Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
Speaker 1: it gives you.
Speaker 2: Perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: Last week we met an interesting character. Does anyone remember
Speaker 2: his name? Yeah, Cleo. We call them Cleo. The Bible
Speaker 2: calls them Cleopus, but we're friendly with Cleo.
Speaker 1: And so we gave him a nickname.
Speaker 2: And we were surprised that we have never met him before.
Speaker 2: And he's the first one that Jesus appears to. Well,
Speaker 2: I should give you a little bit more context than that.
Speaker 2: The women went that morning, because sometimes women have more
Speaker 2: faith than men do. They have the ability to feel
Speaker 2: God in ways. You know, men, when you get men
Speaker 2: to worship, it's like a miracle. Women will lift their hands.
Speaker 2: They just don't really have a problem coming into the
Speaker 2: presence of God. Sometimes a woman will have the kind
Speaker 2: of persistence and patience with a child.
Speaker 1: I thought y'all would back me up right here. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to give some some love to the women.
Speaker 2: But they went to the to remember to anoint Jesus's body,
Speaker 2: but his body wasn't there. And in some ways I
Speaker 2: guess it was an indictment that they thought he would
Speaker 2: still be there when he told them I'm getting up
Speaker 2: on the third day.
Speaker 1: They didn't really believe that.
Speaker 2: Even though they were sentimental, they had not yet experienced
Speaker 2: that kind of supernatural resurrection power that enables you to
Speaker 2: know that even if it seems dead, was dead, is dead.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to stay dead. That's what resurrection tells me.
Speaker 2: That's why our logo is a church is a Neon logo,
Speaker 2: a Neon arrow pointing upward to let you know that
Speaker 2: wherever your life is today, Loff can lift you. Whatever
Speaker 2: pit you've fallen into. Loff can lift you, whatever time
Speaker 2: you've lost, whatever years you've wasted. Love can lit you
Speaker 2: whatever fear has held you down.
Speaker 1: Up until this point. The grave is empty, he is risen,
Speaker 1: and we're going somewhere, going somewhere.
Speaker 2: So the women come to annoying his body, but his
Speaker 2: body isn't there.
Speaker 1: Somebody say, it isn't there.
Speaker 2: I feel excited today God's going to set somebody free.
Speaker 2: I feel it in every fiber of my being. God
Speaker 2: is going to set somebody free today. Yeah, yeah, his
Speaker 2: body wasn't there. And okay, so his body isn't there,
Speaker 2: So he's up out of the grave.
Speaker 1: Where is he? Well, he kind of appears throughout the day.
Speaker 2: But I want to go back to where can I
Speaker 2: pick up where I left off last week?
Speaker 1: Don't worry about it. If you weren't here, I'll bring
Speaker 1: you in.
Speaker 2: So he walks with Cleo in this unnamed companion some
Speaker 2: scholar speculated could have.
Speaker 1: Been his wife.
Speaker 2: The text doesn't say that. The text doesn't give us
Speaker 2: the other name because sometimes it's not about you. It
Speaker 2: wasn't about revealing who the other person was. It wasn't
Speaker 2: even about Cleo. And Jesus is sneaking up behind two
Speaker 2: travelers who are disappointed and discouraged. Because God doesn't need
Speaker 2: for you to be happy to do work in your heart. Okay,
Speaker 2: he doesn't just hang out with people who pretend like
Speaker 2: they have it all together. Cleo is not only concerned,
Speaker 2: but in many ways he has crushed because his expectation
Speaker 2: of who Jesus would be, what he would do, wasn't
Speaker 2: met when he died on the cross.
Speaker 1: It crushed Cleo.
Speaker 2: And Jesus comes alongside the one who has crushed and
Speaker 2: his unnamed companion, and he walks with them away from
Speaker 2: the place where the promise will fall toward an unknown place.
Speaker 2: Well it's unknown today. They knew where it was at
Speaker 2: the time, but it was so insignificant in that day.
Speaker 2: Because God doesn't just show up in big places and
Speaker 2: appear too important people. He might show up and speak
Speaker 2: to somebody in the back of the room, somebody in overflow,
Speaker 2: somebody who isn't even in the in the church building
Speaker 2: there in a hospital bed. He goes to this village
Speaker 2: called a Mais and along the way, wouldn't it be
Speaker 2: awesome if Jesus himself preached to you. I mean, I
Speaker 2: know I'm pretty good, Stacy, But imagine so, y'all, you're
Speaker 2: walking and Jesus comes up and doesn't ask if he
Speaker 2: can walk with you.
Speaker 1: He just starts talking and he asks him a question.
Speaker 2: Okay, listen before before God gives you the answers, sometimes
Speaker 2: he'll change your questions.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, is it good? Mighty quiet in this church today?
Speaker 1: Sena is mighty quiet. Sina looks good.
Speaker 2: He shaved his head, looking like a UFC fighter, looking
Speaker 2: like a mixed martial artist, I mean choking nobody, sena.
Speaker 2: But he goes for a walk and hey, what you're
Speaker 2: talking about? And and they tell him about their disappointment
Speaker 2: and he can handle it, doesn't chase them away.
Speaker 1: They tell them about their doubt and he can handle it.
Speaker 2: And that's revolutionizing me because I thought I had to
Speaker 2: have faith for God to meet with me. But I'm
Speaker 2: growing to understand that maybe maybe God's presence is most
Speaker 2: powerful when I get honest about my doubt, get honest
Speaker 2: about my pain, and seek him even still, maybe that's
Speaker 2: where I learned the most.
Speaker 1: When it doesn't go the way I wanted to.
Speaker 2: The detours, the details, the dead ends, the detours.
Speaker 1: Remember we said we want to see him in three D.
Speaker 2: So here's the Son of God walking with two travelers
Speaker 2: away from the destination. I'm supposed to be on that
Speaker 2: stage right now, but we're walking the wrong way.
Speaker 1: And as we're walking. As we're walking, he's.
Speaker 2: Talking and he explains to them all about himself. The
Speaker 2: Bible says that he started with Moses and the prophets,
Speaker 2: and he talks about Maybe I.
Speaker 1: Don't know exactly what he said.
Speaker 2: The Bible just summarizes, but maybe he talks about the
Speaker 2: Passover Lamb that Moses had the people prepare to celebrate
Speaker 2: and commemorate their coming out of Egypt and their forgiveness
Speaker 2: of sin. Now they're hearing about the Passover Lamb, but
Speaker 2: they don't know that they're standing with the passover Lamb.
Speaker 2: They won't recognize that right now, because usually you only
Speaker 2: recognize the full extent of what God was doing in reverse.
Speaker 2: So while you're on the road, you might not see it.
Speaker 2: But they keep walking. Touch somebody say keep walking, and
Speaker 2: Jesus is just talking, and they like his teaching and
Speaker 2: they're interested.
Speaker 1: In what he's saying.
Speaker 2: You know how I know because when they got to
Speaker 2: where they were going, the Bible says it was a
Speaker 2: seven mile journey, and that's why we're calling it seven
Speaker 2: mile miracle, and we're using it to look at the
Speaker 2: seven last statements that Jesus made on the cross that
Speaker 2: are recorded in the Gospels. But he went with them
Speaker 2: all seven miles. He went with them all the way
Speaker 2: to Amais. And when they got to the place where
Speaker 2: they thought they were going, okay, because they weren't going
Speaker 2: to stay there long. God will meet you where you are,
Speaker 2: but he won't.
Speaker 1: Leave you there. How good is this already?
Speaker 2: Man?
Speaker 1: This is the introduction. I got to my topic yet.
Speaker 1: Don't worry. I'll get you out on time. But I
Speaker 1: got something to say today.
Speaker 2: And as they walk, his words interested them. But when
Speaker 2: they got to the place where they were going, this
Speaker 2: village called the Maaeis. The Bible says that Jesus acted
Speaker 2: like he was going to keep going, because the journey
Speaker 2: starts where you are, but where it ends.
Speaker 1: Depends on you.
Speaker 2: And you decide whether you want your relationship with God
Speaker 2: to just be some superstitious thing or whether you want
Speaker 2: it to be something so real that you fully surrender
Speaker 2: the operating system.
Speaker 1: Write that down.
Speaker 2: The Cross is my operating system.
Speaker 1: It is not an addition. It is not an accessory.
Speaker 1: It is not an app. It is the new way
Speaker 1: that I do. What I do.
Speaker 2: Whatever I do, it doesn't just change what I do
Speaker 2: on Sunday morning. It matriculates into my Monday, it transforms
Speaker 2: my Tuesday. It works on Wednesday, it comes through on Thursday.
Speaker 1: I follow him on Friday, and I'm still saved on Saturday.
Speaker 2: Because he's the god of all seven miles. How many
Speaker 2: have decided I'm going all the.
Speaker 3: Way with Jesus he began a could work with me,
Speaker 3: will be faithful to complete it.
Speaker 1: I'm not stopping where I started.
Speaker 2: Who touch somebody say, I'm going all the way, all
Speaker 2: the way, and they were like, hey, you want to
Speaker 2: eat something? Clio said, Man, we didn't really plan on
Speaker 2: a guest, but come on in. And where we left
Speaker 2: last week is that while look at verse thirty of
Speaker 2: Luke twenty four.
Speaker 1: I love this. This resurrection Sunday. Every day is Resurrection Sunday.
Speaker 1: Every day is Easter at elevation.
Speaker 2: A miracle can break out in any heart, at any time,
Speaker 2: in any circumstance, in any grave. And so he sits
Speaker 2: down and in a common experience of a shared meal,
Speaker 2: the Bible says, while he was at the table. Because remember,
Speaker 2: they're interested in who he is, but they don't yet
Speaker 2: recognize who he is. Like some of y'all who come
Speaker 2: here don't really believe the stuff yet, but you like
Speaker 2: the way it makes you feel.
Speaker 1: It's cool.
Speaker 2: You're not committed yet, but you're curious. You're like, that
Speaker 2: was kind of weird, that one thing. I want to
Speaker 2: go back. Yep, good, good, because because.
Speaker 1: He meets you where you are right and he sits
Speaker 1: down with him.
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, the son of God, has time for a
Speaker 2: meal break on Resurrection Sunday, and.
Speaker 1: Bible says, he just starts taking over.
Speaker 2: Okay, you've you've heard before that God is a gentleman,
Speaker 2: and he won't come in if he's not invited.
Speaker 1: That's partially true.
Speaker 2: But once you let him in, he takes over. Be
Speaker 2: ready for that. He takes over. He says, down, he
Speaker 2: took bread. He just took it.
Speaker 1: And Cleo Clio's just watching.
Speaker 2: And this visitor, this traveling companion, becomes the host in
Speaker 2: somebody else's house. And that's what happens when he comes
Speaker 2: in your heart. And when he takes the bread, and
Speaker 2: he gave thanks. So Mary taught him manners. Okay, said
Speaker 2: blessing before you eat. And he broke it, and he
Speaker 2: began to give it to them. We postulated last week
Speaker 2: that when verse thirty one says it was then that
Speaker 2: their eyes were opened, and then that they recognized him,
Speaker 2: that perhaps the reason they saw his presence when he
Speaker 2: sat down with them and gave them the bread was
Speaker 2: not only that he broke the bread like they broke
Speaker 2: his body, but that when he gave it to them
Speaker 2: in Jewish custom, the bread was broken like this and
Speaker 2: given like this, and they saw where he was wounded,
Speaker 2: they saw where the nails were, and when they saw
Speaker 2: where the nails were, they realized who he was, which
Speaker 2: lets me know that sometimes the power of an example
Speaker 2: is greater than the power of an explanation.
Speaker 1: He walked with them seven miles.
Speaker 2: He walked with them for the entirety of their journey,
Speaker 2: and what his words could not show them they saw
Speaker 2: in his wounds. Graham was listening to this sermon, and
Speaker 2: you know, kids will just say what they think he goes.
Speaker 2: How do you know, because he was pointing out to
Speaker 2: me that it doesn't say that they saw his scars
Speaker 2: in the text. And the more we got to talking
Speaker 2: about it, I realized the way he was thinking about
Speaker 2: it was like this, Well, if Jesus got up from
Speaker 2: the grave and he has the power to overcome death,
Speaker 2: he wouldn't.
Speaker 1: Leave scars where the nails had been.
Speaker 2: You know, if God asks resurrection power, surely he do
Speaker 2: a little cosmetic surgery. So Jesus isn't having to walk
Speaker 2: around with some big holes in his hand or marks
Speaker 2: in the places where they had nailed him.
Speaker 1: Where the Roman guard that was led by the.
Speaker 2: Jewish leaders, had crucified him, sentenced him to death, executed
Speaker 2: him for the sins of all mankind.
Speaker 1: Surely he wouldn't leave the scars. But I had to
Speaker 1: show Brahmman.
Speaker 2: I'm going to show you today how I know they
Speaker 2: saw his scars because look, the Bible says, their eyes
Speaker 2: were opened and they recognized him. They saw the one
Speaker 2: that was with them all along. But they saw him
Speaker 2: not in his words, but in his wounds.
Speaker 1: They saw him not.
Speaker 2: Because they heard the stone was rolled away, but because
Speaker 2: they were up close and personal with the one who
Speaker 2: had suffered. And when they saw where he suffered, they
Speaker 2: realized who he was. Then their eyes were open and
Speaker 2: they recognized him. And then he disappeared from their sight
Speaker 2: because that was never their destination.
Speaker 1: Look at verse thirty two. The scripture says, they.
Speaker 2: Asked each other, we're not our hearts burning while he talked.
Speaker 2: His words made their hearts burn, But it was his
Speaker 2: wounds that opened their eyes. There are some things that
Speaker 2: cannot be explained. They can only be experienced. And when
Speaker 2: I tell you that God is near to the broken hearted,
Speaker 2: I can tell you that all day long. But it
Speaker 2: is not until your heart is broken. It is not
Speaker 2: until you are at the end of yourself. It is
Speaker 2: not until those who walked with you had turned their
Speaker 2: back on you. But God stood by your side that
Speaker 2: you can say with confidence, The Lord is my helper.
Speaker 1: What can man do to me? I bear on my
Speaker 1: body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Let no man
Speaker 1: trouble me. I walked through the valley, I went through
Speaker 1: the shad.
Speaker 2: But it wasn't with his words. It was where he
Speaker 2: was wounded. That's where they saw him. On the road.
Speaker 2: He opened the scriptures to us, and now they're excited,
Speaker 2: so they leave Amais. They got up and went back.
Speaker 2: God told me to tell somebody get up and go back.
Speaker 2: I know Jesus got up, But the reason he got up,
Speaker 2: it's not so you could stand around with sacramental spices
Speaker 2: and sing some sacramental songs to a stationary god.
Speaker 3: He got up so I could get up the same power.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry I'm shouting, but something's inside of.
Speaker 1: Me makes me shout.
Speaker 2: Because I see you getting up, and I see you go.
Speaker 1: I see you getting up.
Speaker 2: The prodigal son said, this is ridiculous for me to
Speaker 2: be down here with the pigs when my father owns
Speaker 2: the palace.
Speaker 1: Get up, go back. You don't need a speech. This
Speaker 1: is your second chance.
Speaker 2: They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem, and
Speaker 2: they retreaded the seven miles.
Speaker 1: This is the second seven miles.
Speaker 2: When they turned around, rerouted by the resurrection power of
Speaker 2: God revealed in the scars of the Savior. Thank you, Lord,
Speaker 2: I feel his presence today. They got up, they went back.
Speaker 2: This is your comeback. Come back, Cleo, Come back, Cleo.
Speaker 2: The spirit is coming. Come back, Cleo. God's not done
Speaker 2: with you yet. Come back, Cleo. They got up and
Speaker 2: they came back, and when they got they found the eleven.
Speaker 2: This is the Disciples minus Judas. Judas didn't go so
Speaker 2: well for him. He didn't come back. But they were
Speaker 2: all assembled together. And when Cleo got there, they were
Speaker 2: starting to get the picture because Jesus had been appearing
Speaker 2: to them too. And now it all comes together. And
Speaker 2: now the ones who went away come back and the
Speaker 2: ones who stayed they all get together and they say.
Speaker 1: It is true. The Lord has risen and has appeared
Speaker 1: to Simon. And Cleo's like, yeah, me too. He showed me.
Speaker 1: We saw through Mazzly looking for thirty five. They were like, hey,
Speaker 1: we were on this road and he was telling my Moses.
Speaker 1: He thought the prophet don't even know he was. He
Speaker 1: took the pride and they took the brad Gavis the
Speaker 1: pricticea scars, that's half.
Speaker 2: When he broke the bread, he was recognized in the scars.
Speaker 2: How you know he still has scars. Graham's saying, Okay,
Speaker 2: here's what I know. Because what Luke doesn't tell us,
Speaker 2: John does tell us. And I want to go there
Speaker 2: for a minute. Because it's resurrection Sunday. Now it's evening.
Speaker 2: It's been a long day for Jesus. Okay, you start
Speaker 2: off with a little exercise, push that stone out of
Speaker 2: the way, a.
Speaker 1: Little CrossFit, if you.
Speaker 2: They take me for granted, that humor was epic. That
Speaker 2: is elite level preacher humor, whether you recognize it or not.
Speaker 2: The Lord liked that joke. I never realized how funny
Speaker 2: the Bible is.
Speaker 1: Man. It's hilarious, it really is.
Speaker 2: That's something I didn't get because I always thought God
Speaker 2: was so serious. And I know, I know, hey, I
Speaker 2: know it's serious as a matter of life and debt.
Speaker 2: Trust me, nobody takes more serious to me. But Jesus
Speaker 2: just messing around with people sometimes because watch this. It
Speaker 2: says on the evening of the first day of the week.
Speaker 2: This is verse nineteen, John, chapter twenty, same evening. Now,
Speaker 2: So Cleo is coming back. And the disciples were together
Speaker 2: with the doors locked for fear. See that's what fear
Speaker 2: will always do. It will always lock you in from
Speaker 2: the inside. They weren't locked out, they were locked in.
Speaker 2: We lock ourselves in because of fear. Remember that, that's important.
Speaker 2: They were locked in for fear of the Jewish leaders.
Speaker 1: Hey they might kill us. Hey, there's a rumor circulating
Speaker 1: that we stole the body. We better stay up here now.
Speaker 2: Now, Remember Cleo and his companion went.
Speaker 1: The wrong way.
Speaker 2: But is it any better to stay in Jerusalem with
Speaker 2: the doors locked?
Speaker 1: Some people go away from God. Some people stay in.
Speaker 2: Church, but their heart is so locked they might as
Speaker 2: well not even be there. It's about your heart. And Jesus,
Speaker 2: Jesus is so funny. Why says the doors are locked
Speaker 2: for fear of the Jewish ly And Jesus came and
Speaker 2: stood among them.
Speaker 1: How did he do it? He picked the lock.
Speaker 2: See, grace will break in the back door, kick the
Speaker 2: door down, Grace is a G.
Speaker 1: Grace will come on.
Speaker 2: In, take on over, take your bread, break your bread,
Speaker 2: change your life.
Speaker 1: Jesus showed up and said peace, Grace is a G.
Speaker 1: Touch somebody said grace is a G. Hashtag Grace is
Speaker 1: a G.
Speaker 2: Just any way, in peace be with you.
Speaker 1: But watch this, watch this.
Speaker 2: After he said this, he showed them his hands and
Speaker 2: his side five wounds.
Speaker 1: Five is the number of grace. Just remember that five
Speaker 1: wounds in.
Speaker 2: His side, in his hands, in his feet, five wounds.
Speaker 2: He showed him his hands, five fingers. He showed him
Speaker 2: his hands where the nails, where the nails were. And
Speaker 2: I wonder did they have a flashback, because the first word,
Speaker 2: there are seven We're going to get them all.
Speaker 1: This is the first word that Jesus spoke from the cross.
Speaker 2: It's a statement, he said, Father, forgive them, for they
Speaker 2: know not what they do.
Speaker 1: What a generous interpretation.
Speaker 2: When people insult me, I tell God, they know exactly
Speaker 2: what they're doing. And if I do forgive somebody, it
Speaker 2: takes me time. But while they were driving the nails,
Speaker 2: I'm flashing back now from the cross. I wonder when
Speaker 2: they saw his hands, did they remember his words? I
Speaker 2: wonder when they saw where he was wounded, did they
Speaker 2: remember the words he spoke, Father, forgive them, for.
Speaker 1: They know not what they do, not what they did.
Speaker 1: But while they were.
Speaker 2: Doing it, he had the presence of mine to forgive,
Speaker 2: and he needed help. Even Jesus, perfect as he was,
Speaker 2: human as he was, knew that he could not forgive
Speaker 2: without the help of his father. So as I think
Speaker 2: about forgiveness today, I wonder where you've been wounded, Jesus.
Speaker 1: That was in his hands.
Speaker 2: When they saw the hands, they realized, this is not
Speaker 2: an impersonator, this is.
Speaker 1: Not an impostor. They had to see something. They had to.
Speaker 2: See something that let them know what he went through.
Speaker 2: And you keep trying to prove God's presence by your successes.
Speaker 2: But when it came time for Jesus Christ, the Son
Speaker 2: of God to prove his.
Speaker 1: Presence, he said, look where the nails were. See my hands.
Speaker 2: See where they drove the spikes for between the bones
Speaker 2: so they would not break, so that it would support
Speaker 2: the weight of my body long enough for me to suffocate.
Speaker 1: See.
Speaker 2: See, it killed me, but I didn't stay dead. It
Speaker 2: broke me, but I am that whole. I was dead,
Speaker 2: now I'm alive. See my scars. My scars tell a story.
Speaker 2: I'm not ashamed to show my scars. Christianity is not
Speaker 2: cosmetic surgery so you can hide what you've been through
Speaker 2: to try to get people to think you're perfect.
Speaker 3: Christianity Jesus Christ didn't come to conceal the pain. He
Speaker 3: came to reveal his glory, and he showed it in
Speaker 3: his scar