Guest Speaker: Santes Beatty (Soul Detox - Week 4)

Genesis 2:7 Then the Lord of God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul. 

 

Today I want to talk about what may seem like an oxymoron, I want to talk about the Satisfied Soul. Unfortunately, all of us have to learn to resist the temptation to be satisfied too soon. This detox is for heads that are full, but hearts and lives that are empty. 

 

We are often kept from our goals, not always because of obstacles, but a clearer path to a lesser goal.  – Will Mancini

 

We have the potential danger of making the supernatural common place. The temptation that God making himself known to us, would no longer amaze us. – Nancy Leigh DeMoss

 

My brothers and sisters, comfortable Christians is an oxymoron. It is wanting a Savior, but not a Lord. It is asking God is to bring you out of the fire, but resist him when he wants to send us back in to save others. I’ve come to realize again this week that God is not concerned with our comfort, he is concerned with our growth. He is not committed to our little kingdoms, but he does want to advance his Kingdom.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, it's good to be back at alive, you know, they say that they're like two reasons that you get invited back to somewhere to speak. The first reason is you did so poorly the first time that they feel sorry for you and they give you a second chance, or maybe God used you and you were a blessing. So I hope it was the latter and not the former that I got invited back. Come on, say Amen. But you have an incredible team here, pastor Tom and your team is amazing. Can we just celebrate and thank God for them. And so I bring you greetings from the Wesleyan church headquarters, our General Superintendent, Dr Wayne Schmidt and the 1600 churches and 28 or so districts, uh, here in North America. Uh, we love what God is doing here at alive. You know, there is a, we've been in the series the last several weeks, call soul detox. And I want to pick up on where you left off last week. Uh, there's a passage in genesis two and seven that says, then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul. Somebody shout soul, and pastor Tom has done a great job, particularly in that first week helping us to understand that we're not just bodies with the soul, but we are actually souls with bodies. And this paradigm shift, if you will, is kind of taking us to a new way of thinking and it can potentially change how we see everything. Now, I've done a detox cleanse, a deep cleanse before it's rough. Come on, say Amen if you've been there before. Um, and what's powerful about them is when toxic things are in us, it's important that we remove them so that we can and maybe even purge them out of our system so that we can be healthy. And so what we can be free. This is not just true of our physical bodies, but it's also true of our souls as well. So we've talked about the restless soul. We talked about the tortured soul last week, we talked about the seduce soul and so today I want to kind of pick up there and give you a new topic, but before I go there, let me, let me share this story to set it up. So I'm back in the day when I was a lot more healthy and a little more fit. Come on, say ma'am. Um, it is a keg now. It used to be a six pack. Y'All pray for me. And this was back in the day when I was being recruited. Actually I got recruited by Clemson and came, ran down the mountain rubbed rot and the whole nine and this. So I ended up going to college and playing ball. I separated my shoulder my senior year, so it affected some of the recruitment, but I was at a practice at my high school and it was at the end of practice. How many football players or former football players do we have in the house? Yeah, you know what I'm talking about? So there are these things called gasols, right? And uh, gasol is when you run from one side of the field to the other side of the field, you touched the line and you come back and your time, it's a lot like I'm what they call suicides and basketball. Basketball, you run to a certain lines on the floor, you touch them, you come back, you're doing them at the end of the practice. It is a way of building endurance, right? So that you're strong and ready go into fourth quarter. And so we're running. Gasoline and gasoline are timed right? So each position has a different time line, may have a certain time, backs and receivers have a certain time. I was a quarterback. And so I'm running down, I'm touching the line, I'm coming back. And uh, and I finished first, somebody shout first, you know, and I was really pleased with myself, you know, I finished first and one of my coaches who was a six for about 275 pan man, a manly man grabs me by my face mask and pulls me close to him. And he says this, you're faster than that. You're thinking what I'm thinking. I finished first like what you're talking about, and he played college ball and he said something to me, I'll never forget. He says, here, I'm finishing first is okay, but if you want to play, if you want to start as a freshman at the next level, you can't just finish first here because you're going to be going against the fastest of the fast from all over the country in college and fast finishing first is not good enough. You need to give me your best here so that you'll be able to give me your best there. And I learned something in that moment. I learned that maybe just maybe I had become satisfied too soon. That may be first, was not my best and that there were people who are watching who could see it. And so I want to talk to you for a little while from the theater, from the subject. Uh, satisfied. Soul satisfied. So now I know initially it, it sounds good, but this detox is for heads that are full, but sometimes hearts and lives that are empty. And if you're wondering like what are some of the symptoms of a satisfied? So there are things like, uh, we self sabotage. We, we want to build our own kingdoms, we quit prematurely, we want to be in control. And sometimes we prefer comfort over obedience to God. A woman scene, he says it this way, he says, we are often kept from our goals, not always because of obstacles, but a clearer path to a lesser goal. I'm gonna. Say that again, because that's good. We are often kept from my goal is not always because the obstacles, but a clearer path to a what lesser goal. Is there anything in your life that has potentially a hijacked a has potentially been hijacked because you have a clearer path to a lesser goal? Sometimes it's due to our feeling of inadequacy. Sometimes it is because of fear. Sometimes it's because we want to protect or preserve something by playing it safe. And sometimes, unfortunately, if we're not, if we're honest, sometimes it is because it is because of pride. Now, I'm not talking about contentment because Paul Paul teaches us in first timothy six and six, that godliness with contentment is actually a great thing, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about something totally, totally different. Uh, Nancy Leigh Demoss is that this way. She's the author of lies. Women believe in the truth that sets them free. She says, we have the potential danger of making the supernatural commonplace. The temptation that God making himself known to us will no longer amaze us. Can I be honest? I'm in the church. We haven't always been honest about what it really means to walk with God. Our invitations and our conversation sometimes sound more like a self improvement plan than a discipleship. We tell folks like, your life is going to get better. You're a, you're going to find a great community where you can do life with you. You're going to find ultimate fulfillment, and although much of that is true in our western context, we assume substitute across for comfort. Obedience for the illusion of control, as if the life with Christ is one without conflict or trouble. May I remind you that 10 of the 12 disciples were martyred. May I remind you that John, the one that survived actually dies of old age on an island of Patmos where he was an exile and that even Judas committed suicide being a disciple was not easy, nor nor was it comfortable. Acts Eight and one teaches that the historical church has grown the most and spread the most, uh, when it was under persecution, when it was challenged, when its leaders were pulled out of their comfort zones. My brother's and sister's comfortable Christian is an oxymoron. It is wanting a savior but not a lord. It is asking God to bring you out of the fire. And then once he tells you to go back in to help others get out, we resist. And I've come to realize this week again, that God is not so much concerned with our comfort as much as he is with our growth is not so much concerned with our little kingdoms as he is about advancing his kingdom. So with that in mind, let's go into the text that we're gonna be in today. Matthew Chapter Sixteen. And I want to challenge you as you turn there to not be satisfied too soon as we turn to matthew six, 17, and I want to give some background in 16. That leads us into 17. Here are a few things that are important for you to remember about the chapter before the chapter will be in the disciples have become careless and they are warned against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus actually asked his disciples, who do people say that I am? They say back to him that some say, you're Elijah, some thing, you're john the baptist. Some think you're Jeremiah something that you're one of the major prophets. Then Jesus asked them, who do you? Who Do you say that I am? And there was silence. And so Peter speaks out and says, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. Jesus then affirms Peter and and let them know that it's only because of the father has revealed this to you, that you even know that. And then Jesus tells them, don't tell anybody. And right after that, Jesus predicted his own death, to which the same peter who just prophesied about who Jesus was, rebukes or challenges or tries to correct Jesus because his traditional Jewish view and paradigm did not include a suffering savior in Jesus name rebukes Peter and explains that not only must he suffer, but his disciples and including us today that we must suffer too. He ends by saying that there is a cost, somebody shout costs. There's a cost of discipleship that you can't have elevation without humiliation, that, that you can't have glory without suffering, that you can't have a crown without across. So that's the context. That is the context in which we walk into matthew 17, beginning at verse one, and it says, after six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, the brother of James, and led them up a high what? A high mountain by themselves. Now, this story is mentioned in all three of the synoptic gospels, right? Which means it's pretty important. This is Jesus's inner circle. These are the three sons of thunder, if you will. A Yes he is discipling 12, but he spends most of his time with these three of these are the same three men that were present when Jesus raised a little girl from the dead by saying, tail tie, Lista, uh, this is the same three men who experienced later the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prays almost to the point of death. And these are the same three men who now experience what is call his transfiguration. I'm sort of giving you the end from the beginning. Can I do that? Um, but if the truth be told, this was designed, this whole experience that we're gonna talk about today, it was designed to anchor them after Jesus is gruesome crucifixion and his glorious resurrection. Think about it like the real test for you and Tom, have a good friend is not when everything is going great. A real test of a true friend is when you go through something, right? A real test. Are you with me? Have good friend's job is not when you're living the high life, not when you got it all together, not when you got all the money and all the possessions. The real test job of your friends is when you go through some suffering and the real test for me, if I'm honest, of when I've had the most intimate times with God from from a longevity standpoint, has been when I've gone through some struggles and God has shown up and revealed himself as faithful. Somebody shout faithful and so the question becomes, do we just want mountain top experience that are temporary and that a short lived or do we want to walk through some things in life where we can see the glory of God all around us? Verse two says there he was transfigured. Somebody say transfigured before

Speaker 2: 11:54

them, his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light. In other words, a, his body has gone through a metamorphosis. It. It was a preview of Christ's coming in his glory. It was the unveiling of his deity as most of his life. He had wrapped himself in the humility of his humanity and in another gospel it stuns me to hear that the disciples were partially awake while this was going on. These are the same dudes that fell asleep in the garden of the seminar while Jesus was praying. How in the world could anybody fall asleep when God is revealing his glory?

Speaker 1: 12:36

Somebody that maybe just maybe had been satisfied too soon?

Speaker 2: 12:43

How could anybody sleep with Jesus, praying almost to the point of death, maybe somebody who has been satisfied too, so maybe somebody that has been distracted by other things, maybe somebody that has been lulled to sleep by life. How could the religious leaders of his day miss what Jesus was doing? Maybe because they had the wrong view of Jesus and maybe just maybe they were trying to build their own kingdom

Speaker 1: 13:06

instead of his. Now we would never say this with our mouths, but sometimes we see it with our actions. I'm good. I don't need this. I don't need you, and ultimately sometimes we say, I don't need God. It is. It is the third dimension of sinfulness.

Speaker 2: 13:37

There's the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, but then there's this thing called the pride of life. The ultimate pride of life expression is, I don't know,

Speaker 1: 13:46

need God.

Speaker 2: 13:49

And if we, uh, my prayer is that if we are sleeping, if we have been lulled to sleep by, by life in it's challenges, or maybe even by pride and the satisfaction of feeling like we have it all together, that God wakes us up this morning and not allow us to have a satisfied soul. It keeps going. In verse three, it says, just then there appeared before them, Moses and Elijah talking with who? Jesus. So it was, it wasn't just the transfiguration. Watch this, but now we see that two other heroes of the faith show up, Moses and Elijah. Now this is the same Moses who confronted frame row and lead the Hebrews out of Egypt across the Red Sea. This is the same Moses whose body was never found when he went up on Mount Nebo. The Di, uh, about, uh, 1400 years earlier that Moses is there. And if that wasn't enough, there's also next to him. Elijah the same Elijah who was a powerful Prophet who challenged the prophets of Bale and called down fire from heaven, the same alliance who did not see death, but after he passed his mental to Elisha, the Bible says he was taken up in a chariot of fire almost 950 years earlier that he lodge, one who represents the law, the other who represents the prophets, stands before them, one who represents the dead in Christ and the other who represents those who will believe, yet still alive upon Jesus's return. They are both standing there talking with the one who represents grace and truth. I'm trying to paint a picture for you of what's happening here is they're getting clearer. Can you imagine? Can you imagine being there? Jesus is transfigured beans, a lineup coming from his body and then Moses and Elijah show up. Probably would be an incredible sight, but luke then goes on to tell us in chapter nine of his book that they are. They're talking about Jesus, his departure. They're talking about him going to across there. They're talking about the process you'll have to go through to suffer. Some theologian suggested that Moses and Elijah show up to encourage him to remind him of of, of why he's doing it and what he's doing at four. And while all this has happened, the, the, the, the clothes are lighting up. Moses and Elijah show up. Watch what, watch what Peter says. Peter says to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters. Another translation says three tabernacles. I'll build them. One for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. It is in this sacred moment that Peter starts talking. I mean, don't you just love Peter? I mean, he is sewing namerd by his own experience that he doesn't even know what to say. He doesn't really know what to do. So when I lost for words and a lack of sensitivity to the spirit, Peter Tells Jesus, Jesus, that's good for us. Good for us to be here. I mean, thinking about that. Anyone, anyone in your life ever interrupted a sacred moment and anybody in your life ever kind of told you what they thought or what they wanted to do and we're not sensitive to what was happening around you, but like we shouldn't judge him too harshly because. What else do you say? Like, what else do you do when you see Jesus transfigured? Metamorphosis. Take place. Uh, what do you do when you see Moses and Elijah just show up and start encouraging Jesus. What else do you do? I travel a lot and so sometimes when I'm traveling I get the privilege of bumping into celebrities is fun. Like the other day I was, I was in Delta Sky Club and I'm getting some food and all of a sudden Dr j rose up, are y'all with me? And then another time I was um, I was in Dallas and I was on my way back home and going through TSA and here's this little short guy in front of me and I'm like, Hey, it looks familiar. And he takes his hat off and it's Kirk Franklin and deep down inside of me, I want to say because guess what? It's good for me to be here now. Now Kurt is good without me, but I just want him to know is good for me. But y'all see what I'm saying? Like that's what. That's what Peter's is. Peter is doing in this tax like he's making it about him. He's missing the real meaning of why this is happening. Because in his immaturity he makes stuff about him and as if that wasn't awkward enough, he then says, I'm going to build something for y'all. This is the south, right? I can say, y'all are y'all looking at me funny. I'm from the south. He says, I'm going to build something for y'all because Peter didn't want this to end. While Jesus is revealing his glory, Peter Tells Jesus what he's going to build, what he's going to do. He's saying, oh, let's memorialize this. He said, let's make this a monument. Let's, let's make this permanent. It is what we sometimes do with Sunday services at church is sometimes what we do with ministry is we start to memorialize things. We start to make them permanent when they're not really doctrine, they're actually just preferences. We start making them permanent fixtures of our faith because it's so important to us. It's good for us to be here and then we miss what God is doing around us. We miss what God is doing through other people because we're so enamored by what we have experienced and so in the midst of all of that, watch what God does while he talking about Peter is still 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. Now you got to understand why this is so important because in the previous chapter, there is confusion about who Jesus was. Just like there's some confusion today about who Jesus is. Is he a prophet? Is He a good teacher? Is a really good man and God interrupts all of Peter's chatter. Basically says, close your mouth, Peter, you, you missing the moment. You're messing this up. And then he says, Jesus, my son is not just one of three great men. Oh No, he is the son of God. It's simply echoes. Peter's earlier confession in the previous chapter, but watch this. It keeps on going. I love this chapter and watch what it says. It says, when the disciples heard this, they fail. They fail facedown 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 who they saw no one except who now for everything else, they stood in all or they slept. Think about it for everything else. They stood in awe. They slept or they were talking. But for this, the Bible says that when God spoke, when the father spoke, they fail face first and they were afraid it couldn't have been a whisper. It couldn't have been, it must have been not just the found that, uh, caused them to fall face first. But it must've been what they felt. Could you imagine his voice being almost like a funder and when, when God speaks and then Jesus comes over, touches them on the shoulder, tells them to get up and to not be afraid. It reminds me of something happened to me when I was in Michigan. Um, I, I went out boating with one of our pastors and I'm not a big boater. Come on say man. And um, but I went, I went, I went because they invited us and our kids went out with me. Then we just had two younger kids and uh, and we out boating and my kids are getting on a tubes and they're riding behind the boat, you know, they having a good time and I'm, you know, I'm a youth pastor. I'm thinking to myself, man, you know, you've got some big enough for me. And so he was like, yeah man, I got this mega bowl. So he blows up a mega bowl and he throws it behind the boat and I get into the megabooth I'm bouncing on the ways. I ain't never been to one before, you know, I'm having a great time. I'm waving at people on the show. What's up y'all? We all to around here, you know, and I'm getting it in and then all of a sudden pastor Mike makes a turn. I'm like, what are you turning for? I'll start flying through the air. My arms are flailing legs and flake. I hit the hit the water. What just happened? Stop playing, stop playing. And he looks back at me and he looks mad. He looks like he's frustrated so he gives that little red boat. Everything is enough and we have fun. I'm like, please don't turn, don't turn. Whatever you do, don't turn again and pass the Mike turns and this next time I fly through the air, I can't hold on. I lose grip arms are flailing legs and flailing. I hit the water and the boat speeds off and I'm going down in the water. I'm taking them water. I know they're not going to get back to me a time. You see what I forgot to tell pastor mike was that I could kind of swim think you know when you can kind of swim. I'm used to swimming in pools, right? Well you know, if this is a secret to those that don't notice, but when you can't swim and you in a pool, the secret is just to get to the edge. If you could just get to the edge and then just roll up on him and we could all swim around here, but when you went to a lake that is three miles wide and five miles long, the edge is a long way away and so I'm going down in the water. I'm taking in water. I'm like, please don't let me die here in front of my kids, and then all of a sudden I hear some say be still. I forgot I had a life jacket on.

Speaker 3: 24:22

No,

Speaker 2: 24:25

I started rising to the top. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus pictures and I'm here to tell you like in that moment, all that was important to me was God's voice. All that was important to me in that moment was the passage that says, be still and know that I'm God. All that mattered was a sense in which God almost tapped me on the shoulder like he does in his text, and he says, I got you. I got you. I want to say to you, don't, don't miss this. A wild life or when life can be overwhelming, when it, when it doesn't make sense, when it's all said and done, you and I are left with Christ and Christ alone. Now you might want to touch your neighbor, high five, your neighbor, a nudge or something. This is when it gets real bapticostal. Now, when you start to just touch them and say, Jesus is more than enough, that means you got to talk to somebody. Now tell them Jesus is more. Yeah, I don't think you got my instructions right on the other side. I get to another neighbor, high five. Um, you know, whatever. And tell them Jesus is more than enough. Yeah, we gotta work on that here at a live. Y'All. Y'All ain't with me. You only with me. But here's, here's my point, Moses and Elijah eventually leave a good people. Even great people will eventually go. The boat sped off, and I know my wife was thinking about me. I know my kids were wondering about me, but sometimes people will leave. Sometimes they leave because of death. Sometimes they believe because they don't understand, but you and I, we are left with Jesus and Jesus alone. When Jesus remains, when the Holy Spirit remains, I want you to understand that his presence in our lives is more, it's more than enough. I want to just read a few lyrics for the song in Christ alone, in Christ alone. My hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground from through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are steel, when striving cease my comforter, my all in all here in the love of Christ a stand. He's more than enough. But let's keep reading this last verse. It says, as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them. Don't tell anyone what you have seen until the son of man has been raised from the dead. Now after all of that, his body is transfigured beams of light shooting out of his clothes. Moses and Elijah show up. God the father speaks from heaven and Jesus says, on our way back to the crib on our way back to camp on our way back to our home. Jesus says, but don't tell anybody. Can you imagine the disciples? I'm sure they thinking like, yeah, right as soon as I get back to camp, because have you ever had a situation where, you know, somebody said, you know, we have a baby, but don't tell nobody. You know, we, I'm about to propose, but don't tell anybody. We were about to move. I got a new job, but, but don't, don't tell anybody. I gave my life to Christ and I'm going to be baptized, but the don't know. Don't tell anybody. I feel called to ministry and I feel like God, it's called. But like good news is supposed to be shared. This news is supposed to be experienced. So why on earth would he say this so explicitly get to them because there was no room in their paradigm yet for a suffering savior. There was no room in their paradigm for across before crown of humiliation, before elevation. In other words, they weren't ready and he didn't want their expectations to get in the way of his purpose. So Jesus says to them, don't tell anybody, and if the truth be told, there's very little room in many of our paradigms today have a suffering Christ follower of someone who has to deal with difficult situations and challenges in life. But I want to remind you, it's normal. I want to remind to remind you that is part of the criteria. Even this week, can I be totally transparent. Even this week I've been dealing with some things where God has said some things to me and and it's pushing me in a way and I'm like, God, I don't. I don't know. This is not a good time. God, I don't know. I don't know if that's really grateful. My marriage and my kids like I'm, I'm wrestling. And God says to me, I'll never forget, he said, do you trust me? And then he says, do you believe I would bring this to you to hurt you or to hurt your family or to grow you? And you would've thought I would've gotten it by then, but I still, I still make it some excuses about things I wanted to protect and all that kind of stuff. And then he just, he just said something that caused me to hit my face and fall face first on the floor. He said, is this your life or is it mine? Do you just want me to be your savior? Or am I your Lord? Santis? Um, have you ever noticed that you can't fall asleep? You can't make yourself fall asleep if you notice that, but you can create the conditions by which is easier to fall asleep. You can't make yourself fall asleep, but you can set the conditions. And what this message is about, it's about setting the conditions so that it's easier for your heart to embrace following. So it's easier for you to your heart to embrace the fact that you might have to suffer, that you might have to go through some challenging situations, and in is in those challenging situations that God reveals. His glory is not just on a Sunday service, uh, it's not just on a platform, it's not just when you're having these special moments, but God often reveals himself and his glory in the midst of trouble. Yes, sometimes he brings you out, but sometimes God wants to be with you through it. And it is in those moments that he anchors you. He creates an anchor for your soul. And that's what this experience was for. And so let me give you a few things as we, as we close. Let me give you a few things to remember. Um, as you leave. The first one is a location for anybody that has a set satisfied. So I want to suggest to you that you got to remember location, uh, Peter, your real work, your real life is down at the bottom of the mountain. Sometimes you need, Gloria says experiences on a mountaintop, but uh, but you also need to deal with the real enemy and real people in the valley. If you are currently experiencing a mountaintop, let me tell you, a valley is coming. If you're currently in evacuee, let me tell you, a mountain top is coming. Jesus's purpose was not to camp out on a mountain. It was to go to a cross and to get up from the grave. But then there's a second thing, demonstration, which God does in this text. Uh, I'll never forget we were, um, I took my kids to a camp. I spoke at the summer and the first day of camp, one of the leaders falls off of a rock climbing rock climbing wall and breaks his ankle. I mean, bad to the point where his ankles swole up like a cantaloupe. I mean, it was just. And we were like, man, you need to go to the doctor. You need to go get that looked at. And he refused to leave, right? He said, I'll leave when the campus open. So he, he's getting wheeled around on crutches. And that third night of the camp, I preach a message about freedom and about healing and deliverance. And at the end I feel like I'm supposed to go over and pray for this brother. But before I could even get to him, some of the students and some of the other leaders start to get around them and start praying. And do you know that brother stood up on that ankle? And not only did he stand up on that ankle, that brother started walking and soon after he started walking around the room, he started running. And when that happened, when the other students saw this guy who they knew his ankle was broken, they knew it, and they witnessed a miracle. The Holy Spirit just broke out in the whole place. And students started getting delivered and set free. And there were healings. Why? Because sometimes it's good to preach a message, but there's other times when there needs to be a demonstration of God's power and everything changed for the rest of the week because students, some miracles, it started with that leader, but then it broke out in their own lives. So there's demonstration and then there's association. Uh, what I've found, I never forget, I got invited to go to an NFL game and I didn't know what kind of seats we had, but because they got an invite me, you know, he said, I got your tickets and we show up at the game and I'm like, where are we going? He's like, we go into the

Speaker 1: 32:39

50 yard line. I'm like, what the online? He said, yeah, we got box seats. So what? We got proxies, proxies. So we show up and I'm standing. He's, Oh yeah, by the way, I bought you a jacket, you know me, a jacket and a hat and a scarf from that team. And I'm sitting there all decked out in that attire at the 50 yard line. I'm thinking to myself, I could never afford this, but I got there because of association, because of the person who brought me. Are you with me? And when I was an understanding, they are experiencing this only because of their association with Jesus. And there are many benefits of following Jesus. But I also want to suggest to you that there's a cost to following Jesus too, and he tells them that their cost is that they must suffer, so you will get the benefits, but you will also endure suffering. And that leads to transformation. Jesus ultimately came, so our lives would be what transformed. Therefore, his transfiguration is a picture of our transformation. He rescues us from sin, uh, things in our past, things in our present things in our future and our past is cost justification where we are made right or righteous in the sight of God by Jesus's work and by our faith. And our president is called sanctification. If you're wrestling, you definitely need to know that a sanctification. That's where we made more and more like Jesus' Day by day, but then there is our future and that's glorification is the final stage of redemption. When we take on our heavenly bodies, we are not transformed. Watch this. We are not transformed by watching great men and women of faith, of seeing a Moses and Elijah, but we are transformed by following. We are transformed by going down the mountain and doing what Jesus says there is. There are no shortcuts. Here's the last thing he tells them, and the last thing I want you to remember, a proclamation. What God, the father says about Jesus still remains true, that he is the son of the living God and that we should listen to him and Jesus has simple and clear instructions on the way down to mountain. Tell others about me. Tell others about this. When I am raised from the dead. Other people need to know. When you've experienced something incredible, you want to tell other people about it. I wish I would have been there. We have the luxury of seeing the back side of this. If I had been there, I would have whispered to to Peter, at least let Jesus get to the cross before you are satisfied. At least let him be raised from the dead before you are satisfied. At least let him ascend into heaven and Sitteth at the right hand of the father, interceding for you and I before us satisfied at least Peter, Peter, at least wait til the day of pentecost. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you and and you preach the Gospel, and 3000 people are saying, before you are satisfied and I want to say to you and to me at least wait until Jesus's return, before you are satisfied. Until that happens, I can't let myself be comfortable on the wrong mountain. I

Speaker 2: 35:37

can't be satisfied to soon can I talk to some real people. For some of you, you felt stuck in your marriage or relationship and you've settled on the fact that this is all it will ever be. I'm here to tell you, don't be satisfied too soon for others. You become content on your job or what's happening at your school and and you know that it can be better, but I'm here to tell you, don't be satisfied too soon. For others. You feel like ministry has hit its peak and you've plateaued or you've hit a wall and you feel like you. You'll never be able to turn it around. I'm here to tell you, don't be satisfied too soon for others or you've experienced a diagnosis or a health scare that is knocked the wind out of you and you in some ways have almost given up the possibility of, of healing. But I want to say to you, don't be satisfied

Speaker 1: 36:25

too soon. Last story, and I'm done. So there was a, uh, Dr Marvin mcnicholl tells this story of two birds. One bird is a bird that is in the house of a married, newly married couple and these are the birds that repeat things and I'm the bird says over and over again, let us kiss that's kiss. Let us kiss. And there's another bird. The bird is in the house of a pastor and that Bert says over and over spray spray, spray.

Speaker 2: 36:59

And people wanted like what? What would happen if we put those two birds in the same cage? And two teenage boys made it happen. One day they took one bird and they took the other bird and they got them in the same cage and just as they expected, the first bird said, let us know,

Speaker 1: 37:14

kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, and then the other brother said,

Speaker 2: 37:21

finally, my prayers have been answered. I want to say to you what matthew seven seven says, keep on praying, keep on trusting, keep on knocking. Keep on asking because God doesn't want you to be satisfied too soon. Don't be satisfied with bad relationships or healthy friendships and still marriages. Don't be satisfied with unfulfilling jobs, stagnant ministry on uninvent fault life. I'm so glad that there are people in our lives that we are witnesses the fact that they have not been satisfied too soon. May God arrest our hearts if we have a satisfied so may he lovingly confront us if we've been satisfied too soon. Me, he wake us up from our slumber. If the supernatural has become commonplace and if God revealing himself to us, no longer amazes us, may we not be satisfied to so please stand.

Speaker 1: 38:27

Let's pray. Father, this word challenges us because God is so easy to want to be on the mountaintop. It's so easy to want to make it about us. It's so easy for us to tell God what we want to build. God, it's easy to make you savior as a whole lot harder to make you lord, so God, whatever it is we're dealing with, whatever it is that we've been satisfied in, I pray that you arrest our hearts, that you wake us up and not allow us to be satisfied too soon for some of us. Got His relationships with others is the business you've called us to for others. It's ministry in the context of a relationships in that capacity, but God, whatever it is, I pray that you show us your glory and not just when it feels good, but show us your glory even when it hurts, even when we're going through and we believe will be transformed by, that will be transformed not by watching other people, but by following you. So do it as only you can and it's never ever have a satisfied so it's in the matchless name of Jesus. We pray somebody say Amen.