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[ Music ] [Music] Come, let us worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Come, let us worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

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Give Him the honor, give Him the praise. Come, let us worship the Lord, let us give Him our praise. Come, let us worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Come, let us worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

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Give him the honor, give him the praise. Come, let us worship the Lord. Let's give him the praise. Worship him.

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Worship him. Give my God the glory, give my God the praise. Worship Him, worship Him. Come, let us worship the Lord.

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Let's give Him the praise. ♪ Oh Lord God we worship Him ♪ ♪ Worship Him ♪ ♪ Give thanks on the glory ♪

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♪ Give thanks on the praise ♪ ♪ Worship Him ♪ ♪ Worship Him ♪ Come, let us worship the Lord and give Him the praise.

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Come, let us worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Come, let us worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. ♪ Give him the honor ♪ ♪ Give him the praise ♪

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♪ Come let us worship the Lord ♪ ♪ Come let us worship the Lord ♪ ♪ Come let us worship the Lord ♪ ♪ Let's give him the praise ♪

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(vocalizing) (voices murmuring) - Recorded in the gospel according to Saint Matthew, the 17th chapter,

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and the first five verses. passage, the subject for the message, when God comes to church. Yes.

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Yes. Yes. Dr. Carlisle Marnie, who for many years was pastor of the the First Baptist Church of this city,

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says that there are times when God comes to church. There are times when the Lord himself interrupts the regularly scheduled worship service,

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departs from the ritual that is arranged, and breaks in. As the prophet says, "The Lord whom ye seek "will suddenly come to his temple."

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at a time when Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and endure great suffering in the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and to be put to death

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and to be raised again on the third day. It was in an atmosphere charged with expectation that Jesus took Peter, James, and John, the brother of James, they viewed the surrounding countryside

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the hills, the valleys, and the landscape that was on the way to Jerusalem. On this high mountain, he took his disciples to the mountain that some say was the Mount of Beatitudes. Others say it was Mount Hermon. But it was on this high mountain

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that he took his disciples and gave them the rules of the kingdom, the way of life that must be followed by disciples

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of Jesus Christ. And as As they were there, they had a wonderful spiritual experience. God came to church. Jesus was transfigured among them.

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He was changed from an earthly appearance to a heavenly appearance. He was transfigured. His face appeared like the rays of the sun, and his clothes sparkled with light. God comes to church on that day in a very meaningful way. Oh, God had been there many

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times before we say God's everywhere. That's what we say. But we know in our heart of hearts that there's sometimes when it seems that in a special unique way God comes to church and we go away and say the Lord was there. That's what Jacob said when he was running away from his brother Esau, stopped overnight and fell asleep and had a dream in which he

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saw angels ascending and descending on a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. And when he was awakened, he said, "Charlotte, the Lord was in this place and I did not know it." times when God comes to church. So we use this anthropomorphic language, this human language to try to express what we think and feel and experience about God, but at the

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same time we know that all of this language is inadequate. It cannot really express our experience with God. So when God comes to church we receive a vision, a new vision of the world that is outside us and around us, a new vision of the world below in relation to the world that is above.

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We receive that kind of relationship, a vision of it, when God comes to church. Jesus takes us to life beyond this world. As the song puts it, "I want to live beyond this world.

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Though Satan's darts at me are hurled, faith has caught the joyful sound, the song of saints on higher ground." When God comes to church,

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we ascend to a higher level of life when God comes to church. Some people don't think much of the presence of God. We say that this is the house of God, this is His dwelling place, and yet we can't leave our prayer room open all night.

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And if we really believed that God was dead, and that he's all around this place, we would conduct ourselves differently. But when God comes to church, he reveals himself. In other words, we experience God, we know God by how He reveals and conceals.

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You know, unless God chooses to reveal Himself to us, we would not know Him. So when God comes to church, He reveals Himself to His children. when God comes to church. Oh, we say He's so high you can't get over Him,

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so wide you can't get around Him, so low you can't get under Him, you just have to come in at the door when God comes to church. There are times when He takes us beyond ourselves

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takes us beyond ourselves. I've been sitting in the pulpit and waiting to deliver a sermon and God has somehow taken me all the way and sometimes the deacon has to come and touch me and tell me what's next on the worship order when God comes to church. When God comes the church. And Paul is talking about such an experience when he says, "I was caught up in the Spirit, and I saw things, and I heard utterances which are unlawful for man to see and hear."

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All of this happens, brothers and sisters, when God comes to church. The disciples are taken by Jesus up the mountain of transfiguration. We don't know why he selected those disciples. He probably had some special reason.

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He wanted him to have this particular experience with him on the mountain. He takes them up this mountain. And when God speaks to us, he takes us

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to a new level of life when God speaks. Some of these things that we worry about here are rather petty. God speaks to us, he takes us to a new level.

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There was a minister who had a son who had an injury, trampoline, it was thought that he would never walk again. His father came one morning, he said, "The Lord was here last night."

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He said, "He was?" You say, "Well, what did you ask him about your accident, about whether you would walk again?" You know, he said, when he was here,

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"The glory of this place was so great that I clean forgot to ask him. I forgot to ask him." So many of the things that we are troubled about when God comes to church, we dismiss them and we don't worry about them whatsoever. When God comes to church, darkness flees and

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enlightening dances in our midst. Those who are present get a different perspective on the future when God comes to church. So like these disciples, we are utterly surprised

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when God comes to church. We're surprised, it's always a surprise. It was a surprise to Jacob, surprised that Paul is surprised. Some Sundays ago someone snipped me a note

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and informed me that Maya Angelou, the outstanding African poet, was in our audience. Well, she came forth and had something to say, brief remarks, and we We were glad to have her. But I thought about that as we had her to come.

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She's a special guest in our audience. But God is there every Sunday. Sometimes we recognize it, and sometimes we don't. But what Dr. Marnie was talking about,

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when God comes to church, Not only are we able to see life from a different level, not only do we have a different vision of reality, but we are given a sense of direction

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as to how we should govern our lives when God comes to church. So while they're on this high mountain, And they experience the transforming presence

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of the divine. God manifests himself in their presence. And let me explain to you, brothers and sisters, that our experience of God is, I said,

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in his revealing and in his concealing. you read over there in Isaiah the 45th chapter and the 15th verse it says thou art a God who hides thyself now where God hides himself

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and we recognize who he is both in his concealing and his revealing God is a God who hides himself So when God comes to church, he does not

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come to help us escape reality. He takes them up this mountain. It's a struggle to get up this mountain. So when God comes to church, he's

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not coming to help us get away from some problem. He comes to give us strength, to give us the vision, to see the road that is ahead that leads to Jerusalem. He comes to give us the strength that we need

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to go over this mountain so we can say, Lord don't give me the mountain, but give me the strength to climb it. That's what happens when God comes to church.

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So here they are on this mountain. and they have a holy meeting. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus Christ. Holy meeting.

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Now we don't talk much about the Trinity, but here we have the Trinity present. And we have God the Father, we have God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all present in this congregation.

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And God is there, not just the Father, but God the Son and the Holy Spirit. So Peter is caught up in the Spirit, And he says, "Lord, let's build three shelters here.

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One for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit." But he's so caught up that while he's saying that it should be one for Moses and one for Elijah

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and then one for Jesus Christ, that's the way you really put it, that this is not what God wants. He's lifting up his son.

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It's the same voice that spoke at baptism. It's the same voice that speaks now. When God comes to church, he speaks to us wherever we are.

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When God speaks to us, God is coming to church. He's speaking to his children. So the disciples have a vision of triumphant suffering. They saw Elijah.

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They saw Moses. And they saw Jesus Christ. Elijah was one who had demonstrated the power of God as he stood alone against 450 prophets of Baal.

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But now God is lifting him up on a mountain that he may be seen, but not above Jesus Christ. They opened their eyes, as you read that passage, and they saw Jesus only.

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Jesus only. So Moses, Elijah, and Jesus only now. Moses, Elijah, but now only Jesus. God has come to church.

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And they lifted up their eyes, and they saw him. And sometimes I think we expect what is not going to be revealed by God. We expect to see, we remember what somebody wears. Did you see those shoes?

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Rather than what God is revealing through the worship service. when God comes to church. So on this highway to Jerusalem, they paused with the master,

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and they had a wonderful experience of God coming to church. Have you ever played hide and seek? Well, some hide, others seek.

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high from God, they call themselves high from God in church. That's right. But the wonderful experience is to know that we are being sought by God. That he came all the way from heaven to this earth looking for us through Jesus Christ.

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and we've been sought by him and somehow God captures us because he comes where we are. So when God comes to church, oh what a wonderful experience it is when God comes to church. When God, somehow we don't feel that he's present, those disciples were fearful that they were they were hiding they were hiding they

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were keeping from behind window shades and other things when somebody knocked at the door after the resurrection they were hiding they were fearful but all that day when God came to church God came to church did not only stood up and have said I love the Lord, but they were able to confront

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the opposition, and they came out the doors. The door was unlocked, and they came out of those doors and walked the streets of Jerusalem and shouted for joy because God was in their hearts.

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When God comes to church, it's a difference when God comes to church. Well, they said they had a vision of the cross. They had a vision of his love.

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They had a vision of his sacrifice, because God had come to church. So when God comes to church, we can accept the cross. We can accept his love and his suffering

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when God comes to church. We extend the privilege now of the church to accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, to come forth trusting in his name.

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Oh, how I love Jesus, we sing. But to love him is to give your life for him. And we invite you to come now as we extend to those of the church who invite you to come,

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because God has come here this morning. He's come here to bless every heart. To lift our spirits, we invite you to come. By letter, by Christian experience,

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or a profession of faith, we invite you to come. ♪ How a blessing in my slavery ♪ ♪ And in my surrender ♪ ♪ Could he be more than sacred ♪

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♪ For such a worm as I ♪ ♪ At the cross, at the cross ♪ ♪ Where I first saw the light ♪ ♪ And the burden of my heart was blown away ♪

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♪ It was there by faith I received my sight ♪ ♪ And now I am at the opening ♪ ♪ Was it for plants that I have done ♪ ♪ He broke the wonder tree ♪

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♪ Amazing did he grace the grove ♪ ♪ And the vineyard he made ♪ ♪ And the cross that I crossed ♪ ♪ Where I first saw the light ♪

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♪ When the burden of my heart ♪ ♪ Pulled away, pulled away ♪ ♪ It was there I lay ♪ ♪ I received my sight ♪

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♪ And now I am happy of the day ♪ ♪ Where by the sunling dove is high ♪ ♪ And shook its glowing ear ♪ ♪ When Christ the mighty Maker died ♪

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♪ For men the regions stayed ♪ ♪ The crops of wheat and every grain ♪ ♪ The gift of God my Lord ♪ ♪ Give all I give myself away ♪

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♪ Give all that I can do ♪ [Chorus singing] [BLANK_AUDIO]