An audio file of the entire sermon is available for streaming or download at
http://www.mediafire.com/?7y5ko0k3rxh
SYNPOSIS
Ever been to a mountain top? You get a perspective from the mountain top that you do not get otherwise.
All through the Bible there are many references to mountain-top experiences.
MOSES...Exodus 34:29-35...after 40 days and nights with God, "he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD."
Like the glow of a pregnant woman...she may not see it, but others do.
JESUS takes three disciples up to a mountain top and what happens is called the Transfiguration--lit. change of figure, appearance.
The mountain-top is not where Jesus lived and ministered most of the time!
Happens when he was praying.
Our Transfiguration
II Corinthians 3:18: "we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
The experience of transfiguration is not limited to people like Moses & Jesus. We too can experience God's glory.
My friend Geraldo Dinardi of Brazil...we couldn't understand a word he said...but we knew something was special about him. Later on, we discovered that Pastor Dinardi always carried his laptop with hime wherever he went...always playing DVD's of Benny Hinn meetings or listening to soaking CD's or praise and worship music. No TV. He was on the mountaintop...and it started to show.
An Analogy
Let's say you go to a "hot spot" like Florida, Cuba, Hawaii, etc...it's the same sun as in Canada, but you spend longer time period exposing yourself to it...in a different atmosphere and it shows on your face as a tan.
Similarly...it is the same Jesus whom we meet in church...when we spend more time with him in the atmosphere of prayer (as in Luke 9:28)...on the mountaintop... it shows on your face!
Can’t keep a tan like that forever…unless you use tanning lamps!
Can’t stay pregnant all the time though!
But you can be transfigured…growing more and more in the likeness of Jesus…
A suggestion for Lent...
Give up some time...TV time...Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights...can we spend 40 hours altogether during the 40 days of Lent? Pick up a Soaking CD. Go to the Mountaintop. Pray.
After 40 days, you may not notice it…but others will…You will radiate…
This is also an illustration of THE POWER OF VOLUNTARY WEAKNESS (refer sermon, Jan. 7)
As we celebrate COMMUNION--literally means "union with"…Jesus first and then his people, may you have A MOUNTAIN-TOP EXPERIENCE.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR SMALL GROUPS
1. Have you ever found yourself physically on a mountain-top or some high location (tower?) What was different (spectacular) about it?
2. Share with the group any experiences in your life that you would describe spiritually as a mountain-top experience.
3. Put yourself in the sandals of one of the three disciples who went up the mountain with Jesus. How does this experience change your perspective of Jesus?
4. Can you relate to Paul's reference to OUR Transfiguration? Have you experienced this? In what ways?
5. The sermon suggested "going to the mountain-top" every day for an hour during the season of Lent. Are you willing to do this? In what other ways can you have a mountain-top experience?
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