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. Hope
Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
Speaker 2: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 2: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: I want to give you this in obedience to the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. One time in college, I was feeling like
Speaker 1: I wasn't worthy to worship the Lord.
Speaker 2: And we went in a meeting and everybody was worshiping,
Speaker 2: and I felt just so dry inside. And the reason
Speaker 2: I felt dry is because of the things that I
Speaker 2: was dealing with.
Speaker 1: And I just bring it down a little bit. I
Speaker 1: want to tell them this.
Speaker 2: I was dealing with some things that I thought made
Speaker 2: me unworthy to worship God. So you know, three or
Speaker 2: four songs had gone by, and I couldn't lift my hands.
Speaker 2: They felt heavy, and I couldn't open my mouth because
Speaker 2: I felt like a hypocrite.
Speaker 1: You ever felt like that before?
Speaker 2: Just heavy with burdens or maybe the hypocrisy of the
Speaker 2: things that you struggle with.
Speaker 1: So you kind of hesitate because you're heavy. You hesitate
Speaker 1: because you feel like a hypocrite, and.
Speaker 2: Boy, the Lord gave me something in that moment that
Speaker 2: really changed my life. And this has been over twenty
Speaker 2: five years ago, but I still remember it. I was
Speaker 2: just trying to pray and I was like, Lord, I
Speaker 2: don't feel worthy to worship. I don't feel like I
Speaker 2: deserve to worship.
Speaker 1: And it was as if.
Speaker 2: The Holy Spirit whispered to me. After I said I
Speaker 2: don't deserve to worship. I don't deserve it, he said back,
Speaker 2: so what I do. So that was a shift for
Speaker 2: me because it went from what I deserve to what
Speaker 2: he deserves. And if you can just make that shift,
Speaker 2: you know, I know, we're moving into that time of
Speaker 2: the year where everybody's preaching at you about an attitude
Speaker 2: of gratitude and how you're supposed to be grateful when
Speaker 2: you've got to be with all those people just a
Speaker 2: few days from now and then see them again three
Speaker 2: weeks later at Christmas.
Speaker 1: You know, all the tension and the stress that we
Speaker 1: don't mention.
Speaker 2: Okay, y'all are going to fake, fake, fake me out
Speaker 2: in church today, like you're looking forward to seeing everybody,
Speaker 2: But even just the stress of the season, it can
Speaker 2: put you in a place of pressure and maybe even
Speaker 2: the fulfilled potential of the year where you feel like man,
Speaker 2: I fell short of so many things. None of that
Speaker 2: changes what God is worthy of. And so even if
Speaker 2: you don't feel grateful, gratitude can be a focus before
Speaker 2: it's a feeling, and that would just be so powerful
Speaker 2: for you to get sixteen years old, if you would
Speaker 2: get that at age sixteen, Nothing you ever do changes
Speaker 2: how worthy God is.
Speaker 1: So the heavier your hands feel, lift them higher. That's
Speaker 1: called a sacrifice of praise. When you feel like you're
Speaker 1: a hypocrite, reach out for him. He's righteous, he's holy.
Speaker 2: You've never needed him more than you need him in
Speaker 2: those moments you didn't even make it to church.
Speaker 1: You're at home watching this. Lift your hand, say scare
Speaker 1: your roommate and.
Speaker 3: Tell him God is worthy. Hug my praise. Clock those
Speaker 3: same hands. He's worthy, Hug my praise just like you
Speaker 3: want to slap the devil.
Speaker 2: Clock those hands, because He's still worthy of all my praise.
Speaker 1: High five to seven people say he's so worthy, he
Speaker 1: deserves it.
Speaker 2: And when you gave out all your high fives, clap
Speaker 2: your hands for Jesus one more time, come up.
Speaker 4: For Jesus High, say Clopas for.
Speaker 5: Jesus, I love my job man.
Speaker 2: I get to encourage you and speak truth to you.
Speaker 2: And today we are going to encounter a very interesting
Speaker 2: story scripture, maybe one of the weirdest things Jesus ever did,
Speaker 2: and it comes toward the very end of his earthly ministry.
Speaker 2: Now notice I said earthly ministry, because he's still ministering.
Speaker 2: Jesus didn't stop healing when he went to heaven. Jesus
Speaker 2: didn't stop saving when he went to heaven. Jesus didn't
Speaker 2: stop delivering and breaking chains and making ways when he
Speaker 2: went to heaven. In fact, he said one time, if
Speaker 2: I leave, greater things will be possible because of the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit who I will send in my name. But
Speaker 2: after Jesus was resurrected from the dead, on the day
Speaker 2: he got up from the grave, he did something so strange,
Speaker 2: and I want to share it with you today.
Speaker 1: Found in Luke chapter twenty four, verse thirteen.
Speaker 2: Through thirty five. We won't read all of that. If
Speaker 2: you're doing the math, we won't read all of that.
Speaker 2: But I wanted to give you the homework as well,
Speaker 2: because when the sermon is over, then you can begin
Speaker 2: to live it out Luke, Chapter twenty four, verse thirteen.
Speaker 2: And if you haven't found it by now, we're just
Speaker 2: gonna do it on the screen. The Bible says, Now
Speaker 2: that same day, two of them were going to a
Speaker 2: village called Amaeus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were
Speaker 2: talking with each other about everything that had happened.
Speaker 1: And as they talked and.
Speaker 2: Discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up
Speaker 2: and walked along with them. Tell your neighbor, you can't
Speaker 2: see him, but he's with me. Come on, tell him again,
Speaker 2: Say be nice to me.
Speaker 1: Jesus is with me today.
Speaker 2: He was with me in the car when I was
Speaker 2: cussing people out getting into the parking lot. He'll be
Speaker 2: with me when I leave. Just because you're not aware
Speaker 2: doesn't mean he's not there. Now, remember that Thursday, around
Speaker 2: the table, Jesus slipped up beside them, and it says
Speaker 2: in verse sixteen in the strange but they were kept
Speaker 2: from recognizing him. Wow, you would think they would know
Speaker 2: who Jesus was at this point.
Speaker 1: Very important public figure. He's just been the.
Speaker 2: Central character of a targeted investigation which led to his
Speaker 2: execution in the most public space possible in front of thousands,
Speaker 2: and they were kept from recognizing him, and he asked them.
Speaker 1: I love Jesus. What y'all talking about?
Speaker 2: Jesus said, y'all, Jesus was very southern in his saferness.
Speaker 2: What are you discussing together as you walk along? And
Speaker 2: they stood still, their faces downcast. And now we see
Speaker 2: how sad they really are about the fact that Jesus
Speaker 2: was crucified. And so they stood still, their faces downcast,
Speaker 2: and one of them, named Cleophus, asked him, are you
Speaker 2: the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the
Speaker 2: things that have happened there in these days?
Speaker 1: What things? He asked, Jesus is just so cool? What
Speaker 1: things they're talking about?
Speaker 2: The things he just went through, and he's pretending like
Speaker 2: he doesn't know about it. What things about Jesus of Nazareth.
Speaker 2: He is who they're talking about, and they don't know it.
Speaker 1: About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied, he's a prophet, powerful
Speaker 1: in word, indeed before God and all the people, the
Speaker 1: chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be
Speaker 1: sentenced to death.
Speaker 2: And they crucified him. But we had hoped that he
Speaker 2: was the one who was going to redeem Israel. What's more,
Speaker 2: it was the third day since this took place. In addition,
Speaker 2: some of our women amazed us. They went to the
Speaker 2: tomb early this morning, but they.
Speaker 1: Didn't find his body.
Speaker 2: Can you hear just a hint of irony in this narrative?
Speaker 2: They didn't find his body.
Speaker 1: Wonder what that means.
Speaker 2: They came and told us they had seen a vision
Speaker 2: of angels who said he was alive. Then some of
Speaker 2: our companions went to the tomb and found it just
Speaker 2: as the women had said, But they did not see Jesus.
Speaker 1: Wait, who didn't see Jesus them?
Speaker 5: Are you?
Speaker 1: Because he's right here with you, but you don't see
Speaker 1: him for who he is. And this next verse might
Speaker 1: sound harsh, but it came from Jesus, so take it
Speaker 1: up with him. And this is my central two verse
Speaker 1: scripture for today. He said to them, how foolish you are,
Speaker 1: and how slow.
Speaker 2: To believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not
Speaker 2: the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter
Speaker 2: his glory?
Speaker 1: How foolish you are, and how slow.
Speaker 2: To believe all that the prophets have spoken. How foolish
Speaker 2: you are and slow to believe all the prophets have spoken.
Speaker 2: Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and
Speaker 2: then enter his glory?
Speaker 1: I want to give you a word today.
Speaker 2: Turn to your neighbor and say, I know you've lost
Speaker 2: some things.
Speaker 1: I know it.
Speaker 2: Looks like it's over. Now here's the word. Tell them,
Speaker 2: don't let the funeral fool you.
Speaker 1: Come on, wake up and tell them again. Say don't
Speaker 1: let the funeral fool you. This is the word of
Speaker 1: the Lord. Don't let the funeral fool you.
Speaker 2: I don't know who this is for, but don't let
Speaker 2: the funeral fool you. No matter how much you've cried,
Speaker 2: Christ is alive. What a message for Christmas season. Emmanuel
Speaker 2: is still with us.
Speaker 1: Don't let the funeral fool you. Well, I've already preached,
Speaker 1: but sit down and let's talk about it.
Speaker 2: We've all had experiences, literally, if not metaphorically, of funerals
Speaker 2: that were disingenuous with good intentions. When I say disingenuous
Speaker 2: with good intentions, I'm simply saying.
Speaker 1: That what they say about the person after they're dead.
Speaker 2: Really has very little resemblance to how they felt about
Speaker 2: them when they were alive.
Speaker 1: And you know that's true.
Speaker 2: We've all been to that funeral where we wanted to
Speaker 2: check in the casket and wonder, is this the same person.
Speaker 1: That you hated so much that you just spoke so
Speaker 1: eloquently about.
Speaker 2: And I understand that in a season that brings up
Speaker 2: memories of those that we love and have lost, even
Speaker 2: using the word funeral might locate you in a dark place.
Speaker 2: But I don't mean for it too, because the truth
Speaker 2: of the matter is that everybody in here is going
Speaker 2: through a funeral of some kind. And we are not
Speaker 2: just saying goodbye to people in our lives, but sometimes
Speaker 2: we're saying goodbye to.
Speaker 1: Seasons that we love.
Speaker 2: I try to be attentive to the season that I'm
Speaker 2: preaching in, and I think that the leaves that were
Speaker 2: falling from all of the trees this week just reminding
Speaker 2: me that the branches will soon be bare, but not forever.
Speaker 2: It reminded me of the cyclical nature of the things
Speaker 2: that we come to depend on in our lives, and
Speaker 2: that those trees that are naked now will come to
Speaker 2: be covered again. Just take this in for a moment.
Speaker 2: I want to start slow because I want to get
Speaker 2: you to understand that sometimes you rush right past the
Speaker 2: revelation and that God wants to.
Speaker 1: Give you because you only recognize what is being taken away. So,
Speaker 1: in the.
Speaker 2: Spirit of full disclosure, when my dad went to be
Speaker 2: with the Lord about ten years ago, it was at
Speaker 2: the end of a very difficult season.
Speaker 1: Of us relating to one another.
Speaker 2: But my mom stepped in and did the right thing
Speaker 2: and took care of him until he died, and he
Speaker 2: was suffering from als and it was a.
Speaker 1: Very brutal death.
Speaker 2: Now, I would love to tell you that I was
Speaker 2: an amazing son through all of this, and I was
Speaker 2: the best son I could have been then. But I've
Speaker 2: grown now, and looking back on the path that our
Speaker 2: relationship traveled, I'm pretty sure there are many things that
Speaker 2: I could have done better, and yet I refused to
Speaker 2: stay imprisoned in the regret of what I could have
Speaker 2: done differently.
Speaker 1: I would rather move forward with the lessons that I
Speaker 1: I learned for the rest of my life.
Speaker 2: And one of the things that my dad kept saying
Speaker 2: over and over again when we were fighting and we
Speaker 2: couldn't get along, he kept saying, it can't end like this.
Speaker 2: And I felt him on that you know, it can't
Speaker 2: end like this. It can't end with us estranged, and
Speaker 2: it didn't. I often tell the story about the craziest
Speaker 2: thing that ever happened to me. I was preaching the
Speaker 2: nine thirty service, and I used to preach three times
Speaker 2: on the weekend, Saturday night, nine thirty eleven thirty. But
Speaker 2: after I finished the nine thirty, something told me to
Speaker 2: go see my dad.
Speaker 1: Now, this was so out of the ordinary for me.
Speaker 2: Josh can tell you When I told him I'm leaving now,
Speaker 2: he said, you're leaving. It's only nine thirty. You still
Speaker 2: got the eleven thirty. I said, run back to the nine thirty.
Speaker 2: At the eleven thirty, I'm supposed to go see my dad.
Speaker 1: And he said okay.
Speaker 2: And when we went to my dad's house, it was
Speaker 2: as if God had perfectly timed it because he was
Speaker 2: laying in the bed. Now he could still speak at
Speaker 2: this point, he hadn't lost his ability to think or speak,
Speaker 2: and he could.
Speaker 1: Still say a lot of stuff, good stuff and bad stuff.
Speaker 2: And when I walked in, he was watching me step
Speaker 2: up to the stage to preach, and he was so confused.
Speaker 1: By that because he said, wait, how are you here?
Speaker 2: And there.
Speaker 1: I said, the internet, Dad, It's called the internet. It's
Speaker 1: the one I preached before.
Speaker 2: And he said, uh, but you're you're there and you're here,
Speaker 2: and I said, I know, it's confusing. I decided to
Speaker 2: leave early to come watch the sermon with you. And
Speaker 2: I couldn't have known, no way I could have known
Speaker 2: that when I left him that day after watching myself
Speaker 2: preach with him, well, I was supposed to be preaching
Speaker 2: somewhere else, that I would get a call at midnight
Speaker 2: from my mom saying, you need to come. If you're
Speaker 2: coming hospicet, he only has a few more hours. And
Speaker 2: he hung on for days after that. And I'm telling
Speaker 2: you this story, and I don't really I want to
Speaker 2: tell it to you, but I feel like it might
Speaker 2: help somebody because I think about how it could have ended.
Speaker 1: Had my mom not forgiven him.
Speaker 2: I think about how it could have ended had we
Speaker 2: not dropped our pride and come together for a purpose.
Speaker 2: I think about what the last conversation with him could
Speaker 2: have been, because I had no idea it.
Speaker 1: Was the last one.
Speaker 2: But I'm thankful that the last time we talked, it
Speaker 2: was me obeying God to come and preach the best
Speaker 2: sermon that I ever preached that nobody heard which was
Speaker 2: a message of reconciliation that happened after a time of
Speaker 2: great strain. I never got to speak to him again.
Speaker 2: I got to be by his side when he died
Speaker 2: several days later, because he completely faked us out and
Speaker 2: acted like he had a few hours and he stayed
Speaker 2: around a few days, and I sang so many hymns
Speaker 2: to him. I ran out of songs about God, and
Speaker 2: I had to start singing Tom Petty and Whody and
Speaker 2: the Blow and everything I knew on the guitar. But
Speaker 2: it took me back, and I want to get to
Speaker 2: this passage in just a moment. But I felt compelled
Speaker 2: to frame it first of all from a relational frame
Speaker 2: because at the beginning of all of my difficulties with
Speaker 2: my dad, and how many of you raise a pinky
Speaker 2: at me if this is you have a relational tension
Speaker 2: in your life right now that will surface around this
Speaker 2: time of year. Just your pinky, Okay, wiggle your toes.
Speaker 2: I know you're sitting next to him. You can't do
Speaker 2: the pinky thing. Wink at me, scratch your right ear,
Speaker 2: pull on the left load. When it all began with
Speaker 2: my dad, I spoke with a very wise friend and
Speaker 2: I was afraid of how it would end, and we're
Speaker 2: going to talk about that, how it will end. I
Speaker 2: was so afraid of how it would end. In that moment,
Speaker 2: I didn't know if my dad would kill himself. He
Speaker 2: had threatened that. I didn't know if he wouldn't speak
Speaker 2: to us us. That was certainly a possibility. And my
Speaker 2: wise friend said something to me that I've lived by
Speaker 2: ever since. He said, Stephen, you can't control the outcome
Speaker 2: of his decisions, but you can adjust your expectations in
Speaker 2: this situation. He said, I know your dad is still living,
Speaker 2: but you need to have a funeral for your expectations,
Speaker 2: because you keep expecting him to act a certain way,
Speaker 2: and every time he doesn't.
Speaker 1: Act that way, you lose your faith. You keep expecting
Speaker 1: him to act a certain way. And every time that you.
Speaker 2: Put your picture of how he is supposed to be
Speaker 2: and how this is supposed to be on a pedestal,
Speaker 2: every time you elevate that, you set yourself up to
Speaker 2: be let down, and you are let down over and
Speaker 2: over and over again because of your expectations of the relationship.
Speaker 2: So he said, have a funeral for your expectations. And
Speaker 2: then when I had a physical funeral for my dad.
Speaker 2: Years later, there had already been a funeral before the
Speaker 2: funeral for the expectation of what I thought he should do.
Speaker 1: But I found out when you have a.
Speaker 2: Funeral for your expectations, God replaces them with grace. When
Speaker 2: you have a funeral for your expectations of how your
Speaker 2: kids need to turn out, God will give you grace
Speaker 2: to raise them and stop comparing to others. When you
Speaker 2: have a funeral for your expectations of where you're supposed
Speaker 2: to be at this point in your life, God will
Speaker 2: give you grace to accept where you are on the
Speaker 2: way to where you're going.
Speaker 1: Every thirty four year old in this room is not
Speaker 1: created equal. Some of you will bloom leg and your
Speaker 1: branches will reach wide.
Speaker 2: But it is having a funeral for the expectation of
Speaker 2: when the bloom needs to occur that allows the roots
Speaker 2: to grow down deep enough to sustain the structure that
Speaker 2: will accommodate the fruit. I'm trying to say that God
Speaker 2: is not through with you yet.
Speaker 1: God is not through with you yet. God is not
Speaker 1: through pruning your branches yet. But every pruning.
Speaker 2: Process in the hands of the master gardener that we
Speaker 2: call God is designed.
Speaker 1: To produce fruit in the future that your eyes.
Speaker 2: Have not seen, and your ears have not heard, and
Speaker 2: it has not entered into your heart. So why would
Speaker 2: you preach about a funeral on Thanksgiving? Why, Pastor Stephen,
Speaker 2: would you preach an Easter sermon a few weeks before Christmas?
Speaker 1: Because the Lord told me to.
Speaker 2: He told me that a lot of us in this
Speaker 2: room are like these two men in this passage, Cleaphus
Speaker 2: and his buddy, who are leaving Jerusalem after the crucifixion
Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ headed back home to a place called Amaeus.
Speaker 1: Amaeus is not a famous place.
Speaker 2: Amais is not even technically known by archaeologists today.
Speaker 1: As to its it's that back it's exact location.
Speaker 2: But the thing about Amais that I do understand for
Speaker 2: these two men is it's the only place they know
Speaker 2: to go.
Speaker 1: It's the only place they know to go. It's home
Speaker 1: for them.
Speaker 2: And they're walking there, and they're talking as they walk
Speaker 2: about their deep disappointment in what didn't happen, in what
Speaker 2: didn't happen, their deep disappointment in what Jesus didn't do.
Speaker 2: There are a few honest people in this church who
Speaker 2: are not so concerned with showing you their haylo, that
Speaker 2: they will wave at me right now and say, there
Speaker 2: are some things in my life that I am disappointed
Speaker 2: that haven't happened yet that were supposed to happen by now.
Speaker 2: And this is the situation in Luke twenty four, when
Speaker 2: all of a sudden a stranger begins to walk beside them.
Speaker 2: You say, he wasn't a stranger. He was the Savior,
Speaker 2: not as far as they knew, not as far as
Speaker 2: they understood. You know, you think when God shows up
Speaker 2: in a situation, it's going to be immediately obvious that
Speaker 2: it's him because you already have an idea of what
Speaker 2: He's going to do when he shows up.
Speaker 1: You know, when God shows up.
Speaker 2: When God turns this around, I am going to know
Speaker 2: it because I have a list of what he's supposed
Speaker 2: to do. And when God does what he's supposed to do,
Speaker 2: I'll know it's him. But suppose that God knows what
Speaker 2: he is supposed to do better than you know what
Speaker 2: he's supposed to do.
Speaker 1: For everybody who struggles with us.
Speaker 2: Suppose that God knows what you're supposed to have more
Speaker 2: than you know what you're supposed to have.
Speaker 1: For everybody who struggles with insecurity.
Speaker 2: Suppose that God knows what you're supposed to be good
Speaker 2: at more than you know what you're supposed to be
Speaker 2: good at.
Speaker 1: Suppose God knows.
Speaker 2: What you don't need that you keep trying to create
Speaker 2: and fake like you have. Suppose that God knows what
Speaker 2: schedule is supposed to be happening even as you stress
Speaker 2: over how far behind you feel. Suppose that God brought
Speaker 2: you here today to have a funeral for the way
Speaker 2: you thought it was supposed to go. And I know
Speaker 2: we're supposed to be thankful in this season, and I
Speaker 2: know we're supposed to be grateful, and I know we're
Speaker 2: supposed to eat macaroni, But what if before the macaroni?
Speaker 2: And I'm going to eat macaroni. I only eat macaroni
Speaker 2: twice a year. I'm going to start the day with
Speaker 2: Bojangles and Chick fil A biscuits. I'm gona half sweet,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have savory. I'm gonna find a sour biscuit too.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna eat every biscuit that God ever made.
Speaker 1: Watch me work this thing.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have an eight thousand calorie day on Thursday,
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna feel no shame about it. Y'all pray
Speaker 2: for me about three am Friday morning, because you'll know.
Speaker 2: I'm suffering the effects of all of my premeditated bad decisions,
Speaker 2: and I.
Speaker 1: Don't feel bad about it.
Speaker 2: Now does your neighbors say I don't feel bad about it?
Speaker 1: That had nothing to do with anything.
Speaker 2: Except suppose God knows before the situation happens the ends
Speaker 2: to which he intends to use it. I feel so
Speaker 2: annointed to tell somebody today, you don't know how it's
Speaker 2: supposed to go.
Speaker 1: You don't and you don't even know when it's over.
Speaker 2: Okay, So the band helped me and they didn't even
Speaker 2: realize it. Today we were singing a song that says,
Speaker 2: that's why I owe you praise. Y'all love that song, Chandler.
Speaker 2: They don't love it too much. Give you another chance
Speaker 2: so we don't feel bad. Y'all love that song that
Speaker 2: me and Chandler and Kristin John Shrow. When I listen,
Speaker 2: I wrote the song with them, but I was confused
Speaker 2: about when the song was over. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: there are so many different parts to that song that
Speaker 2: I kept thinking it was time for me to preach
Speaker 2: because of the last song before the sermon.
Speaker 1: So I kept getting ready to come out on the
Speaker 1: stage to preach. You know, I was preparing what I
Speaker 1: was gonna say.
Speaker 2: Give him praise, whatever I was gonna say, and I'm
Speaker 2: getting it ready. But every time I went to come out,
Speaker 2: they did another part. And so I was like, all right,
Speaker 2: I'll wait thirty seconds cause I'm fired up to get
Speaker 2: out here. I'm ready get going up and studying all
Speaker 2: week on pre j right now, and I'll get ready
Speaker 2: to come around the corner. And they start another part
Speaker 2: and another part and another part, and they just kept
Speaker 2: on prison and I just kept on waiting, And even
Speaker 2: though I wrote it, I didn't know when it was
Speaker 2: going to be over. I mean, technically that's my song,
Speaker 2: but even in my own song, there was more to
Speaker 2: come that I did not know about while I was
Speaker 2: waiting backstage.
Speaker 1: And I know it's your life, and I know it's
Speaker 1: your marriage, and I know it's.
Speaker 2: Your business, but you don't get to say when it's over.
Speaker 2: You don't you don't get to say when you're done giving.
Speaker 2: There was one man in Scripture who had so much
Speaker 2: stuff he decided to build bigger barns to accommodate all
Speaker 2: of his extra grain. But the Lord said, you fool,
Speaker 2: This life, this life that you claim for your own,
Speaker 2: will be the means, and it from you this very night.
Speaker 1: Then who will get.
Speaker 2: What you have prepared? Because when you stop giving, you
Speaker 2: stop living. You don't get to tell God when you're
Speaker 2: done giving him your life. You don't get to tell
Speaker 2: God when you're done being generous. You don't get to
Speaker 2: tell God when you're done trusting people. You don't get
Speaker 2: to tell God.
Speaker 1: When your heart is so broken you can't go on.
Speaker 2: Because these two men in the scripture are leaving Jerusalem,
Speaker 2: leaving the place of Jesus's funeral, which is also the
Speaker 2: place of his resurrection, but they don't know that yet.
Speaker 2: It's the place of his death, but it's also the
Speaker 2: place of his greatest demonstration, but they don't know that yet.
Speaker 1: I wonder what you don't know yet.
Speaker 2: I wonder what Jesus has already done that you don't
Speaker 2: even know yet. I wonder who he's already spoken to
Speaker 2: on your behalf that you don't know yet. I wonder
Speaker 2: who's moving to Charlotte right now to be your wife
Speaker 2: that you don't know about yet. I wonder about who
Speaker 2: he's moving out of their position in the job so
Speaker 2: you can have the job you've been praying for that
Speaker 2: you don't even know yet. I wonder who's moving out
Speaker 2: of that house so you can move in that you
Speaker 2: don't even know about yet. I wonder what he's preparing
Speaker 2: you to share at AA that somebody else needs to
Speaker 2: be set free.
Speaker 1: That you don't even know about yet.
Speaker 2: I wonder what kids you're gonna have on your knees
Speaker 2: one day that you don't even know about yet. I
Speaker 2: wonder what praise you're gonna be giving him next November
Speaker 2: that you.
Speaker 1: Don't even know about yet.
Speaker 2: I just thought of something, y'all.
Speaker 1: Let's give this November a name. You ready, let's call it?
Speaker 1: How can we call it? He got no shave November?
Speaker 1: What else they got? How about don't know November?
Speaker 2: I like it. It's got a good ring to it,
Speaker 2: don't know November. Because they're telling you you're supposed to
Speaker 2: be thankful, But how can I be thankful when I
Speaker 2: don't know how it's gonna turn out?
Speaker 1: Well, this is don't know November.
Speaker 2: How am I supposed to praise him in advance for
Speaker 2: a way that I don't know how he's gonna make.
Speaker 1: It's don't know November.
Speaker 2: How are you supposed to praise him when you don't
Speaker 2: even know where the supply is gonna come from. See
Speaker 2: back in September, I didn't praise him, But I'm.
Speaker 1: In a different season.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: This is don't know November. This is don't know. But
Speaker 1: he's still worthy. He's working on it right now. November. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know. Tell your neighbor. I don't know.
Speaker 1: And I love how Jesus.
Speaker 2: I watched this, y'all said, now let me teach you.
Speaker 1: Jesus walks up and walks with.
Speaker 2: Them, even though everybody said, even though they are headed
Speaker 2: in the wrong direction, that'll blow your mind. They are
Speaker 2: leaving Jerusalem at the very moment that the resurrection is validated.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is the.
Speaker 2: Moment when they should be celebrating, and they're sad because
Speaker 2: they don't believe. Jesus said that I didn't. He said,
Speaker 2: how foolish you are and slow to believe all that
Speaker 2: was spoken about the Messiah, that he had to suffer
Speaker 2: first and then enter into his glory. So I remember
Speaker 2: when I first heard the sermon that I.
Speaker 1: Need to follow Jesus. I don't remember hearing the sermon
Speaker 1: where Jesus followed me. This is that sermon.
Speaker 2: This is that moment in your life when you couldn't
Speaker 2: follow him any farther forward, when you couldn't hear his
Speaker 2: voice clearly, and he followed you away from Jerusalem. Remember
Speaker 2: he would tell the disciples to stay in Jerusalem, but
Speaker 2: when they strayed from where they were supposed to be
Speaker 2: staying in.
Speaker 1: He went with them.
Speaker 2: This is a different perspective on praise, because now I'm
Speaker 2: not praising God for all the times that I followed him,
Speaker 2: when I did what I was supposed to do, when
Speaker 2: I thought what I was supposed to think. I'm praising
Speaker 2: God for all the times that.
Speaker 1: I went away and He followed me. Now they're going
Speaker 1: to clip this on the internet. They're gonna clip this.
Speaker 2: Somebody's going to say this is heresy to say that
Speaker 2: Jesus follows us. We don't have a God who follows us.
Speaker 2: We follow him, and I understand that. I understand that
Speaker 2: he's God and we're not. I understand that it's his ways,
Speaker 2: not my ways. I understand all of that. I also
Speaker 2: understand that I am not always fully capable of doing.
Speaker 6: It right, and I need a Jesus who When I
Speaker 6: don't follow him, he says, fine, fool, I'll.
Speaker 7: Follow you, and I'll follow you, and I'll talk with you,
Speaker 7: and i'll walk with you.
Speaker 1: And Jesus says, I'll even ask you questions that I
Speaker 1: already know the answer to. What things? Somebody say, what things?
Speaker 1: That's what Jesus said. He said, you're talking about the
Speaker 1: things that have happened. What things fill me in?
Speaker 2: Now we have a savior who's worthy to be followed,
Speaker 2: a savior who never needs to be filled in following
Speaker 2: people who he's asking to fill him in.
Speaker 1: What is happening in this text? This is a complete
Speaker 1: reversal from.
Speaker 2: The way that we expect God to operate in our lives.
Speaker 2: And yet all of the honest ones in this room
Speaker 2: will know that the praise that hits the deepest is
Speaker 2: from the realization of all of the times when you
Speaker 2: were three miles away from Jerusalem, four miles away from Jerusalem,
Speaker 2: five miles away from Jerusalem. Some of you won't admit it,
Speaker 2: but you are just one more fight away from drinking again.
Speaker 2: Some of you won't admit it, but you are just
Speaker 2: one more fight away from leaving all together. Some of
Speaker 2: you won't admit it, but you have been so close
Speaker 2: to going off.
Speaker 1: The deep end.
Speaker 2: Oh, it would surprise everybody sitting around you if they knew.
Speaker 2: But it does not surprise the Savior because he saw
Speaker 2: you walking away, and he made a way for him
Speaker 2: to be.
Speaker 1: With you as you walk away.
Speaker 2: So I'm trying to say you're not too far gone.
Speaker 1: In fact, you're ready.
Speaker 2: You're only one thought away from a praise. You're only
Speaker 2: one thought away from a breakthrough. You're only one thought
Speaker 2: away from joy, one thought away from a new beginning.
Speaker 2: Feel the Holy Spirit? Might I feel God setting somebody
Speaker 2: free from this funeral that you've been having in your
Speaker 2: mind because you've been putting to death your expectation of
Speaker 2: grace because of your own mistakes. But I found out
Speaker 2: about a Savior that no matter which direction I'm headed in,
Speaker 2: if I'm following him, that's great. But if he has
Speaker 2: to follow me, he'll do that too. So there will
Speaker 2: never be a day. There will never be a moment.
Speaker 2: There will never be a decision, there will never be
Speaker 2: a distinction, there will never be a dysfunction, there will
Speaker 2: never be a thing that you will do what things.
Speaker 1: There will never.
Speaker 2: Be an event that can separate you from the love
Speaker 2: of a savior.
Speaker 1: Who will follow you when you can't follow him.
Speaker 2: Now, if I had my preference, I would follow him always.
Speaker 2: I would follow him always. But sometimes I'm a fool
Speaker 2: Sometimes I'm too foolish to follow. What do you do
Speaker 2: when you've been too foolish to follow? What do you
Speaker 2: do when you know that at least fifty one percent
Speaker 2: of your kid's behavior is because of stuff they saw
Speaker 2: you do? Maybe I'll just go start my Thanksgiving early
Speaker 2: felt kind of cold when I said that. Notice the
Speaker 2: same Jesus that followed them confronted.
Speaker 1: Them, Where are you going? Hey, Hey, where are you going?
Speaker 1: What's your tomia? What things? What things are you Tomai?
Speaker 2: Why are you talking about Jesus when you could talk
Speaker 2: to him? I think it's really important who you talk
Speaker 2: to when you are going through certain things. How do
Speaker 2: you can testify, either by positive or negative experience in
Speaker 2: your life, that.
Speaker 1: Who you talk to when you're going through things depends
Speaker 1: on what you have left when you get done. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say that again. That was too good, and Holly
Speaker 1: didn't write it down. Who you talk to?
Speaker 2: When you go through things, determines what you have left
Speaker 2: when you get done. And I thought the fact that
Speaker 2: at least they had each other was comforting to me
Speaker 2: to talk to about their disappointment, to talk to about
Speaker 2: what was supposed to happen versus what actually.
Speaker 1: Did to talk to? Who do you talk to.
Speaker 2: When you're disappointed? And I hope as somebody besides yourself
Speaker 2: you cannot keep your own counsel in seasons of chaos.
Speaker 2: I know you went to Duke. Don't care. This is
Speaker 2: don't know November, and don't care Christmas. Don't care where
Speaker 2: you went to school. It doesn't say that the men
Speaker 2: weren't educated. It says that they were disappointed. And Jesus,
Speaker 2: being in very nature God, who did not consider equality
Speaker 2: with God something to be grasped, but made himself a servant,
Speaker 2: made himself a servant, comes up alongside them and begins
Speaker 2: to speak with them. And he says, you're being foolish
Speaker 2: because you thought the funeral was the end. Bring me
Speaker 2: my computer screen, y'all. I told him I might need
Speaker 2: the screen for this message. I said, if the people
Speaker 2: look really engaged, I'm.
Speaker 1: Going to bring out the screen. So boy, bring out
Speaker 1: the screen. Yeah, it's one of those days.
Speaker 2: Now, everybody clap your hands as they come, because it's awkward.
Speaker 1: While we wait, I want.
Speaker 2: To show you a word from the Lord that came
Speaker 2: to me, and I'm not preaching this text in order
Speaker 2: to give you all of the details of it. I
Speaker 2: actually preached seven weeks on this one story, seven years ago,
Speaker 2: and that is all online for free, and you can
Speaker 2: go watch all of the ways that I took every
Speaker 2: single word of this text and tried to bring all
Speaker 2: of the meaning out of it that I could. But today,
Speaker 2: just as a backdrop, I want to tell you, don't
Speaker 2: let the funeral fool you. Don't let this season of
Speaker 2: your life, this season of the relationship, this season of
Speaker 2: your struggle with the thing inside of yourself become a
Speaker 2: stop sign causes you to quit growing and coming toward God. So,
Speaker 2: then if we were to make this on the screen
Speaker 2: and I was to.
Speaker 1: Tell you, don't let the funeral fool you, first thing
Speaker 1: I want to show you in the scripture.
Speaker 2: What happened after Jesus followed these boys, because this is
Speaker 2: the best part all the way down here where he
Speaker 2: said what things and they said about Jesus and Nazareth,
Speaker 2: and then this part I love when he said, how
Speaker 2: foolish you are. And then he said you're slow to believe.
Speaker 2: And then he said, did not the miss I have
Speaker 2: to suffer these things?
Speaker 1: These things?
Speaker 2: And then enter his glory, And beginning with Moses and
Speaker 2: all the prophets, he explained to them what was said
Speaker 2: in all the scriptures concern himself. So Jesus told them
Speaker 2: about Jesus.
Speaker 1: Forget what you heard, Forget what you thought.
Speaker 2: Forget the fact that you were taught that God will
Speaker 2: only be with you if you're following him faithfully.
Speaker 1: Forget what you heard.
Speaker 8: Forget what you thought, Forget what you told yourself at
Speaker 8: the funeral, Forget the story that you have been telling yourself,
Speaker 8: because when Jesus died, it was a part of the story.
Speaker 1: Now let me break this down.
Speaker 2: Real, good things happen in our lives that become a
Speaker 2: part of our story, and we can't change those. So
Speaker 2: you step outside of your integrity, And now you realize
Speaker 2: this changed my story forever. Jesus didn't step outside of
Speaker 2: his integrity. The people who killed him did. He did it,
Speaker 2: But now even their sin became.
Speaker 1: A part of the story.
Speaker 2: Now it was the part of the story that was
Speaker 2: the most redemptive, but it was the hardest to recognize
Speaker 2: as redemptive. So the part of the gospel story where
Speaker 2: our sin was being paid for was the part of
Speaker 2: the story that discouraged these men and made them want
Speaker 2: to walk away. In other words, the moment that Jesus
Speaker 2: was dying, he was doing the most.
Speaker 1: When he was.
Speaker 2: Teaching, that was good. When he was healing, that was good.
Speaker 2: When he was opening blind eyes, that was good. When
Speaker 2: he was raising Lazarus, that was good. But when he
Speaker 2: was dying, it wasn't just a good thing. It was
Speaker 2: the thing that was the.
Speaker 1: Thing that he came to do.
Speaker 2: And while he was doing the thing that he came
Speaker 2: to do, they were interpreting the thing that would bring
Speaker 2: them redemption as being the thing that made it all worthless.
Speaker 2: When you're hurting, your interpretations become distortive. When you are hurting,
Speaker 2: your interpretations cannot be trusted. When you are hurting, you
Speaker 2: will see the best thing is the worst thing. When
Speaker 2: you are hurting, you will be attracted to unhealthy people
Speaker 2: who will enable you rather than healthy friends who can
Speaker 2: help heal you. When you are hurting, you will run
Speaker 2: to things that will numb you, rather than running to
Speaker 2: things that can set you free. When you are hurting,
Speaker 2: your interpretation of events cannot be trusted.
Speaker 1: And that's when we need Jesus.
Speaker 2: I need Jesus to walk with me. I need Jesus
Speaker 2: to wake up with me. I need Jesus to lay
Speaker 2: down beside me. When I lay down and I'm tossing
Speaker 2: and turning about the storms that I'm facing. I need
Speaker 2: Jesus to help me know which door is him, because
Speaker 2: every open door is not God. I need Jesus to
Speaker 2: let me know which calls.
Speaker 1: To pick up.
Speaker 2: I need Jesus to let me know which text to sin.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to say that I need him every hour
Speaker 2: the story before I break this all the way down
Speaker 2: in the scripture? Am I breaking this down good as
Speaker 2: whoa man?
Speaker 1: It's good to me.
Speaker 2: So Grandma didn't ask permissions, So I ask for future
Speaker 2: forgiveness for telling this story. He was fussing at us
Speaker 2: the other day because we were leaving and we had
Speaker 2: just left for tour, but we needed to leave and
Speaker 2: get a few days away after tour to recover, and
Speaker 2: Graham said something very funny, and he's seventeen years old now,
Speaker 2: but he said I still need parents.
Speaker 1: You would think he would be happy we were going
Speaker 1: out of town. But he is such a good kid.
Speaker 1: There's nothing that he wanted to do that he couldn't
Speaker 1: do when we were there and he wanted parents, and
Speaker 1: Ally said, you have parents.
Speaker 2: We flew you out for four days of tour, and
Speaker 2: you had all your friends over this weekend and we
Speaker 2: were here the whole time.
Speaker 1: We're just leaving for three days. And he said, why
Speaker 1: don't need you on the weekend.
Speaker 2: What a phrase? What a confession? I don't need you
Speaker 2: on the weekend. I just need you when I want you.
Speaker 2: I just need you when it's convenient. I'm not saying
Speaker 2: he's a bad kid. He's a great kid. But what
Speaker 2: if that's our attitude toward God? What if we need
Speaker 2: him for all of it? What if we need him
Speaker 2: for every single bit of it? What if he wants
Speaker 2: to be in all of it? What if God is
Speaker 2: waiting for you to pray his presence into your panic attack?
Speaker 1: What if he wants to be in that with you too?
Speaker 2: What if he will follow you down an amaeis road
Speaker 2: going the wrong way?
Speaker 1: When you say I'm spiraling out of control? Here, God,
Speaker 1: I'm spiraling out of control again, and I'm tempted to
Speaker 1: sabbathae go because I'm spiraling. And what if Jesus is
Speaker 1: just waiting to.
Speaker 2: Be more than your weekday savior, more than just the
Speaker 2: one that you need when things go wrong.
Speaker 1: And the Bible says that he began to expound.
Speaker 2: Don't you wish you could have heard this sermon him
Speaker 2: everything that was in the scriptures concerning himself.
Speaker 1: That would be an amazing sermon.
Speaker 2: And it would take two or three hours to walk
Speaker 2: these seven miles because it said it was a seven
Speaker 2: mile row. So over the course of two or three hours,
Speaker 2: this man gives a whole series where he tells them
Speaker 2: who he is, and they still don't get it.
Speaker 1: That's the irony of the text.
Speaker 2: As they approached the village to which they were going,
Speaker 2: Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.
Speaker 1: Keyword, well, two words, as if.
Speaker 2: And you say, why would Jesus continue on as if
Speaker 2: he were going going farther? Because sometimes God delights to
Speaker 2: be invited, to be invited.
Speaker 1: You say, well, isn't he present everywhere? Yeah?
Speaker 2: But he permeates you when you ask him to he's present,
Speaker 2: but he permeates when you give permission, because watch this.
Speaker 2: This is more than just hospitality, y'all. He acted like
Speaker 2: he was going farther. He was like, well, good chat,
Speaker 2: hope you learn something.
Speaker 1: They still don't know it's Jesus. How do they not
Speaker 1: know it's Jesus.
Speaker 2: They're still at the funeral. He's supposed to be in
Speaker 2: the ground. They don't believe the angel, they don't believe
Speaker 2: the report.
Speaker 1: They don't believe the women.
Speaker 2: They don't believe what they heard, and they can't even
Speaker 2: believe what they're seeing.
Speaker 1: They don't recognize him, but they urged him strongly, stay
Speaker 1: with us, for it is nearly evening. Stay with us,
Speaker 1: for it is nearly evening. The day is almost over.
Speaker 1: So he watched this, went in to stay with them.
Speaker 2: And my favorite thing about the text is not even
Speaker 2: that he followed them going the wrong way down the road.
Speaker 2: My favorite thing about the text is not even that
Speaker 2: he gave them an amazing summary and entire semester's worth
Speaker 2: of education in how he was the rock in the wilderness,
Speaker 2: and how he was the rod of Aaron, and how
Speaker 2: he fulfilled everything that Moses spoke of, and how He
Speaker 2: was the cloud by day and the fire by night.
Speaker 2: Not only do I love the fact that he talked
Speaker 2: to them along the way, I love verse thirty and
Speaker 2: thirty one, because once he got inside the house with them.
Speaker 1: The Bible says, when he was at the table with them.
Speaker 2: He took brad, gave thanks, He took a bow jangle's biscuit.
Speaker 1: Gave thanks, and he broke it and began to give
Speaker 1: it to them. Everybody shout this word.
Speaker 2: Then then and only then, You mean they heard a
Speaker 2: master's level class from the master, and they still didn't
Speaker 2: get it. No, then and only then, after the bread
Speaker 2: had been broken, then.
Speaker 1: Their eyes were opened.
Speaker 2: I'll say it again in case there's been a breaking
Speaker 2: in your life lately. After the bread had been broken,
Speaker 2: then their eyes had been opened. But not before the
Speaker 2: bread had been broken, not when he spoke it, when
Speaker 2: he broke it. Something about the breaking of the bread
Speaker 2: helped them to see who he really was, because now
Speaker 2: they realized he was just killed on the cross. He
Speaker 2: gave his life on the cross. He wasn't just hung
Speaker 2: there by humans, He was sent there by God. He
Speaker 2: wasn't just dying physically, He was paying the price spiritually.
Speaker 2: And it was only after the breaking that the revelation came.
Speaker 2: There are some revelations that only come after the breaking.
Speaker 2: They don't come before, They only come after. They don't
Speaker 2: come before you go through, they only come after. But
Speaker 2: for everybody who's been broken lately, I got good news.
Speaker 2: After the breaking comes an opening.
Speaker 1: Now your eyes be open. Now your ears be open,
Speaker 1: Now your road be open. Now your red save part.
Speaker 1: Say it out.
Speaker 2: Loud, this is not the end.
Speaker 1: Give God praise for it. This is not the end.
Speaker 1: For a moment it looked like it was over. But
Speaker 1: this is.
Speaker 2: Maybe I should write it on the board, y'all seemed
Speaker 2: like you need some extra help.
Speaker 1: This is not the end. Say it to your neighbor.
Speaker 2: This is not the end.
Speaker 1: Tell him you can do better than him anyway. This
Speaker 1: is not the end. Tell him you were bigger than
Speaker 1: that place. Anyway. This is not the end. It wasn't
Speaker 1: ready for you anyway.
Speaker 2: This is not the and you couldn't handle it back then.
Speaker 2: But this is not the And now put my scripture
Speaker 2: back on the screen, and I'm gonna bring this thing
Speaker 2: full circle today. For somebody who has been standing at
Speaker 2: a funeral and weeping over a loss and weeping over
Speaker 2: a regret, and weeping over a mistake, and punishing yourself
Speaker 2: over a mistake, and saying that this is the end,
Speaker 2: and thinking that this is the end, and the enemy
Speaker 2: has been telling you that this is the end, and
Speaker 2: you will never recover from this, and nobody will ever
Speaker 2: love you after this, and there is no way back
Speaker 2: from this, and you cannot climb out of this, and
Speaker 2: you cannot recover from this, and there is no redemption
Speaker 2: in this, and there is no light coming, and there
Speaker 2: is no help coming for everybody who the enemy has
Speaker 2: been telling you is the end, gives me Verse thirty one.
Speaker 1: Please.
Speaker 2: Then then.
Speaker 1: The Lord spoke to me and said, this is not
Speaker 1: me because that because there's gonna be a Then there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a Then there's.
Speaker 2: Gonna be a Then you hear me today, I can't
Speaker 2: put my faith on this word for you.
Speaker 1: I can appreciate when it's gonna take your faith, because
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a Then dip their eyes were open.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be a there. That's gonna be a there.
Speaker 1: Laid down in breathe.
Speaker 4: Then June up with the keys. There's gonna be a there.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be adad.
Speaker 4: When dog gets finished with this, it won't be a
Speaker 4: fill of roup. It will be a celebrating day shout
Speaker 4: like this already there, Then.
Speaker 2: You get to make the decision. Now what's on the
Speaker 2: other side of Then they left me.
Speaker 1: Then I went into isolation and died alone. Or they
Speaker 1: left me.
Speaker 2: Then I went to work on what was inside of
Speaker 2: me that made me feel like I wasn't a person
Speaker 2: without them.
Speaker 1: Then it got so bad we could barely speak. But then.
Speaker 2: I slapped them and cussed them out and spit in
Speaker 2: their face. Or then I decided I would try to
Speaker 2: find a way in that didn't involve my.
Speaker 1: Ego which was too big to fit through the door.
Speaker 1: And then you can't die in this because there will
Speaker 1: be a then then then then then.
Speaker 2: I don't even know if you remember, but you gave
Speaker 2: me the sermon. Holly was talking to me the other
Speaker 2: day and I was telling her something.
Speaker 9: Such a sad story like Cleopus and his companion about
Speaker 9: the sad things that had happened.
Speaker 1: And they were real, y'all.
Speaker 2: We must say, they were disappointed and devastated because of
Speaker 2: real life events. It wasn't that that didn't happen. It
Speaker 2: was just that the then was in progress. Then their
Speaker 2: eyes were open when he broke the bread. Only what
Speaker 2: is broken can be really blessed. So after the breaking,
Speaker 2: expect a revelation. After I got done telling Holly my story,
Speaker 2: she said, yeah, but then, because I was going through
Speaker 2: a part of our history where somebody had.
Speaker 1: Really hurt us, I mean really hurt us, she said, yeah.
Speaker 2: But then and she told me the thing that happened,
Speaker 2: they hurt us that wouldn't have happened if they didn't.
Speaker 2: And just when she reminded me of that, she said,
Speaker 2: but then it gave me faith for my future because
Speaker 2: I realized that just like farmers plant seeds and don't
Speaker 2: cry about losing them, there are certain things in your
Speaker 2: life and in my life that are waiting for the
Speaker 2: appropriate time to come forth. Don't let the funeral fool you.
Speaker 1: You keep saying this is this is the end. It's
Speaker 1: not the end.
Speaker 2: It's just pre then, because one day maybe you'll be
Speaker 2: talking to somebody and you'll say, I was about ready
Speaker 2: to give up, but then, And I think the real
Speaker 2: skill of living Austin is to be able to trust
Speaker 2: God enough that you leave the.
Speaker 10: Then with him, Because maybe what was most significant about
Speaker 10: the bread was not just the fact that he broke it,
Speaker 10: but whose hands it was in.
Speaker 2: Jesus was supposed to be the guest. What is he
Speaker 2: doing serving the bread? It is the moment you let
Speaker 2: him take over that you see who he really is.
Speaker 2: So I thought, with everyone standing across every location, the
Speaker 2: most annointed moments that I've preached all year, I don't
Speaker 2: know if you can feel it or not. And you
Speaker 2: don't have to feel it. Even if all you feel
Speaker 2: is grief. Don't let the funeral fool you.
Speaker 1: There will be a then, There will be a then,
Speaker 1: and you get to make a decision about this.
Speaker 2: Then, when you are relaying this story in the future,
Speaker 2: do you want to tell about the time that you
Speaker 2: were walking away from God down a road called e
Speaker 2: Maya seven miles and you kept going.
Speaker 1: And you stayed home because you were disappointed?
Speaker 2: Or do you want to talk about how the bread
Speaker 2: was broken and then your eyes were open and watch
Speaker 2: verse thirty two.
Speaker 1: I got to give you this.
Speaker 2: It says they recognized him in the breaking of the bread,
Speaker 2: and they asked each other, we're not our hearts burning
Speaker 2: within us while he talked with us on the road
Speaker 2: and open the scriptures to us. Then they got up
Speaker 2: at once and returned to Jerusalem, where they were supposed
Speaker 2: to be. All along, I believe God's and some of you,
Speaker 2: back to where you belong today, Back to the kind
Speaker 2: of person you really are, back to the kind of
Speaker 2: hope you really possess.
Speaker 1: Back to the role.
Speaker 7: That you occupy so brilliantly with integrity when your faith
Speaker 7: is engaged.
Speaker 2: They went back to Jerusalem, and there they found the
Speaker 2: eleven and those with them assembled together. Ain't it crazy
Speaker 2: how God already had the party getting started while they
Speaker 2: were still in the funeral. Don't let the funeral fool you,
Speaker 2: you might miss the party. And there was a prayer
Speaker 2: meeting happening in Jerusalem, and verse thirty four says they said,
Speaker 2: it's true. The Lord has risen and appeared to Simon.
Speaker 2: And then the two told what had happened on the
Speaker 2: way and how Jesus was recognized.
Speaker 1: By them when he broke the bread.
Speaker 10: Then then this is your then, baby, this is.
Speaker 1: Your Then.
Speaker 2: Even be grateful for the breaking if you put it
Speaker 2: in his hands.
Speaker 1: So I want to.
Speaker 2: Pray for you, because I started this sermon saying we
Speaker 2: have to have a funeral for our expectations, our funeral,
Speaker 2: for the way that we thought things would turn out,
Speaker 2: our funeral, for the way we thought people should appreciate us,
Speaker 2: our funeral, for our funeral, for our path that we
Speaker 2: thought we would be on.
Speaker 1: At this point in our life. But don't have the
Speaker 1: funeral and bury your faith.
Speaker 2: Have the funeral for your expectations, and watch God resurrect
Speaker 2: your faith.
Speaker 1: And so I'm trading you, see it. I am trading
Speaker 1: my expectation.
Speaker 2: Of others for faith in God. To let me know
Speaker 2: there is a then, and it's in his hands. Put
Speaker 2: your hands just like this, like you're receiving something from
Speaker 2: somebody you trust, and just tell the Lord it's in
Speaker 2: your hands. Put that in the comments, say it out
Speaker 2: loud if you're in the room, It's in your hands.
Speaker 2: That is what is significant about the breaking bread in
Speaker 2: Luke twenty four. That is what's significant about your future.
Speaker 2: That is what is significant about this moment.
Speaker 1: It's in his hands.
Speaker 2: And so now, Father, I place these people that I've
Speaker 2: preached this message to into your hands, the one who
Speaker 2: was handed over for death but rose again in life.
Speaker 2: In your hands are the keys of death, hell and
Speaker 2: the grave.
Speaker 1: God.
Speaker 2: Today, whatever it is that we need to let go
Speaker 2: of in order to go forward.
Speaker 1: We do that now, and we might have to do
Speaker 1: it one hundred times again today.
Speaker 2: But that's all right because we have learned the difference
Speaker 2: between the end and a next step waiting to happen.
Speaker 2: So we stand before you today, empty hands, full hearts.
Speaker 2: I want to thank you for the person that you
Speaker 2: met today on the road away from you. I want
Speaker 2: to thank you for the person today who was running
Speaker 2: full speed from your love, but you track them down.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you today for the.
Speaker 2: Person whose eyes were opened to see your presence in
Speaker 2: their life.
Speaker 11: Oh that's how God is working. Oh that's how God
Speaker 11: is moving. Oh that's how it's coming to pass. Oh
Speaker 11: this is where God wanted me to be. Oh, this
Speaker 11: is what God is wanting me to learn. I thank
Speaker 11: you for this, and I thank you for them.
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 now,
Speaker 2: or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more information,
Speaker 2: 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.