Hey sweet kiddos! Today we find ourselves climbing up a mountain with James, John, Peter and Jesus. At this point Jesus has made his third trip to withdraw and this time it is to Caesarea Philippi. This place is a bubbling town filled with lots people and is based near a high mountain called Mount Hermon. This mountain is massive compared to all the other mountains near it. The mountain's fresh snow drips down to produce raging water ways and then ends up dumping into the Sea of Galilee. From the Sea of Galilee it finds its way down to the bottom of the Jordan River and ends in the Dead sea. It is on this spectacular mountain that Jesus and his closest three disciples make their way up.

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Quick, review it!

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• What Year and month span is this event happening in?

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Answer: Year of Passion: Withdrawal (first six months)

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• What mountain did Jesus and his best friends climb?

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Answer: Mount Hermon

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              As they reached the top, Jesus bows his head to pray. His face glows with God's glory and shines so bright it is like the sun. His clothes are transformed into a brilliant white. Suddenly, two men were talking with Jesus. They were Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah also appeared in glory: light and bright. They were talking to Jesus about his coming death in Jerusalem. Peter, James and John, at this point, were in a deep snoozy sleep they were just so tired from their hike (Luke 9: 32). When they became fully awake, however, they saw the three of them talking. Peter looked at them and asked Jesus, "So, should I build three tabernacles for the three of you?" Peter was so shocked that it was the only thing his mind could fathom. Have you ever had an experience like that? Where something so shocked you, your brain couldn't compute what was happening? That is what happened to Peter. 

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           Then, a cloud appeared and overshadowed them. Peter, James, and John became afraid and they fell to their knees. As the cloud descended down on them, a voice came from the cloud saying, "This is My Son, whom I love, the Chosen One. Listen to Him!" After the voice had spoken only Jesus was found. This is a spectacular moment. One minute everything was normal, they were hiking and having fun, the next they met God and heard His voice. Boom, their lives started a course that was completely different than anything they could have expected. 

            

Have you had a moment like that with Jesus? A time when He showed you who He is: the Son of God?

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           I hope so sweetheart. If not, ask Jesus to have a moment with you to share who He is with you and to make it fully clear to you that He is Jesus, the Son of God. The one who wipes all your tears away, calls you by name, and died for all the bad things you have done. 

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          Back to our mountain top experience, Jesus wanted this special moment with his best friends, He knew what was going to happen to him, that he was going to be killed, and He wanted this moment for them to come back to and remember. He wanted them to know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Son of God and that He predicted His own death. He was showing them His true self: Son of God, ever brightly shining in God's full glory. 

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           God does the same thing with us. He walks through life with us and gives us spectacular moments that really show us who God is and what His Son did for us. I love those moments where I get to see Him more clearly. Last year, I had a really bad pain in my side and I remember vividly thinking that Jesus knew exactly what I was going through. He had experienced something even more painful as He died on the cross. I grew closer to Jesus that day because I realized how much He loved me to go through something so painful, especially when He didn't have to. Although I don't want to experience that pain again, I wouldn't have wanted to miss that moment where Jesus showed Himself even more clearly to me. I hope you don't experience what I went through, but I do pray that you have a mountain top moment with Jesus where He shows you who He is and how much He dearly loves you! 

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Discussion Questions:

 

• How did God reveal who Jesus was to Peter, James, and John?

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• Have you had a mountain top moment, where God shows you who He is?

  • Mountain top moments could be realizing how BIG he is as you are sitting by the ocean. It can be marveling at how miraculously He has created everything as you sit under the stars. It can be knowing that God loves to give good gifts as you eat a piece of fruit. There are so many mountain top moments! ​​​​​​