How to Experience God’s Glory in Hard Times | Jonathan Evans

We are in the last days. Listen to him. Listen to him on your jobs. Listen to him with your family. Listen to him when you raise your kids. Listen to him in your marriage. Listen to him in your career choices. Listen to him and tell and and what he tells you to do.

Your calling is one thing and one thing alone. It is not to build more stuff and go do this and do that. All of that's good. But if you do all that and you're not living your life listening to Jesus Christ on the day that he comes, you will forfeit and come to judgment.

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 He's a good father. He's a good father. What wretched man that I am. Who can save me from this body of death? Oh, he can. and he did cuz he's a good father. I'm so grateful that there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

If you have not yet gotten onto the ark this morning, I beg you, get on because there's going to come a day of judgment and only those in the ark who is Jesus Christ will be saved from the judgment that is to come. I hope we're realizing and recognizing that we are getting close to the end.

And if you recognize and realize that you are getting close to the end, what you do is you run into the father's hands. His hands are open. He is available to you. He is offering salvation to you. He has done the work for you. But you have to accept it because there is coming a day when all the time of grace will wrap up.

The time of judgment will show up. And so choose now to bow your knee. Choose now to surrender. Choose now to submit. Because there will come a day where you will have to do it mandatorily. So I beg you, do it voluntarily because you have a good father who has given you his only begotten son so that you can place faith in him and be saved for the judgment that is to come.

And so if you've already taken advantage of what the good father has given, make some noise of celebration that you are not condemned and that God has already done the work. He's a good father. I'm going ask you to stand to your feet because now we're going to keep worshiping in the word.

Matthew chapter 17. We're going to see how good he is right here. Matthew chapter 17. As we continue in the summer in the sun series, it's all about the sun. Verse one, it reads this way. Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother.

And he led them high on a mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun. His garments became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to him to them talking with him. Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here.

If you wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for you, one for Moses, and one from for Elijah." While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him." Today I want to talk to you from the title Peekaboo. Peekaboo. You may be seated. Y'all thought that was funny. You can remember as a child playing peekab-boo. That was that fun game where you would cover your face and then suddenly reveal yourself with a big smile.

For many children, this was more than a magical moment. This was an opportunity for children in this game to have a discovery. Here the disciples in the transfiguration experience a peekab-boo moment of Jesus where now they are gaining a powerful revelation from Jesus about Jesus to this morning I want to give you his peekaboo so that you can experience the revelation that he was giving the disciples on that day.

Here we go. It starts out by saying six days later, six days later after he had said these words, "Who do people say that I am?" And Peter said, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." It was 6 days after that he took them to the mount.

It was 6 days after Jesus said to his disciples that the son of man must suffer many things and then be raised on the third day. It was 6 days later. It was 6 days later after Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone wishes to be my disciple, he must take up his cross and follow me.

Those who want to save their life will lose their life. Those who are willing to lose their life will find their life." It was six days after that. It was 6 days after he made this statement. Some of you will see the son of man coming in all of his glory and you will not taste death before you do.

It was 6 days later that he took three of them up to the mount of transfiguration. Now, I want you to take all of those things that I just said and set them over here for a second. Because after that, six days later, when he after he said those things, he took the disciples, three of them, up higher.

Why three? Because every disciple doesn't have the same level of relationship. Evidently, God Jesus is willing to take you as high as your relationship with him will allow. There's just three of them. So, you got to understand in Luke 6 verse 17 and 18, it says there was a large crowd of his disciples that came to hear and be healed.

In other words, it was a technical term to describe follower. But these people came just to hear and be healed. In other word, they wanted the message and they wanted the miracle, but they had really no faith in the Messiah. So, they were disciples technically. I wonder how many in the crowd today are disciples technically.

You follow because you want something physically, but not because you're full of faith. In John 6 verse 26, he says these words, you have come not because you have seen signs, but because you ate loaves. In other words, you just want to get full physically, but you're not really full spiritually.

That was the crowd of disciples. Then in Luke 10 verse 1 and 2, there is the 70 disciples. These are the 70 that Jesus sent out before him. And he made the famous phrase, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." He sent them out two by two so that they could go before him into the cities and start working on the harvest.

This was a good group because they were working for Jesus, but they just weren't as intimate with Jesus as the 12. No shade on the 70. They were doing the work, but they didn't have as much intimacy as the 12 did. Which means you have to be careful you workers of the gospel because you can preach on a pull pit.

You can be working in the field and still not be as intimate with Christ as you could be. Some of us work so hard we spend less time with the one we're working for. That was the 70. After the 70, you have the 12. We know the 12.

The 12 was an intimate group. They walked with him, talked with him, did miracles with him, were in storms with him. I mean, they did life with Jesus and they experienced intimate relationship with him. But even inside of the 12, there was a more intimate group called the three.

And these three were able to go much higher than anybody else was able to go. They were able to experience Jesus much more than anybody else was able to experience him because they had a higher level of intimacy than any of the rest. This was an intimate group.

First was Peter. Y'all know Peter. Peter's the one that's going to step out on a ledge for his. He going to say, "You're the Christ, the son of the living God. In a storm, he going to say, "I'm going to go walk on this water and go to Jesus while the rest of the disciples stay safe in the boat."

He's the one that's going to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 2 where 3,000 souls would come to faith. Jesus knew that Peter was that dude that was down for whatever. Then there was James. There's not as much written about James as there is Peter as it relates to James accolades in the Bible.

But what we do know is that Acts chapter 12, James was a martyr for the faith. He got stabbed by a sword right through the abdomen and he lost his life for the faith. He was a martyr for the faith. So even though there wasn't as much written about him, I can tell you this, he was ready to die for his.

And Jesus knew James, that's my dude. He's down for whatever. Then there was John. John chapter 13, John chapter 20, 19, 21. He's referred to the one whom Jesus loves, the one who was on his bosom, the one who Jesus at his crucifixion said, "Hey, John, I'm going to need you to take care of my mama."

And anybody you have in your will, that's your dude. John was the one that Jesus loved to the degree where he would call upon him and give him the revelation to close the canon of scripture called the book of Revelations. He had a close-knit relationship with these three and Jesus knew that John was down for whatever.

I wonder what Jesus knows about you and me. Does he see you in the crowd? see you as the 70, see you as the 12, or does he know this one is down for whatever? I can take them higher and give them a greater experience than me than I can give the rest because some people want a great experience with a low relationship.

I had a friend of mine named Celeste. She's my friend currently. We've been friends for a long time, almost 30 years now. She's sitting right there. But when we were young, they came to the church when I was 15, 16 years old. The Collins family, Bill Collins, one of the elders, Esther Collins, the one of the mothers of the church, came early on about 15, 16 years old.

And we we both were the babies of the family. But Celeste at this time, it's not the Celeste now, she different, you know, she was young, you know, she was a little little little sassy. Little sassy. You know that she don't mind me saying it. She would say it herself.

And she came up to me one day and I think she thought because she, you know, Kirk Franklin's sister-in-law and all that kind of stuff like clout. I think she thought that that meant she can walk up to me. She had her purse in her hand. She walked up to me and said, "You Jonathan."

I said, "Yeah." She said, "Jonathan Evans, Tony Evans, son, right?" I said, "Yeah." She said, "I'm going to need you to walk me to my car." 
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 Now you got to understand I was the youngest kind of the locker room kid. I was halfway saved when I was 15 16 years old.

My subject verb agreement start crossing over. I was like what your name is? Like I just I was like how you going to have the audacity to expect something from me that our relationship doesn't garner? How do we have the audacity to be requesting mountaintop experiences with valley relationships.

The entitlement to get what these three got who were willing to die for theirs. Getting this experience with Jesus. We need to work on our relationship. There's a story about Mary and Martha in the Bible. That's great. Luke 10:38 through the rest. And Martha was frustrated because she was doing the work and she came out and said, "Why don't she get in the kitchen with me and do this work?"

And Jesus said, "Because Mary chose the better thing." That's right. To be with Jesus. And these three went up higher. And let me tell you what happened cuz we're about to go deep sea diving for a little bit. They went up to the mountain and Jesus transfigured before the three.

Peekab-boo. The Greek word for transfigured is metamorpho, which is where we get our English word metamorphosis. We understand a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. All that's happening is what's already in there, finds a cocoon, and comes out. When he took them up there, he was showing them what Hebrews 1:3 says.

Hebrews 1:3 says he is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact representation of God's nature. And on that mount of transfiguration, Jesus said, "Peekaboo. I'm letting you see what's already in there." This is one of the clearest passages in the Bible of the deity of Christ.

Okay? The Bible doesn't just say, "In the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. The word became flesh and dwelt among us." It does not just tell you in John chapter 8 when Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and he tells them before Abraham existed I am.

It does not just say in John chapter 14 when he's having a conversation with Philip and Philip says when are you going to show us the father and Jesus responds have you not been with me long enough Philip when you have seen me you have seen the father it does not just say in Colossians 2:9 that the full deity of God resides in bodily form it does not just say in Colossians 1:16 that Jesus is the creator of the heavens and the earth the invisible and the visible the rulers and dominions he created all things through him and for him.

Yeah. It does not just say in Philippians 2 that God emptied himself, taking on the form of a bondervant, being made in the likeness of man. It does not just say that he healed, that he gave sight to the blind, that he walked on water, that he multiplied bread, that he rose people from the dead.

It does not just say that he himself was resurrected. It also says that three eyewitnesses saw God coming through his face. So at this point, if you still are in the church and you are lacking belief in the complete deity of Jesus Christ, that means you are a Romans 1 person and you are choosing to suppress the truth.

Because this is one of the clearest representations in scripture that he is God. Amen. We believe at Oakliff Bible Fellowship that Jesus Christ is the son of God, the son of man, the son of David, and God himself. You may say, "Well, that don't make sense. How can he be the son of God and be God?"

It's because God is one God who is simultaneously three persons. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. But it's one God's. It is not three gods. It's one God who is three persons. You say, "Jonathan, that don't make sense." Well, let me Tony Evans you for a second.

If I pull out a pretzel, you're going to see three holes in the pretzel. This hole ain't that hole. That hole ain't this hole. This hole ain't that hole. But you're only going to be looking at one pretzel because it's tied together by the same dough. That's who God is.

That's why he says in Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our image." who's us and our that's why he says in Matthew 28 baptized them in the name singular of the father son and holy spirit the plural that's who he is and so God the second member of the trinity has become man and took three up to the mount of transfiguration and said peekaboo I want you to see the radiance of his glory shining through my face I'm doing metamorphosis right in front of your eyes so that there is no excuse and I gave you eyewitnesses who saw If you believe in Jesus, but you don't believe that Jesus is God, wrong Jesus.

He's transfigured before them. Where John would write in John 1:14, "We beheld his glory as the only begotten from the father." That's what he was talking about when John wrote in Revelations 1:16. He said, "He had seven stars in his hands. Through his mouth came a cutting sword, sharper than any two-edge, and his face shone like the sun with all of its strength."

This is where these writings are coming from. From the Mount of Transfiguration when they're seeing this. So, if you're not believing it now, you're not seeing it. I need you to wake up. Okay. Why would I say wake up? Well, because Luke 9 gives you more detail than Matthew 17.

Luke 9 says this in verse 32. It says, "Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory." Wait a minute. Matthew 7 says he took him up and transfigured. Luke 9 says they was sleeping while the glory of God is being revealed.

How you sleep and the glory of God is being revealed? How you watching what's going on in Israel and you sleep? Have we not read Ezekiel 38? Do we not realize that the end is near and Christians are snoring? 
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 Do you not realize that the judgment of the Lord in the final days are showing themselves clearly, shown like the sun, letting you know the times that you're in?

And we just up in here. 
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 The times are here. Wake up. Why were the disciples sleeping? because they were depressed. They were filled with anxiety. Remember earlier Jesus said, "I must suffer many things." 6 days earlier. Earlier he said, "If you want to follow me, you got to take up a cross.

You got to be willing to lose your life." He said, "Some of you will not even taste death until you see the son of man coming in all of his glory." They were trying to figure all this out. They couldn't understand it, but they knew they had to suffer.

Even at the garden of Gethsemane, these were the same three that were asleep when Jesus was in the garden praying, "Not my will, but your will be done." Same three dudes. They always sleeping because they were filled with the anxiety of the times in the moment. They didn't know how to deal with it.

And you know how depression will do? It'll put you to sleep. But at the moment that they were sleeping, his glory was being revealed. So, I need you to know something practical. When you're filled with depression and anxiety and you don't know how to overcome it, stay awake.

Don't sleep on Jesus. Because in those times, his glory is being revealed. He's showing you what he's going to do. That's why 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, "This light momentary affliction is preparing us for a weight of glory that is beyond our comparison and comprehension. We have to stay awake, especially while his glory is being revealed in these times that we're living in.

He goes up and his face was shown like the sun. His garments were white as the light. This was a beaming light coming through his face as he's literally doing metamorphosis in front of the disciples. He's letting you know and letting them know there is clarity. Hey Peter, 6 days earlier when you said you I'm the Christ, the son of the living God, this is what that looks like.

When I told you to take up your cross and follow me, trust me, it's worth it. When I said that the son of man must suffer many things and some of you will see his glory, I'm letting you see it right now. You three are the sum. He's revealing himself at the mount of transfiguration.

And then watch this. When they finally wake up, you know what they see? They see Jesus transfigured before them. And that moment of peekabboo produces Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah are standing there having a conversation about with Jesus about what he's about to accomplish. What is he about to accomplish?

And why? Here we go. About to go. Stay with me. Ready? Why Moses and Elijah? Why not Abraham? Why not David? Why not Jeremiah? Why not Ezekiel? Why not Isaiah? Moses before it was formalized was the prophet. He spoke to the people on behalf of behalf of God.

Moses before it was formalized was the priest. He mediated the relationship between God and man. Moses before it was formalized was the king. He ruled the people in God's name. Moses was the consmate Old Testament prophet, priest and king. Not only that, Moses was the one who took the people out of bondage and slavery and took them to a promised land.

You need to understand that Moses is the type of Jesus Christ that represents what Jesus Christ was in the New Testament. Jesus was the consmate prophet, priest, and king that took the people out of the bondage of sin and is taking you to a promised land. That's not all Moses is there for.

When the people saw Moses, they understood Moses as the Old Testament law. Matthew 5:17 says Christ did not come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill the law. So what he was showing these disciples is that I am the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament law. I am the consmate prophet, priest and king that you have been praying for and seeking and I am the one who takes you out of the bondage of sin and moves you into the promised land.

That's why Moses is there. Elijah, this was the one that the Jewish people romanticized about. They even said John the Baptist comes in the spirit of Elijah because Elijah was back in the Old Testament raising dead widow's sons from the from the grave. Elijah was in the Old Testament shutting up the heavens from rain.

Elijah was in the Old Testament multiplying flour. In other words, he multiplies bread. You know anybody like that in the New Testament? somebody who raises people from the dead, multiplies uh bread and can control storms. Elijah was one who represents Jesus Christ, but he was also the head of the prophets.

When they talked about the law and the prophets, they were talking about the Old Testament. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets represented by Moses and Elijah. So, he's letting the disciples know, not only am I full deity, but I'm also the completion of the Old Testament that you have studied.

I am him. Stay with me. Cuz that's not all. Ready? The full deity of God shown in bodily form. Moses and Elijah, the completion of the Old Testament and its fulfillment, the law and the prophets. That's me. I'm also letting you see that Old Testament saints are still alive. that there is life after death.

They're standing right here and you're looking at them. I'm letting you see the deity. I'm letting you see the completion of the law and the prophets. I'm letting you see Old Testament states that are still alive. And see, this is all from Jesus talking about peekaboo, the deity of Christ, the completion of the law and the prophets, Old Testament saints that are still living.

And There are two witnesses in Revelation. These two witnesses will be prophesying. These two witnesses actually will be killed. And three and a half days later, these two witnesses will be raised as a testimony of the one who's to come. The Bible does not tell you who these two witnesses are.

But let's look at some context clues, shall we? I'm going to turn you to Revelations 11. In Revelations, y'all all right with Bible study? I'm sorry. I'm just In Revelations 11:6, let's find out who possibly these two witnesses could be. Revelations 11:6, it says, "These have the power to shut up the sky so that the rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying."

Wait, wait, stop. In first kings 17:1 Elijah says it there will be no dew and there will be no rain except for by my word. He had the power and sole discretion that was given to him by God to shut the heavens off just at his word. And now it's saying there's one in Revelations who will come that can close the heavens.

Let's keep reading. These are these have the power to shut up the skies so that the rain will not fall during the days of their prophesizing prophesying. Watch this. And they have the power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague.

I wonder who that could be. 
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 So why it doesn't tell you? It gives you the context clues that Jesus was revealing when he said, "Peekaboo. I am deity. I am 100% God in bodily form. You see me. I am the completion of the law and the prophets." I'm letting you know that Old Testament saints still live.

What do you think will happen with New Testament saints? And I'm showing you that these are going to be the two witnesses that are going to preede my coming when the Son of Man comes in all of his glory with one projection. You got it. Jesus shows them Genesis through Revelation.

And you think you think that you're going to be in heaven bored playing a violin on a harp. It's going to take you an eternity if he gave them the whole Bible in one peekab-boo to get to know who God is. Amen. Every moment his face was shine like the sun.

He's giving them the complete revelation of who he is from Genesis through Revelation. Yeah. And all he did was say peekab-boo. And Peter when he's fully awake, you know, Peter always got something to say and something to do. When Peter's fully awake, he says, "You know the you know the crab walk when you're scared of something on when you do like I'm sure they backed up cuz this is this is God."

And Peter says, "I need to make three tabernacles." He just be jumping out there. I need to make three tabernacles because I see Jesus, I see Elijah, and I see Moses. He got that from Exodus 258, which says we need to make a tabernacle because that will be the house of God with the people.

Yeah. So, he's like, "Let me make a house." Okay, let me say it in a modern way. Uh, hey y'all guys get together. Let's take a photo. I need to memorialize this. We need to remember that. We need to tabernacle this. And while he was still speaking, a cloud came down.

Meaning, Peter, be quiet. We're not doing that. While he was still speaking, a cloud came down. And from the cloud, a voice of God came out, saying, "This is my son who I am well pleased. Listen to him." Now, okay. So, um, you have the transfiguration. You have deity, completion of the law.

Old Testament saints still live, two witnesses that precede his coming. And now you have a cloud on the same mountain with God's voice. Okay, there's too much going on. We take this for granted. If I put some subwoofers down here and I just hit one baseline, it's going to change the rhythm of your heartbeat.

Yeah. What you think it's like to hear God's voice out of a cloud? That's right. You'll almost be dead. Hearing the voice of God on this mountain when he's being transfigured and Jesus is you got all of this stuff going all at once. And he cuts Peter off and says, "We don't need that.

You need something else." Hey, watch this. What is he telling Peter? Peter, with all that you've seen, I don't need you to go build another building. I I I don't need you to go build something physical. I need you to go build a godly life. Okay. No, you don't.

Okay. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don't need you to go build on more traditions. I need you to be totally transformed. I I I don't I don't need you to go build something else with all that you've seen and all that has been displayed. Seeing the beginning to the end.

Seeing the complete revelation of Jesus Christ. Letting him letting you be the ones that do not taste death until you see the glory of God in his coming. He showed you that. Seeing revelation before it's written. Seeing the coming of Jesus Christ. Seeing that day, you saw all of that.

I don't need you to build anything. I don't need you to do anything physical. I don't need any of that. What I need you to do is listen to him. Okay. Okay. Peekaboo. I'm coming. And when I come, my face will be shone like the sun. It will be so bright.

But it will also be a time of judgment. And these witnesses will be there to let you know we're in the times. Yes, sir. I am the fullness of the word of God. I am deity in bodily form. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am everything.

That means stop listening to your neighbors. Stop listening to social media. Stop listening to your past. Stop listening to culture. Stop listening to your flesh. Stop listening to all of that. You listen to me. Because when I come, I will judge. And the voice of God will be so piercing.

It'll be like a two-edged sword. And there will be some people who are in church who will get cut up because they totally ignored me and the revelation of Jesus Christ through eyewitnesses in their life. They were churchy, but they weren't full of Christ. We are in the last days.

Listen to him. Listen to him on your job. Listen to him with your family. Listen to him when you raise your kids. Listen to him in your marriage. Listen to him in your career choices. Listen to him and tell tell and and what he tells you to do.

Your calling is one thing and one thing alone. It is not to build more stuff and go do this and do that. All of that's good. But if you do all that and you're not living your life listening to Jesus Christ on the day that he comes, you will forfeit and come to judgment.

Peekaboo. I see you. I see you. And he does not commit himself to everyone because he knows what's in you. And I hope you're paying attention and you're not sleep. I'm sitting around here waiting to see if Russia's going to get involved. And if Russia gets involved and it becomes a Russian Islamic coalition that comes against Israel, that is Ezekiel 38.

And we're living in the times where there's wars and rumors of wars. Yeah. It says in Ezekiel 38 and39 that there will be those who are slaughtered on the field and they're going to wait a long time to clean it up. I wonder why they may wait a long time to clean it up and then have to move all of those bodies to a distant place.

Maybe it's nuclear where they have to wait to go in to clean it up. Why do you have to wait so long? We're living in the days when there's talking idols. That's AI. We're living in the days when they can't buy or sell without it. That's digital money where they can block you off from using your own money because it's digital and they can stop you anytime they want.

We're living in the days. Wake up and live your life listening to him. You're in the days 
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 because I believe I believe that he's shown us enough. And now you either believe or you don't. 
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 I beg you. Yeah. And me, and you time's almost up. Let me say this in a modern way.

You need to get your life right. 
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 Because when he returns to judge, you don't want to be there thinking, "Ah, during the window of grace, I didn't walk in the grace. I took advantage of it." Too late. Listen to