A sermon on Mark 9:14-29 from Jared Venter.

On top of the Mountain, Jesus' appearance was changed so that He shone blazingly brightly. Elijah and Moses appeared and Peter, James and John saw Jesus' glory. Peter spoke without knowing what to say, because they were terrified. The bright cloud overshadowed them and the voice of God spoke.

We see so much evil all around us in this world. Well may we wonder, "why trust God when we see and experience evil?" Come, listen as we see how Psalm 36 answers this question.

Those who exalt themselves (like the Pharisee) will be humbled and those who humble themselves (like the Tax Collector) will be exalted. We all deserve God’s judgement, but God, in His love and mercy, justifies those who confess their sin and trust wholly in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Let us not be like the Pharisee, but rather like the Tax Collector, acknowledging our sin and crying out to God to have mercy on us in the Lord Jesus.

This week Jared will be speaking about how Jesus is the Deliverer from Exile. After sending His people into exile for their sin, God promised to rescue Judah and we see this partially fulfilled, when God brought some of the people back in the Old Testament. In Jesus, true deliverance from exile is possible that deals with the very cause of why God's people were sent into exile in the first place - their sin. We all need this deliverance that only Jesus offers.

Jesus the descendent of both Abraham and David, became the fulfilment of the prophecies and covenants God had made with them. Therefore, Jesus is The King, who is God's Son, who rules forever!

This week Jared will be starting a 3 part series from the book of Matthew. Today he will be speaking about how Jesus is the Son of Abraham. God made promises to Abraham, partially fulfilled them in the Old Testament and ultimately fulfils them in Jesus.

Jesus came to this Earth to be born and to die to offer salvation to sinners like us. We all need to be born again this is only possible in Jesus. The awesome news is that for all who turn to Jesus and believe in Him there is the sure hope of eternal life.

We all have relationships that are broken and that need to be fixed. By nature we all need to be reconciled to God and we can’t do it ourselves. Amazingly, in His enormous love, God has acted to reconcile us to Himself in the Lord Jesus. He has done this by taking our sin upon Himself on the cross and giving us His righteousness in return. This reconciliation with God then leads to a call for us to seek the reconciliation of others to God, by reaching out with the message of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Why did Jesus heal the blind man in two steps? What does this teaches us about the disciples and us? This passage shows us that Jesus is the Christ, the Suffering Servant and that He calls us to follow Him by carrying our own cross.