Don’t Let The Funeral Fool You

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.880 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.360 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.080 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.600 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:14.760 Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:19.880 I want to give you this in obedience to the 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:22.360 Holy Spirit. One time in college, I was feeling like 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:23.919 I wasn't worthy to worship the Lord. 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.600 And we went in a meeting and everybody was worshiping, 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:30.480 and I felt just so dry inside. And the reason 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:32.440 I felt dry is because of the things that I 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:33.159 was dealing with. 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:34.920 And I just bring it down a little bit. I 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:35.600 want to tell them this. 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:38.400 I was dealing with some things that I thought made 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.479 me unworthy to worship God. So you know, three or 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.600 four songs had gone by, and I couldn't lift my hands. 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.280 They felt heavy, and I couldn't open my mouth because 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:48.320 I felt like a hypocrite. 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:50.839 You ever felt like that before? 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:53.840 Just heavy with burdens or maybe the hypocrisy of the 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:54.920 things that you struggle with. 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:58.440 So you kind of hesitate because you're heavy. You hesitate 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:00.720 because you feel like a hypocrite, and. 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:04.240 Boy, the Lord gave me something in that moment that 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:06.480 really changed my life. And this has been over twenty 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:09.240 five years ago, but I still remember it. I was 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:11.440 just trying to pray and I was like, Lord, I 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:13.720 don't feel worthy to worship. I don't feel like I 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:14.720 deserve to worship. 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:16.479 And it was as if. 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:19.039 The Holy Spirit whispered to me. After I said I 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:23.280 don't deserve to worship. I don't deserve it, he said back, 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:29.600 so what I do. So that was a shift for 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:34.760 me because it went from what I deserve to what 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:39.559 he deserves. And if you can just make that shift, 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:41.920 you know, I know, we're moving into that time of 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:44.640 the year where everybody's preaching at you about an attitude 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.520 of gratitude and how you're supposed to be grateful when 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.080 you've got to be with all those people just a 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.000 few days from now and then see them again three 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:53.120 weeks later at Christmas. 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:55.600 You know, all the tension and the stress that we 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:56.080 don't mention. 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:58.160 Okay, y'all are going to fake, fake, fake me out 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:00.600 in church today, like you're looking forward to seeing everybody, 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.080 But even just the stress of the season, it can 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:06.640 put you in a place of pressure and maybe even 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.720 the fulfilled potential of the year where you feel like man, 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.640 I fell short of so many things. None of that 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:17.960 changes what God is worthy of. And so even if 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:24.440 you don't feel grateful, gratitude can be a focus before 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:29.760 it's a feeling, and that would just be so powerful 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.519 for you to get sixteen years old, if you would 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.720 get that at age sixteen, Nothing you ever do changes 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:36.800 how worthy God is. 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:43.400 So the heavier your hands feel, lift them higher. That's 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:48.519 called a sacrifice of praise. When you feel like you're 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:52.160 a hypocrite, reach out for him. He's righteous, he's holy. 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:54.400 You've never needed him more than you need him in 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.520 those moments you didn't even make it to church. 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.720 You're at home watching this. Lift your hand, say scare 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:01.600 your roommate and. 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:06.240 Tell him God is worthy. Hug my praise. Clock those 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:11.440 same hands. He's worthy, Hug my praise just like you 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:12.680 want to slap the devil. 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:18.400 Clock those hands, because He's still worthy of all my praise. 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:25.480 High five to seven people say he's so worthy, he 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:26.200 deserves it. 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.000 And when you gave out all your high fives, clap 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.640 your hands for Jesus one more time, come up. 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:39.280 For Jesus High, say Clopas for. 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:49.720 Jesus, I love my job man. 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:54.320 I get to encourage you and speak truth to you. 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:59.440 And today we are going to encounter a very interesting 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:04.520 story scripture, maybe one of the weirdest things Jesus ever did, 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:09.000 and it comes toward the very end of his earthly ministry. 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:13.600 Now notice I said earthly ministry, because he's still ministering. 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.640 Jesus didn't stop healing when he went to heaven. Jesus 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:21.239 didn't stop saving when he went to heaven. Jesus didn't 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:24.120 stop delivering and breaking chains and making ways when he 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:27.000 went to heaven. In fact, he said one time, if 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.919 I leave, greater things will be possible because of the 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:34.760 Holy Spirit who I will send in my name. But 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.719 after Jesus was resurrected from the dead, on the day 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:40.799 he got up from the grave, he did something so strange, 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:42.240 and I want to share it with you today. 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:46.159 Found in Luke chapter twenty four, verse thirteen. 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:51.640 Through thirty five. We won't read all of that. If 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:53.480 you're doing the math, we won't read all of that. 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:55.359 But I wanted to give you the homework as well, 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.279 because when the sermon is over, then you can begin 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:06.320 to live it out Luke, Chapter twenty four, verse thirteen. 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.760 And if you haven't found it by now, we're just 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:15.240 gonna do it on the screen. The Bible says, Now 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:17.719 that same day, two of them were going to a 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:22.280 village called Amaeus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.760 talking with each other about everything that had happened. 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.120 And as they talked and. 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:32.920 Discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.039 and walked along with them. Tell your neighbor, you can't 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:41.320 see him, but he's with me. Come on, tell him again, 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:42.000 Say be nice to me. 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.680 Jesus is with me today. 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:49.680 He was with me in the car when I was 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.800 cussing people out getting into the parking lot. He'll be 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:57.960 with me when I leave. Just because you're not aware 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:03.520 doesn't mean he's not there. Now, remember that Thursday, around 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:10.680 the table, Jesus slipped up beside them, and it says 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.480 in verse sixteen in the strange but they were kept 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:18.760 from recognizing him. Wow, you would think they would know 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:20.799 who Jesus was at this point. 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:26.240 Very important public figure. He's just been the. 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.599 Central character of a targeted investigation which led to his 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:32.440 execution in the most public space possible in front of thousands, 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:37.720 and they were kept from recognizing him, and he asked them. 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.560 I love Jesus. What y'all talking about? 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:46.840 Jesus said, y'all, Jesus was very southern in his saferness. 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:50.760 What are you discussing together as you walk along? And 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.880 they stood still, their faces downcast. And now we see 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.359 how sad they really are about the fact that Jesus 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:01.000 was crucified. And so they stood still, their faces downcast, 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:05.200 and one of them, named Cleophus, asked him, are you 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:07.880 the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:09.720 things that have happened there in these days? 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:19.040 What things? He asked, Jesus is just so cool? What 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:21.520 things they're talking about? 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:23.600 The things he just went through, and he's pretending like 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:29.320 he doesn't know about it. What things about Jesus of Nazareth. 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:32.120 He is who they're talking about, and they don't know it. 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.720 About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied, he's a prophet, powerful 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:39.400 in word, indeed before God and all the people, the 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:42.520 chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:43.760 sentenced to death. 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.200 And they crucified him. But we had hoped that he 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:49.720 was the one who was going to redeem Israel. What's more, 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.040 it was the third day since this took place. In addition, 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:55.320 some of our women amazed us. They went to the 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:56.720 tomb early this morning, but they. 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:00.119 Didn't find his body. 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:03.600 Can you hear just a hint of irony in this narrative? 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:05.760 They didn't find his body. 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:07.920 Wonder what that means. 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:10.520 They came and told us they had seen a vision 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:15.400 of angels who said he was alive. Then some of 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.440 our companions went to the tomb and found it just 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.360 as the women had said, But they did not see Jesus. 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.040 Wait, who didn't see Jesus them? 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:25.440 Are you? 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:27.800 Because he's right here with you, but you don't see 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.800 him for who he is. And this next verse might 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.560 sound harsh, but it came from Jesus, so take it 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.640 up with him. And this is my central two verse 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:42.160 scripture for today. He said to them, how foolish you are, 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:44.239 and how slow. 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:47.440 To believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:53.920 the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:55.319 his glory? 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:57.920 How foolish you are, and how slow. 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:02.319 To believe all that the prophets have spoken. How foolish 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.840 you are and slow to believe all the prophets have spoken. 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:09.160 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.040 then enter his glory? 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:13.800 I want to give you a word today. 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:17.880 Turn to your neighbor and say, I know you've lost 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:18.480 some things. 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:21.720 I know it. 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:25.480 Looks like it's over. Now here's the word. Tell them, 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:27.400 don't let the funeral fool you. 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.000 Come on, wake up and tell them again. Say don't 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:41.640 let the funeral fool you. This is the word of 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:45.640 the Lord. Don't let the funeral fool you. 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.040 I don't know who this is for, but don't let 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:54.120 the funeral fool you. No matter how much you've cried, 0:09:54.760 --> 0:10:02.560 Christ is alive. What a message for Christmas season. Emmanuel 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:03.680 is still with us. 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:09.559 Don't let the funeral fool you. Well, I've already preached, 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:11.040 but sit down and let's talk about it. 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:22.280 We've all had experiences, literally, if not metaphorically, of funerals 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:28.360 that were disingenuous with good intentions. When I say disingenuous 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:31.319 with good intentions, I'm simply saying. 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.679 That what they say about the person after they're dead. 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:39.760 Really has very little resemblance to how they felt about 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:40.600 them when they were alive. 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.240 And you know that's true. 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:48.240 We've all been to that funeral where we wanted to 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.120 check in the casket and wonder, is this the same person. 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.440 That you hated so much that you just spoke so 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:56.400 eloquently about. 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.200 And I understand that in a season that brings up 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:02.080 memories of those that we love and have lost, even 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:06.400 using the word funeral might locate you in a dark place. 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:09.199 But I don't mean for it too, because the truth 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.400 of the matter is that everybody in here is going 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:17.800 through a funeral of some kind. And we are not 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.360 just saying goodbye to people in our lives, but sometimes 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:21.319 we're saying goodbye to. 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.120 Seasons that we love. 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.360 I try to be attentive to the season that I'm 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.560 preaching in, and I think that the leaves that were 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.000 falling from all of the trees this week just reminding 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:36.040 me that the branches will soon be bare, but not forever. 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:40.800 It reminded me of the cyclical nature of the things 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:44.120 that we come to depend on in our lives, and 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:49.360 that those trees that are naked now will come to 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:52.520 be covered again. Just take this in for a moment. 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:55.280 I want to start slow because I want to get 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:59.480 you to understand that sometimes you rush right past the 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:01.719 revelation and that God wants to. 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:10.120 Give you because you only recognize what is being taken away. So, 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:11.079 in the. 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:15.280 Spirit of full disclosure, when my dad went to be 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:17.920 with the Lord about ten years ago, it was at 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:20.439 the end of a very difficult season. 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:21.400 Of us relating to one another. 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.199 But my mom stepped in and did the right thing 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:26.960 and took care of him until he died, and he 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.120 was suffering from als and it was a. 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:30.040 Very brutal death. 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.600 Now, I would love to tell you that I was 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:37.160 an amazing son through all of this, and I was 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.920 the best son I could have been then. But I've 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.320 grown now, and looking back on the path that our 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:47.640 relationship traveled, I'm pretty sure there are many things that 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:52.640 I could have done better, and yet I refused to 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.920 stay imprisoned in the regret of what I could have 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:56.640 done differently. 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:00.000 I would rather move forward with the lessons that I 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.000 I learned for the rest of my life. 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.880 And one of the things that my dad kept saying 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:08.679 over and over again when we were fighting and we 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:12.160 couldn't get along, he kept saying, it can't end like this. 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:16.440 And I felt him on that you know, it can't 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:20.600 end like this. It can't end with us estranged, and 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.960 it didn't. I often tell the story about the craziest 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.640 thing that ever happened to me. I was preaching the 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.120 nine thirty service, and I used to preach three times 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.120 on the weekend, Saturday night, nine thirty eleven thirty. But 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:34.520 after I finished the nine thirty, something told me to 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:35.360 go see my dad. 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:39.240 Now, this was so out of the ordinary for me. 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.280 Josh can tell you When I told him I'm leaving now, 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:44.880 he said, you're leaving. It's only nine thirty. You still 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:47.400 got the eleven thirty. I said, run back to the nine thirty. 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:50.040 At the eleven thirty, I'm supposed to go see my dad. 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.240 And he said okay. 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.640 And when we went to my dad's house, it was 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.880 as if God had perfectly timed it because he was 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:02.240 laying in the bed. Now he could still speak at 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.040 this point, he hadn't lost his ability to think or speak, 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:06.720 and he could. 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:09.080 Still say a lot of stuff, good stuff and bad stuff. 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.240 And when I walked in, he was watching me step 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:15.160 up to the stage to preach, and he was so confused. 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:18.719 By that because he said, wait, how are you here? 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:19.400 And there. 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:25.000 I said, the internet, Dad, It's called the internet. It's 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:26.120 the one I preached before. 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.520 And he said, uh, but you're you're there and you're here, 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:34.080 and I said, I know, it's confusing. I decided to 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:37.320 leave early to come watch the sermon with you. And 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:40.600 I couldn't have known, no way I could have known 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.240 that when I left him that day after watching myself 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:46.800 preach with him, well, I was supposed to be preaching 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.480 somewhere else, that I would get a call at midnight 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.040 from my mom saying, you need to come. If you're 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:55.920 coming hospicet, he only has a few more hours. And 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:57.880 he hung on for days after that. And I'm telling 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.280 you this story, and I don't really I want to 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:01.560 tell it to you, but I feel like it might 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:05.520 help somebody because I think about how it could have ended. 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:08.600 Had my mom not forgiven him. 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:12.120 I think about how it could have ended had we 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:14.560 not dropped our pride and come together for a purpose. 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.320 I think about what the last conversation with him could 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.400 have been, because I had no idea it. 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.080 Was the last one. 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:27.120 But I'm thankful that the last time we talked, it 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.400 was me obeying God to come and preach the best 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:34.440 sermon that I ever preached that nobody heard which was 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:38.000 a message of reconciliation that happened after a time of 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:43.520 great strain. I never got to speak to him again. 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:45.360 I got to be by his side when he died 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:49.440 several days later, because he completely faked us out and 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:51.800 acted like he had a few hours and he stayed 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.880 around a few days, and I sang so many hymns 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.280 to him. I ran out of songs about God, and 0:15:57.320 --> 0:15:59.520 I had to start singing Tom Petty and Whody and 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:04.440 the Blow and everything I knew on the guitar. But 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:06.800 it took me back, and I want to get to 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.280 this passage in just a moment. But I felt compelled 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.200 to frame it first of all from a relational frame 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:16.920 because at the beginning of all of my difficulties with 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.200 my dad, and how many of you raise a pinky 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.640 at me if this is you have a relational tension 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:23.840 in your life right now that will surface around this 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.960 time of year. Just your pinky, Okay, wiggle your toes. 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:32.080 I know you're sitting next to him. You can't do 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:38.320 the pinky thing. Wink at me, scratch your right ear, 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:44.080 pull on the left load. When it all began with 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:46.880 my dad, I spoke with a very wise friend and 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:49.880 I was afraid of how it would end, and we're 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:52.040 going to talk about that, how it will end. I 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.640 was so afraid of how it would end. In that moment, 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:57.080 I didn't know if my dad would kill himself. He 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.760 had threatened that. I didn't know if he wouldn't speak 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:03.840 to us us. That was certainly a possibility. And my 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:08.239 wise friend said something to me that I've lived by 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:14.080 ever since. He said, Stephen, you can't control the outcome 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:20.800 of his decisions, but you can adjust your expectations in 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:27.040 this situation. He said, I know your dad is still living, 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:31.360 but you need to have a funeral for your expectations, 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.720 because you keep expecting him to act a certain way, 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:36.919 and every time he doesn't. 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:41.200 Act that way, you lose your faith. You keep expecting 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.320 him to act a certain way. And every time that you. 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:48.080 Put your picture of how he is supposed to be 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.399 and how this is supposed to be on a pedestal, 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.240 every time you elevate that, you set yourself up to 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:59.200 be let down, and you are let down over and 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:04.560 over and over again because of your expectations of the relationship. 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:10.080 So he said, have a funeral for your expectations. And 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:13.280 then when I had a physical funeral for my dad. 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:16.600 Years later, there had already been a funeral before the 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:21.080 funeral for the expectation of what I thought he should do. 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.560 But I found out when you have a. 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:33.720 Funeral for your expectations, God replaces them with grace. When 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:37.400 you have a funeral for your expectations of how your 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.560 kids need to turn out, God will give you grace 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:44.359 to raise them and stop comparing to others. When you 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.560 have a funeral for your expectations of where you're supposed 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:49.840 to be at this point in your life, God will 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:52.760 give you grace to accept where you are on the 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:53.800 way to where you're going. 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.199 Every thirty four year old in this room is not 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.600 created equal. Some of you will bloom leg and your 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:02.600 branches will reach wide. 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:05.639 But it is having a funeral for the expectation of 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.119 when the bloom needs to occur that allows the roots 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.720 to grow down deep enough to sustain the structure that 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.280 will accommodate the fruit. I'm trying to say that God 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:17.800 is not through with you yet. 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:21.960 God is not through with you yet. God is not 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:26.320 through pruning your branches yet. But every pruning. 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:28.439 Process in the hands of the master gardener that we 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:31.000 call God is designed. 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:33.520 To produce fruit in the future that your eyes. 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.199 Have not seen, and your ears have not heard, and 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.520 it has not entered into your heart. So why would 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:45.159 you preach about a funeral on Thanksgiving? Why, Pastor Stephen, 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:49.800 would you preach an Easter sermon a few weeks before Christmas? 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:51.639 Because the Lord told me to. 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:55.040 He told me that a lot of us in this 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:59.120 room are like these two men in this passage, Cleaphus 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:03.840 and his buddy, who are leaving Jerusalem after the crucifixion 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:08.760 of Jesus Christ headed back home to a place called Amaeus. 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:11.679 Amaeus is not a famous place. 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:15.679 Amais is not even technically known by archaeologists today. 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:19.800 As to its it's that back it's exact location. 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.119 But the thing about Amais that I do understand for 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:25.480 these two men is it's the only place they know 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:25.960 to go. 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:30.320 It's the only place they know to go. It's home 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:31.520 for them. 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:35.400 And they're walking there, and they're talking as they walk 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:41.879 about their deep disappointment in what didn't happen, in what 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:49.639 didn't happen, their deep disappointment in what Jesus didn't do. 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:54.360 There are a few honest people in this church who 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:58.159 are not so concerned with showing you their haylo, that 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:00.440 they will wave at me right now and say, there 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:02.840 are some things in my life that I am disappointed 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:10.200 that haven't happened yet that were supposed to happen by now. 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:15.480 And this is the situation in Luke twenty four, when 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:19.479 all of a sudden a stranger begins to walk beside them. 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:21.560 You say, he wasn't a stranger. He was the Savior, 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:26.480 not as far as they knew, not as far as 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:30.520 they understood. You know, you think when God shows up 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:32.960 in a situation, it's going to be immediately obvious that 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:36.240 it's him because you already have an idea of what 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:37.479 He's going to do when he shows up. 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:39.920 You know, when God shows up. 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:42.399 When God turns this around, I am going to know 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:45.320 it because I have a list of what he's supposed 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:48.280 to do. And when God does what he's supposed to do, 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:52.879 I'll know it's him. But suppose that God knows what 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:55.679 he is supposed to do better than you know what 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:56.600 he's supposed to do. 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:00.320 For everybody who struggles with us. 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.560 Suppose that God knows what you're supposed to have more 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:06.199 than you know what you're supposed to have. 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:09.320 For everybody who struggles with insecurity. 0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:12.640 Suppose that God knows what you're supposed to be good 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.480 at more than you know what you're supposed to be 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:15.920 good at. 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:18.120 Suppose God knows. 0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:21.000 What you don't need that you keep trying to create 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:24.920 and fake like you have. Suppose that God knows what 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.680 schedule is supposed to be happening even as you stress 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:32.639 over how far behind you feel. Suppose that God brought 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:36.720 you here today to have a funeral for the way 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:40.199 you thought it was supposed to go. And I know 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.119 we're supposed to be thankful in this season, and I 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:45.720 know we're supposed to be grateful, and I know we're 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:51.400 supposed to eat macaroni, But what if before the macaroni? 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:54.960 And I'm going to eat macaroni. I only eat macaroni 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:57.760 twice a year. I'm going to start the day with 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:03.680 Bojangles and Chick fil A biscuits. I'm gona half sweet, 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:07.880 I'm gonna have savory. I'm gonna find a sour biscuit too. 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:11.119 I'm gonna eat every biscuit that God ever made. 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:12.880 Watch me work this thing. 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:15.879 I'm gonna have an eight thousand calorie day on Thursday, 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:19.080 and I'm gonna feel no shame about it. Y'all pray 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:22.119 for me about three am Friday morning, because you'll know. 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:26.800 I'm suffering the effects of all of my premeditated bad decisions, 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:27.560 and I. 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:28.920 Don't feel bad about it. 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:31.560 Now does your neighbors say I don't feel bad about it? 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:36.440 That had nothing to do with anything. 0:23:38.400 --> 0:23:47.160 Except suppose God knows before the situation happens the ends 0:23:47.200 --> 0:23:50.879 to which he intends to use it. I feel so 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:54.760 annointed to tell somebody today, you don't know how it's 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:55.720 supposed to go. 0:23:57.680 --> 0:24:03.440 You don't and you don't even know when it's over. 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:07.320 Okay, So the band helped me and they didn't even 0:24:07.359 --> 0:24:10.720 realize it. Today we were singing a song that says, 0:24:12.119 --> 0:24:18.800 that's why I owe you praise. Y'all love that song, Chandler. 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:21.680 They don't love it too much. Give you another chance 0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:23.879 so we don't feel bad. Y'all love that song that 0:24:23.960 --> 0:24:28.879 me and Chandler and Kristin John Shrow. When I listen, 0:24:29.680 --> 0:24:33.320 I wrote the song with them, but I was confused 0:24:33.359 --> 0:24:36.000 about when the song was over. As a matter of fact, 0:24:36.240 --> 0:24:39.280 there are so many different parts to that song that 0:24:39.440 --> 0:24:40.960 I kept thinking it was time for me to preach 0:24:40.960 --> 0:24:42.560 because of the last song before the sermon. 0:24:42.920 --> 0:24:44.320 So I kept getting ready to come out on the 0:24:44.320 --> 0:24:46.679 stage to preach. You know, I was preparing what I 0:24:46.680 --> 0:24:47.240 was gonna say. 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:49.720 Give him praise, whatever I was gonna say, and I'm 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:51.720 getting it ready. But every time I went to come out, 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:55.600 they did another part. And so I was like, all right, 0:24:55.600 --> 0:24:57.719 I'll wait thirty seconds cause I'm fired up to get 0:24:57.720 --> 0:24:59.040 out here. I'm ready get going up and studying all 0:24:59.080 --> 0:25:01.760 week on pre j right now, and I'll get ready 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:03.240 to come around the corner. And they start another part 0:25:04.080 --> 0:25:08.120 and another part and another part, and they just kept 0:25:08.160 --> 0:25:12.840 on prison and I just kept on waiting, And even 0:25:12.840 --> 0:25:17.000 though I wrote it, I didn't know when it was 0:25:17.040 --> 0:25:21.359 going to be over. I mean, technically that's my song, 0:25:22.359 --> 0:25:25.600 but even in my own song, there was more to 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:29.879 come that I did not know about while I was 0:25:29.920 --> 0:25:31.000 waiting backstage. 0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:34.960 And I know it's your life, and I know it's 0:25:34.960 --> 0:25:37.200 your marriage, and I know it's. 0:25:37.040 --> 0:25:41.080 Your business, but you don't get to say when it's over. 0:25:43.080 --> 0:25:46.280 You don't you don't get to say when you're done giving. 0:25:46.400 --> 0:25:49.200 There was one man in Scripture who had so much 0:25:49.240 --> 0:25:53.439 stuff he decided to build bigger barns to accommodate all 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:56.439 of his extra grain. But the Lord said, you fool, 0:25:56.520 --> 0:25:59.280 This life, this life that you claim for your own, 0:25:59.320 --> 0:26:02.280 will be the means, and it from you this very night. 0:26:02.720 --> 0:26:03.720 Then who will get. 0:26:03.520 --> 0:26:07.199 What you have prepared? Because when you stop giving, you 0:26:07.240 --> 0:26:11.880 stop living. You don't get to tell God when you're 0:26:11.880 --> 0:26:15.320 done giving him your life. You don't get to tell 0:26:15.520 --> 0:26:18.399 God when you're done being generous. You don't get to 0:26:18.440 --> 0:26:24.120 tell God when you're done trusting people. You don't get 0:26:24.160 --> 0:26:24.920 to tell God. 0:26:24.760 --> 0:26:26.720 When your heart is so broken you can't go on. 0:26:28.680 --> 0:26:37.240 Because these two men in the scripture are leaving Jerusalem, 0:26:37.359 --> 0:26:43.879 leaving the place of Jesus's funeral, which is also the 0:26:43.920 --> 0:26:47.400 place of his resurrection, but they don't know that yet. 0:26:48.760 --> 0:26:50.840 It's the place of his death, but it's also the 0:26:50.880 --> 0:26:55.159 place of his greatest demonstration, but they don't know that yet. 0:26:56.480 --> 0:26:57.800 I wonder what you don't know yet. 0:26:59.080 --> 0:27:03.120 I wonder what Jesus has already done that you don't 0:27:03.160 --> 0:27:06.240 even know yet. I wonder who he's already spoken to 0:27:06.359 --> 0:27:09.840 on your behalf that you don't know yet. I wonder 0:27:09.840 --> 0:27:12.760 who's moving to Charlotte right now to be your wife 0:27:13.400 --> 0:27:16.520 that you don't know about yet. I wonder about who 0:27:16.560 --> 0:27:19.720 he's moving out of their position in the job so 0:27:19.800 --> 0:27:22.520 you can have the job you've been praying for that 0:27:22.600 --> 0:27:25.680 you don't even know yet. I wonder who's moving out 0:27:25.680 --> 0:27:28.280 of that house so you can move in that you 0:27:28.320 --> 0:27:31.800 don't even know about yet. I wonder what he's preparing 0:27:31.840 --> 0:27:35.239 you to share at AA that somebody else needs to 0:27:35.280 --> 0:27:37.080 be set free. 0:27:36.600 --> 0:27:38.359 That you don't even know about yet. 0:27:38.880 --> 0:27:41.520 I wonder what kids you're gonna have on your knees 0:27:41.600 --> 0:27:44.879 one day that you don't even know about yet. I 0:27:44.960 --> 0:27:48.040 wonder what praise you're gonna be giving him next November 0:27:48.680 --> 0:27:48.960 that you. 0:27:48.960 --> 0:27:50.399 Don't even know about yet. 0:27:55.880 --> 0:27:58.600 I just thought of something, y'all. 0:27:58.720 --> 0:28:02.480 Let's give this November a name. You ready, let's call it? 0:28:03.720 --> 0:28:08.320 How can we call it? He got no shave November? 0:28:09.359 --> 0:28:12.959 What else they got? How about don't know November? 0:28:15.280 --> 0:28:17.960 I like it. It's got a good ring to it, 0:28:18.720 --> 0:28:22.040 don't know November. Because they're telling you you're supposed to 0:28:22.040 --> 0:28:25.159 be thankful, But how can I be thankful when I 0:28:25.160 --> 0:28:26.640 don't know how it's gonna turn out? 0:28:27.280 --> 0:28:29.480 Well, this is don't know November. 0:28:30.320 --> 0:28:32.520 How am I supposed to praise him in advance for 0:28:32.560 --> 0:28:34.560 a way that I don't know how he's gonna make. 0:28:35.119 --> 0:28:36.440 It's don't know November. 0:28:37.240 --> 0:28:39.200 How are you supposed to praise him when you don't 0:28:39.200 --> 0:28:42.360 even know where the supply is gonna come from. See 0:28:42.440 --> 0:28:45.320 back in September, I didn't praise him, But I'm. 0:28:45.120 --> 0:28:46.240 In a different season. 0:28:46.320 --> 0:28:46.600 Now. 0:28:47.160 --> 0:28:50.360 This is don't know November. This is don't know. But 0:28:50.520 --> 0:28:59.280 he's still worthy. He's working on it right now. November. Yeah, 0:29:00.000 --> 0:29:03.640 you know, I don't know. Tell your neighbor. I don't know. 0:29:04.480 --> 0:29:05.720 And I love how Jesus. 0:29:05.720 --> 0:29:09.200 I watched this, y'all said, now let me teach you. 0:29:09.320 --> 0:29:12.240 Jesus walks up and walks with. 0:29:12.320 --> 0:29:17.240 Them, even though everybody said, even though they are headed 0:29:17.240 --> 0:29:23.640 in the wrong direction, that'll blow your mind. They are 0:29:23.720 --> 0:29:28.240 leaving Jerusalem at the very moment that the resurrection is validated. 0:29:28.600 --> 0:29:29.720 I mean, this is the. 0:29:29.640 --> 0:29:33.400 Moment when they should be celebrating, and they're sad because 0:29:33.440 --> 0:29:37.000 they don't believe. Jesus said that I didn't. He said, 0:29:37.000 --> 0:29:41.640 how foolish you are and slow to believe all that 0:29:41.800 --> 0:29:46.320 was spoken about the Messiah, that he had to suffer 0:29:46.360 --> 0:29:52.520 first and then enter into his glory. So I remember 0:29:52.800 --> 0:29:55.360 when I first heard the sermon that I. 0:29:55.280 --> 0:29:59.800 Need to follow Jesus. I don't remember hearing the sermon 0:30:00.560 --> 0:30:05.680 where Jesus followed me. This is that sermon. 0:30:07.240 --> 0:30:11.080 This is that moment in your life when you couldn't 0:30:11.080 --> 0:30:15.400 follow him any farther forward, when you couldn't hear his 0:30:15.480 --> 0:30:21.920 voice clearly, and he followed you away from Jerusalem. Remember 0:30:21.960 --> 0:30:25.560 he would tell the disciples to stay in Jerusalem, but 0:30:25.640 --> 0:30:27.959 when they strayed from where they were supposed to be 0:30:28.080 --> 0:30:28.960 staying in. 0:30:30.080 --> 0:30:31.880 He went with them. 0:30:32.320 --> 0:30:37.280 This is a different perspective on praise, because now I'm 0:30:37.280 --> 0:30:40.040 not praising God for all the times that I followed him, 0:30:41.600 --> 0:30:43.320 when I did what I was supposed to do, when 0:30:43.320 --> 0:30:46.240 I thought what I was supposed to think. I'm praising 0:30:46.400 --> 0:30:48.840 God for all the times that. 0:30:48.840 --> 0:30:55.400 I went away and He followed me. Now they're going 0:30:55.440 --> 0:30:58.760 to clip this on the internet. They're gonna clip this. 0:30:58.840 --> 0:31:01.880 Somebody's going to say this is heresy to say that 0:31:02.000 --> 0:31:06.080 Jesus follows us. We don't have a God who follows us. 0:31:06.160 --> 0:31:09.240 We follow him, and I understand that. I understand that 0:31:09.280 --> 0:31:11.520 he's God and we're not. I understand that it's his ways, 0:31:11.520 --> 0:31:14.040 not my ways. I understand all of that. I also 0:31:14.160 --> 0:31:17.680 understand that I am not always fully capable of doing. 0:31:17.480 --> 0:31:23.240 It right, and I need a Jesus who When I 0:31:23.480 --> 0:31:27.840 don't follow him, he says, fine, fool, I'll. 0:31:27.600 --> 0:31:36.719 Follow you, and I'll follow you, and I'll talk with you, 0:31:37.640 --> 0:31:38.640 and i'll walk with you. 0:31:39.640 --> 0:31:42.320 And Jesus says, I'll even ask you questions that I 0:31:42.360 --> 0:31:47.560 already know the answer to. What things? Somebody say, what things? 0:31:48.440 --> 0:31:50.400 That's what Jesus said. He said, you're talking about the 0:31:50.440 --> 0:31:53.440 things that have happened. What things fill me in? 0:31:53.960 --> 0:31:56.560 Now we have a savior who's worthy to be followed, 0:31:56.840 --> 0:32:00.240 a savior who never needs to be filled in following 0:32:00.360 --> 0:32:02.560 people who he's asking to fill him in. 0:32:03.160 --> 0:32:06.720 What is happening in this text? This is a complete 0:32:06.840 --> 0:32:07.800 reversal from. 0:32:07.680 --> 0:32:11.240 The way that we expect God to operate in our lives. 0:32:11.640 --> 0:32:13.720 And yet all of the honest ones in this room 0:32:13.760 --> 0:32:17.280 will know that the praise that hits the deepest is 0:32:17.320 --> 0:32:20.480 from the realization of all of the times when you 0:32:20.560 --> 0:32:25.880 were three miles away from Jerusalem, four miles away from Jerusalem, 0:32:25.920 --> 0:32:29.479 five miles away from Jerusalem. Some of you won't admit it, 0:32:29.680 --> 0:32:32.920 but you are just one more fight away from drinking again. 0:32:33.480 --> 0:32:35.400 Some of you won't admit it, but you are just 0:32:35.480 --> 0:32:38.360 one more fight away from leaving all together. Some of 0:32:38.400 --> 0:32:40.760 you won't admit it, but you have been so close 0:32:40.800 --> 0:32:41.600 to going off. 0:32:41.400 --> 0:32:42.040 The deep end. 0:32:42.400 --> 0:32:45.640 Oh, it would surprise everybody sitting around you if they knew. 0:32:45.960 --> 0:32:49.840 But it does not surprise the Savior because he saw 0:32:49.880 --> 0:32:52.920 you walking away, and he made a way for him 0:32:52.960 --> 0:32:53.240 to be. 0:32:53.280 --> 0:32:55.280 With you as you walk away. 0:32:55.880 --> 0:33:00.120 So I'm trying to say you're not too far gone. 0:33:00.320 --> 0:33:01.360 In fact, you're ready. 0:33:01.880 --> 0:33:05.760 You're only one thought away from a praise. You're only 0:33:05.800 --> 0:33:09.320 one thought away from a breakthrough. You're only one thought 0:33:09.360 --> 0:33:12.840 away from joy, one thought away from a new beginning. 0:33:14.200 --> 0:33:18.200 Feel the Holy Spirit? Might I feel God setting somebody 0:33:18.280 --> 0:33:21.480 free from this funeral that you've been having in your 0:33:21.560 --> 0:33:25.160 mind because you've been putting to death your expectation of 0:33:25.240 --> 0:33:28.760 grace because of your own mistakes. But I found out 0:33:28.760 --> 0:33:32.880 about a Savior that no matter which direction I'm headed in, 0:33:33.280 --> 0:33:37.000 if I'm following him, that's great. But if he has 0:33:37.040 --> 0:33:41.240 to follow me, he'll do that too. So there will 0:33:41.320 --> 0:33:44.080 never be a day. There will never be a moment. 0:33:44.360 --> 0:33:47.080 There will never be a decision, there will never be 0:33:47.120 --> 0:33:50.520 a distinction, there will never be a dysfunction, there will 0:33:50.560 --> 0:33:53.040 never be a thing that you will do what things. 0:33:54.480 --> 0:33:55.520 There will never. 0:33:55.320 --> 0:33:57.920 Be an event that can separate you from the love 0:33:58.000 --> 0:33:59.080 of a savior. 0:33:58.920 --> 0:34:01.160 Who will follow you when you can't follow him. 0:34:02.600 --> 0:34:10.040 Now, if I had my preference, I would follow him always. 0:34:11.480 --> 0:34:15.160 I would follow him always. But sometimes I'm a fool 0:34:17.840 --> 0:34:22.799 Sometimes I'm too foolish to follow. What do you do 0:34:22.880 --> 0:34:26.279 when you've been too foolish to follow? What do you 0:34:26.320 --> 0:34:30.120 do when you know that at least fifty one percent 0:34:30.239 --> 0:34:32.359 of your kid's behavior is because of stuff they saw 0:34:32.400 --> 0:34:37.280 you do? Maybe I'll just go start my Thanksgiving early 0:34:39.880 --> 0:34:42.480 felt kind of cold when I said that. Notice the 0:34:42.520 --> 0:34:45.120 same Jesus that followed them confronted. 0:34:44.640 --> 0:34:50.040 Them, Where are you going? Hey, Hey, where are you going? 0:34:50.560 --> 0:34:54.160 What's your tomia? What things? What things are you Tomai? 0:34:55.840 --> 0:34:59.640 Why are you talking about Jesus when you could talk 0:34:59.680 --> 0:35:04.919 to him? I think it's really important who you talk 0:35:05.719 --> 0:35:10.520 to when you are going through certain things. How do 0:35:10.640 --> 0:35:13.319 you can testify, either by positive or negative experience in 0:35:13.360 --> 0:35:14.839 your life, that. 0:35:14.840 --> 0:35:19.600 Who you talk to when you're going through things depends 0:35:19.600 --> 0:35:23.120 on what you have left when you get done. I'm 0:35:23.120 --> 0:35:25.000 gonna say that again. That was too good, and Holly 0:35:25.000 --> 0:35:28.239 didn't write it down. Who you talk to? 0:35:28.320 --> 0:35:31.799 When you go through things, determines what you have left 0:35:31.880 --> 0:35:36.879 when you get done. And I thought the fact that 0:35:36.960 --> 0:35:39.040 at least they had each other was comforting to me 0:35:40.160 --> 0:35:44.640 to talk to about their disappointment, to talk to about 0:35:44.680 --> 0:35:46.960 what was supposed to happen versus what actually. 0:35:46.719 --> 0:35:49.160 Did to talk to? Who do you talk to. 0:35:49.160 --> 0:35:53.720 When you're disappointed? And I hope as somebody besides yourself 0:35:55.960 --> 0:36:02.560 you cannot keep your own counsel in seasons of chaos. 0:36:04.040 --> 0:36:08.759 I know you went to Duke. Don't care. This is 0:36:08.800 --> 0:36:12.439 don't know November, and don't care Christmas. Don't care where 0:36:12.440 --> 0:36:17.239 you went to school. It doesn't say that the men 0:36:17.360 --> 0:36:23.879 weren't educated. It says that they were disappointed. And Jesus, 0:36:24.560 --> 0:36:27.520 being in very nature God, who did not consider equality 0:36:27.560 --> 0:36:30.000 with God something to be grasped, but made himself a servant, 0:36:30.040 --> 0:36:36.920 made himself a servant, comes up alongside them and begins 0:36:36.920 --> 0:36:43.319 to speak with them. And he says, you're being foolish 0:36:43.680 --> 0:36:49.040 because you thought the funeral was the end. Bring me 0:36:49.080 --> 0:36:52.480 my computer screen, y'all. I told him I might need 0:36:52.520 --> 0:36:55.040 the screen for this message. I said, if the people 0:36:55.080 --> 0:36:57.440 look really engaged, I'm. 0:36:57.320 --> 0:37:01.680 Going to bring out the screen. So boy, bring out 0:37:01.719 --> 0:37:05.040 the screen. Yeah, it's one of those days. 0:37:05.880 --> 0:37:08.600 Now, everybody clap your hands as they come, because it's awkward. 0:37:08.600 --> 0:37:16.320 While we wait, I want. 0:37:16.120 --> 0:37:17.600 To show you a word from the Lord that came 0:37:17.600 --> 0:37:19.919 to me, and I'm not preaching this text in order 0:37:19.960 --> 0:37:23.120 to give you all of the details of it. I 0:37:23.160 --> 0:37:27.040 actually preached seven weeks on this one story, seven years ago, 0:37:27.880 --> 0:37:30.759 and that is all online for free, and you can 0:37:30.760 --> 0:37:32.879 go watch all of the ways that I took every 0:37:32.920 --> 0:37:36.040 single word of this text and tried to bring all 0:37:36.080 --> 0:37:38.200 of the meaning out of it that I could. But today, 0:37:38.400 --> 0:37:41.160 just as a backdrop, I want to tell you, don't 0:37:41.200 --> 0:37:48.719 let the funeral fool you. Don't let this season of 0:37:48.760 --> 0:37:53.919 your life, this season of the relationship, this season of 0:37:54.000 --> 0:37:57.719 your struggle with the thing inside of yourself become a 0:37:58.040 --> 0:38:05.520 stop sign causes you to quit growing and coming toward God. So, 0:38:05.680 --> 0:38:09.080 then if we were to make this on the screen 0:38:09.160 --> 0:38:09.719 and I was to. 0:38:09.640 --> 0:38:14.040 Tell you, don't let the funeral fool you, first thing 0:38:14.880 --> 0:38:18.320 I want to show you in the scripture. 0:38:19.880 --> 0:38:24.080 What happened after Jesus followed these boys, because this is 0:38:24.080 --> 0:38:29.880 the best part all the way down here where he 0:38:29.920 --> 0:38:33.080 said what things and they said about Jesus and Nazareth, 0:38:33.920 --> 0:38:39.600 and then this part I love when he said, how 0:38:39.600 --> 0:38:43.200 foolish you are. And then he said you're slow to believe. 0:38:44.200 --> 0:38:46.520 And then he said, did not the miss I have 0:38:46.600 --> 0:38:47.680 to suffer these things? 0:38:49.200 --> 0:38:49.800 These things? 0:38:51.080 --> 0:38:56.399 And then enter his glory, And beginning with Moses and 0:38:56.440 --> 0:38:58.799 all the prophets, he explained to them what was said 0:38:58.840 --> 0:39:04.760 in all the scriptures concern himself. So Jesus told them 0:39:05.120 --> 0:39:05.920 about Jesus. 0:39:09.040 --> 0:39:12.279 Forget what you heard, Forget what you thought. 0:39:14.239 --> 0:39:17.000 Forget the fact that you were taught that God will 0:39:17.040 --> 0:39:20.840 only be with you if you're following him faithfully. 0:39:22.120 --> 0:39:23.280 Forget what you heard. 0:39:23.320 --> 0:39:27.600 Forget what you thought, Forget what you told yourself at 0:39:27.640 --> 0:39:31.360 the funeral, Forget the story that you have been telling yourself, 0:39:31.400 --> 0:39:37.480 because when Jesus died, it was a part of the story. 0:39:37.760 --> 0:39:38.759 Now let me break this down. 0:39:38.760 --> 0:39:42.080 Real, good things happen in our lives that become a 0:39:42.120 --> 0:39:46.399 part of our story, and we can't change those. So 0:39:46.480 --> 0:39:50.480 you step outside of your integrity, And now you realize 0:39:50.840 --> 0:39:54.120 this changed my story forever. Jesus didn't step outside of 0:39:54.160 --> 0:39:57.359 his integrity. The people who killed him did. He did it, 0:39:58.080 --> 0:40:00.200 But now even their sin became. 0:40:00.120 --> 0:40:01.000 A part of the story. 0:40:01.080 --> 0:40:03.239 Now it was the part of the story that was 0:40:03.239 --> 0:40:07.480 the most redemptive, but it was the hardest to recognize 0:40:07.600 --> 0:40:11.200 as redemptive. So the part of the gospel story where 0:40:11.200 --> 0:40:14.120 our sin was being paid for was the part of 0:40:14.160 --> 0:40:16.759 the story that discouraged these men and made them want 0:40:16.800 --> 0:40:20.280 to walk away. In other words, the moment that Jesus 0:40:20.440 --> 0:40:23.400 was dying, he was doing the most. 0:40:23.920 --> 0:40:24.480 When he was. 0:40:24.520 --> 0:40:28.360 Teaching, that was good. When he was healing, that was good. 0:40:28.760 --> 0:40:32.000 When he was opening blind eyes, that was good. When 0:40:32.000 --> 0:40:35.160 he was raising Lazarus, that was good. But when he 0:40:35.280 --> 0:40:38.480 was dying, it wasn't just a good thing. It was 0:40:38.800 --> 0:40:40.960 the thing that was the. 0:40:41.080 --> 0:40:42.120 Thing that he came to do. 0:40:42.880 --> 0:40:45.719 And while he was doing the thing that he came 0:40:45.760 --> 0:40:49.279 to do, they were interpreting the thing that would bring 0:40:49.280 --> 0:40:53.600 them redemption as being the thing that made it all worthless. 0:40:55.719 --> 0:41:01.360 When you're hurting, your interpretations become distortive. When you are hurting, 0:41:01.600 --> 0:41:05.759 your interpretations cannot be trusted. When you are hurting, you 0:41:05.800 --> 0:41:08.640 will see the best thing is the worst thing. When 0:41:08.719 --> 0:41:11.600 you are hurting, you will be attracted to unhealthy people 0:41:11.840 --> 0:41:15.480 who will enable you rather than healthy friends who can 0:41:15.520 --> 0:41:18.399 help heal you. When you are hurting, you will run 0:41:18.440 --> 0:41:21.520 to things that will numb you, rather than running to 0:41:21.600 --> 0:41:24.520 things that can set you free. When you are hurting, 0:41:24.560 --> 0:41:27.520 your interpretation of events cannot be trusted. 0:41:28.000 --> 0:41:31.680 And that's when we need Jesus. 0:41:32.560 --> 0:41:36.360 I need Jesus to walk with me. I need Jesus 0:41:36.680 --> 0:41:40.200 to wake up with me. I need Jesus to lay 0:41:40.280 --> 0:41:43.320 down beside me. When I lay down and I'm tossing 0:41:43.360 --> 0:41:46.879 and turning about the storms that I'm facing. I need 0:41:47.000 --> 0:41:50.120 Jesus to help me know which door is him, because 0:41:50.200 --> 0:41:56.360 every open door is not God. I need Jesus to 0:41:56.480 --> 0:41:58.040 let me know which calls. 0:41:57.719 --> 0:41:58.359 To pick up. 0:41:58.760 --> 0:42:01.560 I need Jesus to let me know which text to sin. 0:42:02.040 --> 0:42:06.360 I'm trying to say that I need him every hour 0:42:07.960 --> 0:42:09.799 the story before I break this all the way down 0:42:09.840 --> 0:42:11.920 in the scripture? Am I breaking this down good as 0:42:12.360 --> 0:42:12.839 whoa man? 0:42:12.880 --> 0:42:13.480 It's good to me. 0:42:15.880 --> 0:42:18.120 So Grandma didn't ask permissions, So I ask for future 0:42:18.120 --> 0:42:21.680 forgiveness for telling this story. He was fussing at us 0:42:21.680 --> 0:42:23.359 the other day because we were leaving and we had 0:42:23.360 --> 0:42:25.200 just left for tour, but we needed to leave and 0:42:25.200 --> 0:42:27.440 get a few days away after tour to recover, and 0:42:27.520 --> 0:42:30.399 Graham said something very funny, and he's seventeen years old now, 0:42:30.480 --> 0:42:32.560 but he said I still need parents. 0:42:34.480 --> 0:42:36.160 You would think he would be happy we were going 0:42:36.160 --> 0:42:37.759 out of town. But he is such a good kid. 0:42:37.920 --> 0:42:39.720 There's nothing that he wanted to do that he couldn't 0:42:39.760 --> 0:42:42.920 do when we were there and he wanted parents, and 0:42:42.920 --> 0:42:44.880 Ally said, you have parents. 0:42:45.640 --> 0:42:48.719 We flew you out for four days of tour, and 0:42:49.160 --> 0:42:51.080 you had all your friends over this weekend and we 0:42:51.080 --> 0:42:51.799 were here the whole time. 0:42:51.840 --> 0:42:55.799 We're just leaving for three days. And he said, why 0:42:55.840 --> 0:42:57.480 don't need you on the weekend. 0:43:02.320 --> 0:43:08.480 What a phrase? What a confession? I don't need you 0:43:08.520 --> 0:43:11.520 on the weekend. I just need you when I want you. 0:43:13.719 --> 0:43:16.399 I just need you when it's convenient. I'm not saying 0:43:16.400 --> 0:43:19.120 he's a bad kid. He's a great kid. But what 0:43:19.160 --> 0:43:26.839 if that's our attitude toward God? What if we need 0:43:26.920 --> 0:43:30.319 him for all of it? What if we need him 0:43:30.320 --> 0:43:34.040 for every single bit of it? What if he wants 0:43:34.080 --> 0:43:37.319 to be in all of it? What if God is 0:43:37.360 --> 0:43:40.360 waiting for you to pray his presence into your panic attack? 0:43:44.160 --> 0:43:46.399 What if he wants to be in that with you too? 0:43:47.920 --> 0:43:51.000 What if he will follow you down an amaeis road 0:43:51.719 --> 0:43:52.960 going the wrong way? 0:43:53.320 --> 0:43:55.959 When you say I'm spiraling out of control? Here, God, 0:43:56.239 --> 0:43:59.360 I'm spiraling out of control again, and I'm tempted to 0:43:59.480 --> 0:44:04.279 sabbathae go because I'm spiraling. And what if Jesus is 0:44:04.400 --> 0:44:06.120 just waiting to. 0:44:06.160 --> 0:44:11.480 Be more than your weekday savior, more than just the 0:44:11.520 --> 0:44:14.320 one that you need when things go wrong. 0:44:15.800 --> 0:44:19.279 And the Bible says that he began to expound. 0:44:20.080 --> 0:44:21.759 Don't you wish you could have heard this sermon him 0:44:22.480 --> 0:44:25.400 everything that was in the scriptures concerning himself. 0:44:26.400 --> 0:44:28.160 That would be an amazing sermon. 0:44:28.920 --> 0:44:30.560 And it would take two or three hours to walk 0:44:30.560 --> 0:44:32.160 these seven miles because it said it was a seven 0:44:32.200 --> 0:44:35.120 mile row. So over the course of two or three hours, 0:44:35.960 --> 0:44:39.640 this man gives a whole series where he tells them 0:44:39.680 --> 0:44:42.319 who he is, and they still don't get it. 0:44:43.680 --> 0:44:45.120 That's the irony of the text. 0:44:45.200 --> 0:44:48.279 As they approached the village to which they were going, 0:44:48.400 --> 0:44:50.960 Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 0:44:52.200 --> 0:44:54.640 Keyword, well, two words, as if. 0:44:56.320 --> 0:44:59.640 And you say, why would Jesus continue on as if 0:44:59.640 --> 0:45:04.000 he were going going farther? Because sometimes God delights to 0:45:04.000 --> 0:45:09.120 be invited, to be invited. 0:45:10.600 --> 0:45:13.480 You say, well, isn't he present everywhere? Yeah? 0:45:13.600 --> 0:45:19.840 But he permeates you when you ask him to he's present, 0:45:21.520 --> 0:45:27.319 but he permeates when you give permission, because watch this. 0:45:27.320 --> 0:45:30.880 This is more than just hospitality, y'all. He acted like 0:45:30.920 --> 0:45:32.720 he was going farther. He was like, well, good chat, 0:45:32.880 --> 0:45:33.800 hope you learn something. 0:45:34.960 --> 0:45:37.880 They still don't know it's Jesus. How do they not 0:45:38.040 --> 0:45:38.800 know it's Jesus. 0:45:38.840 --> 0:45:41.960 They're still at the funeral. He's supposed to be in 0:45:42.000 --> 0:45:45.200 the ground. They don't believe the angel, they don't believe 0:45:45.239 --> 0:45:45.720 the report. 0:45:45.760 --> 0:45:46.920 They don't believe the women. 0:45:48.320 --> 0:45:51.520 They don't believe what they heard, and they can't even 0:45:51.520 --> 0:45:52.640 believe what they're seeing. 0:45:52.920 --> 0:45:57.680 They don't recognize him, but they urged him strongly, stay 0:45:57.719 --> 0:46:00.759 with us, for it is nearly evening. Stay with us, 0:46:00.800 --> 0:46:03.880 for it is nearly evening. The day is almost over. 0:46:04.160 --> 0:46:08.320 So he watched this, went in to stay with them. 0:46:08.840 --> 0:46:12.080 And my favorite thing about the text is not even 0:46:12.080 --> 0:46:15.080 that he followed them going the wrong way down the road. 0:46:15.760 --> 0:46:17.920 My favorite thing about the text is not even that 0:46:18.000 --> 0:46:22.680 he gave them an amazing summary and entire semester's worth 0:46:22.719 --> 0:46:25.960 of education in how he was the rock in the wilderness, 0:46:26.239 --> 0:46:29.839 and how he was the rod of Aaron, and how 0:46:29.880 --> 0:46:33.319 he fulfilled everything that Moses spoke of, and how He 0:46:33.440 --> 0:46:35.919 was the cloud by day and the fire by night. 0:46:36.239 --> 0:46:38.400 Not only do I love the fact that he talked 0:46:38.440 --> 0:46:42.719 to them along the way, I love verse thirty and 0:46:42.760 --> 0:46:45.319 thirty one, because once he got inside the house with them. 0:46:45.360 --> 0:46:47.560 The Bible says, when he was at the table with them. 0:46:47.600 --> 0:46:55.800 He took brad, gave thanks, He took a bow jangle's biscuit. 0:46:57.440 --> 0:47:06.799 Gave thanks, and he broke it and began to give 0:47:06.840 --> 0:47:10.120 it to them. Everybody shout this word. 0:47:11.400 --> 0:47:17.080 Then then and only then, You mean they heard a 0:47:17.120 --> 0:47:20.560 master's level class from the master, and they still didn't 0:47:20.560 --> 0:47:26.680 get it. No, then and only then, after the bread 0:47:27.160 --> 0:47:29.440 had been broken, then. 0:47:29.960 --> 0:47:31.840 Their eyes were opened. 0:47:33.320 --> 0:47:36.240 I'll say it again in case there's been a breaking 0:47:36.280 --> 0:47:39.840 in your life lately. After the bread had been broken, 0:47:40.680 --> 0:47:45.239 then their eyes had been opened. But not before the 0:47:45.280 --> 0:47:49.359 bread had been broken, not when he spoke it, when 0:47:49.400 --> 0:47:53.680 he broke it. Something about the breaking of the bread 0:47:54.520 --> 0:47:57.960 helped them to see who he really was, because now 0:47:58.000 --> 0:48:02.400 they realized he was just killed on the cross. He 0:48:02.640 --> 0:48:06.160 gave his life on the cross. He wasn't just hung 0:48:06.239 --> 0:48:10.480 there by humans, He was sent there by God. He 0:48:10.600 --> 0:48:14.960 wasn't just dying physically, He was paying the price spiritually. 0:48:15.600 --> 0:48:19.240 And it was only after the breaking that the revelation came. 0:48:20.000 --> 0:48:23.960 There are some revelations that only come after the breaking. 0:48:24.880 --> 0:48:29.080 They don't come before, They only come after. They don't 0:48:29.080 --> 0:48:32.880 come before you go through, they only come after. But 0:48:32.960 --> 0:48:36.600 for everybody who's been broken lately, I got good news. 0:48:37.000 --> 0:48:39.160 After the breaking comes an opening. 0:48:39.560 --> 0:48:42.760 Now your eyes be open. Now your ears be open, 0:48:43.239 --> 0:48:46.399 Now your road be open. Now your red save part. 0:48:51.280 --> 0:48:52.000 Say it out. 0:48:51.840 --> 0:48:57.680 Loud, this is not the end. 0:48:58.320 --> 0:48:59.960 Give God praise for it. This is not the end. 0:49:07.040 --> 0:49:10.279 For a moment it looked like it was over. But 0:49:10.480 --> 0:49:12.279 this is. 0:49:13.080 --> 0:49:15.440 Maybe I should write it on the board, y'all seemed 0:49:15.440 --> 0:49:16.560 like you need some extra help. 0:49:16.640 --> 0:49:23.960 This is not the end. Say it to your neighbor. 0:49:24.040 --> 0:49:28.960 This is not the end. 0:49:29.400 --> 0:49:32.239 Tell him you can do better than him anyway. This 0:49:33.520 --> 0:49:38.759 is not the end. Tell him you were bigger than 0:49:38.800 --> 0:49:44.919 that place. Anyway. This is not the end. It wasn't 0:49:44.960 --> 0:49:45.960 ready for you anyway. 0:49:46.280 --> 0:49:51.640 This is not the and you couldn't handle it back then. 0:49:51.719 --> 0:49:58.120 But this is not the And now put my scripture 0:49:58.160 --> 0:49:59.799 back on the screen, and I'm gonna bring this thing 0:50:00.280 --> 0:50:04.759 full circle today. For somebody who has been standing at 0:50:04.800 --> 0:50:08.439 a funeral and weeping over a loss and weeping over 0:50:08.480 --> 0:50:12.360 a regret, and weeping over a mistake, and punishing yourself 0:50:12.400 --> 0:50:15.040 over a mistake, and saying that this is the end, 0:50:15.280 --> 0:50:17.680 and thinking that this is the end, and the enemy 0:50:17.719 --> 0:50:19.640 has been telling you that this is the end, and 0:50:19.680 --> 0:50:22.239 you will never recover from this, and nobody will ever 0:50:22.320 --> 0:50:24.560 love you after this, and there is no way back 0:50:24.600 --> 0:50:27.160 from this, and you cannot climb out of this, and 0:50:27.200 --> 0:50:30.080 you cannot recover from this, and there is no redemption 0:50:30.160 --> 0:50:32.600 in this, and there is no light coming, and there 0:50:32.680 --> 0:50:36.319 is no help coming for everybody who the enemy has 0:50:36.400 --> 0:50:41.520 been telling you is the end, gives me Verse thirty one. 0:50:41.840 --> 0:50:42.240 Please. 0:50:42.760 --> 0:50:45.680 Then then. 0:50:47.280 --> 0:50:51.520 The Lord spoke to me and said, this is not 0:50:53.480 --> 0:51:11.479 me because that because there's gonna be a Then there's 0:51:11.520 --> 0:51:14.120 gonna be a Then there's. 0:51:13.960 --> 0:51:18.120 Gonna be a Then you hear me today, I can't 0:51:18.120 --> 0:51:20.040 put my faith on this word for you. 0:51:20.400 --> 0:51:23.920 I can appreciate when it's gonna take your faith, because 0:51:23.920 --> 0:51:27.640 that's gonna be a Then dip their eyes were open. 0:51:27.719 --> 0:51:31.239 That's gonna be a there. That's gonna be a there. 0:51:32.800 --> 0:51:34.439 Laid down in breathe. 0:51:35.040 --> 0:51:38.160 Then June up with the keys. There's gonna be a there. 0:51:39.600 --> 0:51:40.760 There's gonna be adad. 0:51:41.760 --> 0:51:45.200 When dog gets finished with this, it won't be a 0:51:45.320 --> 0:52:00.320 fill of roup. It will be a celebrating day shout 0:52:00.360 --> 0:52:14.520 like this already there, Then. 0:52:16.880 --> 0:52:20.040 You get to make the decision. Now what's on the 0:52:20.120 --> 0:52:24.160 other side of Then they left me. 0:52:24.480 --> 0:52:28.879 Then I went into isolation and died alone. Or they 0:52:28.960 --> 0:52:29.360 left me. 0:52:30.200 --> 0:52:32.440 Then I went to work on what was inside of 0:52:32.480 --> 0:52:34.760 me that made me feel like I wasn't a person 0:52:34.800 --> 0:52:35.560 without them. 0:52:35.600 --> 0:52:42.800 Then it got so bad we could barely speak. But then. 0:52:44.280 --> 0:52:46.239 I slapped them and cussed them out and spit in 0:52:46.280 --> 0:52:50.200 their face. Or then I decided I would try to 0:52:50.200 --> 0:52:52.120 find a way in that didn't involve my. 0:52:52.120 --> 0:52:54.080 Ego which was too big to fit through the door. 0:52:54.320 --> 0:53:04.879 And then you can't die in this because there will 0:53:04.960 --> 0:53:12.760 be a then then then then then. 0:53:15.239 --> 0:53:17.680 I don't even know if you remember, but you gave 0:53:17.719 --> 0:53:21.279 me the sermon. Holly was talking to me the other 0:53:21.400 --> 0:53:23.320 day and I was telling her something. 0:53:24.120 --> 0:53:33.800 Such a sad story like Cleopus and his companion about 0:53:33.800 --> 0:53:34.880 the sad things that had happened. 0:53:34.880 --> 0:53:36.000 And they were real, y'all. 0:53:36.120 --> 0:53:40.400 We must say, they were disappointed and devastated because of 0:53:40.440 --> 0:53:43.640 real life events. It wasn't that that didn't happen. It 0:53:43.719 --> 0:53:50.120 was just that the then was in progress. Then their 0:53:50.160 --> 0:53:55.560 eyes were open when he broke the bread. Only what 0:53:55.719 --> 0:54:02.440 is broken can be really blessed. So after the breaking, 0:54:03.120 --> 0:54:08.240 expect a revelation. After I got done telling Holly my story, 0:54:09.640 --> 0:54:14.359 she said, yeah, but then, because I was going through 0:54:14.360 --> 0:54:17.120 a part of our history where somebody had. 0:54:17.040 --> 0:54:22.440 Really hurt us, I mean really hurt us, she said, yeah. 0:54:22.480 --> 0:54:25.480 But then and she told me the thing that happened, 0:54:25.800 --> 0:54:29.000 they hurt us that wouldn't have happened if they didn't. 0:54:29.760 --> 0:54:31.879 And just when she reminded me of that, she said, 0:54:31.880 --> 0:54:37.680 but then it gave me faith for my future because 0:54:37.680 --> 0:54:42.399 I realized that just like farmers plant seeds and don't 0:54:42.440 --> 0:54:47.640 cry about losing them, there are certain things in your 0:54:47.680 --> 0:54:51.000 life and in my life that are waiting for the 0:54:51.080 --> 0:54:58.920 appropriate time to come forth. Don't let the funeral fool you. 0:54:58.920 --> 0:55:01.160 You keep saying this is this is the end. It's 0:55:01.200 --> 0:55:01.799 not the end. 0:55:03.080 --> 0:55:09.640 It's just pre then, because one day maybe you'll be 0:55:09.680 --> 0:55:12.479 talking to somebody and you'll say, I was about ready 0:55:12.520 --> 0:55:16.959 to give up, but then, And I think the real 0:55:17.000 --> 0:55:20.480 skill of living Austin is to be able to trust 0:55:20.520 --> 0:55:23.040 God enough that you leave the. 0:55:22.840 --> 0:55:34.280 Then with him, Because maybe what was most significant about 0:55:34.280 --> 0:55:36.680 the bread was not just the fact that he broke it, 0:55:38.360 --> 0:55:39.520 but whose hands it was in. 0:55:42.200 --> 0:55:44.319 Jesus was supposed to be the guest. What is he 0:55:44.400 --> 0:55:47.640 doing serving the bread? It is the moment you let 0:55:47.680 --> 0:55:51.520 him take over that you see who he really is. 0:55:53.680 --> 0:56:00.040 So I thought, with everyone standing across every location, the 0:56:00.080 --> 0:56:03.040 most annointed moments that I've preached all year, I don't 0:56:03.040 --> 0:56:04.160 know if you can feel it or not. And you 0:56:04.160 --> 0:56:06.840 don't have to feel it. Even if all you feel 0:56:06.880 --> 0:56:09.359 is grief. Don't let the funeral fool you. 0:56:10.239 --> 0:56:15.680 There will be a then, There will be a then, 0:56:15.880 --> 0:56:17.879 and you get to make a decision about this. 0:56:18.000 --> 0:56:22.000 Then, when you are relaying this story in the future, 0:56:22.920 --> 0:56:24.520 do you want to tell about the time that you 0:56:24.560 --> 0:56:26.960 were walking away from God down a road called e 0:56:27.000 --> 0:56:29.800 Maya seven miles and you kept going. 0:56:31.280 --> 0:56:33.080 And you stayed home because you were disappointed? 0:56:34.320 --> 0:56:35.760 Or do you want to talk about how the bread 0:56:35.840 --> 0:56:38.319 was broken and then your eyes were open and watch 0:56:38.440 --> 0:56:39.120 verse thirty two. 0:56:39.120 --> 0:56:40.000 I got to give you this. 0:56:40.520 --> 0:56:43.640 It says they recognized him in the breaking of the bread, 0:56:43.640 --> 0:56:45.600 and they asked each other, we're not our hearts burning 0:56:45.600 --> 0:56:47.279 within us while he talked with us on the road 0:56:47.280 --> 0:56:51.239 and open the scriptures to us. Then they got up 0:56:52.120 --> 0:56:57.680 at once and returned to Jerusalem, where they were supposed 0:56:57.719 --> 0:57:00.640 to be. All along, I believe God's and some of you, 0:57:00.719 --> 0:57:04.040 back to where you belong today, Back to the kind 0:57:04.040 --> 0:57:06.319 of person you really are, back to the kind of 0:57:06.320 --> 0:57:07.400 hope you really possess. 0:57:07.880 --> 0:57:09.080 Back to the role. 0:57:10.400 --> 0:57:14.360 That you occupy so brilliantly with integrity when your faith 0:57:14.440 --> 0:57:15.120 is engaged. 0:57:15.480 --> 0:57:18.760 They went back to Jerusalem, and there they found the 0:57:18.760 --> 0:57:21.600 eleven and those with them assembled together. Ain't it crazy 0:57:21.640 --> 0:57:24.160 how God already had the party getting started while they 0:57:24.160 --> 0:57:27.560 were still in the funeral. Don't let the funeral fool you, 0:57:27.560 --> 0:57:31.960 you might miss the party. And there was a prayer 0:57:32.040 --> 0:57:35.800 meeting happening in Jerusalem, and verse thirty four says they said, 0:57:36.000 --> 0:57:38.520 it's true. The Lord has risen and appeared to Simon. 0:57:39.520 --> 0:57:43.880 And then the two told what had happened on the 0:57:43.880 --> 0:57:48.440 way and how Jesus was recognized. 0:57:48.040 --> 0:57:50.640 By them when he broke the bread. 0:57:50.720 --> 0:57:57.760 Then then this is your then, baby, this is. 0:57:57.720 --> 0:57:58.400 Your Then. 0:58:00.280 --> 0:58:03.920 Even be grateful for the breaking if you put it 0:58:03.960 --> 0:58:04.640 in his hands. 0:58:06.560 --> 0:58:07.960 So I want to. 0:58:07.960 --> 0:58:12.240 Pray for you, because I started this sermon saying we 0:58:12.320 --> 0:58:15.320 have to have a funeral for our expectations, our funeral, 0:58:15.320 --> 0:58:16.960 for the way that we thought things would turn out, 0:58:17.080 --> 0:58:19.720 our funeral, for the way we thought people should appreciate us, 0:58:19.800 --> 0:58:22.560 our funeral, for our funeral, for our path that we 0:58:22.600 --> 0:58:23.520 thought we would be on. 0:58:23.680 --> 0:58:26.400 At this point in our life. But don't have the 0:58:26.520 --> 0:58:28.200 funeral and bury your faith. 0:58:31.400 --> 0:58:37.480 Have the funeral for your expectations, and watch God resurrect 0:58:37.640 --> 0:58:38.240 your faith. 0:58:39.880 --> 0:58:43.160 And so I'm trading you, see it. I am trading 0:58:43.200 --> 0:58:44.920 my expectation. 0:58:45.680 --> 0:58:50.680 Of others for faith in God. To let me know 0:58:50.760 --> 0:58:55.520 there is a then, and it's in his hands. Put 0:58:55.560 --> 0:58:58.880 your hands just like this, like you're receiving something from 0:58:58.920 --> 0:59:02.680 somebody you trust, and just tell the Lord it's in 0:59:02.720 --> 0:59:05.920 your hands. Put that in the comments, say it out 0:59:05.960 --> 0:59:07.560 loud if you're in the room, It's in your hands. 0:59:09.040 --> 0:59:11.800 That is what is significant about the breaking bread in 0:59:11.880 --> 0:59:16.280 Luke twenty four. That is what's significant about your future. 0:59:17.400 --> 0:59:19.920 That is what is significant about this moment. 0:59:20.520 --> 0:59:22.920 It's in his hands. 0:59:23.880 --> 0:59:29.640 And so now, Father, I place these people that I've 0:59:29.640 --> 0:59:33.240 preached this message to into your hands, the one who 0:59:33.320 --> 0:59:35.240 was handed over for death but rose again in life. 0:59:35.280 --> 0:59:38.160 In your hands are the keys of death, hell and 0:59:38.200 --> 0:59:38.560 the grave. 0:59:40.360 --> 0:59:40.560 God. 0:59:40.600 --> 0:59:42.800 Today, whatever it is that we need to let go 0:59:42.960 --> 0:59:44.400 of in order to go forward. 0:59:44.760 --> 0:59:46.400 We do that now, and we might have to do 0:59:46.440 --> 0:59:47.680 it one hundred times again today. 0:59:47.720 --> 0:59:52.000 But that's all right because we have learned the difference 0:59:53.200 --> 0:59:58.560 between the end and a next step waiting to happen. 0:59:59.640 --> 1:00:05.280 So we stand before you today, empty hands, full hearts. 1:00:06.000 --> 1:00:07.920 I want to thank you for the person that you 1:00:08.040 --> 1:00:13.520 met today on the road away from you. I want 1:00:13.560 --> 1:00:16.280 to thank you for the person today who was running 1:00:16.320 --> 1:00:19.280 full speed from your love, but you track them down. 1:00:20.640 --> 1:00:22.200 I want to thank you today for the. 1:00:22.160 --> 1:00:25.800 Person whose eyes were opened to see your presence in 1:00:25.840 --> 1:00:26.360 their life. 1:00:26.440 --> 1:00:29.400 Oh that's how God is working. Oh that's how God 1:00:29.480 --> 1:00:32.240 is moving. Oh that's how it's coming to pass. Oh 1:00:32.440 --> 1:00:34.680 this is where God wanted me to be. Oh, this 1:00:34.720 --> 1:00:36.919 is what God is wanting me to learn. I thank 1:00:36.960 --> 1:00:39.640 you for this, and I thank you for them. 1:00:41.480 --> 1:00:42.600 Thank you for joining us. 1:00:42.920 --> 1:00:45.360 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 1:00:45.440 --> 1:00:48.920 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 1:00:49.360 --> 1:00:51.880 You can click the link in the description to give now, 1:00:52.440 --> 1:00:56.320 or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more information, 1:00:56.840 --> 1:00:59.480 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 1:01:00.000 --> 1:01:01.200 You can share it with your friends. 1:01:01.520 --> 1:01:03.800 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:01:03.840 --> 1:01:05.960 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:01:05.960 --> 1:01:06.840 Elevation Church. 1:01:06.920 --> 1:01:13.520 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.