Sunday: Transfiguration

January 29, 2023 Transfiguration

January 29, 2023 Transfiguration

Sunday: Transfiguration | Sermon Text: 2 Peter 1:16-21

Transfiguration of our Lord
2 Peter 1:16-21
January 29, 2023

Theme: We have something more sure and certain to live on—the Word of God.

The Scripture I’m preaching on today is the Epistle, 2 Peter 1:16-21, so you can follow along with me as you want.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Why do you guys listen to me every Sunday morning? There are a hundred of you out there and all of you are more interesting than me and can probably tell better stories and better jokes. But you come every Sunday and give me your attention for 15 to 20 minutes. Why do you do that? And it’s not like I’m just telling you the weather or the news. I’m telling you how to live your life. How to think. Telling you what’s right and wrong. Telling you about things beyond this life. I’m talking about the most important things in life and you listen. Why?

That is our reading this morning. It’s like Peter stopped in his letter and said, “Now why should you guys listen to me at all?” In the first fifteen verses of the letter he was telling them how they should be living. And then we hit our text today, verse 16, and he says, “Now why should you listen to me? Because, I will tell you, none of this is my word. It’s all God’s Word.” Why trust Peter? Because he was eyewitness to Jesus’s glory at the Transfiguration and he heard the voice from heaven. And even more than that, he says, you have something even more sure—the Word of God in the Scriptures and you should pay attention to it.

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Transfiguration of our Lord February 10, 2017

Transfiguration of our Lord February 10, 2017

Sunday: Transfiguration | Sermon Text: Matthew 17:1-9

Transfiguration

Matthew 17:1-9

February 10, 2019

“We Have Something More Sure”

In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Near Death Experiences (NDEs) have been studied extensively in the last 40 years. This is when someone may be dying or their hearts stops or they’re in an accident of some kind and they have an out-of-body experience. There’s no consensus scientifically or psychologically about why NDEs happen. But there are many similarities between them. One of those similarities is the presence of a bright light. It’s not always there. But very often. I’m sure you’ve all heard of someone having a near death experience where they’ve seen a very bright light.

For Christians, this makes complete sense with Holy Scripture. God is light. In the beginning He lighted the whole world before He even created the sun. In Revelation we hear that we won’t need a sun because God Himself will be our light. When Moses comes down from the mountain in our Old Testament reading today from Exodus 34, his face is shining brightly because he’s been in God’s presence. Everyone is scared to go near him. Of course, in the Transfiguration today Jesus is shining brightly as the sun.

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Transfiguration February 5, 2017

Transfiguration February 5, 2017

Sunday: Transfiguration | Sermon Text: Matthew 17:1-9

Transfiguration
Matthew 17:1-9
February 5, 2017

“Stop Talking. Listen.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

We aren’t listening to each other.  That’s the facts.  It seems that Americans have just forgotten how to do it.  We’ve forgotten that having a conversation means actually listening to someone else other than ourselves.  I’ve read numerous really good articles about it in the last couple weeks.  One this last week said that our new religion is something called “destructive escalation”.  It’s where we refuse to listen, and instead we retaliate, we stereotype, we disassociate, we polarize, and we violate.  We’ve forgotten that being different from one another is healthy and good.  One of the seven habits of highly effective people is that you listen.  It’s number 5, “Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood”.  Will we Americans learn to listen to each other again?  I don’t know.  I hope so. …

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