Vineyard Church of Knox County
Walk Down The Mountain
Sermon Audio from Sunday, November 13, 2005 — "When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."
"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief. (Matthew 17:14-23) If we are to understand and appreciate this scene, that is, exactly what Jesus was doing and what we as Christians are to do and to become, we have to rewind the tape to the previous scene. If we rewind the tape, we see that Jesus led Peter, James and John, his inner circle, up on to Mount Hermon, which rises about 9400 feet and is 14 miles from Caesarea Philippi, and gave them an experience that would change their lives forever. Just a few verses earlier, Jesus tells the disciples that some in their midst would see his glory before they died and that's exactly what Peter, James, and John saw. They walked up the mountain and came to a place where it says Jesus was transfigured before them, his face radiating like the sun, his clothes bursting with white light. The three disciples squinted to see that the glorious Jesus was accompanied by the great Law-giver, Moses, and the great prophet, Elijah, both dazzling light. Then suddenly a light-radiant cloud enveloped them and great voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him." When the disciples heard that, that was it, they were on their faces, trembling. Then, a familiar touch on the shoulder brought them back to see that it was all over and Jesus, the normal Jesus, was the only one in front of them. Talk about a mountaintop experience! That was a spiritual high like they'd never known. The disciples experienced the glory of Jesus, saw and felt awe-inspiring, life-transforming things. What a gift!
