"I don't know what to believe! Who is right? There are so many views and everybody has verses to support what they are presenting." So, in a tense fit of frustration, one inmate stormed out of a meeting with another inmate and myself, this weekEarlier, Will, Dustin, and I finished oral story-telling questions around the Mark 9 account of the transfiguration with personal applications for me, as well. Dustin processes through making right life decisions. Tom struggles with emotional and spiritual stability. Phil works through passages about end-time prophesies.
Foundations for right decisions
Dustin and I connected at the Kent Public Library and was at the MRJC some time ago. He in a great place spiritually that lays a foundation for some significant life decisions. He wants to do what is really right. The Mark 9 text focused our hearts on the work of Jesus.
In the oral Bible story-telling method, OBSM, we walk through an ordered sequence of questions as we dig deeper and deeper into the text. Here is the format I always find remarkably useful as I share 1-to-1 and in small groups:
In the oral Bible story-telling method, OBSM, we walk through an ordered sequence of questions as we dig deeper and deeper into the text. Here is the format I always find remarkably useful as I share 1-to-1 and in small groups:
1. Observations
Discovery--What is ….there for? 5 W’s and H
·
Context: setting, circumstances, challenges
·
Characters:
individuals in the narrative
·
Conversations:
dialog and meaning to characters and
plot
·
Choices:
actions taken, other things they could have done
·
Consequences:
results of actions taken
2. Applications
2. Applications
·
What
character did you identify with?
·
What
did the story mean to you?
·
How
did God speak to you?
·
How
did the story change your understanding of Scripture?
·
How
does it change your beliefs, attitudes, and actions?
3. Summary
·
What
timeless truths and personal stakes, are revealed to you?
·
What
does this story teach you about God, yourself, and others?
·
How
does it change our lives?
The text, again, is Mark 9:1-13
"And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.
And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
He transfigured with Elijah and Moses before them.
He is Rabbi, the recognized Authority and loving Teacher.
He is the Beloved Son whom we are to hear with our hearts and minds.
He is twice referred to as the Son of Man.
He prophesied He would rise from the dead. He is the One who will suffer many things and be treated with contempt.
"Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." ~Revelation 1:12-18 ESV
The text, again, is Mark 9:1-13
"And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.
And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
Ministries of the Transfigured Christ
I was struck by the names and activities of Jesus and what each underscores about His ongoing ministry in my own life, first, and then for those I am sharing with.
He brought Peter, James, and John with Him as He is with us.I was struck by the names and activities of Jesus and what each underscores about His ongoing ministry in my own life, first, and then for those I am sharing with.
He transfigured with Elijah and Moses before them.
He is Rabbi, the recognized Authority and loving Teacher.
He is the Beloved Son whom we are to hear with our hearts and minds.
He is twice referred to as the Son of Man.
He prophesied He would rise from the dead. He is the One who will suffer many things and be treated with contempt.
Admidst differing views
Later, I spoke with Tom, who is struggling with many spiritual voices around him. He listens to several religious volunteers from multiple ministries who are telling him conflicting messages about Jesus. Some do not present Jesus as God. Some do. They teach in all kinds of directions, flayed his arms and raising his voice. He shared they all seem to have Biblical support for their views. Since many have conflicting views, he was distressed over who and what to believe.
Later, I spoke with Tom, who is struggling with many spiritual voices around him. He listens to several religious volunteers from multiple ministries who are telling him conflicting messages about Jesus. Some do not present Jesus as God. Some do. They teach in all kinds of directions, flayed his arms and raising his voice. He shared they all seem to have Biblical support for their views. Since many have conflicting views, he was distressed over who and what to believe.
My place is to read the Scriptures, encourage him, and direct him to pray and come to his own conclusions, for now. I suggested he carefully read the Gospel of John and that I am available to answer his questions and listen.
Later when I returned to his unit, Tom made a special effort to pull me aside to repeat the 27 books of the New Testament and was not as stressed as earlier.
Prophesy lifts up Jesus as the Son of Man
Finally, Phil reads and studies about end-time prophesies. So, building on the message about Jesus as the Son of Man, we walked through a study from Daniel 7:13-14, Psalm 2:7-9, Matthew 24:30 and 26:64, Acts 1:9-11, and Revelation 1:7. He is the Anointed One, the Chosen Christ, Messiah.
A glorified and transfigured Jesus is referred to as the Son of Man also just a little later in Revelation 1...
Finally, Phil reads and studies about end-time prophesies. So, building on the message about Jesus as the Son of Man, we walked through a study from Daniel 7:13-14, Psalm 2:7-9, Matthew 24:30 and 26:64, Acts 1:9-11, and Revelation 1:7. He is the Anointed One, the Chosen Christ, Messiah.
A glorified and transfigured Jesus is referred to as the Son of Man also just a little later in Revelation 1...
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| Son of Man in Revelation 1 |
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." ~Revelation 1:12-18 ESV
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