INTRO.- Mountain top experiences are rare but they do happen.
ILL.- Carrie Underwood won the “American Idol” in 2005 and this year, Monday, Nov. 6th, she won the Female Vocalist of the Year award at the Country Music awards. She also won the Horizon award, which the best new artist. She said was very emotional and said, “Oh my….Two years ago I was sitting at home watching these very awards, watching all these other people win and have the best nights of their lives, and this is the best night of my life.”
Carrie Underwood’s album (“SOME HEARTS”) has sold nearly four million copies and three of her singles have appeared not only on the country charts, but also on the pop charts. SHE IS ON A ROLL AND ON A HIGH!
What about you? What was one of your mountain top experiences in life? Marriage? Children? Some grand vacation? A trip to Hawaii? Your relationship to Christ?
So-called mountain top experiences come in all shapes and sizes. What is exciting to you may not be exciting to me and vice versa. One thing, however, that seems to excite all people is food or an outstanding meal, like Thanksgiving. Was yours a mountain top experience coming from a mountain of food?
ILL.- I have a friend in southern IL who wrote me recently about an evening meal that he and his wife had at a Red Lobster. He wrote, “We went to Red Lobster.....Lota had lobster tail and baked potato.... I had 2 big fried filets of Walleye, baked potato and vegetables....Appetizer was coconut shrimp and biscuits…2 big cokes…mmm good.”
I wrote back and asked, “What did it cost you? About $30?” (This just shows how little I know about eating out and Red Lobster.) He said, “You are dreaming.” He said it was $70, which included a $10 tip.
All I can say is, IT BETTER BE GOOD FOR THAT PRICE!
Food or a good meal is a high to most people. The only problem is that high, like many, doesn’t stay with you. But what we all need to be interested in is a spiritual high that carries eternal weight.
ILL.- I remember in a church one night when I baptized a young couple who were probably in their early 30’s. Afterward, the husband remarked, “Thank you for a delightful evening.” Now that was a different remark after being baptized but I thought it was very nice.
I think they both considered that night to be a “high” in their spiritual lives. And our baptism should be. DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR BAPTISM? Buried with Christ and raised to newness of life. Wasn’t that a high for you?
In our text, Peter, James and John literally experienced a mountain top event. It wasn’t their baptism, but something far better. We may not be able to go to a mountain top with Jesus but we can experience a greater high than we might imagine.
PROP.- Let’s about how we can experience a greater spiritual high with Jesus.
1- We must let Him lead us
2- We must see Him as He is
3- We must listen closely to Him
I. WE MUST LET HIM LEAD US
Matt. 17:1 “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.”
ILL.- You’ve heard the old saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” I guess that’s true for horses and humans. You can’t force people to do what they really don’t want to do.
Leading. This is such a simple thought but an important lesson. Are we willing to let Jesus lead us where He wants? Are we willing to let Him lead us to a higher level of living and service?
ILL.- It was said that when David Livingstone was sent as a student to preach at Sanford Rivers, he stood up in the pulpit and completely forgot what he was going to say. Although this incident would have signaled the end of public speaking for many, Livingstone knew he must not give up. When God called him to be a missionary, he was ready to go. Later he wrote, "I am still a very poor preacher and have a bad delivery; and some say that if they knew I was to preach, they would not enter the chapel."
Even though David Livingstone considered himself to be a poor preacher he was still very open to God’s leading.
ILL.- Preacher/Dr. George Robinson, who for forty-one years was professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, said, “When I was a youth, I used to say, ‘I’ll go wherever the Lord calls me, but not to Chicago.’”
He said, “McCormick wrote me, wanting me to come and after two-and-one-half years, I went. There were no strings attached to my going where God wanted me to go, and I’ve been thankful ever since!”
There is a blessing in following the Lord’s leading in life. The best, safest and most joyous place in life is where the Lord leads us.
ILL.- I know of a Christian man who has been in the retail business most of his life but all of a sudden had an opportunity to preach at a church about 15 miles from his home. He’s never had any Bible College training but he’s preaching. And is God ever blessing! In only three months time the church has nearly doubled in attendance! It’s gone from 70 to almost 140.
How could this be? I think he’s allowing the Lord to lead His life! And something good happens when any person does that.
I don’t think God has called everyone to preach or even to teach a SS class, but He is calling us all to follow Him and serve Him in some form. And when we do follow His leading great blessings will follow.
I have also concluded that if we don’t let the Lord leads us then someone else will lead us.
ILL.- Over 40 years ago I worked at Safeway in Joplin, MO, with a young man who was a Christian and had been raised in the church. His father was a preacher and his older brother was a preacher, but all he wanted to do was womanize. Why? Simply because he would not let the Lord lead him in life. And the same thing can happen to anybody at any time or any age in life. If we don’t let the Lord lead us someone will lead us in the ways of the world or worldliness and the end result will not be good.
We all need to be able to say, “He leadeth me…in the paths of righteousness…for His names’ sake.”
II. WE MUST SEE HIM AS HE IS
Matt. 17:2 “There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.”
ILL.- A century and a half ago, Peter Cartwright was a preacher on the American frontier. The story is told of a conversation he once had with a medical doctor. The doctor asked Cartwright, "Did you ever actually see God?" Cartwright answered, "No." "Did you ever hear God? . . . Smell him? . . . Taste him?" "No,” said Cartwright. "Did you ever feel him?" "Yes, that I have," replied Cartwright.
"Well," said the doctor, "we still have four strong witnesses against one that there is no such thing as God."
Cartwright quickly countered, "Have you ever seen pain itself?" "No,” said the doctor. "Have you heard pain? . . . Smelled it? . . . tasted it?" "No," were the responses. "Have you ever felt pain?" "Of course," said the doctor.
"See," Cartwright explained, "we have four strong witnesses out of five that pain does not exist!"
Pain does exist and so does God even though we may not literally see Him, smell Him, taste Him, hear Him or even feel Him.
Heb. 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
When it comes down to the nitty gritty, we must accept our God by faith. Even though we can look at the starry universe and see His handiwork, we must still accept Him by faith.
In our text, Jesus was transfigured. His face was bright like the sun. That’s hard to imagine, because we wouldn’t be able to look at Him. We can’t look directly at the sun in its brightness so I’m not sure how the disciples were able to look at Jesus, BUT WE CERTAINLY NEED TO LOOK AT HIM TODAY!
Rom. 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Scripture gives us a picture of the Lord Jesus and particularly the life of Christ.
ILL.- When the great preacher Alexander White was too old and feeble to preach, he would rise every morning to prepare a sermon, even though he never preached them. He did so until the day he died. Why prepare a sermon or a lesson that he couldn’t preach? Because he was convinced that study of the Word was essential to saving himself.
And not only is the Word of God essential to our salvation but it’s also essential to seeing Jesus. There is no way that we can see Jesus apart from scripture. We may catch glimpses of Jesus in people’s lives but the true life of Christ is found in Scripture. And to see Him, we must read the Word.
ILL.- A circuit-riding preacher entered one church building with his young son, and dropped a coin into the offering box in the back. Not many came that Sunday, and those who did didn’t seem too excited about what was said. After the service, the preacher and son walked to the back, and he emptied the box. Out fell one coin. The young boy said, "Dad, if you’d have put more in, you’d have gotten more out!"
Perhaps the reason we don’t see Jesus as well as we should is because we don’t put in more time with His Word. The more you put in, the more you will receive.
III. WE MUST LISTEN CLOSELY TO HIM
ILL.- A Brazilian tells the story about a farmer who wanted to buy a parrot. He went to a pet shop and told the proprietor what he wanted. “I have just what you have in mind,” said the store owner. With that he slipped into a back room and came back with an owl. “This is an especially fine bird,” he said.
The owl sat perched on a bar and stared...just stared. “But will he learn to talk?” asked the amazed customer. “Of course,” said the store owner. “You just have to be patient and keep talking to him.”
So the farmer took the owl, and was quite pleased with his purchase. A few weeks later the two men met again, and the pet shop owner asked, “Well, how’s your parrot? Is he talking yet?” “No,” the farmer replied, “he’s not talking, but he certainly knows how to listen.”
Brothers and sister, It pays to listen before we talk and one thing we all need to do more of is listen.
Matt. 17:4-5 “Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
While he was still speaking. Who was still speaking? We assume it was Peter. Question: Is it ever right to interrupt someone when they are speaking?
For the most part, I don’t think it’s appropriate to interrupt someone while they are talking. But while Peter was still speaking God the Father interrupted him and said, “This is my Son….listen to him!”
It’s like he was saying, “Peter, would you please shut up and listen?” HE WAS STOPPED IN HIS TRACKS.
Sometimes we, too, need to be stopped in our tracks, our talking tracks and our living tracks. I think there are times in life when God is trying to get our attention and trying to get us to listen to Him, to His counsel, etc. It could be in a SS class, it could be in church while listening to a sermon and it could be a concerned Christian friend.
ILL.- I remember sitting in chapel at OCC one time and the president, Don Earl Boatman, said, “Our speaker for today didn’t show up. “Is there anyone here who would like to preach?” Boyce Mouton, minister of the Fairview Christian Church in Carthage, MO, was seated at the back of the chapel. He stood up and said, “I will. I promised the Lord that I would never turn down an opportunity to testify for him.”
Boyce walked to the platform and preached a message entitled, “Being Fools for Christ” from I Cor. 4. It was a short message by most people’s standards…20 minutes, but very powerful and with no notice that he was going to preach.
Everybody, including every professor, walked out of chapel that day with the impression that God had just spoken to us.
Brothers and sisters, there are times when God needs to interrupt our talking or our lives in order to listen to Him and get with His program. He wants us to follow Him. He wants us to become fools for Him.
ILL.- It’s like the old story about the fellow who was walking down the street with a sign or placard. It was one of those that drooped over the man’s head and there was one sign for the front of the man and one for the back. On the front the sign read, “I’m a fool for Christ.” On his backside it read, “Whose fool are you?”
No matter how or when God interrupts us in life we should listen closely to Him. ARE YOU LISTENING? What does God have to do to get your attention and make you listen to Him?
CONCLUSION------------------------
ILL.- Tommy Tenney in The God Chasers wrote: “The reason people who know you aren’t interested in your God may be because you don’t have enough of the presence of God in your life. There is something about God’s presence that makes everything else crumble in comparison. Without it, you will be just as pale and lifeless as everybody else around you. No matter what you do, without His presence, you will be ‘just another somebody’ to those around you.”
Brothers and sisters, we all need to climb a mountain, a high spiritual mountain and see God as He is in order to become the person He wants.
