Matthew 17:14–21 | Tom Grass

[0:00] Morning. Morning. Okay, I'm going to do some bad jokes. You ready? My dentist pulled out the wrong tooth. He said it was accidental. How do you get down from a tree? You don't, you get down from a goose.

[0:18] If two vegetarians get in a fight, is it still called a beef? Good grief. What's going on? Why do hummingbirds hum? They don't know all the words yet. What's the difference between a chicken and a turkey? Chickens still celebrate Thanksgiving.

[0:44] Which side of the turkey has the most feathers on it? The outside. And as it's this weekend in particular, which side of the deer has the most meat? They don't know up there where they're hunting, but the inside.

[1:03] Why did Humpty Dumpty only hunt in autumn? Because he had a great fall. All right, a couple more if you're ready for it. Why did the man quit his regular job and become a full-time hunter? Because he heard deer hunters get huge bucks.

[1:21] All right. You're good, yeah. Do you know why loud ammunition is better for hunting? You get more bang for your buck. Did you hear about the hunter who broke his left arm? He's all right now.

[1:40] Don't snicker and laugh. Those aren't funny. Today, let's just open in prayer if we can. Lord, thank you for your time together with your saints. Thank you for your word.

[1:52] We have a passage today that's... Actually, there's a lot of ways you could go with it. You've got the Mount of Transfiguration, as some call it. We see Jesus, Elijah, and Moses were transfigured right before the Lord.

[2:08] And the three disciples, Peter, John, and James. But then they come down off the Mount. And there's a crowd gathered. And there's a man with a boy who has fits and demon-possessed.

[2:24] And that's where we pick up today. And there's a lot of ways you could go with this message. I just pray that we would glean something from your word today. In Jesus' name, amen. I have a little video.

[2:36] And I've been thinking about this for a while as we've been in Matthew. And it's kind of neat because we'll watch about ten minutes of it. And this guy shows the Sea of Galilee and the different places around the Sea of Galilee.

[2:52] And it might have been better to have it earlier in our time. But if you can remember different events that happened, you know, the feeding of the 4,000, feeding of the 5,000. There's these things that come up.

[3:02] You know, the Sea of Galilee, it's in the Galilean region, which is north of Jerusalem. It has other names in Scripture. Not just Sea of Galilee, maybe Sea of Tiberias.

[3:15] It's about 70 miles north of Jerusalem and 27 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea. It's a freshwater lake. It's only 8 miles wide and 35 miles long.

[3:30] And it's maybe 8 to 12 miles wide and 150 feet deep. It's 700 feet below sea level. I think it's the lowest freshwater lake in the world as far as elevation goes.

[3:45] It's a freshwater source for much of Israel. Storms can come in quickly and spring up over the lake because there's mountains. And as the storm comes in, it drops down.

[3:57] It sucks up that... It creates waves. Let's just say that. And it was actually located at a main crossroads known during that time, during the ministry of Christ on the earth.

[4:12] It was called Via Maris, a way of the sea. And it linked travel between the three continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. And it was actually more traveled internationally, if you will, by the people of the time than Jerusalem would have been.

[4:30] So when you think of this area, you kind of think you may have a different view of it than is actually real. So I thought this would be helpful to look at. And we'll watch about 10 minutes of it.

[4:40] And the man will mention these different sites. And so he's like Jesus on the east side. Gennesaret, right? And then he'll go over to the other side. And sometimes he'll walk around the lake.

[4:51] Sometimes he'll take a boat across it. So let's just watch a little bit. Then we'll talk about our passage today. Galilee. Why do you stand here watching? So all of the apostles were from the Galilee area.

[5:04] But we know that at least six lived on the shore right on the Sea of Galilee. Well, now let's do something special. And let's take a tour around the Sea of Galilee.

[5:15] And we'll look briefly at each special place all around the sea. The sites that are the most important and stand out. The first we'll start with is Tiberias.

[5:26] And then we'll walk around the Sea of Galilee going clockwise. So King Herod's son, Herod Antipas, constructed the city around 20 AD and named it Tiberias in honor of the Roman emperor Caesar Tiberias.

[5:43] Tiberias replaced Sepphorus or Sepphori as the capital of Galilee. He also established it as a Roman spa town with 17 hot springs in the vicinity.

[5:55] So people would come from all around to Tiberias for the hot springs. Then we have Mount Arbel. Mount Arbel is the believed place where the Great Commission was given by Christ.

[6:06] It's the tallest mountain around the Sea of Galilee and has a spectacular view of the sea. Christ spent around 70% of his ministry time on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

[6:19] So it would have been the perfect place to sum up his earthly ministry time and give the Great Commission to his disciples and all to go into the world and preach the gospel.

[6:31] Below Mount Arbel is Magdala. Magdala was the hometown of Mary Magdalene from whom Christ cast out seven demons. She loved the Lord deeply and became one of his most devoted followers.

[6:46] She was the first one Christ appeared to after his resurrection and she faithfully served the Lord all the days of her life. Then we have Gennesaret or also called Gennesar or Gennesor.

[6:59] It is mentioned frequently in the Bible as a small port on the west side of the Sea of Galilee. It also has a museum that houses a famous discovery called the Sea of Galilee boat, which is also known as the Jesus boat.

[7:16] It was an ancient fishing boat from the time of Jesus and was discovered in 1986 on the shore right beside Gennesaret. Then we have the calling of the disciples.

[7:29] This is a large flat beach, which would have been the ideal place for fishermen to mend their nets. In this vicinity, it is very likely Christ called several of his disciples and possibly preached the parables of the kingdom as found in Matthew 13.

[7:45] Tabga is the traditional place of the feeding of the 5,000. However, after a careful analysis of scripture, the most likely place for the feeding of the 5,000 is on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, just a bit south of Bethsaida.

[8:04] The eastern side of the sea was the desolate side in which we believe the miracle took place. However, Tabga, according to tradition and archaeological evidence, does appear to be the place where the restoration of Peter took place after he had denied Christ in Jerusalem.

[8:23] The Mount of Beatitudes has a spectacular view of the Sea of Galilee and is the traditional site upon which Christ preached the Sermon on the Mount.

[8:33] It says in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus went up onto a mountain and preached, and the Gospel of Luke says it was on a flat place. The Mount of Beatitudes meets both these requirements.

[8:47] It has a flat spot on top of the mountain that provides a gorgeous view of the Sea of Galilee, which would have been ideal to preach Christ's longest and most detailed sermon.

[8:58] Just below the Mount of Beatitudes is Sower's Cove. This is an option for where the parables of the kingdom found in Matthew 13 were preached.

[9:10] It's just a little ways west of Capernaum, which would be a great candidate for the parables of the kingdom as well. So, Capernaum is inland of the Sea of Galilee just a bit and is one of the three towns that Jesus cursed.

[9:28] By evangelical scholars, the area of Capernaum, Capernaum, and Bethsaida made up the evangelical triangle where Christ spent the majority of his time when he was around the Sea of Galilee.

[9:42] Today, there is an ancient synagogue that has been preserved where Christ would have likely preached on many occasions. Then we have Capernaum. Scripture says that at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry that he left Nazareth and came to live in Capernaum.

[10:00] Some of his disciples also relocated and lived here as well. Many miracles were performed in this small fishing village by the Sea of Galilee.

[10:11] Today, there are the ruins of the synagogue where Jesus would have preached. And the home of Peter has been discovered as well where it's very likely that Jesus would have lived.

[10:24] And the home of Peter can be seen today and has been preserved. St. Peter's Fish is a great restaurant located in a cove that is a favorite for many tourists.

[10:35] Here you can eat fish from the Sea of Galilee that is the same as the disciples of Jesus would have caught and eaten as well. Currently, there are two leading candidates for the true location of Bethsaida.

[10:49] Both are located on the northeastern side of the Sea of Galilee. Recent archaeology and the biblical description of Bethsaida point strongly to the location close by to the Sea of Galilee.

[11:03] Bethsaida was a fishing village with several hundred inhabitants during the time of Christ. And at least three of the twelve disciples were from Bethsaida who were Philip, Andrew, and Peter.

[11:15] It was also one of the three towns that Jesus cursed because of their hardness of heart to him and his teachings. Gamla was a Jewish settlement that was part of the rebellion against the Romans in 66 AD.

[11:32] During their rebellion, the Romans came and attacked them. And it is believed that about half of the ten thousand inhabitants of Gamla cast themselves off the cliff at the top of their city and died.

[11:48] The feeding of the five thousand, according to most scholars, is located on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. According to careful analysis of scripture and the geography of the land, this is the most likely place that the feeding of the five thousand took place.

[12:06] Scripture says that Jesus went towards Bethsaida to a remote place. This place meets the requirements of this description. It's south of Bethsaida, just a ways, which was on the desolate side of the Sea of Galilee.

[12:23] Curse is the place where two demon-possessed men lived who were so tortured by the demons that they cut themselves with knives and screamed out in pain.

[12:34] Scripture speaks about how Jesus cast out a legion of demons from just one of them, and they went into a herd of pigs who then ran down a steep hillside and drowned in the Sea of Galilee.

[12:50] Horvat Susita, or also known as Hippos, was the central city of the Golan Heights. There you go. Looks pretty desolate still, doesn't it?

[13:05] Frank's been in those areas, it's still pretty, not real populated, I guess. Anyway. Matthew 17, our verses today, I'll read these, starting at verse 14 through 20, 21.

[13:23] In some Bibles you won't have verse 21. Jesus heals a boy with a demon, is heading over it. And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him, to Jesus, and kneeling before him said, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly.

[13:43] For often he falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples and they could not heal him. And Jesus answered, O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you?

[13:58] How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me. And Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, Why could we not cast it out?

[14:13] And he said to them, Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there and it will move.

[14:25] And nothing will be impossible for you. But this kind does not come out except by much prayer and fasting. And if you back up to what we studied last week, or Bill shared with us, you know, you had the Mount of Transfiguration.

[14:48] And then there was Peter, you can put that up there. There's an artist's rendition of it that I found. And Peter, James, and John went up and saw the transfiguration of Jesus.

[15:03] And Moses and Elijah were there. And it would have been a glorious thing to see if you were those three disciples. But then you come down. On the Mount there's glory.

[15:15] And down below there's this scene of agony where this man had gone to the other possibly nine disciples and asked them to get healed. And it's just kind of interesting, you know.

[15:26] It's like you've got that glory and then you've got that chaos down below. And these verses also remind us when Moses saw the Lord on the mountain and then he came down with the tablets.

[15:40] You know, here Moses is up on the mountain with the Lord at a glorious time with Him. He comes down and what happens? The people are involved in rebellion and idolatry.

[15:50] You know, they built the golden calf. And this kind of reminds us of that. This is, you know, there are the mountain, now the valley.

[16:04] There are glorified saints. Here are the lunatic. The artist Raphael has a painting that depicts this passage of Scripture. Though the events are not simultaneous, the artist's painting tells a good story.

[16:16] Above peace and glory, below confusion, frustration, and agony. Above, for us, above Christ is in His glory, right?

[16:29] Here below we struggle against forces of evil until He returns. We fight strongholds and have disappointments and a lack of faith. I do.

[16:40] Later, one day, we, like our Lord, will be translated into His kingdom of light where there is no darkness, no sin, no death, no disease, no suffering. I look forward to that day.

[16:53] Do you? Yeah. William Barclay, in his commentary on these verses, says, It's easy to feel Christian in the moment of prayer and meditation.

[17:04] It is easy to feel close to God when the world is shut out. But that is not religion. That is escapism. Real religion is to rise from our knees before God to meet men and the problems of the human situation.

[17:18] We live our Christianity out in the world. We don't live it in a monastery. We don't live it only praising God on a Sunday. And, you know, we are flesh and blood.

[17:29] I often believe the world has a wrong idea about what a Christian is, you know, and they set the standard up, like, you should be like God.

[17:40] You should be like Christ. And we all know in this room that we're not like that. And among ourselves, you know, if we're really honest with each other, we would say, yeah, I struggle with that too.

[17:51] Or, yeah, I lost my temper. You know, when you raise children, you see things that they do, and you go, man, that little snot. You know, or, you know, it's like, where does that come from?

[18:02] It's like, then you look in the mirror, and you go, well, they got that probably from me or my wife, more than likely. But anyway, verse 14 to 18, the account goes that this man requested his son be healed by some of Jesus' disciples, but they could not do it.

[18:20] And when this man saw Jesus, he kneeled before him and interceded for his son. In Mark 9, it gives us more account about this, and I'll read these verses.

[18:32] Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.

[18:46] And they answered them, Jesus answered and said, O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me. I find that really strong, or terse, or rude, that Jesus would say that.

[19:06] You faithless generation. In Matthew, he says, you faithless and perverse generation.

[19:20] I don't know about you, but I feel like that's the world we live in right now. And I'm not going to go on a tangent about living in a perverse and wicked generation, but it is no secret that we do.

[19:34] And I can only imagine what he would say today. In verse 20 of Mark 9, it says, And they brought the boy to him, and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.

[19:52] Jesus asked the father, How long has this been happening to him? He said, From childhood. I thought, sometimes, there are young people that are brought before the Lord, and this, obviously, is not a child.

[20:08] Because it's been happening since childhood. So in my mind, I'm thinking, a teenage boy, it could be a 20-year-old. We don't really know. And I didn't look into how old they think it is by the use of the Greek word, but it's not an infant.

[20:21] And this, you know, sometimes, the Lord gives us special needs children, and we have them for our whole life. And we see people who raise kids this way, and they need grace, and they need understanding.

[20:38] And many times, we talk to couples that have a special needs child, they tell you that it's, they could think of nothing else or nothing better, and I just, that's a remarkable gift.

[20:51] I don't know how to say it properly up here, and I know you guys have a special needs child, and I don't know what that's like. But it's unique, and it's special, but this is beyond that.

[21:06] This is awful. You know, where the kid would threaten his own body, physical harm. And then the man says, if he often casts himself into fire and water to destroy him, but if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help him.

[21:26] And Jesus said, if I can, all things are possible for one who believes. Immediately, the father child cried out and said, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, you moot and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.

[21:46] After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said he's dead, but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And then the disciples asked, why couldn't we cast him out?

[22:00] And Jesus said, this can't be driven out except by much prayer. I'm just going to read this because I can't really think about it in my head at the moment.

[22:15] But it must have been frustrating for the disciples who could not cure this man's son. They had done miracles before. You would think not only that they would want to help this man, but also make Jesus proud.

[22:28] However, it appears they failed. Why? Jesus seemed to indicate in verse 17 that the problem was this generation was faithless and perverse. That seems like an odd statement related to healing to me.

[22:40] Why does he make this statement? It seems it's a general comment about the continued unbelief after all he has shown them and taught them in his public ministry these three years or so.

[22:53] In verse 20, Jesus said, he said to them, because of your little faith, for truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.

[23:08] When I thought about the three years or so that Jesus had ministered, I thought about this map, and I thought about all the different places he'd been, and all the different signs that he had done, and they weren't done in secret.

[23:21] They were done in open. And as you saw the topography of the land or the mountaintops, you know, the feeding of the 5,000, and some of the Beatitudes, and some of these things were done up on a thousand feet up overlooking the Sea of Galilee, and, you know, the crowds knew when Jesus went from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other, and then the demons were driven out of that man.

[23:47] You know, all these things had been going on, and all those pigs ran into the sea, and they ran off a cliff, and there were so many miracles that happened, and Jesus called them a wicked generation, and unbelief, because of your little faith, and now all of a sudden it's like, well, because you don't have faith, this person wasn't healed, and to me that gets to be a confusing message in my head.

[24:09] I don't know if you feel that way too, and if you're like me over the years, you've had physical ailments, right? And the Lord heals some of them, maybe, others He doesn't, and then I often think one time we were, Nikki and I attended a charismatic type church in St. Louis, and they had gifts of the Spirit, and they believed that way, and it wasn't crazy, it was within reason, if you will, and at the time I had a hernia, and I was awaiting surgery, and knew I was going to have surgery, and it was so bad that it caused a lot of pain, and I thought, well, here we are at a charismatic church, and they're preaching to get in small groups and pray, and the Lord heals somebody in that meeting, and I thought, well, Lord, I'll go with these eight people and we'll pray, and I didn't mention it, and I thought, well, didn't that be interesting?

[25:06] You know, almost like a fleece, Lord, if these gifts of the Spirit are still active today, and that whole conversation, we could go down that road, but needless to say, it didn't get cured that day, and I had to have surgery, and I often think, what would it have been like years ago, you know, women in this congregation had breast cancer, and other, we've all had things, and, I suppose, we would have just died, you know, if your intestines cut off from a hernia, you probably wouldn't live, if you had breast cancer, and it spread through your lymph nodes, and all that, you would probably have died, think of all the different things, or if you had a bad back, you couldn't have surgery, and so you'd be lame, your whole life, the rest of your life, and what would that life be like, we know that God is sovereign, and he could have healed anybody, in this congregation, over anything, and I know one time, we prayed for Zeke,

[26:07] I think it was, Zeke Whealy, who was having seizures, and he was a young boy, and he kept having seizures, and they were bad, during the night, but we prayed as a group, and he never had them since, and still hasn't, and I remember Bob Morgan, years ago, had a lump in his throat, and he was supposed to have surgery, and I don't know what kind of lump it was, and he goes there, and they're prepping him, and they go, it's gone, you don't need surgery, it's like, it wasn't like, it was, Lord if you will, heal us, you know, so we all have, possibly have something like that, we know about, but, little faith, there's a picture of a mustard seed, Jesus refers to, a mustard seed is a very tiny seed, and I believe, Jesus is encouraging us, that's magnified many times, I believe, Jesus is encouraging us, just to exercise the faith we have, what faith do you have, Lord help my unbelief, you know, where are you at, with whatever's going on in your life,

[27:09] Lord help me, help my unbelief, I got a little bit of faith, sometimes I feel like, you're hanging on by a thread, right, help my unbelief Lord, David Guzik comments on this passage, about having faith, the size of a mustard seed, in this way, the faith that we must have, has more to do with, what kind of faith it is, than how much faith there is, or, it's the object, of the faith, that's important, a small amount of faith, as small as a mustard seed, can accomplish great things, if that small amount of faith, is placed in the great, great and mighty God, well, there is a, topic of demons would come up, in this passage, we could spend, a long time talking about that,

[28:18] I can tell you they're real, I can tell you that, there is a number of them, a bunch of them, when I am studying sometimes, I grab an old book, called 52 Major Bible Themes, and I'll tell you, it's a very good book, if you have a, library, of books, rather than using your phone, and computer, this is a good one to have, and you can look up, angels, and you can look up fallen angels, and you can get, great commentary on that, and they are real, there's lots of them, they're capable of, entering and controlling, both man and beast, that's what the scripture teaches, you can find that, in Mark chapter 2, they seek to dwell, in something, they are unclean, sullen, violent, and malicious, they know, Jesus is the most high God, you can look that up, in James chapter 2, and Acts chapter 19, Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are you I think, because that refers to, they can inflict, physical harms in humans, we saw that today, in our passage right, they can influence, spiritual teaching, in 1st Timothy chapter 4,

[29:27] Paul states, now the spirit, expressly states, that in later times, some will depart, from the faith, giving heed, to deceiving spirits, and the doctrines of demons, I would believe, that there would be, some out there today, that are teaching, doctrines of demons, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain, from foods, which God created, to be received, with thanksgiving, for every creature, of God is good, and nothing is refused, if it was received, with thanksgiving, for it is to be sanctified, by the word of God, in prayer, and if you were to take, just the concept of, forbidding to marry, and the twisting of, of things of God, today, you would say, you could say, those are the doctrines, of demons, in my opinion, you know, demolishing strongholds, everything mentioned, in the beginning, of the book of Genesis, Satan's out, to defeat us, in those areas, and the world, and take them captive, all unbelievers, are open, to demon possession, Ephesians 2, 1 to 3, in that verse, it says, the prince, the power, the air, the spirit, who now works, and the sons, of disobedience, among whom also, you all walked, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires, of flesh, and of the mind, and were by nature, children of wrath, just like the others,

[30:50] I, don't know if any of you, I'm going to go down, our little rabbit hole, and not dwell there, but I don't know, if any of you, have ever felt, demonic presence, in your life, I know for a fact, I have, I don't know, if you've ever been somewhere, and you can just feel, this oppressive spirit, there, maybe it's a particular, type of store, a situation, a gathering, you're like, this just doesn't seem right, you could be watching, something on TV, and go, this doesn't feel right, one time, a neighbor, that don't live there, next door anymore, they had a young boy, that, he was a man, at the time, our neighbor's, right next door to us, and he was violently, reacting to his parents, and he was probably, in his mid-20s, maybe, 25, 27, this is a, strong man, strong young man, he, he was so strong, that one time, my horse trailer, popped off the bumper, on the incline, in the back, of my driveway, and he was able, to lift it, up off the ground, on an angle, onto the ball, 10% of that horse trailer, empties, 350 pounds, or 400 pounds, this dude, lifted this thing, going downhill, onto the ball,

[32:05] I don't know how he did it, but this guy was mad, and angry one day, and getting on his parents, out in the driveway, yelling, having a scene, I walked over to him, I said, Terry, you need to calm down, you're, I opposed him, you know, I said, Jesus wants, Satan wants to destroy you, he wants to destroy you, and you're acting out of, I can't even remember, all the words I said, and this guy, I actually calmed down, and sat on the trunk, of a car, and his mom, and dad, and one of his sisters, were there, and he calmed down, and I knew he would, use drugs, and was under the influence, of something probably, but it was really bizarre, and that wasn't anything, I did, you know, it's definitely God intervening, and I know, you could go down, and talk about a lot, of things like that, so I don't want to go, any further than that, there is a whole conversation, you could have, you know, why doesn't God answer prayer, there's lots of reasons,

[33:08] I could just bullet point some, we don't have faith, in God, we're not asking, according to God's will, we ask with wrong motives, we are hindered, by our own behavior, and there's scripture references, for all these, God has a higher purpose, I find that, that one is, really good, God has a higher purpose, often times, God doesn't answer our prayers, it appears, he might be saying no, or what else, he could say yes, no, or wait, and do you ever find, that God, you almost forget about something, or maybe God says wait, and it's very unclear, during that time, when you're going through it, it's really hard, God, why are you not, giving me an answer to this, and maybe even, just say, oh forget it, I'm not going to, I'm not going to ask about that anymore, and you think it's a no, and then, time goes by, and, it becomes a yes, but it's in his timing, and his will, like,

[34:12] Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, they prayed for a child, they were childless, you would think, that the answer was no, and then, what happens, he's beyond years, to bear children, and he sees a vision, and says you're going to have a child, and he goes home, and his wife gets pregnant, Elizabeth gets pregnant, and they have John the Baptist, and, isn't that interesting, how God, sometimes says, wait, there could be a yes, but, God's sovereign, God answers prayer, according to his higher purposes, like, for example, Paul, Paul prayed that that thorn in the flesh, would be taken away, right, never did, many believe that God allowed this thorn, in the flesh, to keep Paul humble, I mean, he was used by the Lord, in such a dynamic way, such a huge figure, right,

[35:14] I mean, he was, unbelievable, evangelist for the Lord, and, and what a transformation, of persecuting the church, to being a, apostle, but yet, he never did heal him, it says, if the Lord was saying to Paul, that he's a real man, God will give you the grace, to walk through this life, with this ailment, so, how do you wrap this up, if the missions could come up, I find this passage to be, it was really hard to come up with, how to present, what's given to you, here in these verses, so I hope I was, encouraging to you this morning, this is the only way, I know how to wrap this up, Jesus revealed himself, in all his glory, to three of his closest disciples, they did not understand, what they saw at the time, but God used it, to verify to the disciples, and us, that the message received, about Jesus Christ, is the truth, so in, in first Peter,

[36:29] I believe it is, he wrote, for we did not follow, cunningly devised, fables, when we made known to you, the power and coming, of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses, of his majesty, for he received, from God the Father, honor and glory, when such a voice, came to him, from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son, in whom, I am well pleased, and we heard this voice, which came from heaven, when we were with him, on that holy mount, so it is a, Peter looks back on that, as evidence, that we are not following, cunningly devised, fables, the last point, I like to make, a closing statement, if you will, in the midst, of our faith walk, we will encounter, circumstances, we do not understand, and are not resolved, in a way, we believe they should be, sometimes our faith, feels strong, and we are able, to persevere, other times our faith, is weak, and we seem to fail, we can be confident, in God's sovereignty, knowing that he hears, our prayers, and answers them, according to his, higher purpose,

[37:38] Lord we thank you, for your word, we thank you that, your ways are higher, than ours, we don't understand, that each thing, that happens, or how we get to the point, we're at sometimes, we don't know, what the future holds, there's uncertainty, all the time, we know, we can trust in you, and we can think, of this, painting that, this artist made, where, above is glory, and, Jesus and all his glory, and our future, is glory with you, and yet, down here, there's chaos, there's confusion, and there's, misunderstanding, and, difficulties, difficulties, but, we just trust you, through our lives, and we just want to, commit our lives to you, in Jesus name, Amen.