesus also gives the church the ability to to we heard this in this series this idea of binding and loosing. He gives them this this authority to uh discern what is what is right for a

1:06:59 particular context. And one of the ways the church did that is through uh the apostle Paul. He did that in a bunch of contexts. One of them uh being in Ephesians think am I getting that right? Ephesians where the fruit of the spirit is or Galatians. Galatians Galatians to the church in Galatia. He told them that there are these fruits, the fruits of the spirit. We know them as love, joy peace patience kindness gentleness, uh longsuffering, self-control. I might have got them all wrong. He gives us a list and then we say, "Jesus said that those were the fruits of the spirit." No, he didn't. Paul did. Are they wrong? Probably not. But we start liking Paul because he gets really specific. He tells us exactly

1:07:46 what to do. And we stop listening to Jesus because Jesus might actually be describing those fruit a little bit differently in this context here at Valley Chapel here in Warsaw, New York here in the year 2026. Do I think he's going to contradict the rest of scripture? Probably not. Do I think God is contained to our understanding of scripture? Absolutely not. So, will we allow God to keep speaking to us? Now, here's what that looks like. It looks like listening to the spirit in a community of people who are trying to listen to the spirit. It's it's none of us saying, "I understand God. Y'all

1:08:33 are wrong. Y'all got to get it right." It's saying, "I am going to pursue Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind, strength, everything, and I'm going to make mistakes and I need you to correct me." It's all of us saying that and all of us looking for Jesus together. And we ask the Holy Spirit to show us where we have strayed from the path of Christ. We have to notice in our hearts the resistance that we have to his correction and allow people to graciously speak into our lives to um to name in our lives what has had more authority than Christ.

1:09:18 So I I just want to lead you in a brief prayer right now personal just just between you and God. And I want to ask him about this with you. Would would you bow your heads and and pray with me? Jesus, we know that you've been in all of this and that you're speaking right now and that you have something to show us today. We we came here to encounter you because we want to maybe maybe because we're just curious or because we believe that your words are true, but we want to understand them better. We want to know how to actually do what you say in our lives. Lord, maybe we come here with a burden because we just want your help. There's something else that I'm not

1:10:03 thinking of. But Lord, we are here to listen to you. And you tell us that you've given us the Holy Spirit to be with us as our advocate and our helper and our counselor and our wisdom. And we see in the scriptures that your Holy Spirit speaks to Christians directly who then tell other Christians what you've said and test it to make sure that it's actually your voice. And then when we know that it's your voice, we follow. So Jesus, as we listen to your spirit here and now, if we're being honest with ourselves and with you, have we devoted our lives to you

1:10:51 completely or not? And if there's people in this room that are like me who know that there are some gaps, there are some spaces where I I I struggle to let go or I struggle to let you correct me or others correct me. Right now we offer those things to you. Show us what to do now. Jesus, reveal yourself to us. Be real to us.

1:11:37 Show us what our next step might be. And we ask you this in the name of Jesus. Amen. As you as you raise your eyes up, I just want to spirit may have spoken clear to you in that and the spirit may not have. Don't uh feel self-critical if you're like, I got nothing. I want to offer you some ways the spirit may have moved you in this. First is this. Perhaps the spirit has just said, "Read this book more or this collection of writings more. Spend more time reading the words that I've provided to you." And if that's you, please stop by our Bible study leader training after church today because I think it'll be of value to you. And if you can't come this

1:12:23 week, we're doing it again next week. Um, I highly encourage you if you're going to spend time anywhere in the Bible, spend time in the Gospels. Hear the words of Jesus because reading slows you down. Um, the next is this. If there was like a assumption that you felt Jesus confronting in your heart, talk to somebody about it. They might have some insight. The spirit very well may speak through another person, but don't just keep the doubts and the assumptions and the and the lack of clarity in your heart by yourself because it it it what happens is that starts to breed like a a dark ugliness to it.

1:13:10 Instead, talking about it, not posting about it on social media, but talking about it with a human face to face. Often the spirit will speak to you in a really important way that you couldn't have heard just by yourself. And don't run away from the discomfort of that tension because that tension is where Jesus does most of his big healing and growing work. So I'll just conclude with this that the transfiguration story uh doesn't give the disciples a task to complete. It just gives them clarity about who Jesus is. They don't leave the mountain with answers to every question. They leave knowing who their savior is and whose voice matters most. So that that's how I

1:13:56 want to end this series. Not with a bunch of answers all resolved and we got our checklist and we're good to go and we're right now. Not with certainty, but with a clear view of Jesus the way he revealed himself. No more specific than he revealed himself. And that question, who do you say I am? It doesn't disappear for us. We just get more honest about our answer and our understanding of it. Because when Jesus has been revealed as he truly is, really the only question left to answer is, will we listen to him? Um, I'd like to invite you to to to rise as the band's going to lead us out in the final song.

1:14:47 Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee. >> Take my moment and my days. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands and let them move >> at the impulse of thy love. >> Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee.

1:15:39 Take my voice and let me sing only for my king. >> Take my lips and let them be filled with me from thee. Take my silver and my gold would I withhold. >> Take my intellect and use every power that you choose.

1:16:28 Here am I. All of me. >> Take my life. It's all for thee. >> It's all for thee. >> Take my will and make it thine. It shall be no longer mine. >> Take my heart, it is mine. It shall be thy royal throne.

1:17:17 >> Take my love, my lord, I pour. at thy feet is treure store. >> Take myself and I will be ever only for thee. >> Take myself and I will be ever only all for thee. Here I am all of me.

1:18:06 >> Take my life. >> It's all for thee. >> Here I am. All of me. >> Take my life. >> It's all for thee. >> Here am I. >> All of me. Take my life.

1:18:56 It's all for thee. >> Take myself and I will be ever holy all for thee. That was a lot to process. And I think one of the ways that we can help process this is through the connect card. You can put down a question. You can put down I want to speak to somebody about this. You can say, hey, I got this when Ryan was helping us

1:19:44 pray. There's ways that you can process this. This was a lot. And then there's also we are also processing. We can also be that person who helps somebody else process. So this is this card keeping pace. This is one you take and you find somebody in your heart that you might have gotten while you were praying to pray for them. Use this as a tool to help with that prayer. And In all of that processing, you could have gotten, "Hey, maybe I should step into stewardship." Go ahead. You can It's kind of like the surveys. After you

1:20:30 buy something, they always come and ask you to do something. Well, you know what? We've got three, and you don't have to ignore them. We want to hear from you. So now I want to leave you with the benediction. May the glory of Christ steady your hearts, the voice of Jesus guide your steps, and the peace of God go with you as you listen and follow. Amen. Have a great week. See you Wednesday.