Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
Speaker 2: it gives your perspective to see God is moving in
Speaker 2: your life. Enjoy the message. We're looking at the seven
Speaker 2: last Words of Jesus Christ, what he said before he died.
Speaker 1: How it applies to our lives.
Speaker 2: Taking some things that we might be very familiar with,
Speaker 2: or may not have been familiar with at all, but
Speaker 2: really owning them personally and incorporating them into our lives
Speaker 2: of faith on our personal journey with Jesus. And it
Speaker 2: is a journey. And sometimes on the journey you become
Speaker 2: so familiar with things that you don't notice them.
Speaker 1: They can just be right there.
Speaker 2: I grew up thirty miles from Charleston, South Carolina, and
Speaker 2: I love going to Charleston with Holly when we want
Speaker 2: to get away for a weekend. Typically we will sneak
Speaker 2: away to Charleston. And by the way, if it's a vacation,
Speaker 2: that means there are no kids. If the kids are there,
Speaker 2: it's a family trip. Vacation is me Holly, a hotel
Speaker 2: and some shopping, maybe some carbohydrates too. But we go
Speaker 2: to Charleston a little bit, and it's only three and
Speaker 2: a half hours from Charlotte. And she asked me one time,
Speaker 2: the first time we went, She said, what was it
Speaker 2: like growing up so close to such a historic and
Speaker 2: beautiful place? I said, never thought about it when I
Speaker 2: was a kid. It wasn't a thing. Just you know,
Speaker 2: it was Charleston. We never really made it past North Charleston.
Speaker 2: That's where the mall was. And I never really even
Speaker 2: made it downtown, the place that I pay now to
Speaker 2: go and spend the night, I.
Speaker 1: Never even drove to.
Speaker 2: It was almost too close to notice until I got
Speaker 2: away from it. And even the other day, y'all, I
Speaker 2: was eating with the family. We go out to eat
Speaker 2: most Fridays, and we were eating at this a burger restaurant,
Speaker 2: burger joint, as the young people say, and that what
Speaker 2: the young people call it, a burger joint over at
Speaker 2: the five and dime. And I'm gonna get to my
Speaker 2: scripture in a minute. Man, it's Luke twenty four or
Speaker 2: thirteen through thirty five. Don't worry, I'm going there in
Speaker 2: a minute, you can meet me there. Lace up your shoes,
Speaker 2: stretch your hamstrings, do whatever you got to do, because
Speaker 2: we're going on a journey. Tell the person next to
Speaker 2: you we're going somewhere. We're going somewhere. So we went
Speaker 2: to this restaurant and the young lady who was serving
Speaker 2: us was really nice, but she kept looking at me funny,
Speaker 2: looking at me funny every time she come over. You're
Speaker 2: looking at me funny. And she came up and said,
Speaker 2: I just figured out who you are. You're the Facebook guy.
Speaker 2: I said, am I? She said, me and your friends
Speaker 2: send the clips of your Facebook preaching to each other,
Speaker 2: my friends in California. I said, cool, that's great, you know,
Speaker 2: and all of that. And she brought her fries and
Speaker 2: came back another time and she said, they just told
Speaker 2: me in the back that your church is here in Charlotte.
Speaker 2: I said, well, yeah, it's two miles from here at
Speaker 2: this restaurant where I preach from. We have churches in
Speaker 2: other places, not just in Charlotte, but it's based in Charlotte.
Speaker 2: Like two like we could probably throw a French fry
Speaker 2: at it and hit it. And and she said, I
Speaker 2: didn't even know it now she's two miles from the church.
Speaker 2: You don't need to invite people more, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: You are not doing your job. It's what that said
Speaker 2: to me. But what it really reminded me because I
Speaker 2: told her, you know, you can get it on Facebook
Speaker 2: and there's little cliffs, but if you really want to
Speaker 2: see what makes that special, you gotta get in the
Speaker 2: parking lot, see the people there, get a hog from
Speaker 2: a greeterer. Have you got kids, You need to drop
Speaker 2: your kids off at eat kids and watch how we
Speaker 2: teach him. I mean, you really need to get around
Speaker 2: the people. This is your lucky day because you're gonna
Speaker 2: be my special guest. And I gave her an invitation
Speaker 2: and she still didn't come. But that's not the point
Speaker 2: of the illustration. The point of the illustration is you
Speaker 2: can be so close. Elijah, my oldest son. The other day,
Speaker 2: I went to hand on my phone. He said, Daddy
Speaker 2: wants said on your wrist. I said, on my wrist?
Speaker 2: What's on my wrist? And he was talking about my scar.
Speaker 2: I've had this scar since I was four. This scar
Speaker 2: is my mom tells me from a childhood incident. She says,
Speaker 2: I was playing with a dog bowl, and it was
Speaker 2: made of glass. I dropped the dog bowl. The dog
Speaker 2: bowl cut my wrist. She said she thought I was
Speaker 2: gonna die.
Speaker 1: I don't remember any of this. It's not traumatic for me.
Speaker 2: But I've always had this little Harry Potter thing right
Speaker 2: there on my wrists and.
Speaker 1: Elijah noticed it. That's crazy.
Speaker 2: These are the first hands that held his ungrateful butt
Speaker 2: and wiped his ungrateful.
Speaker 1: And he never even noticed.
Speaker 2: I mean, how many times have I changed his diaper
Speaker 2: with these hands? Probably not many, single digit probably.
Speaker 1: But my point is it can be.
Speaker 2: So close and remain unnoticed, so imminent and invisible to us.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean it's not there.
Speaker 2: Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there.
Speaker 1: Let's go on the road. Seven miles. Let's go. Are
Speaker 1: you ready?
Speaker 2: I probably shouldn't have worn my white sneakers today.
Speaker 1: They're gonna get dirty.
Speaker 2: Because we're going on this Amaeis Road loop. Jesus only
Speaker 2: has forty days. He's risen from the dead. He is resurrected,
Speaker 2: just like he said he would be. He has the
Speaker 2: keys to death, hell and the grave. He gave the
Speaker 2: devil a big black.
Speaker 1: Eye when that stone rolled away, and.
Speaker 2: Now all of Hell is trembling because the temple they
Speaker 2: thought they had destroyed has rebuilt himself, just.
Speaker 1: Like he said he would. He is resten, he is resin.
Speaker 2: And the women went to the tomb, and it's Sunday morning,
Speaker 2: and they brought some spices, but they would not need them,
Speaker 2: because the Angel said to the women, why do you
Speaker 2: look for the living amongst the dead? I want to
Speaker 2: talk in this first installment of Seven Mile Miracle on
Speaker 2: the subject reverse the search. Maybe we are missing the
Speaker 2: presence and the power of God, the resurrection power of God,
Speaker 2: the redemptive power of God, the restoration power of God,
Speaker 2: the redeeming.
Speaker 1: Power of God.
Speaker 2: Because we're searching in the wrong places. They were looking
Speaker 2: for the living among the dead. He is not here,
Speaker 2: he's risen. What are you looking for a living God
Speaker 2: in a dead place, a dead relationship, a dead text thread,
Speaker 2: a dead Facebook page? Why are you looking for the
Speaker 2: living God in dead religion? Dormant religion? Why are you
Speaker 2: looking for the living touch? Somebody say, reverse the search?
Speaker 2: He is alive and he is real, And the presence
Speaker 2: of God is not meant to be an ad on
Speaker 2: in or accessory.
Speaker 1: But the operating.
Speaker 2: System of the life of anyone who will choose to
Speaker 2: believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that
Speaker 2: Jesus Us as Lord and God has.
Speaker 1: Raised him from the dead. And he's risen from the.
Speaker 2: Dead, and he's gotta go, get the message out, get
Speaker 2: on the road, because he's only got forty days. He's
Speaker 2: about to be taken up to heaven and seated at
Speaker 2: the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, from whence
Speaker 2: he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
Speaker 2: And he's got to go, and he's got to show
Speaker 2: the world that he's living, so they'll so they'll believe
Speaker 2: the proof of the power of his resurrection.
Speaker 1: And so he's got to go. What should he do first?
Speaker 2: If he wants to reveal himself to the world and
Speaker 2: let him know that the proof is that he is
Speaker 2: the son of God in the fact that death.
Speaker 1: Could not hold him in, the brave could not keep him.
Speaker 2: And the tomb was borrowed because it wasn't needed for
Speaker 2: very long. Where does he go? What does he do?
Speaker 2: Perhaps we should perhaps we should host a resurrection reenactment event.
Speaker 2: Maybe he can get Barclays, Maybe he can call Jay,
Speaker 2: maybe he can maybe he can do it in a
Speaker 2: cultural center. Maybe he ought to call Zuck. Maybe you
Speaker 2: ought to put this on social Maybe he ought to.
Speaker 1: Get it out.
Speaker 2: Maybe he can go viral, maybe ought to make a Mean,
Speaker 2: what does Jesus do on the day he defeats death?
Speaker 2: You might be surprised, because what he does next is
Speaker 2: take a walk.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's walk.
Speaker 2: Will you walk with me? I don't even care if
Speaker 2: you know where Luke is in the Bible. I just
Speaker 2: want you to walk with me to this passage of
Speaker 2: scripture where we join two travelers who as of yet
Speaker 2: remain nameless.
Speaker 1: What's that.
Speaker 2: Jesus, on the day of his resurrection, with only forty
Speaker 2: days to spare, to tell the world that he is
Speaker 2: God and convinced them with many signs and proofs, appears
Speaker 2: to two travelers whose names we have never seen. I mean,
Speaker 2: at least go get Bartholomew. I've heard of him. But
Speaker 2: these two travelers were watch this just like you and
Speaker 2: me walking along, and they were headed toward a village
Speaker 2: called Amaeis.
Speaker 1: I've been there. Years ago.
Speaker 2: We did an Easter presentation for our church by the
Speaker 2: name seven Mile Miracle, and we decided to be cool
Speaker 2: if we shot it there, but when we got there.
Speaker 2: How many of you would love to go to Israel
Speaker 2: one day if you could and see where Jesus walked.
Speaker 1: How many of you are fine just.
Speaker 2: To watch it on National Geographic and you don't need
Speaker 2: all that, And you're like, well, thank.
Speaker 1: You for your honesty.
Speaker 2: But if you go, they'll tell you when you get there,
Speaker 2: they'll say, hey, this is a Maus. And then if
Speaker 2: you have a really honest guide, they'll say, I mean,
Speaker 2: it's maybe a Mais. We don't know exactly where a
Speaker 2: Maais was because it was such an insignificant place in
Speaker 2: its day that there is no archaeological evidence that this
Speaker 2: was definitely the place. Why would Jesus go to a
Speaker 2: place that wasn't even significant enough in its day to
Speaker 2: be known in modernity or pinpointed on a map. We
Speaker 2: look for God in places that everyone recognizes. I mean,
Speaker 2: we think that Jesus needs a shout out from Kim
Speaker 2: or Kanye. We act like Jesus needs an oscar for
Speaker 2: best resurrection. But instead he goes on this dirty road,
Speaker 2: this a little road, real tiny road.
Speaker 1: The one that they say he might have walked. I
Speaker 1: walked in.
Speaker 2: And he meets up with two people. And it's not
Speaker 2: Zuck and it's not Trump. Now watch, they're walking toward
Speaker 2: to Mais. Jesus died in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the place
Speaker 2: where the Passover feast had just been celebrated. Jerusalem was
Speaker 2: the place where the promised Holy Spirit was to come.
Speaker 2: But Jesus leaves the place where the Spirit is coming
Speaker 2: to follow two people, and we don't even know who
Speaker 2: they are.
Speaker 1: What kind of God is this?
Speaker 2: Who would speak to you in a crowd of thousands
Speaker 2: and would bring you to this place at this moment?
Speaker 2: And these men are walking along on that same day,
Speaker 2: the same day that Jesus got up from the grave.
Speaker 2: So picture it now. Two things are happening. It once,
Speaker 2: the eternal Word of God, who was in the beginning
Speaker 2: with God, the fullness of his glory, full of grace
Speaker 2: and truth, has trampled death, sin, hell, and the grave
Speaker 2: made a mockery of Satan. And those who handed him
Speaker 2: over are soon to bow down and worship him, and
Speaker 2: every need will bow and tonge confess that Jesus Christ
Speaker 2: is Lord to the glory of God the Father, and
Speaker 2: God has exalted Jesus to the highest place, given them
Speaker 2: the name that is above every name, that's happening, and
Speaker 2: these two unnamed people most scholars say probably a husband
Speaker 2: and wife. In a minute, we get the guy's name,
Speaker 2: we don't get the woman's name because in Bible times
Speaker 2: people didn't treat women too well. They were pretty overlooked.
Speaker 2: But that's the kind of people Jesus life is, the
Speaker 2: people who were overlooked. He would work a miracle with
Speaker 2: the little kid's lunch. In their math, kids didn't count,
Speaker 2: But in Jesus' math, that's where the multiplication was in
Speaker 2: the hands of the one who everybody else walked past.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying that because you might think you can
Speaker 2: only go on this journey if you're perfect.
Speaker 1: You might think you can only go.
Speaker 2: On this journey if your life is profound, that God
Speaker 2: can only use you if everybody knows you, because we
Speaker 2: worship the idol of fame in this age, but the
Speaker 2: famous one, the name above every name, meets with two
Speaker 2: previously unnamed travelers. And only because he met with them
Speaker 2: do we know that the name of the man was
Speaker 2: Cleopus Jesus Christ and Cleo that's what his friend's call him.
Speaker 2: And since we're going on this walk with him, we
Speaker 2: should call him by his nickname Cleo. And they're walking
Speaker 2: to a village called a Maaeas, a village that nobody
Speaker 2: even knows where it really is today. I mean, they
Speaker 2: can guess, but they don't. They're going toward a Maas.
Speaker 2: Why would Jesus make one of his first resurrection appearances
Speaker 2: headed toward a place away from where the Holy Spirit
Speaker 2: was about to fall, toward a place that no one
Speaker 2: would even remember. Could it be possible that we look
Speaker 2: for God in the destination? But he is the God
Speaker 2: of the detour. Can I preach on this for about
Speaker 2: fifteen or thirty minutes? He is the God of the detour.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to tell you that the perfect, flawless Son
Speaker 2: of God turned his back on Jerusalem, set out on
Speaker 2: a road toward an unknown place, followed to people we've
Speaker 2: never met before. Because he is not the God of
Speaker 2: a rival. He is the God of the first step
Speaker 2: and the second step and every step. He's with me
Speaker 2: when I'm right, he's with me when I'm wrong. He's
Speaker 2: with me when I'm going forward.
Speaker 1: He's with me when I'm stuck. He's with me when
Speaker 1: I'm high stepping. He's with me when I'm crawling. He's
Speaker 1: with me when I'm strong, He's with me when I'm weak.
Speaker 1: He walks with me, he talks with me. And they're
Speaker 1: walking the wrong way.
Speaker 2: Remember, they're walking the wrong way. If they really believed
Speaker 2: he was going to raise from the dead, they would
Speaker 2: have stayed in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: But they didn't, and God followed them to the wrong place.
Speaker 1: Because grace will chase you down.
Speaker 2: Some special is going to happen in this church today,
Speaker 2: something special, something significant.
Speaker 1: But it might start real small.
Speaker 2: See, we look for God in the dramatic, but he
Speaker 2: hides in the details.
Speaker 1: Sit down, let's go for a walk. This is just
Speaker 1: a setup week. Man, it's gonna be amazing.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be seven last sayings of Jesus Christ before
Speaker 2: he died last worse. We're gonna study them, apply them
Speaker 2: to your life.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be amazing, It really is.
Speaker 2: We're gonna do a devotional on YouTube.
Speaker 1: Facebook.
Speaker 2: Did they tell you Instagram, everything, my Space.
Speaker 1: I'll send a pigeon to your house with the devotion.
Speaker 1: You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: We'll do whatever we have to do is digital discipleship,
Speaker 2: so we can see Jesus in three D and the
Speaker 2: first d is not destination, it's detour, because God will
Speaker 2: meet you on the detour the parts of your journey.
Speaker 2: You didn't ask for a plan for or pack for
Speaker 2: feed these people. We didn't bring lunch. You didn't tell
Speaker 2: us to. Jesus said one time, I need to go
Speaker 2: through Samaria, and they were like, that's not the most
Speaker 2: direct route.
Speaker 1: See Jesus is or I don't mean this in an
Speaker 1: insulting way, but I think you'll.
Speaker 2: Agree he's inefficient by human standards. It says in Proverbs
Speaker 2: three five and six trust the Lord with all your heart,
Speaker 2: lean not on your own understanding. When you try to
Speaker 2: search for God with your understanding, and you say I'll
Speaker 2: start my journey when I understand, you will never leave
Speaker 2: earth of the Chaldeans Abraham, because it grows as you go,
Speaker 2: with every step you see. And so he walks up
Speaker 2: to them on the detour in the wrong direction, toward
Speaker 2: a destination that has disappeared from our modern maps, because
Speaker 2: it wasn't what happened when they got there, it was
Speaker 2: what he revealed along the way. What if Christianity is
Speaker 2: a journey, not a destination. What if salvation was a
Speaker 2: starting block, not a finish line.
Speaker 1: What if God's not done with you?
Speaker 2: What if you don't have to find out to step out?
Speaker 2: What if you don't have to know the reason to
Speaker 2: stay on the road. That's all these two were doing
Speaker 2: was walking. They didn't invite Jesus. They didn't pray to Jesus.
Speaker 2: They didn't go to church. They didn't sing a helm,
Speaker 2: they didn't pray a prayer, they didn't memorize a verse.
Speaker 2: They didn't even join any group. But you should, but
Speaker 2: they didn't. All they did was walk. And as they're
Speaker 2: walking along the road to a village called to Maaeus,
Speaker 2: as I'm.
Speaker 1: Walking through my life.
Speaker 2: As I'm raising my kids, as I'm dropping them off,
Speaker 2: as I'm smacking them as we go, tour to me
Speaker 2: is a seven mile journey. I'm glad to put that
Speaker 2: detail because that lets me know that He began a
Speaker 2: good work in me, will be faithful to complete. Seven
Speaker 2: in the Bible is a number of completion. God created
Speaker 2: the world in six days. On the seventh day, he rested.
Speaker 2: He didn't rest because he was tired, He rested because.
Speaker 1: He was done. You like that.
Speaker 2: I love y'all so much. I love y'all so much.
Speaker 2: I love sharing the word of God with you. The
Speaker 2: Word of God is alive and active. It'll make you holler,
Speaker 2: it will it'll make you scream when the word of
Speaker 2: God is alive to you. When Jesus shows up on
Speaker 2: the road and meets you in your sin and snatches
Speaker 2: you from your sin, it'll thank you holler. You just
Speaker 2: jump up. And they're they're going along the road. Touch
Speaker 2: somebody say, I'm going somewhere. I'm going somewhere, and I
Speaker 2: don't have to know the destination, because every detour he
Speaker 2: will direct my past. That's what Proverbs three five and sixcess.
Speaker 2: He will direct my paths. That means the straight ones
Speaker 2: and the crooked ones, he'll bend them all together. That's
Speaker 2: what grace is. Seven seven is the number of completions,
Speaker 2: seven times around the walls of Jericho, and they fell.
Speaker 1: Did you go to Bible school, you remember this? Seven miles,
Speaker 1: seven miles.
Speaker 2: They're walking Cleo and missus Cleo. They're talking with each
Speaker 2: other about everything that had happened. How they hung the
Speaker 2: one that they had hoped to be the redeemer on
Speaker 2: a tree, and how the Romans had crucified the one
Speaker 2: that was supposed to deliver them from their oppression, and
Speaker 2: as they look at verse fifteen with me, as they
Speaker 2: talked and discussed these things, these events, the divorce, the
Speaker 2: job loss, the struggle, the wasted relationship that you.
Speaker 1: Didn't know how to handle.
Speaker 2: As they talked about the death of what they had
Speaker 2: set their expectation on. Right there in the middle of it,
Speaker 2: Jesus himself came up, didn't politely ask to join them
Speaker 2: on their journey, walked along with them.
Speaker 1: Have you ever felt like God wouldn't leave you alone.
Speaker 2: Even if you wanted him to, Like you tried to
Speaker 2: disable your conscience and you still felt bad smoking it.
Speaker 1: Come on, talk to me. Don't look at me like
Speaker 1: you came in church riding in on a chariot, polish
Speaker 1: a halo, I come at you, walk right up to you.
Speaker 2: That's what he did. He walked up right up to him.
Speaker 2: But they were kept from recognizing them. Have you been
Speaker 2: kept from recognizing resurrection right in front of you because
Speaker 2: we looked for God in the dramatic, but he shows
Speaker 2: up in the details. He takes a walk. Jesuys, you
Speaker 2: do not have time for this. Let me be his
Speaker 2: press agent for a little while. Okay, we got forty days.
Speaker 2: We got to meet with people, make things happen. We
Speaker 2: gotta get this show on the road. He says, Yeah,
Speaker 2: on the road with Cleo. I gotta meet with Clear,
Speaker 2: I gotta I gotta show myself to Cleo.
Speaker 1: But he was kept from recognizing.
Speaker 2: It. Didn't say that he didn't recognize him. Something kept
Speaker 2: him from recognizing. And resurrection begins in your life when
Speaker 2: you ask the question, what is keeping me from recognizing
Speaker 2: the presence of God that is right there, not only.
Speaker 1: Beside me, but within me. Can I teach you about
Speaker 1: this a little bit, just a little bit.
Speaker 2: This is an opening week and it'll get better as
Speaker 2: it goes, But you got to start somewhere. The journey
Speaker 2: has to start somewhere, and every journey that is successful begins.
Speaker 1: With the end in mind.
Speaker 2: I know it seems kind of backwards that I want
Speaker 2: to teach you a series on what Jesus said before
Speaker 2: he died, and I'm starting with the spoiler alert that
Speaker 2: he's already resurrected and.
Speaker 1: On the road.
Speaker 2: But when you begin with the end in mind, you
Speaker 2: see that no matter what I go through in life,
Speaker 2: the result is that God will use whatever I go
Speaker 2: through to.
Speaker 1: Reveal his glory.
Speaker 2: I am convinced that the sufferings of this present time
Speaker 2: are not even worthy to be compared with the glory that.
Speaker 1: Will be revealed in me. Stay on the road.
Speaker 2: See I don't understand all the reasons, but I'm.
Speaker 1: On the road.
Speaker 2: And they were kept from recognizing him. How many times
Speaker 2: have I been kept from recognizing what God was doing
Speaker 2: right in front of me? How many times have I
Speaker 2: been kept from recognizing ordinary moments of joy because I
Speaker 2: was waiting on things to be perfect. How many times
Speaker 2: have I missed a miracle because all I saw was
Speaker 2: the mess? How many times have I missed the opportunity
Speaker 2: to give something because.
Speaker 1: I was so centered on myself? How I feel, what
Speaker 1: I need? What I didn't get?
Speaker 2: And God said, if you'll change the question and reverse
Speaker 2: the search, maybe it's not about what is happening to you.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's what I want to do through you. They
Speaker 1: hung him hot. He didn't dump down. He had something
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 2: They didn't recognize I didn't recognize it. I didn't recognize
Speaker 2: that my kids were growing up fast, so I didn't
Speaker 2: make the time. I didn't recognize I didn't recognize the
Speaker 2: good things about the person I said I'd spend the
Speaker 2: rest of my life with. So I started focusing on
Speaker 2: the things about them that were mildly annoying, and eventually
Speaker 2: it became an insurmountable resentment.
Speaker 1: I didn't recognize.
Speaker 2: I didn't recognize that the people I was hanging out
Speaker 2: with were doing some things that were going to stick
Speaker 2: with me for the rest.
Speaker 1: Of my life.
Speaker 2: And it became an addiction, even though it just started
Speaker 2: out as an attraction. I didn't recognize, and they were
Speaker 2: kept what kept them from recognizing You can be kept
Speaker 2: from recognizing the patterns that created your outcomes. You can
Speaker 2: be kept from recognizing the behaviors that are leading you
Speaker 2: to the destinations that you hate.
Speaker 1: You know, you hate where you are, but you don't
Speaker 1: know how you got there.
Speaker 2: And they were kept from recognizing him. And he was
Speaker 2: right there with him, like that dude who prayed God
Speaker 2: would save him. And the helicopter came and he didn't
Speaker 2: take the helicopter. You know this story, boat came, he
Speaker 2: wouldn't get in the boat. He drowned and he died
Speaker 2: and he said, God, ask you to save me. And
Speaker 2: God said that helicopter was me, that boat was me.
Speaker 2: That rejection was me. Yeah, even that pain, I let
Speaker 2: it happen because I wanted to produce a.
Speaker 1: Power in your life. And the only way I could get.
Speaker 2: It through and open your eyes. And they're walking and
Speaker 2: here comes Jesus like a stalker. Come on, It's kind
Speaker 2: of weird, right, He just shows up in the middle
Speaker 2: of him Cleo and Missus Cleo, and he asks him
Speaker 2: a question. Just sit right down beside him in church,
Speaker 2: walk up on the road, and I love Jesus.
Speaker 1: This is comical to me.
Speaker 2: If you think the Bible is boring, I want to
Speaker 2: challenge the fact that maybe it's you.
Speaker 1: That is boring. And you huh.
Speaker 2: Huh, because watch this, This is some funny stuff. The
Speaker 2: author of life, who knows all things, who lays bare
Speaker 2: the intents of every heart, who created Cleo and Missus
Speaker 2: Cleo before the foundations of the earth for an express purpose,
Speaker 2: by whom and through whom and for whom all things
Speaker 2: are created. That's Jesus, the Word made flesh full of
Speaker 2: grace and truth.
Speaker 1: Walks up to Cleo and says, what y'all talking about?
Speaker 1: Like he doesn't know? And they stood still, their faces down.
Speaker 2: Everything in this textings backwards to me, y'all, he's going
Speaker 2: Tortimaeus away from Jerusalem. That doesn't make sense. He's talking
Speaker 2: to people that don't seem important. That doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2: He just got up from the dead. If you just
Speaker 2: got up from the dead, would you want to hang
Speaker 2: around happy people. I would want to find somebody who
Speaker 2: could celebrate. Come on, we're gonna pop something. But Cleo
Speaker 2: is sad because it didn't go the way he thought.
Speaker 2: It didn't end up the way he thought. Their faces
Speaker 2: were downcast, and all.
Speaker 1: Of a sudden they stopped walking.
Speaker 2: My Bible says they stood still, their faces downcast, and
Speaker 2: they stop, and apparently Jesus stops with them, and they're sad,
Speaker 2: and apparently he enters into their sadness, and they start
Speaker 2: explaining to the one who created life how life was
Speaker 2: supposed to turn out. I love the Bible. I'm fascinated
Speaker 2: by this journey. See, if you read the Bible like
Speaker 2: a magic rule book, you will never fully understand the
Speaker 2: extent to which it is meant to speak to your
Speaker 2: situation and guide your life. If you really get into
Speaker 2: this thing with me, over the next seven I'm gonna
Speaker 2: show you how God is not scared to walk right up.
Speaker 1: In the details of your situation.
Speaker 2: A bird falls out the sky and he counts it
Speaker 2: and puts it on the ledger. And you think he
Speaker 2: doesn't know about your loneliness, your tears, your heart break,
Speaker 2: your question. You think he's intimidated by your skepticism. You
Speaker 2: think your broken heart can chase him away. The Bible says,
Speaker 2: a broken and a contrite heart, he will not despise
Speaker 2: the only heart he can't get into, as the one
Speaker 2: that is closed up through pride. But if you open yourself,
Speaker 2: even with your face down cast, And Cleo said, hey, man,
Speaker 2: are you this is Ironica. The host of Heaven has
Speaker 2: come to earth. He died and rose again and lived
Speaker 2: a perfect life. And Cleo says, are you the only
Speaker 2: one visiting Jerusalem? Remember he made it. Reading the God
Speaker 2: of the world like a guest is so funny to me.
Speaker 1: How we get it twisted, How we get it out
Speaker 1: of order?
Speaker 2: We start we start thinking that God needs to consult
Speaker 2: our blueprint of how our lives need to be built.
Speaker 2: I can get this way as a pastor telling God
Speaker 2: what he needs to do in my church. You get
Speaker 2: this way as a parent what God needs to do
Speaker 2: with your children. Cleo launches out on this long excuse me.
Speaker 2: Clopus launches out on this long, long speech, telling Jesus
Speaker 2: what happened to Jesus?
Speaker 1: You find me. God has a sense of humor because
Speaker 1: he lets him talk.
Speaker 2: Cleopus gives him is his speech, and Jesus lets him finish.
Speaker 2: Are you the only one who doesn't know what happened?
Speaker 2: The one it happened to is standing there, and Cleo
Speaker 2: wants to tell him what happened. What that happened was
Speaker 2: Jesus of Nazareth was a prophet, powerful in word, indeed
Speaker 2: before God and all the people. They are standing before
Speaker 2: the Great I Am, and they start with he was,
Speaker 2: and there he is, and they're stuck in he was?
Speaker 2: Are you missing what is? Because you're stuck in what was?
Speaker 2: We hoped he was the one, but it took a
Speaker 2: turn for the worst. The chief priests and our rulers
Speaker 2: handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they
Speaker 2: crucified him. Jesus is nodding Verse twenty one, tell me
Speaker 2: all about it. But we had hope, And had I
Speaker 2: been Jesus, I'd have stopped you right there, cause hope
Speaker 2: that is seen is not hope at all, And if
Speaker 2: you had hoped and don't hope anymore, what you had
Speaker 2: was in.
Speaker 1: Real hope, because real hopes can hold on. And on Friday,
Speaker 1: I had hoped, I had hoped.
Speaker 2: To be over by now. I had hoped the medicine
Speaker 2: would fix it. I had hoped they'd say yes. I
Speaker 2: hoped they had asked. I had hoped. I had hoped.
Speaker 2: Hope is standing in front of hopelessness. Christ and Cleo
Speaker 2: and the Cross clashed with Cleo's expectation, and now his
Speaker 2: experience has left him downcast. We had hoped that he
Speaker 2: was the one. I thought i'd be further along by now.
Speaker 2: Thought i'd be married by twenty six. I thought I
Speaker 2: hope they would be good to me and pay me
Speaker 2: back and appreciate me after all I did for them.
Speaker 2: I had hoped he was going to redeem me. I
Speaker 2: had hoped he was going to heal me. Could it
Speaker 2: be that we miss God because we look for him
Speaker 2: in the dreams, but he is found in the disappointment.
Speaker 2: Their faces were downcast, their hopes were dashed, and from
Speaker 2: their standpoint, the story was over. Since I'm your tour
Speaker 2: guide on the seven mile journey, let me give you
Speaker 2: A professional travel tip, don't judge the journey before it's over.
Speaker 1: I don't know who that was even for.
Speaker 2: Don't judge the journey of seven miles when you had
Speaker 2: any haven't been too yet. See what the end will be,
Speaker 2: See what the end will be. If you trust his promise,
Speaker 2: you have to trust the path. And it might be winding,
Speaker 2: and it might lead to a cross, and it might
Speaker 2: not feel good, and it might be confusing.
Speaker 1: But he is the god of the detour.
Speaker 2: And it might not be spectacular, and he might not
Speaker 2: prove himself to you with signs that you can see
Speaker 2: or sense or feel. And it might not be a
Speaker 2: goosebump that proves his presence. He might show up in
Speaker 2: the details, you know, the little things. It might be
Speaker 2: in the little ways. He's right there on the road,
Speaker 2: he's walking with him. They almost can't recognize him because
Speaker 2: it's so common. What's happening is so common. He looks
Speaker 2: like just another guy. They are standing next to resurrection
Speaker 2: and they don't recognize it.
Speaker 1: And it's right there. He's right there. He is here now,
Speaker 1: he is, he was, he is to come, and he's
Speaker 1: with you in this moment. I hope he was the one.
Speaker 2: And what is more, Cleo says, to make matters worse,
Speaker 2: look at twenty one.
Speaker 1: It's the third day. It's funny, Yellow know that's funny.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I'm just a nerdy little pastor. I get
Speaker 1: kicks out of weird stuff. It's the third day. The
Speaker 1: whole time he was on the.
Speaker 2: Earth, he said, this is gonna.
Speaker 1: Go bad on Friday, but come Sunday. Don't look for
Speaker 1: me in the tomb. They buried me, and I did
Speaker 1: not out here.
Speaker 2: And what they thought was the dead end was really
Speaker 2: just the beginning. You want to see him in three D.
Speaker 2: Look for him in the detours.
Speaker 1: You want to see him in three D.
Speaker 2: Not this flat little coloring book Jesus with the lamb
Speaker 2: on his lap.
Speaker 1: But the living, risen Son of.
Speaker 2: God under who's off feet things, still sit and standing strong,
Speaker 2: seated at the right hand of God. You want to
Speaker 2: see him like that. Don't look for him in just
Speaker 2: the dramatic. Look for him in the details, that little
Speaker 2: little thing that God has been doing in your life.
Speaker 2: You want to see the Son of God. You want
Speaker 2: to see Jesus. How many of you want to see him?
Speaker 2: How many of you want to see God? Active in
Speaker 2: your life. I mean with the eyes of your heart
Speaker 2: to know him.
Speaker 1: He can be found at the dead.
Speaker 2: Ends when you used to hope and now it's hard
Speaker 2: to hope. That's where he meets you on your Amais road.
Speaker 2: I'm glad they can't find a Mais. I'm glad they
Speaker 2: can't because that means we each get to have our own.
Speaker 2: That means I get to have my own Amais.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm on my own journey.
Speaker 2: I'm on my own path and I'm not alone.
Speaker 1: I don't even like walking very much. I don't have
Speaker 1: a fitbit.
Speaker 2: Everything about this seems backwards, doesn't it. He spent his
Speaker 2: whole life telling people follow me, and now he's following them.
Speaker 1: He's come down out of heaven.
Speaker 2: Instead of people making their way to God, now God
Speaker 2: has come to us.
Speaker 1: He has reversed the search.
Speaker 2: You weren't even looking for him, and he was looking
Speaker 2: for you. You weren't even seeking for him, and he
Speaker 2: was showing himself all along. And Cleopas said, we had
Speaker 2: hoped he was the one. And in addition, he said,
Speaker 2: some of our women amazed us. They went to the
Speaker 2: tomb early this morning. Wrong place. He's not in the tomb.
Speaker 2: He's on the road. He's not in religion, he's in relationship.
Speaker 1: Please help me prist us.
Speaker 2: I need to know you're receiving it, because God told.
Speaker 1: Me that some of you are going to come out
Speaker 1: of tombs, tombs of tradition and.
Speaker 2: Really experience the presence of God. How many want to
Speaker 2: experience his presses?
Speaker 1: Find it on the road.
Speaker 2: Our women went to the tomb, they didn't find his body.
Speaker 2: They came and told us that they had seen a
Speaker 2: vision of angels who said he was alive. And then
Speaker 2: some of our companions went to the tomb. This is
Speaker 2: still Cleo talking telling Jesus about Jesus, still not recognizing
Speaker 2: what's right beside him. Some of our companions went to
Speaker 2: the tomb and found it, just as the women had said.
Speaker 2: But this most ironic verse in all the scripture. They
Speaker 2: did not see Jesus. He is telling Jesus about other
Speaker 2: people who didn't.
Speaker 1: See Jesus, and he doesn't know it's Jesus. Have you
Speaker 1: ever realized how.
Speaker 2: Easy it is to judge somebody.
Speaker 1: Else's journey and not.
Speaker 2: Even recognize what God is doing in your own.
Speaker 1: Go better, stand up so I can close this message.
Speaker 2: Jesus said to them, how foolish you are and slow
Speaker 2: to believe.
Speaker 1: That's the problem.
Speaker 2: Look at me every location, watching on television, watching online.
Speaker 1: I want you to.
Speaker 2: Look at me. If you can't look at me, look
Speaker 2: at the screen, look at me. It starts in the heart,
Speaker 2: he said. You're slow to believe. You keep trying to
Speaker 2: make sense of things.
Speaker 1: In your life with your head.
Speaker 2: You keep trying to figure out the reason for what's
Speaker 2: happening to you. And when you can't figure out the reason,
Speaker 2: you want to jump off the road. You want to
Speaker 2: stop following, You want to stop trusting when you can't
Speaker 2: figure it out.
Speaker 1: But if you would verse the search and believe in
Speaker 1: your heart what you have not yet seen.
Speaker 2: With your eyes, and believe the goodness of God, who
Speaker 2: am I preaching to in the top level of Valentine, if.
Speaker 1: You would get it.
Speaker 2: In here, this journey doesn't start with making sense. This
Speaker 2: journey starts with faith.
Speaker 1: Have faith in God. He's with me on this road.
Speaker 2: Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and
Speaker 2: then enter in his glory? You keep wanting to see
Speaker 2: the glory, but you're only going to see it in
Speaker 2: the suffering. He is the God of the detour, He
Speaker 2: is the God of the detail. He is the God
Speaker 2: of your dead end, and he has brought you to
Speaker 2: this moment today. The spirit of God is in this place.
Speaker 2: I am preaching out of my mind for somebody who
Speaker 2: has been on the road watched this beginning with Moses
Speaker 2: and all the prophets. He explained to them. He took
Speaker 2: it all the way back to show them that the
Speaker 2: one that the prophets had looked forward to was standing
Speaker 2: right in front of them, and he explained to them
Speaker 2: what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. Man,
Speaker 2: he broke it down. He broke it down on the way,
Speaker 2: on the road. That's where you learn, is on the journeys,
Speaker 2: where you don't wait till you understand to get started.
Speaker 1: You grow as you go. You know as your goal.
Speaker 2: Keep walking, keep walking, keep walking, deep walking, keep walking.
Speaker 2: You all your stand you didn't better buy and five.
Speaker 2: Give it a chance, man, give it a chance to do.
Speaker 2: Give him a chance to show.
Speaker 1: You who he is. Hold on to his unchanging hand,
Speaker 1: trust his.
Speaker 2: Heart, even if you can't trace his hand. God, I
Speaker 2: don't get this well, I'm going forward. It's a decision.
Speaker 2: It's a decision.
Speaker 1: Can I give you.
Speaker 2: One more thing? I don't want to cheat you. Some
Speaker 2: people drove a long way to get here. How many
Speaker 2: of you drove over an hour to be at church today?
Speaker 1: Over two, over.
Speaker 2: Three, over four hours, over five, six, seven hour, miracle,
Speaker 2: six hour energy whatever?
Speaker 1: Touch Seven people said, we're going somewhere. We're going somewhere.
Speaker 1: We're going somewhere. We're going somewhere. God didn't save us
Speaker 1: to leave us like he found us. God save us
Speaker 1: to leave us like you found us.
Speaker 2: God didn't create me to stay suck in one place,
Speaker 2: one frame of mind, one way of looking at things.
Speaker 2: And every step Eugene Peterson said, every step is in arrival.
Speaker 1: You got that every step.
Speaker 2: So by the time they arrived, they had already arrived,
Speaker 2: and what was revealed on the road was only recognized
Speaker 2: in reverse. What was happening to them as they walked
Speaker 2: only made sense once they sat down. And the same
Speaker 2: one who got up from the grave, watch what he
Speaker 2: does next. They approached the village to which they were going,
Speaker 2: they got a lot more than they bargained for along
Speaker 2: the way.
Speaker 1: They didn't plan for this.
Speaker 2: They didn't wake up on that morning expecting a miracle,
Speaker 2: they were mourning the loss of what they had thought
Speaker 2: was the answer, and the answer walked up to them
Speaker 2: and asked them a brand new question.
Speaker 1: I love it. I'm excited about this series. This is
Speaker 1: the beginning. This just the beginning. We we we we we,
Speaker 1: We got a lot of ground to cover. I want
Speaker 1: you online every day at seven am.
Speaker 2: On in the car, treadmill, whatever, under the covers, eye boogers, whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, join the journey. Join the journey.
Speaker 2: You see, he's there all along in the little things,
Speaker 2: just the little little things. And and and they got there,
Speaker 2: to the to the place. Look at twenty eight again,
Speaker 2: twenty eight, twenty eight, twenty and they.
Speaker 1: Approached the village, and Jesus continued on as if he
Speaker 1: were going farther.
Speaker 2: The journey starts where you are, but where it ends
Speaker 2: depends on you, because they got there right, And Jesus
Speaker 2: is like, thanks for the company, I'll see you later.
Speaker 1: See you.
Speaker 2: Cleo, Yo, Cleo, I gotta go. Cleo got Peter to
Speaker 2: see things to do.
Speaker 1: Cleo said, hold on, hold on, hold, hold on. Look
Speaker 1: at verse twenty nine. They urged him strongly.
Speaker 2: Cleo said, although we've come to the end of the
Speaker 2: amaeas road. Still, I can't let go. It's unnatural. You
Speaker 2: can't leave me now. You can't leave me. Now you
Speaker 2: started something, God, You've started something.
Speaker 1: In my life. Stay with me till it's sober.
Speaker 2: Stay with me, hold my head, walk with me, talk
Speaker 2: with me.
Speaker 1: I mean you, every hour, stay with me.
Speaker 2: So he went in to stay with them, and they
Speaker 2: sat down. Remember he's the same god who sent angels
Speaker 2: to a tomb. He's the god of the dramatic, but
Speaker 2: he's also the god of the details, because the Bible
Speaker 2: says while he was at the table with them, he
Speaker 2: took bread.
Speaker 1: He's always taken over.
Speaker 2: He takes over conversations, he takes over supper time. He's
Speaker 2: supposed to be a visitor, and he becomes a host,
Speaker 2: and he takes the bread. God wants to take your
Speaker 2: life over today, don't you see it. You've been doing
Speaker 2: it on your own.
Speaker 1: You don't have to do it alone anymore. They invite
Speaker 1: him in.
Speaker 2: He takes over, takes the bread, breaks the bread like
Speaker 2: he was broken.
Speaker 1: Blesses it.
Speaker 2: Thank you Lord, he says, grace, and he breaks the bread.
Speaker 1: He gave him the bread that he had just finished breaking.
Speaker 2: And the Bible says that when he broke the bread
Speaker 2: to give it to them. I want to show you this,
Speaker 2: when he broke the bread to give it to them,
Speaker 2: Verse thirty one.
Speaker 1: Then their eyes were open.
Speaker 2: What was revealed in the routine of the breaking of
Speaker 2: the bread that was not revealed all along the road?
Speaker 2: What did they see at that moment that they had
Speaker 2: not seen before? They saw it in his stars, They
Speaker 2: saw it in what he suffered.
Speaker 1: Do you see it? Do you see it?
Speaker 2: Sometimes you see him in the broken places more than
Speaker 2: when you see him in the blessed places. Sometimes you
Speaker 2: have to see it in the scarf and the hands
Speaker 2: that had helped them all along revealed to them.
Speaker 3: When they saw his scars, then their eyes were opened
Speaker 3: and they recognized him. Open our eyes, Lord, open our eyes,
Speaker 3: open our eyes.
Speaker 1: Close your eyes. Quit focusing on what you got to
Speaker 1: do next. Close your eyes. Ask him.
Speaker 2: Open my eyes, Lord, out loud, Open my eyes, Lord.
Speaker 1: Ask him what the disciples asked him say, Stay with me,
Speaker 1: tell them come on in going on a journey.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And he's with you in this journey.
Speaker 4: Every mile, every detour, every detail, every dead end, every scar,
Speaker 4: every struggle, He's with you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.