string(7) "m-66998" Burnt Hickory Baptist Church

Sermons

← back to list

Nov 24, 2024

Our View of God Shapes our Response to God | Living in His Glory

Our View of God Shapes our Response to God | Living in His Glory

Passage: Matthew 17:1-9

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Living in His Glory

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: church, faith, jesus, god, sermon, christian, bible, christ, gospel, hope, sermons, holy spirit, christian community, jesus christ, lord, christianity, fear of the lord, transfiguration, bible study, son of god, inspirational, matthew 17, study the bible, awe of god, god's greatness, bible teaching, christian motivation, god’s presence, burnt hickory worship, burnt hickory baptist church live stream, christian inspiration, burnt hickory sermons, sermon for life change

What happens when we truly see God for who He is? In this message, we explore the powerful moment of Jesus' transfiguration in Matthew 17 and how it reveals two foundational truths about God's nature: His transcendence and His immanence. God’s transcendence reminds us of His majesty and holiness, elevating our reverence for Him. At the same time, His immanence brings us close, showing His intimate involvement in our lives and elevating our relationship with Him. Together, these truths challenge us to stand in awe of God's greatness while living devoted to His personal and unfailing love. How should we respond? By surrendering to His eternal presence, living in awe of His bigness, and being deeply devoted to His love. This life-changing encounter teaches us that our view of God directly shapes our response to Him.

For the last couple of weeks, what we've been doing is we're in a little mini-series that we're calling Living in His Glory. What we're doing is we've been laser-beam focused on this mountain event in scripture, which is often skipped over and often hurried through in Matthew chapter 17. So, if you've got a copy of scripture, that's where we'll be today in Matthew chapter 17, walking through this moment in scripture that is often called the Mount of Transfiguration. I want to read the first five verses this morning, all right? First five out of eight, and then I'm gonna show you these two encouraging natures of God, and we'll work through 'em this morning.

Here it goes. Matthew 17, verse one. It says: After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James and John, the brother of James, and he led them up to a high mountain by themselves. There, he was transfigured before them. We looked at this a couple of different weeks. He began to glow. He began to shine. He began to show them his glory. Here it is. His face shown like the sun. His clothes became white as light. And just then, Moses and Elijah appeared before them, talking with Jesus. Now, Luke tells us that they're talking about the end of times, and they're talking about his coming and returning. In verse four, 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 and, one for Moses, one for Elijah.

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, this is my son whom I love. And with him, I'm well pleased. Listen to him. Now, when we read these five verses particularly, all right, and when we're gonna read the rest later, when we see this from the beginning to the end, if we read it as a whole, there becomes these incredibly encouraging and saving descriptions of God. They become so clear about God's nature and character, and they become eternally and extremely important to us. So here's what I want to do. I want to show you the two natures this morning. I want to show you how those two natures work together this morning. And then, on the backside of it, I want to show you some application of how we can walk on either side of the ditch of going too far, either way in the middle so that God can gain glory through us.

I know it sounds like a lot, but we can get there. Okay? Here it is—two foundational natures of God. Lemme give you the first one, and then you'll see how we just read it. Number one is this: write this down. God is a transcendent God. He's a transcendent God. Here is what that means. And I want you to grasp this word. Here's what this word means. It means when I say the word transcendent, 'cause listen, I'm going to say it all morning long, alright?

When I say transcendent, here's what it means. It just means that God is above all. That's what it means. That God is above all, that God is over all, that God is complete. Other than that, God is all-powerful. He's all-ruling, and he's all-reigning in the universe. That's what trend descendants mean. You say, Matt, why don't you say all that? 'cause It's a lot. It's just easier to say He is transcendent. Now, this is an incredibly important truth. You say, well, Matt, Matt, why is it important? Here's why it's an incredibly important truth: we, many of us, tend to place everything in the universe in an orbit around us and not God. 

We have this tendency to look at the universe as being just about us. So many times, we feel like this big green earth is set up for nothing more than my support system, my needs, my desires, and my family's wants. Amen. That is how many of us functionally live, and really, this is such a common but dangerous attitude because here's what it does. When we live like that, it functionally makes me God. It makes me God. And here's what that does. When I live, the universe surrounding me is all about me. What I'm doing is I'm taking God off the throne. I'm putting myself on the throne, and really and truly, the only place I have to look for hope, to look for power, to look for eternity, to look for salvation when I live like that is me. Why?

Because I have made myself God, but according to Scripture, listen closely, it is God's transcendence, right? His bigness, other than this, is what gives us perspective and, ultimately, what gives us eternal hope. You see, so many people struggle in this life because they have made it all about them and not the bigness of who God is. We've made it so much about us. When we do fail, we have nowhere else to look but us. And I have news for you: you will fail. But according to scripture, the only thing that can give eternal hope is the transcendence of God. Here's what I mean. I love the idea that Jesus is our buddy. I love it. I do. I love the idea that we just put our arm around Jesus and man; he's mine, and I'm His.

But we also gotta know that he is God. That He's God. And I think, for some reason, we have taken him off the throne and just leveled him onto the idea that he is my friend. No, he is the ruler of all. That's what transcendence means. He is the God of the universe, and I am not. My desires are not how I think God was born, not God is God. You see, God is not simply just attached to this creation of his. He is detached. He's above it. He's not affected by how wrong or big I think I am.

That's what it means: that he is a transcendent God. He's separate, he's independent, and God is superior to us. Now, I know that upsets some of you. You think, ah, I don't know about that, Matt. No, he is. I love how this mountain scene shows us. It shows us that, yes, the disciples, they walked with Jesus. They talked with Jesus, and they talked with him. They were with him. They were discipled. Actually, by this moment at the mountain scene, for two and a half years, these guys had followed faithfully Jesus, right? But what did Jesus show them on the mountain this day differently? They showed them his glory. He showed them his otherness. He showed them how big he is. On top of that, the Shekinah glory of God is shown around them, and this glimpse into the bigness of God, what did it do?

It changed these guys' lives. And here's what it should do for us. It should change my perspective, take my perspective off of me, and put it on who God is. Here's why this is so important. Here's what the mountain taught. These guys write this principle down with the correct view of God's transcendence; that's God's bigness, right? Elevates our reverence for God. It elevates our reverence. What does grace say, man? What do you mean by that? It elevates the fact that there are moments in our lives when we gotta realize that he is God. I am not. He is in control. I am not in control. And when he says something is correct, it doesn't matter how I feel about it. What matters is that he is the Lord. That's what this event's showing.

Man. I love the fact that these guys' whole image was changed. These guys went up the mountain with such a limited view of Jesus, right? You say, no, man, they've been walking with him for two and a half years. Yeah. They thought they had it figured out until this moment. Now their lives were rocked, and now they know with certainty what? That He is God. That He's God. Now, along with the mountain scene, we see this idea of God's transcendence throughout the Bible. Let me read you some verses real quick. I'm not gonna give any commentary. You can. You can figure 'em out. They're pretty easy. Psalm 97, verse nine, watch this. Watch what it encourages us. It says, for you, that the Lord is the highest on all the earth. You were exalted far, far above all Gods. Isaiah 55, verse eight says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts nor your ways, my ways declare the Lord for his heavens are higher than the earth.

So are my ways higher than yours and my thoughts higher than yours? I love what Isaiah says in Isaiah 6:1. He reminds us of this, right? I saw the Lord, he said, sitting on the throne upon the throne high and lifted up. Isaiah 40, verse 22. Later on, he says He – he's talking about God – He sits on the throne above the circle of the earth and its people like grasshoppers. Can you get that image in your mind? Right? He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and he spreads them out like a tent to live in. Even Jesus said this in John 8:23. He says, you are from below, and I am from above. You are of this world. Jesus says, and I am not of this world. Listen, there's something that we need to grab on here that the disciples were getting a full picture of.

They, at this moment, saw the bigness of an eternal God. And what did it do? It changed them. Let me ask you a question before we move on to the next one here. Do you or have you regularly just had moments in your life where you have experienced the transcendence of God? Where you paused in that moment and went, yes, Lord, yes. Or, have you so reduced them to your buddy that you're missing it? I promise you that when you experience the bigness of God, it changes you, and your life points in reverence and submission to him. Number one, what are we seeing? The transcendence is the bigness of God. We see this as the second foundational truth at the mountain. Number two is that God is imminent. All right? He's imminent. All right?

I know that's another big word, but you'll sound smart at once today, okay? God is imminent, and you say, Matt, what does imminent mean? Here's what it means. It means that God is not just big, but God is close. That's what it means, man. I love the word imminence. Why? 'cause God is close. It means that God is close, that God is fully present, that God is entirely in the physical world. Listen to this. If you've given your life to Jesus, God is entirely inside you, and he walks with you, and that God is fully accessible. You see, it's the imminence of God, of God, that describes that God that is truly with us. The God who truly wants to relate to us, that God who truly walks with his creation. And what does it mean? It means that he hears us.

It means that he responds to us. It means that he hears the prayers of mankind. It means that he gives us the strength when we need it. He, yes, is the one who will judge all of us, but he wants to be fully involved. And it means that God so loved us that he, to the point that they sent Jesus to be here for us as a bondservant, to be the sacrifice for our sins. And now we have the Holy Spirit in us. Do you see the difference between these two? Right? I love how Wayne Grudem puts this in his systematic theology book. He says this: the God of the Bible is no abstract deity removed from and uninterested in his creation. The Bible is the story of God's involvement with his creation. And particularly, listen to this, the people in it.

Man, I hope I can speak like that when I grow up, right? Church, we have a God that is not just big, but we have a God that is with us, and we have a God that is fully with us. So, what is this reminder of the eminence of God? So Peter, James, and John, what does it show us? Write this principle down. It shines the light from the first principle here. It is a right view of the imminence of God. What does it do? It elevates our relationship with God. You see the correct view of the bigness of God. It causes us to live our lives in reverence, but what does the rightness of the eminence of God do?

It elevates our relationship because God wants to walk with me. In other words, our relationship with God is lifted. It's strengthened. It's matured as we see clearer that God is truly with us. He's with us. We see this all through the scriptures. Lemme give you a couple of scriptures since I did it. On the first one, Luke 12 or 6 says, are not sparrows sold for two pennies? Well, no more inflation, right? Listen to this <laugh> that's not in the notes. And not one of them is forgotten before God. Man, isn't that encouraging? Acts 17, Paul says it like this, though he is not far away from any one of us. For in him, we live talking about God. Watch this and move and have our being. Jeremiah 23 24 states that God, what does he do? He's not only above all of us.

He fills the heavens and the earth. And to be super clear, John 1:4 says, the word became flesh and it dwelt among us. Colossians 1:17 says, for he is before all things. And in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body of the church, the beginning and the firstborn among the dead. So that in everything, he might have the supremacy. Now, by this point, you're figuring out quickly that there is some tension, right? There is some tension. Matt, how can God be so big and so overall and so transcendent and so detached from all of the world, not affected by sin, but how can God on this side be so close, is so intimate and inside of me and walk with me, to which I would say what? Hallelujah. Right? He's God. And that is the beauty of the tension I want us to feel.

It is a simple but profound idea that God is so big and with us. Man, I love this 'cause I want you to feel this. I want you to feel this tension and watch what happens right here to see the balance between his transcendence and eminence. Alright? Right after the light, lemme bring you back to the story. Right after the light, right after Moses and Elijah, they go back to glory. Right? They go back to glory right after the glory of God goes away. Talk about transcendence. There it all is. Watch what happens as Jesus shows his closeness. Watch this real quick. Verse six. It says this. It says when the disciples heard this watch, they fell face down, terrified. Now, before we get on these guys too hard, don't even say that.

Don't even say you wouldn't. You get scared when there's a bump in the basement right now. This fear is not a negative fear. We're gonna look at this at the end. It's a respect. It's an honor. It's a reverence. They're on their faces before. Holy God, right? The transcendence of God. And watch what Jesus does. Watch the balance right here. Look at this incredible picture of the character of God that he's offering you. If you just take it, we'll give verses six and seven again together. It says this: when the disciples heard this, they fell face down. Terrified. But Jesus came, oh, oh. Waiting three weeks to get to this. But Jesus came, and he touched them, and he touched. Are you seeing it now? Do you see how this is probably one of the most beautiful pictures of both natures of God?

Jesus came, he touched them, and he said: Get up. Quit being a fool. No, no, no, no. That's not what he said. He said, get up. He said, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, man. Think about this. The first words the disciples get right, the first words they get after the mighty God, shows up on the scene after the glory of God, after the Shekinah, glory of God, after the glory. Jesus, right? All of it. The first word that they get they're on their faces. They're like, can we look up? I don't know if we can look up. We've never done this before, right? I don't know if we should get up. How long do we stay down here? I mean, if we're committed, what do we do? What happens? 

They're on the ground. They're like, we're staying here till Jesus does something, right? We are not moving, which is a great posture of life to be in. But then Jesus, what did he do? I could see it. The chosen Jesus is all in my brain right now, all the time, right? I can see that little smirk. I can see that little smile back to the camera. Jesus is not doing that. But you get it. Jesus reaches over and is like, Hey boys, come on. Get up. Don't be afraid. Amen. Now you know who I am. And what did he do? He touched him. He touched him. I love this. These guys' minds are now blown away, right? They're blown away. How long would they have lived there on the ground? I don't know how long they would have lived there. I don't know how long I would live there if Jesus didn't touch me.

But there's a point here that I think kind of sneaks by sometimes I didn't put in your notes, but here's what I want to mention. If you ever feel like your fear meter is out of control, have you ever been in that stage in life? Of course we, I mean, there's been some seasons, right? Could it be that we're just not fully resting in the presence of a mighty God who has and will literally reach down and touch us in our times of need? Could it be, I wonder sometimes, that if we fully realize the bigness or transcendence of God and the closeness and the power of God in us, if we recognize the bigness and the loving, close, entire presence of God if we realize his full presence, could it be that many of the things that seem to drag us down in our fear or in our faith would seem to go away?

Why? Because we know that we have a God that is overall, and he's is awesome. Could our faith and fear problems be just not seeing God for who he really is? Now, I'm not making light of anything that you've got going on in your life, but I am saying this: if my God is big enough to create us and sustain us, he's big enough to deal with whatever you have going on. And he wants to. He wants to. Look at verse eight. Watch what happens after this. I love it. Watch what happens after this story. The disciples show us what we should do and the posture we should live in. It says this in verse eight. It says when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

If it wasn't good enough to see Jesus in his fullness if it wasn't good enough to hear his comforting words. Now Jesus does what? Jesus runs off and pretends like He's not there. No, Jesus stays with them. And listen to me this morning. He stays with us. He stays with us. Not physically, but He's sent His Holy Spirit to us. He's with us believers. That's the assurance that we have and we get at salvation. This is why I wanted to sit in this story. This is why I wanted to just me. I wanted to meditate on this story because it's a, it's, it's the transcendence, the bigness, the imminence, the closeness to God has for us, his children, every day at every moment for eternity that gives us life. It's not how good I am. It's not how good you are. It's not how smart you are.

It's not your education level. It's not how many friends you have or don't have. It's the fact that we have a big God who wants to be in us and give us life that carries us forward. And listen, living in the understanding of both of these natures of God matters. 'cause It's what sustains us. Lemme put it like this. We cannot give ourselves fully to the closeness of Jesus until we really realize that he is Lord of all. But on the flip side, we cannot fully appreciate the bigness of Jesus until he opens our hearts and we invite him in to be our Lord and Savior. You see, many people know that there is a God, but they're not fully experiencing Jesus because they've never given them their lives. Man, we can't do it. I love these two natures of God because, from the outside looking at the end, they're polar opposite.

Are they not? How could God be so big but yet so close? But here's what God says: I'm God, and I want you to live in the tension. So here's what I want to do for a few minutes as we close and we have time. I want us to learn what it looks like to live in the tension. So let me give you three what I would just kind of call walkaway statements or three responses that you can use on the backside of this message you can use in life of how we can live in the middle of the road, not fall off through the ditch of imminence, not fall off through the ditch of transcendence, but we can live in the tension of both. How do we do it?

Number one, here it is. Be astonished and in awe of God's bigness. Be astonished. Live in all of God's business believers. We should be alive with a sense of astonishment that, holy smokes, a God of all time will love me, and we give himself for me. And we should live our lives in a sense of awe. Here's the good news. The good news is that we're already created and hardwired to live like this. You see, how are we hardwired to live like this? Think about it. Anytime something of greatness or supreme importance is in front of us, you can't shake it. You can't shake it. You. You know that's true. Why? Because everything else in your mind goes away. You say, Matt, I'm not following you. Okay? I thought about a couple of examples this week to maybe bring you into what I'm trying to say here.

When something of greatness comes in front of us, when we're standing in that moment, it's almost like nothing else matters. That's what it means to be in awe of something literally. You see, Matt? Matt, what are you talking about? Let me give you a couple of examples. It's been 24 years since Melissa and I got married. 24 years. All right? 24. 24 and a half. All right? So no, almost 24 there. It's almost 24. I better get that right. She's in here. I still remember the day, still remember the day? I'm telling you, at New Hope Baptist Church, standing down front after my fraternity brother, guys messed with me. On the way down the aisle, right on our wedding day, I still remember the day those doors closed. And then those, the music changed. The doors opened back up.

At that moment, Melissa began to walk down that aisle. I can still remember that moment in time exactly. It is almost like what the time just stood still. And that is the only thing that was happening. And I was like, holy smokes. That's mine. I mean, not in a bad way, but you know what I'm saying, right? That's mine. That's mine. That's what I'm talking about when I say live in awe. I can remember the days that both of my boys were born. I can remember I got a good nap on one of 'em. One of 'em I didn't, right? I remember, man, a whole lot was going on here at the church. But did I, did I care? No, I didn't care. I didn't care what's going on anywhere else. Why? 'cause I was in that moment. In total, all of what happened.

I still remember the day I was with some of you guys. I've told this story before, like in the middle of nowhere, like two miles outside the middle of nowhere in Australia, right? A couple of you in the room were with us that day. I still remember looking to my right and looking to my left, and all I could see from horizon to horizon was the clearest Milky Way I've ever seen, even in a picture, before going whew. And not even knowing what to say. I still remember some worship moments and mission trips. Maybe it's the beach for you. Maybe it's the base of a mountain for you. When God shows us that we're commanded to live in the sense of the overflow of astonishment, Psalm 33, 8 says, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

This is the moment, right? When the disciples saw Jesus, they didn't know what to say. They didn't know what to do. They didn't know where to go. They just stood in His presence in the church. Lemme tell you, that's where God wants us to live. That's the perspective. He wants us to have an awe-struck moment with Him. Let me ask you, when was the last time you were just amazed by who God is? When was the last time that nothing else mattered? It didn't matter what time it was; it didn't matter that I had to be at this or be at that, or my phone was dinging or anything. The baby was crying. I don't know. When was the last time? I was just like, yes, Lord, your honor, glory, and praise. When was the last time you stood in all of God?

Not a person, not a superstar, not a place. Those things are cool. Yeah, go for it. But when was the last time you just left the astonishment of the bigness of God overwhelm you to say, you love me, you love me? So what's the solution? The solution is, although, yes, he is with us to know that he is the Lord. So, one, be astonished and in awe of God's bigness. But number two, we live this. Here's how we respond. We live devoted to God's personal and unfailing love. We live devoted to him. Now, this is the personal side. Yes. God is out there. Yes, God is above. But we also live fully within the context, like scripture has told us that God loves us and God wants to move in us. I love how David in the Psalm shows us both of these pictures, but I love Psalm 27:4, where David said this one thing.

I asked from the Lord that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple. David said, listen, I know that God is so good. I know that God is so big. I know that transcendence of God, but I just want to be with him. I just wanna walk with him. I just wanna devote my life to him. And actually, this is the goal of the Christian life. This is the goal of all of humanity, right? This is Peter in the mountain story, right? He got in a little bit of trouble for it, but his heart was right when Peter said, this is good, right? This is good. This is so good. I don't want you guys going anywhere. Jesus, stay put, Moses, stay put, Elijah, stay put.

I'm gonna build you a home. I'm gonna put some tents up so you'll be here so I can be with you. You see, the supreme mark of a true believer's life is not that. They know that there is a God out there. They've submitted their hearts to Jesus so that they realize that his bigness is grand, but his closeness saves us, amen. And we submit our lives to him and listen to me closely. There has to be this turning moment in our life to call ourselves followers of Jesus, and God moves from just being a being of the universe, to God moves to being a savior of the world and a savior of my soul. There has to be a moment where we surrender our heart and life to him, where our soul is devoted to him, and when we see Jesus as Lord and ask him to save us.

This is John 3:16, right? For God. So loved the world that he gave is one and only son to whoever believes in him–watch this–shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world. You see the transcendence. You see the eminence both smashed into who Jesus is. When we do that, when we submit to the devotion of God, and when we devote our lives to God, we get the promise that he's with us. Joshua 1:9, have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened. Do not be dismayed for the Lord. Your God is what He is with you wherever you go. Hebrews 13:5, never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. Listen, this is the promise we have that he walks with us and talks with us.

His love endures forever. His love never fails. We are called to live in it and devote our lives to him. So, number one, we're in all of his bigness and reverence. Number two, we live devoted to his personal and unfailing love. And here's the third one—we continually surrender to God's eternal presence. So, what happens in the story? What happens in the story? I love it. I love it. I love it. Jesus reaches down, and he lifts these guys up, right? He lifts the guys up. Now it's just them and Jesus at this point. So what happens next? Watch what the Bible says in verse nine. It says this.

It says as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus, he instructed them. Now, look, if I was writing this, Matthew, you could have given us a little bit more, right? Because I'm not sure how you get from terrified to let's just follow Jesus, right? But Jesus is there, and I think that's how you do it. But you might be thinking, just like I've been thinking all week, how did you get from being terrified to following so fast? Well, I mentioned it earlier: this terrified that the Bible describes here is a holy respect and a holy reverence, which I think is a big deal. Why? Because it means they had a full reverence, a full honor, a full perspective, a full worship, and a full exaltation. And they honored God. They honored Jesus's position in this moment. And what do they choose to do out of this?

They chose to surrender all of who they are, even though they had already surrendered to them even more now. So the point is, when it says terrified, the fact is that we don't live our lives in this terrified fear of God. No. We live our lives in this positional fear of God. That is a healthy fear of God, and I might add that the Bible commands of Deuteronomy six 13 tells us, fear the Lord your God, and serve him only and take oaths only in His name. Psalm two 11 says, serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. But listen, it is not a trembling out of I. I'm frozen in fear and can't do anything. It's a trembling knowing that I'm walking in full respect and honor of him and surrender. And this fear is me knowing that God wants what is best for me.

He knows what is best for me, and I aim to say yes to him. Listen to this. I put in your notes, so I will read through it. Holy and righteous, fear of God. Listen to what it does for us. Proverbs 1, it gives us knowledge. Proverbs 9: it makes us wise. Proverbs 16, it keeps us from evil. Proverbs three: it's healing to our body. Proverbs 14, it gives us confidence. Proverbs 34 gives divine protection. Proverbs 19 leads to life in pro. In Proverbs 10 27, it prolongs life. And more than all of that, our reverence and fear for God invites both sides of his bigness and his personalness to walk in us, and the God of the universe, Emmanuel, is with us. So my final question for the whole morning is this. Which of these two things is the biggest struggle for you, believer?

Do you have this tendency to have a bent toward the personal side of God? And as a result, you may have lost the all where it's like, whew, Lord, and you're a little bit flippant sometimes. Maybe it's flippant in your worship. Maybe it's flippant in your time with the Lord. Maybe it's flippant in how you share your faith. Maybe it's flippant in how you participate with church. I don't know. You can fill in the blank for yourself. Is that you this morning? Or maybe, maybe, maybe for you, you have the full reverence for God. But when it comes down to knowing that God is walking with you, man, that's where you struggle. Let me encourage you this morning, this: if you struggle the most in being astonished and in all of God's bigness, here's what I want you to do. In these next few minutes, I just want you to hold your hands, and I just want you to say, God, I just want you to show me your glory. Show me your glory. If that's you, if that's your prayer, God, show me your glory. Maybe to you today, where your struggle is just living devoted to his personal, and I'm falling in love. Here's what I want you to do today. I want you to say, Hey, Lord, touch my heart and show me how to be devoted to you. Touch my heart.

Show me how to devote my life to you. Maybe yours is your struggle is just surrendering to his eternal presence today. Here. Here's your prayer this morning. God, would you soften my will, help me take myself off the throne, and put you back on it? Put you back on it. Here's what we're gonna do this morning. I know we have a response time every week, but here's what I'm gonna ask of you today, all right? Unless you have a medical emergency, I want you to sit here today. I want you to be here because we have a God that is fully God. He's fully present. He's fully powerful. He's fully personal, and we have a God this morning. That is The Great I am because of that. So this morning, I want us to worship in that for a minute.

 

Follow Along with the Message

Our View of God Shapes our Response to God

 

November 24, 2024

Matthew 17:1–5
1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 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.” 5 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!”
2 Foundational Truths About God’s Nature

1. God is a God.

PRINCIPLE: A right view of the transcendence of God elevates our for God.

Psalm 97:9
For you, Lord, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
Isaiah 55:8–9
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 6:1
I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.
Isaiah 40:22
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
John 8:23
You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

2. God is an God.

“The God of the Bible is no abstract deity removed from and uninterested in His creation. The Bible is the story of God’s involvement with His creation, and particularly the people in it.”
— Wayne Grudem

PRINCIPLE: A right view of the imminence of God elevates our with God.

Luke 12:6
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.”
Acts 17:27–28
27 …though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’…
Jeremiah 23:24
…God fills the heavens and the earth.
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
Colossians 1:17–18
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
Matthew 17:6
When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
Matthew 17:6–7
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”
Matthew 17:8
When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
How Does God Ask Us to Respond?

1. Be astonished and in of God's bigness.

Psalm 33:8
“…Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.”

2. Live to God's personal and unfailing love.

Psalm 27:4
One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple.
John 3:16–17
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Hebrews 13:5
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

3. Continually to God's eternal presence.

Matthew 17:9
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them…
Deuteronomy 6:13
Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.
Psalm 2:11
Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.
Holy and Right Fear of God…
  • gives knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7)
  • makes us wise. (Proverbs 9:10)
  • keeps us from evil. (Proverbs 16:6)
  • is healing to our body. (Proverbs 3:7–8)
  • gives confidence. (Proverbs 14:26)
  • gives divine protection. (Psalm 34:7)
  • leads to life. (Proverbs 19:23)
  • prolongs life. (Proverbs 10:27)
Take the Next Step »

Additional Notes

 

Email (To Send Copy of Notes)