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. Hope
Speaker 1: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 3: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
Speaker 3: in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3: I really value the Word of God and the effect
Speaker 3: that it could have in my life when I embrace it,
Speaker 3: receive it, and apply it. And these seven last sayings
Speaker 3: of Jesus from the Cross have had particular significance to
Speaker 3: us in these last seven weeks. And I guess we're
Speaker 3: coming to quote boys to men the end of the road.
Speaker 3: I thought about singing it, but.
Speaker 1: Date me.
Speaker 3: When we look at Luke twenty three forty four, we
Speaker 3: see the very last thing that Jesus said, and we're
Speaker 3: going to read the context of it. Luke tells us
Speaker 3: Luke twenty three, verse forty four. It was now about noon,
Speaker 3: and darkness came over the whole land until three in
Speaker 3: the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining, and the curtain
Speaker 3: of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out
Speaker 3: with a loud voice, Father, into your hands, I commit
Speaker 3: my spirit and when he had said this, when the
Speaker 3: word of God had spoken his final word, he breathed
Speaker 3: his lass.
Speaker 1: And he gave up his life.
Speaker 3: Now look at Luke twenty four, because this passage for
Speaker 3: us has been a picture of this idea of spiritual
Speaker 3: journey where we've been following these two travelers, one of
Speaker 3: them called Cleo.
Speaker 1: At least we've been calling him Cleo.
Speaker 3: His full name is Cleophus, but we gave him a
Speaker 3: nickname as we got to know him. He was disappointed,
Speaker 3: and he was traveling in the wrong direction, and Jesus
Speaker 3: decided to catch up with him, even though he was
Speaker 3: headed in the wrong direction, and he revealed himself to
Speaker 3: him along the road, the seven mile road. And I
Speaker 3: want to catch him because I feel like the best
Speaker 3: place to end this journey that we've been on will
Speaker 3: be back on the same road where we started out,
Speaker 3: only now we're on the return trip. And the Bible
Speaker 3: says that after they had walked seven miles with Jesus,
Speaker 3: at first they didn't recognize him, because usually we don't
Speaker 3: see how God is at work in our lives. While
Speaker 3: he's working in our lives. It's usually in looking back
Speaker 3: that we recognize the hand of God, especially when things
Speaker 3: don't feel good or when things don't make sense to
Speaker 3: us logically. It is when we process things sometimes that
Speaker 3: we get perspective once it's.
Speaker 1: In the past, to know that, hey, you know.
Speaker 3: What that was God, That breakup was God. Amen doesn't
Speaker 3: feel like it's God when your heart is broken.
Speaker 1: But Cleopus goes all the.
Speaker 3: Way to the destination where he thought he would bury
Speaker 3: his hope because he's watched Jesus die on the cross,
Speaker 3: and all of a sudden, when he gets there, he
Speaker 3: recognizes Jesus.
Speaker 1: And so he and his companion look at verse thirty three.
Speaker 3: What a great Easter verse, by the way, it says,
Speaker 3: they got up and returned at once to Jerusalem, where
Speaker 3: the Holy Spirit was promised to be given not many
Speaker 3: days from then. There they found the eleven and those
Speaker 3: with them assembled together and saying, it's true the Lord
Speaker 3: has risen and appeared to Simon. And then the two
Speaker 3: told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus
Speaker 3: was recognized by them when he broke the bread verse
Speaker 3: thirty six. And then I'll preach a little bit, and
Speaker 3: then I'll let you go eat ham and hide eggs
Speaker 3: and whatever else, But how many of you could use
Speaker 3: some spiritual food first before.
Speaker 1: You go home and look at bunnies.
Speaker 3: While they were still talking about this, Notice how many
Speaker 3: things are happening just in the process of common conversation,
Speaker 3: common activity. Notice how God is revealing himself in unexpected ways.
Speaker 1: And while they were talking about.
Speaker 3: This, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
Speaker 3: peace be with you. And they were afraid, and he
Speaker 3: spoke peace, and he did it. He revealed himself in
Speaker 3: an unusual way. So turn to your neighbor. And this
Speaker 3: is an interactive sermon, and so you need to turn
Speaker 3: to them. In fact, it's not a sermon at all.
Speaker 3: Look at your neighbor and say, this is not a
Speaker 3: sermon at all. You better look at your other neighbor,
Speaker 3: because that neighbor look confused. Tell him this is not
Speaker 3: a sermon at all. Tell him this is a ticket.
Speaker 3: Tell him it's a round trip ticket. That's what I
Speaker 3: want to talk about today. I want to talk about
Speaker 3: round trip resurrection, a round trip ticket to resurrection. And
Speaker 3: it just so happens that I came back this week
Speaker 3: from Sydney, Australia, which is like five billion, nine hundred
Speaker 3: and seventy three hours on an airplane and I did
Speaker 3: not fly United. Praise God, bleeped that out of the podcast.
Speaker 3: When I flew over there. I got there on Friday.
Speaker 3: I left on Wednesday. And one thing about Australia is
Speaker 3: so far away that when you get there, it's tomorrow,
Speaker 3: not that it's tomorrow's So the first time I went
Speaker 3: over there, I FaceTime my kids. I've been over there
Speaker 3: seven times now, and when I get over there usually
Speaker 3: I get there in the morning. And I called my
Speaker 3: kids the first time I went, and I was showing
Speaker 3: them out my window Sydney, Australia, and the sun was
Speaker 3: up in Sydney, Australia, but at Charlotte. Back in Charlotte,
Speaker 3: it was Thursday night, and they were so confused and
Speaker 3: they were like, how is it nighttime here and it's
Speaker 3: daytime there? Because and I started explaining to them that
Speaker 3: Australia is across the International date line, like fourteen hours ahead.
Speaker 3: So I told my kids, I said, I'm actually calling
Speaker 3: you from tomorrow.
Speaker 1: And I kind of thought that was clever.
Speaker 3: And at the end of the call, right before we
Speaker 3: hung up, my oldest son, Elijah goes.
Speaker 1: Hey, Daddy. Before you go, can you tell us what
Speaker 1: happens tomorrow?
Speaker 3: Which I thought was so cool and so appropriate for
Speaker 3: an illustration about the perspective that resurrection gives us. And
Speaker 3: maybe that's why we come to church deep down even
Speaker 3: though we don't know it, because we want to report
Speaker 3: for our tomorrow from someone who's already been there. And
Speaker 3: that's what I love about God is that He is
Speaker 3: an ever present help in my trouble. But He does
Speaker 3: not speak to my today from my situation, but outside
Speaker 3: of time, God who has already been in my tomorrow
Speaker 3: and is not anxious about the economy or my health,
Speaker 3: or is not anxious about the political system of the.
Speaker 1: Country where I reside.
Speaker 3: God from tomorrow, the one who is and was and
Speaker 3: is to come, speaks back to my today, increases my
Speaker 3: faith and gives me the ability to face forward into
Speaker 3: my future with companist.
Speaker 1: Why talk lapping about happen today? Stuffy Eastern people.
Speaker 3: Y'all come to church with your mom, and you all
Speaker 3: like crazy and weird looking at me with your arms crossed.
Speaker 3: I hated, I hated. If you really believe God had
Speaker 3: been in your tomorrow, you'd get some sleep. If you
Speaker 3: really believed in resurrection. When stuff died, you would look
Speaker 3: at it and expect what was next to come from
Speaker 3: what was buried.
Speaker 1: You would not cry.
Speaker 3: Over anything that had left your life, because.
Speaker 1: You would know if God is already in your tomorrow.
Speaker 1: How about that?
Speaker 3: So it's been helpful for me really along this road,
Speaker 3: the seven mile road, where Jesus on Sunday morning gets
Speaker 3: up from the grave, chases down two unnamed people. Well
Speaker 3: their name one's name Kleio, but we've never seen them before.
Speaker 3: They're headed in the wrong direction. He goes after them.
Speaker 3: He brings them to a place of understanding about who
Speaker 3: he is, and he goes after them even though their
Speaker 3: backs are turned on the promise, the place of the promise,
Speaker 3: even though they're discouraged. Let's look at the scripture together
Speaker 3: real quick, because this part's crazy. They're walking away from Jerusalem.
Speaker 3: They're going away from the promise. Their hearts are broken,
Speaker 3: they're going home is over. They watched him die on Friday.
Speaker 3: There is no future. Therefore they have no faith. And
Speaker 3: as they're walking away, he walks up. He doesn't identify himself.
Speaker 3: He just asks them a question, which in itself is
Speaker 3: crazy because I've always heard that Jesus is the answer.
Speaker 3: So is strange for me to see that the one
Speaker 3: who is the answer asks a question.
Speaker 1: And let me tell you a secret.
Speaker 3: He didn't ask a question because he needed information. He
Speaker 3: asked them a question because sometimes before God can give
Speaker 3: you the answer, he has to correct your questions.
Speaker 1: Before God can give.
Speaker 3: Us what we're asking for, he has to He has
Speaker 3: to clarify what we're really searching for. Because see, will
Speaker 3: ask God to bless us, but we won't even know
Speaker 3: what blessing really is. We'll think blessing is a thing,
Speaker 3: when really blessing is a state of your heart that
Speaker 3: enables you to be content, whatever your circumstances.
Speaker 1: And so Jesus walks up on them, doesn't say who he.
Speaker 3: Is, doesn't identify himself as the risen, reigning, ruling son
Speaker 3: of God with all power in his hand, just ask
Speaker 3: them a question. Look at verse seventeen. He asked them,
Speaker 3: what y'all talking about? What are you discussing together as
Speaker 3: you walk along? And they stopped in their tracks and
Speaker 3: stood still, their faces downcast, their hearts disappointed, their dreams
Speaker 3: dashed on the rocks of the reality of the death
Speaker 3: of the one they thought might be the Messiah, and
Speaker 3: they are standing next to hope, but they have no hope,
Speaker 3: and they are standing next to power, but they feel weak.
Speaker 3: And they are headed home, returning back to what's familiar
Speaker 3: because their faith has been hung on a cross and
Speaker 3: sentenced to die. And so they're headed home. So they're
Speaker 3: returning home. If you're taking notes, right down return return,
Speaker 3: they're returning to a village call a Maaas. And all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, on the road, the seven mile road
Speaker 3: where they're returning back home, here comes Jesus. But he
Speaker 3: doesn't fully reveal himself. He just asks a question, what
Speaker 3: y'all talking about? And they stop with their backs toward Jerusalem,
Speaker 3: headed toward a Maaeis, and they say, well, we're talking
Speaker 3: about this guy named Jesus, y'all.
Speaker 1: That's funny.
Speaker 3: They start to tell Jesus about Jesus. They start to
Speaker 3: explain to the author about the book up, but he
Speaker 3: keeps walking with them because once they start walking again,
Speaker 3: they start explaining how Jesus was a man who they
Speaker 3: thought was sent by God, but something happened on Friday
Speaker 3: that stripped.
Speaker 1: The hope right out of their hearts.
Speaker 3: Something happened in front of their eyes in Jerusalem, when
Speaker 3: he hung on the cross and died, their hope hung
Speaker 3: there with him. And they say something in verse twenty.
Speaker 3: I want to show you this, they say, in verse twenty,
Speaker 3: the chief priests and our rulers handed him over. The
Speaker 3: Greek word is paradidamie. Everybody say Paradomi, Paradiomi. I say
Speaker 3: it again, parademia. I want you to practice it so
Speaker 3: you can impress your friends with your newfound knowledge of
Speaker 3: Greek today. So when they say you go to that
Speaker 3: shallow church, that rock and roll church, that evolution church,
Speaker 3: you could just put some Greek up in their face. Paradiamie.
Speaker 3: You don't even have to know what it means, just
Speaker 3: say it. They don't know what it means either. But
Speaker 3: what it means is handed over. And so Luke says
Speaker 3: in the Greek language what the travelers say along the road.
Speaker 3: They handed him over. They handed him over, and of
Speaker 3: course Judas was the one who handed him over to
Speaker 3: the Sanhedrin. Paradidamie. The Sanhedrin handed him over to Caiaphas,
Speaker 3: their high priest. Paradiamie. Their high priest, Caiaphas handed him
Speaker 3: over to Pilot, the Roman governor, Paradidomie, and then Pilot
Speaker 3: handed him over to Herod, who, after he mocked him
Speaker 3: and made sport of him, handed him over Paradiomi to
Speaker 3: be crucified, and they hung him on the cross.
Speaker 1: And when they hung him on.
Speaker 3: The cross, these disciples said, when he was handed over
Speaker 3: and sentenced to death and crucified, our hope was handed
Speaker 3: over with him, Verse twenty one. We had hoped that
Speaker 3: he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.
Speaker 3: We had hoped, But now we're headed home. We had
Speaker 3: hoped that it was going to be different this time.
Speaker 3: We had hoped that he was going to break our chains.
Speaker 3: We had hope that God was going to heal our disease.
Speaker 3: We had hoped that God was going to take the
Speaker 3: addiction away. We had hoped that if we prayed, we
Speaker 3: would get the peace that corresponded with the prayer. But
Speaker 3: it's over now. We had hoped. We went there, we
Speaker 3: expected it, we looked forward to it. But we're headed
Speaker 3: home now because he hung on the cross, and we
Speaker 3: hung our hope on the cross.
Speaker 1: And now we.
Speaker 3: Don't know anything else to do but to head home.
Speaker 3: And we're headed home because we don't have any hope left,
Speaker 3: and as they're headed home with no hope, hope shows up.
Speaker 3: And as they're headed home with no hope, hope shows up.
Speaker 3: And with their heads hung down, with no hope in
Speaker 3: their hearts, here comes home.
Speaker 1: But they can't see it. They're headed home with no hope.
Speaker 3: And I don't really blame them for going home, because
Speaker 3: what else are you going to do?
Speaker 1: What else are you going to do but go home?
Speaker 3: If the one who was supposed to be the king
Speaker 3: hung on a cross and wore a crown of thorns?
Speaker 1: I mean, life can hit you that hard. It can.
Speaker 3: And for those of you who aren't nodding or anything
Speaker 3: right now, what are you four?
Speaker 1: Really?
Speaker 3: You never had life hit you that hard, that took
Speaker 3: the breath out of you, just knock the breath out
Speaker 3: of you, just where you felt like, I don't know
Speaker 3: what to do, So you go back to familiar ways,
Speaker 3: You give up on this whole thing, and you kind
Speaker 3: of turn your back on the promise and you head
Speaker 3: back to amis now.
Speaker 1: What they say next?
Speaker 3: This is the part I don't understand, because I understand
Speaker 3: that they're headed home because what else are you going
Speaker 3: to do but head home? I understand they're disappointed. I
Speaker 3: understand that they're in a state of dispace. I understand
Speaker 3: that they're downcast about what's happened. What I don't understand
Speaker 3: is the timing of their return trip. Because you know,
Speaker 3: when Jesus was on earth, he told everybody who would listen,
Speaker 3: over and over again, especially his disciples, he said, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna die, but on the third day, I'll be raised
Speaker 3: to life. They're going to destroy this temple. He was
Speaker 3: speaking about his body. But on the third day, everybody say,
Speaker 3: third day it will be raised back to life. I'll
Speaker 3: build it again. I'm going to go down in the
Speaker 3: ground for a minute. But on the third day I'm
Speaker 3: getting up. So Cleapus and his companion are headed home.
Speaker 3: And I get it because they watched him hand it
Speaker 3: over on the cross. What I don't understand is when
Speaker 3: they chose to do it, because they said, our chief
Speaker 3: priests handed him over to be crucified. We had hoped
Speaker 3: he was the one who would redeem Israel. And what
Speaker 3: is more, it is the third day since all this
Speaker 3: took place.
Speaker 1: Here's my question.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't you at least want to stick around until the
Speaker 3: end of Sunday.
Speaker 1: To see if something was gonna.
Speaker 3: Happen, wouldn't you at least want to wait until Monday.
Speaker 3: I mean, really, you can't wait until the end of
Speaker 3: the day.
Speaker 1: To see if this might be real.
Speaker 3: And that's our problem. We quit, so quit so quick.
Speaker 3: We quit when we are so close.
Speaker 1: We quit.
Speaker 3: Now here's what happened on Resurrection Sunday. Jesus gets up
Speaker 3: out of the grave early one Sunday morning. He goes
Speaker 3: and appears to some women. The women come back to
Speaker 3: the men, They say, Jesus isn't there. He rolls just
Speaker 3: like he said. The men, who are usually a little
Speaker 3: bit more hard headed and hardhearted than the women, tend
Speaker 3: to be. Somebody, give me an estrogen praise right here.
Speaker 1: Don't believe the women.
Speaker 3: And then Cleopus and his companion, upon hearing the report
Speaker 3: that Jesus' body is not in.
Speaker 1: The tomb, decide we're going home now.
Speaker 3: Like you don't want to get a room like one
Speaker 3: more night, you don't want to extend your stage, just like,
Speaker 3: just give it a little bit of time. But they
Speaker 3: they leave, and they almost miss it. They almost miss it,
Speaker 3: like some of the people who leave church when I
Speaker 3: start giving the invitation. They're in such a hurry to
Speaker 3: get to the car that they miss the most meaningful
Speaker 3: part of the whole worship experience when someone if you're
Speaker 3: not clapping, I might be talking about you. Really, where
Speaker 3: do you have to be? That's that important? That important?
Speaker 3: And they head out like that woman at the Panthers game, Jody,
Speaker 3: you'll remember we were down. I say we because that's
Speaker 3: what you do when you're a fan of a team,
Speaker 3: You associate yourself with them when they win, especially if
Speaker 3: you're a Charlotte Panthers, So Carolina Panthers fan. The city
Speaker 3: of Charlotte is known for that. That this woman listens.
Speaker 3: She was real loud until they started losing, and she
Speaker 3: left during halftime, and then the Panthers came back and won,
Speaker 3: and I was glad that she missed it, because it
Speaker 3: serves you right.
Speaker 1: Come on, it serves you right.
Speaker 3: I know that's not a very loving thing to say,
Speaker 3: and it's not very christ Like because Jesus didn't treat
Speaker 3: Cleo like that.
Speaker 1: He leaves just.
Speaker 3: At the time that the resurrection is being proven, and
Speaker 3: Jesus goes to get Cleo.
Speaker 1: He goes to get him, and he begins to speak.
Speaker 3: With him and talk with him and he reveals himself
Speaker 3: to him. That's my second point is the reveal. The reveal,
Speaker 3: the resurrection reveals the power of God to all who believe.
Speaker 3: But not like you think. See, usually when I hear
Speaker 3: Easter sermons, it's about the power of God.
Speaker 1: And that's appropriate.
Speaker 4: When you get up from the grave and walk into
Speaker 4: the octagon with death and choke death out and death
Speaker 4: taps three times, I mean, that's strong.
Speaker 1: When you roll your own stone away, that's strong.
Speaker 3: So I've heard that about the strength of Jesus Christ
Speaker 3: to overcome the grave. I've heard about the strength of Jesus.
Speaker 3: I've heard about the sovereignty of Jesus. Well, there's a
Speaker 3: good Church word for you, the sovereignty of Jesus. He
Speaker 3: is sovereign over death and hell and the grave. And
Speaker 3: I heard about that. You know what nobody ever told
Speaker 3: me about, and I want to tell you about it
Speaker 3: is how sneaky Jesus was.
Speaker 1: You're looking at me strange.
Speaker 3: You're looking at me like you've never heard that. Jesus, Well,
Speaker 3: when he got up from the grave. I'll prove this
Speaker 3: to you that he was sneaking. When he got up
Speaker 3: from the grave. He left while it was still dark.
Speaker 3: He left before the sun came up, and he had
Speaker 3: to knock over a few room in guards to get out.
Speaker 1: But after he knocked them.
Speaker 3: Over, he slipped out and found the women and appeared
Speaker 3: to the women. But he didn't appear to a whole
Speaker 3: crowd when he got up from the grave. Why because
Speaker 3: he's sneaky. Sneaky, that's why he was born like a
Speaker 3: baby in a town like Bethlehem. Because he's sneaky. He
Speaker 3: wasn't born in a political capital. He was born in
Speaker 3: a backwoods town because he's sneaky. I never heard a
Speaker 3: sermon about sneaky Jesus. Maybe I should preach a whole
Speaker 3: series one time called Sneaky Jesus, because watch him.
Speaker 1: He walks up to Cleo and he's like, what you
Speaker 1: talking about? Never mind the fact that you are God,
Speaker 1: never mind the.
Speaker 3: Fact that you are resurrected. Just what you're talking about?
Speaker 3: What's he doing? He's creeping on Cleo. You never heard this.
Speaker 1: Kind of preaching before him.
Speaker 3: You think when God shows up, he's always going to
Speaker 3: be spectacular, that he's gonna show up in something BIG's
Speaker 3: gonna happen. No, No, he's very sneaky.
Speaker 1: He's very sneaky.
Speaker 3: He'll just sneak in to ordinary situations.
Speaker 1: He'll just seek in in ordinary moments, He'll.
Speaker 3: Just seek in.
Speaker 1: He won't give you any advance notice.
Speaker 3: He won't ask you to sign a waiver, he won't
Speaker 3: put a sign in the clouds, none of that, because
Speaker 3: he's sneaky. One time, Peter was in a storm and
Speaker 3: Jesus came walking on on the water and everybody say, ah,
Speaker 3: the dogs know is Jesus.
Speaker 1: But he's sneaking. He sneaks up on him.
Speaker 3: He snuck up in the locked doors when they were
Speaker 3: waiting for him. He snuck up on Cleo. What makes
Speaker 3: you think he's not sneaking up on you today? Just
Speaker 3: because he can't feel it doesn't mean he's not with you.
Speaker 1: He's sneaky. He's sneaky.
Speaker 3: He sneaks out of the tomb and he sneaks up
Speaker 3: on Cleo. Let me tell you what he was doing
Speaker 3: up on the cross. This is what they didn't understand,
Speaker 3: and this is why they fled, and this is why
Speaker 3: they lost their hope because all they saw was death.
Speaker 3: But Jesus didn't die so that death could reign. He
Speaker 3: died to bring victory into the earth. But he couldn't
Speaker 3: bring victory into the earth looking like victory. He had
Speaker 3: to dress it up like death and hang it on
Speaker 3: a cross.
Speaker 5: Because he's sneaking.
Speaker 1: He's sneaky. He's sneaky, and here's what he does.
Speaker 3: He'll send glory into your life, but it won't look
Speaker 3: like glory. He'll send blessing into your life, but it
Speaker 3: won't look like blessing. Right, He'll send patience into your
Speaker 3: life dressed like your teenager. Think about it, cause he's sneaky,
Speaker 3: and he'll send some of the best times in your
Speaker 3: life dressed like some of the hardest times. You don't
Speaker 3: see it while you're in it. I'm'a stay right here
Speaker 3: on this point, cause y'all are so quiet. I know
Speaker 3: I'm preaching right to your guts. I'm preaching to your
Speaker 3: small intestine.
Speaker 1: Sneaky. He's sneaky. So he's up there on the cross
Speaker 1: and he says it's finished cause he was speaking in
Speaker 1: code cause he's sneaky to tell us stuff.
Speaker 3: Cause to them that sounded like it's over. We got him, misdone.
Speaker 3: He's dead cause he's sneaky. So when he wanted to
Speaker 3: bring life into the earth. He snuck it in through death.
Speaker 3: When he wanted to bring peace to the earth, he
Speaker 3: snuck it in through chaos. Because he's sneaky, sneaky, sneaky,
Speaker 3: sneaky Jesus. I'm thankful that he's strong, but I will
Speaker 3: never understand his strength if I don't learn to see
Speaker 3: it in sorrow, because sometimes God will sneak the strength
Speaker 3: that you've been praying for in your life through the sorrow.
Speaker 1: Talk to me, y'all, don't have to be quiet. Don't
Speaker 1: let these people make you quiet. Talk to me. Don't
Speaker 1: let them intimidate you.
Speaker 3: But usually we understand that more on the return trip,
Speaker 3: so they walked all seven miles, but they didn't recognize Jesus.
Speaker 3: They were kept from recognizing him. They were kept from
Speaker 3: recognizing him until he sits down at the table. Watch
Speaker 3: how sneaky he is, takes the bread, blesses it, and
Speaker 3: breaks it.
Speaker 1: You see what he's doing, because that's what had happened
Speaker 1: to his.
Speaker 4: Body, because that's what had happened to their hope, because
Speaker 4: that's what always has to happen in your life before
Speaker 4: you really see the glory of God.
Speaker 3: And he told them on the road, he said don't
Speaker 3: you understand.
Speaker 1: Did not the Messiah.
Speaker 3: Verse twenty six have to suffer these things? Did he
Speaker 3: not have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? See,
Speaker 3: glory never looks like glory when it's coming. It never
Speaker 3: looks like glory when you see it come in. But
Speaker 3: when he took the bread, blessed it, broke it and
Speaker 3: gave it to them. When he gave it to them,
Speaker 3: they saw not only the broken bread, but they saw
Speaker 3: the place where the nails had been. And then they
Speaker 3: recognized them when he did that, Because he's sneaky and
Speaker 3: he did not describe it.
Speaker 1: He demonstrated it. So he goes, hey, let's.
Speaker 3: Eat boom bit bang, and they saw it and they're like,
Speaker 3: oh yeah.
Speaker 1: And that's how it is.
Speaker 3: It is after I've walked the whole walk, and after
Speaker 3: I've run, and after I've tried, and after I've cried,
Speaker 3: and after I've heart.
Speaker 1: And then I see it.
Speaker 3: It was him all along. You had to suffer it,
Speaker 3: but you don't get it while you're in it. I mean,
Speaker 3: let's be real. Sometimes sometimes our memory is much more
Speaker 3: enjoyable than our experience.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about family vacation. Now it's hilarious.
Speaker 3: You look at the pictures and talk about what a.
Speaker 1: Great time it was. No, it wasn't. You've edited the
Speaker 1: family vacation in your memory. You've clipped it together.
Speaker 3: You took out the part where you threatened to give
Speaker 3: the kids up for adoption.
Speaker 1: When you're in it, you don't see it. But resurrection
Speaker 1: is a round trip.
Speaker 3: Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and
Speaker 3: then enter into his glory?
Speaker 1: And when they saw that, they got up. Look at
Speaker 1: verse thirty three. They got up, and they turned around
Speaker 1: and they went back. Now watch this. I called this
Speaker 1: series seven mile miracle. I shouldn't have.
Speaker 3: It's really a fourteen mile miracle because the first seven
Speaker 3: they walked without the light. The second seven they walked back,
Speaker 3: and now they knew. God said, today is somebody's second
Speaker 3: seven miles. Now you see it, Now you did it.
Speaker 3: This is your turning point. This is that moment where
Speaker 3: you see he was with me all along.
Speaker 1: It's turnaround time. It's turnaround time. It's turnaround time.
Speaker 3: I walked seven miles in shame, but now I'm walking.
Speaker 1: This second seven in freedom. My turning point. I'm not
Speaker 1: staying in amais.
Speaker 3: And so they walked back to Jerusalem and they got
Speaker 3: together with Peter and the disciples, and she's a snuck
Speaker 3: into the room and he revealed himself and he said
Speaker 3: peace Peace.
Speaker 1: He released.
Speaker 3: That's my third letter, and I'm done because there's only three,
Speaker 3: because you can't have more than three points on Easter Sunday.
Speaker 3: It's just not scriptural. My third point is release. Now,
Speaker 3: let me point out something to you that every sneaker
Speaker 3: head in here will understand. There is a difference between
Speaker 3: the reveal and the release. Why do they show you
Speaker 3: the shoe three months before they will sell it to you.
Speaker 1: Let me break it down another way.
Speaker 3: You remember when the iPad first came out, No, well,
Speaker 3: let me remind you. For me, it was a big
Speaker 3: deal because I thought, well, I'm gonna get I'm gonna
Speaker 3: I'm gonna get one of those, and I'm gonna preach
Speaker 3: from it, and I'll be cutting edge preaching from my iPad.
Speaker 1: I looked so cool preaching from my iPad.
Speaker 3: And Steve Jobs did a reveal where he went through
Speaker 3: the iPad and all the features of the iPad, and
Speaker 3: I saw it. I was so excited to get an iPad.
Speaker 3: And I told one of our staff members. I said,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go get one of those tomorrow, and they said, no,
Speaker 3: you're not.
Speaker 1: I say, yes, I am. I said, I'm gonna get one.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna be one of the first preachers in America.
Speaker 3: I might not be the smartest preacher in America, but
Speaker 3: I might not be of I might not be the
Speaker 3: one of the best either, but I will be one
Speaker 3: of the first to preach from an iPad. I'm going
Speaker 3: to get an iPad. They said, you can't go get
Speaker 3: an iPad. It's not going to be out for several
Speaker 3: months because there is a space between the reveal and
Speaker 3: the release. That's where hope gets lost. In that space
Speaker 3: between the reveal and the release. It's called Saturday. It's
Speaker 3: when you're sitting around and you thought God was gonna
Speaker 3: and you just knew God was gonna and you were
Speaker 3: sure that they would never and.
Speaker 1: Then they did. It's called space.
Speaker 3: That's where faith grows in between two points between the
Speaker 3: reveal and the release. And that's what the Cross was.
Speaker 3: It was the reveal and it was the release. And
Speaker 3: so Jesus said several things. He said, today you'll be
Speaker 3: with me in Paradise. The Word of salvation, Father, forgive
Speaker 3: them the word of forgiveness. Behold your mother, the word
Speaker 3: of relationship, My God, why have you forsaken me? The
Speaker 3: word of abandonment, distress. The word of distress was I thirst.
Speaker 3: He said it is finished, which was the word of triumph.
Speaker 3: And then after he said that, Luke says that he said, Father,
Speaker 3: into your hands, I commit my spirit. As the sky
Speaker 3: grew black for three hours into the darkness, he spoke commitment, Father,
Speaker 3: into your hands, I commit my spirit.
Speaker 1: And he breathed his last.
Speaker 3: But his last breath was my first breath, because death
Speaker 3: was not his final destination. I went to Sydney this week,
Speaker 3: but I already had my ticket back to Charlotte before
Speaker 3: I ever left for Sydney. Jesus came to Earth in
Speaker 3: the likeness of sinful men, but he was not a
Speaker 3: sinful man. He went to a cross, but he did
Speaker 3: not belong on that cross. He did not stay on
Speaker 3: that cross. He was in this world, but he was
Speaker 3: not of this world. He went to the grave, he
Speaker 3: did not stay in the grave.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about round trip resurrection.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: He suffered that he might be glorified by his wounds.
Speaker 3: You are healed everybody say release. So here's what I
Speaker 3: wanted to show you. Because remember God is very sneaky.
Speaker 3: And Luke says that Jesus on the cross said, Father,
Speaker 3: into your hands, I commit my spirit.
Speaker 1: But Luke wasn't at the cross. Luke is recording what
Speaker 1: he said at the cross. But Luke wasn't at the cross.
Speaker 3: Now, John, who also wrote one of the Gospels, he
Speaker 3: was at the cross.
Speaker 1: He was there. He wasn't loud, he was listening, he
Speaker 1: was watching. John was.
Speaker 3: I would say he's a sneaky disciple because if you
Speaker 3: look at him at the Last Supper, he's got his
Speaker 3: head on Jesus.
Speaker 1: He's kind of sneaky.
Speaker 3: Every one of my kids have different personalities. Elijah is
Speaker 3: very direct and forceful and articulate, logical. If he wants something,
Speaker 3: he's going to give you seventeen reasons you should give
Speaker 3: it to him in thirteen consequences if you don't.
Speaker 1: Abby is very beautiful and charming. And then Graham. Graham
Speaker 1: is sneaky. He is.
Speaker 3: He doesn't I didn't teach him to be this way.
Speaker 3: He just is this way. Graham is my sneaky kid.
Speaker 3: So if he wants something from you, he will come
Speaker 3: up to you, he will hug you like he loves you.
Speaker 3: But he's working on something because he's sneaky. Everybody says sneaky.
Speaker 3: He's very sneaky. He came up to me yesterday and
Speaker 3: started hugging me, and he was hugging me, and he
Speaker 3: started singing this song and I liked it. The song was, uh,
Speaker 3: it was like, listen, I can do it. That's my daddy,
Speaker 3: that's my daddy. That's my daddy, that's my daddy, that's
Speaker 3: my daddy, dass.
Speaker 1: I like the groove of it. I started dancing to it.
Speaker 1: That's my daddy, Dass, my daddy, this is my daddy, Dass,
Speaker 1: my daddy.
Speaker 3: Byt the time I'm dancing, I realized what he's doing.
Speaker 1: The whole song was a setup.
Speaker 3: The last line he goes and he's gonna get me
Speaker 3: a dog, and he walks.
Speaker 5: Off because he's sneaky, because he's sneaky.
Speaker 3: And I.
Speaker 1: Think what John did.
Speaker 3: When he recorded what Jesus did when he died, Because
Speaker 3: remember it looked like the end, it was really the beginning.
Speaker 3: It was Grace dressed like Shane. It was triumph dressed
Speaker 3: like Trouble. And so John says that when Jesus died
Speaker 3: and said it is finished, which was a cry of victory.
Speaker 3: With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Speaker 3: And gave up his spirit is how we say it
Speaker 3: in English. But the Bible wasn't written in English. In fact,
Speaker 3: this part of the Bible was written in Greek. And
Speaker 3: there is a Greek word that John used in the
Speaker 3: thirtieth verse of the nineteenth chapter of his Gospel that
Speaker 3: we translated gave up.
Speaker 1: That really doesn't mean gave up.
Speaker 3: You know what the Greek word is, paradiami.
Speaker 1: Paradiami.
Speaker 3: Now you thought I was just randomly telling you that,
Speaker 3: but I wasn't.
Speaker 1: I was sneaking it in.
Speaker 3: So when I got to this point in the sermon,
Speaker 3: you would know that when the Bible says that Judas
Speaker 3: handed Jesus over to the Sanhedrin, paradimi, and the Sanhedrin
Speaker 3: handed Jesus over to Pilot, and Pilot handed Jesus over
Speaker 3: to Herod, and Herod handed over Jesus to be crucified.
Speaker 3: When Jesus got ready to die, guess what he did
Speaker 3: with his spirit paradiami.
Speaker 1: He handed it over.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to say, nobody took his life. He gave it.
Speaker 1: He gave it, and.
Speaker 3: He took the bread, and he blessed it, and he
Speaker 3: broke it, and he gave it, and he gives it.
Speaker 1: And he handed it over, and he handed it over.
Speaker 1: Parrotid on mine.
Speaker 3: The same word that says Judas handed Jesus over, I'm done,
Speaker 3: stand up. The same word that says that Judas handed
Speaker 3: Jesus over is used to describe the way that Jesus
Speaker 3: handed himself over. What am I trying to say? He
Speaker 3: had it in hand all along, It was always in
Speaker 3: his hands. It might have looked like Judas's hand. It
Speaker 3: might have looked like Herod's hand. It might have looked
Speaker 3: like Pilot's hand. But the hand on the hand that
Speaker 3: writes the story of your life is the hand of God.
Speaker 3: Somebody shout, hand it over?
Speaker 1: He handed it over?
Speaker 3: And can I tell you something else about paradidomia. It
Speaker 3: means to hand over for keeping until the appropriate time. Wow.
Speaker 3: So the Sanhedrin held him when he was handed over,
Speaker 3: until it was time to hand him over to the
Speaker 3: Roman government. And they held him until it was time
Speaker 3: to hand him over to the centurion so that he
Speaker 3: could die. And so when Jesus died his last word,
Speaker 3: his last mile, before he would do what he came
Speaker 3: to do and fulfill his purpose on the earth. He said, Father,
Speaker 3: into your hands, I hand over my spirit. Keep it
Speaker 3: for me till Sunday. Because when Sunday comes, Yo, you'll
Speaker 3: better clap to give me off this stage, because if
Speaker 3: I start preaching about that, Oh, oh God. Because when
Speaker 3: he got up on Sunday with all power in his hand,
Speaker 3: you see, he had a little meeting with the devil
Speaker 3: and he said, hey, devil, what's that in your hand?
Speaker 3: And the devil said, that's the key And Jesus said,
Speaker 3: the key to what? And the devil said, this is
Speaker 3: Revelation onein eighteen. It doesn't record the whole conversation, but
Speaker 3: it lets me.
Speaker 1: Know the outcome.
Speaker 3: The devil said, it's the key to death. And Jesus said,
Speaker 3: paradiami in other words, come.
Speaker 6: On, come on, drum hey, then over my paid i'm
Speaker 6: ron my laptad im.
Speaker 1: What else you got there, devil, Oh, this is the
Speaker 1: key to hell. This is the key to judgment.
Speaker 3: This is this is the key that will punish them
Speaker 3: according to their transgressions. And Jesus say, yeah, but I
Speaker 3: dealt with that. Now, hand it over, Hand it over.
Speaker 1: Somebody shout, hand it over.
Speaker 3: That's the invitation. That's the invitation, the release. Hand it over,
Speaker 3: Hand it over. Hey, what are you carrying? Clio disappointment?
Speaker 3: I dealt with that.
Speaker 1: Now hand it over, because you got seven more miles
Speaker 1: to go. Now hand it over. You see these hands
Speaker 1: that bled for you.
Speaker 3: They were holding your hands the whole time, and nothing
Speaker 3: has happened to you.
Speaker 1: That will be wasted.
Speaker 3: Why don't you do what he did with that bread
Speaker 3: and hand it over. How long are you going to
Speaker 3: carry the burden when he died to take it away?
Speaker 3: How long are you going to carry the shame that
Speaker 3: he already carried up a hill? Hand it over, Hand
Speaker 3: it over. I hear the spirit of God saying that,
Speaker 3: just over and over. In my mind, I just hear
Speaker 3: inserting whatever it is that you're carrying that Jesus already
Speaker 3: died to roll away, and I hear him saying, hand
Speaker 3: it over. What are you discussing as you walk along
Speaker 3: the road. Let's leave that in a miais. Let's leave
Speaker 3: that at the cross, Let's leave that in his grave.
Speaker 3: You got to regret.
Speaker 1: Hand it over. You got a defeat. Hand it over.
Speaker 1: You got an excuse, hand it over.
Speaker 3: Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things to
Speaker 3: enter into his glory? Now hand it over so that
Speaker 3: you can experience what Paul described. He said, I reckon
Speaker 3: that the sufferings of this present time, everything that you've
Speaker 3: been through, everything that you will go through, are not
Speaker 3: worthy to be compared with the glory that will be
Speaker 3: revealed if you hand it over. But if you stay
Speaker 3: at Amais and you keep your back turned to Jerusalem,
Speaker 3: you will never know what was waiting for you in
Speaker 3: his hands for you to receive it.
Speaker 1: And this is the promise of God. The spirit of
Speaker 1: God is in this place. Now.
Speaker 3: I want you to bow your head, and no one moving,
Speaker 3: because this is the moment of the handover. This is
Speaker 3: the moment where you trust Him with your life. You've
Speaker 3: been doing it your own way for seven miles now,
Speaker 3: and it's gotten you nowhere but a Mais. And it's
Speaker 3: gotten you nowhere but confusion. And it's gotten you nowhere
Speaker 3: but despair. It's gotten you nowhere. But today here stands
Speaker 3: one who offers to you the bread of life. Healing
Speaker 3: is in his hands, life is in his hands, Freedom
Speaker 3: is in his hands. So I want to pray with
Speaker 3: you right now to the end that you would hand
Speaker 3: it over, to the end, that you would get up
Speaker 3: and come back like Cleopus did, like Peter did after
Speaker 3: he had gone fishing, like we all must do to repent,
Speaker 3: to believe that resurrection is here. But your heads about
Speaker 3: and your eyes closed at every location, We're going to
Speaker 3: pray a prayer right now. This prayer is for those
Speaker 3: who are handing it over, for those who are ready
Speaker 3: to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, to
Speaker 3: come back to him. And I want us to pray
Speaker 3: together out loud as a church family for the benefit
Speaker 3: of those who are coming back to God. Pray with me,
Speaker 3: Heavenly Father, into your hands.
Speaker 1: I commit my life. I belong to you today. I
Speaker 1: trust you.
Speaker 3: I believe that Jesus Christ is your son, and today
Speaker 3: I make him my savior and I call him Lord.
Speaker 3: This is my new beginning. Forgive me of my sin,
Speaker 3: change my heart, make me a brand new creation. From
Speaker 3: this state forward, I will follow you all the days
Speaker 3: of my life, heads bowed, eyes closed.
Speaker 1: On account of three.
Speaker 3: If you just prayed that prayer, shoot your hand in
Speaker 3: the air boldly. This is your moment on three one,
Speaker 3: two three.
Speaker 1: Shoot him up all over these campuses, hands going up,
Speaker 1: new right beginning. Come him back home to the place belong.
Speaker 7: Come on church, let's welcome them home like the eleven.
Speaker 7: It is true, this resende. If you know he's please
Speaker 7: your lies, blead God.
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 Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
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Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.