How can we believe in God when we can’t physically see or experience Him? Tune in to today’s sermon to discover how eyewitness testimonies and the transformative power of Jesus can deepen our faith. Tune in and let’s journey together towards liberation! Jump in with us in Sections 111 of the Gospel Harmonies @ https://www.harmonychurch.cc/tracking-jesus-timeline/. IT’S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ).
OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
Have you ever heard someone say they can’t believe in God because they can’t believe in something they can’t see? I mean, people believe in all kinds of things they’ll never get to see Gravity, oxygen, Social Security. That McDonald’s is still fast food.
low gas prices
kids will listen to you
fast food
Ha, seriously though, this is a problem for lots of people, right, they want to be able to touch and feel things, in order to believe in them.
How do you believe in a God you can’t see or physically experience?
Did you know Jesus knew this was going to be a problem for you?
After His resurrection, after Thomas had put his fingers in Jesus’ side and the holes in His hands, Jesus said this:
John 20:29
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
People act like they’ve come up some grand argument about the existence of God, but Jesus knew this would be the argument from the beginning.
Jesus knew it would be hard to believe without seeing.
If you’re a skeptical person, maybe you’re wondering why anyone would believe..
ILLUSTRATION:
I get it, my wife has an easy time believing, it’s how she’s wired. I’ve always struggled more. I always think things are hocus pocus. so, for me, believing in Jesus took some work. Can I take you to one of things that helped me?
We’re gonna start on a mountain, move to years past Jesus’ death & resurrection, and end with us today…
SCRIPTURE:
Jesus is gearing up to head to Jerusalem, actually, shortly after the passage we’re going to read, Jesus will “turn his face resolutely towards Jerusalem”. He has started to say and do cryptic things. Like he takes the disciples up to this pagan Gentile region and asks them who people say He is. He predicts his death and resurrection for the first time – they don’t know what to do with this. and then Jesus takes them up onto a high Mountain – this is found in section 111- we’re going to read from Luke’s version, but Mark & Matt. include it as well..
Lk 9:28-36
28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.
Jesus takes these three guys on this hike up the mountain and they go so he can pray…
29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure,[a] which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.
Moses & Elijah, these two guys are two of the most notable prophets from the Old Testament and both of them stood against evil Kingdoms- they both stood, were tested following the mission of God – and they show up to encourage Jesus…
32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
ILLUSTRATION:
The other day, I woke up at like 4am and there was a snake in our bed between Jenni and I! I jumped out of bed and scrambled to grab my glasses and my phone. I turned the light on and all of a sudden realized… I was dreaming… Lol, there was no snake!
These guys have fallen asleep – this is a human moment – they’ve been hiking, their tired and Jesus is praying. But all of the sudden they wake up and have to rub their eyes. Jesus is talking to people they’ve heard about their whole life – this would be like seeing someone talking to George Washington & Abraham Lincoln…
33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
Peter cracks me up – he sees these guys and doesn’t know what to do so he’s like, “um, I mean, you guys wanna camp out or something?”
Ha, you’ve done this, right? You’ve met a famous person and were like, “remember that one time you were in that movie?”
34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.
Matthew & Mark tell us that Jesus told them not to tell anyone what had happened until the resurrection.
Can I ask you a question?
Why did Jesus take these 3 guys with him for this experience? He didn’t need them there?
To answer that question, I want to fast forward to the end of Peter’s life.
He’s had so many more experiences – he abandoned Jesus at His death, He was restored after His resurrection, He’s led countless people to Jesus.
and now, he’s at the end of His life…
2 Peter 1:12-18
12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
Soon after this, Peter will die a terrible death, crucified upside down by the Romans. He will never, even for a moment, abandon the message of Jesus crucified and risen from the dead.
Listen to what Peter will anchor these people’s faith in…
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”[b] 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
Peter goes back to this moment on the Mountain and says – “we saw His power, and now we’re testifying to it”
Why did Jesus take Peter, James & John up on that mountain?
So they could tell those of us who couldn’t go up on the mountain.
“But Kent, doesn’t that still require faith?”
Of course it does.
Last year in July I went to Israel. How many of you were with me in Israel? None of you, right? You don’t even know if I went there really, the most you know is that I was gone for a couple of weeks. The only thing that can tell you if was there or not was whether you trust my testimony – if it makes sense or not.
People who claim that God doesn’t exist because they can’t touch or feel Him forget that there were people who actually did touch and feel Him and they told us about it.
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:
Holding onto that argument reminds me of when I was in my 20’s, I would jokingly tell people that congress had made up that we had gone to the moon so they could allocate money for chili dogs or something. I would say, it didn’t really happen – look at the video of it, it looks like what special effects of the 60’s could make – the flag waving all fake, guys in space suits hopping around… It all looks fake – and I could make that argument for a little while unless I was around Neil Armstrong – can you imagine trying to make that argument with him. He’d tell me what it felt like to not experience gravity like you’ve always experienced it. He’d tell you about seeing the earth from the perspective of the moon. He’d talk about all of the ways that experience shifted his life and all of the sudden, it would become hard to argue with him…
John says it this way about Jesus in
1 John 1:1
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
God has answered your prayer about Him coming down to the world – you just didn’t happen to live in the time when He did it.
What if you started to really explore His eyewitnesses – Jesus took them through so much so they could tell us about touching the word of life.
You are literally just steps away from experiencing Jesus yourself – you just have to believe with all your heart, let go of your old life and embrace the new life He offers!
