# Sunday Setup – Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Sunday Setup
Date: May 28, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/sunday-setup-matthew-171-13

## Summary

What does it mean to truly listen to Jesus, the one who stands alone in authority? How can we prepare our hearts to witness His glory and respond to His call? Join us as we explore the powerful transfiguration moment in Matthew 17. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

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 >> Hey Cross Church family, and welcome to 
 the Sunday setup. This is our time each 
 week where we gather together digitally 
 Thursdays at 2:00 [music] to pray 
 through our piece of scripture that 
 we're going to be studying through this 
 week. And as we pray through this, we 
 are getting our hearts ready for Sunday 
 where we're going to praise, we're going 
 to continue to pray, we're going to 
 preach through this text so that we can 
 [music] practice it next week. 
 And here's what's exciting is we've been 
 going through the miracles of Jesus and 
 it has all kind of the lead to [music] 
 this last miracle that we're going to 
 see and all these are shadows of what is 
 coming on the cross, shadows of the 
 greatest miracle of dying on a cross and 
 raising again, but this is kind of the 
 pinnacle on that road. And it's in 
 Matthew chapter 17, it's the [music] 
 transfiguration where Jesus reveals his 
 authority in a way 
 that we see nowhere else in scripture. 
 He's given us all these little snapshots 
 of his authority over nature and demons 
 and 
 disease and sin and death, 
 but here we see his authority on full 
 display. 
 And we pick up our passage in Matthew 
 chapter 17 starting in verse 1. 
 It says after 6 days, Jesus took Peter, 
 James, and his brother John. 
 And he led them up high on a mountain by 
 themselves. 
 He was transfigured in front of them and 
 his face shone like the sun. His clothes 
 became as white as light. 
 Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to 
 them talking with him. 
 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, 
 it's good for us to be here. If you 
 want, I will set up three shelters here, 
 one for you, one for Moses, and one 
 [music] for Elijah." 
 While he was still speaking, suddenly a 
 bright cloud covered them and a voice 
 from the cloud said, "This is my beloved 
 son, 
 with whom I am well pleased. 
 Listen to him." 
 When the disciples heard this, 
 they fell face down 
 and they were terrified. 
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 >> Jesus came up, he touched them, and he 
 said, "Get up. 
 Don't be afraid." 
 And when they looked up, 
 they saw no one except Jesus alone. 
 This passage is something that 
 we see these words and we hear about 
 this experience, but it's one of those 
 that you wish you could be right there 
 in the moment 
 to see what these three disciples saw, 
 which they would later use as a pivotal 
 moment through their ministry to point 
 back to after the resurrection of Christ 
 of why he is God. 
 But I think as we prepare for this this 
 coming week and we wrapping up this 
 series and see the full authority of 
 Christ on display, verse 8 has this 
 amazing line. 
 This is when they looked up, they saw no 
 one except Jesus alone. 
 And we think of this 
 that this is not only what physically 
 happened, 
 but it's also a picture of our faith. 
 Now, there is one God alone who can save 
 us. There's one God alone who can give 
 us eternal life. There's one God alone 
 who created us. There's one God alone 
 that sustains us. There's one God alone 
 that we will spend eternity either with 
 or separated from. 
 And our prayer prompt is a prompt of 
 worship as we start this time off in the 
 full worship great scene we see in here 
 is God, you are alone because God, you 
 are alone in your own class. You are 
 greater than anyone. The Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Spirit. God, you are 
 alone as God 
 because 
 and just name some attributes of why Why 
 is God alone above every other God and 
 every other thing that we know in our 
 world? Because he is holy. Because he is 
 powerful. Because he is all loving. 
 Because he is full of grace. Is [music] 
 God, you are alone in this own 
 stratosphere because [music] 
 Just pray some time of worship of how we 
 serve a God who is alone above all 
 others. 
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 >> God, you are alone 
 because you are the only one that is 
 worthy, the only one that is holy. 
 Lord, you are above all other gods. 
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 >> There are other forces in our world. 
 There are demons. There are things we 
 have created. There are men and women 
 who have 
 elevated themselves to positions of 
 power, but all of them 
 are nothing. All of them cower. All of 
 them are so small compared to you and 
 your glorious 
 amazing self. 
 God, you alone are our creator, 
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 >> our sustainer, 
 and the one who ultimately gives us new 
 life now and for all of eternity. God, 
 we worship you because of how amazing 
 you truly are. 
 God, not only do we worship you because 
 you alone are great, 
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 >> but we also see the action step that 
 this passage gives us in verse 5. This 
 voice from heaven comes down as Jesus 
 will be alone in there in just a second. 
 It's so bright. All of a sudden, Elijah 
 and Moses disappear and it's just 
 Christ. 
 But the spirit for this voice, this 
 booming voice that is from the Father 
 that comes down from heaven, it says, 
 "Listen to him." 
 Listen to him. 
 Listen to who? Listen to Jesus. Listen 
 to God. Listen to the word of God that 
 we have in our everyday lives. And this 
 is our second prayer prompt as we 
 recognize that God is a god alone. He's 
 in his own class. No one else compares. 
 We worship him. He is worthy of our 
 worship. But our second prompt 
 is that we need to actually listen 
 [music] to him and follow him. 
 And here's our simple prayer prompt is 
 Lord, let me listen to you in 
 Lord, let me listen to you in 
 Maybe let me listen to you in fixing my 
 marriage, in trying harder. Let me 
 listen to you in kicking an addiction. 
 Let me listen to you in sharing the 
 gospel with my neighbor. Let me listen 
 to you in seeking restoration in a 
 different relationship or being the best 
 mother or father that you can be. Lord, 
 let me listen to you in 
 Finish that prayer prompt. Pray that to 
 Father. 
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 >> Lord, let us listen to you 
 in your word as our guardrail. 
 God as our accountability to make sure 
 that we are not falling into 
 heresy, falling into our own will, 
 falling into us our own ways. Lord, let 
 us listen to your word. God also let us 
 listen to your spirit. 
 As you take us to as you call us to take 
 bold steps in 
 reaching our city, in reaching our 
 neighbors, in reaching our family 
 members, in reaching our friends. Lord, 
 that we not ignore for 
 God, we not get busy and drown out your 
 voice with other stuff [music] of our 
 world, but that we can listen to you and 
 be obedient, and we can make a kingdom 
 impact because of the things that you 
 call us to do. 
 God, you alone are worthy. 
 And God, you call us to listen to you 
 and be obedient to your voice. 
 Lord, we just thank you for this time. 
 We thank you that you are the ultimate 
 miracle maker that we have studied who 
 has all authority, 
 and we thank you that you have revealed 
 your authority to us. 
 God, just be with us in this time. 
 Prepare our hearts to gather together as 
 a church this Sunday. 
 And Lord, we just lift all this up 
 in Jesus' name. Amen. 
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 >> Thank you guys for joining us. We cannot 
 wait to wrap up this series this Sunday. 
 Have a great rest of your week, and 
 we'll see you there. 
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 >> Mhm.