Welcome to our Together on Mission Podcast, where we seek to be with and like Jesus as we begin a conversation with Jesus in the morning of the scripture, prayer and meditation and then continue that conversation within your day, your hostess Travis Twynon, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. In this season of the podcast, we're going to be taking a look at a God who speaks, which was a new thing in the ancient world because God didn't speak, but this God speaks. Good morning everyone and welcome to the daily Together on Mission Podcasts is Travis and I am excited to be with all of you this morning. I really am.
I've got my hot cup of coffee right next to me and I'm in my normal kind of morning spot and I've got my Bible open in Matthew chapter 17 and the title of the podcast this morning is The Blessing. And there are not many things in life, maybe nothing in life as powerful as a blessing, like to look at someone, someone who you have a role of authority in their life and to speak a blessing to them. Now this could be parent to child, grandparent to grandchild. It could be boss to employee.
It could be an older sibling to a younger sibling. It could be someone who you have a role of spiritual authority in their life, a Godfather or a Godmother, but that blessing to look someone in the eye to pause and to say, I'm pleased with you. You're incredible. You're special.
I love you. You knock that out of the park. I love being around you. I love who you are.
You're amazing. And I could go on and on. But looking someone in the eye, someone who you have a role of authority in their lives and delivering this blessing. So here's the question.
When is the last time that you have looked somebody in the eye, someone who would see you as an authority figure and invulnerability and tenderness and power? You said something along the lines of a blessing. It's so powerful. And if I could just turn it around for just a moment, what kind of effect have you experienced when somebody who was in authority in your life looked you directly in the eye, paused and said something powerful like that, a blessing.
It probably changed everything. And there are certain times in the ministry of Jesus where Jesus' father literally says the blessing over his son. So the question presses, when is the last time you have done that to someone who would see you as a person of authority? And in order for it to qualify as a blessing, there has to be a pause.
We look someone in the eye and invulnerability and strength. We say something like, you are incredible. I love when you're around. I'm so proud of you.
And again, this happened a number of different times in the ministry of Jesus. And in Matthew 17, verse 1, after six days, Jesus took his three best friends, Peter, James and John. They went up on a mountain. Jesus was transfigured before them.
Jesus' face shone like the sun. His clothes were white as light. And verse 5, while Jesus was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. And a voice from the cloud said this, this is my son.
Who I love with him, I am well pleased. Now could we just take that in for a minute? This is the father's voice. And the father says to the son in front of other people, and we'll get back to that in a moment.
But the father says to the son, you're my son, whom I love. I'm well pleased with you. And of course, if you're familiar with the gospel stories, this is echoing baptism narrative where Jesus gets baptized by John, his cousin, and he comes up out of the water. And the father says, this is my beloved son, right?
You are my beloved son. With you, I am well pleased. And so the father, in a sense, if you will, he pauses and in tenderness and in vulnerability and in strength, he looks into the eyes, but even more into the heart of his son, Jesus. And he says, I am so proud of you.
You have what it takes. You're my son. I believe in you. And that is the blessing from the father to the son.
And there may be nothing in all creation that is more powerful than delivering that tender, powerful, vulnerable blessing. And one of the things that I love about this story, which I mentioned just a moment ago, was that you have Peter, James, and John on the mountain at Transfiguration. And Moses and Elijah appear. In verse 9, Peter said to Jesus, look, it's good for us to be here.
You know, let me make shelters for you and Moses and Elijah. So in this vision or encounter or whatever is happening on this mountain of Transfiguration, you've got Peter, James, and John, and you've got Moses and Elijah, and you've got the father, God, by the power of the Spirit, speaking to the Son with an audience. The father speaking to the Son and Jesus' best friends, and Moses and Elijah can hear what the Father is saying. And so I would like to call this a public blessing.
Not only is it a blessing, but it's a public blessing. A public blessing is a blessing that happens in front of other people. So a public blessing is when you look at the person you're blessing, you hold that space, you pause for a moment, invulnerability and strength, you look at them, and in front of other people, maybe in front of other co-workers or in front of other siblings or in front of their friends or whatever you say, I'm so proud of you, right? I love you.
You're amazing. You have what it takes. You knock that out of the park, whatever it might be. And of course, we can't make blessings general.
The beauty of a blessing is that it has a specificity to it. It's specific to the person. It's specific to what that person has recently done. Maybe it doesn't necessarily have to be tied to something that somebody has done.
It can be just simply who they are or simply a blessing as a result of their proximity or relationship to you. But a public blessing is when you go public with it, when people hear it. And then the person being blessed is feeling celebrated in front of other people. So the Father blesses Jesus in front of others.
It's a public blessing. And there may not be a more powerful thing to do to a child or a younger sibling. I mean, imagine looking at your younger sibling and saying, I love when you're around in front of other people. I mean, the kind of moment, the kind of space and power that that would carry and hold, it could be life changing.
And that's the thing. Sometimes when we're in authority, we don't know necessarily how powerful that blessing can be. But a blessing is when someone that has a position of authority speaks in a vulnerable, powerful way that just holds space for how incredible somebody is. So the Father says to the Son, you're my son.
I love you. And with you, I am unbelievably well pleased. In other words, Jesus, you have what it takes. You are my beloved son.
And so I've got a question and I've got a commission. And the question is simply this. When is the last time we have looked into the eyes and really into the heart of an employee, the younger sibling, a son or a daughter, and just held that space and delivered a blessing? And when is the last time you've done that?
You're a shot of other people, a public blessing. And in the commission, I think the Spirit of God is commissioning us today to be a blessing to someone else. So find that time, find that person, find that opportunity, look in their eyes, hold that space and invulnerability and power, deliver the blessing to them. It will change everything.
We'll talk soon. Thanks for listening to the Together on Mission podcast. We truly hope that you were blessed and encouraged by it today. If you had any questions about the Inland Vineyard Church, our ministries, or our Sunday services, feel free to connect with us on our brand new app, which you can find in the Google Play and the App Store and check out our social media pages like Facebook and Instagram.
Or even check out our website at inlandvignard.org.