Matthew 17:1-9 3-5-2023 (As built, Amite #535)
- Change… I’ve got to stop doing this and I’ve got to start doing this…
- I’ve got to tell you Samuel is without a doubt the best artist… the best painter…. The best designer the world has ever seen… in the year 1830 or so he is without a doubt the guy in the United States… no matter where Samuel went I’m talking from one Coast to the next… everybody wants him to do the paintings… they actually started a college it’s actually called the college of arts… and made him the president because everybody wants Samuel’s name… everybody wants Sam… as a result of it man you know what I like about Sam it’s that he’s grounded… but in one minute of one second in one hour of one day… in the very first second of the first minute of the first hour of the first day… when that knock comes on his door… he receives that message… he paints no more… he stops that second of that day… as a matter of fact my brothers and sisters in Christ he does finish the great painting that he was assigned to do… he did a painting for the Marquis de Lafayette… right and he did it for the capital of DC and he said he would finish it but from that point he will do no other paintings because of one knock on the door and one message… years later he goes all the way over to Paris… he gets on a boat he goes to Paris and the reason Sam’s there is because he had heard about this new way to speak… to communicate… he’s not an engineer by trade he’s a painter… he’s a sculptor he’s an artist… he goes there and he notices in Paris they run these long cables all the way across the city… they can move messages from one end of the city to the other through electricity… he’s never even heard of this… he’s heard of electromagnets but he doesn’t understand the concept… so he’s listening to it but the problem they got is that they may be able to get messages faster but when you’re on the receiving end you don’t understand it much because it becomes garbled… so what he does is he gets on… and if you ever go to the Smithsonian they actually have a book there of his notes… and I’ve got to tell you I’ve seen it… it’s unbelievable his intellect… for a man that didn’t even have an engineering background… he’s on the boat talking to engineers learning about electricity who happen to be sitting at his table and about electromagnets… and then he comes up with this whole new different way that if I somehow or another stopped electricity and then start it… and then stop it and start it… and then let it run and stop it again and then I started quickly with dots and dashes… with dots and dashes… okay right… Samuel Morse my brothers and sisters in Christ… but here’s what you don’t know about him… the whole reason that he stops doing painting and starts this… was because of that message… three years ago… I mean it’s a knock at the door… the man hands him a message and he reads it… his wife died… four days ago… by the time he gets there she’s already been buried… he vowed that it would never happen to another human ever again… so he stops what he’s doing here… for the greater good… which is Morse code so that we can communicate faster so that nobody needs to get a death sentence on their door without being given the chance to show up… my brothers and sisters in Christ we’ve got to stop doing one thing and start doing another…
- That is that Gospel… it’s about change… now listen to me the apostles are going up a mountain.. Peter, James and John really know Christ on a human level like you and I do… what he’s trying to show them is you need to understand me on a Divine level… listen to what I’m telling you… you only know me in a personal way… you want a personal relationship with Jesus Christ… he’s saying oh no it better be much bigger than that… you need to have a glorified relationship with me I.E I’m human and divine and when you get to heaven if you work at it through my grace… i’lol give you a glorified body… that’s the relationship we need to have… so now Peter James and John have to stop looking at him anymore as a human and look at him as God… now stop you’re a first century Jew… you grew up with the Jewish rite… you grew up knowing they were all Jews and you realize to study Christ you need to understand the Jewish faith… so here we sit… every time somebody goes up a mountain they’re going to see God… Moses goes up a mountain… Carlton Heston goes up a mountain… there you go you got it… and he gets the Ten Commandments… and when he’s there his face becomes transcendent… he’s followed by three guys… Aaron, Nadab and Abihu just so you know… Aaron is his brother who is the high priest… Nadab and Abihu are brothers… Christ goes up a mountain with Peter his priest… James and John are brothers… my brothers and sisters in Christ if you noticed if you go back and read scripture they go up the mountain after the sixth day… which would make it what day… Sunday… the seventh day… Genesis starts on a Sunday… and we rest on a Sunday… he goes up the mountain on a Sunday… he’s telling you this is how it’s going to be the seventh day… my brothers in Christ when they get up the mountain they see Moses and Elijah… the only other two people to ever converse with God… so how does Peter, James and John who never met these guys and they’re a thousand years before them… how do they know it’s Moses and Elijah… you just heard it… because they’re conversing… so now they know that he’s the God of the living not of the dead… so when somebody tells you that oh man why do you pray to the saints why do you pray to Mary they’re dead… wait a minute… is he not the Father of Abraham, Issac and Jacob… is he not the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob… do you ever see him say I used to be the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob because they’re all dead… when I went to go take care of Lazarus did I not tell you that he was asleep… even though my Apostles thought he was dead… this is where we get communion of Saints this is where we get intercessory prayers… my brothers and sisters in Christ listen to me they go up there and a cloud comes down… just like a cloud came down on the mountain with Moses… when the cloud comes down that’s the sign for you and I that God is present… in the desert… he would lead by storm or cloud during the day… and at night there would be fire in it so that the Israelites could follow Christ… to follow God… so the cloud was called the Shekina so whenever they see the cloud come down on the Tabernacle and Moses would come out his tent everybody would stand and sing… that’s why you stand and sing when I come in through the back… he’s about to show up here… the Shekinah was a glory cloud that showed up here… and you know where it shows up in the New Testament… great it’s when the Holy Spirit overshadows Mary… overshadows is called the Shekinah… Mary just understood the glory cloud that fell down with Moses and everybody else has now come upon her… everything in the Old Testament is a foretelling of what is to come… my brothers and sisters in Christ you know why he tells them don’t tell anybody when you get down wait until I resurrect… why because if you go down and you say hey you’re not going to believe this I just spoke to Moses and Elijah… sell that one… you’ll be selling pencils on the corner before the nights out… my brothers and sisters in Christ therein lies the point… he’s trying to get them to understand that I’m not just human I’m Divine… that’s why our relationship cannot just be a personal one… it has to be a Glorified one… because he’s human and Divine… and the only way we experience the glorified Christ is to work and have faith through his grace… to make it to heaven… you’ve got to stop doing things that will pull you away from him… and start doing things that will enable you to grow closer to him…
- So heres the point… go back and think… I’ll tell you what you’re Peter… you’ve been fishing your entire life you actually have a couple of boats you actually have a couple of crews… one guy shows up you drop your nets… you leave your boats and you’ve now got to go tell your wife Porphyria by the way is her name… that now I’m going to be a fisher of men… I’ve got to stop being a fisherman and go be a follower of Jesus Christ… how do you think that sold when he got home… honey I’m home… I can see this I would give up and income whatever that may mean… to sit there for the conversation that ensued… honey how was the catch… whoa I’m going to be a fisher of men… I would love to hear the rest of the story on that one… well that’s just great honey… but let me tell you how this is going to work… we ain’t got no fish we ain’t eating… so I suggest you go back do your boat and get your nets and crew and get back out there because guess what… we’ve got to eat… for her to agree… that they need to stop doing this and start doing this means that they now come to know that he’s the Messiah… and that this is a passing world… my brothers and sisters in Christ did you know that she’s also martyred in the same day… if not then the same week … did you know that Peter told his wife Porphyria when he’s walking out to be crucified… go with God…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ here you and I sit two thousand years later… are you willing to stop doing the one thing that you need to stop doing and start doing the thing that you need to be doing… this is the time… look at the world that’s around us… how much time do you think we have… to sit here and just kick the can… I’ll catch it next year Father… I’ll work a little harder… we know not the hour or the day… all you’ve got to do is look at the fruit that’s being produced… look at the world that we are in… do you think you’ve got exponential amount of time to go to confession… to receive the sacraments… why do you play the card that I do too as well… I’ll just catch it next Sunday… I’ll get there at some point… I mean I haven’t killed anybody father… you’re one out of ten you’re not even a good baseball player… my brothers and sisters in Christ there is always one thing in our life we’ve got to stop doing… there’s another thing we need to start doing… man my brothers and sisters in Christ how many of us get caught up in cursing… there’s over what thirty or forty thousand words in the English language and we default to GD and MF… you don’t think that’s out of the mouth of Lucifer… man yo don’t understand father it’s just my nature… no it’s not… God Created all things good… as a matter of fact on the sixth day he created everything very good so therefore if you’re angry, mad or insolent that’s on you… that’s you… well father I’m not a morning person… heck you ain’t an evening person either I mean let’s be honest you’re moody temperamental and condescending… on a good day… my brothers and sisters in Christ there’s thing that you and I need to stop doing… is it cursing… is it gossiping which I’ve got to tell you that is the sin of our day… bearing false witness… that’s the eight commandment… every time you and I get on the internet… email… text message or facebook… and we judge other people… and we justify it because well it’s true father… well nobody told you to be the town crier… nobody called you to be the judge… the good Lord said the measure which you judge is the measure I will judge you … so I tell you my brothers and sisters in Christ why are we even involved… from the fruits of it people will know so when you press that send button.. congratulations… welcome to the water it’s flooding… you and I have now committed mortal sin because we willingly and intentionally and directionally went after somebody… whether it’s true or not… my brothers and sisters in Christ how many times do we wake up and man we’re just angry… it’s just our nature… it’s because man we’re mad at the world… we got to work we spill the venom at home… we go home and we go back to work we spit it there… my brothers and sisters in Christ don’t you get it each of you and I have one cross that we need to stop picking up… and there’s another one that you and I need to carry… there’s something that we need to stop doing or saying or acting… and there’s another one we need to start doing… today is the day… my brothers in Christ stop kicking the can we live in a world where time is of the essence… look at the world… did you honestly believe four years ago we would be in the spot we are in now… four years ago we thought kneeling for the national anthem was just ungodly and it was… look at us now… my brothers and sisters in Christ stop kicking the can… pick one thing that you need to stop doing… is it pornography… which can I tell you… even greater than bearing false witness that is the most dominant sin of our day… it is destroying our children… I’m telling you from sixth grade on up… that cellphone is destroying us… why… because they have access to it far greater than you could ever imagine as an adult… those kids got a way of getting there… let me tell you the demon plays that card… so whether it’s pornography, it’s lust, it’s sloth, it’s envy or it’s pride… whatever it is you and I have got to stop doing one thing and start doing another… time is of the essence I’m begging you start today… start working on it… if you fall get up… if you get knocked down clean yourself off and get in… you want to have a pity party well have one… you through… get back in the game… you want to kick your neighbors dog… do it quietly and then go do it… my brothers and sisters in Christ all I’m telling you is now is the time to stop one thing and start doing the right thing…
- And I leave you with this… the world will not get better because of chance… your world will not get better because of chance… the only way the world gets better or you get better is through change… you need to stop doing this one thing… and start doing this other…
- Amen.
