We're back to our series
of the "Books of the Book"
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exploring the Gospel
of Matthew chapter 17.
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Ranko, we were just
looking at this experience.
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And we noticed that the
disciples, three of them,
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chosen to have the
special encounter with Jesus
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as He's revealed in all of
His eternal majesty and glory.
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Now tell us how do they respond?
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And what does He instruct them?
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Evidently, these
Transfiguration event
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had two purposes, one
was for the disciples.
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I mean, can you imagine
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you join Jesus
for wrong reasons.
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You have the evidence,
this what happens to disciples.
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You have the evidence,
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all evidences that
He is that Messiah,
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he is the
fulfillment of prophecy.
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But you are with Him hoping that
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He will establish His kingdom.
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All right. And you will be
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The Prime
Minister there etcetera.
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However they see your position
from all sides are coming
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and then when the disciple saw
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there is nothing
about that earthly kingdom.
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We know when
Jesus was crucified,
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how much they were disappointed.
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Well there. So
the purpose of this
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was to show to the disciples
about the real nature of Jesus
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who was-- so they
see glorified Christ
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as He was truly is
there in the heavenly place.
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So it was for-- you see
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Peter fell down and he
said, "Let's stay here."
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They already felt
like the kingdom of God.
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When you're in the
presence of glorified Christ,
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you are already in
the kingdom of God.
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Worship is the
response. Worship is--
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And to show the power of that
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as it says in verse
9, "Now they came down,
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Jesus said, tell
the vision to no one",
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until when,
"until the son of man
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has risen from the death."
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That's exactly what they did.
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So what happened here on
the Mount of Transfiguration?
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It was really to
see Jesus in His glory.
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Which Jesus? The
same Jesus that Daniel saw
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in chapter 7, "The son of man
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coming in His glory there--
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The same one they
would have sent to Heaven.
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And what a comfort
this must have been
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and they shared that experience
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to the other disciples
after the resurrection.
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So that's the first
reason for the disciples.
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But there is
second reason. All right.
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Evidently Matthew does
not tell us the whole story,
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actually what happened to Jesus?
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The question is why did
Moses and Elijah come here
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to the Mount of Transfiguration?
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Evidently number one
is because Jesus came
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as the fulfillment of what
was written about Him in the law
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and the prophets
in the Old Testament.
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So there is a continuity.
There's continuity, Jesus came.
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So now the representatives
of the law and the prophets
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are there to form his ministry
but there's something more.
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If we just stay here
with the Gospel of Matthew,
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we do not get
the complete picture.
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Glenn, let's go to
the Gospel of Luke.
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Okay. Luke who
got the information
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from Peter for I
think his gospel--
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actually lets hear one element
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which I believe that
Peter provided to him.
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It's chapter 17 of-- no sorry,
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chapter 9 of the Gospel of Luke.
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And I would like us
to read from 28 to 31.
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Luke chapter 9-- 9:28 to 31,
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to see one
element that is here added
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that does not appear
in the Gospel of Matthew.
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"Now it came to pass about,
eight days after these sayings
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that He took
Peter, John, and James
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and went up to
the mountain to pray.
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And he prayed and as he prayed
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the appearance of
His face was altered,
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and His robe became
white and glistering.
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And behold two men
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were with him who
were Moses and Elijah,
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who appeared in glory
and spoke of his decrease
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which he was about to
accomplish at Jerusalem.
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But Peter and those around
him were heavy with sleep."
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It's okay now. Actually,
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what are they talking about?
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Let's put it a
little bit later language.
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They appear to Jesus
talking about his departure.
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The events associated with Jesus
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that will take
place there in Jerusalem.
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What are they
talking about? The Cross?
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About the crucifixion of Jesus.
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Doesn't it show a
marvelously loving God
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who sends these two messengers,
from the realms of Heaven,
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to encourage the Son and
His journey to the Cross.
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And I would like to
take really few minutes
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just to talk about that.
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Why Moses, Elijah?
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Of course,
because of the disciples.
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It was the
affirmation of the prophecy.
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Yes. The law and the prophets--
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But why Moses,
Elijah because of Jesus?
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What were they
doing there with Jesus?
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Can we use a
little bit imagination?
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You know, we saw
that Jesus several times,
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when He heard
that John the Baptist
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was killed then Herod
was talking about him,
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Jesus always goes
with the solitary place.
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Evidently, Jesus was
so much in His thoughts
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about what will
happen in Jerusalem.
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We know what happened there
in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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When Jesus human
nature was overwhelmed,
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"Father, if it is
possible that this cup,"
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which was his
death, "can pass by me".
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Jesus evidently needed
a special encouragement.
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Keep in mind,
just in very short time
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he is there in Jerusalem,
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he knows what
will take place to him.
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Now there is a
question, why Moses and Elijah?
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Who was Moses?
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How many times
Moses was discouraged?
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How many times Moses worried?
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And he needed a
special encouragement from God,
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especially, how
Moses finished his life.
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He worried, he will
not enter the promise land.
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Finally, after his death,
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he realized that
he was resurrected.
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That actually God prepared
something better for him.
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So he's an example of
someone who's resurrected
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as Jesus will be resurrected.
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Who can encourage somebody
in better way that the person
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who has gone through the same
experience like that person?
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What about Elijah?
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How many times
Elijah was discouraged?
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Do you remember that?
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After that great
day of reformation,
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he fled away far away Horeb
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and God had to
come to encourage him.
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So can you imagine
those two human beings
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who are, according to
the Bible, resurrected.
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Moses-- Resurrected.
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Resurrected.
Elijah was taken alive.
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Now they're coming here.
Can I say something more?
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During the Old Testament
times when they were alive,
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Jesus came to
encourage them. Yes.
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Now they are
coming to encourage Jesus
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on His way to Jerusalem.
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And when I read this text
I said, "Wow, I am amazed."
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So there is a heavenly
conversation that takes place
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on that mountain on earth.
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And inspiration is,
kind of, close the door
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to all that was said,
but we know the topic.
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The topic is the Cross.
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Evidently, they
tried to encourage Jesus
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because Jesus was
supposed also to die for them.
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As Jesus has, as it
says in the other gospels,
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He's set his face
towards Jerusalem.
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He is going to the Cross to die.
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Yes and it really amazes
me with great amazement as--
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I'm using the
language of the Bible.
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I am astonished
when I read this,
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but there is another
group, there is another camp.
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The rest of the disciples
are there under the mountain.
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And finally Jesus
with the "three" disciples
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they're coming down
and what's going on here?
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And this is such
a contrast, It's--
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there such an
irony, a paradox here.
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On the-- up on the mountain,
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this vision of heaven,
this wonderful experience
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of transfiguration
and they come down.
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And boy, it's rough sometime
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when we come down
off the mountains.
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I'm sure, Ranko,
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you've had those times
of mountain top experiences.
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And then we come
down to the valley
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and when you come down,
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let's see what
happens here verse 14,
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"And when they had
come down to the multitude,
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a man came to him
kneeling down to him
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and saying, 'Lord,
have mercy on my son
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for he is an
epileptic and suffers severely,
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for he often falls into the
fire and often into the water.
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So I brought him
to your disciples
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but they could not cure him.'"
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So what's going
on? Let me again--
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we have to make reasonable
assumption what's going on.
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Disciples were with Jesus,
hey, for three and half years,
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they participate with
Jesus in heal activities.
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We know that
Jesus authorized them.
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Remember that Jesus--
They went out on the Mission
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Jesus sent them out. Yes.
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According to the Gospel of Luke
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they came back to
Jesus and they said,
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"The Lord, even the
demons they obey us."
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What is always the
problem? Even the disciples--
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can I say
something? Even the pastors.
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People who are
dealing with spiritual things,
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they can come to
the point of their life
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take everything for granted,
rely on their own abilities,
00:09:23.19\00:09:28.06
on their own power,
and to do a routine work
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of preaching with the
gospel and helping people.
00:09:32.87\00:09:35.40
This is what
happened with the disciples.
00:09:35.44\00:09:37.27
The person brought
his demon possessed
00:09:37.31\00:09:40.81
and they said, "Don't worry.
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We will now do
it very, very fast.
00:09:42.41\00:09:46.31
Don't worry." But
they had no power.
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They had no power,
It was a routine work.
00:09:47.72\00:09:50.99
Boy, when Jesus heard
it, what did Jesus say?
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"You unbelieving--"
Keep in mind Jesus,
00:09:53.99\00:09:56.96
he's not talking
here about the Pharisees.
00:09:56.99\00:09:58.86
Yes. He is
talking about disciples.
00:09:58.89\00:10:00.60
"You unbelieving
and perverted generation
00:10:00.63\00:10:04.40
how long shall I be with you?"
00:10:04.43\00:10:07.07
I don't know is Jesus
here adressing the demons?
00:10:07.10\00:10:10.17
Not yet, Not yet. He's
talking to the disciples.
00:10:10.21\00:10:15.04
Yes, But you know, Ranko,
00:10:15.08\00:10:16.41
let's not diminish the
challenge to their faith.
00:10:16.44\00:10:19.05
Oh, yeah.
00:10:19.08\00:10:20.42
If someone came
to them with this,
00:10:20.45\00:10:22.78
I mean, I've a friend of mine
00:10:22.82\00:10:24.25
who is a
missionary in another place.
00:10:24.29\00:10:26.22
And someone came to
him of pagan background.
00:10:26.25\00:10:30.59
Their son had died
and he brought the baby
00:10:30.63\00:10:32.96
and said, "Do you
believe in the resurrection?
00:10:32.99\00:10:35.16
Pray that he will be
raised?" I mean, this is a time
00:10:35.20\00:10:39.00
to put up your faith or shut up.
00:10:39.03\00:10:41.04
It's a time to be tested.
00:10:41.07\00:10:42.80
A boy is brought and
they say, "Heal him",
00:10:42.84\00:10:45.87
and they are powerless. Yeah.
00:10:45.91\00:10:47.38
It's a shocking
thing when you find out
00:10:47.41\00:10:49.11
your faith is powerless.
00:10:49.14\00:10:50.48
And I think
there may be somebody,
00:10:50.51\00:10:51.98
some listeners right
now who've said, you know,
00:10:52.01\00:10:54.02
when it really comes down to it,
00:10:54.05\00:10:56.12
my faith doesn't have
the power it should have.
00:10:56.15\00:10:58.69
How does Jesus deal with them?
00:10:58.72\00:11:00.66
So Jesus answered to them.
00:11:00.69\00:11:02.52
They asked Jesus, "Why
we did not drive him out,
00:11:02.56\00:11:07.96
the demon?" and Jesus said,
00:11:08.00\00:11:09.96
"Because of
littleness of your faith."
00:11:10.00\00:11:11.67
Which faith? If
they had the faith,
00:11:11.70\00:11:13.60
they will kneel down,
He said because this--
00:11:13.64\00:11:19.01
Kind Of problem is solved
how? By fasting and prayer.
00:11:19.04\00:11:25.68
Okay, He said, "If
you have the faith,
00:11:25.71\00:11:28.65
then you will--
it's actually verse 21,
00:11:28.68\00:11:30.85
we are not sure about this text.
00:11:30.89\00:11:33.12
It's a faith, You see
faith is not assumption.
00:11:33.15\00:11:36.46
Faith is-- what is the faith?
00:11:36.49\00:11:38.69
The faith is the
gift that God gives to us.
00:11:38.73\00:11:41.63
And by faith, we are
taking the promises of God.
00:11:41.66\00:11:44.07
Faith is not reliance on us,
00:11:44.10\00:11:46.50
the faith is
the reliance on God.
00:11:46.53\00:11:48.47
Evidently the disciples
they rely on themselves,
00:11:48.50\00:11:51.51
on their personally
and also on the fact
00:11:51.54\00:11:54.81
they were associated with Jesus.
00:11:54.84\00:11:56.98
And Ranko, someone
might be viewing right now
00:11:57.01\00:11:59.81
saying, "I feel
little bit like that father."
00:11:59.85\00:12:02.25
I've come to the
religious leaders,
00:12:02.28\00:12:04.89
I've come to my church leaders,
00:12:04.92\00:12:06.32
I've come to my pastor
and I haven't seen the power
00:12:06.35\00:12:09.39
that there should
be, What should they do?
00:12:09.42\00:12:11.59
Actually I will really follow
the example of this person,
00:12:11.63\00:12:19.33
of this man, the
father of this boy.
00:12:19.37\00:12:21.50
The disciples
could not do anything.
00:12:21.54\00:12:25.14
He was disappointed with them.
00:12:25.17\00:12:27.51
But he didn't give up.
00:12:27.54\00:12:28.88
But believe me there is always
00:12:28.91\00:12:30.61
the final solution
is come to Jesus Christ.
00:12:30.65\00:12:34.68
And I will say
now to our viewers
00:12:34.72\00:12:37.05
as are you sometimes
disappointed religious leaders?
00:12:37.09\00:12:41.36
You expect from them
00:12:41.39\00:12:42.99
to manifest the
character of Jesus.
00:12:43.02\00:12:44.99
To show that
greatness of the faith
00:12:45.03\00:12:46.49
to bring you to Jesus Christ.
00:12:46.53\00:12:48.00
But actually what you experience
00:12:48.03\00:12:49.80
is completely opposite.
00:12:49.83\00:12:51.30
It's not late yet,
please come to Jesus Christ.
00:12:51.33\00:12:55.17
He is your savior,
He is your only hope.
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And in him you can have
that salvation for your soul.
00:12:58.24\00:13:02.64